The Wolverhampton and Midland Counties Advertiser. — 1876-03-25 (Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England)

THE WHITECHAPEL MURDER.  The Rev. A. Conder has published the list of subscriptions, amounting to £1,232 18s. 10d., in aid of the family of Henry Wainwright, the White. chapel Road murderer. Mr. Conder quotes a letter from a gentleman who had known Wainwright for twenty years. The writer states that at one time Weinwright was making a clear profit of £1,200 a year, until he took to gambling and other evil courses. Mr. Conder continues :—"The opinice expressed in this letter agrees with what Wain. wright told me were the actual conditions of the murder, all the details of which he professed to give me the day before his execution. I cannot, however, venture to give an opinion respecting the amount of credibility which ought to be given to his statements. Till I saw him after his condemnation I had scarcely heart of him for years. When I then saw him I was painfnlly struck by the great change which, even in external appearance. had come over him. As regards what I may call his moral self, the word 'change' does not sufficiently convey the idea his language and conduct gave me. I had known his as, at least in externals. a good Christian man, and found him in every respect the reverse of this. Though he several times quite broke down while I was with him, yet at the last I was under the impression that he was withholding something by force of determination and against the struggles of his better self. Feeling this, I think the authorities exercise a wise discretion by not publishing his final statement, the contents of which Wainwright told to me. I have had many enquiries about the autobiography he is supposed to have written. Enterprising publishers have offered large sums for it, and some seem unwilling to accept my assurance that no such MS. exists or has existed. beyond a few letters and the statements held by the authorities, Wainwright wrote nothing. From one of the letters he wrote I quote the following, and commend the words to the consideration of those who think it possible a poor wretch can be encouraged to commit such a crime as Wainwright's to secure for his children the pittance charity affords. The words are :—` I feel Aow that when you left me on Wednesday I had hardly said anything that I wanted to say. Though full of burning thoughts, my heart was filled with such an oppressive oerief I could not tell you what I wished. God bless you for yorir kindness; thank you above all for your conduct on behalf of my wife and family: your act removed the load of grief which weighed down my sorrowing heart. Yes, it is a sorrowing, broken heart, when 1 reflect what I was, what I might have been, and what I now am. I could hardly have supposed that there was so much goodness and forgiveness in this world. I truly thank the good, the merciful God, that the sins of the father are not visited upon the children. May mine never know who their father was. Oh, my God! that I should ever have had to pen that sentence; I who loved them so, and was so beloved by them. Why, I have heard ladies—mothers—say, almost with envy, How his children love him!' What must my feelings now be—what the agony of my heart Pardon my thus troubling you; Jeannot help it: I must tell you my grief—it relieves me. My dear wife, poor soul, was with me to-day. She said, 'I should not have minded this so much if you had been a cruel husband to me, but you have not.' Poor thing, she never knew of my wickedness till the world knew it too, and now even she forgives me. Oh, may God be merciful and kind to her— be her protector and her friend. " In conclusion, Mr. Conder says :—" Mrs. Wainwright hopes with the assistance Of the fund to be able to support her children by giving lemons in music. Friends. are also endeavouring to get some of the children into charitable institutions. Mrs. Wainwright has urged me to express as strongly as I can her thankfulness for the help afforded her, and the truly Christian comfort which so many have bestowed. Mr. John Kane, of Darlington, the secretary of the British Ironworkers' Association, of which he was also the founder,died at Birmingham, ou Tuesday afternoon, of apoplexy. Mr. Kane was also secretary of the Northern Iron Trade Arbitration Board, and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress. Be was a member of the Darlington School Board, and contested Middlesbrough unsuccessfully at the last general electiOn as a working man's candidate.