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

THE EWELL PLATE OF 60 SOVS.

Keane .
Rheebue

D unoon

THE HEADLEY STAKES OF 50 SOVS.
Debdon

CRICKET MATCH AT SHEFFIELD.

EXTRAORDINARY DOINGS IN A CEMETERY

..IT SHEFFIELD.

Some consternation has been caused by certain strange
discoveries that h r-e been made at the Wardsend cemetery.
A few days ago a man who is occ ,sionally employed at
the ceme: ry perceived a disagreeable smell issuing from a
soft of coach-house there is on the ground, and took some
trouble to ascertain the cause. From what he saw he
made a further investigation, and, we are informed,
made a discovery which it will be incumbent on
the authorities fully to inquire into. We aro told
that a hole about four feet deep, and of considerable width
and breadth, was found covered with planks, on which a
quantity of earth had been loosely thrown, and that there
were a number of coffins in the hole. The plates had been
removed from the coffins, and in some cases the bodies,
which the coffins had previously contained, were gone also.
The police have been informed of the circumstance, and
we understand are investigating it.

In the afternoon of Tuesday a great crowd collected at
the cemetery, and the excitement became intense. A
funeral was fixed to take place in the ground, and a number
of people expressed their determination to be avenged
on the eexton as soon as he arrived. When he made his
appearance the crowd flocked round him and rather roughly
assaulted him, and, but for the opportune arrival of the
police, the feeling was so Along that there is no doubt he
would have been severely injured. Between seven and eight
o'clock in the evening the windows of the house which
stands in the centre of the ground, and also the windows of
the place in which the burial service is read, were smashed ;
and the premises were otherwise considerably damaged.
About twenty men were seen to commit this mischief,
and then walk away. During the afternoon and even-
ing a largo number of persons assembled near to the
house occupied by the sexton on the land allotment
near the Hillsbro' Tho house was of stone, and had
been built by Howard. It was two storeys high, contained
five or six neatly furnished rooms, and was, in every sense
of the word, a comfortable working man's residence, The
crowd appeared to get more and more excited as their num-
bers increased, and threats of violence were loudly made.
At night stones were thrown at the windows, and when se-
veral of them had been broken, a cry was raised to set fire
to the house. Extreme and ruffianly as this step is, it was
actually taken. A number of persons rushed into the
house, smashed the furniture, and piled it in heaps on the
floors, and then set fire to it. At that time there was only
Mrs. Howard in the place, and she begged of the persons
who had gone into the house to spare the property. They
disregarded her entreaties, and the niece was soon enve-
topea in names. lure. Howard evinced great reluctance
to leave her house, and we are told had actually to be
forcibly ejected from it when it was on fire. Information
was despatched with all speed to the Sheffield fire .offices for
assistance, and engines from the Sheffield and the Liver-
pool and London offices were promptly sent, with
a strong body of firemen, to the scene of the fire.
Before the arrival of the engines the flames had taken so
firm a hold on the premises that it was at once perceived
to be impossible to save any portion of the contents. The
house, fortunately, was detached, and the fire was, there-
fore, confined to it. So rapidly did the fire consume the
house that at midnight nothing but the bare walls were
left standing, every combustible having been com-
pletely destroyed. During the progress of the fire
strong expressions were made use of. by several
people in the crowd in reference to - Howard.
and it was broadly stated that if he had been there he
would have been thrown into the fire, or otherwise severely
handled. The actual amount of the damage done by the
fire we have not been able to ascertain. The building, we
are informed, is insured.
The Rev. J. Livesey, the incumbent of the church to
which the cemetery belongs, gives the following explana-
tion of the affair :

