The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-12-29 00:00:00

SINGULAR MURDER.

(From the Rianroad (America) Compiler of Nev. 24.1
On Monday, the 4th day of April last, F,Velina Cun-
ningham, a young woman who lived near Charltsuon, in
Cecil County, Maryland, left her home to (lo to a relation's--
riot far distant, taking with her the child of a relative about
four years old. She had to pass a short distance on the
post road leading from Havre-de-Grace to Elkton. Abbot
eleven o'clock in the day, she stoned at a house on that road,
where she was invited to wait awhile, and the man of the
house and his wife told her they intended going the same
way, and would walk with her. She replied, that the
child walked very slow, that she would therefore go on,
and they might overtake her. These people were delayed, '
and did not leave their house till about one o'clock. While
on their way, they observed a strange man come out of the
wood, near where Mies C. was afterwards found, carrying
a bundle, and wearing a dark coloured surtout, who'asked
as he passed them, " how far is it to the ferry ?" .(llavre-
de-Grace ferry.) No uneasiness was entertained by the
family which Miss Cunningham had left, it being supposed
she was at the house she intended to visit. On the follow-
ing Friday morning, the child, in an almost famished
state, was discovered standing at a branch by a neigh-
bouring woman, who, knowing the child, asked it
"whom it came with?" It answered, " with aunty."
" Where is your aunty ?" The child, pointing to the
woods, said, "Up there." " Why dill she not come with
you ?" " Aunty is asleep," it answered, " I could not
wake her." Persons went immediately to make search, one
of whom following the track which the child had made in
going to and from the branch, was led directly to the life-
Jess hotly of Mire Cunningham. Of the horrible and blood-
chilling apeentele which it exhibited, we are permitted
only to say, that on her body and neck were found eleven
wetted*, as from ate slabbing of a knife; her hands were
cut, as if from seizing the weapon ; and the biood-vessels
on one side of the neck were cut in two. .From the ex-
tended position of her arms and hair, she appeared to have
been dragged by the feet. from the place where she was
first wounded. She had worn black worsted stockings,
which were pulled off and taken away : whether they were
marked or not, is not known. She was found with one
shoe on. The child said it haul put on one of aunty's
shoes, but could not get on the other. It could give no
other information of the murderer than that " a big ugly
man cut aunty with a knife." The little sufferer had con.
tinned with the body from Monday till Friday, leaving it
only to go to the branch to drink, but often cry:ng, and
begging its " aunty" to awake and get up. The lower
part of a shirt-sleeve, evidently torn off was found at the
spot, anti is still kept.
One John Conners, a native of Canada, and a shoe-
maker by trade, was arrested in Virginia on the Ist June,
and has been lately tried in Maryland for the above mur-
der. He was acquitted on full proof that, at the time the
crime was perpetrated, he wts in Millersburg, Kentucky.
This man's arrest quieted inquiry as ta others. On the
day of the murder a stranger crossed the ferry at Havre-
de-Grace, who paid the ferry-man a striped cotton jacket,
with sleeves, for his ferryage. This man had with him a
bundle, and wore a dark-coloured aurtout, supposed to be
of bottle-green. A man in a similar dress, and also hav-
ing a bundle, was overtaken on the road by a boy in a
gig, who asked the boy to let him ride. On being refused
he got into the gig, and continued in it till they saw Miss
Cunningham at come distance, and whom they would
soon have met, when the man jumped out, and sat down
on the side of the road.

On the previous Saturday night two men, a woman, and
a child, who said they had come from the Potomac Canal,
lodged at a house in Cecil county, near the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal. About twelve o'clock on Sunday,
being a stormy snowy day, they left the house for the
canal. Early on Monday morning one of the men re-
turned, got his breakfast, and took from his bundle se-
veral articles of clothing, which lie left, saying they be-
longed to the other man, who returned and took them the
next day. The woman and chill did not come back with
them. The man who returned on Monday morning soon
left the house, to go back, as lie said, to the Potomac
Canal, and passed on the post-road from Elkton towards
Havre-de-Grace. He wore a dark-coloured coat, and had
with him a bundle.

