REVOLTING MURDER.,, 157' 
By a road leading south- westwardly from Chapultepee, at the distance 
of about a mile, you reach Tacubaya, a town somewhat celebrated in the 
history of Spanish diplomacy. It is a quiet country village, containing 
many delightful residences of the Mexican merchants, and is chiefly re- 
markable for a palace of the Archbishop surrounded by beautiful gardens 
and groves, from the azotea of v^^hich there is one of the finest views of 
the volcano of Popocatepetl and the neighboring mountain of Iztacci- 
huatl. 
On the 28th of April, 1842, the city of Mexico was thrown into com- 
motion by the recital of a dreadful double murder that had been committed 
on the previous night in this village. 
Mr. Egerton was an English artist — a landscape painter of great emi- 
nence — who had resided several years in the Republic, and had just 
returned again to the country from a visit to England, bringing with him 
a lovely young woman as his wife. After residing a few months in town, 
he rented a small establishment at Tacubaya, to which he repaired with 
his lady, and during the period that he remained there, but seldom visited 
the Capital. Yet he sometimes came in to see his brother, and on the 
evening of the day preceding the fatal event, he left the city on his return 
home. 
As soon as he reached Tacubaya, he went out accompanied by his wife, 
to take their usual evening walk ; and this is the last that is known of them 
with any certainty. In the course of the night, the little dog that usually 
followed them in their rambles returned to the house alone. 
On the morning of the 28th, some p^ons, who were going from the vil- 
lage to work in the fields, discovered Mr. Egerton's body lying on the 
road. The spot was soon thronged by the villagers, and, after a thorough 
search in the neighborhood, the body of his wife was found in an adjoining 
field of aloes. 
Those who saw the shocking sight, describe it as the most horrible they 
ever beheld. Egerton had evidently been slain, after a severe struggle j 
a rattan, which he still held firmly in the grasp of death, was cut and 
broken ; his body was pierced with eleven wounds, and, though he had 
been dead near eight hours when discovered, his teeth were still clenched 
as if in anger, his eyes wide open, and his hair stiff on end ! The poor 
lady was stripped naked, with the exception of her stockings and shoes ; 
one wound, as if with a small-sword, penetrated her right breast ; marks 
of strangulation were around her throat ;. her stomach was bitten, and 
she had evidently been violated. 
It is impossible to describe the horror with which all classes in Mexico 
received this dreadful tale. The British Minister and Consul, and Mr, 
Egerton's brother, immediately instituted the most diligent search for the 
perpetrators of these crimes ; but, although several men were arrested, the 
monsters remain to this day undetected. 
