The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-11 00:00:00

THE ACTON MURDER.

It appears that for some time after the convic-
on of the prisoner Joseph Brooks he continued
,o assert that he was innocent of the offence,
but it is satisfactory to state that during yes-
terday he appeared to feel the awful position in
which he was placed, and he has made state-
ments tantamount to an admission of his guilt.
When he was visited on Thursday by the sheriffs he
stated that it was not true that when he procured
the gun at the shop of Mr. Ayres, at Hammersmith,
it was loaded, and on his being reminded that the
witnesses had sworn postively to the contrary, be-
sides which it was not likely that a pawnbroker
would take in a loaded fire-arm as a pledge, he per-
sisted in declaring that what he had stated was
true. Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Alderman and Sheriff
Lawrence, and Mr. Sheriff Jones, accompanied by
their under-sheriffs, Messrs. Mackrell and Farrar,
and the governor of Newgate, proceeded to the pri-
soner's cell, and informed him that in accordance
with the painful duty that devolved upon them they
would fix Monday, the 27th instant, as the day for
carrying out the law. The culprit did not betray any
emotion upon hearing the fatal announcement, but
he expressed a desire to make a statement in refer-
ence to the crime of which he had been convicted.
Some portions of this have transpired, and it appears
that the prisoner, finding it was useless any longer
to state any falsehoods, admitted that it was his gun
that had caused the death of the deceased, but be
seemed to convey the idea that his was not the hand
that discharged it, although he at the same time ad-
mits that he knew all about the transaction. The
prisoner states that the evidence given by the girl
Jane Lake, to whom, it will be remembered, he was to
have been married three or four days after the mur-
der was committed, is quite true in every particular,
and be expresses his sorrow for the pain he has
caused her_ It will be recollected that the sugges-
tion on the part of the prosecution as to the motive
that led to the commission of the crime was that the
unfortunate deceased, while on his duty on the
evening of the murder, had detected the prisoner
and his brother Isaac in the act of stealing some
building materials belonging to a Mr. Saunders,
who was carrying on some building operations in
the neighbourhood, and it appears that the prisoner
has admitted that about 6 o'clock the deceased met
him and his brother carrying some wood that they
had improperly removed, and that he taxed them
with stealing it, and told them they must accom-
pany him to the police-station. He states that his
brother Isaac ran away, and he accompanied the
constable a short distance, but, upon arriving at an
open gate leading across the fields, he also ran off
and succeeded in getting away from the constable.
The prisoner was aware that the constable knew
him, and that he was pretty certain that proceed-
ings would be taken against him, and ho states that
he and his brother held a consultation as to what
should be done, and he appears to endeavour to
throw the blame upon his brother, although the
evidence all tended in the contrary direction, and to
show that the prisoner was himself the principal
ad
airnethbeotsd affair. T
hanatives.
ofhae
small
inveir andllage
ihisn brother
Oxford-
shire called Cuxham, near Oxford, and the early
part of their lives was occupied in farming and other
agricultural operations, but about 10 years ago they
both came to London. The prisoner served for a
short time in the Royal
I Russian war Artillery, and during the
he was with his regiment in the
Crimea; and it has been ascertained that he is a de-
, seortes sincer.H his convictionebasnotbeen.visited by any of his rela-
tions
s

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