The National Register. — London, England, 1818-08-09 00:00:00

AUG. § MURDER AT EPSOM, AND INQUEST. Tuesday, C. Jemmett, Esq. the Jury, and several County Maeistrates, assembled at the Hare and Bound• Inn, Epsom, mid " from thence proceeded to the mansion of James Tessier, Esq. to view the body of Ely Cox, Ilk gamekeeper, who was murdered on Sunday morning last. A 11101 V horrid spectacle ss•as never hi ought ender the view of a jury. The bark part of tho head appeared to he beaten in. the face entirely black, the neek compressed to the size of a man's wrist by :I handkerchief being twisted w jilt extreme tig'dtness roomd it by means of a stick fastened in the knot ; the bottom of the stomach literally kicked to pieces, the tight arm and two rib: broken, a finger cut off the left hand, and butts hands covered with gashes deep and long. After a deliberate view nt• the body, the parties returned to the Hare and Hounds, and the Coroner proceeded to take the evidence. George Milton, the coachman of Mr. Tessier, deposed to the dreadful state in which he found the body smut: boors after the murder is ',imposed to have been committed. From the appearance of the grass and bushes. he thought there must have been a violent scuffle. The place where (lie body was found is a quarter of a mile from %Ir. Tessier's house. John Smith stated, that he was shepherd to Mr. Tessier, and slept in the same house with the dect ased ; heard hint go out between three and four o'clock on Sunday morning ; at five heard the report of a pistol or gun, the sound secint..l to come from Prukenbam Corner, or thereabouts : being much accustomed to bear firing, did nut think any thing of it ; and be Afterwards accompanied tide last witness to look after Cox. James Finch, a servant to Mr. Tessier, prodneed a clasp knife, which he stated be found about 15 yards from the dead body also produced a pistol which was picked up about 20 yards from the corpse. The neck handkerchief of the de ceased was twisted so tight tomtit his neck by IDC4II+ of a stick which was thrust liiroo4ll the knot, that wit ness cou ld scar ,.,._ ly force his tiu4ers between the neck and the handkerchief, the fare was almost black. The stick used fur the deadly purpose was then produced ; it is about two feet in length, tire inehes in eircuniferenee, and has a large hook at one end. Chutes Stainers, a gardener, deposed, that lie was going along a place called Chalk-lane, about five o'clock on Sunday morning last. and heard the report of a pistol, and immedi ately afterwards heard an exclamation of " Oh, Lord !" and some other expressions which he could not untie' stand ; looked about, but 11411 e nobody. Mr. Mayd, a sue genii, stated, that he examined the body, and found various hurts in different parts, but he conceived the death of Cox was occasioned principally by the neck kerchief being twisted round the neck so tight as to stop respiration, The jury, after a few minutes' deliberation, returned a ver dict of Willis; Murder against sonic person or pctsous at present unknown. On Tuesday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the following magistrates, Jones Trotter, J. Whitmore, Joseph Grinstead, and Richard Bolton, Esqrs. assembled at the coffee-house, Epsom, the doors of which were literally blockaded by the mob, when Thomas Arnold, John Bi idges, and Thomas Os born, in custody of May and Hall, the officers, and William May, the gamekeeper to Lord Arden, were brought before them to undergo an examination ou suspicion of being con. cerned in the murder of Ely Cox. John May stated, that lie had been induced to apprehend the prisoners, with the assistance of his colleagues, for the following reasons :—liiforinat ion had been given him, that all of them obtained a his lug putt tly by poaching ; Thomas Arnold usually resided with his mother at Banstead, about 2 miles from Epsom, and will a notorious poacher; he had beets heard to say on Thursiliy ut Frlday last, that wages for work were vety low, and he could g. t more by ea telitig hares ; on Salm day, the night be fore the murder, he did not sleep at home, nor could it be discus ered that lie slept at Epsom, although lie was seen there about li o'cioek on Sunday morning; the murder was committed at 5 o'clock on the Sunday morning ; he described himself