The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

MURDER OF A WOMAN BY HER HUSBAND

On Wednesday an inquest was held before the borough
coroner, touching the death of Kate Wignall, wise of
Richard Wignall, of Gore-street, Toxteth-park, who, it
was alleged, had died from blows inflicted by her husband
during a quarrel, on Monday evening. Vi ignall was
brought up in custody.

The first witness called was Charles Lear, labourer, who
said that on Monday evenirg, about eight o'clock, he was
sitting upon some steps near where the prisoner lived,
and saw him throw a mug into the s'reet. Deceased
mzide an attempt to come to the door. but the prisoner
pushed her back and shut it. In about five minutes after-
wards the door was opened, and he saw deceased on her
knees. The prisoner had a stick in his hand, with which
he struck the deceased about the head. It was similar to
a piece of wood produced. The deceased fell down from
the effects of the blow, and, while down, the prisoner
kicked her twice about the ribs. After he had done that,
he came out of the house and threw up his cap, and said,
" This is a way to do business—l don't care for never a
man that walks Gore-street." H e then went to the house
of his father, close by. A woman went in to the deceased,
and lifted her up ; she was not able to stand ; there was a
great deal of blood about her face. The deceased and the
prisoner did not live on good terms, hut she was a sober
woman. Witness sent for a police-officer.
Mary Morton stated that she lived opposite to the house
occupied by the prisoner and deceased in Gore-street.
About eight o'clock on Monday night sbe heard a cry
proceeding from the house of the prisoner of " Oh ! you
are going to kill me !" On going over she saw the pri-
soner strike the deceased several times, and kick her. He

also struck her on the head with a stool, which was pro-
duced. It was one of those stools generally us?d for
children to sit upon. Blood was flowing from the de-
ceased's wounds; she died shortly after witness et.tered
the house. After he had done striking, he came into the
street, threw up his cap, and dared any one to take it up.
The deceased was quite sober.
Frances Irvine, a neighbour, saw the prisoner strike the
deceased several times, and cry out, `• I'm not a -;
I'll never give in that I am." Saw the prisoner strike the
deceased several times with the stool, and afterwards kick
her while she was on the floor.

Mary M'Ghie stated that she heard a cry of murder
proceeding from where the prisoner lived, and went over.
Witness saw the prisoner strike deceased several times
with his fist, and after beating her, he came out into the
street, and went away. On going into the cellar, she
found the deceased was dead.

Samuel Maddox, inspector of police, stated that on
Monday evening last he heard of the occurrence, and
went to the cellar occupied by the prisoner in Gore-street,
and found the deceased lying dead. The prisoner was
there, and he (the inspector) took him into custody. He
was under the influence of liquor. Found the stool which
had been mentioned in the front cellar, and a piece of
wood in the back cellar. The prisoner said the quarrel
had taken place about some panes of glass which he had
neglected to put in at a cellar, opposite.
Mr. J. Cameron, surgeon, deposed that he was called
to see the deceased on Monday night, and found her quite
dead. '1 be face was much swollen, and exhibited marks
of bruises over the forehead, cheeks, and nose.

Witham Erns stated that be was a joiner, end lived in
Upper Harringtoo'-street. He heard the cry of " mur-
der," but took no notice, as the neighbourhood was ge-
nerally much disturbed, and shortly afterwards his daugh-
ter told him that Wignall had killed his wife. Ile then
went and found the deceased lying on the bPd inFensible,

and she died in about seven mi►iutes afterwards
goner attempted to make his escape, but witness prevented
him. The surgeon then came and pronounced her dead.
The prisoner, on being cautioned, said he had nothing
to state, except that the deceased used to drink as well as

The pri

The jury found a verdict of " wilful murder"
the prisoner, and he was committed for trial at the absizes

PROGRESS OF THE MANCHESTER PARKS

(From the Manchester Guardian.)

