The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-17 00:00:00

A TALE OF A LAY FIGURE,

On Thursday night an alarm was raised that a murder
had been perpetrated in a house in a respectable locality in
Belfast, and that the corpse of the victim had just been dis-
covered. The body of the unfortunate man who had been
so unfairly dealt with was found concealed in a box under
the bed in a room which was used by a young re a a—a lodger
in the house—as a sleeping apartment. As soon as the
affair became public through this person, several policemen
were brought to the scene of the supposed tragedy, for the
purpose of inquiring into the matter, and ascertaining, if
possible, and bringing to justice, the cruel assassin. Great
consternation was created in the neighbourhood. Anxious
were the inquiries to find out thenanae, address, appearance,
occupation, &c., of the murdered man ; but, as thes3 flag
had not transpired up to the hour of our going to press, we
can only publish the following brief yet dreadful talc:—
The young man alluded to had for a short time lodged
in the house in question, and in the room, concealed
under his bed, he observed a queer, coffin-shaped,
rough-looking deal box. Often did be look wistfully
at the strange piece of furniture, for he could not
get rid of a hankering suspicion that therein all was not
well. On Thursday night, therefore, his curiosity, coupled
with the aforenamed suspicion, impelled our lodger to thaw
the box gently and quietly from underneath the bed. He
stopped. Conscience whispered to him that it was none of
his business what was in the box, but, on further debate
within himself, the young man made up his mind to open
the lid, His heart throbbed: The lid he opened, but not
a moment did he look at the contents—for, horror of horrors I
—there lay stretched at full length before him—a corpse
There could be no mistake about it—he was certain a foul
and bloody murder had been committed and here was
the unhappy victim I The silent language of the fact
made its own eloquent revelation, Vain would be the
attempt to describe the horror depicted on the counte.•
nance of the second floor lodger. To have lain with and
upon a corpse was dreadful—in fact it was too much to
bear. Now, the 3 oung man was determined to ferret out
the mystery connected with the shocking spectacle he had
seen in the deal box. Under such trying circumstances
every one must give him credit for acting with so much
coolness he appears to have done. It wculd have been bad
policy, our cunning lodger knew, to have created an alarm
in the house. He did not want the landlady to have the
remotest suspicion of his discovery, for that must have been
ruinous to his plans. The young man, shortly after witness-
ing the melancholy sight, put on his hat, and strolled about
the street, but when out of sight of his landlady's house, he
made his way with hurried steps and a sense of palpitation
at the heart in search of a policeman to whom he might re-
late his tragic story. Police were found, and, attended by
the heroic young man, they proceeded to the apartment in
which probably the unfortunate corpse had made its last
struggle. The box was produced in presence of the authori-
ties, and then with great solemnity the lid was raised—
when, surely enough, an object worth notice presented itself.
There lay the body, cold as ice, and though dumb it bore an
expressive countenance. A titter from the police, followed
by a loud laugh—induced the hero of the tale to take
another look at the figure in the coffin. Affrighted or
ashamed of the figure he himself cut, the lodger bounded
down the stairs, and was out of the neighbourhood in half
a minute, or about the same time it takes the fire brigade
to turn out. The secret of the young man's terror is easily
explained. The landlady of the house is the widow of an
artist, who in the pursuit of professional business, required
certain lay figures, and one of these models was placed in
the position in which it was found by the lodger. The rest
will i.e readily conceived. The poor fellow who has been
the victim of a common failing—curiosity—has not been
seen or heard of since " that dreadful night." The sedans
part of the business, however, is this : Unless agar'
satisfaction be given by the young man for the ane-,yac`ce
he created, we understand the Law Courts will
called
on
11,2re/seen IR- -
to take cognisance of the matter.—Beyo

