The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-23 00:00:00

The Murder of Mr Briggs.

magistrate of Bow.street,
grantedYeste radayl‘r
secondlH ewnarlthe
fcr chief
Mthe apprehension of Franz
Muller, the man suspected of murdering Mr Briggs on the
North London Railway.

The former warrant was obtained somewhat hurriedly at
a private sitting, on Tuesday evening last, and it was then
impossible to collect all the evidence desirable for the satis-
faction of the American authorities under the Extradition
Act; but the officers were obliged to leave by the night train
to save the mail packet Manchester, which left Liverpool on
Wednesday morning, and further delay was impossible.
The warrant was taken, however, to the residence of the
Aican
and Min furtherisier li
supplementedr
Adams, by
by abY whom it was readily
endorsed,
private letter ad-
dressed to the American Secretary of State. There call be
mer

little dcubt of the arrival of the Manchester, u;deTorii;;;:y-
circumstances, a day or two in advance of the Victoria, the
sailing vessel which conveys Muller to New York ; but the
former ship is not one of the swiftest of the mail packets,
and this fact has given rise to some slight apprehension as
to the possibility, should any mishap arise, of her being a
few hours too late. With the view therefore of lessening
the chance of Muller's escape, Sir G. Grey and the Police
Commissioners resolved to procure a second warrant against
him, supported by additional evidence, and again endorsed
by the American Minister, to be sent out by the mail packet
leaving Liverpool this morning (Saturday), and which is
one of the best on the line.

For this purpose the following witnesses were examined,
and it will be seen that two or three of them were heard for
the first time—the evidence of Mr Lee especially being
somewhat startling, for unless he is mistaken, there must
have been two persons engaged in the murder of Mr Briggs.
Mr David Buchan, 23, Nelson-square, Peckham, woollen
warehouseman, deposed—l am well acquainted with the
late Mr Briggs. I had known -him for many years. He
was uncle to my mite. On the 9th of Jnly last he dined
with me about 6 o'clock, and I afterwards say him to the
omnibus, the Nelson, in the Old Sent-road, That was about
half-past 8 o'clock. He was to proceed by that omnibus to
King William-street, and get out there for the Fenchurch-
street Station. He was in very good health. He had his
watch safe. I know that because I remember distinctly
seeing him frequently refer to it to ascertain the time. I
believe the chain now produced, which I have examined, to
be his, but I am more particularly able to identify the old-
fashioned key and the broken seal. I had observed the
piece chipped out of the stone of the seal months ago. The
chain is an Albert guard which was given to him about 2
years ago by a friend. He formerly wore a different kind
of chain. When he came to my house he had with him
the black bag now produced, in which he had brought
something for us, and I am almost certain it was empty
when he left. We had offered to send it back, but he said
it was not necessary, as it would give him no trouble to
carry it.

Mr Henry said that for the sake of form, and in order to
enter the fact on the depositions, it was necessary to ask
the witness if Mr Briggs was perfectly sober when he left
witness's house.

Witness replied that he was perfectly sober—indeed, he
was a man of very temperate habits. On Sunday witness
hearing that Mr Briggs WaS laid up and in a very precarious
state, went to his house in Clapton-square, and found him
lying on the point of-death.
Mr Thomas Lee—l live at 4, Parkfield-villas, King Ed-
ward's-road, Hackney.

