The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-10-09 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUEST.-COMMITMENT FOR

WILFUL MURDER

Yesterday afternoon an inquisition was taken before P. F.
Currie, Esq., on view of the body of Ann Kehoe, wife of
Owen Kehoe, who died in the Infirmary from the effects of
certain wounds on the head, inflicted by her husband. As

he case was one of a most serious nature, we give the whole

of the evidence

Mary Philburn, the wife of Miles Philburn, of Allen's-

:ourt, Stockdale-street, being sworn said

The deceased

and her husband lodged in our house. The husband's name
is Owen Kehoe. They came to lodge with us about three
months ago. They lived on very bad terms with each other,

always quarrelling.
- -

The prisoner isa ship-scraper by trade

d • • d
Yesterday fortni'ht, about two o'clock in the day, the de-
ceased called out to me to come up to her, and cried murder
several times. I went up stairs directly, and met the de-
.

ceased coming down. She held her hand to her forehead,
and was bleeding very much. She asked me to go with her
to the druggist's, as she was destroyed. The deceased came
down stairs, and I left her there, and went for her son, and

I never saw the deceased afterwards. On my return home I

went up stairs, and found the prisoner standing in his own
room with ono of the two scrapers now produced, in his
hand.—[These were common ship-scrapers with ash handles,

.
and triangular blades. Both of them were a good deal
worn, so that the blade of each might measure from point to
point 23/4- inches.]—The witness continued :—Being afraid to
speak to him whilst he had that in his hand, I went down
into the kitchen, and the prisoner followed me. I said to
him " You have done a nice job now." The prisoner replied
" I am not sorry for it, and if I had not done it now I would

do it again, and-this is what I done it with"—holding up the
scraper to show me. I cannot swear whether it was one of
the two scrapers now produced, but it was one like them.
On the Monday before the occurrence took place, I heard

the deceased calling for help. I was in bed at the time, but
I got up directly, and went into the room and found the pri-
soner with the deceased across his knees, and he was grap-

piing and squeezing her. The prisoner told me to go out of
the room, and not to interfere between man and wife, and
. .

that he "would do what he liked with her."

