The Blackpool Herald. — 1880-09-03 (Blackpool, Lancashire, England)

HORRIBLE TREATMENT OF A WIFE  AT ELS WICK.  Last week a rumour was current in various parts of the Fylde that a man had murdered his wife at Eiswick, a village about five miles from Kirkham, and lying between that place and Great Eccleston. Such was fortunately not the ca,e, but a farm ' labourer named William Cooper, aged 41, of Elswick Bonds, was brought up at Kirkham Policecourt, on Thursday last week. before W. H. Bowdler, Esq., charged with assaulting and inflicting grievous bodily harm on his wife, Ann, on the 24th inst. Upon that occasion P.S. Potter, of the county force, asked for the prisoner to be remanded for a week on the following certificate, given by Dr. Thomas Fisl'er, of Great Eccleston "1 hereby certify that I have examined Ann Cooper, aged Si years, residing in Elswick, on the 24th August, 1880, and have found her suffering from injuries which place her life in immediate danger.' The prisoner, a man of medium height, is the father of five children, the oldest of whom is only as many years old. His wife has had anything but a plaaaant life, he having treated her very inhumanly. On Tuesday Cooper went home about three o'clock, and remained with his wife for two hours. He then asked her for some money, and 3frs Cooper went upstairs and threw her purse down into the kitchen. The purse flew open, and the coins were ccrnsequently scattered on the floor, and the prisoner asked her to gather them up. She refused to do so, and Cooper rushed up, and, clutching hold of her hair, he dragged her downstairs. She, in great fear, ran out of the house, and along an adjoining lane, opening Bond's gate, which leads into an open space, known as Bond's field. The prisoner followed, and, having overtaken her, he threw her on the ground with great force, and kicked her in the most abominable manner. The poor woman was afterwards removed to her home, and kept fainting until medical assistance ax-, rived. Alice Swarbrick, a young woman, who resides next door to the Coopers, saw the prosecutrix dash out into the lane with her hair streaming down her back, and heard her crying out, "Alice, Alice, come, come; murder." Miss Swarbrick accordingly went to the field, and found Mrs. Cooper lying insensible, and her husband resting on a bank hard by. The prisoner and Miss Swarbrick then carried her into her house, believing that she was dying, as her clothes were saturated with blood. Afterwards prisoner asked Miss Swarbrick to go and tend his wife, adding, "I have done a bad job." Mary, the sister of Alice Swarbrick, went for Dr. Fisher, of Great Eccleston. This gentleman, upon making an examination, found the unhappy woman bruised on the left side of the chest. In , addition to her having two ribs badly fractured, he , discovered that the prisoner had kicked her in the! most disgraceful and brutal way in vital organs of the body. She had bruises on the left buttock, and had also sustained a great shock to the system, was I almost pulseless and continually fainting, while she W 5 bleeding most copiously. P.C. Rogers on the following night apprehended Cooper, and upon charging him with his offence he said, "I have nothing to say." The prisoner was brought before the magistrates with the result previously mentioned. The affair has caused not a little excitement in the district, and when Cooper was removed from Kirkham to the Preston Prison there was a large crowd of people at the railway station to catch a passing glimpse of his features. Cooper, who has frequently been before the magistrates for poaching offences, is reported to be a man of internoPrnto habits.  The words " Cocoa " " I liocolate are 0 Mexi,an origiii. Chircolut4, " Iran (11.,colatl, tit(' hound mule in bruising the t 2 with ,irgur, the COUO4I tot Oomilien4 ut %Li OA Cmliolkij'a 011.1J4 1.44,.111.11 ‘lls pure preperatien.