SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT LEEDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 9367, 25 November 1893, Page 2 (Supplement)

SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT LEEDS.

MURDEROUS ATTACK ON AN OLD MAN AND HIS WIFE. A terrible discorery was made on Thursday morning, October 12, in Kirkstall Road, Leeds. On the premises of Nichols and Beckworth's tannery lived an old man and his wife named Thompson, who acted as caretakers ; and the milkman, on entering the house that morning, found the old man lying; in a pool of blood on the floor, quite dead, while Mrs. Thompson was lying unconscious almost closo to her husband. There was also a hammer found, and to all appearances they had both been belaboured with it. Thompson's skull was fractured to pieces, and when discovered his body was quite cold, so that he must have been dead some hours. Mrs. Thompson, whose head was terribly battered, was lying across her husband's body, and the fireirons and furniture were covered with blood, showing that a struggle had taken place % The hammer was found, not in the same room, but in the scullery. There were bloodstains upon the hammer, and it seemed as if an attempt had been made to wash them off. Mrs. Thompson, who has been removed to the infirmary, is lying unconscious and in a critical condition. The police are making active inquiries into the matter, but so far nothing has been found to lead to the identity of the old people's assailant.