Lark Hill, the house and park (seven acres of land),
was the first purchase made by the committee, in Marsh,
18-15. Wm. Garnett, Esq., irs possessor, asked £5.000
for it, but agreed to take £4,500; the other £5OO being
taken as his contribution to the puhlic parks. Tne house
alone cost £lO,OOO. In May, 1845, the committee pur-
chased the Hendam Hall estate, at Harpur hey (30 acres),
with the hall, for £7,250; the hall alone hating cost the
owner £3,000. In the same month the committee pur-
chased thirty-one acres of land between the river Mediock
and the Rochdale Canal, in the township of Bradford, of

Lady Houghton, for £6,200 (about 10d the square yard)).
In July, 1842, the committee made a purchase of John
Flizgerald, Esq., of twenty-five acres of the Wellness
meadows, immediately be!ow and adjoining the Lark Hill
property, for £5,875; thus increasing the extent of the
park there to thirty-two acres,—its total cost, £10,375.
The following are the several amounts paid tor these pro-
perties

f Lark Hill, 7 acres .
1 Walne.s meadows. 25 aci
QUERN'S PARK—Hendham Hall, 30 acres

PEEL PARK -

Total, for land, 4kc

- - - ,
Measuring from the Manchester Fachange, the Peel
Park is just distant a mile as the crow flies ; and is within
three quarters of a mile of a dense population (chitfly in
Salford), of upwards of 50,000. The Queen's Palk is
in..r ran map. from the Manchester Exchange, artilining

and Rochdale Road, and within a circle or a mile radius
is a population, in Ancoats, Oldham Road, Rochdale. Road,
and the streets between. and the villages of Blackley,
Crumpsall. Harpurhey, &c., of not less than 20,000. The
- Park is rather more than a mil-• half dist-

from the Exchauge, as the etow files ; just a mile and a
half in a direct line from the Queen's Park ; and within a
circle of a mile radius, is a population of at least 50,000,
chiefly of the classes most needing the advantages afforded
by a public park.
The principal works have been, excavating and level-

ling the ground ; draining it with good the drains; laying
out the drives and walks, and forming them with gravel
surface ; planting and transplanting ; and surrounding the
narks with fences. Much stone has been got, and in the
Pa'rk, at Bradford, all the grava recni•ed for the
drives and walks has been got in the park itself; in some
places it has been necessary to tunnel, and do much work
beneath the surface, and in other instances, fro.A the set-
=‘Pw..made ground, it has been necessary to do

some of the work twice over.
The fencing, in all about 3,000 lineal yards, has been
an expensive, Clough necessa.y work ; it will cost not less
tthan £l%OOO. The posts are ten feet, or upward.,, in
!engthrsunk well in the ground, of good timber; and the
paling- is set upon, so as to allow the wind to pass be-
tween, and thus the paling offers less re,istance than a
close one would to the wind. It is well stayed, inside, by
strong pieces of timber, diagonally from the upper part of
the fence to.the ground, where the stays ate held by small
Mies driven-well into the ground. The pales are of two
lengths. alternated, averaging seven feet in 110;tyl.f

are covered with a double coating of gas tar, supplied from
the gas worke. They make a good, substantial fence, and
we believe at much less expense than almost any other
that could be devised.
The ciudering end gravelling
and also of the play-grounds,
_grounds, has been a work of consi-
derable time-and labour. The quantity of material con-
sumed for this purpose has been enormous. For instance,
there has been laid on the four small play-grounds in the
Queen's Park, 125 loads of gravel.
The trees have, generally speaking, borne transplanting
very well. Some trees of more than 30 feet iu height
have been removed without sustaining any injury. Alto-
gether, the trees and shrubs, purchased far the three
parks, in addition to those already on the ground, have
cost the committee about £BOO.
A great number of plants. including a collection 'of
American plants, a number of flowering- shrubs, roses,
annuals. Ste. have been planted in the flower-garden of
the Peel. P .rk, the rosariuns arid borders of the Queen's
Park, and in the parterres of the Philips Park ; and owing
to the long drought and extreme heat of the weather, it
has been absolutely necessary to water these regularly for
some weeks past ; and in this way, the peculiarities of the
weather and the temperature have involved an expendi-
ture of not less than £2O a week ; otherwise about 475011
of valuable -shrubs, pl ints, and flowers would have been
totally destroyed by the ben' and drought.
We may just notice that prudential considerations have
led the committee to abandon their original intention of
haeia:,- a b,,,riing-g,-en et each- park. -Not only would
the outlay he large; but the cast of keeping them in good
broad), horses.,are
about &c.
to Sixbtey
condition would be very heavy, involving for each green
the wages of one man constantly employed in watering,
cutting, and rolling the grass. It has been determined to
substitute gymnasia, with all the. usual apparatus of
swings,
oclpiemnbsienagtsa(r2ido
feet
tploiengg paouldesa font
n t
constructed, 20 for each park ; these are to put in shady.
cool places; and there are also to be a number of rustic,
seats of old tree stumps, logs of timber, &c., placed in
appropriate situations.

