The Central Glamorgan Gazette, and General, Commercial, and Agricultural Advertiser. — 1867-01-04 (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales)

THE DOUBLE MURDER AND SUICIDE  AT EDMONTON.  The following—a r—a the details the terrible tragedy which took place at Lower Edmonton on the 26th of December : _  It app.ars that for some years past a coachemith named W illiam Gudgeon and his wife, a very quiet, hard-working woman, Anne Gudgeon. have occupied • six-roomed house opposite the Great Eastern Railway Station at Lower Edmonton. They had five children, the eldest of them being a girl of 14 years of ago. On Christmas Day the mother of the children complained to her husband of being unwell, and she went to bed at seven o'clock in the evening. At eleven o'clock at night she got up and went town stairs, and joined her husband and children. They remained together for an hour, and then the whole family retired to rest. The husband states that he and his wife slept in a bed in the front top room of the house, and that in a corner of the same room a bed was made up for three of the children. When the woman was going to bed she looked very wild, and sh., said to her husband, "The light of the candle stares in my eyes; put it out." Re did so, and he then fell ealeep. At that time the youngest child, • baby, aged six months, was alive, and was lying asleep in the father's bed. _ .  At two o'olock on Wednesday morning, Selina Gadgeon, • little girl, aged 10 years, wee awakened by a quantity of blood being " spurted" over her face. Ste states that when ehe opened her eyes she was horrified at seeing her mother kneeling over the dead body of her little brother, Timothy George Gudgeon, who had been lying asleep alongside her sister, Sarah Arne Gudgeon. His throat wss cot in a fearful manner, and blood was gushing from the wound. The mother looked very excited, and she held an open razor covered with blood in her right hand. When she saw that, she lied awoke the girl Selina she leant over toward her and caught hold of her. The girl eereamed, and a fearful struggle then enened. Selina, for the purpose of protecting her throat, caught hold of the bed-clothes, and held them over it. She cried out, "Oh, mother, why do you not put that razor down ? You have killed Timothy, and EON you want to mar,!er al. Why do you want to cat our throats ? "The girl then struggled, slid oat a bed, and rested downstairs, followed by her mother, who continued to hold the open razor in her land. The girl ran into the lower front room, followed by the mother. The little girl felt in the dark, and found a match-box lying on the table. She struck a light, and then she saw her mother cutting her own throat, and the blood flowing from the wound. The light then went out, and she heard her mother fall upon the floor. Bunning up stairs, she went into her father's room, and found him in a sound sleep, and by his side lay the dead body of the little baby. The child's throat was out from ear to ear. Selina caught hold of her father, shook him violently, and told him that her mother had murdered two of her brothers. The father, having hurriedly dressed, ran out of the house, and called in a Mrs. Robinson, the wife of • railway employe that lived near. While he was away the girl went to another room, where two of her uncles slept, and woke them up. One a theirs, Thomas Gudgeon, brought in a police sergeant. When they entered the front parlour they found the dead body of the wretched mother lying near the fireplace. Her head rested on the fender, and there was an open black. handled razor lying on her breast. There was a severe gash across her throat. An iron pail, partly filled with blood, was near her head. Dr. O'Brien, of Church. street, Edmonton, who was called in at the time, said that the wound was self-inflicted, and that it must have caused almost instantaneous death. The police and the doctor then went up stairs, and in the front bedroom they found the dead bodies of the two children. Thedoctor examined the bodies, w biota were lying in pools of blood. In the hed corner they found Timothy George Gudgeon, a boy aged four years, lying dead. Hie throat had been cut, and it was the opinion of the doctor that his death must have been instantaneous. The little baby had been killed in a similar manner. The police then questioned Selina Gudgeon, and she gave the account of the dreadful occurrence which we have narrated. When the father returned he said that he had neither heard nor seen anything before he was awoke by his daughter. It is thought that if the little girl had not been accidentally awoke by her brother's blood coming upon her face all in the house would have been murdered by her mother. The family have very respectable connections in the locality. The wife was a sober person, and had been latterly very ill, and under the care of a doctor. Some short time ago a brother-in-law of the deceased woman's died, leaving a widow and five children, and the foot that they were badly off, and that she could not do as much as she desired to do for them, preyed upon the deceased's mind. The painful affair has created great excitement throughout the district, and large crowds visited the house during the week where the murders were committed.