The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-01-27


II was announced, = week or Two since, BY
telegraph. that Henry Meecham,. living In
Franklin county, N. Y, m murdered his wife by
shooting her with pistol and a Afterwards Gu l.
he had dispatched his victim, he reloaded hts
pistol and discharged its contents into his owl n
brain. and fell dead on the noof near his mur-
dered wife.
The particulars Of the affair. - gathered in
the vicinity, anA which were mainly sustained
al the Coroner's inquest, are ~ follows: A
few weeks past Meech1n became Jealous OF
his wife, and it SCENE had too good reasons to
be 80. They quarreled and separated about
three weeks previous TO this sad occurrence
Mrs. Meecham returned, with two or three OF
their five children, TO the house of her parents
Meecham brooded over this state of things
guilty wife and her paramour. Mrs. Meecham
became alarmed at the earnestness of these
threats, and some two or three weeks since
made complaint TO a justice and Meecham was
required " give bonds TO keep the peace toward
his wife.
On the day of the murder. Meecham beard
that ms wife had committed a second &C, OF
infideiiiy with yet another person. which SO
eXaspera,ed him that he proceeded al once 10
take his threatened revenge
The house OF Mrs. Thos. Cook the mother OF
10rs. Meecnam, and where she was At the time, is
some twenty or thirty rods of the turnpike ia
a lonely hollow, aud is nearly half mile dis.
tant from any other habitation. On the even
ing o! the murder Mrs. Cook, Mrs. Meecham
ana two little children, one aged three and
half years and the other ten mon this were at
home Mr.. Cook aud a son, a lad eleven or
tweive years of age, were al a neighbor's by
the name Of Dustin. whs keeps a tavern in the
vicinity. Between the hours Of seven and
e!ght neecham entered the house OF Cook.
MRS. Cook said to him, Good evening, Hen
ry;n He made no reply, but Immediately asked
Nv here is Melissa .''
MIS-. Cook told him she was on the bed get
ting the children to sleep. Mrs. Cook says he
was pale and had desperate appearance, and
remen berlng his threats she became exceed-
ingiy alarmed, and has but an indistinct re-
eoiiectlon OF what transpired, except that she
saw MN move towards the bed-that she heard
the dlschargo Of ffira-arins-that she saw him
ufag her towards the door, and heard the little
boy say, 'Grandma, Henry has killed Melissa
ne 1 mas cut ner neck just rs he does deer" "
Meecham went to q table at the end OF
the room and commenced reloading his pistol
mrs Cook said t. him, "Are YOU going to
XIII me, Henryl'' He replied, "No; you have
always been good mother to me, and good to
my children, and shall not harm you.'' She
however, made her escape frem the house. and
| ran Immediately towards the nearest neigh
bor's to give the alarm. As she was passing
| from the door-yard she heard the report of the
pistol again. She, however. proceeded and
mad passed abost two-thirds Of the way,
| when, meeting her son, she sent him back 10
alarm the '.eighbors. Mr.. Dustin and others
| repaired Immediately to the spot. Upon en-
| tering the house they found both nd and
| wife extended upon the floor. dead and vel
| tering in their gore. The infant had crawled
| 10 the side OF it's mother, and was endea oring
| to draw from her exposed breast the remain
| ing drops of nutriment that nature had elnb.
| GRATED for its sustenance.
The wounds upon the body Of Mrs. Nee
| cham We're two; one, gunshot wound, enter
| ing the left breast an inch and a half above
| the nipple, aud passing diagonally through
| the lung and base of the hear, and passing
out just at the lower point of the right shoul-
der blade; the other, clean cut across the
| throat, severlng the windpipe and the left ju.
! gular vein. The wound ON Meecham was a
| single one, and entered the skull an inch and
| a half above the right ear; the ball did no,
pass out. Under the body Of Meecham was
| found roeket-knite, the keenly -sharpened
| blade of which was bloody near his head
| lying partly behind a low bench, was a dou bic.
| barreled pocket pistol, both barrels of which
! We're empty.
REVOLVING CRUELTY ON SHIPEoARD.-A
tho Hull Police Court, on the I'd, 4 Danish
| sailor, named William Sorenoen, belonging te
the schooner Maria, appeared before the Sti
pendiary Magistrate, and. through the inter
prefer of the court, told the following tale O.
revolving cruelty: The vessel had been from
| Trieste TO Marseilles before she came to Hull
| and at Hamburg they shipped youth Of six
| teen. named Fritz Lansman. The youth hat
| never been TO sea before and the day after h.
left Hamburg he was sent aloft to furl one OF thu
| sails lie Was very much frigh tened and on J
1 n
| the deck, the captain and mate gave him ter
| !ashes with ropes end. Whenever Lansmar
| could not work he was beaten. A day or two
after the first tbrashng, he could not remen,.
| Der the names of the different ropes and h,
| got 20 lashes with cane. He called out terri
| bly,, and there were marks all over him. TIL,
captain and mate beat him many times after
| wards. On the last day he was beaten he go
| eighty, but the captain threatened to give
| him 100 lashes. The day before he died they
| did not beat him, but they tied his head be.
| tween his legs; put piece of wood behind
| his neck and another behind his knees and
| then tied both pieces of wood together, hav.
| ing first made the deceased bend dou BILE
| In this state they threw him about the deck
| and the male threw chains upon him On diff.
ferent days he was treated this way, for ten OF
| twelve days, sometimes twice day. The cap
| tain also starved the deceased. When the de.
| ceased was tied up, and while the chains were
upon him, he cried out that he could get nc
air, aud could not endure it any longer. The
day before he died, the chains were upon him
| for half an hour, and at midnight he was Or
dered to go the pumps. When he got hold OF
| the pumps, he fell down, and never spoke
again He died about ten O'Clock the nexl
| morning. That was on the 18th of August
| and the vessel was off small island belong
| ing to Sicily; deponent did not know the
| name. In the evening, when the sun went
| down. deceased was thrown overb ard in his
| sleeping things. There were marks all over
| The body of deceased, except on the chest. The
| Danish Consul and Collector of Gus toms al
| Hull were corresponded with BY the Magis-
| trate, and the crew were to be examined.
fLtrerpooi Times, Dee. 3.