(Extracts from newspapers at the time of events – April 1843)
(The events of 25 April 1843)
A most fearful tragedy was perpetrated at Monkwearmouth Shore on the morning of Tuesday last, by a maniac, under circumstances of a very extraordinary nature. The name of the murderer is William Ferry, and the innocent sufferers are his wife and daughter, the latter a fine your woman about fourteen years of age. It appears that Ferry had been for some time an inmate of Mr Kent’s lunatic asylum in Gateshead Fell, where he had been sent by the parish about a year ago, after his making an attempt to choke his wife, and otherwise acting in a violent and outrageous manner.
William Ferry made his escape from the asylum on Saturday, and, to elude the vigilance of his keepers, he kept out of the way, by going round the country. In arriving at his house, in Monkwearmouth, he found that the keepers had arrived before him, and to escape them he concealed himself in a boat lying near the house. After the keepers had gone he went home, and remained there with his family until the perpetration of the deed, which took place during one of his frantic fits of madness, shortly after midnight. The alarm was first given by a boy, who lived in a part of the house, running into the street and shouting that Ferry was murdering his daughter; but before any person could reach his room the wretched maniac had sacrificed his unhappy wife and daughter. He killed the latter by beating her over the head, in a horrible manner, with a wooden vessel called a skeel, used for carrying water, and he next killed his wife, by beating her with a poker, and bruising her in such a manner as no person but a maniac could have done. He was soon taken into custody, to await the result of the inquest, which was held before J M Favell, Esq. The principal witness against the father was a little boy, a son of the murderer, only about five years old, who providentially escaped, and witnessed the horrible deaths of his mother and sister. The jury, after hearing the whole evidence, returned a verdict of ‘Willful murder against William Ferry’
(William Ferry was my 3rd Great-grandfather)
Hannah Ferry’s Death Certificate
Discover more from Moore and Ferry Family Through Time
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