SHOCKLNG TRAGEDY IN LONDON.

Otago Witness, Issue 929, 18 September 1869, Page 15

SHOCKLNG TRAGEDY IN LONDON.

(The Time*, Juno 29th. ) Early yoaterday morning n whole family, consisting of the father, mother, and six children, wcro found dead in a house in Honor Lane, Smithflold, and ondor circum■Unooe which can lo&ve no doubt that thoy had perished from tho offeoU of poison. Thdr Uftmoa wen Walter Jamea Duggen, the father, 88 yoars of age 5 Emma Duggen, tho wife and mother, 40} Walter James, their eldori mo, 13 yearn old ; Emma, IS yean; Jestie, 0} Herbert Thomas, 4} George Henry, 3 yoari ; and Ada Franoos, H monihf, The fakher wu a working

Inlveramith ? in ' * t&e employment " of Messrs JChawierv arid ' (Jo,, who have, extensive, premises used as a manufactory 'and offices in Hosier Lane; and with his family occupied an adjoining house belonging to the firm', 1 living rent free. ■* He had been in that service about sbc< or 'seven years, and{i» supposed to have come from Bristol. ' Latterly,' however, he had fallen 'into ill-health; and had. been obliged on medical advice' to relinquish his employment, and with it the house 1 he occupied under ' his masters. Whether or not that had preyed upon his mind may now never be known. ' A letter in the father's own hand led to the discovery of the tragedy, ,It is understood to have been addressed to the police authorities in Smithfield, where there is a district police-station, and to have been to the effect that if they went to the house, No. 15, Hosier Lane, on Monday (yesterday) morning, they would find something to interest them. That letter, whioh had been posted on Sunday, was delivered about 8 or half-past 8 o'clock yesterday morning, and on their going to, tho house indicated, which they did immediately afterwards, they did indeed find sornetaing which interested, them painfully. They found the front door lockedLon the inside, but obtained admission through a window at the back. It is a house of two' floorß, a first and ■ second, immediately over some workshops, and the deoeased man, Duggen, and his family had occupied it, using tho first floor as a sittingroom, and kitchen, and the upper floor, consisting of two apartments, as bedrooms. On » bed ia the front room lay the dead bodies of the mother and of three of the youngeat children, one on each side of her, and the other across the foot of the bed. The dead bodies of tbe daughters, Emma and Jessie, were stretohed upon another bed in the same room, and that of the eldest boy, Walter James, upon an adjoining crib, while the body of tbe father lay alone in the baoic room. According to one account, on a can e- bottomed chair afc the side of the bed in which were the bodies of the mother and three infant children waß a table glass, and a spoon was found among the bedclothes. Another version is that the glass was found near the bed on which the dead body of the father lay, but these and " other matters of detail will, no doubt, be cleared up at thejinquest. a bottle about three or four inches long, labelled "Hydrooyanio acid," and "Poison," the last-mentioned word being in oonspicuous letters, was found in one of the bedroomp, and another precisely the same in size, appearance, and label, in a room below. Neither bottle bore the name of the Beller. A Family Bible, containing the names an 1 dates of birth of the father and mother and of the several children written on a fly leaf, and with the marriage certificate of the heads of the little household attached, was likewise found in one of the rooms on tho second floor, and by it the police were able to ascertain the names and ages of the family, The whole of the dead bodies (eight iv number) were in their night dresses, and lay in an orderly manner, mostly on their lacks, and just as if they had resigned themselves to sleep fo r the night. The features of all of them were placid and composed, and there were no evidences of any struggle. The lipß of most of them were compressed, and on those of one or two thore was a slight appearance of a bluish fluid or discolouration. At present it is a matter for speculation whether, as is the more likely, all or any of them camo by their deaths while in bed, or whether the murderer — assuming, of course, a murder, of whioh there c»n be no question —after despatching his viotims by a deadly poison, carefully disposed their lifeless bodies in the way in which thoy were eventually found by tho police, and then committed suicide. It is a remarkable ciroumotanoo in connexion with the tragedy that a neighbour oooupying a houso exact. y opposite that of the deoeased saw the gas alight in the kitchen between three and four o'olock yesterday morning. Between eight and nine, when tho police entered, tho gas had been turned off, and one inference is that after the poison had been administered and had taken effeot tho murderer had boon for some hours oooupiod in disposing of the dead bodies of the viotims. Tho remains of some charred paper were fomd in tho kitchen grato, but on examination thoy did not throw any additional light on tho matter. As may bo supposed, tho affair has caused a p.tinful and profound fooling throughout tho whole immediate neighbourhood, aud much commiseration in roferenco to tho six innocent children. Himor Lane, tho scono of it, ia a clean, wall kept thoroughfare, at tho back of St. Sopulohro 8 church, and immediately iiv front ot ono of tho main ontances to St Bartholomow'B Hospital. It leads from Sintthfiold to FArringdon road, anrlis less than two minutes' walk from a ponoo station. The premises of an old firm of manufacturing silversmiths form a consider•bio part «f it, and tho rest of tho street is ohiolly occupied by a rcspcote' le olass of artinun* and their families. Tho neighbours speak in touching torms of tho unfortunate children, whoso tuly appoarnnco was creditable to tho mothor. Un Sunday evening, about nino o'clock, tho father was observed cnterng tho hon»o with them, apparently on returning from a walk, and they were not soon again alive by any of the noighbour*. On tho discovery, Mr Wilson, a surgeon in Farringdon street, was oalled in, but to no purpose except to pronounoe that all the eight wore dead.

An inquest on the bodies took placo on the 30th Joiie, at which tho jnry, alter » short deliberation, retarned a verdlofc "TkafcwhlU in an unsound state of mind Dttggen and his wifemurdredtholr fix children, and thta

destroyed themselves. The funeral of the 1 whole eiffHt;pers&is - took * place , on the 2nd July. The Daily 'Telegraph: of the following day says : — An immense crowd of people were,, assembled round the house, and the police had, great difficulty in keeping the passages blear. The funeral arrangements, were in the hands of the parish undertaker, as the relatives of the dead decline to bear any of the expense. The difficulty of getting the hearses to the door of the house was very great, and waa only overcome at last through the untiring efforts of the police: Tn the first hearse were, placed the coffins of Duggen and three of hia children, and in the second those of the mother and tbe other three children. The police managed to make a passage through , the crowd, and by that means the hearses were able to get into Smithfield, where they were followed by several thousand persons. The whole family were interred at Ilford, in a parish grave *