The Express. — 1851-02-07 (London, England)

SUSPECTED MURDER OF A WIFE BY HER  HUSBAND, AT TODMORDEN.  Our York correspondent says :—Grent excitement was caused iu York ou the morning of Tuesday last by u rumour being spread abroad that a gentlemaidy-looking man had been apprehended by the police on a charge of having murdered his wife, at Todmorden, by administering poison to her. The report was verified at noon, by the prisoner being taken down to the Guildhall, where, before the Lord Mayor and T. W. Wilson, Esq., he was charged, by the name of John Cooper, wall having, on the 2nd of January last, murdered his wife, Jane Cooper, by the means above stated. Little or nothing, however, transpired there, for the accused had been brought up only for the purpose of Mr. ' Chalk, the superintendent of the York police, asking for a remand until Thursday, which was granted ; the prisoner, who asserted his entire ignorance of the crime imputed to him, having-a request also of his complied with, viz., that he iu the meantime might be allowed to consult with a professional adviser. It in stated that Cooper was formerly bead assistant at Lincoln Grammar School, and that since then he has resided at Stanfield-hall, near Todmorden, which is on the Yorkshire side of the border between that county and Lancashire, where he conducted a boarding-school for young gentlemen. He is about 30 years of age, and married a Miss Ripley, of Tockwith, near York. Ilis own parents reside at Kirk Hanunerton, near this city. lh has been married about four years, and has two ctn.'. ren—one about six weeks old, and the other about two years. In the latter part of December last his wife gave birth to their second child, and she died on the 2nd of January last. The remains of the deceased were brought to Bilton to be buried among her relatives, and Cooper had remained in this neighbourhood since. Some three or four days ago, suspicion arose that Mrs. Cooper's death had been caused by foul means, and thin suspicion resulted in an application being made to the comfier, J. Wood, Esq., of this city, who un Tuesday last opened an inquiry at Raton, which stands adjourned until Monday next. The result of the inquiry, as far as it went on Tuesday, was, that the coroner issued his warrant for the exhumation of the body of the deceased, with a view to in analysis of the contents of the stomach. With respect to the apprehension of the husband, we find that police-sergeant Heap, from 'Todmorden, came to York on Sunday last, it being supposed that Cooper would arrive on business on the following day. The superintendent of the York police was consequently communicated with, and he having taken steps to search fur the accused, it was found that he bad arrived at York, and that he had taken opine residence at the Black Swan Hotel, in Coney-street, wiuro he had represented himself as a clergyman wishing to obtain a marriage license. On Monday evening Cooper attended one of the Wesleyan chapels in this city, and, hasingbeen followed about from place to plate by an officer in undress, be was finally apprehended between ten and cloven o'clock at night on a warrant issued by the Lord Mayor. As in all such cases, a motive for alleged murder has been 'eight for ; and the one assigned is that the accused has been on very intimate terms with the daughter of a Wesleyan minister at Alfonl, in Lincolnshire, to whom he was =doss to bo allied.  Tax