The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-21 00:00:00

Jae Mysterious Death of a City Merchant. i LONDON

Yesterday Mr. H. Raffles Waithew, the deputy
coroner for Middlesex, resumed the adjourned in-
quest at the White Hart Tavern, High-road, Tot-
tenham, relative to the death of Mr. Benjamin
Baker, aged 60 years, a wholesale boot manufacturer,
lately residing at 4, Whitehall Villas, Tottenham,
and carrying on business in Basinghall-street, City,
who it was alleged died under very suspicious cir-
cumstances.

It will be remembered that the deceased had been
married to a third wife, who died a few months since,
leaving one child aged six months. He had clrried
on business for many years at No. 80, Basinghall-
street, and his life was insured for £BOO. He had
made three wills, and always seemed lost as to the
manner in which he would bequeath his property.
He was also in the habit of taking a tonic called
mandrake to relieve a spasmodic affection of the
chest. On Tuesday morning, the 3d inst., the sister
of the deceased's third wife went into his bedroom,
when he exclaimed, "hilly, I feel very ill, take my
will out of the cupboard." Deceased expressed a
desire to alter some portion of the document, when
he began to vomit violently. His attendant became
alarmed, and sent for a medical gentleman, but be-
fore his arrival deceased expired. He had been
quite well on the previous evening, when he had
few friends to visit him. After the deceased's death
a relative called and took away the three wills,
which were given up by Mrs. Spurgeon, the sister-
, in-law.

Mr. John Pennyfather, surgeon, of Tottenhain,
said that he was called to the deceased, and found
him dead. Witness was shown a bottle containing
a dark-coloured liquid with a sediment at the bot-
tom. He could not account for death. He had since
made a post mortem examination of the body, and
he was prepared to give the result.
The Deputy Coroner said he would first take the
evidence of

'esterday.

BUCKINGHAM-PALACE, FEB. 16.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has been.
pleased to make the following appointments in his household :
—To be Physician in Ordinary—Edward Sieveking,
Esq., M.D.
The undermentioned should also have appeared :—To La
Surgeon-Dentist—Edwin Saunders, Esq.
FOREIGN-OFFICE, FEB. 5.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to appoint Wet.
son Vredenburg, Esq. (now Arbitrator on the part of her
Majesty in the Mixed British and Portuguese Commission
established at the city of Loanda, under the Treaty con-
cluded at Lisbon on the 3d July, 1842, between Great
Britain and Portugal, for the suppression of the Slave Trade),
to be Commissioner on the part of her Majesty in the said
Mixed Commission.

FOREIGN OFFICE, FEB. 20.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Don Miguel
Jordan y Llorens as Conkul at Liverpool for her Majesty
the Queen of Spain.

DOWNING STREET, FEB. 18.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint William Kirk-
wood, Esq., M.D., to be a member of the Executive Coun-
cil of the Bahama Islands • and Charles William Diesel-
dorf, Esq., to be a member of the Executive Council of the
colony of British Guiana.
CROWN-OFFICE, Ft s. 10.
MEMBERS RETURNED TO SERVE IN THE PRESENT
ARLIA.MEN T.

County of Somerset—Westeru Division—William Henry
Powell Gore Langton, of Hatch Beauchamp, in the said
county, Esq., in the room of Charles Aaron Moody, Esq.,
who has accepted the office of Steward or Bailiff of her
Majesty's Manor of Northstead.

FEBRUARY 20.
Borough of Devizes.—The lion. William 'Wells Adding-
ing, of Up Ottery Manor, in the county of Devon, Esq., in
the room of John Neilson Gladstone, Esq., deceased.
WAR. OFFICE, PALL-MALL, FEB, 20.
2d Regiment of Dragoon Guards—William St. Lo Wet,
Gent., to be Cornet, by purchase, vice George Tomkyns
Morris, whose transfer from the 38th Foot has been
cancelled. _ _

3d-FragOon Guards—Major Taylor Lombard Mayne, from
half-pay, late Particular Service, to be Major, vice
Frank Chaplin, transferred to the 4th Dragoon Guards.
4th Dragoon Guatds—Major Frank Chaplin, from the 3d
Dragoon Guards, to be Major, vice Thomas Jones, who,
retires upon half-pay.
3d Hussars—Paymaster Robert Savory Rouse, from 15th
Foot, to be Paymaster, vice Hopson, who exchanges.
14th Hussars—Lieutenant Robert Mather to be Captain,
by purchase, vice Captain and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
John Augustus Todd, who retires upon half-pay, re-
ceiving the former difference between Cavalry and In-
fantry; Cornet Rawdon John Cortland Thompson to be
Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Mather.
Royal Artillery—Staff Assistant-Surgeon Arthur Chester
to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Joseph Fletcher Lougheed,
who resigns.
sth Regiment of Foot—Staff Assistant-Surgeon Peter
Davidson, M.D., to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Charles
Henry Leet, who exchanges.
7th Foot—Lieut. Joseph Dooley, from 100th Foot, to be
Lieutenant, vice Langworth, who exchanges.
14th Foot—Captain Monteford Spread Morgan, from 59th
Foot, to be Captain, vice Machell, who exchanges. The
surname of the Ensign appointed in the Gazette of 3d
October, 1862, is Heythuysen, and not Heytheusen, as
then stated.
15th Foot—Lieut. Charles Edmund Layard to be Instrae-
tor of Musketry, vice Lieut. Francis Robert Fishbourne,
who has retired ; Paymaster, with the honorary rank of
Captain, Frederick T. 0. Hopson, from 3d Hussars, to
be Paymaster, vice Rouse, who exchanges.
20th Foot—Lieutenant Joseph Cooke Cox to be Captain,
without purchase, vice Samuel Sharpe, who retires upon
full-pay ; Ensign Zachary Macaulay to be Lieutenant,