The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-05 00:00:00

This Day.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,—This Day.

BOW-STREET.
A very military-looking man named Walter John Plun-
kett Wade was, placed before Mr. Flowers, on remand,
charged with attempting to commit self-destruction.
The prisoner was first brought before the magistrate at
this court on Saturday last, and the officer who had him in
custody said as he approached him on the previous night
the prisoner mounted on the parapet of Waterloo-bridge,
and appeared to be about to jump over. The constable
ran up to him and seized him by the coat, when he began
to struggle, and said he would return and destroy himself
eve ti if he was prevented from doing so on that occasion,
as he was sick of life and endless trouble. The officer
brought him to this court next morning, when he made a
long and painful story about the breaking up of
his home, the desertion of his misguided but still
beloved wife (who had been the victim of a vile seducer),
and the poverty which had come upon him in consequence,
his mind being unfitted for any mental labour. He stated
that he had been in the army, and since conducted a small
school for army students, at Richmond, but that now he
was a ruined man, without the power of supporting his
two little ohildren whom ho had hitherto kept at a school
away from the corrupting influences of a vicious example.
He had commenced proceedings against his poor wife, but
had abandOned them out of sheer love for her; he was
willing to forgive all.
Mr. Flowers said on the charge that had been made he
felt disposed to discharge him, but
Mr. Oehme, a solicitor, who appeared on the part of de-
fendant's wife, said he wished to inform the court
of the true history of the case, and of the cruel
wrong he had done the woman, who, for the
purpose of exciting sympathy, he had pretended to
love. He showed, from documents, that the prisoner had
a wife living at the Cape when ho married, and had been
the first to taunt the latter with the invalidity of the mar-
riage. She was compelled to leave him and go back to
her relatives, but he refused to give up the children to her,
and she could not tell where he had placed them. The
charges of infidelity against his wife were absolutely and
utterly false; but, on the other hand, he had cohabited with
a girl named Rowe, and he had the girl's letters and the
prisoner's own admission to the fact besides other proofs of
his abandoned and heartless conduct. There was no
doubt he had been formerly in the army, but he
was dismissed the service. He obtained the hand of his
present wife by a false affidavit that he was a widower.
Prisoner—My wife knew all the circumstances of the
first case when she married me. It is false to say that I
deceived her. My acquaintance with Miss Rowe was not
criminal, and as to the proceedings in the House of Lords
involving the culpability of my wife, refer to the case of
Dickinson v. Keeling. It is known to all the world, and
was the last case tried in that place.
M. Flowers said he should decline to go into these par-
ticulars, except as an act of justice to his wife, who com-
plained of his former statement in court respecting her.
He said last time he had commenced a suit against his
wife.

1102
031.
1071 I
40
1221 i I
100

1351 6
131 301

Mr. Oehme—Which was dismissed by the Court.
Defendant—That is not correct. 1. withdrew it.

Mr. Oehme asked the magistrate if he thought the pri-
soner was a Lit and proper person to have the charge of the
two children, girls of the ages of six and nine years. His
wife's family were quite ready to take charge of the chil-
dren, but the prisoner refused to say where they were.
Prisoner—l am quite willing' to take them to m y
wife.

Mr. Oehme—Your wife very properly refuses to see you,
or have anything to do-with you. His conduct has been
abominable, your worship. I have letters, your worship,
to young girls, including one in which he apologises for
liberties he h&d taken with her. In the letter the prisoner
called himself a sound Churchman, and that ho had been
only following the apostolic mandate of greeting each
other with a holy kiss.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATUROAY EVENING, AUGUST 5, 1865.