rf the drives and walks.

CO II R tSPUNDENCE

EARL GREY

AND THE HUSH CHURCH.

TO THE_ EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SIR, —Had you favoured my previous connutuncation
with an earlier insertion in your estimable journal,
should have solicited for the present one a much earlier
renewal of the obligation. I rei,;ret this delay the more
as the circumstances to which I desire to draw the atten..
tion of your readers have, perhaps, whoity escaped the
observation of some, and outlived the olvervation of all.
But though they may have lost some of their original
interest, they still retain their real importance. and I can
well dispense with the charm of novelty, if I can only
administer the stroke of conviction.
I now entreat every Protestant whose profession of
faith is more than an earthly sound to consider some of
the propositions and expressions contained in the speech
delivered by Earl Grey, in the House of Lords, on the
231 March. A speech constituting a lair specimen of
the fallacies with which our adter:aries pretend to con-
fute truth and reason, and that recklessness of spirit and
want of principle with which they put forth and uphold
the most licentious sentiments.

And who, sir, let us ask, is Lord Grey, that authority
is to be attached to his opinions? With what weight do
his exp'essions fall in that enlightened assembly ? Are
we to consider him as the oracle of a party, or as a poli-
tical unfledged crudity? I think, sir, we must consider
him as a man of weighty influence and authority, if not
of worth. We must consider him as holding a high place
in one of the three powerful parties of the state antici-
pating power, and I believe with some reason ; we unlit
consider him as the exponent of their views, and that
what be has expressed in theory they will endeavour to
put into practice. I think, then, some importance must
be placed on his sentiments, and that what Earl Grey has
said, the whole Whig party is pledged to adozd. The
patriotic nobleman begins by adverting to the large sums
which have been granted to the Irish church, end even to.
Protestant Dissenters ; the former amounting to £795,000,
since the union / I shall leave your readers to judge of
the paucity or magnitude of this amount. It is the prin-
ciple upon which the acute statesman objects that no
grants have been conceded to the Church of Rome that I
have to do. It is, perhaps, s;r, unnecessary that I should
enter into the oft-repeated and unanswerable arguments
by which such reasoning has been controverted ; but I
am surprised that men of enlightened understandings
should resort to such pitiful cavils. If every church, and.
every denomination, of whatever character or stamp, pro-
far.ing .hAta.ver_tenets, and teaching whatever doctrine,
must be countenanced because'lrts a community, deno-
mination, or church, to what lengths shall we be carried,
into what a gulph of error, confusion, shall we at last
fall ? Smugglers must nut be prosecuted, because smug-
gling is a trade ; the pickpocket must be undisturbed in
his plunder, because picking pockets is a profession regu-
larly pursued by a stated community and large portion of
her Mjesty's subjects. Supp,se the inhabitants or the
Isle of Man were to unanimously agree to set up idolatry
as their faith, and erect an altar to Moloch in every vil-
lage of their island, would the British Government be
called on to grant these infatuated Manxmen money to
educate their posterity in this faith of blood, simply be-
cause, forsooth, FO many thousands of her Majesty's sub-
jects chose to adopt it as their religion? I ask any Papist
whn looks through the eye of reason, and not the mist of
prtjndice, whether a government could be so called upon ?
and I here freely confess that in any Popish land I should.
not for one moment_ calculate on any support from its

