The Cotton Factory Times. — 1898-06-03 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

WIFE AND THREE CHILDREN  MURDERED. TWO OTHER CHILDREN DYING.  IlesLzy, Tuesday Night.  In one of a row of cottages at Smallthorne, just outside the boroughs of Hanley and Burslem, five persons were, at an early hour this morning, discovered dead, while twe others were lying wounded and unconscious. The deceased were Frederick Hall, his wife, and their three little children, the two injured being their son Charles, aged fifteen, and their daughter Ethel, aged twelve. Hall was stretched on his back on the kitchen floor with his throat cat, a knife lay beside him, and also a tool used in the business of a cratemaker, which he was engaged in. This tool is fourteen inches long, weighs a pound and a quarter, and is shaped something like a billhook. It is used chiefly for cutting little wedges, and a sharp edge to it must necessarily be kept. Hall did some of his work at home, and a bucketful of wedges stood in the kitchen. The bodies of Frederick, aged five, Elizabeth., aged four, and Thomas, about two, were found in bed in the back bedroom. Close beside the foot of a second bed in the same room was the boy Charles, and under it his sister Ethel, each unconscious, with a terrible wound in the head. In the bed in the front bedroom was the body of Mrs. Hall.  To all appearance Hall had first killed his wife while she slept by splitting open her head with the cratemaker's knife. Then he seems to have walked between the two beds occupied by the five children, and with the same knife dealt one terrific blow upon the head of each of the three little ones and also struck Charles and Ethel on the head. Whether these two offered any resistance or uot it is, of course, impossible to ascertain, but it is supposed they themselves moved out of bed after being attacked and staggered forward. It was their groaning that first attracted attention, and they were conveyed to Haywood Hospital, Burslem. The boy spoke, but was in a delirious state. Hall's neighbours agree iu stating that he was of a retiring and sullen disposition. They also state that the family were not in want, but some relatives who have been interviewed declare that Hall was really greatly depressed through poverty, which he kept secret from his neighbours. Mrs. Hall, on the eve of the tragedy, was noticed to be cheerful and in good health, though she was again about to become a mother.  Mr. R. Wood, school attendance officer, says that four years ago Hall, having met with some reverses of fortune, remarked to him, "I am ready to make away with my wife and the lot of us." The last words heard from Hall outside his house were addressed to his neighbour William Scarlett yesterday evening. They wished each other a good evening at Hall's back gate, and he said, on turning round, "It's a long lane, Bill, that has no turning." The answer given to the latest inquiry at Haywood Hospital to-night about the condition of the two injured children was somewhat favourable. The boy underwent an operation, and at nine o'clock appeared to have a few moments of consciousness. Be feebly uttered a few words, and was understood to ask if he was going to die. . . . .  „ Crowds of people have been standing during the day at the doors of the cottage, the blinds of which are kept down. It is generally supposed that Hall became mad, and committed the tragedy while in a frenzied state. t