The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-10 00:00:00

The Murder in Plaistow-marshes.

tionally, or even unfairly in their way of opposing
Mr Lincoln ; but Mr Lincoln admitted in the few
words which so startled the deputation that his way
was Governor Johnson's way, illegal and unconsti-
tutional as it might be, and unfair as it certainly
was. As the publication of the documents and Mr
Lincoln's emphatic and uncourteous commentary
was doing him harm, he took a week to reconsider
the matter, and has accordingly written a letter to
the deputation, which has not mended the matter,
but made it greatly the worse. He peremptorily
declines to interfere with Governor Johnson in any
way whatever, and ventures upon three very extra.-
ordinary assertions—first, that " the movement set
on foot by Governor Johnson does not, as the depu-
tation seems to assume, emanate from the National
Executive;" secondly, that the plan does not
threaten violence or coercion against any one ; and,
thirdly, that Governor Johnson, like any other loyal
citizen of Tennessee, has the right to favour any
political plan he chooses. The answer to the first
assertion is than Governor Johnson is a military com-
mander, appointed by Mr Lincoln ; that in propos-
ing the oath complained of he acts wholly in his
military cepacity,and that consequently Mr Lincoln,
his superior officer, having the power to remove him,
becomes responsible for the official conduct of his
subordinate. The answer to the second is that,
although the plan of Governor Johnson may not
threaten;physical violence or coercion, it undoubtedly
menaces moral violence and coercion against every
member of the Democratic party in Tennessee, and
every opponent of the war and the policy of the
present Administration in that State, aho will not
perjure himself as a preliminary to recording his vote
in favour of Gen. M‘Clellan. Arid when Mr Lincoln
tells the deputation, as he proceeds to do, that it
they object to the plan they can leave it alone, and
thus find their perfect security, he adds insult to
iejury. Of course nothing would please him and
Mr Johnson better than that all the supporters and
friends of Gen. M'C,ellan in Tennessee should ab-
sent themselves from the polls, and find perfect
security in refraining alike from swearing and from
voting. The third statement, that Mr Johnson has
as much right as any other citizen to favour any
political plan he chooses, is quite true; but it did
not suit the purpose of Mr Lincoln to remember that
it was not of Andrew Johnson the private citizen—
neither better, nor greater, nor more privileged than
any other person in America—that complaint was
made, but of Andrew Johnson the Military Go-
vernor and Dictator of Tennessee, who, by his
illegally imposed oath, endeavoured to deprive
other citizens as good as himself of the right ac-
corded to them br the Constitution. Nor is the
concluding paragraph of this document the least
curious or amazing part of it. " Except," says Mr
Lincoln, " it be to give protection against violence,
I decline to interfere in any way in any Presiden-
tial election." Judged by his previous arguments
and statements, this declaration of neutrality simply
means that he will allow his friends and officers in
Tennessee,
or any where el e, to do as they please
in his interest,
provided they do not resort to phy.
sical violence ; but as the denial of a man's right is
very apt to provoke physical resistance, both law
and equity will hold Mr Lincoln responsible for
any evil consequences that may result in any por-
tion of the country from the attempt of such men
as Mr. Johnson to filch an illegal victory, and de-
prive the American people, or any portion of them,
of their right to ()lent their Chief Magistrate.
Mary!and, in this respect, threatens to be as
troublesome as Kentucky or Tennessee. In that
State also a teat oath, called an " ironclad," has
been imposed by the Military Governor, General
Wallace, and in the recent election for State officers,
taken simultaneously with the vote on the proposed
new Constitution, which prohibits slavery, no one
was allowed to cast his ballot who would not swear
that he was "loyal" to the present Administration,
and in favour of all its war measures, of whatsoever
kind or degree. Mr. Reverdy Johnson, an eminent
lawyer of Baltimore, and representadve of Mary-
land in the Senate of the United States, advised
the Democratic party to take the oath, on the same
grounds that he would advise a man overpowered
by a highwayman to yield his money rather than
his life, and that an oath so taken was no more
binding upon the conscience of the individual than
the conveyance of the traveller's money to the
hands of the robber was a legitimate transfer which
the law would sanction. Perhaps some portion of
the voters of Maryland acted upon Mr. Johnson's
advice, for the new Constitution abolishing slavery
nearly 2,000 upon
the great mass of
ttwhhaees rejectedapruyllearh
d‘lbeeyrtseaev
erbemajorityuvtvirtually
disfranchised by
their refusal to take the oath is evident from
voters only about
the fact
15,000,
or
rhea u
one
eoint
four,
eouf r 6t0,00
took
k the
trouble or thought
it prudent to present themselves at the polls.
