Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser. — 1868-06-19 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

KIDSGROVE.  The village of Kidserove, in the neighbourhood of the Staffordshire Potteries, hie; become the scene of the murder of an unoffending girl, ten years of age, the victim of a man who had t.o confused his brains by drink and religious excitement, that it is, perhaps, questionable if he really knew what he did when he deprived the poor child of her life. The murderer's name is Wm. Hancock, who is forty leers of age, a forge. man, and the murdered girl was Mary Ann Whitehtust, the daughter 01 a neighbour, who had been sleeping in Hancock's house. Hancock lived in Turner-street, Kidsgrove, with his wife and five children, the eltleet, a son eighteen years of age; and at the time of the crime, as already stated, a neighbour's child also slept in the house. It is said that Hancock used to be a fervidly religious eh 'racier, but he had occasional outbreaks of heavy drinking, and of live these) have increased, leading, as one re- ult, to his 10-ing his situation, and as another to a state of mind which has been perhaps not inaccurately described as q He appears to have indulged his ruling passiott more than ever since his discharge from the ironworks, and to have been more unsett ed than ever in his mind. One natur4 consequence of this condition of things was ill-usage of his wile and children, and a IL of passion cooling on him on Wednesday morning, about two o'clock, when in bed, he vented it on his unfortunate wife and children. He was heard abusing his wife by his eldest anti, who at once ran to the mother's help He and a younger brother held the father while the mother and the other children got out of the house, and took refuge at • neighbour's house. The father was then left alone in the room—all the rest of the family going away—with the neighbour's child, who, somehow, had been forgotten, or else it was not thought necessary to tr tilde about her. The father, enraged before by drink and passion, and infuriated by the escape of his wife and children from him, made a bolt through a win low at the hack of the house, apparently with the intention of following them. In going through the window he cut his right leg very seriously, and the yard into which he jumped was splashed with blond from the wounded limo. Instead of following after his wife and family, however, Hancock returned to the house, and went into the room where the little girl was sleeping. He took her out of the bed and beat her head upon the lime until life was extinct, and nothing but a fearfully bruised, mutilated, and mangled corpse was left of the poor child. Then, having done this deed, the murderer made another rush out of the house. This time he ran against a wall, and severely hurt his head. He staggered into a neiehbour'e house, where he was found when the police were in search of him shortly afterwards. The murder had not been long perpetrated before it was found out by neighbours, anti immediate information was given to the police. The injuries received by Hancock in his double escape from the house were so serious, that, when taken into custody, it was deemed necessary to call in the aid of Mr Bruce, surgeon, and in the afternoon he was removed to the Infirmary, where he is likely to remain for several days The .vent has crested a sensation in the villaee, where, of curse, all the parties are well known —Birmingham Post.