government for the Protestant church in that country ;
and more, sir, that if such a government were to yield to
the clamour of Protestants for a state provision, I should.
accord them not the credit of charity or enlightened libe-
rality, but the palm of treachery to their religion and
constitution. I do not blame Papists for wishing and
striving to extract concession from a yielding minister,
but I da blame and condemn that minister for omitting
to examine their demands by the light of Christianity and
truth. Our constitution, sir, is said to rest upon the
Bible ; but statesmen seem to aim how much they can
b-lie the assertion. They seem to be exerting themselves
against the Bible, and endeavouring to show the world
how far they can dispense with its dictates and support.
But, sir, the day Will arrive when every political act and
every petty treachery, every insincere concession, and all
public tergiversation committed by those ministers who
reject the empire of such a tribunal, will be tried in the
furnace of scripture, and tested by its revealed commands ;
commandments now open to their understandit g and
direction, but which will then be shut up once end for ever.
The great detect in the legislation of modern statesmen
seems to be their acting on so low ground and principles.
It they would but just meditate on the safety, conve-
nience, and advan:age of establishing rule as a continual
reference for their conduct, a constant landmark for their
guidance, they would, perhaps, seek for those high prin-
ciples of act:on, that unvarying standard, which, if they
observe and follow, will guide them aright ar ugh all the
changes of faction and the clamours of incom,istency.
Let us test the question of Roroish endowment by this
principle ; let us argue upon the high ground of scriptural
warnings and scriptural both,. Let us ask Lord Grey,
when he advecates the wild claims of popish demagrgurs,
whether lie considers the Romish church as a •y-stem of
error; whether he contemr s the principles which
govern its conduct, and the °injects which it aims to ac.

complish. Let us a.k h;rn whether he considers the great
facilAy which is given to crime in that ccuntry by the
system of priests' absolu. ion, whereby the murderer re-
ceives pardan for Ive crime before he commits the murder,
Does he believe that priestly tyranny encourages, aye,
and even compels, the anarchy, confusion, and bloodahed,

which distract that unhappy land for which he wouli-
legislate ? If, sir, he does so consider, contemplate, anti-
believe, I ask him how can he recommend to the Queen
of England to further this system.ot error, to grant these
wild and unreasonable claims, to gile an impetus to ais
system of crime, to encourage this priestly and blasting
tyranny? I ask him how can he call upon an honest
legislature to pay a premium to error, to endow a great
political confederacy whose object is to apostatise a na-
tion from its loyalty, arid that claims the sovereignty of
all the
protesteaaort?
or? sa sk
be hiiim, sir, does heoleboterth arnwaeni:ihe badge
fideluh of
hose
affection only follows where cal. rice or interest may guide
it ? I assure him, ro honest man could mare such a
erencejoefF sirmhye: Poperyidt tion,wneorre a canrealingyiohnoninecstullcefigbnlatunroetbhng buteiinflu
the great truths of Christianity, and the prac, NI, pure,

piotartchfruormcha, afanidthshportiolides,!reedcbriymsto-
'aijhlri;;;connlsdg;noibluoi°rtn,.B support
sir, %brit' the essero.
and angelic principles of its divine
only under different forms and crremoi.tes,
the Romanist churzh and th-
nlseun'tion and legislature is !'
eembntn:eaacnltlinert'yteoaitetthat can separate one church and one nation from
another church and nation, how criminal, how mad, how
suicidal to extend the arms of cnut.tennitce and encourage-
ment against the very genius and spirit of that conatitu-
.r...„ )

ut inculcated
we could

I d.fference

e most ess

The great characteristic of our state and nation, of
everything Eng!6h, of our crown and constitution is Pro-
testantism, We are every where Protestant, and in every
thing we recognize that sate-pervading pr'nciple; our faith
e. We ptott6/. "trite;sar.
n
detrociatie government? H
k -
ct, stars(;
e:e.

,14t.
ATI/4
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