The Cannock Chase Examiner. — 1874-05-23 (Cannock, Staffordshire, England)

SUICIDE BY A WOMAN.  At the Worship street Police Court, London, last ' week, Emma Kiteller, of respectable appearance, was charged with attempting to murder Ann Cleves, and further with attempting to commit !suicide. The prisoner, who seemei very weak and I ill, was allowed a seat in the dock.—The prosecutrix said she had been acting Hs nurse to the pH(toner during her husband's absence, the prisoner having for some time been suffering from nervous • I and mental ailment, rendering it unsafe for her to Ibe left. On the afternoon of Monday, the 2nd of I ' March, witness was staying with t)i.e prisoner, I I and she had complained greatly of the pains in her head and general sufferings. , She was advised to lie down (she was in bet), and consented to do so if witness would lie down with her. She did an, and fell asleep. In ' about half an hour she was awakened by being attacked by the prisoner, who had then by some means possessed herself of a carving knife, with which she struck at her several times. Witness caught up a chair and struck the prisoner with it twice to compel her to drop the knife, but the prisoner seized her by the hair of the head, and threw ! her backwards on the bed. She then struck at her ! l head and throat several times with the knife, and after a long struggle with the prisoner witness be- ! came exhausted and fell upon the floor. The prisoner threw herself tpon her, and continued striking at her with the knife. Witness received wounds on the head and face, and on the throat. , Her hands were also much cut by trying to grasp the knife and prevent the blows taking effect. She ' screamed " Murder!" and "Help!" and some men ' at length burst into the room awl took the prisoner away. Benjamin Pitman, residing in Cardigan road, Bow, said that on the n'ternoon of the find of March he was attracted by cries of " Murder ?' proceeding from the house, 24. Cardigan road. The door was closed, so that he and other men, who had also heard the cries, could not enter, but one ! man passed through an adjoining house, and by I climbing over the garden wall obtained entrance at the back door, and admitted witness and others. The cries of alarm still continued, and witness, I with a man named Joiner, rushed upstairs to aback • room on the first floor, where they tried to enter, but found that something on the inside preventriel the door being. opened. With some exertion the udo r was p‘rally ope -ed. and on looking inside th., prisoner was seen kneeling on Mrs. Cleves, hacking at her throat with a knife. The door waa then forced in, the two women being pushed away with it. Witness, from having only one hand, could only pull the prisoner off the prosecntrix. In doing so she dropped the knife, but instantly snatched it up again, and made a plunge at her own throat with it. The knife was then wrested from her the prisoner, however, attempted toter open with her nails the wound she had caused in her throat. She was held, but broke sway, and rushed into the adjoining room, where she seized the poker from the fireplace and tried to force the pointed end of that into the wound. Eventually they succeeded in strapping her into s chair, and holding her down until a constable came. The medical evidence showed that the prisoner was undoubtedly insane at the time, and Mr. Bushby committed her for trial at the Central Criminal Court, bail being refused.  At a meeting of the Presbyterian Synod, in London, last week, regret was expressed at the ' suspension of negotiations for immediate union by the United Presbyterian Church. The next Synod is to be held in London. A resolution was passed approWng of the holding of an (Ecumenical Council.  - The new oratorio, t' Jesus Christ," so successfully produced in Berlin. is in three parts, with six principal scenes. The Entry of the Saviour into Jerusalem and the Last Supper form the first part; the Denial of Peter, Christ before the Grand Pontiff anti bef ore Pilate, and the Cruoifirion, the second section; and the fival one is devoted to the Resurrection of Jesus. The characters in the score are I Cheat, the Grand Pontiff. Pilate, Peter, Judas, Thomasr the two Marys, e Pharisee, an Angel. two Servants, the two Thieves, the Disciples. and the 4 People.