How Darlington was at the centre of 'a domestic tragedy of the most deplorable character'

“The grief and horror with which the report of the suicide of Mr William Smith was received throughout the town on Sunday morning were greatly intensified when it became known that a more heinous crime was suspected…”

Mr Smith, who was in his 30s, had been a Backhouses Bank clerk and once had been highly regarded by Mr Backhouse himself.

But, on March 20, 1870, his neighbours were alerted by one of this three young children, and they found him slumped dead in his own house in Cobden Street, off Yarm Road, with blood splattered all over the walls. His wife, Elizabeth Jane, 32, was calmly upstairs.

Darlington manslaughter headlines from The Northern Echo, March 1870

The neighbours jumped to the conclusion that he had slit his own throat, but the police arrived and discovered that he had suffered injuries to his head and left arm, an amid the bloody pools were a walking stick with hair stuck to it, a broken candlestick and two umbrellas.

They arrested Elizabeth.

She told them: “It’s his own fault. He’s done nothing but drink lately.”

Darlington manslaughter headlines from The Northern Echo, March 1870

But she offered no further explanation to either the police or the courts.

The D&S said: “She is the most likely person to have been able to give some account of what had taken place, but she is either not capable of doing this or deems it prudent to withhold such explanation for since her apprehension she has been peculiarly reticent.”

Darlington manslaughter headlines from The Northern Echo, March 1870

The national newspapers made much of her “dogged silence” at the inquest two days into her husband’s death which concluded that she had murdered him.

When she appeared before Darlington magistrates on March 24, crowds of people crushed into the court to witness the proceedings.

She was brought up into the dock and “without much consideration for the feelings of the accused, persons rose and craned their necks in efforts to catch a glimpse of her”, said the D&S.

“They were doomed, however, to be disappointed. The prisoner was wrapped in a waterproof cloak which was fastened by a plain gold brooch, and she wore a beaver hat with a black feather to which was attached a very thick woollen veil which entirely concealed her features.”

A sad story emerged. For at least five years, the couple had been renowned for their drunken quarrels which usually ended in violence. It looks as if two weeks before his death, Mr Smith had lost his job at the bank and the family’s servant, 14-year-old Annie had left them when Mrs Smith had drunkenly hit her. Four days before his death, Mr Smith had been seen beating his wife.

Although Mrs Smith did not address the court, her solicitor at first pursued the line that the injuries were self-inflicted. When the medical evidence ruled this out, the defence said Mr Smith – who had once passed out at the bank – had passed out and fallen headfirst on a rockery, and Mrs Smith had dragged him into the house to recover.

Because of the long standing violence in the relationship, Darlington magistrates agreed Mrs Smith should be tried at Durham Assizes for manslaughter for beating her husband to death with the candlestick and finally the walking stick.

However, that July, when the case reached Durham, Mr Justice Lush clearly felt Mrs Smith was guilty of murder, saying she was very lucky only to have been found guilty of manslaughter.

He sentenced her to ten years penal servitude – hard labour, or walking for a decade on a treadmill.

“On hearing the sentence, the prisoner sunk on her knees at the front of the dock, and covered her face with her hands,” concluded the D&S Times. “After a few minutes, she was led away by two female warders, weeping bitterly.”