The National Register.
London, England, 1812-10-25 00:00:00

670

A letter from Deal says—" A murd..r of an atr,cions na.tire has
just been committed on board of a ship lying in the Downs. From
the best information I can collect, it appears that the deceased was
Serjeant of Marines, and for some cause was ordered by the Lieute-
nant, commanding in the absence of the Captain, to walk th.e quarter-
deck, with a musquet on his shoulder, like a private ; this, it ap-
pears, he retused to do, remarking to the officer, that he migut put
Trim in irons, or bring him to a,court mart•al if he chose, and if he
should happen to be broke, it would then be time enough for him to
carry a musquet. This reply see.ns to have irt tutted the son of Nep
tune so much, that be went down below tor his dirk, and, coming
again on deck, ran the unfortunate Serjcant through the b4dy, and he
expired almost immediately."
Another horrid murder was commit'el last Monday night at Long-
ford, a small village near Market Dravtr.n, Shropshire (about ten
mies distant from the place where Mrs. Money and her servant mur-
dered Mrs. M.'s husband,) on the bodies ot Mr. Francis !truce, a
farmer, and his house.keeper, who were both found onTuesday morn-
ing in their kitchen, wiAt their throats cut, and the house robbed.
On Wednesday the Coroner's Jury sat, but no discovery had then
been made of the wretches who had perpet rand the deed ; hut it was
supposed to have been done before eight o'clock in the evening, as
they generally retired early to bed. The blood had, however, been
traced on a stile and gate at Morton, a distance of about a mile, which
it is hoped will lead to some discovery.

SHOCKING MURDER.—Saturday morning, a farmer's wife, near •
Xingsbridge, Devon, was found murdered in the ki'clten, on the
return of her husband from labour. Thl clothes of the murderer
were found in the kitchen, he hiving, with great coolness, put on
those of the master of the house. il close pursuit was instantly com-
menced by Mr. Lane and others, from K ingsbridge ; and, as it was
judged probable that the villain had taken a route Westward. they
proceeded to Plymouth. The Constables of Plymouth awl el Ply-
mouth Dock were soon on the alert, and vigilantly ex tniined tit:
whole of the public-houses, &c. on Sunday, without etfict.— On
Monday morning, however, although it blew a most tremendous gale,
Mr. Lanedetermined to cross the New Passage, near Plymouth Dock,
and seized the murderer in the Passage House, on the opposite side,
at Torpoint, preparing to go into Cornwall. He had then on the
clothes of the husband of the deceased, instantly confessed the fact,
and was recognized as a well known pedestrian who had been in the
habit of supplying the counties of Devon and Cornwall with ballads,
&c. &c. He said that he approached the house in which the deceased
Jived, and having ascertained the absence nt the owner, he entered the
kitchen, found the woman busily employed about dinner, knocked her
down with a broom-stick, took up a bill-hook which he stuck in her
neck, and finished the business by cutting her throat with a pruning
knife. That he then took 41. out of her pocket, and opening a drawer.
Wok. out the clothes of her husband and put them on, leaving his own
en the ground.—Being strongly suspected of the horrible murder of
Margaret Huxtable, of Dadbrook, he declined answering the questions
put to him ; said, that he knew he should be hung, and that, if he had •
any concessions to make, he had time on the road, and should have
some conversation with the officers :—Before he quitted Plymouth
Dock, he was recognized by an officer, as having been sentenced to
twolftars' imprisonment at Exeter, in the year lst)9, for attempting to
violate and murder a child. The similarity of this latter case with the
horrible circumstances attendant on the rape and murder of the un-
fortunate infant, Huxtable. render it a matter of considerable proba-
bility, that this wretch is the vile perpetrator of the latter deed
a deed which, if considered in all its c‘reuinstances, is perhaps un.
paralleled, even in the annals of at rocity.
, FURTHER PARTICULARS.—TUeSday meriting, after requesting his
uncle to be sent fur,. in the presence of whom, awl the said two on
stables, without rompul&on or threats, he confessed the horrible
act above alluded to, by sa3ing, " Well. I did murder the child ;"
upon being interrogated as to the particulars, he farther stated, that,
about six o'clock in the evening of the '2oth of January last, he met
the child between Bell Cross and the 'looses ; that he entreated her to
shew him the way to Sentr)-gate, and he would give her a penny ;
she complied with his request, and proceeded over the atone vepi and
stile leading to it ; that in the second field he took her out oft he path,
went across that field Lao the next, where he attempted to violate
her person, but could not dna it, in consequence of her cric, and
• resistance; he then took a stick from the hedge, struck her twice on
• the head, which he supposed to have stunned her, as she made uo
more noise, afterwards intsileti her bead to pieces by large atones, and
it being dark, he says, to be quite certain she was dead, lie felt is ith
his hand, and found her brains IVerc te, ten nut ; he orip pill her of all
herclothes but her stockings, which he ietended to have taken awry,
but thinking them of lime value, left them in the same field, except
the shift ; he then went to a peol, near Sent, y-gate, wal.hed Ms
trowsers and his hands, end wiped them with the shirt, which he
threw into the hedge ; he returned to his lodgings at Moreleigh, at
about half past nine o'clock.
lie is a man of small stature, about five het five inches Well, wilks
lame of the left leg, lisps in his speech, sandy complexion. dirk tv:tr,
and an aquiline nose, amid has altogether a most unpleseaot, tin liichliog