as illaVi lig been very drunk on the Salm- I day night; whereas, upon inquiry, it was found that lie left Epsom about It) o'clock at night peifectly sober. Another cir t noistance which caused Min to he regal deal as an object of sus picion was, that he was in possession of 4 dog of a peculiar de. scription; and a few days previous to the murder, Cott had said to a fellow servant that he had seen such a dog on his master's manor, and threatened to shoot it. James Arnold was the constant associate of his brother; the prisoner John Bridges absconded, when informed the! the officers were in pursitit of him. T. Osborn was taken into custody in consequence of haviug been seeks at sift o'clock in the Mug of Sunday, at his cottage door, which is about 60 yards front the spot where the body was found, as if lie bad just come in Irons walk. On search being trade in his cottage, a loaded gun was found and a great number of will rabbitsekins. The bloody knife found near nil place where the warder was committed very mooch resembled one which ()shore had been seen to use iu hie business as a gardeaer, but which he could not now prodtte7e. Two bruises, hating the appearance of I !wing been recently indicted, were discovered on his forehead. John Halliday, a shoemaker, residing at Epsom. sworn. Knows the pi mailer, Thomas Arnold; lie has bean in the habit of tietpient4 coming to ht♦ house; was did e on Sa tardily last, and went away at S 111 tite evening pettedly sober; did not •re him again 111.1.1 Sunday morning at U o'clock: lie then said he had not iicen house all Hight, but slept on 411 oat stack on the skirts sit the town. Thomas Arnold, 1111 tiring ieqiiireil to git e some account of himself trims Saturday night to Sunday at 6 o'clock in the morning, when he was seen at Epsuin, stated that lie left the house of the last witness about 8 o'clock,, and at that time intended to go mime to his mother's house at Ilan• stead to sleep ; but afterwards meeting with some acquain tance, he shrank until he was intoxicated, and then went on • stack of oats and slept mere ail night ; did not know what time It was when he awoke, hot the 41111 was very high ; he went ialatediately into Epson► to Ilahility 's house, and be then tiand it was 6 o'clock, and alit-maids we'd to his brother's iesidi nee to breakfast ; the slack ilium% is about a quarter of a mile from the spot where the der was committed; never made use of the words altimi hales :tort baited to hint by illay ; he has Men employed as a reaper by Mr. Hall of El, utu , fur some time past. May, the officer, further stetted, that lie aaJ %canied the house of Attiold's motuer, but tonna nothing toot easel I im plicate the prisoners in the offence with %a:a a tin y weir charged. S.lice the appreliensitm of Jam. s, lm I -sheer. taiutil that l:e had slept at Satilitt.i) o(4Bii and 18.1 nut !mite his mother's cottage tile kte S 111 y. Wm. 'Fanner, a labourer, deposed that tar lodged at It.. house of Oaburu's fr:lpa, and Jo Sunday, aiww•en '44 OW THE NATIONAL REGISTER. serer in the morning, saw the prisoner ()shorn in the gar den; Osborn's cottage is about 50 yards from Crockenharn. corner; cannot tell at what tine he left home on Sunday. Saunders is servant to air. Northey, for whom the prisoner Osborn works; has arch him use a knife somewhat resem bling the bloody knife found at Crockeultain corner, but sas positively that the knife produced is the same; within a few days he has been in the habit of using a garden knife, and on Monday saw him cut strawberries with a ease knife ; has observed the bruises nu Osborn's forehead; they were not there ou Friday or Saturday; lie Caine to woik as usual (.11 Monday, but thought there was a sort of shyness about him; he scented to avoid witness. ?dr. W. Butcher, cutler, at Epsom, remembers selling a knife similar to the garden knife used by Osborn, but has no recollection of the clasp knife found near the deceased. Mary Hoare, sister in law to the prisoner Osborn, thonght she had seen a knife resembling the bloody clasp knife in the prisoner's possession, bin could not say that the knife produced was the same. The bruises on his forehead she never observed till within a few days. The prisoner °shoe., then stated that lie could answer every thing that had keen alleged in evidence