The Press. — London, England, 1857-08-15 00:00:00

nezt year, with a better prospect of success, they would only be too happy to do so. He would see Sir B. Hall, the Chief Commissioner of Public Works, on the subject, and in the meantime he hoped that the gentlemen present would preach patience to the portion of the public most interested in the opening of the bridge. If, upon thinking the matter over, the Government could see a prospect of arriving at a solution of the difficulty, they would be very happy to do so. The House of Commons' select committee recom mend the conditional abolition of the tolL THE PREEtt Ai usT 15, evening of the murder saw a light through thekey hole of Mr. Little's door, that she tried the door, that it was locked, and that no one replied to her attempt to enter. The packets of money found were identified by the clerks of the establishment, and the prisoner's daughter, Lucy Spollen, swore posi tively that on the evening of the 13th of November last her father came home about eight o'clock ; that from the window of one of the rooms of the cottage she saw her father, about six or seven o'clock, stand ing on the roof of the greasehouse, putting some " round thing in a lump " down the chimney. In about an hour and a half after she saw him on the roof he took his tea. He ascended to the roof by a short ladder, which he drew up after him and reared against the window. One brother, Joseph, corroborated this evidence ; he said, "I saw my father on the evening of the murder, between hall-past five and six o'clock, crossing the lines and proceeding towards the ter minus. He bad something swinging in his hand. I do not know what it was he carried ; it appeared to be something lengthy." In his examination before the police magistrates, the boy swore that he had not seen his father from his dinner hour until he saw him on the roof. He continued : I next saw him about eight o'clock on the roof of the forge. I was then at the parlour window. My father was standing by the chimney. He was standing on what I thought was a plank, which was raised from the roof to the set-off of the chimney. We were induced to look from the window in consequence of our wonder at my father being so late away from home. But there was some discrepancy in these witnesses' evidence ; for, upon their former examinations, the girl had declared she saw her father put the ladder up to the roof, while the boy had made no mention I of having seen his father previous to the moment of his ascending the chimney. Moreover, on one occa sion he had stated that during that entire week he had been at school, while now he said he was not at school on the day of the murder. The boy, when questioned, could offer no explanation, but the girl said that the discrepancy in her evidence arose from her "better recollection." The children also swore that, when the earlier searches were being made, their father expressly cautioned them against iden tifying a certain piece of cloth—a red rag—should it be shown them by the police. The daughter said in addition that when the mother was seized with ill ness, about a week before the arrest, and a proposal was made to send for a doctor and priest, Spollen said that he would have the life of any one who should dare to go for them. With respect to the piece of cloth in which the 1301. were found, under a stone outside the railway wall, and upon the iden tity of which so much depended, the girl said— " Upon my solemn oath, as I expect to be believed, I have used this piece of calico. I know it by the pattern. I have no mark upon it. It was part of a sun-bonnet which I never wore myself." The girl further said that she had seen the rag " three months " before the murder, and not after that, until the police-office examination. At that examination she had declared she saw the rag " a day or two " before the murder; while the boy said—" I saw Lucy nearly three years ago wearing the sunbonnet. I never used it as a duster myself, but I know it by the pattern. I saw the rag in the old workshop the day before the murder." The children also gave evidence that a hammer, found among their father's working tools at the time of his arrest, had formerly been used by them at the cottage to play with, but that from the day of the murder it had disappeared. Several witnesses deposed to the anxiety exhibited by the prisoner during the first searches of thelpolice about the building. Such were the principal points in favour of the prosecution. For the defence it was contended that while the medical evidence went to prove that the carotid artery of Mr. Little was cut through, there was no evidence to show that the window sash through which it was said the prisoner escaped bore marks cf blood or even of the dust being rubbed off; that no bloody clothes of the prisoner had been produced; and that the entire evidence of the children was full of contradictions, both as regarded the sun-bonnet and the seeing their father crossing the lines and upon the forge roof. Mr. Curran, with a great deal of force, combated the notion that it was at all probable " a blood- stained murderer," in order to secure his booty, would upon a fine moonlight night deliberately ascend to a posi tion which was plainly visible from many points of the railway station at an hour when porters, passengers, and trains were constantly in its imme diate neighbourhood ; and concluded by an eloquent appeal to the jury not to convict a man upon such suspicious and insufficient evidence. Upon Tuesday, the fourth day, the judges re assembled, and the Chief Justice proceeded to sum up in the most elaborate and impartial manner the value of every point in the mass of evidence. The charge occupied four hours and a half, when the jury retired for another hour and a half, and re tnrped into court with a verdict of "Not Guilty." The prisoner uttered some incoherent expressions, and the court then adjourned. 