The Sun. — 1853-02-12 (London, England)

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.  BOW-STREET.—John Fitzgerald, a carpenter, was brought before Mr. Jardine for final examination, charged with stabbing and wounding his wife, with intent to kill her.  The prisoner lived with his wife and two children at 7, Eagle-court, Catherine-street, Strand. Between twelve and one o'clock in the morning of the 30th ult., the neighbours were alarmed by cries of " murder," and the shrieks of children, and the same noises were heard by a man named Broadstreet, a shoemaker, who lodged in the attic of the same house, but who (he said) " was so accustomed to hear the cry of murder in that neighbourhood, at all hours of the night, that he did not think it worth his while to get out of bed and see what was the matter," until he was informed that a woman had been stabbed. Mary Jenks, a married woman living in the adjoining court (Angel-court) was induced, however, to leave her bed for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of the disturbance, especially as the cries for help appeared to grow weaker, as if from a woman in a state of exhaustion. On reaching the court she found a woman sitting on the door-step of the house adjoining the one from which the cries had just emanated, and she appeared in a fainting condition. It was discovered that she was bleeding from a wound in her breast, and from another in her neck. Mrs. Jenks asked her who had done it, and she replied, in a weak voice, " My husband, my husband." By this time a young surgeon, two or three other persons, and a police-constable had reached the spot, and the woman, having been pronounced by the surgeon to be in a sinking state, was removed to King's College Hospital. The constable then proceeded to the room occupied by the prisoner, at 7, Eagle-court, and, knocking outside, requested to be let in. The prisoner opened the: door, and Broadstreet, who had come down stairs, was also admitted ; but he said nothing to either of them in answer to the charge. He appeared under the influence of drink. After he had been taken into custody the room was entered by the landlady of the house and another woman, who found the prisoner's two children there. The eldest, a little girl about twelve, told them that her father had stabbed her mother with the auger on the mantel-piece. They looked and found the tool lying there. It was a long, sharp instrument, and Broadstreet noticed two small pieces of flesh adhering to it. Some spots cA blood had also been observed upon the prisoner's face. On the following morning (Monday) the medical officers of the hospital being of opinion that the woman was in a dying state, her deposition was taken before Mr. Jardine ; but, although supposed to be upon her dying bed, she declared that the injuries she had sustained were caused accidentally. She stated, "That she and her husband had gone home late, and not being able to get into their room, as he had lost the key, he tried to pick the lock with a gimlet, but it slipped somehow, and went into her." After the expiration of about ten days, however, she was sufficiently recovered to leave the hospital, and was consequently present at the examination yesterday. She now gave another version of the story, stating, " That she snatched the gimlet out of her husband's hands, and then fell down stairs • that he never laid hands upon her once ; and that, after the fall, she went up stairs again and placed the gimlet upon the mantelpiece."  - Mr. Jardine reminded her that she had already told a different story, and that if she did not speak the truth, she was liable to be prosecuted for perjury. The wife (Sarah Fitzgerald) then said—" I may have been light-headed at the hospital. Whatever I said then, what I say to-day is the truth." The prisoner said nothing to the charge, relying, as appeared from some questions which he put to his wife, upon her statement for his defence. The witnesses were then bound over to give evidence against the prisoner upon his trial - the deposition of the surgeon, who was unable to attend, to be added at a future day. The prisoner was accordingly committed.