The Sun. — 1839-02-15 (London, England)

HORRIBLE MURDER AND SUICIDE AT PADDINGTON.  (Concluded from The Sun of yesterday.) The sister of the deceased, Lovett, stated that he had expressed great jealousy to her, on account of his wife having refused to tell him the number of the house where she was working at. He was jealous of a person named Southern or Souton, and had complained of the men whom he worked with " chaffing" him and worrying hisn so that he did not know what he was about; he appeared to be very much excited. He used expressions which clearly showed that he was labouring under some strong delusion; witness had told him that she believed his wife was very fond of Mm, and that he ought net to think about such suspicions ; witness had observed a difference in his demeanour since he had the fall and the injury to his head. It was the opinion of the medical man that he could not stand much annoying, and that he should abstain from drinking; there being great danger of his becoming deranged; he had been, with witness almost every day for the last few weeks, and seemed exceedingly fidgetty and agitated ; his eyes at times almost starting oat of his head.  Mr. William Phillpott, of Southwick-street, Paddington, surgeon, deposed that he was called in to the house where the deceased resided ; and found them lying in bed together, on their backs; the man a little inclined to the right; their throats were cut in a violent manner, apparently with a razor. A razor was found under the bed on the floor, with blood upon it; it was quite in the centre of the floor under the bed; witness could not imagine how it came there unless the man after he had cut his throat had by a great effort thrown it under the bed; the deaths of both must have been almost instantaneous. There were no appearances on the woman's hands to indicate that she could have committed the treed ; there was great probability that the man both killed the woman and himself; judging from the quantity of blood on his hands, particularly the right. The whole of the right arm was completely saturated with blood. He must have been over her in some position when he cut his wife's throat. He was outside the clothes, she was inside. She did not appear to have made the least movement or struggle. The whole scene conveyed to the witness's mind the perfect conviction that no other person but the man had committed the act. A man who was jealous, and who had received a severe injury on his head, might awake cud.. denly in the night, and in a fit of frenzy commit such a dreadful act, without being conscious of what he was about. In cases of mental derangement the excitement was always strongest against those who had been most beloved. The deaths must have occurred within an hour before they were discovered. In cases of undue excitement there was a low stage—a state of depression in which there was the most danger, and this accounted for so many murder: and suicides living committed at an early hour of the morning. And from the circumstances which had been detailed in evidence, witness should think that the state of the man's mind, operated upon by a feeling of jealousy, might easily have worked him up to a condition of absolute frenzy. Thomas Garratt, a fellow labourer stsf the deceased man, deposed •hat for the last two months he had observed a great alteration in his appearance and conduct. He seemed often flurried, and did not speak to his companions as he used to do. - About three weeks ago he came to witness, and said that the devil had been to him ; witness laughed, but Lovett repea•ed It wts true : and said the devil told him to keep quiet and not to be in a hurry, for that be would make it all right by and bye: he also said that the devil had " squeezed him tighter than he ever was squeezed before;" he told witness to keep quiet and it would ail be settled soon. He asked witness, "if you should ca. ch a man with your wife and were to kill him, is there any law for it ? " To which witness replied,— " That he knew nothing of law, but that he hoped such a thing would never happi•en to either of them." In answer to questions from the Jury, witness said he never " chaffed" Lovett about his wife, nor did he ever hear any other person doing so. The CORONER said there was evidence enough to show that the man must have been labouring under some delusion. Witness further stated that last Saturday, while they were drinking together, Lovett said to him," Come, drink with me—you'll not see me here much longer;" at the same time nodding his head in a very unusual way, When he heard any conversation going on among his fellow workmen, he would directly fancy they were speaking of him, and would say, " I know what you are talking about," though they were never thinking of him. He was as jealous as possible, and had not, witness was sure, been in his right mind for some time past.  The CORONER said, after the evidence of the last witness, he did not see how the Jury could profitably employ their time in further investigation. The evltence clearly proved, he thought, that the man must hare committed the melancholy act under a fit of insanity.- He (the Coroner) saw no advantage which could result to public justice in returning a verdict of " felo de se," or wilful murder with respect'to the killing of the woman. Though, if the man had survived, he (the Coroner) should have been compelled by law, to direct the Jury to return a verdict of wilful murder ; that the shield of legal protection might be thrown around all others of her Majesty's subjects, from the effects of the man's unsound state of mind. Under present circumstances no such ob. ject could be answered. If the Jury were not satisfied, however, of the condition of the man when he committed the acts, they could return that the deceased was found dead—how and by what means they could not determine. He (the Coroner) thought on the whole they would have no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that the man destroyed his wife and then himself under a temporary rhrensy. It was very mysterious that the man should have left unhurt the child who was sleeping in the same bed, and have only destroyed the wife of whom he had through delusion conceived a groundless jealousy. The Jury returned a verdict that the deceased, William Lovett, cut his wife's throat, and afterwards his own, being, when he committed both acts, in a fit of derangement.