The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-27 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, JULY 26.
Jonathan Haslop, aged 32, was indicted for a burglary in
the house of Charles Grant, a farmer, residing near Graves-
end, on the morning of the 14th of May last, and stealing
from therein various articles, amounting in value to five
pounds, his property.
Charles Grant—l am a farmer, and reside near the
Windmill-hill, Gravesend. I went to bed with my wife
about 11 o'clock on the night of the lath. We then saw
all fastenings were secure, especially the windows. On
coming down stairs in the morning I found the place had
been entered through the window. The shutter was forced
from its hinges, a pane of glass broken, and the window
opened. When I went out of doors, I observed some
small drops of blood on the shutters, and found this piece
of a belcher handkerchief, which I now produce.
Robert Flaxman----Am constable of Gravesend. Was
sent to by prosecutor, and went to his house. I found it
had been entered by the parlour window, one of the panes
of which was broken, and a shutter forced from its hinges.
Prosecutor having acquainted me with what he had lost, I
went to several public-houses to see if I could get any in-
formation, and also to several pawnbrokers, but without
success. I heard nothing at all till about the 21st of May,
when, from certain information I received, I went to the
house where the prisoner lodged, and after a strict search
found these articles which I produce, part of a ham, a
whole ham, the best part of a side of bacon, two silver
spoons, and the bottom part of a loaf of bread. I then
took the prisoner into custody, and on examining big person
found one of his fingers badly cut, and bound up.in part of
a handkerchief, exactly corresponding with the piece found
by the prosecutor. I conveyed him before the Mayor, and
he fully aommittod him,
The prosecutor and his wife very reluctantly identified
the articles.
Verdict—Guilty. Recommended to mercy. Sentence
deferred!

DISCOVERY OF A HUMAN SKELE-

TON IN THE PHCENIX PARK.

(From the Dublin Freeman's Journal.)
On Saturday, as sonic workmen were engaged in dig-
ging down the bank of the gravel pit in the Pl,cenix Park,
immediately between Chapelizod and the new entrance,
they discovered a flag of large dimensions about two feet
beneath the surface. They immediately arrived at what
afterwards appeared to be a head-stone at the edge of the
pit, and mm removing that they discovered a cavity, formed
by very large stones, and covered by the flag, in which
were a quantity of human bones, that evidently formed the
skeleton of one individual. The left hemisphere, and a
part of the crown, in one piece, was all that could be found
of the skull. Its size somewhat exceeded that of most
men, hut its thickness, weight, and density far surpassed
any thing we have ever found in the human skull ; and
were it not for the perfect tracing of the sutures and fi-
brous lines on either surface, we might be induced to think
that its Original dimensions had been altered by some pro-
cess of petrifaction, or the accumulation of extraneous mat-
ter. One of the cubital bones was the only piece of the
skeleton which was perfect, and it was found to reach
nearly to the knuckles of a rather tall man who was pre-
sent. All the other bones, as well as the skull, were muti-
lated, and appeared to have been partially exposed to the
action of fire, or to some other agent, which produced a
calcined appearance at their extremities. Judging from
the joints, they must have belonged to a powerful frame,
and the phrenological organs of the skull would charac-
terise the owner as a man eminently raised above the com-
mon herd of mankind, by moral and intellectual powers of
a lofty order. What appeared to us to be the cubital}"Ae
was more than fourteen inches in length, eleven being the
length in men of the usual size. As far as regards the cal-
cined appearance of the bones, we are not sufficiently versed
in chemistry to pronounce on its real ()Anse. The dimen-
sions of the cell in which the skeleton was found were
as follow ;—lt was about 48 inches long, 23 wide, and
21 inches high ; the covering flag is from 18 to 21 inches
in thickness, and greatly exceeds the other proportions of
the tomb in the length and breadth. There were two head
stones ; the interior one is triangular, and appears to be
covered on the side which was turned in with marks which
antiquarians will construe into some kind of alphabetic cha-
racters. From the dimensions of the cavity it is evident
that the body could not have been put into it while entire,
but that it was employed as a sepulchral urn for the
mouldered or half' consumed remains. Although we are
aware that in the days of chivalry the Templars had an
establishment somewhere in that vicinity, the absence of
all metallic substance, and the great similarity between the
construction of the tomb and the huge flag which
covered it with the Druidical remains, or at least
with the Danish antiquities, would induce us to seek
its origin in a far more distant age. This must be a mat-
ter of conjecture ; but we know that about twenty years
since a similar tomb, and similar problematic remains of
' some hero of a by-gone age, were discovered within a few
perches of the same locality. Tradition calls the place the
" camp field ;" and when he heard a venerable man, who
boasted of treading on that sod for more than eighty sum-
. mers, say, while bending over the mouldered dust--" these
are the remains of a son of Fingal," the wild strangeness,
and yet the probability of the conjecture, brought a thrill
of unutterable feeling to the heart.