Skeletons in the closet part 2

Several years ago I wrote a blog about the tragic death of 3 year old Maria Stickland at the hands of her father John Stickland who was so distrought after his wife's death that he slit his daughter's throat with a razor and also tried to slit his own throat. Thanks to the Cornwall Parish Clerk's website I was able to find some extra information which was transcribed from local Newspapers.

The Royal Cornwall Gazette, 7th May 1868 Coroner's Inquest Maria Bowden Stickland FEARFUL TRAGEDY IN WEST CORNWALL We regret to have to announce this week the enactment of a most fearful tragedy in the neighbourhood of Hayle. A little girl has been murdered by her father, and the father has narrowly escaped death by his own hand. The prisoner is one John Stickland, a boiler maker, in the service of Messrs. Harvey and Co., of Hayle Foundry, and who lived in the hamlet of Angarrack. His wife, aged 31—whose first husband was a Mr. Miles, who, it is believed, returned from the United States to Cornwall, the possessor of considerable property—died of consumption last Friday. At the time of her demise, two children by Miles were living, and also a little girl over three years of age, born since the second marriage. On Friday, Stickland sent a razor to be ground, a circumstance which caused remark, as he did not shave. He appeared, and had done so for some days, greatly depressed, but no violence was apprehended. On Sunday night, at 9 o'clock, Stickland, who is a tall, powerfully built man, went to bed, taking with him the little girl, and both were apparently in good health. He carried the child, for whom he has always shewn great affection, and the child was very fond of him. He was offered a lighted candle, which he declined. On Monday morning, as nothing was heard of father or child up to an advanced hour, the mother of the deceased wife entered their bedroom, saw blood about the bed, and retreated horrified. She called in neighbours, who examined the occupants of the blood-stained bed, and found that the little girl's throat was frightfully cut, and she was quite dead. The unhappy father was in a sad plight; his throat was badly cut, and he lay insensible and apparently dying. A razor, covered with blood, was found near him. Mr. Mudge, surgeon, was soon on the spot, and found that although Stickland was in a very dangerous state, the carotid artery was not severed, and there was a chance of life. The body of the child was removed and placed in a coffin by her mother's side, and both were buried on Tuesday evening at six o'clock, large numbers from the surrounding districts attending. The theory formed by the neighbours, although investigation may throw additional light, is that the deceased wife's property, derived from her first husband, was found, on her death, to revert to her two first children. Thus the second husband and their child would be shut out from any participation in it. This, and the death of the wife, so oppressed the man's mind that he first killed the innocent little one, and then made the rash attempt on his own life. The statement of the Morning News, respecting the drunken habits of the wife, and the domestic misery in Stickland's house, are worthy of that paper. And with respect to the fallen man, Stickland, he had been a steady, industrious, sober person, and regarded as such by all who knew him. We understand the unhappy prisoner is slowly recovering. At intervals he has made desperate efforts to open the wound, but his attempts have been frustrated by the policeman in attendance. He sleeps tolerably well, and when awake appears very wretched, as his groans, haggard features, and movements of the head bear witness. When told that he had killed his little girl, he said, "It is dead?" and on being answered in the affirmative he was much distressed. An inquest was held on Tuesday morning, before Mr. Roscorla, County Coroner, at Thomas's Angarrack Hotel, on the body of the child, Maria Bowden Stickland, when the following evidence was given:— John Burnett said:—I am a mason and live in the village of Angarrack. In consequence of an alarm in the village yesterday morning, between eight and nine o'clock, I went to the house of John Stickland, who was in the employment of Messrs. Harvey and Company, iron founders. On reaching the house I went upstairs, accompanied by two or three persons, and in one of the bedrooms, where the body of the deceased, Maria Bowden Stickland, now lies, I found in the bed the said John Stickland, whose head was extended over the side of the bed. I spoke to Stickland and said 'What have you done?' He moved his lips but I could not understand what he said. I immediately came down stairs and suggested that a surgeon should be sent for; and soon afterwards Mr. Mudge was in attendance. Margaret Rutter said:—I am the wife of William Rutter, blacksmith. We live in this village, and very near the dwelling-house of John Stickland. Yesterday morning, between eight and nine o'clock, a person came to our house and said there had something happened at Stickland's house. This person was Jane Rutter, my sister-in-law. In consequence of what she stated, I went to the house and there found Jenifer Bond, who went into the bedroom with me. I found him lying on his right side, with his head rather over the side of the bed. I saw a great quantity of blood on the floor and bed; I thought he was dead. I then went round to see where the child was (meaning the deceased), and found her with her night dress on and the bed-clothes down. I observed a wound in her neck and a large quantity of blood on the bed and about her dress; she was quite dead, and cold and stiff; the child was the only living child of Stickland by his wife, who died on Friday last. I never heard of any