The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1847-12-28 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

THE MIRFIELD MURDERS.-CONFESSION  The trial of Reid and M`Cabe, for the triple murder at Mirfield, occupied the court three days last week at the York Assizes. Reid was very composed, and respectably dressed. but 111`Cabe appeared careworn. Afteraa very gfoubnedhitniembibm7whgliiiptyla,ced. and the abnuxti ofours aent uqr.utiirkye,yt et a.inudriyn sensation. Whilst Mr. Justice Patteson was passing sentence. M Cal?e fainted, and would have fallen, sentence, when owfhenpro,nounced. against M abe, excited a upon a chair.  Immediately after the sentence of death had been passed upon the prisoners, Mr. Robert Dale, the attorney of Reid communicated to Mr. Matthews, (M`Cabe's counsel) a confession made to him by the prisoner Reid previous to his trial. Mr. Matthews thereupon communicated with Mr. Justice Pltteson the purport of that confession, which, we understand, is to the following effect : That on the 12th day of May, Reid went to Mr. Wraith's house, about 25 minutes to one o'clock, that he conversed with the servant girl, Caroline Ellis, about five minutes, that he then took out the soldering iron he had that day borrowed of Kilt', and had concealed in his basket, and struck Caroline Ellis, a severe blow on the back of the head. She shrieked out and staggered to the back door, when he struck her again, and felled her to the ground, and Mr. Wraith coming at that moment from the cellar into the passage, which connects the kitchen with the two front parlours, with a silver pint containing beer in his hand, he (Reid) struck him a violent blow on the head with the iron, -in doing which the iron flew from the handle, and Mr. Wraith staggered into the parlour. Reid then returned and got the kitchen poker and ran to the parlour, and met Mrs. Wraith running out to the front door. He then struck her two or three blows on the head, and felled her to the ground, he went into the parlour, and Mr.' Wraith was then laid bleeding on the floor insensible. He rifled his pockets and took his keys out, and opened the drawers with them. He then heard a knock at the kitchen door. which he thought was Caroline Ellis getting up. He went to the kitchen and found her perfectly still, and again returned. He then got some money out of the drawers, took the watch from Mr. Wraith, and the ring from Mrs. Wraith's finger, and heard another knock at the door. He thereupon went to kitchen door, and slightly opened it, when he saw the other prisoner, M`Cabe, who inquired if they wanted anything in his line, and he (Reid) replied " No, sir," and thinking M'Cabe was a stranger, and would not recognise him, he shut and bolted the door. He then returned and ransacked the drawers, and found in them a razor case containing two razors. He took one and cut the throats of all the three parties, and then washed his hands and wiped them upon the towel. He then quitted the house, locked the kitchen door, and threw the soldering iron and key into the well near the back door, and then hurried towards his own home.  Measures will be taken to procure M'Cabe's liberation. Since the trial, Reid has, in the presence of the chaplain at the Castle, and other persons, corroborated the statement he made to Mr. Dale. Reid evinces great calmness and resignation to his fate. M'Cabe appears greatly affected by his position, and unable to bear up. Of course nothing can yet be known as to the ultimate fate of M'Cabe. The case will doubtless undergo further investigation, and it is not improbable that his life will be spared, and that he will be dealt with as an accessory after the fact, and subjected to a term of transportation. The verdict of the jury was clearly justified by the evidence ; and it will remain for the secretary of state to determine can be relied upon. The alin°,lnaasfbtbeyrrißenthe murder must have been gehtlhe two prisoners together, eiwnvhi close re thecoof n 3vefeoarnr ys fa ersi os committed ; and there are other important portions of evidence irreconcileable with the entire innocence of M'Cabe, especially that given by Benjamin Morton, who swears to seeing both the prisoners within sixty yards of each other, proceeding in a direction towards Wraith's house. On Thursday, the prisoner Reid was visited by his father ; and, as may be supposed, the interview was most  Dee. 28, 1847.