The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-30 00:00:00

APPALLING MURDER IN LIVERPOOL OF A
FEMALE BY HER HUSBAND.

On Sunday morning last, great and painful excitement
was caused in this town by the announcement, that a man
named Owen Leonard had murdered his wife, by cutting
her throat with a razor, and inflicting so great a number
of other frightful wounds, that the alleged barbarity of
the act appeared to be almost beyond belief—unless, in-
deed, it were the deed of a maniac, which it was hoped
would turn out to be the case ; but we lament to say that
that expectation has been disappointed ; that the rumours
that had at first gone abroad have been more than vet ified ;
and that the perpetrator, though feeble in body, not only
appeared, before the coroner, to be in perfect possession
of his mental faculties, and was shown not to have been
so far intoxicated, if at all, at the time, as not to be per-
fectly sensible of what he was about; but that above all,
the supposition of jealousy entertained towards another
man was denied by himself; and when his own age and
decrepitude, as well as the age of his victim, are taken
into account, could have no foundation in truth—thus
leaving to mere conjecture the motive that instigated the
apparently deliberate and cruel hacking and cutting of
the unfortunate deceased, which must have occupied a
considerable time. The deceased and her husband oc-
cupied a small house, No. 37, Peter-street, a small, nar-
row street leading from Whitechapel towards the middle
of Dale-street, and generally tenanted by persons in
humble circumstances. The prisoner was a tailor by
trade, but had not much employment, and be (aged 63)
and his wife (aged 62) eked out a subsistence by renting
a room or two to lodgers. They were known by the
neighbours sometimes to quarrel; and it is said that some
years ago he made a violent assault upon her with a knife ;
but it did not appear from the evidence yesterday that
their bickerings recently amounted to actual violence on
either part, or were more serious than are frequent
among persons in their sphere of life.
The inquest was fixed for one o'clock, and a roost re-
spectable jury of tradesmen were summoned for the in-
quiry. Mr. Lewis Samuel, of Lord-street, foreman.
After viewing the body, which was in the Northern Hos-
pital, and presented a mangled and fearful spectacle, they
returned into court, where the prisoner was in custody.
He is a little man of unprepossing appearance, apparently
emaciated from irregularities, and 5 feet 4 or 5 feet 5 in
height ; sallow complexion, high cheek bones, unshaven
chin, and longish disordered hair standing out at every
point. He wore a brown surtout coat, buttoned up, and
striped cloth trowsers, and had on no neckcloth, and no
shoes, but walked on his stocking soles. His head con.
finnan), shook, apparently from a paralytic affection,
during the whole investigation, and he appeared withal
touch weakened and reduced ; yet he put several unim-
portant questions to the witnesses with considerable firm-
ness. The attendance of gentlemen and others in the
court was very numerous; and there awaited outside, in
Lord-street, during the proceedings, a crowd of some
hundreds of persons chiefly of the working classes. The
first witness called—the son of the deceased—who wit-
nessed part of the dreadful transaction, gave his testimony
in a clear and intelligent manner, without any apparent
embarrassment, or deep concern, the loss of his mother
having probably deadened his sympathies for his remain.
ing unhappy parent. It appears that the prisoner did not
know—or affected not to know—of the death of his wife
until he was informed in court, before the evidence was
taken, which was as follows :
James Leonard being sworn said :—I am going of four-
teen years of age. lam son of prisoner, who is my father.
My father is about 63 or 64 years of age. The deceased.
whose name was Bridget Leonard, was my mother. I
think she was 61 or 62 years of age. They resided in 37,
Peter•street. They occupied a house there and took in
lodgers. The middle room was occupied by us as our
sleeping room, and we lived in the lower room. A brother
of mine also lived there with us. On Saturday night about
twelve o'clock, there was a quarrel between my father and
a lodger in the house. Ido not know the lodger's name.
My father was jealous of this man with my mother. The
lodger was in our room, and my father turned him out.
Deceased told the lodger to go or there would be a row.
M y mother returned to the lodger the amount he had pre-
viously paid for his lodging. At this time my father was
tipsy, but sufficiently sober to know what he was about.
My mother was not tipsy. After the lodger was turned
out, my father began to call my mother a w—, and
other very bad language. My mother said, "Aye sure,"
and " Yes sure," as if she were afraid of saying anything
else. I was not in the lower room at this time; I was
in the upper room, but could hear distinctly all that
passed. There was another lodger in the lower room
at the time, and I knew he was there from his voice.
His name is John Livingston. After the first lodger
had been turned out, John Livingston, who was a lame
man, came up stairs with his wife, and went to the top
room. My mother went up stairs after Livingston. I
got up out of bed after the lodger was turned out, and
went down stairs. I saw my mother go up. At this time
there was no one in the lower room but the prisoner and
I. The prisoner went up stairs into our sleeping-room.
Soon afterwards he came down stairs, and I saw him put
something bright in his pocket. I thought it was his pair
of scissors. He came into the lower room and bolted the
door inside, and then made fast the window shutter. He
then went up stairs, and into Livingston's room. My
mother was still in the room. The prisoner talked to
Livingston, and my mother came down stairs into the
middle room, and I followed her. She put a blanket
round her and said she might be up all night with me,
and went down into the lower room. I went down with
her. Soon afterwards the prisoner came down into the
kitchen. He said something to her, scolding her, and he
said something about a man named John Guest. She
said " Aye, sure ; yes, sure I" as before, and that was all
she said. Prisoner then knocked my mother down
with his fist. She fell on her side behind the door.
Prisoner, while she was down, seized her by the
neck with one hand, and then pulled something out
of his pocket, which I then saw was a razor. He
made a cut at her throat with this. I then gave the
alarm. He then got up and looked quite savage at me
and shook his head. He then stooped down and cut her leg.
My mother struggled hard with him and put up her band
as if to defend herself. The prisoner then seized her by
the hair of her head, and cut her throat again. After trla
fo
had done, I opened the door and went out, and ran
police f
to speak. She was bleeding very much fruotm
the deceased
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There was a great deal of blood
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The officer took him into custody. De-
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The razor nowput into my hand was the one he used. It
belonged to my father. There was a small fire only in
the kitchen when the act happened, but there was suffi-
cient light to enable me to swear to what I have said.
Cross-examined by the prisoner.—Are you 14 years of
av!

