The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-18 00:00:00

ALLEGED MURDER AT HA

NEAR UXBRIDGE:

On Saturday, the 9th instant, an unfortunate alte a
place between two pupils of the Rev. Frecleri
curate of the parish of Hayes, near Uxbridge, /I -
Hastings Medhurst and Joseph Alsop, the on
and the other 18 years, at the residence of 14:\4,,
gentleman, Wood-end Green, Hayes, in which th`e,-:),.
stabbed the latter in the abdomen with a FrencV,it=nir,
from the effects of which he died on Thursd AA
Immediately on the death of the unfortunate young
man becoming known, Messing and Kelly, two constables of
the mounted patrol, communicated the circumstance to the
Count de Salis, a local Magistrate, who directed that Mr. Med-
hurst should be taken into custody. This was accordingly
done, and on Friday he underwent an examination at the Ma-
gistrates' room, at the King's Arms Inn, Uxbridge, before the
Count de Salis, Sir W. Wiseman, T. Dagnall, and T. T.
Clark, Jun., Esqrs.
The examination was extremely, long, the substance of which
was as follows :

The Rev. F. Sturmer examined—The prisoner and the de-
ceased Joseph Alsop were pupils of mine. On Saturday morn-
ing, about ten o'clock, one of my pupils, by name Maximilian
Dallason, had just quitted my house. The prisoner entered the
room in which Joseph Alsop and Mr. Bunney, another pupil,
were present. I was also present. The prisoner, with a 4tick
in his hand, came to me and said, " See what a blackguard has
just left your house," holding a watch in his hand, the glass of
which was broken, adding, " See he has broken the glass of my
watch." Immediately Joseph Alsop turned round and said ti the
prisoner, " You are a liar and a blackguard for saying it. These
young men are all about 18, but the prisoner is 21 years of age.
The prisoner immediately struck the deceased with a stick ha
had in his hand. He hit him over the shoulder. A scuffle then
ensued betweeen them, when I left the room, and in about two
minutes, or two minutes aid a half, I was in the act of return-

ing to see if 1 could put a stop to it, when I met the prisoner
coming out of the room at the same moment I heard a groan.
The prisoner said nothing. I then saw Mr. Witney
come out of the room, and run out of the house,
saying, " I will be witness." I saw no blow given but the one
I have described with tha stick. I saw no knife in the pri-
soner's hand. I left the room because the prisoner was a gentle-
man of a hasty temper, and I knew it was of no use interfering at
that time. :qr. Chadwick, a surgeon, quickly arrived, but I
did not stay in the room during the time he examined the
wound. I saw blood on the deceased's clothes, but I did not
see tha wound until the next morning. About an hour after
the transaction, I saw the prisoner and the deceased together
in the bed-room. The deceased said, " We were both wrong,
I forgive you." On the same afternoon I sent an express for
a friend of the deceased, who came immediately, and at his
his suggestion I sent for Mr. Patten, the surgeon, of Uxbridge,
who came en Sunday morning. Mr. Chadwick, on th.:• Sa.i
turday, said the wound was very slight. Deceased died about
twelve o'clock on Thursday. Mr. flunney is now at his Ta-

ther's housc. at Newbury. 'He never returned to my'l7cy
after he ran out. I have since written to Mr. Bunue-,.'s

ther, who has written to say his son ran home from fright.
Mr. Patten, in his deposition, said—Within two or three
hours after I had told the deceased that I considered him in a
dying state, in answer to a question put to the deceased by
self, or by Mr. Frogley, surgeon, of Hounslow, I do not rec list
which, he said, " I called him a blackguard and a liar, and he
(meaning the prisoner) then struck me."
It appeared that Mr. Sturmer had given no notice of the
transaction to the local authorities, and his conduct on
count was commented upon by the Balch. Mr. Sturmer s.,id
he had acted under legal advice.
The prisoner was then remanded until Monday.

