A peculiarly revolting case of matricide came to light at
Plaistow on Wednesday. Two boys, aged thirteen and eleven, murdered their mother some ten days ago for apparently no reason, except that she had punished one of them and was about to punish the other. One of them gave the signal by coughing twice and the other struck his mother in the chest with a dagger, giving two deep wounds. The work was com- pleted with a bludgeon. The crime is not one that can be attributed to the semi-savage conditions under which a portion of the lowest town-population unhappily lives. The boys were well brought up and lived in a small and heat villa of the kind usually occupied by lower middle-class families. The father, who is at sea at present, is steward on a steamer, and well to do. The mother is described as a superior woman, who kept her house specially well. It seems a case of unaccountable depravity. The boys made no attempt to deny their guilt, but confessed at once. They had kept the corpse in the house for ten days, and when the neighbours forced an entry they found them playing cards. A really wicked boy seems to be the most callous of human beings. He has no pity and no remorse, and even no nerves. It should , be added that some of the reports assert that the elder toy , is mentally deficient.
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