misunderstandings in the family; I considered Stickland and his wife lived comfortably and on good terms. By this time I discovered that Stickland was alive, and I observed an open razor under his pillow. I took it away; it was covered in blood; the blood was dry. The razor now produced by Charles Gigg (sic), police-constable, is the same razor I found. Some man brought a razor case down stairs, but who it was I do not recollect, and I put the razor into it, and gave it to some man present. I was a good deal frightened, and cannot, therefore, recollect everything that took place. The door of Stickland's bedroom was open when I came to his room; I never heard him speak. All the parties in the house on the preceding night were Stickland, the deceased, and two children of his wife by a former husband, and a servant girl. The mother of Stickland's wife occupied separate rooms in another part of the same house. Matilda Gilbert said:—I am eighteen years of age, and for the last six months have been in the service of John Stickland; on Sunday night last about nine o'clock Mr. Stickland came in from outdoors, and after walking about the kitchen for a few minutes, without speaking to me, he took up the child at the bottom of the stairs and carried her up in the direction of his bedroom. I sent a candle after him by Elizabeth Grace Miles, one of his step-daughters; he said he did not want it and went on; there was good moonlight at the time. The child was undressed by me before she went away with her father; the child had slept with her father for some weeks alone. I heard no sounds or cries of any kind during the night of Sunday. I knew Mr. Stickland had been ill for a fortnight, and had been taking medicine. His wife had been ill the whole time of my service, and died on Friday last. I did not observe that her death made any great difference in him, or in his conduct. They lived comfortably together. I saw him smoking his pipe on Saturday last. He was by himself and leaning against the wall of the garden, in front of his house. James Mudge said:—I am a surgeon, residing, and practising at Hayle. I have known Stickland and his family for about four years, and have been in the habit of seeing them professionally. Yesterday morning (Monday), I received a message to come to Angarrack to see John Stickland. I went immediately. I found him in bed bleeding from a wound in the throat, which I proceeded to dress. During the dressing my attention was directed to the body of a child, lying in the same bed. After completing the dressing of Stickland I examined the deceased. I found a wound in the throat from which large bleeding had occurred, the blood running into the bed under her head and shoulders. The blood was cold and the linen stiff, showing that the blood had been there some hours; the body was cold and rigid. This morning, by direction of the Coroner, I made a further and careful examination of the body. I found no further marks of violence. The wound in the throat was a clean incised cut, and must have been done by a very sharp instrument. It commenced at about the middle of the neck, and to the right of the wind-pipe, and extended three inches to the left; the tissues were all divided down to the wind pipe, and the muscle on the left side partially so; blood vessels necessary to life were divided, and I attribute her death by the bleeding which thereby ensued. Strickland is in bed, and I consider in a very dangerous state; unfit to appear or to be examined on this inquiry; perhaps he would be able to appear in about ten days. There are three distinct or different incisions in his throat, which may have been inflicted by the razor produced. As the unfortunate man remains in such a precarious state the inquest was adjourned to the 15th instant. Royal Cornwall Gazette 21st May 1868 THE MURDER AT HAYLE. On Friday, the adjourned inquest concerning the death of the daughter of John Stickland, of Angarrack, near Hayle, was held before Mr. John Roscorla, county coroner. The unhappy murderer is recovering rapidly under the care of Mr. Mudge, surgeon. He has been attended ever since the sad occurrence by a policeman, and we believe that, with a view to thorough quietness of mind, the death of his child and his own attempted suicide have not been referred to. He has at times, however, made involuntary exclamations, shewing that his wife's death and family affairs still pressed on his mind. The police authorities declined to allow the attendance of the prisoner before the coroner and jury. The only additional witness examined was Benjamin Harris, hairdresser, of Copperhouse, who deposed that he met Stickland on a day early in April, and was told by him that he had left a razor at his house to be sharpened. Stickland shaved himself last summer, but had not done so for some time. Harris promised to get the razor ready quickly. When Stickland called for the razor it was not sharpened, and he complained of this to Harris, who met him on the Wednesday previous to the 1st of May, and told him it would certainly be ready on Friday, May 1st. It was left, sharp, and Stickland called and received it from Mrs. Harris. At least that was a fair inference from the facts that a razor now produced, which was the razor found in Stickland's bedroom, was the one Harris had renovated for him at his request. The jury, having heard the evidence which showed that Stickland took his only daughter to bed, and on the morning she was found dead, her throat cut, with this additional testimony, returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against him, and he was committed for trial on the coroner's warrant. P.C. Grigg was bound over to prosecute, and the various witnesses entered into their recognizances to appear at the assizes. Transcribed by Karen Duvall