The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-05 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER NEAR WIGAN.

WIGAN, Sunday morning.—One of the most horrible ad-
ditions to the criminal annals of the kingdom was made
late on Friday night or early on Saturday morning at a
small colliery situated in Haigh, near the town of Wigan,
and not more than a mile from the boundary of the borough.
The hurriedly gathered particulars of the affair are given
below, and certainly, if they are borne out by evidence, as
we believe they will be, a crime unparalleled since the atro-
cious murder of Mr. Pass by Cook, of Leicester, many years
ago, has been perpetrated in the pleasantly situated town-
ship of Haigh. The scene of the murder is the Bawkhouse,
or Button Pit, a colliery belonging to the Earl of Crawford
and Balcarres, and standing about 600 yards from the Red
Rock••bridge, on the canal from Wigan to Lancaster. It is
iu the township of Haigh, and not more than half a mile
from the Worthington Papermills, where only last month
a watchman was brutally assaulted by burglars who in-
tended to sack the counting-house.

The seam worked at the Bawkhouse Colliery is the Arley
Mine, and as the pit makes a great deal of water a pumping
engine has been erected, and is kept at work night and day.
On Friday evening, about six o'clock, a man named John
Barton, a fireman and engine-tenter came on duty on the
night turn, he having to attend to the fire and to keep the
engine at work. He was healthy and in good spirits, and
when he was left by his brother workmen they little thought
they were then looking upon him for the last time. At 3
o'clock next morning the fireman who had to relieve Barton
came to his work as usual, and was astonished to find the
fire under the boiler completely out, the steam very low,
and the engine stopped. He sought in all directions for
Barton, and, as he was not to be found, he proceeded to his
residence, a short distance from the pit, to see if he was
there. Barton's son, alarmed at the disappearance of his
father, got up and assisted in the search, and on a minute
examination of the cabin near the fireplace blood was dis-
covered sprinkled on the floor, and a crowbar was also found
with blood upon it, Information was now given to the po-
lice, and the tidings spreading rapidly through the neigh-
bourhood, a further and complete examination was made,
when drops of blood were traced from the cabin to the fire-
hole, and the plata in front of the furnace was also found to
be smeared with gore. The horrible supposition which this
circumstance gave rise to was that Barton had been foully
murdered and his body then thrown into the boiler fire to
be consumed. This, we regret to say, was almost imme.
ately confirmed. The ashes of the furnace were carefully
raked out, when several small articles were discovered which
placed the fact almost beyond doubt. What was found may
be epitomized as a couple of handfulls of the charred rem-
nants of human bones, a few buttons, a buckle, two double
teeth, and a few small nails, used in the making of boots,
and termed " sparrables." The latter were found at the ex-
treme end of the furnace, and the teeth near the door, thus
leading to the conclusion that the body had been pushed
in feet foremost. If this was so, there is no doubt that
the fierce draught of the furnace would soon consume the
corpse, and leave but the fragments we have mentioned to
tell the horrible tale. The motive of the murderer or mur-
derers it is difficult to conjecture. Barton was a respectable,
quietly disposed man, and the idea that he was murdered in
revenge by any enemies he might have is utterly scouted by
the residents in the district. The most probable supposition
as to the intention was to rob him, as he was known to pos-
sess a rather valuable silver watch, and that the thieves,
instead of stunning him only, did more than they intended,
and, perhaps, after a violent struggle, killed him, next
throwing the body into the furnace as the easiest mode of
disposing of it, and the one least liable to lead to detec•
tion. No traces of the watch have as yet been found, and
ii
probably with a little odd money Barton had upon him
would appear to be all the booty obtained in return for the
commission of the atrocious crime. Barton was nearly 60
years of age ; he was married, and had several children.
The family is highly respected in the district, one of the
brothers of the murdered man bolding a farm in Haigh,
under the Earl of Crawford and Balcarres. It is impossible
to overestimate the horror and consternation which this event

