Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-03-26
A Brooklyn Butchery.

The Sixth ward, South Brooklyn,
was the scene of terrible tragedy at
an early hour yesterday morning, and
strange though it may appear, in this
instance rum played no part in the
demoniac work. The horror consisted
in murder las the victim will proba-
bly, die and suicide. The parties were
man and wife, Dennis and Elizabeth
Delany, people in very humble cir
cumstances, who resided in two rooms
on the first floor of tenement house
No. 3S2 Hicks street, near Congress.
The couple have resided in the domi-
cile in question for nearly fourteen
years, and have borne an excellent
reputation among their neighbors for
industry and sobriety. About half
past O'Clock yesterday morning the
inmates of the house were startled by
the cries of "police," "help," and pro-
ceeding to the apartments occupied by
the Delanys, leading from the rear
part of the hallway, found the eldest
child of Delany, boy about ten years
old, crying bitterly and trembling
with terror.
On looking into the room an awful
scene presented itself. On the bed,
just inside the door, lay Mrs. Delany,
weltering in pool of blood, her fea-
lures being broken in and unrecogniz-
able. Distant about six feet from the
bed lay the body of the husband, Den
mis- Delany, on his face, which was
buried in pile Of quilts at the foot of
a "shake down." or bed, on which lay
three screaming little children. In
his right hand was bloody razor, and
his throat was found to have been cut
from ear to ear, the head being almost
severed from the trunk. A Ratchet,
with a blade about three and half
inches in width, lay by the side of the
bed, and clearly indicated the weapon
used by the maniac in the assault
upon his unhappy wife. The woman
was still breathing, though but semi
conscious. Patrolmen John Clark and
John Donan, of the third precinct,
were summoned, and, the ambulance
being procured, the woman was con-
veyed to Long Island College Hos.
pital.
Yesterday afternoon a representa-
tive of the Herald visited that insti-
tuition and conversed with DR.. Atkin-
son, the house surgeon, upon the
tragedy. The Doctor states that the
chances of the recovery of Mrs. De-
lany are very slight. She has nine
wounds on her face and head, which
have the appearance of having been
dealt with Ratchet. There is one on
the face smashing in the bridge of the
nose, from the left to the right side,
cutting into the bone of the upper jaw.
The bones are badly crushed. There
are also two long cuts on the left tenn.
pie, one of which cuts into the bone.
There is another incision on the right
temple-an irregular and ragged cut
which penetrates to the bone. There
are several small cuts on the head and
the hands are bruised, which would
indicate that she had raised her hands
to defend herself from the murderous
blows as they fell upon her. She
reached the hospital shortly after
o'clock, and has not been sufficiently
conscious since then to give an ac-
count oftthe tragedy. Should the in
fiamation extend to the brain DR.. At
kinson thinks she will die. .,.t- 4
AS the writer was about to repair to
the scene of the murder he met Coro-
ner Jones, who was journeying to the
same place. A policeman and the
landlord of the premises stood in front
of the house, and upon recognizing
the Coroner led the way to the room
in which the double tragedy occurred.
The scene within almost beggars de-
scription. In the centre of the floor,
which was carpeted, lay the body,
with head almost severed from the
trunk, and the clotted gore beginning
the agonized features of the dead. A
CORY pool was beside the remains,
which were devoid of clothes, save a
red flannel undershirt. On the bed
where the wife had been assaulted at
least pailful of blood appeared to
have been lost, so thoroughly were the
pillows and clothes saturated with the
crimson fluid. The children's bed, in
the opposite corner; cradle, in which
an infant seven months old had lain
asleep; a table, five or six chairs,
bureau covered with ornaments, and
an extraordinary number of religious
pictures comprised the furniture of
the room.-[N. Y. Herald, March 10Th.