The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-10 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

The following appointments. made at the Admiralty
yePterday, appeared in our third edition last night. :
Mr. David Shannon, Acting-Assistant-SurgeGn to
the Impregnable.
Mr. Francis Cook Alton, second class Assistant-En-
gineer of H. M. S. Exmouth, has been promoted to be
first class Assistant-Engineer in her Majesty's fleet, "in
consequence of the zeal and skill exhibited by him of the
occasion of the bombardment of Sweaborg."

MEL MURDER OF A LITTLE BOY AT

B UXGEEFOIW.

On Monday a report was circulated in Hungerford
that a little boy, four years of age, had been found on
the Downs with his head fearfully mutilated, and mur-
dered by some unknown hand. Inquiries were made,
and it was discovered to be the body of a child named
Ros;er, whose father is a labourer living in High-street.
It was subsequently ascertained that a boy named Sopp,
12 years of age, whose father is a_ gardener, also living
in High-street, was sent on to the Downs by his master,
' Mr. Pocock, to cut some furze, for which purpose he
took a billhook. At eight o'clock in the morning he
was seen walking hand in hand With the child, and five
hours afterwards its murdered body was discovered by a
girl named Susannah Barnes. The boy Sopp was appre-
hended in the course of the afternoon, and the next
L , morning confessed that the billhook slipped out of 'his
hand and struck the child ; he was afraid he should he
blamed for this, and therefore killed the child outright.
Sopp bears a very indifferent character, having been be-
fere the magistrates several times for petty offences.
ienedbethfoer eptebrei l
ous
position
1 HOno
la'prpideaayretdhevebroy-yuwnacs examined
at
in which he was placed.
An inquest was held on the body, on Wednesday
afternoon, at the Town-hall, Illingerford before Mr.
Thomas Wooldridge, when the following evidence was
taken :
Francis Pocock—l am a rope-maker at Ilinagerford.
billhookls°a.n.d
On Tuesday mornionng
ilaisotngledrfiroercdt.eddowWnil;liawmliSi
ioaptnp toga
ro
and cut some furze
aboutsopp two months.my
had It
8
hao,cdlobekeenin
now •
prong, which is the same as produced , the bill=
with a quantity
t 10 o'clock, to my house about half-pas
in
them ym
employor g.
hook is apt to slip out of the handle. Sopp came back
the bill-hook when
of furze, saying he could not cut any more, for the bill-
hook would not cut ; I did not notice
' he came back. Scpp was going to cut more furze after
dinner,- but I altered my mind,
and Sopp worked with
me till six o'clock in the evening, when I observed his
-hand tremble very much. About two
I and
'afternoon, my little girl came into the and where
o'clock in the
Sopp were working, and told me, in Sopp's bearing, that
a little boy had been murdered on the Downs, who, she
understood, wag little Rosier. Sapp said, " Poor RAle
fellow ; I know him very well
;" he said "It was little
Silas Rosier, and he lived close to the yard," and added,
" Poor little fellow ; any oee must he
very hard-hearted
1 to kill a poor little boy like that." He repeated this
1 several times in the afternoon. Hart, the constable, came
down to my house about; six o'clock in the evening to
examine the bill-hook and prong. Sapp was present at I
the tine, and Hart asked him whether he had seen such
a little bey on the Down. Sopp replied that he had not
seen .him that day. Hart asked Sopp whether he bad
washed'AbTs bill-hook.-SUpp said ‘, No. Sopp also
said he had; OW
his smock, and Hart era-
same clothes on as he bad in the morn-
ing,,and •Vent and fetched'•
mined it... There were some marks on the smock, and
Sopp coiled to ine,tO point out W 116.6, 'Whl:red lead `and
what was tar.
. alit then left the yard. Afterwards .I
i
said to Sopp, -this is a very serious affair, and it is pro.
bable you will have an examination before the magic-
rrate:twuorrow. Sopp said. he did not care; he was
taxl -
'innocent; h 0 had not touched the child. Sopp then
left. c •
ini 4 cii6t IDA
' C ' " - rri 21-` c'ziiti. VI of-truageriord,

On Tuesday last, about half-past two o'clock, I was in-
formed that a little boy had been found dead on the
Down. Went and saw the child at Joseph Rosier's
house. I found that Sopp had been cutting furze that
morning on the. Down. I took possession of the bill-
hook and left. Upon further information I received, I
went to Sopp's house the same evening, charged him
with the murder, and took him into custody. Sopp ap-
peared very much frightened, and said he did not do it.
About 12 yards up the side of the pit, on the Down, I
found a cap. There was a quantity of blood on the
cap, and likewise the grass there, and a 'small por-
tion of bone, bloody, lying on the grass close to the
cap. There were also several pieces of furze recently
cut. There were foot-marks from the cap to where
the body was found, and it appeared that the body
had been dragged into the pit. On Wednesday morn-
ing, about eight o'clock, I brought Wm. Sopp's break-
fast to the lock-up. I staid there while he had it.
While there Sopp gave a deep sigh. I said to him,
"Sopp, when you went on the Down yesterday morn-
ing did'nt you see any one going up ?" Sopp said,
"No." I said, " Did'ilt you see Smith's little girl near
the stile where you got over ?" Sopp said, " No," at
first; and in less than a minute be said, " Yes." Sopp
then said, "As I was going up the Alley, I saw Rosier's
little boy, with some more school boys, going to hedge-
specking. The other boys ran away, and left little
Rosier behind, and I asked him to go on the Down with
me to cut furze. We went together. As I was using
the bill-book, the bill-hook came out of the handle, and
struck the poor little fellow on the head—it knocked him
down—he kept rolling about on the ground, and I was
afraid that the people would think I tried to do it, and
killed him." I then said to Sopp, " With the bill-kook,
I suppose that you gave me last night ?" Sopp said,
"Yes." I then said, "In what way did you do it with
the bill-hook ?" Sopp said, "I cut him on the head
with the bill-hook." Sopp also said, "The little boy
could not cry, and he did not make any poise."
The prisoner said nothing in his defence, and the jury
returned a verdict of wilful murder against Wm. Sopp.

THE REGISTRATIONS.