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 man—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 thename, address, appearance,
occupation, &c„ of the murdered man ; but, as these facts
had not transpired up to the hour of our going to press, we
can only publish the following brief yet dreadful tale:—
The young man alluded to had for a short time lodged
in the house in question, and in the room, concealed
under his bed, ho 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 draw
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!
—there lay stretched at full length before him—a corpse!
I 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 would 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—
wher, 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 Le readily conceived. The poor follow who has been
the victim of a common failing—curiosity—has not been
seen or heard of since " that dreadful night." The serious
part of the business, however, is this : Unless ample
satisfaction be given by the young man for the annoyance
he created, we understand the Law Courts will be called on
to take cognisance of the matter.—Belfast .21orthern Whig.