The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1842-09-06 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

FRIGHTFUL MURDER OF A CHILD BY ITS MO THER, AND SUICIDE OF THE MURDERESS.  (From the Merthyr Guardian of Saturday.) The unfortunate woman who was principal actor in the mournful scene was named Mary Evan. She lived with her husband at the Red Cow, a decent public-house, situate about four miles from Llantrissent, and one mile from TonyrEfel. The inn is well known on the road, and none who frequented it ever suspected that Mrs. Evan was a person at all likely to commit so dreadful an act. She had formerly been a servant in the family of Mr. Harris, of Treverig—in that occupation she continued three years—and faithfully performed her duties. She was 44 years of age. On arriving at the Red Cow a frightful spectacle presented itself. The house was filled with weeping and wailing friends. The wretched husband sat groaning in a chair by his desolate fire-side, and the shrieks of the neighbours who, now and then, ventured into the rooms where the bodies lay, were absolutely appalling. We first went into the room in which lay the dead body of the poor little fellow, William Evan. He was six years of age, and as the neighbours touchingly remarked, " his mother's boy." He was her only child, and she was passionately fond of him. On Wednesday morning, Mr. Evan got up for the purpose of proceeding to Cummer, at which place he had built some houses. His object in going was to receive some rent due to him. He left the Red Cow, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning. Before his quitting the house, his wife went to the child's bedside and kissed him twice. After this, what passed within the house is merely a matter of conjecture. The only two persons why could give an-account are no more. At about ten o'clock, a little boy who had been in the habit of taking the poor murdered child to school for him. the door and windows were closed. He fancied he heard a noise as of knocking in the house, but supposing that the people within were busy, he went off. At that moment, it is most probable the child was being murdered. The Red Cow is not a much-frequented house, and thus may account for the unnoticed closed doors and windows during the hours of ten and three o'clock, at which time the husband returned from Cummer. When he got to his own door it was closed, and so were the window shutters. After ineffectual knockings he, with a gentleman of Aberdare, who dad stopped just before for a glass of beer, burst open the oor. The room below was quiet and clean ; all was in order. His wife having been of late subject to low spirits, a fear flashed on Mr. Evan's mind, and he went up stairs. The first object which he saw was the lifeless body of his wife. She was suspended from a beam, and quite dead. Two persons, named Thomas Williams and Evan Matthew, cut her down. At first it was supposed that she was alive, as both her feet trailed on the floor. On a closer examination it was found, that before placing the cord round her neck, her throat had been cut. The manner in which the cord had been placed over the beam was striking. Mrs. Evan must have made two turns, and then fixed a noose at the end of the rope on a peg, which was in the timber, thus preventing the noose slipping, and frustrating her deadly purpose. When the husband saw the body lie had no idea of the death of his child, but the blood on the hands of his wife excited his fears. He proceeded to the parlour, and there lay his son with his throat cut in a shocking manner, and quite dead. He lay in a pool of blood. When we saw the poor child he had been removed to a table, but the appearance of the room was terrific—the blood covered the floor. In a pool of gore lay the razor with which the murder was committed, and the traces of the poor boy's struggles were distinctly shown in his own blood marks. n s the r d most ed a probabletely NrEvans that th el e ft leis dreadfuli housen he m deedsi twer ecoorm mg morning, a murder immediately n islt b l endo t over ali tittie singular esrhouft ttehres ewhei ri de owb as se r pv dr pteot br aet ce ld o sien t d ai tl et e dna or k' oacnkd. Th when the person who found his body entered the room, hes t n that although Mrs. Evan's hands hung findinghetrhsaetlf: her and arms were covered with blood to the elbows, yet not a trace of blood was found in the room where she hung herself. attempt having provided to destroythe life rope an was d adjusted it before-hand. Mrs. Evan had of late been observed to be low spirited i She must it is supposed, have cut her throat down stairs,netfee ineffectual, dthshene, and shy, but no apprehensions of her injuring herself were entertained. She had been heard, however, to say that her husband would do very well without her and the child. She also frequently expressed her fears that she should come to poverty, and as her husband had borrowed money to enable him to finish his houses, at Cummer, she seemed afraid that he never would be able to repay it, although there was not the slightest ground for her misgivings. We have since heard that the unfortunate woman attempted her own destruction and that of her child some years since, when she strapped the boy on her back, and walked into the river. They were then saved, to experience if possible, a dreadful fate.  The following curious inscription is copied from a tombstone in Lincoln Cathedral :—" Here lieth ye body of Michael Honeywood, D.D., who was grand-child, and one of ye 367 persons that Mary the wife of Richd. H., Esq., did see before she died, lawfully descended from her—that is, 16 of her own body, 114 grand-children, 228 of the third generation, and 9 of ye fourth."