against him in the mast satisfae!ory manner. He slept at home on Saturday night, and was roused in the morning, as was also his wife, by the report of a gull or pistol, about five o'clock. The circumstance of the report was not much noticed either by himself or his wife, being in the habit of hearing many guns fired off by persons shooting. When lie was observed at the door of his cottage at six o'clock lie bad just come down stairs, and had aever kft the cottage. The gun found in his house was the property of a gentleman of the neigh bourhood (Mr. Dorety) who was at present from home, and who had placed a laige quantity of linen under his care during his absence, and had lent him the gnu to protect the property if' occasion required. As to the bruises on his forehead, they were ovcasioned by a fall from an apple-tree, in his own garden ; lie was willing to strip and show his person, and if the braises were occasioned by a scuffle or light, there would assuredly be some marks of violence found upon him besides the bruises alluded to. lie then snipped, and was examined by Mr. Mayde, the surgeon, whir stated, that no marks were apparent on his body that indicated he had been engaged in a scuttle ; the marks on his forehead he thought had, from their appearance, been OCCibiollrd us de. scribed by the prisoner. Bridges stated that lie was absent from Epsom only a few hours; he had no idea that lie was suspected of the minder, but thought the Magistrates wanted to punish him for haviug got drunk on f , unday. The prisoner Thomas Arnold was required by the 31agis. (rates to state where lie slept on Friday night, but refused to answer the question, stating that wherever he might have slept on Friday could not in any way be connected with the inquiry about the murder; lie was willing to give an account of himself from Saturday night till Sunday night, and beyond that lie did not conceive lie had a right to he questione.J. The evainivatian lasted 5 hours, when the Magistrates, after a long and deliberate consideration, discharged all the prisoners. The Magithates commended the zeal and activity of the officers, and strongly urged a contintirtice of their exertions, stating at the same time that it was the determination of all tLe magistrates and gentry oJ the country to spare no expense in bringing the murderers to justice. The bloody knife and the stick used hi the strangulation of Co. ma. fortunate gamekeeper were then delivered to the officers, and they immediately recommenced their search for the delinquents. The Magistrates anti Gentry then formed themselves into a committee for the purpose of cousidembig what further measures could be adopted ; the Chairman, Jam, s'l'n otter, Esq. expressed himself as favourable to the tale ing of a handsome reward. The suggestion was 1111301111011siy ap proved, and it was resolved that a reward of Two Hundred Pounds should be immediately offered, payable ou the Con. viction of the offenders. THE HARVEST.—We are favoured with the follow ing view of the state of the current crops, from an in telligent correspondent in Kent :—Wheat harvest began very abundant and fine, and straw quite as long as it is usually. Oats, straw very short, ear full of seed, and as good as most years. Beaus failed almost every where. Pease very bad and not many. Hops very fine, and spew well ; should the line showers continue, will in most places he plenty. Barley, a very scanty crop every where. Apples abundant. The general state of the country is much greener than nearer Lon don. The springs are all as high and running as ever. It is now beginning to rain, and we hope it will con tinue. The Marquis of Hertford's gardener, at fleecy, cut early in the last month, in his lordship's pinery, a pine, which weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces avoirdupois. The supply of grain is excessively abundant ; no less than 100 rail reached the River on Monday, with car goes of wheat, barley, Ike. Although the decline in price has already been considerable, a further reduction must be the consequence. The Duke of Roxburgh, who has, for the first time, been elected one of the Sixteen Representatives of the Scottish Peerage, is the only Scots Dukc who is not also a Peer of tireat Britain. His Grace is now in the eighty first year of his age, and his son, the Marquis of Beaumont, has just entered into his second. The present summer has been the warmest since that of 1779. The previous winter and spring were then so mild, that green pease w..:re sold in Nlay ut Is. the peck measure. The thermometer was at 78 on the ;sth of April, and the hawthorns were in blossom three or four days after that period. Letters from Preston state, that a deputation from the spinners there had waited upon Mr. Horrocks, (the member) intimating their wish for increased miges.