The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-03 00:00:00

The Conviction of Franz Muller.

Since the trial and conviction of Franz Muller for the
murder of Mr Briggs, the German Legal Protection Society,
who, notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, still hold to
the belief of the prisoner's innocence in respect of this crime,
have continued their investigations with unremitting assi-
duity. The discoveries they have made the committee have
determined to lay before the public in the form of a para..
phlet, wl-zch is now being prepared, and which will shortly
be produced.

Tho following incident, the full particulars of which
have been ascertained by recent inquiries, and which,
it is considered, has a connection with the murder
of Mr Briggs that demands proper investigation, will,
in all probability, have a principal position in the statement
which will be issued by the German committee, It is
stated that about two,o'clock on the morning of tho 10th of
July last, a few hours after the commission of the murder,
a Mr Poole, who resides in Edmonton, was in his bedroom,
when a parcel (as it afterwards proved) was thrown against
his house, breaking one of the windows. This parcel, it
would seem, had been thrown from a cab, which was pass-
ing down the road away from London. Mr Poole, with a
view of getting some payment for the damage done, imme-
diately pursued the cab, which, after a long chase, he over-
took. There were four men inside. It is said that, as far
as could be seen, there was an appearance of considerable
disorder about these men. Ono of them was without his
hat, and with a handkerchief band round his head. Mr
Poole was told hu-riedly that the bundle was thrown for a
lark; but that he would be paid and the cab drove on. The
parcel which had been thrown against Mr Poole's window
was found on being examined to contain a pair of t-ousers.
Later on the Sunday morning, at about eleven o'clock, Mr
Poole saw the same cab returning towards London, and
noticed that there were then two of the same men in if, and
this time Mr Poole was accompanies ley an^ nr two respec-
table inhabitents of the neighbourhood, It is understood
that the German Society have succeeded in discovering three,
if not all four of these men; and that they are in possession
cf the trousers, which are found to be stained with
blood, which has been ascertained to be human. The cora-
mittee aro said to be also !n the possession of other evidence
which they consider of the highest importance as bearing
on this case, the complete investigation of which they de-
sire to promote.

Last evening, at a meeting of the German Legal Protec-
tion Society at Seyd's Hotel, Finsbury-square, the terms of
a memorial to Sir George Grey were discussed and resolved
upon. Mr Lasker was in the chair, and nearly all the mem-
bers of the society attended, among those present being Dr
Kinkel, Dr Beigel, the Baron von Erlanger, Mr A, Oppler,
and Mr Beard, solicitor for the prisoner.

The CHAIRMAN said the murder on the North London
Railway was still a great mystery to them all. They could
not say the trial had been any other than a fair one; and
they were not assembled to criticise the conduct of the jury
in arriving at the verdict of guilty on such evidence as was
submitted to them. But nobody who held a bend even in
Muller's guilt, attempted to deny that the affair was very
mysterious. This society, whose members were now
anxiously and earnestly engaged in the endeavour to estab-
lish the truth, was known in England as the German Legal
Protection Society; but its German title would imply that
its function was to protect only those accused persons
whom it had reason to consider innocent. He would now
call upon Mr Beard to advise them more particularly as
to the steps they should take to procure a reprieve for
Muller.

Mr BEARD stated the result of his interview with cor
sel, and said that, without pledging themselves to the pre-
cise character of the memorial, they might safely agree to
petition, on the grounds of not being satisfied with the
evidence.

Mr EPSTEIN, the secretaij, suggested that signatures to
the memorial should be sought among the general public—
but this plan was objected to, as possibly tending to con-
tradict the very purport of the appee', which professed to
emanate from a German body. It was also contended that,
as time was pressing, the delay caused by sending the me-
morial into various quarters to be signed would endanger
its chances of success.

The draft was then read by Mr Begird, and was criticised
in a very animate 1 discuss. The document was, in effect, a
precis of the speech of Mr Sergeent Parry, and imported no
novel facts or arguments. The meeting seemed generally to
be of opinion that a respite should be solicited on the ground
that evidence not produced at the trial was in the heads of
the committee. It was said that, independent of the Ed-
monton story, which our readers will find above given, se•
veral facts of importance had transpired. The Byron von
Erlanger stated that all journeymen tailors had "pass-
books," accounting for their time and conduct; and MC-
let's book was one which gave him a character above that
of his fellow-workmen. Tho same speaker said that
Muller had minutely described the man who sold him
the watch at the docks ; and on inquiries being
made of the dock cfficials, they said that such a man was
one of the four ped'ars well known about the place, but
that he had not been seen since about the time of the mur-
der. They made search fur him, and found that he had
ch7ngei his residence several times ; and when they at last
discovered him, he gave a very hesitating end unsatisfac-
tory account of his dealings.
Dr. KINKEL said that the " pass-book" in question
should certair'y be put forward in evidence. It did not
merely 4,stify character in a way usually valuable in
procuring mitigation of sent:arca : it was a direct proof that
Muller was not the k:ad of men to commit so atrocious a
deed.

The CIIIIRMAN made a statement in corroboration of
that which related to Muller's purchase of the watch. He
(the chairman) had been visited by a person who for twenty
years past has hen familiar with people about the docks,
and who came to h'm to say that watches were often sold by
pedlars in that vicinity. He asked his visitor to give him
some descriptions of these pedlars ; and ao3ordingly he
wrote on four separate pieces of paper four several accounts,
one of which exactly tallied with Muller's ova. Mr Lasker
then desired his informant to mark that paper with a cross,
and the observation he made in reply was, " It is strange
you should ask me to mark this paper, for it relates to the
only one of the four men whom 1 have missed for some
time past,"

The decision of the meeting was to alter the tenor of the
memorial in such a way as to petition for time, in which
the value of th's new evidence may be tested. ,