On or about the 13th of April a man was arrested in
Baltimore, who, on his examination before a lagistrate,
stated to the Magistrate and a gentleman present that he
saw the young woman who was murdered in Cecil; that he
was sitting in the wood, on the road side, when she passed
by; that he remained in the neighbourhood till Friday,
when she was found ; that in passing along the road he was
afraid, being a stranger, that he might be taken up, and
asked a gentleman on the road to let him ride in his car-
riage, or remain in company with him, the latter of which
lie did; that he saw the funeral, and was sorry to think
that so fine looking a young woman should have been so
cruelly treated; and finally, that he came from Havre-de-
Grace to Baltimore by water. This man, when arrested,
had a dark surtout and a bundle with him. What is yet
more strange, he told the Magistrate and the other gentle-
man that be came from Canada, and that his name was
John Connors. The boy mentioned above, and another
person being sent for, said he was not the man they had seen
on the road. lie was discharged, and asked the Magistrate
for a certificate to prevent his being taken up again, which
was given him.

AWFUL INSTANCE OF SUDDEN DEATII.—On Tues-
day, between the hours of twelve and one o'clock, as Mr.
William Randall, an extensive starch-manufacturer at
Lambeth, was walking along in apparent good health, op-
posite the New Bethlem, on his arrival near the Stags be
suddenly fell down and instantly expired. Immediate as-
sistance was called to the unfortunate gentleman, at:d the
body carried to the house of Dr. Morgan, in Canterbury-
buildings, who without hesitation pronounced the spark of
life completely extinct.
On Monday the sth inst. a dreadful accident happened
at one of the collieries belonging to Messrs. William Clare
and Co. of St. Helens. As three of the men (two of them
brothers, and the other a cousin) were descending, as
usual, down the coal-pit to work, about four o'clock in the
morning, the pin which fastens the chain to the basket,
which the men were in. unfortunately came out, by which
means they were all precipitated to the bottom, a distance
of upwards of ninety yards ; and when found they were all
dead. The head of one of them was completely laid open,
and those of the others were greatly fractured.—Lieer pool
Advertiser.

A seriousrobbery was committed early on Sunday morn-
ing on a person who resides in Shudehill. He was
knocked down, dreadfully beaten, so that his life is in
Langer, and robbed of about ten pounds. The robbers
were six in number, and being all in military undress, are
supposed to belong to the SOth infantry, a part of which
regiment is at present in quarters here ; but nothing has
transpired to point out the guilty individnals.—Manehesfer
Mercury.
BA !LIFT Sit ov.--(Further particulars.)—Between seven
and eight o'clock on Saturday morning, as Capt. Beggs,
who resides at Phibbsborougb, was walking in his garden
which fronts the road, beserceived a man looking over the
wall; the Captain, being apprehensive of arrest, cautioned
him against proceeding further, and threatened, if he did,
that he would shoot him. The unfortunate man, in defi-
ance of the threat, made his way into the garden, and pre-
sented a pistol at the Captain, at the same time showing
the warrant that lie had to attach him ; upon this Captain
Beggs discharged a gun which Mrs. Beggs a few minutes
before had handed him, and lodged its contents in ►he
bailiff's breast, when he instantly expired. The name of
the wretched man who has thus lost his life in an over-
zealous discharge of his duty, is Ryan, and was employed
in the Sheriff's office. Captain Beggs has absconded, and
Mrs. Beggs has been taken into custody, to await the ver-
dict of the Coroner's Jury, which sat during the course of
the day on Saturday. From the great number of witnesses
whom it would be found necessary to be examined, the in-
quest was postponed until Wednesday next. Several of
the witnesses differ as to the position of the deceased when
he received the fatal shot, some asserting that he was on
the wall, others that he was in the garden; the latter is
generally considered the more probable, from the manner
in which the deceased was found lying. No warrant
has as yet been issued against Capt. Beggs.—Dublin Morn-
ing Post.