The Sun. — 1861-08-02 (London, England)

MURDER AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE,  (THIS DAY.)  This morning at an early hour another chapter to the recent tales of horror was added by a report that a man had murdered his wife at No. 3, Newton-street, Holborn, and that he had afterwards attempted to commit suicide. The neighbourhood, which is very thickly populated by persons of the lower grade of life, was soon in full conster • nation and excitement. It appears from careful inquiries of the police authorities, Mr. Superintendent Durkin and Inspector Mackenzie, who have charge of the case, and so ably performed their duties in relation to the Northumberland-street tragedy, that this morning about half-past one P. C. Wakeham, 144 F, while on duty, saw the murderer, whose name is Wm. Cogan, a hawker of poultry, a man of about 30 years of age, standing with his wife at the door of No. 3, Newton-street, in which house they occupied the first floor front room. They appeared to have been drink. ing, and were quarrelling. The wretched man went up to the police-constable and said, " I will settle it to-night, and if not, to-morrow," pointing to his wife and his own throat. The constable, however, took no further notice, and passed on, but to his surprise and horror, on going his rounds at 2.45, Cogan came up to him in a bleeding state, and pointed to his throat, in which the constable saw several fearful wounds, and, finding the man could not speak, he lost no time in conveying him to King's College Hospital, where he was immediately attended by the house-surgeons, when, on examination, it was found that he had cut his throat in three distinct places, but without severing the carotid artery. The police-constable, Wakeham, then asked him if he had cut his wife's throat too. The wretched man nodded in the affirmative, and pointed in the direction of his own house. The constable, leaving the man in charge of the hospital authorities, went directly back to Newtonstreet, and entering the front room on the first floor he found the unfortunate wife of the murderer lying across a basket in a pool of blood, and a razor lying on the floor, which from examination it was evident had been used by the murderer in cutting the throat of his victim and that of his own ; on raising the body a deep cut from under the right ear to the shoulder blade of the left side was found inflicted with such force as to nearly sever the head from the body. Mr. Painter, the divisional surgeon, was sent for, and on examination of the wounds, he pronounced the unfortunate woman to be quite dead, and that death must have been almost instantaneous, as all the main arteries were severed, and that she had been dead some time; therefore there is little doubt that the murderer consummated his deadly purpose soon after he first accosted the police-constable at half-past one o'clock. The murderer and his wife bear but an indifferent character; they have fortunately only one child, and that a boy of nine years of age, who appears to have been reared in neglect and crime, as he is now an inmate of a Reformatory. Mr. Inspector Mackenzie has taken charge of the room and the body of the unfortunate woman, and stationed constables to keep off the crowd. On inquiry at King's College Hospital, at one o'clock, it was ascertained that the murderer was in a very dangerous state, but progressing favourably. The cause of quarrel ending in murder is attributed to their drinking propensities.