The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-10 00:00:00

HANGED IN ERROR

A man of considerable property, in or near London, died,
leaving an only child, a daughter, aged about eighteen, and
by his will appointed his brother his guardian and sole
executor. The will directed that if the daughter should
die without having married, or if married without children,
her fortune should go to the uncle, whose interest was
therefore supposed to be incompatible with that of the
niece. Several of the relatives, discontented with the
father's ultimate dispobion, threw out dark hints that they
ought not to live together; notwithstanding which, the
uncle removed the niece to his own residence, near Epping
Forest. They were both seen one day walking together in
the forest, but the young lady suddenly disappeared, and the
uncle declared that he had sought her as soon as he had
missed her, and knew not whither she had gone, or what
had become of her. This account was considerable impro-
bable, and appearances being clearly suspicious, he was
arrested and brought before a magistrate, where other cir-
cumstances, which were hourly coming to light, rendered
his position serious. A young gentleman from the neigh-
tourhood had been paying his•addresses to her, and it was
stated, and generally believed, that he had gone a few days
before she had been missed on a journey to the north, she
having declared that she would marry him on his return.
The uncle had repeatedly expressed his disapprobation of the
match, and she had loudly reproached him with unkindness
and abuse of his authority over her as his ward. A woman
was produced, who swore that about eleven o'clock in the
forenoon of the day the nieoe was missed as she was passing
through the forest, and heard a young lady's voice earnestly
expostulating with a gentleman, and, upon drawingnearer
to the spot, distinctly heard the following expressions :
" Don't kill me, uncle—don't kill me I " Being greatly
terrified she hurried away from the scene, and imme-
diately afterwards heard the report of fire-arms. On this
combination of circumstantial and positive evidence,
coupled with the suspicion of interest, the uncle was
tried, convicted of murder, and immediately after, accord-
ing to the Draconic code then in force, executed. About
ten days after the execution the young lady reappeared,
and, stranger still, all the evidence given on the trial
proved to be strictly true. The niece they declared that,
having resolved to elope with her lover, they had given
out that he had gone on a journey to the north, while he
had merely waited near the skirts of the forest until the
time appointed for the elopement, which was the very
day she disappeared. He had horses ready saddled for
them both, and two servants in attendance on horse-
back. While walking with her uncle he had reproached her
with her resolution to marry a man of whom he disapproved,
and after some remonstrances she passionately ex-
claimed, " I have set my heart upon it. If Ido not marry
him it will be death to me; and don't kill me, uncle,
don't kill me !" Just as she had pronounced those words
she heard a gun fired, at which she started, and she after-
wards saw a man come from amongst the trees with a wood-
pigeon in his hand, which he had then shot. On approach-
ing the spot appointed for the meeting with her lover, she
formed a pretence to induce her uncle to go on before her,
and having fled to the arms of her suitor, who had been
waiting for her, they both, mounted their horses, and im-
mediately rode off. Instead, however, of going to the north
they retired to the neighbourhood of Windsor, where they
were married the same day, and in about a week after they
went on a tour of pleasure to France. There they passed
some months so happily, that in those days, when news-
papers were scarce, when there was no very regular postal
communication, and no telegraphs, they never heard of the
uncle's sad fate until they returned to England. —.Dick ens' s
" 411 the Year Round."

