The Warwickshire Herald. — 1885-12-24 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

MURDER OF A YOUNG WOMAN.  At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, uefore Mr. Justice Hawkins, a man named Harry Patrick, aged 24,described as a cook, was charged with the wilful murder of Rachel Bailey.—Mr. Poland, in stating the case to the jury, said the deceased was an unfortunate, who, having made the acquaintance of the prisoner, went to live with him at Bromley. The parties passed as Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Th•-y took the lodgings on the 21st November and: entered into possession on the following day. On the morning of the 23rd the prisoner asked the people down stairs to call his wife two hours hence. Tide direction was complied with. The deceased did not answer, and, as there was some defect in the lock, the landlord's 8011 got a pair of pincers and the door was forced open, when the deceased was found in bed in her night mess with a great gash in her throat. She was quite dead. The police and a medical man were immediately sent for. The medical evidence would nhew that the woman had been dead for two hours—just the time that had elapsed since the prisoner left the house. In the room there was found a dagger, and on the prisoner being arrested it was found that he bad made a will leaving his effects to a Mrs. Cooper,of \Vest Ham. He also said "I'm just getting ready to give myself up," and subsequently he stated that he had killed the deceased.—The landlady of the house stated that on the night the parties came to her house they appeared to be on good terms. As they were going upstairs, however, the witness heard the deceased say something about another young man, to which the pm. toner replied somewhat sharply, but the nature of the reply was not heard. No noise of any kind was heard during the night, and nothing occurred to averse suspicion that anything was wrong.—Mr. Wadley, surgeon, said he was called to the deceased on the morning of the 23rd November. He found her lying on the bed, with the lower portion of the body exposed. Her throat was cut. Her body was quite cold, and she must have been dead from one and a half to two hours. The bed was saturated with Wood. There was also blood on the woman's right hand, but no wound. He also saw a dagger in the room, the blade being on the 1;1A, of the bed and the handle on the floor. He was of opinion that there had been a stab first, and then the throat was cut from left to right, the head being nearly severed from the body.—Here a great sensation was caused in the court by the prisoner falling down in the dock in a fit. After a painful struggle the unfortunate man was removed. It was stated by his counsel that he was subject to epileptic fits, and that there had been a similar scene wnen the prisoner was under examination at the policecourt. In the course of a quarter of an hour the prisoner was brought back, and the trial was proceeded with.—The surgeon of the House of Detention said he was of opinion that the prisoner was of sound mind, an opinion which Dr. Bastier, one of the physicians at University College Hospital, said he shared. This last witness admitted that epileptic fits did sometimes affect the mind.—Mr.Poland addressed the jury on the part of the prosecution. He contended that it was impossible for them to say that the deceased met her death in any other way than through the hands of the prisoner, and there was nothing to shew that he was not in a position to know the full effect of his actions.—Mr. Forrest Fulton, on behalf of the prisoner, Insisted that there was every reason to assume that the prisoner was not at the time of committing the deed responsible for his actions.— Mr. Justice Hawkins having summed up, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, and the prisoner was sentenced to death in the usual form. On the sentence being pronounced, the prisoner again fainted, and was carried away in an insensible condition.  The remains of a Mrs. Grattan, have been burned at the Crematory of St. John', Woking. The cremation lasted somewhat over an hour, and the collected ashes were white. A French warship is expected shortly at itiassowah, with different requisites for the French Consul, who is preparing for a mission into the Abyssinian camp at Asmara.