Widnes Examiner. — 1888-02-11 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE S.ALFQ.RD TRAGEDY.-FURTHER DETAILS. RESULT OF THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. /As might have been anticipated, the shocking tragedy, discovered in Salford on Friday, caused the greatest sensation not only in the district but throughout the country. On Saturday, .the house in Garfield-street. where Derby, after poisoning his wife and six children, committed suicide, was in possession of the police, one of whom was stationedrizeAde and another outside in the street in front of the house. The bodies lay precisely as they were found. Mr. D. Alexander Derby, in a further interview with a friend, says he is convinced that his "poor boy" (the affectionate way in which he alluded to the deceased) could not be right in his mind, because he (the father) does not receive a single shilling under the will of his late relative in Ireland, the whole of the property being left to his three sons (one of whom was the deceased) and his daughter. On the deceased's father going into the bedroom at Garfield-street, on Friday morning, he saw the box containing the will and papers, and the key was in the lock. The old gentleman was going to lock up the box and take the keys, but the constable in charge of the premises objected, and said nothing of the sort must be done. In answer to the question, "How long do you think your son and family have been dead ?" Mr. Alex. Derby said, "Well, that question I cannot deAnitely answer, but I shoultl think the deed was done on Theeday. My reasorefor thinking so is this :—On Tuesday morning I received a letter from my other eon in Ireland saying that if 'Sam' (that is the deceased) would send back, either to him or to the lawyer in Ireland, the will and papers relating to the uncle's estate, he would do everything in his power to assist him in realising the estate and getting the money and his 'present speculation as to the patent,' This patent has reference to an invention which my son, the deceased, has brought out for preventing the jumping of the wheels of railway carriages in passing. over joints of the rails. He has already patented it in England, and he required more money to patent it in Germany, Austria, France, and America. In that letter which I received from my son in Ireland he states that he has written Sam at the same time and to the same effect, so that I expect the letter would be delivered at Garfieldstreet on Tuesday morning. A letter has been found in the house in Garfield-street, which is dated Tuesday, and is evidently in answer to the one my eon Sam received prom his brother in Irelani. In that letter the deceased etys something to the effect that his brother's letter arrived too late, that his wife and children were gone, and that he was going too." Here the old gentleman burst into tears, and afterwards added that his son Sam was very affectionate towards his wife and family, and he never knew them to have a qualrel or " even a wrong word." Deceased was a steady man, very intelligent, and of a kindly disposition, and had been a total abstainer from boyhood. On Saturday morning, Mr. William Wilson, M.D., Broad-street, Pendleton, received the requisite authority from Mr. F. Price, the district coroner, to make a postmortem examination of the bodies of the deceased. About noon, Dr. Wilson accompanied by Sergeant Wilson, the coroner's of'ficer, arrived at the house. During the afternoon a crowd gathered in front of the house, and a large number of persons were standing opoosite on the footpath in Trafford-read, but even the 'nest humble were quiet and orderly in the extreme, And as they stood in knots of a dozen or so every face bore an expression of sorrow. Dr. Wilson. who has had long and varied experience in post-mortems, on arriving in the kitchen at once proceeded to examine the body of the man Simnel Hill Derby. The body was found to be fairly well nourished, and ' there were no outward marks of violence of any kind. Dr. Wilson then began his dissection, nd opening the stomach there was emitted a strong smell of prussic acid. The examination was careand exhaustive, and the operation occupied about two or three hours. Dr. Wilson then made an external •xatnination of thesernaining seven bodies, and came to 'li conclusion that it would not be necessary to dissect llThf them, as from ontward anpearance.s there could be no doubt death was produced by the same means in each ease, whatever that means might be. After making a. eostenortem et one of the young children, Dr. Wilson &sad his examination, and the stomachs and intestines /I the two bodies were plaoed in jars, sealed, and under his personal supervision conveyed to his surgery in 'tread-street, where the parts will be subjected to a imple analytical test, and, it is stated, there can belittle loutit that prussic acid has been the cause of death in 'ccli case. •