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.—An adjourned
Wharncliffe meeting of this company was held yesterday
at the Paddington station, to consider certain bills relating
to alterations in lines in connection with this railway. The
secretary reported that the bills were not ready, and the
meeting therefore stood further adjourned until the 14th
instant.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN RAlLWAY.—Yes-
terday a special general meeting, adjourned from a previous
day, took place at the Euston station, to consider the pro-
visions of the following bills—Mr. Richard More in the
chair :—A Bill for authorising the Abeiystwith and Welsh
Coast Railway Company to make and maintain additional
1 nes of railway, and to reclaim lands near to their lines,
and to raise further moneys ; A Bill to enable the Eden
Valley Railway Company to construct certain extension
and branch railways, to use portions of other railways, and
to raise additional capital; a bill for authorising extensions
of the Oswestry, Ellesmere, and Whitchurch Railway.
The chairman announced that neither of the bills referred
to was in a sufficiently forward state to be submitted to the
shareholders, and therefore the meeting must be adjourned
till a future day. The meeting was accordingly adjourned
till the 15th July.
UNPAID PASSENGERS ON BOARD THE GREAT
EASTERN.—The Cork Reporter says that no fewer than 14
men, principally tradesmen, were brought on shore from the
Great Eastern by the Queenstown police, who went on
board to search for some parties charged with the murder
of a policeman in Manchester; but though not finding the
accused, they succeeded in easing the ship of 14 unpaid pas-
sengers, who had secreted themselves on board at Liver-
pool, determined to have a free passage across the Atlantic.
MR. W. D. SEYMOUR AT SOUTHAMPTON.—Last
night Mr. W. D Seymour addressed a monster meeting of
upwards of 2,000 persons. The Mayor of Southampton
took the chair. Mr. Seymour denounced the Middle
Temple benchers by name, and also the conduct of Mr.
Bovill, Q.C., in the House of Commons. He read a cor-
respondence between himself and Sir George Hay ter in
reference to his having been appointed Recorder of New-
castle, and in which Sir George denied that the appoint-
ment was prompted by political motives. A resolution de-
nouncing the conduct of the benchers towards Mr. Seymour
was passed amidst tumultuous cheering and the waving of
handkerchiefs by the ladies. Some fearful fights took place,
and several persons who attempted to interrupt the meeting
were dragged out and maltreated. Mr. Seymour spoke for
nearly three hours.
THE CASE OF STABBING IN THE DOVER-ROAD.—
This morning Mr. Inspector Tupin and Acting-Inspector
Wise, upon proceeding to Guy's Hospital, to inquire into
the state of Mr. Jas. Meens, who was fearfully stabbed by
the female with whom he cohabited, were informed that the
unfortunate man died about 10 o'clock the over night from
the effects of the injuries inflicted upon him. As he lay in
a state of insensibility when visited by the magistrate, his
depositions could not be taken. The deceased was a surgical
instrument-maker and flint-glass merchant.

PRECIOUS METALS PROTECTION ASSOCIATION.-- I
The annual meeting took place last evening at the Duk_f_i_nef
York, Gloucester-street, Mr. Stone in the chair.
n _Tohm
report stated that they had recovered goods stolereoefrve
their mon:hers to the amount of four times the suemhad i a
been
from annual subscribers, and that their succesnam
itted on
great in putting down the wholesale plunder
staTed that the
the gold, silver, and watch trade.
association would in no case proseictuatelB:7
months. The
when the parties
robbed had not been subscribers
rosecuted by this
report was adopted. The last casfor
• a receiver of stolen
association was that of Robert Harrison,
penal servitude.
u
s
goods, who was sentenced to 10 y
MR. E. T. SMITH, the lessee of Drury Lane
Theatre, who has been suffering for some time past with
gout, was this morning
GARDENER.—He lived all his life
A RURAL
on the property, and a garden, according to my understand-
ing of the word, be had never seen. If he had been altoge-
ther ignorant, I should have had hopes of him ; but he was
self—a genius in his own estimation, and the oracle
of the village. He had the most supreme contempt for all
female learning. My husband told him the garden was my
exclusive domain, and that every order I gave was to be ear-
-1 ried out exactly, to which he replied, " Yes, sir, we must in-
dulge the weaker sea. The Gardener's Chronicle he would
not read. " lle had learnt all that when he was a 'prentice."
His learning was indeed overwhelming. He was trans-
planting a shrub for me, which I was unacquainted with
I asked him its name. lie left his place, came within a
few paces, placed his foot on his spade , assumed an atti.,
tude : " That, mum, is the Athernan Laurel, with which
the ancients bound the brows of their heroes at the Olym-
pian games." This was said with a look Qf, " What have
you to say to that, mum ?" I found contention with him
hopeless. I had brought the loveliest plants with me,
which all died under his hands, so his days in our service
were numbered ; for utterly deprived of society as I was, if
my garden had failed me as amusement, I should have
been badly off indeed.—Once a Week.
THE FIELDFARE.—AII the ornithologists anclgene-
ral naturalists, English and Scotch, that we have read with
reference to the fieldfare, class it as a bird of passage, that
leaves these islands in spring and returns in autumn. Meyer,
in his masterly work, says it is a native of the sombre forests
of Europe, that it comes to Britain in November, and that
"very few instances of the bird remaining to breed have
been authenticated" Snapp, one of the most correct of
local observers, in his " Journal of a Naturalist,"
says that
he every year noticed a few field-fares that had de ha
themselves from the main flock, and he adds, "I
ha
reason to believe that these retreats are occasionauy
formed for the purpose of forming
note, though they are
afterwards abandoned without incubation."
Fieldfares are
resident natives, however, in the Border counties, and
schoolboys there know their nests and eggs as well as they
know those of the hecige•sparrovr.—Once et Week,