has caused, not only in the immediate neighbourhood but
throughout the town of Wigan and its environs, The dia.
trict has for some time been perfectly free from crimes of
any magnitude ; indeed it is near 25 years since a murder of
any description was committed, and, singular to state, the
victim then, as now, was a person employed at the Earl of
Crawford's collieries in Haigh. This immunity had created
a feeling of security among the inhabitants, but this event
has already filled the community with a terror which the
capture of the offenders alone can allay. The police were
most assiduous in their exertions yesterday, and no exertion
Iwill b spared to discover the offenders.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—The entertainments on Satur-
day were somewhat varied by the performances of
Don Jose Manuel, who appeared for the first time at the
Palace. His feats on the slack wire were very much ap-
plauded. He will appear again this day. Blondin's en-
gaged ent terminates on Thursday, when ho will perform
at tho Palace for the last time. Half-crown Day, Satur-
day, January 3.—Admissions on payment, 1,521; ditto by
season tickets, 2,356; total visitors, 3,877.

A very successful experiment was made two days
since at Havre with a gun invented by Count Hau-
detot, for throwing a rope from the shore to a ship in dis-
tress. The rope was carried a distance of 240 yards by a
shot weighing ten pounds. The inventor says that the
greatest distance to which a rope has been thrown by a
similar instrument is 200 yards, and that the shot used
weighed twenty pounds.
THE NEWCASTLE MURDER.—The prisoner Vass,
charged with the murder of the woman whose body
was found in the West Walls on Thursday morning, was
brought before the magistrates on Saturday; and an in-
quest was also opened before the borough coroner, J. T.
Hoyle, Esq. The woman was identified as the wife of a
tailor named Docherty, living in Buckingham-street; and
it was proved that the husband saw her alive on Wednes-
day night about eleven o'clock ; that she was then partly
intoxicated, and refused to go home with him until she had
had more drink ; that she went into a public-house in Gal-
lowgate for that purpose ; that her husband left her there,
after another ineffectual attempt to get her home and away
from three men who seemed to be following her; that
the prisoner was seen to drag her into the West Walls
about two o'clock ; and there to abuse her to such an extent
that ono of the three spectators said he was murdering her,
and all three went to seek a policeman. They were unable
to find one, and returned, and found the prisoner still with
the deceased. The three, who are youths about 16 years of
age, then went away ; and the prisoner was afterwards seen
at Mr, Wilkinson's house, where he told other men that
a woman was lying in the West Walls. The prisoner
was apprehended, mid made a statement at variance with
facts ; and on his coat and shirt blood was found, and he
gave an unsatisfactory account of the manner in which the
blood came there. The investigations before the magis-
trates and coroner aro not concluded.
BLOODSHED IN AMERICA.--Throughout the year
the American Union has been involved in a war
without precedent for its extent, its possible issues, or the
magnitude of the means employed. During that period the
contending sections have fought at least six grand battles,
Corinth, Pittsburg, Fredericksburg, Antietam, and the two
contests of the Chickahominy, have twice summoned all
procurable fighting men into the field, have contended in at
least forty minor but bloody engagements, have tested the
use of iron•clad steamers, and have suffered to the full the
miseries which attend all war, as well as those which spe-
cially wait on a great war of kindred. At least three hun-
dred thousand men must have been prostrated on both
sides, from three to four hundred millions of money have
been expended, and the seeds of a permanent hate hathvee
been planted between nations who, enfranchised by
won
sams rebellion, for eighty years have obeyed a cora
Government.—Spectator.
THE THISTLE AND THE TUSCARORAB..--A
I beg to
pendent in a contemporary
observes
relating to
corres-
correct the impression implied
the Thistle and Tuscarora,
Thistle after leaving Ma -
time attempted to overhaul,
vitzi.i,eit;att the Tuscarora a second
:loifipLeopard that gave chase
deira. It was her Majesty
verifying the fact that she
to the Thistle, with the objehc
had not been captured buyr,ntede Ttoutshcearaouricth, foorra,gaelitnhoFuughnethhaet
Yankee sloop of war rot
Roads, it Was suspected to be only a ruse, and that she had
quietly left a prise crow on board the Thistle. According to
Mr. Underhil's statement this appears not to have been
the case, but that the Tuscarora was really scared oft by
the Leopard, and that the Thistle got away scot free. The
Leopard not being able to overtake the Thistle, had to give
up the chase, and so both those vessels remained in igno-
rance of each ether's intentions.