Anthony Griffin stated, that he was a labourer, and lived
in Jordan's-court, Stockdale-street, not very far from the
court where the prisoner and his wife lived. He knew both
of them. Yesterday fortnight, between two and three o'clock
in the afternoon, witness was going down Stockdale-street.
Just as he was passing the end of Allen-court, the deceased
came tunning down the court, and' exclaimed, " For God's
sake carry me to a doctor's, or else I shall fall dead !" Wit-
ness carried her in his arms to a druggist's shop, in Mary-
bone. A. great deal of blood was running from both sides of
her head, and from her hand too. She was quite covered
with blood. In the druggist's shop, she said to witness,
" For God's sake bring me my children, that I may see them
before I die !" Witness went and fetched her children, and
the deceased was then taken in a coach. She told witness
her husband had struck her. Witness had since seen the
deceased lying dead at the Northern Hospital this day.
William Collins said, I am a labourer, and live in Wil-
liams-court, Stockdale-street, the next yard to where the
prisoner and his wife lived. The deceased was my mother,
by a former husband. A fortnight yesterday, about two
o'clock in the afternoon, Mary Phelburn (the first witness)
came and told me my mother was killed by her husband. I
went to the house where my mother and the deceased lived.
I found him sitting in the room they occupied, with his head
on his knees. I said to him, " You've killed the old woman
at last !" He replied, " that he had not." I told him he
should not leave the room until a policeman came. I ob-
served a quantity of blood on the lobby, at the door of the
room, and on the door, and in the passage of the court. I
went out to look for a police-officer, and, not being able to
find one, I then went to the druggist's shop where the de-
ceased had been taken to. I got information, whilst I was
at the druggist's shop, that the prisoner had gone down Ma-
rybone. I went after him, and found him with the ship
scrapers, and I took him in custody, and delivered him in
Bridewell on charge of what he had done. I afterwards took
the deceased to the Northern Hospital. The prisoner and
the deceased lived on very bad terms, as he was always ill-
using her. Whilst I was taking the deceased in a coach to
the Northern Hospital, she said the prisoner *as determined
to take her life. The prisoner was perfectly sober. The
deceased was above forty years old.
Daniel Wilson said, I am assistant-keeper at Vauxhall
Bridewell. The prisoner was brought to Bridewell on the
23d of last month, by the last witness, and charged by the
witness with assaulting his (Collins's) mother. The prisoner
had the two ship-scrapers now produced with him. There
was blood on the iron end of one of them, and what appeared
to be human hair. I made a remark to the prisoner when I
was putting him into a cell, that it was a shocking thing to
use these weapons, (meaning the scrapers.) The prisoner
replied, "It was." I then told the prisoner I should like to
ask him a few questions, but that he might please himself
whether he would answer them. I then asked him did he
think the woman was dangerously hurt ? He said, " I think
she is, a good deal." I then asked him which end of the
scraper he struck her with ? He said, " I struck her with
the sharp end." I again asked him, if she treated him un-
kindly, and he said, "No ; but I have good neighbours." I
cautioned the prisoner before he answered any questions. and
did not hold out any inducement for him to answer ; but the
prisoner said lie knew what he had done, and would answer
the consequences ; and he also said, he had been thinking of
doing this for a few days. The prisoner was perfectly sober,
and laughed a good deal, and made very light of it.
Catharine Murphy said :—I am the wife of William Mur-
phy, and we lodge in the same house where the prisoner and
his wife lived. I know them both. I cant remember the
day, but it is going on three weeks since, I was in the kitchen
when the woman of the house brought the deceased down.
Blood was flowing from her head and one of her hands. She
begged for some one to take her to a doctor. Just as she was
leaving the door, she clasped her hands together and ex-
claimed—" My God be with me ; the murdering thief has
killed meat last." In about a couple of minutes the prisoner
came down stairs, and he had a ship-scraper in his hand.
The scraper was full of blood, and the prisoner kept wiping
it in his coat. The prisoner said he had done it, and that he
was not sorry, and that he would do it again, or words to that
effect. He said he had struck her with the scraper. He
afterwards said he would go up stairs and fetch the other
scraper, and go to his work, and he then went out. I then
went to see the woman dressed, and found her in a gore
of blood in a druggist's shop. She was afterwards taken
away in a coach, and I have not seen her since.
Ellen Collins being sworn, said—l am a single woman,
and live in Holden's-buildings, Stockdale-street. The de-
ceased was my mother by a former husband. I went to see
the deceased the day after she was taken to the Northern
Hospital. She was in bed at the time, and appeared per-
fectly sensible. I thought she was in a dying state at the
time, and she seemed to be fully aware of that also, because
she said to me she would never get out of that. She then
gave me a full account of what had taken place. She said
there was not a word between them, and they were sitting by
the fire after he had his breakfast, (meaning her hus-
band). She said they were going to shift from that
room, and that she had got a pot to put the cinders in
before they went, and that the prisoner got up and went for
a scraper, and said to her, " This instrument is very sharp,
and three blows from this would take a man's life." He
then put the scraper to her cap, while she was kneeling, and
she told him that her cap was quite bad enough, and that he
need'nt be tearing it ; and he never said a word more, but
struck her on the head with the scraper, and struck her seve-
ral times after before she made any alarm. After lie had
struck her, she said her sight had left her, and that she tried
to find her way out, and had got hold of the jam of the door
with one hand, when he struck her :with the scraper again
across the hand. She said the last blow he gave her was on
the back of her head, and that he was determined to cut her
head off, but the scraper would go no further. She also
said that we must appear against him, as she would'nt be
able, but that the doctor's notes, she expected, would con-
demn him. This was all she said to me, and I left her
shortly after.
Bridget Collins said :—I am the wife of William Collins,
and we live in William's-court, Stockdale-street. The de-
ceased was my mother-in-law. A fortnight, yesterday, just
after I had finished dinner, a person came and informed my
husband and me that the deceased was murdered. I went to
to the house where she resided, and found she had been taken
to the druggist's. I went into the room in which the pri-
soner lived, and found him there alone. He had a ship
scraper in his hand. I said to him, " I think you have
murdered her at last." He replied, " that if she was not
murdered he would murder her." I was quite fright-
ened, so I then came down. I went to the Northern
Hospital on Thursday last, and saw the deceased. She
was perfectly sensible, but appeared to be dying, be-
cause she told me to take her clothes from home and
pawn them, and to buy clothes for a little child of mine, as
she did not think she would want them any more. She said
that she was taking up some ashes, and that her husband had
put a ship scraper to her head while she was stooping, and
said this was a sharp weapon ; that she stooped again, and
that her husband then struck her on the head with the scraper,
and that he had more trouble in getting it out of her head
again, than he had in putting it in ; that he struck a second
blow at her, and that she put up her band to save herself, and
that the scraper went through her hand. She also said that
whilst the prisoner was beating her he stated that he would
only get twelve months for murdering her. These were the
last words she said to me.
Edward Toye Woodward said :—I am one of the House
Surgeons of the Northern Hospital. The deceased was
brought there on the 23d of last month. She was bleeding
very profusely at the time, and, on examining her, I found
five wounds in different parts of her head. There was one at
the posterior part of the head, just at the junction of the
head and neck, about an inch-and-a-half in length, from
which blood was issuing very profusely. On examining her
left hand, I found a severe cut on the inner part of the fore-
finger, and a wound on the middle finger where it joined to
the hand, with a fracture of the bone. She was exceedingly
faint when she was brought in, but perfectly sensible. Every
thing was done for her, but she gradually declined until her
death, which took place yesterday morning, between five and
six o'clock. I have since made a post mortem examination of
the body. The four smaller wounds were quite healed ; but
the large one, at the posterior part of the head, was not heal-
ed. On removing the scalp, I discovered, about the middle
part of the skull, a small fracture, passing completely through
the skull into the brain. At the posterior part, on the right
side of the head, there was another fracture, also extending
completely through the skull. Upon removing the skull, I
found a small spicular bone driven into the posterior lobe of
the brain, and on removing the membrane covering the brain,
there was a large abscess in the substance of the brain itself.
There was also effusion of serum in the ventricles of the brain.
I consider the abscess in the brain the cause of death, and
have no doubt of it arising from the injuries to the head. 1
have no doubt but that the injuries to the head might have
been inflicted with an instrument similar to the scraper now
shown to me ; and very great violence must have been used
to have done it.
The voluntary examination of the prisoner, taken the same
day (he being first cautioned that he need not say anything
unless he pleased, and that anything he did say would be
taken in writing, and used against him), lie answered and
said—" I have nothing to say."
The jury, after listening to the Coroner's charge, brought
in a verdict of WILFUL MURDER.

