The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1876-08-02 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

MURDER AT LIVERPOOL.-ANOTHER  SENTENCE OF DEATii.. ----Richard Thompson, 22 years of age, described as a labourer, was indicted for the wilful murder of John Henry Blundell, at Liverpool, on the 15th of April lat.—Mr.  M'Connell and Mr. Webster appeared for the Crown, and Mr. Shea, at the request of the judge, defended the prisoner. Mr. M'Coneell, in opening the case, said there was no doubt that the deceased came by his death from being stabbed, and he should prove that the wound was inflicted by the prisoner. The question therefore, for the jury . to determine was whether the crime was one of murder or manslaughter. Up to the 14th of April the prisoner had been courting a young woman named Corfield, who lived in the same hou-e as that in which the deceased lived, in Haigh-street. The deceased, it seemed, objected to the prisoner's visits and to his being alone with her in the parlour. and an ill feeling in consequence arose between the two men. About a week before the fatal occurrence, the prisoner was talking with another man about the girl Corfield and the deceased, and then expressed ill-feeling towards Blundell. On the evening of the 14th of April the prisoner passed the door of the deceased's house, and at the time Mrs. Blundell, the deceased's wife, was sitting on the door step. rhe prisoner shook his belt angrily in her face, Baying, "Send out your husband, and I will put him in his —coffin before the night is over." Later on in the evening the deceased was assisting a brother of the girl Corfield in removing from his house in Evertor], and they were walking along Corporation-street, each carrying an article of furniture, when they met the prisoner. Corfield said to the deceased, Here's Dick," and the prism er then came up in a threatening attitude. The deceased said, good temperedly, "What's to do with you, Dick What are you for ?" '1 he prisoner was then seen to put his hand into his pocket and draw out an open knife' with which he stabbed the deceased eleven or twelve times in the left side and arm, holding him with one hand while he did so. The deceased at the time was carrying a box on his shoulder. He was taken home, bleeding very much, but was afterwards removed to the hospital, where he died on the 17th of April. A short time before his encounter with the deceased the prisoner passed a man named Crowe, and then had a knife in his hand. Drawing the knife across the man's breast, he said, "How would you like to have such a thing as that into you?" Crowe said be should not like it at all, and the prisoner then said. "It's not for you; it's for some of those—up the street," pointing in the direction of the deceased's house.—Evidence was then given in support of the statement of Mr. M'ConnelL The witnesses included the widow of the deceased and the man Outfield.— Mr. Shee addressed the court on behalf of the prisoner, contending that the evidence was not sufficient to justify a verdict of murder.—Mia Lordship, in summing up, said that unless they were satisfied that the prisoner was aroused by provocation sudden and great they must find him guilty of murder. The jury found the prisoner guilty of murder, and he was sentenced to death. The prisoner was composed until sentence was about to be passed, when he burst into tears.