— A meeting of the principal master spinners had been held iu consequence. They determined wit to raise their wager. This will he announced to them on Saturday next, when it is apprehended they will all turn out. _~ _- LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF CHANCERY, Wknx ems sr, AUG. 5. Ex-porte GEORGE TURN La. Sir S. Rnmilly presented a petition, on affidavits, from e • persons, praying for a writ of Habeas Corpus to be directed to Preston 1101114, the Keeper of an Ass lam fur homilies, near York, to bring up the body of George Turner, who we' there imprisoned miller preteace of being iu a stale of derangement: it appeared that George Turner, a man some thing beyond the middle age, had come to London w ith A view of publishing sonic religions winks: having done so a: considerable expense, he was returning again into the country, when he was arrested by his son Alexander Turner, at Bee_ usingliam, and by him, with assistance, conveyed as a mail man to the place where he is now confined, where he has re mained since October last. Soon ;diem arils, the other friends and relatives of the unfoetimate man heard of the outrage, and required that Alexauder Turner should set his Culler at liberty. lie was written to upon the subject, and replied that any body might take the old man away from Hureby's, provided a debt doe front him to Alexander Term r, exceed • ing 1001., were paid. Subseiment ennuuunicationts wets by which it appeared that Alexander Turner confined lu father because lie either could not, or would ant, disilinr ; :- the demand, and not because he was subject to insat.!ty. was Sworn by the persons applying, that they had lung known G. Turner, and that he had never r %White any symptoms derangement. It was also stated in the iiffidavits that ap plication had first been made up on th e su bj ect to kr. Just i c . s .%hboit, afterwards to Mr. Justice Holroyd, and finally to Mr. Justice Bayley, who went the Northern Circuit, when ho Was last at York; but the latterJoilge, on hearing the affida vits, did not think tit to grant alleakuscorpus that the unhappy man might be brought before hien. The Lord Chancellor asked it the facts now disclosed were all before Mr. Justice Bayley. Sir S. Hominy answered in the affirmative, as far as he was informed; the case Was one of extreme hardship and injustice, and well merited serious inquiry. The Lord Chancellor doubted whether he could interpose, after the Judge of the Assize, the proper person under statute it Car. 11. had refused to grant relief. Sir S. Romillv added, that it was very unfit that the sanity of a man should be tried merely upon affidavits; the indr vidual ought to be brought up in person for esamination. The Lord Chancellor still thought that be could not inter. pose ; if any new investigation took !three, it ought to lo! before Mr. Justice Abbott, before whom the ease was first brought. He apprebeuded that the Court of King's Bench would decide the question of sanity upon affidavits. His lordship, however, consented to read the original affidavits, and state his final opinion on sonic future occasion. EXTR %ORDINARY CASE..--011 Sunday morning, as a boy was playing ut lungerford-market, lie found some fresh earth, which he began to pick, and iu pulling up a rag, a bundle of flannel followed, in which was the dead body of a child, app. rently four months old. Information was give it to the parish °dicers, and in the course of the day the mother of the child was discovered. 'file account she gave was, that it died natural death. but that the parish refused to take it in, and she had nut the means of. procuring it a Christian burial. The body lies for a Coroner's Inquest. A kw ilaysago, at Bilstou wake, Staffordshire, as the bull was being taken from the stake to the atalrie, he entitled oat a man of the name of Joseph Gaunt, whom he attacked wis a great rage, knocked him down, trampled neon him, tore or: une of his ears, and gored him in so shocking It istanueras to kill him on the spot. Munnsas IN JAMAICA.