The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-12 00:00:00

&ttfING, APRIL

IT IN'

THE PRUSSIAN PROPOIMTION FOR
FEDERAL REFOEM.

The Europe of Frankfort contains the ter of the
motion for Federal reform, with the grounds on
which it is based, presented by Prussia to the Ger-
man Diet on the 9th inst. It is a lengthy docu-
ment, and contains the following paragraph with
regard to direct universal suffrage :
" Now, universal suffrage can alone be regarded
as the only possible mode of election for the object
in view, in consequence of the necessity of making
the most diverse particular interests bend to one
and the same end ; and the Prussian government
has the less hesitation in proposing this mode of
election, because it regards it as more favourable
to the conservative principle than any other mode
of election based on artificial considerations."

The Inclipenckince Beige chi
ment in the following terms :

the docn-

" The proposition for Federal reform laid before
the Frankfort Diet by the representative of
Prussia will astonish all who read it by its bold-
ness. It exceeds in its liberalism anything that
the advanced party ever dared to hope from the
moat reforming minister."

THE AIJS'TRO-PRITE3HIAN CONFLICT.

The Mouiteur du Soir oontains the following :

A private despatch from Vienna announces that the
Austrian generals who assembled on the 7th at the office
of the Minister of War, deliberated on the steps to be
taken for the concentration of troops on the northern
frontier. A second meeting of generals was held next day-
The Vienna Presse contains a communication
from Prague which contains the following particu-
lars respecting the arrest of Count Waldersee :
The count, who appears to be a lieutenant-colonel in one
of the infantry regiments of the Guards, commenced,
from the moment of his entry into Austria, such minute
inquiries into military matters, that he at once
became an object of suspicion to the autho-
rities. Re went in the direction of Josephstadt
and Honiggratz, at which places it was reported
troops were sasemblinl. At Josephstadt the Count took
sketches of the fortifications, and at Prague people were
surprised at his various inquiries as to the marching of
troops, the strength of the detachments, and at his fre-
quent conversations with the soldiers. A waiter at the
hotel informed the police that he was making military
notes, and being already under surveillance it was decided
to arrest him. _ _

'G MURDER IN CANNON-STREET
WEST.

About a quarter-past 10 last night a murder was
discovered to have taken place in the premises belonging
to Marrs. Bevington and Co., leather manufacturers,
No. 2, Cannon-street West. The victim is Sarah Willson,
housekeeper, who lived on the premises, but the murderer
is at present unknown. From the statement of Elisabeth
Lewes, cook, who was the only person in the house with
the unfortunate woman at the time, it seems that both of
them were sitting together, when a little before 9 o'clock
the house bell was rung. Million rose and went
downstairs, where she remained some time. Her
absence, however, was not noticed, as she was in the habit
of standing talking fora long time at the street-door.
Ten o'clock having struck, Lewes thought it was time for
bed, and went to look after the deceased. On reselling the
passage she saw Willson lying down at full length, but this
at first did not occasion much alarm, as her fellow-servant
was subject to fits—the last she had being about a fort-
night since. Thinking she was in one of them, Lewes
opened the street-door to seek sasistanee,and there happened
to be a woman sitting on the door-step at the time
who went in the house. The murder was then
discovered. The spectacle presented by the poor creature
was so horrible that both were paralysed for the moment
The woman who came in to render assistance left, as was
thought, to fetch a polioaeonstahls, but it was remarked
as singular that she has neither been seen nor beard of
since. The affrighted woman Lewes then rushed into the
street and gave an alarm, and almost immediately Ser-
geant O;borne and Police-constable Stephenson came
to her aid. It was discovered that the murdered
woman had been severely ant about the face and
back part of the heed, and was covered with blood. Dr.
May having been called in, he pronounced life to be ex-
tinct, and Mrs. Johnson, the female searcher from the
Bow-lane station, having washed the blood away, it was
found that the deceased had been brutally cut, there
being seven wounds between the eyes, over the temples,
and near the back of the head. A gentleman belonging to
the firm was sent for from Hackney, and the body was
eventually taken to the dead-house of St. Mary Alder-
mary, Bow-lane.
When the murdered woman was found, her head was to-
wards the street door, her feet being close to the stairs,
covered only with her stockings ; and it is somewhat re-
markable that the shoes she had been wearing were disco-
vered lying on a table in the hall. It is conjectured that
she must have been first stunned, and that the murder
was completed with some sharp instrument She had, it
is mid, been nearly ten years in her situation, and was
much respectcd.