DREADFUL MURDER AND SUICIDE.—A most dreadful
murder and suicide were committed in the forest of Dean,
on Monday night about seven o'clock, by a man of the name
of Willis, a foreman in the employ of Messrs. James and
Co., of Sydney. He was sitting by the fire at home, when
his daughter named Ann, a girl about 18 years of age, went
out of the door, and while in the act of gathering a few sticks
her father suddenly rose from his seat, took up a hatchet that
was near, struck her on the head, and knocked her brains
out. The poor girl ran a few yards to a neighbour's house,
where she died in a few minutes. After this attack on his
daughter, the man ran at his wife, and made a blow at her
head, but fortunately turning aside, she received it on her
arm, which was much hurt. He then ran into the orchard in
front of the house, and with a rasor cut his own throat, and
died immediately. This melancholy circumstance has caused
a great consternation in the neighbourhood, as the man was
always considered " a quiet inoffensive " man, and supposed
to be possessed of property to the amount of 7or £BOO. It
is right to state that about three months back, he attempted
to destroy himself by cutting his throat, but was prevented
by his wife from doing it effectually. He was then placed
in a private asylum at Whitchurch, in Herefordshire, where
he remained till about a month ago, he then came home, and
appeared quite well. Our informant saw the bodies of the
deceased on Tuesday morning, laid out side by side. The
daughter was a handsome and fine young worgan. The spot
where the occurrence took place is about a nAllk from Coles-
ford, and within a few yards of the house where the unfortu-
nate Richard Yarworth breathed his last.--Bristol Standard.