Nevertheless, though there was a popular majority
against it, the Free State Constitution is declared
to havethe been
Marylandcarried.
regiments under Grant and The votes of soldiers serving
in
other Generals were recorded in its favour, in suffi-
cient numbers, it is officially stated, to turn the scale,
and convert the majority of the people into a mino-
rity of the whole. The Governor of Maryland, Mr.
Bradford, disputes the legality of the military vote,
and such a disposition has been manifested through-
out support him in this view that the
ie
litigated through all the Courts of
qeeett heh w Stateill
b to e
Maryland, until ultimately it will find its way to the
Supreme Court of the United States at Washington,
there to receive authoritative settlement at the
hands of the only tribunal competent to deal with
it. Under such circumstances the abolition of slavery
in Maryland by the supposed vote of the people
loses much of the lustre that would surround it if
the abolition were legally and freely decided by the
people, and the Republican party sings its songs of
triumph prematurely. Mr Lincoln, however, is well
pleased. He told a company of serenaders, who
played " The Starsspaugled Banner" and other
popular and patriotic airs under his windows at the
White House in honour of the event, that be
heartily congratulated not alone Maryland and the
nation, but the whole world, on the abolition of
slavery in the State by the vote of the people, and

Yesterday, at the Stratford Poliee-court, before Mr John
Gurney Fry and Mr Raymond Pelly, presiding magistrates,
two persons, who were arrested on the previous evening on
suspicion of being concerned in the murder of John Fula..
hop, whose headless body was found, as already reported,
on Plaistow-marshes, were bi ought up for examination.
The names of the accused, as stated in the charge sheet,
were Ferdinand Edward Karl Kehl, of 4, Hay-street, Plais-
tow, sugarbaker, a native of Holland, and Hannah his wife,
an English woman, to whom the male prisoner had only
been married about five weeks. The prisoner Kohl is a dull
heavy-looking man, about 27 years of age. He did not seem
in the dock to pay much attention to the proceedings. His
wife, on the other hand, a girl of 18, showed that she acutely
felt the position in which she was placed. She is the daugh-
ter of poor but respectable parents at Plaistow. Superin-
tendent Howie and Inspector Nightingale, of the K divi-
sion, and Sergeant Clarke, of the detective department of
metropolitan police, attended to conduct the case. The
court was densely crowded.
Upon the prisoners being placed at the bar the Chairman
inquired whether any legal adviser appeared on their behalf,
and was told that no one did.
The following evidence was then adduced :
Richard Harvey, of Crispin-street, Poplar, a shipwright's
apprentice, said—On Tuesday afternoon, about half-past 1,
I was going along the river bank near Plaistow-marshes,
close to Silvertown, accompanied by Josiah Gaster and some
other persons. One of the men belonging to the party sent
me among some reeds to drive up the birds for him to shoot
at, he having a gun. As I was walking through the reeds
I noticed the dead body of a man. I was about five yards

from the corpse when I first saw it. I ran out of the reeds
and told my companions. The body, which was lying on
its back, had no head. The right hand was lying on the
breast, and the left arm was lying by its side. It was about
50 yards from the river wall or bank. There is a Woad
reed shore at this point, and the reeds growing there are
about seven feet high. Gaster, upon hearing what I said,
went for a constable. The body was dressed only in a pair
of black cloth trousers and Wellington boots. There was a
small piece of a white shirt on the left aria of the body, no
other portions of the shirt remaining.
The male prisoner, in reply to the Chairman, said he had
no questions to ask this witness.
Josiah Gaster, 7, Bromley-street, Poplar, confirmed the
account given by the previous witness of the discovery of
the body. He said the rats had eaten the flesh uff the hands.
The body was lying on its back, the right hand was lying
across the breast, and the left land and arm were lying by
the side of the body. 1 immediately went in search of a
police-constable, and found one. I bought him to the spot.
I found that the deceased had upon him a pair of black
trousers opening in front, and a pair of 'Wellington boots
outside his trousers. There was also a part of a white
shirt •on the left arm. I met a police-- ffic2r and told him
what I had seen, and I accomp tnied him to the spot. We
then searched the pockets, and found a farthing in the right-
hand pocket of the trousers and wrapped in a piece of paper.
Noshing else was found on the body of the deceaszel,
We searched for the head among the reeds, but could no
find it, The head was cut off across the neck.
