36 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. [April. 



The following particulars have 

 reached us, from which it will 

 clearly appear that the wretched 

 woman laboured under strong 

 mental derangement. On the pre- 

 ceding day she dressed herself, 

 and took her children for a w;dk, 

 a circumstance with her very un- 

 usual on such a day. She went 

 with them to a small stream of 

 water, and looking into it, re- 

 marked that "it was not deep 

 enough, and they would come 

 another time.'" On Sunday moin- 

 ing, she strongly persuaded her 

 husband to go to church ; and 

 when she laid out his Sunday 

 clothes, she gave him a black silk 

 handkerchief, instead of a white 

 one. He inquired the reason, 

 and asked for a white one. His 

 wife immediately said to him in a 

 singular tone — " V^liat, would you 

 not wear it if we all lay dead ?" 

 Graham took no particular notice 

 of this wildness, and went to 

 church. As soon as he was gone, 

 she called the children Into tlie 

 house and locked the door. After 

 washing them, she gave the oldest 

 (a boy about nine years of age) an 

 infant to hold, which was sucking 

 at the breast, and then took one 

 of the other children into an ad- 

 joining room, put it to death by 

 strangling it with her hands, and 

 then laid it into a bed. She re- 

 turned for another, which she 

 strangled in the same manner. 

 When she came for the third, the 

 boy before-mentioned inquired 

 what she was doing, and observed, 

 he thought she was killing the 

 children. She replied, that she 

 would let him soon see what she 

 was doing Avith them, and went 

 into the room with the third, 

 which she &lso strangled. The 



boy being alarmed, laid the infant 

 on the floor, and got into the 

 blacksmith's shop Ijy means of a 

 door which communicates with 

 the dwelling-house, where he con- 

 cealed himself under the large 

 bellows. His mother followed 

 him into the shop, and searched, 

 but could not find him. After she 

 returned into the dwelling-house, 

 the boy escaped fi om the shop by 

 drawing the bolts which secured 

 the great doors. He met his fa- 

 ther as he was returning from 

 church, and told him the dreadful 

 tale 3 assistance was immediately 

 pnicurcd, and on entering the 

 house, the unhappy woman was 

 found with her throat dreadfully 

 cut, without any signs of life ; 

 the infant was lying on the floor 

 unhurt ; and the other three 

 children were found in bed — two 

 of them quite dead ; the other 

 showed symptoms of life, and by 

 proper care lias been much re- 

 covered, biit^still remains in a 

 doubtful state. No cause but in- 

 sanity can be assigned for these 

 dreadful acts. Graham has always 

 proved himself a kind and affec- 

 tionate husband. His wife was 

 naturally of a gloomy disposition; 

 and, latterly, she had formed an 

 idea that her children would come 

 to poverty. The Coroner's jury 

 returned a verdict of Insanity. 



21. A shocking accident hap- 

 pened on M<mday evening. A 

 number of poor people were ga- 

 thering cockles on La vcn- Sands, 

 when on a sudden a thick fog 

 came, and the tide flowing at the 

 time, drowned the whole; one 

 report says \'l in number, men, 

 women, and children. — Chester 

 papi r 



Since the pul.'lication of this 



pcper. 