An inquest was held on Saturday on the body, in Mr. ;::tur-
mer's parlour, before Mr. Wakley, when Mr. Benjamin Coad-
wick, surgeon, was examined, and stated that he was called in
to attend the deceased on Saturday last, when he found a wound
on the left side about an inch below the navel, and about an
inch and a-half long, and thinking the wound only superficial he
put a needle throug the skin an the muscle of the wound for
purpose of drawing it together. Another surgeon was after. a'
called in and every attention paid to him, but he died of in-
flammation in the abdomen, on Thursday. It appeared tli2t
Medhurst had been in the habit of carrying a knife of the •,!t
with which he inflicted the wound, but the deceased, on 1 is
death-bed, stated that he did not consider the act was at all
premeditated, and admitted that he had provoked him by cal.ing
h:m a liar and a blackguard. The inquest was adjourned to
Monday (this day). Medhurst, it is said, will become entitled,
in a few days, to a property of 7,0001. a year. He is grandson
of Mr. Medhurst, who was tried for the murder of his wife,
at
York, in ISO 4, and acquitted on the ground of insanity, and
who is now an inmate of an asylum near Hayes.

THE POLICE MOVEMENTS

MANSFIELD.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—As I find you have had communications from t'ds
place, relative to a portion of the A Divi,ian of police boing
sent bete from town, I am induced to address you, I:e:,ng
you will excuse the liberty I take. As the subject of ibis
unexpected proceeding is now publicly qucationed (and
proper it was), I shall not offer any remarks of my owti,
further than that it hes put this place and neighbourhood
into complete agitation, and, I fear, may ultimately be pro-
ductive of much personal unpleasantness : beyond tit I
have no apprehensions, for the town and neighbourhood .
never, within my memory (and I am a native of the town,
and arrived at a half-century age), was more peacepble, not
the least unpleasantness has taken place& except that pro-
duced by the loud and just complaints against this pieta
of coercion over us. No one will confess to knowing any
thing of the cause of this extraordinary affair ; that there is
some wolf in sheep's clothing at the root of it, 'admits cf
no doubt, but possessing sufficient guile to shelter Itimelf,
for the present at least.
But, Sir, to the immediate object of my letter. You
are already aware that, now nearly a fortnight back, the
police who have been sent from town, were sworn to act as
special constables, and to-day, myself, and somewhat more
than a hundred and fifty inhabitants were called upon, t y
some of the Magistrates acting bore, and sworn also for
special constables for half a-year. I, and several others,
have cause for complaint, on the ground of being exempt
by the general law from being appointed to the oal.!c of
constable, and being compelled to he sworn for so long a
period as half a year, when plenty of others, who are net
exempt, are passed over, and I shall be greatly obliged by
3 our informing me (or, perhaps, D. W. Harvey, Esq., M. P.,
will be good enough) whether, under that circumstance,' I
being exempted by the general law, am compelled to serve?
I do not contemplate ever being wanted to act, but :Is it i 3
a question which much aff,:cts myself (on private accounts)
I shall esteem an answer a great favour. Ido not wish to
inquire of any one here conversant with the law of the
subject, for fear of a disclosure of my unwillingness to
unless I am compelled (for I do feel it a bonl,ge imposed
upon me), and I hope you will accept that as my beet c;;_
case for trespassing thus upon your valuable Vme.
I am, Sir, most obediently your':,
Mansfield, March 9. ENQUIRER.

[The Acts of Parliament applicable to nominatin c
pointing, summoning, and swearing in as special cons.ta g,
bleps.
,
are the Ist and 2d of the late King, c. 41. :ma sth and
same reign, c. 43. By the old law, applicable to constables
generally, certain persons are exempted from serving the
office of constable , yet, the Home Secretary of State,
(under the authority of the 2d section of the first men-
tioned statute) on a representation made to him by the
Magistrates making the nomination, can order that
such persons be sworn. Still, we should say that the
representation ought not to be made whilst there arc suf-
ficient persons to be found who are not exempt. But
where there is a necessity to call upon those who are cx_
empt to act, they cannot (in virtue of the section quoted)
be compelled to ba sworn for more than two calendar
months. If, therefore, our Correspondent (or any others
who may have been sworn) were legally exempted ur.der
the ancient law from serving the office of constable, and
ho or they has or have been sworn for half a year, the no-
mination, appointment, summoning, and swearing in of
them is bad in toto._ED.