EXECUTION AT SWANSEA.-(THIS DAY.)

SWANSEA, rifts'sDAT.

This morning Robert Coe was hanged in front of
Swansea Gaol for the murder of Edward Davis, at Moun-
tain Ash, Gl•morganshire, on the 2nd September last.
The history of this murder is • very remarkable one.
The murderer and his victim were both young men, and
worked together at one of the numerous iron works of the
district up to the day on which the ill-fated Davis fell a
victim to the rage and cupidity of his supposed friend.
On Saturday, the 2nd September, both the young men
left their work together as usual about 4 o'clock in the
•!ternoon, and were seen in each other's company for an
hour. About 5 o'clock they were observed walking towards
a wood called Dyffryn Wood. The deceased was
never seen alive afterwards, but four months later, viz., in
the beginning of January in the pre-ent year, a fanner
who had lost some sheep was searching for them in the
Dyffryn Wood, when at a spot which is visible from the
line of the Great Western Railway near Aberdare his dog
stopped, and on going up, the farmer found the
headless trunk of • human being in an advanced stage
of decomposition. Looking round he found the head at a
I few yards distance, and no tidings having been heard of
the missing Davis, his father was brought to the spot and
identified the body of the son by the clothing. He also
identified the skull by • missing tooth. It then transpired
that two months previously Robert Coe, Davis's fellow-
workman, had been speaking of a murder that he said ho
had heard had been committed in the wood,
" the head having been chopped from the body.'
He had also about the time of the supposed murder if not
on the very day, borrowed • hatchet, which be detained
for • long time, and when returned there were slight
stains of blood upon the handle. Dr. Herepath, the
analytical chemist, proved the existence of these blood
stains on the trial, but could not say whether the blood
was human or that of other animals. On the trial the
evidence adduced was entirely circumstantial. There was
not a direct fact bringing the crime home to the accused.
It was shown that in something more than half an hour
after Davis and Coe were seen going together towards the
wood on the evening of the 2nd of September, Coe re-
turned to his lodgin7,s, and that having performed the
usual Saturday ablution he went a short distance by train,
returning home between 10 and 11 at night. No signs of
unusual excitement were visible in his conduct that
night, nor was any attempt made on the trial to show that
there were marks of blood on his clothing. It was sought
on the trial to connect with the murder the feet that Coe
had borrowed the hatchet on or about the 2nd September.
, There could be no doubt that he did borrow the hatchet
about the time, for the purpose, as he said, of cutting some
rods out of the wood, and that he did cut the rods. The
medical evidence also went to show that the head of the
murdered man had been cut off with such an instrument as
the borrowed hatchet. When the body was found there
was no money found in the clothes, but it did not appear
that Coe had been spending about this time more money
than he might himself have possessed. Both the young
men had been paid their wages on that Saturday evening.
The case was altogether a weak one to substantiate so seri-
ous a charge, but, after a trial which occupied a day and a
half, the jury found the prisoner guilty.
It is satisfactory to add that after his conviction more
convincing proofs of the prisoner's guilt transpired. It
seems that while the police were looking everywhere for
evidence, there was lying in the work-room where the pri-
soner had been employed a damning evidence of guilt in
the blood-stained coat worn by Coe on the evening of the
murder. The cor.t had been lying in the workshop until •
few days after the trial, when, on being casually removed,
it was examined, and the blood-stains were found upon it.
The prisoner, after his condemnation, betrayed the
same remarkable apathy and indifference to his position as
was exhibited by him when on his trial. In this frame
of mind he continued until • few days ago, when the un-
remitting exertions of the Rev. Mr. Williams, the chap.
lain, brought him to a sense of his position. lie acknow-
ledges' his guilt and expressed his deep penitence for the
offence he had committed. That confession has been
taken down in full and it wall the express wish of the
condemned man that it should not be made public until
after his death. The confession published in a local
paper a week ago, turns out to be a mere invention.
Last evening (Wednesday) the eonvict's two brothers
visited him in the condemned cell, and the parting, as
may be supposed, was a most affecting one. Calcraft was
the executioner, and he arrived from London last night.
At the time of his arrival crowds of people had assembled
outside the gaol anxious to catch a glimpse of the awful
preparations going on within the walls.
Coe walked to the scaffold with a firm step, and main-
tained his self-possession to the last. In his confession he
admits committing the crime solely for the victim's money,
33a. He denies returning a second time to despatch his
victim.