" My first acquaintance with this case was on Saturday,
when I saw two of the country police in the cemetery
grounds. After the funeral, seeing a policeman still lin-
gering about the place, I requested to know his business.
He then stated that an information of a very grave nature
had been laid against the sexton, viz., that he had there,
concealed in the coachhouse, a mutilated human body ;
that the legs had been seen dangling out of a box by the
s informant that morning ; and that the sexton, when re-
quested, bad declined to produce the key of the coachhouse.
I at once waived the objection that the county police had
no jurisdiction within the borough, and no legal authority
for such an investigation, and ordered the coachhouse to be
opened. There indeed was a box containing a shapeless
mass of decomposing matter, black and foetid, not having
the remotest resemblance to the human frame, but a mourn-
ful illustration of the universal doom, Dust thou art, and
unto dust shalt thou return.' The sexton accounted for the
possession of the box by stating that it had been sent from
the Medical Ball ; that it had been securely nailed up, and
had been opened by some one who had picked the lock, or
otherwise obtained surreptitious entrance to the coach-
house; that he had placed the box there for a short time
previous to conveying it to a covered excavation, which was
originally constructed for a catacomb, but the shale not
having sufficient coherence, the arch fell in, and the exca-
vation has since been used as a receptacle for the remains
sent by the Medical Hall, and for stillborn children, relics
of humanity over which the Burial Service cannot legally
be read. I have made searching inquiries respecting the
small empty coffins, greatly decayed, found there. The ex-
planation is that they, as well as a few portions of small
enffins nnd coffin-plates found and removed surrentitiouslv
(no doubt by the same individual) from the stable, had been
thrown out of the shallow graves of children buried, as the
plates prove, from four or fivs years since, and therefore
long since decomposed. These, it must be,remarked, are
all infants' graves five feet deep, in the same unappropriated
section, and have all been sunk deeply for family graves ;
here is the front and substance of the sexton's offending.
As these graves were unappropriated, he was justified when
he first tenants had returned to dust, to sink them deeper,

but he had no right to remove even a decayed particle of a
coffin from the graves. In having done so he has grossly
offended against decency, and by this no one has been more
deeply pained than myself. The public, however, may rest
assured that this has occurred only in 24 cases (for I have
obtained an exact list), and the wild and exaggerated ru•
mours now afloat may be utterly disregarded. The truth
is, the act 3 and 4 Wm. IV., c. 75, has amply supplied the
requirements of the medical profession, as well as imposed a
severe penalty on dis interring the dead. The crime now
would be as unwise as it would be wicked, and every intel-
ligent person is well aware that it has long ceased to be
perpetrated."
The rev. gentleman then proceeds to say that the charge
against the sexton had been got up by a person who had
been dismissed from the grounds, and adds—" There is no
doubt the sexton has acted in this instance in a manner
which is highly improper and blameworthy; but it is the
first offence which has come to my knowledge in 25 years,
and he has faithfully promised not to repeat it."

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—YESTERDAT.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at the usual hour.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Earl of Shrewsbury and Earl Talbot's Estate, the
Somerset Central and Dorset Central Railway Companies,
Greenock and Wemyss Bay Railway, Eastern Union Rail-
way, North Eastern Railway (Market Weighton and
Beverley) Extension, and North Devon end Okehampton
Railway Bills were road a second time.
THIRD READINGS.

The Redditch Railway (Capital)—the Waterford and
Passage Railway—Dovey Reclamation—New Chappal,
Linfield, and Brighton Roads—Denbigh, Ruthin, and
Corwen Railway—Crystal.Palace and South London Junc-
tion Railway, and Mid Sussex and Midhurst Junction
Railway Bills were read a third time and passed.
COPYRIGHT (WORKS OF ART) BILL.

After a short discw pion, this bill was referred to a select
eomn4ittee.

UNIVERSITIES (SCOTLAND) ACT AMEND-
ENT BILL.
This bill was read a s,cond time.
RED SEA AND INDIA TELEGRAPH COMPANY'S

BILL.
This bill Was read a second time.
The house then adjourned.

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HOUSE OF COMMONS—YESTERDAY.
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
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nienedgsP4:4Rlcal
andraitnadi Britain Besaetah Mutual:e—r
Edinburgh
LifelhAe
head Railway—Kent County Gaol and Lunatic Asylum
(Water Supply)—London, Chatham, and Dover Railway
and Mid Kent Railway (Bromley to St. Mary's Cray) Coin'
panies—London, Chatham, and Dover Railway (Extensions
to Walmer and Deal)—Sevenoaks Railway—Sheffield and
Chapel-en-le-Frith Roads—Tyne General Ferry Bill.
The amendments to the following bills were considered
and agreed to, and the bills were ordered for third reading ;
—Brecon and Merthyr Tydfil Junction Railway—Brecon.
Markets and Fairs—Cannock Chase Railway (Extension)
—Eastern Counties Railway (Epping lines)—Kensington
Station and South London Junction Railway, Llanelly
Railway and Dock.
STATE OF TIIE HOUSE_

Unw drew attention to the fact that
there were only 20 members present, and the house was on
the eve of being counted out when there was a rush of
members from the lobby, and the business was proceeded
with. .