The Stockton Examiner, and South Durham and North Yorkshire Herald. — 1879-04-19 (Stockton-on-Tees, Cleveland, England)

PEEBLES TRAGEDY.  The Srotantan publishes the following particulars lf the shocking occurrence near Peebles :—"Early st Friday forenoon the inhabitants of the district surrounding Peebles were shocked by the intelligence, which passed from house to house, of a melancholy 3ccurrence that had taken place near the county town —namely, the murder of four children by their mother, and the suicide of the unhappy woman herself. The scene of the tragedy is a level crossing on the Edinburgh Railway. about it mile and a half from Peebles, known an Winkston, where the cottage has, f3r the last six or seven months, been occupied by I George Murray, who was employed as a surfaceman. ' an the railway, and whose wife attended during tho Iday to the opening and closing of the gates. On Friday morning Murray left his home as usual for his work at Poinathern, starting between six ancl seven o'clock, and not intending, as Ids practice was, to return till the evening. At the cottage all had gone well—at least it is presumed no —till half-past I eight o'clock, when the first train for Edinb h urg I passed, the train officials then observing Mrs. Murray, 1 cb An and tidy, as she always was,' standing near i her door. Not long afterwards, however, ti farmer driving up to the gates found he could get on one to re .pond to his calls, and being accustomed to very different treatment when passing along thie road, ho at once surmised that there mint be something amiss. Knocking at the cottage door he ascertained that it was bolted; and mine surfacemen who were in the neighbourhood being then communicated with, it. tem further discovered that all the windows had been made la.et. In these ciretunstanues a pane of glass was broken, and a glimpse obtained of the interior; but more than this the party did not seek; the worst :mssible mspicions were confirmed, and a messenger mts accordingly seat off to Peebles, requestlng the ereience of the chief constable, Mr. Watson. On the trrival of this oilier, accompanied by the station agent and Sergeant Cunningham, the cottage was stirred by forcing opal the door. Ins bed in one of Me rams there were then found lying the bodies of four children, all frightfully manglA about the the neck—the eldest a girl of nine years, and tho 3ther three boys, the youngest being not mmy months. 31.1. On the floor, close by the bed, lay the body of Mrs. Murray, alas deeply wounded in the neck; a blood.stained razor, flung down by her side, affording significant index to the meaning of the terrible mem. In every case life was extinct. The horrid .:ecurrence can it is believed, be accounted for only in one way—by the supposition that inn sudden fit of immity Mrs. Murray had been tel to destroy her ehitiren, ansi then to turn her frenzy upon herself. For the :tad news that reached him in the forenoon Murray himself was, it is needless to my, not in the tlig-htt,t degree prepared. He knew, it is true, that insanity bad already shown itself in at least one ' member of his wife's family, but in her behaviour he had never, it is stated. observed anything fitted to areuse suspicion. Oct Friday morning he left her in der accustomed niocel ; and again, when, at halfpest eitit, she was observed from the nqrth-going train, them was no trait in her behaviour to aural attention. It must, however, have been almost immediately after the train had passed that the tragedy took place, it being believed, from the fact that the children were found in their night-dresses, that they had not got out of best when they were attacked by theit unhappy mother. Murnty, it may be added, has been long in the railway company's service, and has always borne the eharacter of a quiet respectable man. Before taking up his residence at Winkston he acted for Wine years as district ' gaffer ' or surfaceman at Wallierburn, near Innerlithen, his removal being in. dueed by a desire to obtain easier employment. A brother of his unfortunate wife was, it is stated lately admitted to a lunatic asylums."  Lrerd Belpher ha resigned the uresidancv of Uhl. varsity Collets.  4