Denton and Haughton Examiner, etc. — 1881-09-24 (Denton, Greater Manchester, England)

ANOTHER ACCOUNT. A terrible crime has just been committed at No. 20, Lancing-street, Euston-equare, London, a street composed of tenements of the humbler claws. It appears that the how* in question, No. 20, is occupied by a printer named Hamm-itt, a man aged about 40 years, who has resided there with his wife and four children for some time. Hammett, it would appear, had been suffering with an ulcerated leg, and he has been somewhat depressed. His wife had occasion to go out alertly alter nine o'clock in the morning, and, on her return, she was let into the heriee by her son, who up to that time had been playing in an adjoining room with a pack of cards. One of the lodgers in the house had also been engaged in her howiehold duties, not having noticed anything particular as having taken place. When Mrs. Hammett went into the back bedroom she found the bed saturated with blood and the bodies of her two children, aged one and four respectively, lying in a large pool of blood, and on the floor was the ineeneitle form of her husband, who had a slight gear on the left side of the neck, and a large contused wound on the forehead. The police were at once communicated with, and Hammett was forthwith removed to the Plattstreet Police-station, Somers Tenn. Dr. H. 0. Andrews, divisional surgeon to the Y division of police, was sent for, and his partner, Dr. Edwards, attended. Hammett was then examined riy the doctor, who found him suffering from a contused wound on the forehead, and an ulcerated leg. The prisoner having been seen by Dr. Edwards. was then removed to the University College Hoepital. The doctor then proceeded to the scene of the tragedy, and he first evamined the %may of the elder child, a boy aged four years. This body had a pointed wound on either side of the neck, exactly over the carotid vein. Death must have been instantaneous, and no one without some knowledge of anatomy would have inflicted such a wound. In the second case the body was that of a child aged one year, and this body had but one wound similar to the other, and inflicted with great force and accuracy. Both bodies were lifeless, death in each case having been very quick after the infliction of the wound. The greatest sympathy is felt for the unfortunate mother of the two children. There is no doubt but that Hammett was out of his mind, and there can be but little doubt as to his having first stabbed the two cnildren and then to have inflicted the wounds discovered upon him with his own hand. He is described as a yen' inoffensive man, and, like his wife, much respected by the neighbours. The wound on the forehead is supposed to have been inflicted by a hammer, which was found at the bedside, as well as the knife with which the iildren were stabbed. The whole transaction ap. pears to have been conducted in the quietest possible manner, as fortunately the brother of the two deceased, who was playing in an adjoining room, was not disturbed. The sad occurrence had scarcely taken place before the nese of what happened spread throughout the neighbourhood, and in a short space of time the street was crowded throughout the whole of the day with people. During the afternoon Dr. Danford Thomas, the Central Middlesex coroner, who was holding inqueete at St. Pancras Coroner's Court, was applied to by Sergeant Pontin for his warrant to remove the bodies ot the murdered children to the mortuary, and it was at once granted. Between five and Mx o'clock, when their removal took place, the scene of excitement was tremendous, and the parish hearse conveying them was followed by hundreds, who exhibited intense feeling and sympathy. From inquiries made at the University College Hospital, it