The Ottawa Free Trader

Murder at Alton.—The Courier of Thursday, mentions the arrest and examination of a man named Wm. Mitchen, charged with the murder of his father. In default of bail he was committed to jail.

At the time of the killing, the only parties present were the accused and his father and mother. The mother stated to the Coroner that her husband had been drinking very hard, came home drunk, and he and the son quarrelled. She was sitting with a child in her arms, and when they rose to fight, she turned to the bed, to lay the child upon it, for the purpose of separating them, and when she turned again to them, the son spoke to her and said he had killed his father, and thereupon fled. The accused on his examination, admitted the killing, and said he did it in defence of his mother, whom his father was beating. The weapon used was a butcher-knife, with which three stabs had been made.