The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-13 00:00:00

xtraordinary Conduct of a Clergyman,

On the 25th ultimo a pelmet' named John Alcock, a
parishioner of and residing at Cauldon, died from ago and
paralysis,
after having been in a helpless state for years.
On the following Sunday—viz., the 27th ult.—the body was
taken by hiE., friends and relatives to be interred in the usual
way at the parish church, when, strange to say, the Rev.
Rowland Henniker, the incumbent of Cauldon, refused to
perform this solemn duty, and this without assigning any
reason for his strange behaviour. This, of course, created
great excitement. The body still remaining unburied on
the 30th ult., information of the fact was sent by the parish
clerk to the Bishop of Lichfield, who wrote an expostulatory
letter to Mr. Henniker. His lordship wrote to the clerk, re-
questing him with the churchwarden to endeavour to get
the body interred. With the bishop's letter in hand they,
with some friends of the deceased, appealed to the clergy-
man to bury the body. Mr. Henniker, however, still refused,
giving permission to the clerk to put the body in the grave,
but refusing himself to read the burial service. His continued
refusal was again made known to the bishop, who wrote to
the clerk and churchwardens requesting them to get the
nearest clergyman to bury the body, and promising to in-
demnify them from any consequences which might result.
The Rev. W C . Ward, of Carlton, volunteered to perform
the service, and fixed a time, but Mr. Henniker, who had
got possession of both keys of the church doors, positively
told Mr. Ward he should not do so, still refusing to read the
burial service over the body himself. On Sunday, the 4th
inst., Mr. Henniker tried, by offers of beer and money, to
get some persons to remove the body out of the church,
but as the inhabitants were determined that the body should
have Christian burial, he was unable to accomplish his
object, and the churchyard was described as being on that
day more like the scene of a riot than consecrated ground.
As the friends of the deceased were afraid that the body
would .be clandestinely removed at night into the grave
without Christian burial, a watch was kept day and night
for several days and nights past. What the result of this
disgraceful affair will be it is hard to conjecture. The mat-
ter is being represented to the bishop from various quarters,
and is creating well-merited expressions of disgust at Mr.
Henniker's conduct. Mr. Henniker had a short time pre-
vious given notice to his clerk that he should not inter the
bodies of any more Dissenters, telling him he must take the
responsibility of the interment of Dissenters upon himself.
It appears, however, in the present case the deceased had
been brought up a Churchman, and was at least an occa-
sional worshipper at church. The relatives of the deceased
had also been interred in the churchyard of Cauldon. The
feelings of the friends and relatives of the deceased may be
better imagined than described, for although in receipt of
parochial relief previous to his death, the deceased was so
much respected that his friends undertook the expenses of
his burial without any aid from the parish authorities,
The foregoing represents the state of affairs up to Tuesday
night. From inquiries made on the spot yesterday we learn
that after repeated endeavours to obtain Mr. Henniker's
consent to give the body a Christian burial, the Rev.W. C.
Ward, and the friends of the deceased, determined to do so
without his consent. Accordingly, on Thursday, they pro-
ceeded to the church, and, in the presence of a very large
number of people, forcibly obtained possession of the body.
They were proceeding to bury it when Mr. Henniker ar-
rived, and, after taking the surplice off Mr. Ward, locked
himself up in the church. The burial service was then read
by Mr. Ward in the churchyard, without a surplice, and the
corpse was thus interred after remaining above ground 14
days.
Whether the incumbent of Cauldon will be made amenable
to the ecclesiastical law for his conduct yet remains to be
seen. The strangest part of the affair is that, so far as we
can ascertain, he has never assigned any reason for refusing
burial to his late parishioner.
As showing the excitement which has been created by the
affair we may state that during the last 12 days the church
has been watched by as many as 16 men at night, in order
to prevent the clandestine removal of the body out of the
church.—Staffordshire Sentinel.

CURIOUS ACTION.—The Civil Tribunal of Lyons
has recently given judgment in an action brought
by Dr. Bron, of that city, against the executors of the late
Marshal de Castelline, to recover a, sum of 2,000 f. as his
fees for attending the Marshal during the 15 days preceding
his decease. It appeared from the statement of counsel
that the Marshal had been in the habit of giving his
physician sf. per visit, and that all was paid to
the 31st August. After that date the state of the Marshal's
health rendered it necessary for the plaintiff to remain with
him five or six hours daily, and on the Marshal's death he
superintended the embalment of the body. For these
services he demanded 2.000 f. On the side of the defence,fit
was argued that the plaintiff had at first demanded only
400 f., being 240 f. for three visits daily from the Ist to the
16th, and 100 fr. each for two nights which he passed at the
Marshal's, but that he afterwards demanded I,OOOE, and
ultimately, 2,000 f, This amount was considered exorbi-
tant by the executors, who refused to pay more than 500 f.
The court, after hearing the plaintiff's counsel in reply,
gave a judgment to the effect that, although the plaintiff's
devoted services could hardly be estimated in money, it re-
sulted from the circumstances of the case that the offers of
the executors were sufficient, and accordingly awarded the
plaintiff the 500 f. paid into Court, leaving each party to
pay their own costs.
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