THE THREE TOM SAIITI-ES.—Everybody has
heard the story of the wag who called aloud in the pit of
Drury-lane Theatre, " Mr. Smith, your house is on fire • "
whereupon a hundred and twenty-five Mr. Smithsu,oa.nu'd.sreeld4
house,"
that when he continued "it is Mr. John Smith's
that ten sat down ; leaving a preponderance of a hundred
onei'lidred
withana
twenty-fivepledge
and
fifteen J6hns
Smiths.i
s a
i n net amount
singular o f
fact connectedcn
that extensive nomenclature (we do not ourselves
at
for the truth of the theatrical story) that there
~sere,
and the same period, three individuals in this country hunt-
ing foxhounds all of the familiar appelslqat.i,milluoif Tomaing
his own
—viz., Thomas Assheten Smith,
E
s c ri
p hounds;
,io
flThomas
Thomas Smith,
hunting the Craven, a sub-
Smith
nd
those of the late Lord
011111 ird dplherteonno.
uTi s
ts s t
owas a amine
odd
ecoine
craniumsde ne eo
f;
saunedhwere
Smiths as might be available,
there is reason to suppose a
harvest of bumps venato;rlial would reward the search.--
Sporting Review, No.
SINGULAR.—As Benjamin, the eldest son of
Mr. Robinson, of Nafferten, trmer, in the usual routine
of business, was, early on Friday morning, the Bth instant,
looking amongst the breeding ewes, he discovered one of
them laid fast in a dangcrons situation ; and as death
seemed inevitable, after trying some experiments in-vain,
and finding her in a sinking state, when apparently dying,
she was opened, and three fine healthy-looking lambs were
extracted from the abdomen, which are all living end likely
to do well; and what is most singular, the ewe was a ~cock
or ten days of her full time.—Hull Advertiser.
Eliza Ann Clarke, who was found lying on the
ground insensible, in Turnmill-street, Clerkenwell, a few
mornings ago, and desciiiyd as "a young lady frcm Cam
bridge, supposed to have been seduced and deserted," turns
out to be a notorious and drunken prostitute, whose friends
are of some respectability however; and the parish officers
of Clerkenwell have written to inform them of her condi-
tion, and request. them to take her away.
ELECTION TRICKS IN FRANCE.—On the ens--
tern frontier, the Ministerial candidates informed thicket-
tors, that England, Prussia, Russia, and Austria, were
directing movements against France and Belgium, fro,s
the belief that the New Chambers under the guidance cf
Soult and Tillers, would bring on a general war,. and
pamphlets were plentifully, distributed in the provinces,
stating that they were on the point of having a third in-
va3ion, red that in all probability Lorraine, Alsace, and
Franche-Comte, would be taken from France. What,
adds one of these brochures, could ever French valour do
against, perhaps 600,000 foreign bayonets? This beets our
Tory candidates with their hypocritical denunciations of
the New Poor Law.
The Liverpool steamer, which took the southern
passage, reached New York on the evening of the 21*.b, in
eighteen days from Liverpool, and experienced a very tem-
pestuous passage. She was to sail for this port about the
7th instant, and may be expected here next week. There
was no material variation in the cotton trade. Very largo
sales had been made at New Orleans, one of 5,000 bales at
lb cents. The New York Herold calculates that the crop
will amount to 1,500,000 bales. The corn trade continued
dull, and it is stated that America can, without ineonve-
nience, spare a million of barrels of flour for Great Britain.
—Liverpool Mercury of Friday.
M. Chatelain, during twenty years the able
editor in chief of the Caviller Francais, was buried
on
Monday at Pere le Chaise.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had adiriner
party on Thursday evening, at his residence in D •
owning..
street.