"MAD WITH TORMENT"
YOUNG TOF, SUFFOCATED. In the dock at Leineter Assizes a son stood charged with the murder of hi* young wife by suffocating her under a feather bed,, and his mother is to be charged on the same count. liichard Purser, of Castletown, near Carlow, the son, married Annie- Ashmore on April 17 last. She brought him a dowry of £BO. Disputes, said the prosecuting counsel, soon began, the bride complaining that she did" not g*-t enough to eatlln September a deed was drawn up dei fining the "duties and privileges" of wife ■and mother-in-law respectively. Almost I imiijediately afterwards, raid, counsel, ! rmrthcr and son began to poison the^: young | woman with She- had to take to her bed. On the morning of October 3 imothm- and son took a feather bed tick ' into her room, and placed it over Iter. Then both mother and son lay on the ! tick until she was stifled. -After'"being I cautioned, the mother said she and' Richard put the.feather tick over Annie's face. "I lay on the tick for a few minutes', and then ' found my daughter-in-law dead." Richard said: "I assisted my mother ;n lying on the. tick which my mother bad placed over my wife." h> letters to three clergymen Richard wrote: "The devil took full possession of -as, and we were tempted to.do it; Vf.? have truly repented and confessed." \To relatives he. wrote '•Mother and .1 wore mad with torment." 1 Being found "guilty," Purser was sentenced to death. He was .strongly recommended to mercy, the defence being that he was a mental degenera&r>
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19190315.2.124
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 12
Word Count
266"MAD WITH TORMENT" Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 12
Using This Item
Allied Press Ltd is the copyright owner for the Evening Star. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons New Zealand BY-NC-SA licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Allied Press Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.