The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1839-11-08 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SHOCKING MURDER OF A FATHER BY HIS SON, AT LEES.  About seven o'clock, on Sunday evening last, the inhabitants of Lees, near Oldham, were thrown into a state of great alarm and excitement, by a report, which proved but too true, that a man named John Bardsley, a rover in the mill of Mr. Peter Seville, and a man of great respectability in his station of life, had been murdered in his own house, by his son, James Bardsley, a young man, twenty-three years of age, and of the most abandoned and profligate character. It appears, that the young man by whom this dreadful offence was committed, has been for several years past an idle and turbulent fellow, the terror of his father's family and of the whole neighbourhood. A few months since, he made an attack upon his mother with a knife,—giving her several severe wounds ; and, such was her terror of him, that she left her husband, and went to live with a daughter in the United States, in order to be out of his way. Since that time, James Bardsley has absented himself from home, returning only to annoy and plunder his relations. On Sunday evening, the father, John Bardsley, was at home, reading the Bible, with his daughter and a boy, when his son, whom he had not seen for some time, entered, and began to help himself to some bread and cheese. His father reproached him for his misconduct, and desired him to leave the house : some angry words ensued, on which the son drew from a sheath, a knife, apparently provided for the purpose, and made a desperate attack upon his father, on whom he inflicted a number of frightful wounds upon his head and body. As soon as the murderer entered the house, his sister quitted it ; but, the boy had remained, and seeing the murderous attack, he ran out to alarm the neighbours and obtain assistance. Several persons immediately hastened to the house, and found the old man lying in a pool of blood on the floor, and the murderer just rising from the body, with the bloody knife in his hand. This was immediately wrested from him, and lie was secured. A surgeon was then sent for to examine the wounds of the father ; and, Mr. Elliott, of Lees, was promptly in attendance, but his assistance was in vain, for one of the blows of the knife had pierced the apex of the heart, and the poor man bled to death in a few minutes.  On examining the weapon with which this murder had been committed, it was found to be a long-bladed clasp; knife, which had been converted into a sort of dagger, by winding string round the handle and a small portion of the blade, so as to prevent it from shutting, and the point and both edges had been ground extremely sharp, as if for some such purpose as that to which it was applied. When the murderer was apprehended, so far from showing any compunction for what he had done, he seemed to exult in the success of his attempt, and openly expressed his regret that he had not been able to murder two or three other members of the family. When taken in custody to the neighbouring inn, he immediately asked for some refreshment, and ate and drank with the utmost indifference, though his hands were at the same time covered with the blood of his murdered parent. The house in which the murder was committed stands just within the boundary of the county of York ; and the coroner had therefore to come from Halifax to hold the inquest, which was expected to take place yesterday.—Manchester Guardian of Wednesday.  Mr. J. G. Vandenhoff will shortly make his appearance no the boards of our Theatre, having concluded an engagement with the manager.  The metropolitan improvements are stopped, because the wise men who conducted the bill through parliament omitted a clause necessary to enable them to raise the sum of money required !-200,000.—Spectator. A