— An extract of a letter from Lucca, says—•' As Mr. A. M•Callum was lately acting in his Magisterial capacity at the (*kik of the Peace's Office, him self along with Mr. Keys (the Ckik of the Peace), were shot ; the former in the right breast, and the lv.tkr in the head, by a white man named Donald M'Calitun, ins tier of a anent drogher. it appears that the pet petrator of this hei ill deed had a dispute with the Captain of his vessel, and on the Ma gistrate decid.ng against lam, lie deliberately tack the pistols f his packet, and discharged them at the unketunate gentlemen. lie was eliately apprehended, and is now in safe custody. DREADFUL Aecinerr.--Saturday sc'nnight the following most lamentable and unfortunate occurrence took place, on Messrs. llorrell's premises. in the second Back-lane, in Exeter. Three nicm, Middlewick, Nicholas Eustace, and William Mulle- n - sole, were employed in making a pit, for the reception of the con tans of a sewer. Middlewick having nearly completed an Wit. was in the act of ascending the ladder, when he dropwd his shovel, and on his returning ter Me same, nearly the whole contents of the privy burst upon him, and caused insiunt suffocation. Ills companion. Eustace, immediately descended to Isis assistance, and ere he had got halt' way down the ladder, the noxious vapour precipitated him to the bottom, and lie shared a similar fate. A mint mats, William Finnemore, then went down, and he tell in ; and on a person of the name of Giles Tozer, in the employ of Mr. G. Turner, silversmith, being apprized of the shocking circumstance, he volun Leered his services, aed he also teli from the ladder. Another ntaa then went down, with a rope affixed round his body. who was imme diately drawn up in a state of insensibility ; in consequence of which no others could be found to undertake the hazardous task of descending thepit,until Mr. John House, of Exeter, pluntL:r, having been informed ofthe melancholy event, instantly repaired to the spot. and with that humanity width ought never to be forgotten, went down the ladder and sus ceedc din bringing upthrec of the isefortunate men, viz. Tozer. t'inneniore, and aliddlewick. and with Me assist ance of a person named 'Usenet]. (Mr. notaie being nearly canaust ed with his humane efforts) got up the other poor fellow. Eustaeo, who, together with Middlewick, seas lifeless ; and every mesas used for their recovery by several professional gentlemen proved ineffectual. Finnemore and Tozer were immediately put to bed in at very 111.1- serous state; and we are sorry to say, that on Monday morning, about six o'clock, the latter breathed his lust, Laving a e.ife and one child, in the most indigent circumstances, to lament its untiappy de ndse. Einnemore, we are ultimata!, still lies extremely ill. Tints three individuals lost their lives, two of them in the cause of bu. manity, in endeavouring to extricate. a fellow-creature from a pre mature death. Cn Alondity aftatoon a report was in circulation in the Boron ;h of Southwark, Chit au old man, named Sulliv..n, bud be e ., mu r d ere d be his wik, wLu is a nativi of Ireland. Grut numbers of persons a 7 senihkd by the house in Mint-square. and sonic offeers w, re sent tor. Theo. upon their arrival, tbund the ell: man with his h ea d cut u; en. and he in tell dangerous situation. I . be wound was intiictot with a haiiiincr; she NILS la ecured, and taken to the watch house.— Tl.e oils mar: fell on the ground instusible, when he received the Wow ; ~ 6 0 y ears of age, and yet the cause of the outrage is stated to be a lit of jramtsy. \ sbe WS& In Custody, she prot,:sted that sheiwould serve him so again, if she 1V aS at liberty. Account. hunt Philadelphia, dated June tni, state, that Montgri.. ,„.. r y minty, betwaen the (*mitt-house and Chuksburg . , was vi.iied by a iron , ..Yous baihetorin on Sunday June 7. The hail-stones mchrk in circumference. hog was killed by ou.. of the ha - I stone, talliti; on his and the hacks of the critic were lacer.ded w SCV4AtIy, the Wood tan do A a their --~- nil