A morning paper gives a summary of the main facts of
a remarkable case which is being heard in the Scotch Court
of Session. The plaintiff is Mr Gordon M'Leod, and the de-
fendant Mr llans G. Leslie, of Denlugas, and the object of
the action is to establish the terms of a document which has
been lost. The plaintiff was married in 1854 to a sister of
the defendant, greatly against the wishes of old Mr Leslie,
In May, 1856, Mr Leslie was seized with the illness of which
he died, and then for the first time since the marriage sent
for his daughter, Mrs M'Leod, to attend him on his death-
bed. In April of the same year Mr Leslie made a settlement
by whizh he provided for Mrs M'Leod the life interest of
£5,000, the principal sum to go to the children of the mar-
riage. This fact was communicated by the factor of Mr.
Leslie to Mr M'Leod when he arrived at Denlugas, after his
father-in-law's death. Before the lid of the coffin was
finally screwed down, a mysterious incident occurred
which waa the beginning of a train of circumstances which
led to the present action. Tho factor states that he was
ordered by Mr Leslie to place a certain packet near his
heart when he died. The factor told Mr M'Leod that it
merely contained a pair of slippers which a lady had
worked for the old gentleman, while another story
was that it enclosed a lady's portrait. After the death
of Mr Leslie his estates were taken up by the defendant
;n the action, Mr Hans George Leslie, the only son, who
at the pried of his father's death was captain in the 7th
Bengal Native Infantry. Mrs M'Leod died s.bont the
year 1860, leaving three children, for whose interests Mr
M'Leod, as their administrator, prosecuted the action.
Shortly after his marriage, and before his father-in-law's
death, Mr M'Leod states that he had been told by the late
Mr Shepherd, a writer to the signet, in Edinburgh, that
there was a contract of marriage between the late Mr Leslie
and his wife, under which Mrs M'Leod had certain rights
as one of the children of the marriage. Mr M•Leod could
find no trace of such a document, but about three years after
his wife's death he received from a gentleman who had been
a clerk with the late Mr Jas. Souter, W.S. (brother to the
Denlugas factor), information of a much more definite
kind. It appears, from the mass of evidence already
taken on commission, that two contracts had been made,
about 1828, between the late Mr Leslie and his wife.
Miss Ramsay, of Barra; the one antenuptial, in view
of the marriage, and the other postnuptial, in imple-
ment of the agreement made before marriage. By these
contracts the late Mr Leslie provided an annuity to his
wife of £5OO in the event of her survival, and also a sum of
£l,OOO payable to herself and her heirs, The lands of Den-
lugas were conveyed in security of these provisions, He
also bound himself to provide £16,000 for the younger
children of the marriage in the eveatof there being an heir
male, or £20,000 if no heir male was born of the marriage.
Mrs Leslie d:ed many years ago, Mrs M'Leod being the
only younger child of the marriage who survived her and
Mrs Leslie, while the defendant is the heir male born of
thelmarriage. These contracts have in some mysterious
manner disappeared, and it is to prove their contents that
the present action has been brought. They were in exist-
ence in 1854, when Mr M'Leod was married to Miss Leslie, old
MrLeslie having sent them to James Souter, W.S,, of Edin-
burgh, by the hands of his factor, to obtain the
opinion of counsel upon their effect. The greatest :secrecy
was observed in this transaction. Lord Kinloch, one of
the judges of the Court of Session, formerly Mr. Penney,
of the Scotch bar, and Mr, George Moir, ad rocate, have
given evidence that they gave an opinion at the time stated
on such a case. Five persons alone were acquainted with
the existence of the contracts, Mr Sheppard, W.S. who had
been agent for the Barra family, and who first gave Mr
M'Leod a hint of their existence, being dead. The five were,
old Mr Leslie himself; Mr Souter, the factor; Mr Souter's
clerk (who copied the papers, but who has, as yet, not been
discovered—the factor declaring he cannot now tell which
of his clerks it was) ; Mr James Souter, W.S. ; and his
clerk, who laid the papers before counsel. Mr. James
Souter and Mr. Leslie having died, and the clerk who made
the copies in the factor's office not being known, the parties
who knew of the contracts were reduced to Mr. Souter, the
factor, and the clerk of the late Mr. Souter. Mr. Reid,
who was the sole clerk of Mr. J, Souter, states in his evi-
dence that ho made copies from the principal documents,
blank so , far as regarded the names of the parties and of
the estate, and that the copies were so made out by order
of Mr. James Soutar, that it should not be known nor
traced that those had reference to the marriage contract
of Mr. and Mrs, Leslie, whose daughter was interested in
them, and was married, or about to be married, to Mr.
M'Leod. The plaintiff found that infeoffwent or seisin had
been taken upon the marriage contracts by search in the
Register House in Edinburgh, where such documents are
preserved. In this instrument the two contracts are nar-
rated and the attesting clauses given at length. The name
of the solicitor who prepared the contracts of 1828 was thus
discovered, and although he had long been dead, his busi-
ness books were traced, it is said, to the waste room of a
paper mill, and the whole charges for preparing the con-
tracts found carefully stated, including the price of the
stamps and the chargo for "extending" or copying out
upon the stamped paper. Moreover, in an old tin box, the
draft of the postnuptial contract was found, in the hand-
writing of the solicitor who had been the agent both for
the Barra family, of which Mrs, Leslie was a member, and
for Mr. Leslie himself, Bat the contracts themselves
have not been dit.covered. The question accordingly
recurs :—What did the packet contain which was buried
with Mr. Leslie? The factor declares he does not sus-
pect that the parcel contained the contracts, because
he had received instructions in relation to it in
1851. The case is still going on, and the Court may find
that the existence and terms of the contracts are suffi-
ciently proved, in which case it wilt be unnecessary

to invade the tomb with the view of discovering what
the sealed packet really held. If the Court should
decide in favour of the plaintiff, his childron will be
entitled to the sum of £16,000 provided for the
3ounger children of the marriage in the ontracfs of
1828, as coming in place of their mother, Mrs. M`Leod,
and to the half of £-1,000 as joint heirs wish the defendant
to old Mrs Leslie ; the two sums amounting, with interest
since 1856, to considerably more than £20,000 ; and in ad-
dition they will be entitled to the sum of £5,000 which cld
Mr Leslie provided for them in his trust settlement, evi-
dently intending that to be in place of, and not in addition
to, the provisions in their grandmother's carriage contract.

1 . , ~Histoire de la Litterature Anglaise"
rsesented to the French Academy to compete
the committee unanimously recog-
nised that distinction. The Academy, how-
' nhiasNettl‘ii;igtsTbecilellaniliemp
rejected the conclusions of the com-
eiovrerihien
its last,
sl:trtiizneg, ,
com-
mittee, and decided that the priz3 should not be awarded
this year. It is said that the philosophical opinions of the
author were the cause of this decision,