1857. 795 ply NO Volta. THE IRISH MURDER. Tux trial of Spollen, charged with the murder of Mr. Little, of the Great Northern Railway, Dublin, which commenced on Friday week, has resulted in the Acquittal of the prisoner. The mysterious circumstances connected with the murder, and the links of circumstantial evidence with the appalling array of facts which apparently brought home guilt to the prisoner, justify us in giving a rapid outline of the case. On the morning of the 14th of November last, Mr. Little was found murdered in his office. Upon an examination of his body, his bead was found beaten in, principally on the left side, his left cheek cut through, and the left side of his throat cut back from the jugular vein to the vertebrae of the spinal column. Out of 1,923/. 18s. 7d. upon his office table, 2301. had been abstracted, and the door of the office was found locked on the inside. The authorities at once proceeded to make a secret inquiry upon the spot. The canal at hand was searched and a bloody hammer with a razor discovered, but no other trace of the murderer came to light. The hammer, one of those used by glaziers, fitted exactly into the I wounds on Mr. Little's head. On the 11th December,' from some information the police received, it was I resolved to search the water-tanks on the railway premises. The next day, a dripping-wet bag full of silver was found in an empty hamper stowed in one of the lumber places attached to the railway offices. In the neighbourhood of the hamper Spollen had been _ seen. This discovery led to no further result, and months passed away, when suddenly, in June last, the wife of the man Spollen, actuated as she said by pious motives, confessed to the police that her husband was the murderer, and pointed out the exact places where the residue of the missing moneys was concealed—a certain portion in a chimney, the rest in a bucket in a privy. A search was imme diately instituted, the moneys were found in the precise spots and in the position Mrs. Spollen had indicated, and ber husband was at once arrested. Spollen was a painter and glazier in the employ of the railway company. He was blind in the right eye. He had access at all times to Mr. Little's office. He was generally employed to clean the windows and skylights of that office, and was constantly in the habit of getting off or coming upon the roof of Mr. Little's room, and could pass from it with ease in a few minutes, by way of a small swing-window, to his own cottage, which was close at hand. Upon being interrogated he denied the charge, and accounted for his time on the eve ning of the murder by saying that after work-hours, 5.:i0 p.m., ho had gone out with his wife and boy James to buy some bacon ; that he returned with them to tea, and passed the rest of his evening at home. As the statements of the wife could not be used in evidence against the prisoner, it was resolved by diligent exertions to complete the link of that chain of evidence which the discovery of the money indicated as existing. A second and more careful search of the canal took place, and a razor, notched and jagged in its edge, and bearing the name of "Spollen" scratched upon it, was discovered. The prisoner's children were interrogated, and made im portant detailed statements in support of their mother's testimony, and declared that their father, who left his work at half-past five p.m., bad not on the night of the murder returned home, contrary to his usual custom, until seven or eight in the evening. The prisoner's cottage was searched, eight sove reigns, discoloured by water, were found in his pos session, while packets of money were found secreted about the railway premises, and one parcel of some 1301. was wrapped up in a piece of calico of a peculiar pattern. in a drawer in the cottage VMS found a fellow padlock, such as is used for oil cans, to another turned out of the secreted bucket. A key, ton, was found in the same drawer, fitting this padlock found in the bucket. Another curious circumstance was also connected with this bucket. Previous to its removal, the "ram," a piece of machinery applied to drench the spot with water, bad on several Saturdays stopped working. From the day of Spollen's arrest it had never once been out of order. It may be observed that if any one desired to descend into such a horrible place, he would pro bably desire to avoid a drenching, and would stop the ram. Such were the leading circumstances collected by Friday last, when the trial commenced. Evidence for the Crowu was given to prove that the housekeeper of the o t• ce at half-past seven in the SECOND EDITION. