The Sun. — 1861-05-03 (London, England)

SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT ILKESTON, DERBYSHIRE.  A most determined and cold-blooded murder was perpetrated at a late hour on Wednesday evening last, at Ilkeston, by a young man, named George Smith, aged 20, a twist hand, upon his father, Joseph Smith, aged 40, a shoemaker, and a man of property, residing in Bath-street, in that town. The facts of the case are as follow :—On Wed nesday last, the son, George Smith, succeeded in extracting his father's bank book from a drawer in the house, and went to Nottingham with it. The book contained entries of moneys paid into the bank amounting to £l4O. He presented the book at the bank in Nottingham, but the cashier refused to give him the money, and he went direct to a spirit vaults in the same town and pledged the book for a sovereign. He returned by the last train from Nottingham tollkeston on Wednesday evening, and proceeded to a public-house in the latter town. He then went home, and afterwards returned to the public-house, and remarked to cne of his comp panions that " he thought there would be something amiss at his father's house that night." Smith left the public-house about a quarter to twelve o'clock on Wednesday night, and about 20 minutes past twelve o'clock Superintendent Hudson was proceeding along Bath-street, and met two of his officers close to Smith's house. They heard screams of " Murder !" and on passing under the bed-room window of the house, the younger brothers of the murderer shouted out, " George has shot our father." The police then went into the house, and were horrified at finding Mr. Smith, senior, lying on his back on the floor quite dead, his brains being scattered about the room and the greater part of his skull blown off. The deceased was in his night-shirt, and had evidently come down stairs to reprimand his son for staying out so late and taking the bank-book, when the latter deliberately presented a pistol at his father's head and shot out his brains. Mr. Norman, surgeon, was speedily in attendance ; but death was instantaneous. As soon as the murderer had perpetrated this horrid tragedy, he rushed out of the house in his shirt sleeves and his coat off to a house of the companion he had been drinking with, a distance of 200 yards from his father's, where he knocked at the door and said his father had just shot himself. He was at once taken into custody by Superintendent Hudson, who afterwards proceeded to examine the house for the wadding, but it was found to have been embedded in the brain of the murdered man. They then searched for the gun or pistol, and shortly after daylight yesterday (Thursday) morning a policeman found a pistol at a distance of about 50 yards from Smith's house. It had been thrown over a hedge into a field, and had evidently recently been fired out of. The prisoner was yesterday (Thursday) morning brought before Mr. Radford, county magistrate, at Smalley, and remanded. The inquest was opened yesterday (Thursday) afternoon at the Queen's Head, Ilkeston. As we said before, the murdered man was well-to-do in the world, and the murderer was " asked" in Belton Church, Leicestershire, to a girl named Ellen Cox, for the first time on Sunday last. There is not the slightest reason for supposing that the prisoner is insane. He says his father shot himself. The tragedy, as may well be supposed, has caused the greatest excitement in the neighbourhood. On Wednesday morning the murderer wrote a note in lead-pencil to his sweetheart at Belton, in which he said he was afraid his father would make away with himself before long. Detective Davis has gone over to Belton to try to get possession of the letter.