The male prisoner said he had no question to ask of the
witness, and the female prisoner said nothing. She seemed
quite overwhelmed with grief, clutched the rails of the dock
and sobbed convulsively.
-Mr Edward John Morris said—l am a surgeon, and re-
side at Plaistow. I was called to see the body of the deceased
at about half-past 11 o'clock last night. I wont to the Gra-
ving Dock Hotel in Silvertown. The body was without a
head, and the muscular portion of the neck right down to
the bone had been eaten away by rats, which swarm among
the reeds. My opinion is that a knife and a chopper had
been used in severing the head from the body. There were
several marks where chops had been made in the vertebras.
One blow had partially divided one of the cervicals, and an'.
other had completely done so. The flesh of the loft hand
had all been eaten away, and that of the right was partially
eaten eff, The left shoulder had also been attacked by the
rats, as was shown by the muscular fibres. The same was
the case with the right arm; Taking into consideration the
coldness of the weather and the dry place where the body
was found it is quite possible the deceased might have been
dead four or five days. I examined the chest and abdomen,
and could not find any marks of violence. I saw the clothes
described by the witnesses. The boots were over the ankles
of the trousers, as if he had been walking in the mud. It
was the body of a well-fed muscular man. I have_not made
a post mortem examination.
Henrich Zutch—l am a shoemaker, and live at No 2,
Hoy-street. Last evening, about 8 o'clock, I went to the
Graving Dock Hotel and identified the body from the boots.
Although I had not heard the name of the deceased, I had
known him for several weeks, He had shown me his boots
and asked if I could do anything in the way of repairing
them. The left sole was worn. He lodged at No 4, Hoy-
street, in the same house as the prisoner Kohl.
Elizabeth Warren, wife of James Warren, labourer, of 3,
Nelson-place, Plaistow, said—The male prisoner used to
lodge at my house, and then he went to Germany. and
when he returned ho married the young woman at the bar.
When he came back from Germany he brought to nay house
a young gentleman, whom we used to call John. This
young man accompanied him from abroad to my house to
lodge. The person whom I believe to have been the de-
ceased lodged at my house for 13 days. He left about a
month ago. He was 21 or 22 years of age, and was a very
handsome young man. I have seen nothing of him since
he left my house. He could not speak good English. I
never saw him extravagant. When the deceased was brought
to my house the prisoner said he had £2OO a year, and was
bound to New York. When he first came to my house the
young man gave me six sovereigns to take care of for him,
as he was going out. He also gave me a silver watch, gold
Albert chain, and ring. I returned them all to him, in-
cluding the money, a few days after he had intrusted them
with me. The ring was a large plain gold ring, with a
blank gold shield, without any stone or figure on it. He also
had a gold handkerchief pin, with a piece of red coral in it,
which he left at my house and came for the day afterwards.
I never noticed his linen was marked. He had one coloured
shirt. He had several ether shirts and collars. The collars
had a mark on them. When he left my house I saw that
he had four sovereigns and some silver in his hand, and
when he came to settle with me he said if he changed
another sovereign ho would not have enough money to go
to New York. I had received 25s from him, and I charged
him £2. The male prisoner came with the young man
when he left. He was also accompanied by two lads and
a German they called "Butcher." The prisoner wished
him to retain the four sovereigns, and both ho and the
young man objected to what I had charged. I claimed
15s more than they had paid me, and detained the young
man's portmanteau, a box, two pairs of boots (one pair
with laced sides), and two hatboxes, containing a beaver
hat and a felt, narrow brimmed, skull-crowned hat, He
also had a large overcoat and a travelling wrapper, red
on one side and black on the other. He had two pairs of
black trousers and a pair of gray ones in the boxes. I gave
the things up on the following day. The German, whom
he called Butcher, paid me the 15s, and I delivered the
goods. I have seen this man Butcher about the marsh. It
was about a month ago that he left, and on a Tuesday. lie
offered me 7s 61, which I refused. He said the ship in
which he was to proceed to New York was to sail on the
following Tuesday or Friday—l could not say which.
The prisoner Kohl said he had no question to ask the
witness.
Mr Daniel Howie, superintendent of the K division of
the Metropolitan Police, said—On Tuesday evening, the
Bth inst., about 7 o'clock, I went to the house of Ferdinand
Edward Karl Kohl, the prisoner, at 4, Hoy'.street, Plaistow-
marsh. I there saw the prisoner and his wife, the female
prisoner, and Joseph Williams, her brother. I inquired of
them if a young German was missing from the house, The