The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-26 00:00:00

MURDER AND

BUM= 1W A DE A.
DUMB MAN.

A dreadful murder and suicide were committed at Win-
colmlee, Hull, by a deaf and dumb man, named Robert
Hickson. The wretched man had quarrelled with his wife,
Sarah Hickson, about some domestic matter, upon which he
seized a poker, and struck her a dreadful blow on the head,
and afterwards destroyed himself, by cutting his throat with
a razor.

An inquest was held on the bodies on Friday night, and,
after being sworn, the jury proceeded to view thetp. They
were found lying side by side on a slightly raised platform in
a small, neatly furnished room, in Owen's-square, New
George-street. The sight was a most appalling one, the
throat of the man being cut from ear to ear, whilst the wo-
man's skull was literally smashed to pieces. The floor was
deluged with blood, but partly covered with sawdust. Im-
mediately over the corpses was a portrait of Hickson, painted
in oil by himself. In another part of the room was a paint-
ing of Christ, in the same style as the portrait, and executed
by the deceased.
Selina Hickson, daughter of the deceased, deposed—l am
going for eight years old, and lived with my father and
mother. They quarrelled yesterday about marrying. My
father went ou, soon after breakfast this morning. He was
deaf and dumb. He came back at twelve to-day, to his
dinner. He came in dripping wet, and mother said she was
so poorly she could scarcely wash for him. He was angry
because there was not a dry waistcoat for him to put on.
Mother talked to him with ber fingers. Father seemed in a
passion when they were quarrelling, but I have seen him
worse before. We were getting our dinners, and so was
mother, when he came in. He took up a poker from the
fireside and struck mother four or five times. She fell down
on the hearth, and I never heard her speak again. Father
took a razor from the cupboard top and cut his throat.
Then I ran out.
Hickson was in the employ of Mr. Binning, a coal-mer-
chant, as a coal-porter. It appeared, from the evidence of
Mr. Binning, and other witnesses, that he had latterly be-
come jealous of his wife, in consequence of a man named
Charles Richardson having been seen walking with her.
Mr. Binning had spoken to Richardson on the subject, when
he said, " he had walked with Hickson's wife, and would do
so again." On being called before the jury Richardson said
that Hickson had once accused him of being connected with
his wife—" but very little." He bad never repeated the ac-
cusation, and he (Richardson) never met her at Binning's
stables. Had spoken to her in the street, but nothing more.
Never met her by appointment, and had only walked the
length of a street with her when they met accidentally.
Several jurymen said this witness was morally guilty of
the deaths of the deceased.
The jury, in the case of the suicide, returned a verdict of
"Temporary insanity," caused in their opinion by the im-
proper conduct of one of his fellow-workmen with reference
to "-• I

deceased's wife. ,n the case of the murder, the jury re-
urned the extraordinary verdict of "Excusable homicide."

REMARKABLE CIRCUMSTANCE CONNECTED
WITH THE LATE DUKE OF KENT'S MARRIAGE.