The Sun. — 1861-04-24 (London, England)

THE SUSPECTED MURDER AND SUICIDE AT CARLISLE. -.CARLISLE, Anal, 22. ,The inquest on the bodies of William Horsley, aged 23, and his mother-in-law, Jane Davidson, aged 49, who died at Carlisle on Friday, the 12th inst., under the extraordinary circumstances already reported, was resumed to-day before Mr. Carrick, the county coroner, and a respectable jury. The first witness examined was Margaret Robinson, a married daughter of the deceased woman, who had been an inmate of the house on the night of the suspected murder. Mrs. Davidson, she said, had kept the King of Prussia Inn at Penrith °afore she came to Carlisle at Candlemas last, and William Horsley boarded there kith his wife, till she died, as was said, of bronchitis. Horsley subsequently came to a draper's shop in Carlisle, and went over to Penrith occasionally to visit his mother-in-law, who came to Carlisle to the Pack-horse Inn at Candlemas. After that Horsley visited the house almost nightly. Witness denied that she knew of any improper intimacy existing between Horsley and his mother-in-law, but said that she thought a great deal more of him than of any of her own children. Horsley went to the Pack-horse on Thursday night, the 11th inst. He was quite sober, and Mrs. Davidson was quite sober when the other inmates retired to rest, leaving them together in the kitchen. Next morning Horsley was found dead in the kitchen; her mother, Mrs. Davidson, Horsley's mother-in-law, was seized with great sickness, and did not express any surprise at being so ill. There was no cup or drinking vessel in her bedroom or in the bar which could have contained poison. During the night witness had heard her mother come upstairs into the room in which she (witness) slept with her husband and rummage in the drawers. She asked her what she wanted, and her mother replied, that she was looking for a paper. Whether she returned downstairs or went to her room after she had searched the drawers, one of which she unlocked, witness could not say. On Friday afternoon while the jury were viewing the body of Horsley his mother-in-law died. Wm. Whitehead, an upholsterer, who had at one time lodged at the house of. Mrs. Davidson, when she kept the King of Prussia Inn, but who afterwards left, gave the following extraordinary evidence :—I never went near Mrs. Davidson after that till she was going to leave. She sent for me, and when I went she said unto me, " Whitehead, we have got a great deal of rats here." I said, " Have you?" She said, " Yes ; we are nearly worried with rats," and she said she would give anything to " cure" them. She said, " Can you tell me what colour strychnine is ?" I said, "No." She said, ".Do you think I could easily got to know ?" I said,," Yes; that will easily be done." I asked a young man if he knew what colour it was. He said, " Yes, it is white; it is just like flour." Next day I went for some tobacco and told her. When I had told her some one came into the shop and I went to my work. She sent for me next day, and when I went she started talking about strychnine. She gave me ls. I had been off work for some time, and she thought I could not have much. She talked on a little bit, and said, "Do you think you could get me is. worth of strychnine ?" I said, " What for ?" She said, "I want these rats cured." I said, " You can cure them without strychnine." She said, " Well, you like revenge yourself, don't you ?" " Yes," I said, " but there are many ways of having revenge." She said, " That is mine. I said, " What is it ?". She did not exactly say at first, and I said, " If you want revenge you should get it as I get it ; you should lay wait till you get it without anything of that kind.' She said, " Will you swear you will not mention it to any one ?" I said I would not repeat it. She said, " Well, I must toll you the truth ; it is for Horsley." That was before he came to Carlisle. I said to her, " Why do you want it for him ?" She said he had behaved very badly to her. I said, "In what way 9" She -saidha-h she had bought him all his furniture that ver he w. hh ae ewk e. n t Ht to hhoauds ekt aeke epni nigt , ahnn seh;ea eculdnodehgeet nsaoidth is nh ge had done many things for him besides which she did not wish to mention at that time, but she would tell me some time. I asked her, and said she might as well tell me then. I said, "Ifit is for him, Mrs. Davidson, I would advise you to have nothing to do with it. You will get yourself into a ' hobble' over it." And then she said, " Never mind ; if you will only get it for me you need never mind." She said she would do as much for me some time when she had the power. (Much laughter.) She did not mean anything of that kind ; she meant she would give me some money. A Juror—Perhaps she would do it to keep you from tellin it again. Witness g c ontinued—l said, "Well, I will see." My blood ran cold, and I did not know what to say to her. I shut the door and' went across home. There was a )oung man who lodged at the same place, and I told him. I said she had given me a Shilling• He said, " Come, lqt us spend the,