The Sun. — 1863-12-10 (London, England)

THE MURDER OP TWO CHILDREN AT WEST IMOD:MICH.  Benjamin Holding was indicted for the murder of his two children, Jane Holding and Joseph Benjamin Holding. Mr. McMahon, with Mr. Stavely Hill, prosecuted; while Mr. Motteram, with Mr, A. Youtg, defended. The prisoner, a man in the prime of life, was a bundler at an ironworks, and lived at Hall-end, near West Bromwich, in the black country between West Hampton and Birmingham. He was married and had two children, one a little girl of four-and-half years, and the other an infant boy of only fourteen months. ro these and to his wife he always behaved with the greatest tenderness and affection. He bought for them a little perambulator, and in this it was his delight to take them about the lanes and roads about his dwelling every evening after returning from his work. One of his favourite haunts cn these occasions was a neighbouring cemetery. He was also a religious man. He led a good moral life, read bis Bible often, attended regularly at church, and was a Sundayschool teacher. In the summer and autumn of the present year he became afflicted with tic-doloreux, and suffered much from pains in his head accompanied by sleeplessness. On the morning of September 22 he went to his work as wad. He returned at one o'clock and took his dinner. During the afternoon he remained at home, and was left there by his wife at about four o'clock. The wife went to the house of the prisoner's mother. In a short time she was alarmed by seeing her husband come in with wild, staring eyes, and in a most excited state. He remarked, "My little children are gone to heaven," and the two women at once ran to his house. There, on the hearth-rug, in front of the fire, they saw the little girl lying with her throat cut from ear to ear, and quite dead. On the sofa lay the lifeless and similarly mangled body of the infant boy. On the table was the carving-knife with which the frightful deed had been committed. The neighbours tusked in, and to them the prisoner remarked that his time was short, and he wished his children to go before him. The motive thus given by the murderer himself, was the only one for the commission of the crime which could now be adduced on the part of the prosecution. For the defence a plea of insanity was set up. The mother stated that her paternal aunt and niece had died mad, and that she still hail a cousin who was also insane. The doctor said that madness among the poor was largely due to an hereditary taint, and that there existed an insanity known as homicidal mania, by which a man was impelled to commit crime even when he was free from delusion. in answer to a direct question, he also said that, assuming the facts of the case as given by the witnesses to be true, he did think it probable that the prisoner was mad when he killed his children. It was also shown that on a Sunday, six weeks before the murder, Holding, while in church, during the time when the congregation was standing up, suddenly sat down, folded his arms, and looked wildly around him. On the morning of the occurrence he was observed by a fellowworkman to be unusually silent. During tke trial yesterday he appeared:to be in the deepest distress ; his tears for nearly three hours were profuse and ceaseless, The jury acquitted him on the ground of insanity.