AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 5419, 12 February 1886, Page 2

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Melbourne, February 2. A case of murder and attempted suicide occurred on Tuesday last at Coburg, in the family of Hampton, for several 5 years armorer at Pentridge. It appears,. from the confession of one of. the daughters, that she conspired with three of her sisters to tell a young woman and her mother to kill the younger sister, aged nine, preparatory to committing suicide, in order to escape temptation. The child's throat was cut by Mrs Hampton while the child was held by her sistets.^j Then the sisters inflicted severe cuts on each other's arms, from which they nearly bled to death. A strong taint of insanity runs in the family, and it is said that lately the girls 'have been reading the Pall Mall Gazette disclosures, which have effected their intellects, causing them to think they were all victims of -designing men. On Wednesday an inquest was held' on the body of the child, but had to be postponed, as the sisters were unable to attend. The inquest was adjourned for a month. The eldest son of the family then showed signs of insanity, and the doctor recommended his being locked up. It was with the greatest difficulty he was persuaded to consume sufficient food to* keep him alive, he being under the im- • pression that there is a conspiracy tpi poison him. The Melbourne Cricket Club finally decided that their Australian Eleven shall, consist of Blackham, Spofforth, Palmer, Bonrior, Garrett, Evans, Jones, M'llraith, Scott, Trumble, Bruce,. . Giffen, . :Jarvis;; The papers all agree that the team will; compare well- in all round excellence with any previous eleven, and should well be able to maintain the prestige of the colonies.