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. FETES IN PARIS. THE ceremony of the inauguration of the Louvre took place yesterday afternoon, at two o'clock, with great success. The Times Paris correspondent )second edition) writes Long before that hour crowds of people thronged the Rue de Rivoli, the quays, and the other approaches to the Palace. The Place du Carrousel, from the triumphal arch of the Tuileries down to the Pavillon Sully, was occupied by troops—the National Guard on the left, and the Zouaves and a battalion or two of the line to the right. About one o'clock, the Ministers, the Marshals of France, Generals of Divisions, and great functionaries of State began to arrive. Marshal Pelissier was early in attendance. He was at once recognised. His hair, white as snow, cut close, and contrasting with his black eyebrows and moustache, dark eyes, face bronzed by the sun of Africa, and determined ex pression of countenance, have long made him familiar to the public. Hewes dressed in his Marshal's uniform, with the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour, the Star of the Bath, the Crimean medal, and other numerous orders. Marshal Bosquet, who, by the way, is growing rather bulky, followed soon after, and Marshal Canrobert, s'..ort, bulky, and good-natured looking, his face as it .ual uplifted, and his eyes conti nually in motion, as at the gallant Gascon was anxious to have a chat with every cue they lighted upon. At half past one all the great personages of the day had arrived. Exactly at two o'clock the drums beat to arms as a signal that the Emperor, punctual to a moment, as ever, wastap proaching, and a cry of "Vive l'Empereur !" from the crowd below announced that he was already at the entrance. The buzzing of conversation was at once hushed, and all turned in silence towards the entrance. M. Fould, Minis ter of State and of the Imperial Household, was at the gates to receive him. In a few minutes the Grand Chamberlain called out "L'Empereur !" and the next moment his Majesty, dressed in military uniform, made his appearance. All stood up, and the cry of "Vive l'Em; pereur !" ran through the hall. The Emperor was accompanied by the Empress, and followed by Prince Napoleon, the Princess Mathilde, the Prince and Princess Murat, and a long array of chamberlains and officers of the household. The Emperor advanced to the extremity of the hall, where a throne was placed on platform covered with crimson velvet, with another by its side for the Empress, and on both sides fauteuils for the Princes of the Imperial family. The Emperor invited the assembly to be seated, and took his seat on the throne. M. Fould then delivered a speech, in which he gave a rapid sketch of the beginning and completion of the building from 1852 to the present day. The Emperor replied : Gentlemen,—l congratulate myself with you on the completion of the Louvre. I congratulate myself especi ally upon the causes which have rendered it possible. In fact it is order, restored stability, and ever increasing prosperity of the country which hare enabled me to com plete this national work. I call it so because the Govern ments which have succeeded each other bare made it a point to do something towards the completion of the royal dwelling commenced by Francis 1., embellished by Henry 11. Whence this perseverance, and even this popularity in the building of a palace? It is because the character of a people is reflected in its institutions as in its customs, in the events that excite its enthusiasm as well as in the mo numents which become the object of its chief interest. Now France, monarchical for so many centuries, which always beheld in the Central Power the representative of her grandeur and of her nationality, wished that the dwelling of the Sovereign should be worthy of the country, and the best means of responding to that sentiment was to adorn that dwelling with the different masterpieces of the human intelligence. The whole ceremony lasted about three-quarters of an hour. The Emperor and Empress descended from the platform and returned as they came, their Majesties bowing on both sides as they passed down the gallery; and, amid cries of "Vive l'Empereur," " Vive l'lmperatrice, ' and a few of "Vive le Prince Imperial," quitted the building. They drove to the alace in the Tuileries, close at hand, and after iirards set out for St. Cloud. ' Among the appointments to the rank of general on the occasion of the Emperor's fete is mentioned the name of Colonel Joachim Ambert, well known for his numerous works on military subjects. According to the last despatches from Vienna the Austrian Government is disposed to consent that new elections shall take place in Moldavia, but it proposes that the electoral lists shall be prepared on a different system from that suggested by the other Powers. The consent, however, of the Austrian Go vernment to have new elections is an important fact. The Agamemnon, the Niagara, and the Susque hanna arrived at Plymouth on Friday afternoon. The attempt to lay out the telegraph cable has failed, and no further effort, it is anti( lotted, will be made this year. The cable, unable to bear the strain, parted at about 270 wiles from land on Tues day niorr.:ng.