Mr Burnaby (the chief elerk)—What are you?
Witness—l am a private gentleman. I knew the late
Mr Briggs well. The last time I saw him was on the
night of the 9th instant, at about ten o'clock. I was
waiting on the platform at the Bow Station for a train to
go to Hackney, when the carriages came up, and I saw
him in a first-class compartment. Ho said " Good
night, Tom," and I answered .6 Good night, Tom."
Knowing his early habits, I felt some surprise at seeing
him out so late. He appeared in his usual health and
spirits. He was sitting with his back to the engine. There
were two men in the carriage with him. By his side
was a dark thin man, who seemed to me to be tall, and
opposite to him was a stoutish thickset man, with light
whiskers. I noticed that his hand, which was thrust
through the loop at the carriage window, was of unusual
size.lsaw more of him than of the other, because the light
was fully reflected on his face. They were in the first com-
partment of a railway carriage, the division nearest to the
engine, and Mr Briggs was sating in the corner, on the near
side of the line—opposite to the side on which he would
enter at Fenchur.ch street. I conversed with him a few se-
conds while waiting for the train to start, and then got into
a second class carriage further to the front. The next eta
Lion would be Hackney- wick, w•ek, but I went on to Hackney.
The train had stoppNedora.tthllLueenkdnoenye:iaciikw. 9
yI
guard.heard N o.noshingl7,
of the murder till I saw the papers on Monday morning.
deWposileldiarlTtrian3vmelsled with the train of empty carriages re-
turning about 10.25 from Victoria Park station to Bow. In
an object lying on the six-
footriyards a l fromsn
saw
itheit,
and station ti
saidon ai
it
mllueeseuey_wick. The engine d
We both put on the breaks
carriages, and we and-the fireman got down,
They lifted up the body, and said, " We have run over a
man.,, The body was taken to the Mitford Castle, Wick-
lane, and it was found he was not dead. After taking the
carriages on to Bow I went back to the Mitford Castle, and
stopped with him
l )anasds passing
Itbgosepytpeheiebtd:itery below
canal
dogabt
r
all night, helping
in what was being done
On his face and whiskers
quite dry. The contrast
with his full white beards was remarkable. I did not examine
his clothes. The first prson to identify the body was his
tt
oh
there bring
were himsn
mtos consciousness,sBl ofbls
a d,
servant, who came over from Ci.
—ptou. I was not examined
at the inquest, though I was there.
Mr Alfred Henry I3rereton, of Old Ford-road, surgeon,
deposed—On Saturday night the 9th July I was called in to
see Mr Briggs, at the I
foundMitfor him
d Castle Tavern. That was
_
about 11 o'clock.lying on a table in a room
below in an insensible state.
A police-constable was search-
ing him. By my direction the body Was carried up-stairs,
and placed on a mattress upon a large table. There was a
transversejagged wound Wass the left ear, and another
•
jagged wound in front of the same ear. Above the ear there
was a large scalp tumour and
part of the sca, two very severe wounds, one
1p
of them on the upperthe whole of which
was more or less grazed.
Both his hands were slightly
bruised. He was still alive, but insensible. I remained
with him until six o'clock next morning, when his
son
arrived with the family medical man. I left him in their care,
and did not see him again alive. I did not see him till Tues-
day, when I attended the post-errtern examination. On
Sunday morning, at about three o clock, I went with the last
witness and a police-sergeant to examine the part of the line
where the body was found. For a space of about a foot in
diameter the earth was damp with blood. In order the
better to ascertain that it was human blood, I rubbed an
envelope upon it. On the moistened earth I found a large
stone, weighing about six onnces, and having
blood and light
or grey hair adhering to it. It was a roundish smooth
stone. About five o'clock the same morning I examined
the first-class railway carriage pointed out to me by ono of
the railway servants at Bow. On one of the cushions on the
off side there was a smear of blood, as if from a hand being
wiped on it, and on another cushion there was a spot of
blood about as large as a half-crown. Ca the near side seat,
next the engine, there was a great quantity of bloc(' upon
the cushion, filling up the cavities formed by the buttons,
and still quite liquid. The side windows also had spurts
and streams of blood upon it—red arterial blood. On the
mat, upon the near side, there was a spot or two of blood.
and a portion of a link of a gold chain was trodden into
the mat. The mat was handed over to Inspector Kerres-
sey. There was blood also upon the off side foot-board and
wheel of the carriage outside. The next day I attended an
inquest, and on Tuesday I was present at a post mortem
examination. I again examined the scalp externally, ob-
serving the wounds already described. On raising the
scalp it was found that these wounds had not penetrated
entirely through, but there was a great quantity of effused
blood underneath, and the bone was extensively fractured.
The fractures corresponded exactly with the two severe