SHOCKING CASE OF WIFE MURDER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8195, 5 March 1890, Page 6

SHOCKING CASE OF WIFE MURDER.

- A man named Thomas Middleton, aged 58; years, was arrested in Bail ar Bast, on February 24, by Constables McConvilla and Stallard, on a charge of murdering his wife, Julia Middleton, aged 55 years. The ?artiea occupied the rear portion of the erseverance Hotel, Main Road, and * have \ been intemperate in their habits for a long, I while past, the woman particularly so. On I the night in question, while doing duty inj the Mairfßoad, Constable McConville was hailed by Middleton, who said -that, his wife had, while quarrelling with him, stabbed herself in the left breast, exclaiming, " I'll do for myself and I'll do for you. Middleton further says that the woman on withdrawing the knife from her left breast threw it at him, missing her aim. She then rushed across the street with blood flowing from the wound, to the house of a neighbour named Mrs. Hamilton, where she died before medical aid arrived. Before death she made a statement to Mrs. Hamilton to the effect that her husband had stabbed her. On this statement Middleton was arrested on a charge of murder. The deceased had been on several occasions in the hands of the police on charges of drunkenness and using obscene language. Middleton, who follows the occupation of a fish hawker, says his wife had been drinking for the past seven - weeks. Accused has lived in Ballarat with the deceased for over 30 years, but it is only 10 months ago since he was married to her, the ceremony being performed in the house of a Chinaman. When arrested Middleton was in the Red Lion Hotel, kept by a Chinaman named | Chow Mong. The knife, which has a blade four inches in length, was found by the police under some clothes on a sofa in the house in which the supposed murder was committed. /Che blade was stained with blood. The prisoner appeared quite calm when lodged in the lock-up.