The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1869-10-01 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

MURDER AND SUICIDE NEAR BOLTON. The village of West Houghton, about five miles From Belton, was on Saturday the scene of a shock. jog tragedy—a man named Henry Whittle, a weaver, having murdered his danghter.in.law, Ellen Whittle, aud then cut his own throat. It appears that the murderer has resided at the house of his son, Roger Whittle, a collier, in Chapel Walks, since the marriage of the latter, on last New Year's Day, and that they have lived somewhat unhappily together; for Whittle, only about a fortnight ago, haying threatened to murder both his son and the wife. The quarrels between them culminated a few weeks ago in Whittle being told that be must seek a home elsewhere, and he was to have left on Saturday last had the house which he had taken been completed. Since he had received notice to quit, Whittle, who was formerly the tenant of the premises in Chapel Walks, had made claim to several articles of furniture, which his son and his daughter-in-law disputed; and this seemed to have raised considerable animosity in his mind. On Saturday, Roger Whittle, the son, got up at 5 o'clock to go to his work, leaving his wife and father in the house. About half-past ten, his mother.in.law, Alice Allison, who resided in Lever.street, Bolton, went to the house for the purpose of assisting her daughter to clean. Finding the front door (the only entrance to the premises) fastened from the inside, she ima. gilled that her daughter had gone to lie down for a short time, and took a stroll around a neighbouring churchyard. On returning, she found the door still locked; and she then proceeded to the back of the premises and looked through the kitchen window, when she saw her daughter lying on the coal heap. An alarm was immediately raised, and Dr. Bringloe and two other persons entered the house. In the back kitchen, lying in the "treddle hole" of a disused loom which had been converted into a coal ruck, Ellen Whittle was found with her head almost divided. Be. sides her lay a formidable axe, three feet in length, covered with clotted blood and hair, and with this in. strument the atrocious deed had been committed. On going up stairs, Henry Whittle was discovered lying on a bed in the back room, with a ghastly wound in his throat, and the pillow as well as the floor of the room, all covered with blood. Both Whittle and his daughter.in-law were dead. Of all the circumstances accompanying this terrible tragedy the police are not yet in possession, but it is presumed that the attack by Whittle upon the young woman was preceded by quarrel; that with a view to avoid having any words with her father.in-law, Mrs. Whittle would seem to have gone into the back kitchen to sweep the floor, as a brush was found beside her; and that Whittle followed her, dealt her a violent blow on the back of the head with a colliers' pick, and then, seizing the axe, which was generally kept on the coal heap, completed his terrible work by striking her on the face as aho lay on the ground. There were two very frightful gashes on the left side of her face—one extending from the ear to the nose—the other being across the lower part of her jaw. The young woman wa enceinte and expected to be confined in about a fortnight. Whether Whittle put an end to his own life immediately after killing his daughter-in-law cannot be defi. nitively ascertained, but it is believed that after the murder he went into the village. It is quite COl, tam n that he visited the butcher's shop of the co.opera. tive society, a short distance from his house, at eleven o'clock, apparently without any settled purpose, and that he was then in such a wild and excited state that after he had left the manager, John Hilton, remarked to his assistant that the man had been doing something wrong. From there he went straight home, and it is supposed that he immediately proceeded up stairs, pulled off his clogs, coat, and neckerchief, threw himself on the bed, and cut his throat with a razor, which he afterwards threw across the room. He had been at his work at the silk shed of Messrs. Thomas Romp and Sons the same morning, and on returning to his breakfast he was heard quarrelling with Lis daughter.in.law. He then appears to have gone back to the mill, but to have left the place again about ten o'clock, and proceeded home. The young woman was 24 and Whittle was 48 years of age. The latter was a married man, but for the last few years he lived apart from his wife. He had been sent to prison for asshutting his wife, whom on several occasions he had left for dead. It is even averred that he was seen in the fields on Saturday morning last watching for her.  The Rev. F. Meyrick has resigned the office of inspector of schools for the Norfolk district, and has b..eu succeeded by the Rev. F. Synge. Mr. Moncreilf, who has occupied the post of Lord. Advocate in several Liberal governments, is mentioned as the successor of Mr. Patton in the office of Lord Justice• Clerk of Scotland.  A new English paper has "been inaugurated it rip riaina.  ho Channel squadron arrived in Cork harbour an Monday. A prospectus for a cable from Ireland to Nova Scotia has been tuned. ,  "Rome in the Nineteenth Century," a work from the pen of Garibaldi, is expected. The wife of John Mackay, pensioner, died at Strat. by, Caithness-shire, hut week, aged 110 years.  Miss Braddou promises to load off the "Belgravia Jolter:" with a story called "The Scene Painter'i Wife."  'fbn Pripet) and l'rincess of Wales are expected on ii to the Earl of Derby, at linoweley, early in November.  "Una Notte di Novembre," the new opera by Signor Irernunger,.llas been favourably received in the Teatro ho uf  Alfred Sawyer, a carriage litter on the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, was knocked down by au engine of the Leadea mei North-Weeeera Company, at Steward's.lane Junction, on Saturday, and killed, his body being nearly severed in two.