The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-24 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

It is expected that some draughts of troops for
India will leave the camp at Colchester about the
10th of next month. Ensign Hawkins, of the Ist
Royals, will accompany the draught of his corps to
Indio, and Ensign Smith, of the 2d battalion, has
also received orders to join the service companies of
the regiment. Ensign Rutley, of the 2d battalion,
is to join the depot companies.
The wt:,ricg of the new cavalry barracks at Col-
chester arcl .7.l.lvancini.; rapidly. The officers' plat-
ters are in the mast forward state, but the blocks to
occupied by privates have also made some pre-
gress, and the foundations of the stables are nearly
completed.

A detachment of the Royal Marine Artillery em-
brkcd yesterday morning from the dockyard for
duty, on board the Black Prince, Captain Wain-

vrii-,,ht.

THE EVQUEST ON THE MURDERS AND

SUICIDE IN BLACKFRIARS-ROAD.

The 3feclieal Times and Gazette says :
If an instance were wanting to prove the necessity of
appointing a vigilant medical man to the office of coroner,
we do not know that we should find one more to the pur-
pose than that of the inquiry which has lately taken place
as to the deaths of the two children of James John Mock-
-1,,,r3. As an investigation into the cause of death of the
children, who were found lying near the body of the father,
the iequiry was a farce and a mockery. A surgeon's
ant, Mr. James V. Henderon, assist-
only medicalthe witness called. The follow
•
ing is his evidence respecting the deaths of the children :
" At the same time I saw two children IYing on the floor,
as has been described. The lungs and liver were slightly
congested, but otherwise healthy. The abdomen
was quite
healthy. I took out the stomach arid tied it at both ends.
Subsequently I opened it and found it to contain food and
-air; but I have not had sufficient time to analyse its eon.
tents. I noticed two pillows on the floor by the side of the
children, and they might have been pressed on the faces of
the children so as to cause death, but I cannot say that it
was FO.. A phial was found on the floor near the bodies,
which may have contained opium, and I think it had a pre-
paration of opium in it. There was another phial on the
drawers containing a very small quantity of brownish
liquid, which seems to be methylated spirit of opium. If
this had been used the lapse of time would have de-
stroyed the smell of the opium. The post modem
appearances in the younger child were the same
as in the elder, except that the lungs and brain were much
more congested. I saw the cup produced. It contained
castor-oil with a brownish sediment. There was no smell
except of the oil. My opinion is that the children were
poisoned, but death may have been produced by the cone_
pression of the pillows over their faces before the poison had
time to act. The blood was fluid, but it would remain so
after suffocation as well as after poison."
That the children died by the hand of their father is only
too probable. But sue ely in such a case, occurring as it
did in the metropolis of England, public safety as well as
science demands that some attempt should have been made
to discover the cause of their deaths. No analysis either
of the contents of the stomachs or of the fluids found in the
cup and Phials seems to have been thought nee( 'y. The
• al
unfortunate re •an was undoubtedly mad, but thi i does not
alter the case. if
ue
sts aro to held at all, surely the
death of every hinnaiin-E). be. be
eviry should bo investi.,ating becoming the subject of in-
can suggeot. We do n'ot te:ludhy every means which science
That the children wee,
was, fault with the verdict, which
father, who immediately after
ceiveislizfully murdered by their
in a state of mental aberration:, buotyed his own life while
the careless and perfunctory
manner ,o do find fault with
its which the inquiry
wu,, carried out.