The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-09-12 00:00:00

MURDER.

It may yet be remembered by many of our rea-
ders, that in April last, a reward was offered to any
person who should give information of Charles Haw-
kins, who WAS missed by his parents on the sth of
that month. Five months elapsed, without any cir-
cumstance occurring that should tend to explain the
fate of this boy ; though slow, yet certain, is that re-
cord of Providence; " whosoever spills man's blood,
by m.m shall his blood be spilled." The circumstance
attending this discovery, with all its concomitants,
are evidently the direftion of an " all seeing Being :"
Hawkins lived with Mr. Stoneham, at his mill at
Kingston, near Portsmouth, with one Edwards, who
belonged to the Paiute Volunteers, and who, aliant
a month after the lad was missing, enlisted at Wick.
ham fair, into the tr. Ist Regiment of Dragoons
Capt. Poulden, to whose company of Volunteers he
belonged, consequently sent to his lodgings for his
regimentals : on his box being examined, a shit t and
uveral articles were found, belonging to Hawkins;
this may appear as the dawn of discovery. Hosi -
ever, on Edwards receiving his bounty at South tow-
ton, a person of Portsea, to whom he was indebted,
went to him to make his demand; and on his tak-
ing leave, Edwards said, " he should never rt•tutn
to Kingston again, as there WAS something there
which he knew of, but which nobody else ever
should know. So far did he exemplify, that

aa %Firth terrors equal, brit not with equal guilt,
" The murderer dreatnauf all the blow' he spat."
In this concatenation of circumstances, it next oc-
curred that the labourer hired by Mr. Stoneham, in
the place of Edwards, was a taller man than Ed-
wards, and was obliged for that reason, from the
lowness srf the headway from which he fed the
pigs, to reach over, which induced him to require of
his master that the shed might be made higher ;
this Mr. Stoneham refused to do, but desired that
he would sink the ground lower the tubs, in the
digging of which, was discovered, in a horrible
state of puttescence, the body of Charles Hawkins!
The Coroner (J. Grigg, Esq.) instantly summoned
a Jury, and, after a long examination, re.urned a
rerdift of—lff.(isit Murder against a person or per-
sons unknown. The body was in that decayed state,
that it was only upon the mother's knowledge of
several articles of his clothes, that it was positively
known to be him. A warrant is issued to appre-
hend Ed,Yards, who has deserted from his regi-
ment. The deceased is the eldest son of Mr. Haw-
kins, a wealthy and respeCtable farmer near Ports-
mouth, who has offered a reward of fifty guineas,
to any person who will give evidence tending to
identify the perpetrator of this foul murder. The
author of the inhuman deed, to favour the idea of
Hawkins having drowned himself, threw his hat
into the Mill-dam at Portsea, where it was found
the day after he was missing. In the ardent wish
and expedation that the mut deter may in part ex-
piate his offence by the sentence of the laws of his
country, we cannot refrain from calling the attention
of our readers, in marking the unexpetted discovery
of this deed of darkness, to the justly vindillive hand
of Providence in disclosing this and similar ai9s of
atrocity, that—
" Murder, though it has nu tongue, will ,;eak
" Willi must miraculous organ."
(Hampshire T.legraph.)

A melancholy incident took place on Monday
se'nnight. in Carlisle:—Wu. 'swim a kw months
ago officiated as an hostler at the Angel Inn ; but on
account of extreme mental debility, and by reason
of his utter insufficiency to take care of the horses,
he was (reluttantly) discharg-.1 ; since which pe-
riod he occasionally applied liirthelf to labouring,
and thereby procured a scanty subsistence ; but
daily he became more unfit for every kind of ex-
union. This unfortunate old man, on Sunday
morning, asked leave of Mr. Jon m SLY.' Li. 1., or some
one of the family, to retire into the hayloft (as he
was wont to do) to repose himself: the next day.
about noon, he was found there sisq..tradea ka a card.
lifeless ! —The Ceroaer's Inquest sat an the body.
Veriliaa..4..ooteay.

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