The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-19 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS.

A woman named Ellen Gaunt had long resided
at Matlock, but being in the last stage of con-
sumption she came to Derby on the 24th October
last year, and remained with her sister and her
husband, Mr. and Mrs. Hadfield, at Pear-tree, till
the 24th January, when she died. The deceased
was seen by no doctor in Derby, having been told
by Mr. Brown, of Matlock, before she came here,
that she could not recover. The deceased, after her
death, was taken to Matlock, and was buried there
on the 28th January. An official report states that
at the burial " on the sexton filling in the grave he
fancied he heard a noise in the coffin, and he at
once informed the minister, who went out and heard
similar sounds; another person was then called, and
also eventually Dr. Cash. The body was taken out
of the coffin, and Dr. Cash attempted to bleed it,
and a drop or two of blood issued from the inci-
sion. The doctor pronounced her dead, and that
she had been so for some time. She was again
placed in the grave and covered up." These events
naturally caused great excitement in the town, and
as soon as the chief constable became acquainted
with the circumstances he instituted an inquiry.
Dr. Brown, who attended the deceased, says :
" For some weeks before her leaving Matlock for
Derby I attended her, and informed her friends
and herself that her case was hopeless, as she was
suffering from tubercular disease of the lungs, and
wouldlonly live three or four months, as she was far
advanced in the last stage of consumption. I gave
a certificate as to the cause of death, as I was in-
formed that no other medical man had visited her
after she left Matlock. I know nothing about the
funeral or the knocking in the coffin, beyond so
much disgusting and foolish talk which would
hardly have been tolerated four centuries ago." In
the course of the inquiry the rector of Matlock was
applied to, and in his statement he says :—" Soen
after I had left the churchyard the parish clerk
came to the rectory to say that he had heard a
strange noise in the grave. I immediately went
with him to the spot, and after listening a short time
I heard a peculiar knocking proceeding from the
grave, and apparently in the coffin. I then went to
call Mr. John Else, one of the churchwardens who
also heard the knocking. We immediately ordered
the coffin to be uncovered, and while the clerk was
doing so I ran to the house where the friends of

the deceased were, and told them what I had heard.
I also sent for a policeman and for Dr. Cash, the
latter of whom examined the corpse, and pronounced
her to be dead, but declared he could not say how
long she had been dead. I cannot offer any opinion
myself as to the cause of the noises—that is and
ever will be a mystery—but to Mr. Else, the parish
clerk, and myself they were more than sufficiently
suspicious to justify us in what we did." No further
explanations of the " noises" has yet been given,
and the excitement which the event had originated
has subsided.—Derby Mercury.

On Wednesday night, at the Amphitheatre, Liver-
pool, during the last act of the " Poor of Liverpool,"
one of the bridesmaids in the last scene went too near the
candelabra on a table, and her white dress ignited. It was
perceived by the audience, and a sensation was immediately
created; but Mr. Stafford, who perceived the ignition of
the dress, put it out with his hands, and all anxiety was in
an instant removed. As all the ladies on the stage were
dressed in white, the results might have been yery serious
but for his presence of mind and promptitude.

SUPPOSED DISCOVERY OF A MURDER COM.
MITTED THIRTEEN YEARS AGO.—The village o
Ringtead, near Thrapston, in Northamptonshire, is at pre-
sent in a state of great excitement, owing to the supposed
discovery of a murder which took place in that neighbour-
hood about 13 years since. On the afternoon of Thursday,
the 4th inst., while a labourer, named Warren, was en-
gaged in cleaning out a dyke, at the side of a road or lane
leading from Denford to Keystone, his spade came in con-
tact with a complete skeleton. The remains are those of a
full-grown female, of middle height, and it is the opinion
of the villagers that they are those of Lydia Astley, who
mysteriously disappeared some 13 years since, and who had
been cohabiting with a married man named Weekly Ball,
upon whom suspicion fell at the time ; but, though a re-
ward of £2OO was offered, nothing could be discovered, and
Ball, who had been apprehended, was discharged. At the
time the girl was missed a letter was received by one of the
local magistrates to the effect that the writer had seen the
deceased in company with a strange man in Gold-street,
Northampton; but this statement was not generally cre-
dited, in consequence of the condition in which the girl was.
A witness has now voluntarily come forward for the pur-
pose of declaring that this letter was written by him at the
dictation of Weekly Ball himself. At the time of the girl's
6isappearing cries of "Murder 1- were heard in an orchard
at the back of Ball's house,
and there were abundant proofs
of his having bees up all night. On Monday a meeting of
magistrates took place, when a warrant was issued for the
arrest of Ball, who was apprehended at Ramsay, where he
has been living since the occurrence, and brought to
Thrapstont