The Northern Guardian. — 1893-10-06 (Hartlepool, Cleveland, England)

COATHAM SENSATION.  A DOCTOR'S FOLLY.  ATTEMPTED MURDER AND  SUICIDE.  I A terrible scene occurred on Wednesday night in the house of Dr. George Pilkington, of Newcomen Terrace, Coatham, Redear. Dr. Pilkington had been to Stockton on the occasion of the Park opening, and returned home by the 7.14 train, which arrives in Redcar at 7.51. On his arrival he and his wife quarrelled over, it is supposed, his visit to Stockton. There were in the room at the time the two Misses Pilkington, and a young daughter of Alderman Jones, of Middlesbrough, who is at present staying at Redcar. Dr. Pilkington ordered them out of the room. Miss Jones went home, and Miss Pilkington left the room, though her younger sister declined to leave. The quarrel continued, and the doctor, seizing a large dissecting knife, PLUNGED THE WEAPON INTO HIS WIFE'S CHEST on the left side. The youngest daughter pluckily seized her father, and as soon as Mrs Pilkington found herself released she ran out, of the drawing. room and entered the house of her next door neighbour. She was in a very weak condition through fear and loss of blood. She fainted twice, and medical attendance was at once procured. Dr. Walker dressed her wound, and meanwhile Dr. Pilkington, who had gashed his throat with the terrible weapon, had been locked in the room. The police were apprised, Inspector Hawkins and P.C. Page arriving about ten o'clock, when they found  DR. PILKINGTON IN A VERY WEAK CONDITION, the left side of his throat having been cut clean open. P.C. Page, who is an ambulance student, saw that nothing could be done, with the case, and after moving the doctor's head to the left to close the wound, which had ceased to bleed, Dr. Walker was called in to attend him. The wound was dressed, and the doctor was laid upon a couch and a lire lighted in the room. Stimulants were administered, and the doctor gradually began to revive, but it was not till the early hours of the morning that he seemed to be fully aware of what had occurred. The unfortunate man, who is watched by two policemen, is in a critical condition.  MRS PILKINGTON HAS ALSO HAD A NARROW ESCAPE from death, which must have inevitably resulted had the wound been only an inch deeper. The affair has caused a painful sensation in the neighbourhood, and domestic unhappiness is assigned as the cause. The house in which the sad affair occurred stands almost in the centre of a large block of three-storied property, built in white bricks, with raised tesselated balconies of red and black squares, opposite to the Coatham Convalescent Home. Dr. Pilkington, whose father was a prosperous builder in Middlesbrough, Was a man of short and slight build, and of dark complexion.  HIS PRACTICE WAS NOT VERY EXTENSIVE, and he was in the habit of acting as loeum tenens for other practitioners, frequently at a distance. He was very fond of fishing along with his two daughters from the Coatham Pier, or from a coble, in which he frequently took his wife and children, and he also had a penchant for shooting. He seems to have been a great favourite with the habituils of the pier cabin and frequenters of the sea wall. At times he seemed to be in very melancholy moods and some people think that he should have been watched, for during the past year he has been frequently seen sitting on one of the seats facing the sea with tears streaming down hi a cheeks. When asked the cause of his grief he replied that it was domestic trouble. Mrs Pilkington is about 36 years of age, and her husband is about two years her senior. One of her brothers, a retired solicitor, lives at Pierremont House, Redear, and her sister lives at Coatliam. The husband of the latter is an iron merchant and shipbroker in Middlesbrough, and also acts in the capacity of British Consul.