WHATEVER effect the diffusion of education and wealth may have in preventing that general mental irritation which results in an evil state of society, it certainly has not prevented the occasional perpetration of crimes of startling atrocity. A butchery-for the term "a series of murders "seems inapplicable to the slaughter of several persons at one time and with a common motive-worthy of the savage state, and yet finding its object in one of the most elaborate institutions of civilized society, was perpetrated in Manor-place, Walworth, in the morning of the 31st July. The inhuman brute who perpetrated these fearful deeds-if it be not a libel upon the inferior animals so to designate a wretch who, if he acted with the ferocity and cunning proper to animals in the pursuit of their prey, yet slew those whom the wild beast would have defended and cherished-this reverse of nature, having paid his addresses to a respectable young woman, induced her to be a party to an insurance on her life for £100, he being the insurer, and then inveigled her to his mother's home-having thus got the predestined victim within his meshes, ruthlessly slaughtered her; and

then, in order to keep suspicion from himself, and to have a person on whom to throw the guilt, who should not be able to deny it, he slaughtered his mother and his two brothers: the single object, preconceived and preconcerted, of so much guilt, being to obtain possession of the £100 from the insurance office. For this sordid purpose, and for this purpose alonewithout the miserable palliation of passion, or desire, or jealousy, or revenge-this William Youngman did not hesitate to involve in one fearful massacre four persons; one the parent, generally held in the most affectionate love, two his brothers, and the fourth a young female whom he had lured into his snare by professions of devoted attachment. His plot was as brutally stupid as it was cowardly and cruel. Had he so contrived the destruction of his victim that her death had passed as the ordinary incident of mortality, the murderer, not being her husband, could not have obtained the money :-he had no interest in her life such as would sustain an insurance, and the office would not have paid. The precise theory upon which the massacre, when perpetrated, was to be explained appears to have been

this-the victim having been lured home, the mother was suddenly to become maniac; that in an access of frenzy she should rise in the night, deal death all around, destroying her husband and her children, and, in the general slaughter, this insured life also; and then that she herself should perish in the last attempt by the hand of her son in his self-defence. The exact steps by which the terrible plot was worked out cannot be known, nor does the evidence supply more than the means of conjecture. The murderer made sure that there should be no living testimony against him. He stabbed each victim several times to the heart, and then cut through throat and arteries to make all safe. The girl must have fallen dead upon the landing as she stepped out of her room, perhaps called by her lover or startled by a sound; the mother probably next stepped forth, and the son seems to have failed in his first stab, driving his knife deep into his mother's flesh before he could reach the throat and divide the arteries. The younger child died unresisting in his bed. The elder brother, however, came to the landing-place during the general slaughter, and struggled for his life, drawing the sharp steel through his fingers, and maintaining the contest at least long enough for a scream. No cry was heard to alarm those who were separated from this scene on all sides only by a plank or a thin wall. When at last a spectator came the murderer was ready with his story. All that blood had not washed it out of his head. "This is all mother's doings; she murdered my two brothers and my sweetheart, and I, in self-defence, believe that I have murdered her."

The accused person, William Godfrey Youngman, aged 25, described as a tailor, was placed at the bar of the Central Criminal Court, on the 16th August, before Mr. Justice Williams, to take his trial for the wilful murder of Mary Wells Streeter. There were three other indictments against him, charging him with the murder of Elizabeth Youngman, his mother, and Thomas Neale Youngman and Charles Youngman, his brothers.

The prisoner was a commonlooking young man. He was well dressed, and during the whole of the proceedings he exhibited the most extraordinary coolness and self-possession; and even while his father was under examination he did not evince the least emotion.

Mr. Clerk, for the prosecution, stated the facts as they were deposed by the witnesses.

Mr. James Bevan: On the 30th of July last I resided at No. 16, Manor-place, Walworth. I occupy the ground floor. There are two other floors to the house. Mr. Beard occupied the first floor with his wife and one son. The prisoner's father occupied the top floor of the house. On the 31st of July his family consisted of his wife, two little boys, the prisoner, and the deceased. I understood the prisoner had come to see his father on a holyday, and he used to sleep there. About 10 minutes to 6 on the morning of the 31st I was in bed, and I heard a noise like lumbering, and a heavy fall on the top floor of the house; I immediately got up to see what was the matter, and before I could get to the door Mr. Beard knocked at it and said, "For God's sake come here-there is murder!" I went upstairs directly, and when I got

to the top of the stairs I saw the elder boy lying dead upon the landing. I did not see anything more then, but went down and dressed myself; and I then saw the prisoner standing in his nightshirt on the staircase leading from the ground floor to the first floor. He was standing still and looking down the stairs at this time. He said to me, "My mother has done all this-she murdered my two brothers and my sweetheart, and I, in self-defence, believe I have murdered her." I made him no reply, but went out and fetched the police. I heard the prisoner's father go out about half-past 5 o'clock that morning. The noise I heard was like a heavy fall on the floor. I did not see any living person when I first went up. The moment I saw the boy's body I went down stairs again. I did not particularly observe the appearance of the prisoner, but I should not think he was very collected.

Susannah Beard said:-I am the wife of Philip Beard, and I and my husband occupied the first floor in the house of Mr. Bevan. We occupied the back room as a sleeping room. About 6 o'clock in the morning of the 31st July, I heard a noise overhead like scuffling, and I thought it was Mr. Youngman's children playing. I then heard a noise as though something had fallen on the floor. I had awoke my husband before this. The noise I heard was like something very heavy falling on the boards of the bedroom above ours. My husband went up to see what was the matter, and he called out "Murder!" and came downstairs. He afterwards went up again with the landlord, and when he came down a second time I went to the door of our room, and saw the pri

soner standing on the staircase leading from my room upstairs. While my husband was dressing the prisoner called out from the stairs, "Mr. Beard, for God's sake fetch a surgeon! I believe there is some alive yet." My husband then went out to fetch a doctor. I had seen a young woman come to the house about 11 o'clock on the day before this happened. I think the prisoner came with her, and they went out together for a walk about 7 o'clock in the evening, and returned about 10 o'clock. The prisoner and the deceased seemed to be on very affectionate terms at this time.

Philip William Beard said:-I had seen the prisoner in our house a few days before the 31st of July. Upon one occasion he told me that he had been a valet and footman, and that he had left that and was going into the farming business. I remember being awoke by my wife on the morning of the 31st of July, and I heard a sort of rumbling on the landing over our head. The noise was like that of children running about. I went out of my room, and as I did so I heard a slight scream. When I got to the outside of my room I saw a clot of blood on the stairs, and on the top of the staircase I saw the little boy lying on the landing. His throat was cut, and he was dead and lying upon his back, with his head towards the stairs. I then saw the body of the deceased lying a little beyond that of the boy. I did not observe any other bodies at this time, as I was very much alarmed, and I went down and called the landlord, and we went upstairs together, and I went into my own room to dress. I then fetched a policeman and a surgeon. I saw the prisoner was