-Witness.—l understand lam going of 14 years.
Prisoner.--Are you thirteen years of age?
Witness.—l understand I am.
Pi isoner.—Are you twelve years of age ?
Witness.—l understand 1 am.
Prisoner.—Did your mother strike me first?
Witness.—Yes ! but you gave her some ill language.
Prisoner.—Did she strike me a second time ?
Witness.—l do not know.
Prisoner.—Did I ask her what she struck me for ?
Witness.—l do not know.
Prisoner.—Did you see me put a bright thing in my
pocket?
Witness.—Yes I did—in the kitchen.

Thomas Dunn, police-officer No. 42, sworn.—Mr beat
was in Peter's-street, and the last viitness came to me
about half-past one o'clock on Sunday morning. I was
then in Whitechapel, corner of Sir Thomas's-buildings.
He said—Oh, policeman, do come here, my father is mur-
dering my mother. I immediately went with him. When I
got up to the prisoner's house 1 saw a woman (the de-
ceased) laying on the parapet opposite to his door. She
was bleeding very much. I saw a large cut on her nose.
She was lying on her left side. I turned her head up a
little to look at her, and saw one cut on her throat, and
an other on the right side of her neck. She did not
speak but made a noise as if suffocating from blood. I
forced the door open, as I found it fast. I found the
prisoner standing in the middle of the kitchen floor. He
was wiping his hands with a cloth. I asked him if he had
been washing himself, and he said yes. I asked him why
he had been ill-treating his wife in the manner he had
done. He said, " I don't know," and called her an old
b—. I took him into custody, and removed him to
bridewell. He had had some drink, but knew what he
was about. His trousers were afterwards found to be a
good deal marked with blood.
The prisoner denied the last word imputed to him, but
put no questions to the witness. He wished his son to be

~„
recalled-, to put some further questions. but merely asked
whether he had expressed any jealousy, which witness
said he had to a lodger.
James Burns, police-officer 91, said—About half-past
one o'clock, while standing in Whitechapel, I heard the
police signal, the knocking of a stick. I went as fast as
I could to where the sound proceeded from. There was
a crowd about the door, and a woman lying on the foot-
walk. Dunn opened the door and went in, and I also
went in. The prisoner was in the middle of the floor,
and the razor was lying on the floor close to bis left foot,
and marked with blood. Dunn, the officer, brought the
deceased into the house, and took prisoner to bridewell.
A surgeon was called, and on his recommendation the
woman was taken to the Northern Hospital. I went with
her, but she was dead when she got there.

John Livingston, a man who has lost a leg, was then
sworn, and said—Since I lost my leg I have sold bits of
things for a living. I and my wife occupied a. room in
the prisoner's house. I have known prisoner four or five
weeks. I knew the deceased for the same time. I went
home about eleven o'clock on Saturday night, and went
to market with my wife, and returned in about half an
hour. lam not sure whether the prisoner was at home
on our return, but he either was or came in soon after.
Deceased was in, and anotber lodger in the kitchen. After
the prisoner came in, he ordered the lodger out of the
house. There appeared to be some bad feeling breeding
between them. The lodger did not appear willing to go
out at that hour. Prisoner then took hold of the lodger,
and insisted on his going out, as he would not have him
any longer there. I said it was not fair to turn him out
at that time of night, after he had paid for his lodging,
Deceased took some part with the lodger for him to stop,
but afterwards said to him it would be much better that
be should go. On that he left the house. In a few
minutes after this my wife and I went up stairs to bed.
Deceased lighted us up with a candle to our room, where
she remained about ten minutes, but no conversation of
consequence took place, or relating to the prisoner. The
prisoner came up stairs, and ordered her down in more
baste than usual. He left, and she went after him.
Soon afterwards I heard the boy crying out, " My father
is going to kill my mother!" I made an attempt to go
down stairs, but my wife prevented me, as I have but