Charles Blades, surgeon, of Tattershall—l have care-
fully examined the body of the deceased, assisted by
Mr. Pilcher, surgeon, of Boston. The lungs presented
all the appearances which death from drowning would
occasion. The stomach was distended with fluids
having an odour of spirits. We carefully examined the

head. There was a bruise on the forehead and left cheek

bone. We divided the scalp, and especially examined these
bruises. They were very slight and superficial, and could
in no way have caused death. I have no doubt that death
was caused by drowning.
William J. Pilcher, surgeon, of Boston—l have care-

fully examined the body of the deceased, and made a post-
mortem examination. The bruise on the forehead and on
the cheek-bone was a diffused bruise, and deceased had
fallen on a broad flat surface ; not at all the bruise which
would be occasioned by a blow from a stick or other weapon.
If those bruises had been inflicted by an assault, traces
would certainly have been left. A concussion on the fore-
head from a fall of a horse would cause exactly the sort of
bruise we observed. The bruises could not have caused
death, or even danger to life. The condition of the lungs,
heart, and stomach showed that deceased died from drown-
ing and suffocation.

By a, Juror7HO might certainly have been stunned by

the violence which caused the bruises, but I cannot say
whether he would be so stunned as to be unlble to walk.
Wm. Petchell—l am father-in-law to deceased. I saw

the body taken out of the river. I examined the bank, and
saw no signs of any struggle having taken place. The
clothes of deceased were in no way disordered. I saw Dr.
Blades and constables Stothard and Atkinson examine the
pockets of deceased. He had not been robbed. His money
was right (£1 ss. 31-d). Ido not believe that he was as-
saulted by any one.

Thos. L. Pearce—l am a county constable. I produce a
portion of the broken hames of the horse collar, which was

found sticking in the ground as if the horse had fallen, and
also the whip of the deceased, found on the same spot. I
have heard that some Irishmen passed down the bank on
Sunday night, but I have ascertained that they turned on
to the farmhouse where they were employed, fully a quar-
ter of a mile before they would have arrived at the spot
where the body was found.

The Coroner said, before proceeding further, he would
take the opinion of the jury on the evidence they had
heard. It was proved that deceased, in returning from
Boston on Sunday evening, passed Langrick and way seen
on horseback galloping towards his residence at Chapel-
hill. The slip of the horse's foot on the bank and the
broken gear rendered it highly probable that the horse
stumbled and came down heavily ; this would fully
account for the diffused bruise on the forehead of the
deceased, and this view of the case was rendered specially
probable by the proof that some person at that particular
spot had vomited. Sickness would be a natural result of
any concussion to the brain, especially when the stomach
was somewhat distended with stimulating liquid. If, after
hearing the evidence, the jury were of opinion that de-
ceased, having fallen from his horse and being partially
stunned, had by misadventure got into the river and been
drowned, it would be sufficient by their verdict to say that
he was "found drowned." If the jury were not satisfied
the inquiry must be continued.

The court was then cleared, and after nearly an hour's
deliberation the jury sent for the coroner, and the foreman
(Mr. William Stothard)said—" We are unanimously agreed
that we believe ho was first assaulted, and then thrown
into the river."

The Coroner—That is murder. On what portion of the
evidence do you found your opinion ?
Tho Foreman—That is our unanimous opinion.
The Coroner—Then in order that Superintendent Man-
ton and his constables may make every possible further
inquiry, this inquiry stands adjourned until this day week,
at half-past nine o'clock.

The jury were then bound over to appear to their ro-
cognizances.

The excitement in the district of Chapel-hill is very
groat. The opinion seems to be general either that the
unfortunate young man was assaulted by a number of
Irish harvestmen, or that he was found insensible on the
bank, and by them thrown into the river. The police
ware all Irishmen not to appear in the parish for the pre-
sent.—Stamfcrd Mercury.

suspected Murder hl Lincolnshire.
--
An inquest was opened at Chapel-hill on Tuesday
. morning last, before Mr. Clegg, on the body of Edward
Longthorne, aged 24 years. Deceased was a young man
well known in the neighbourhood as the driver of the
market packet between Chapel-hill and Boston. On Sun-
day evening a party of gentlemen wished to proceed from
Tattershall-bridge to Boston, in order, it was understood,
to take the train for Louth, and a bargain was struck with
the deceased to harness his horse and haul the boat down
the river to the Grand Sluice. The party arrived in Boston
' somewhere about 9 o'clock, and deceased was seen by
several persons returning home alone. Beyond Langrick
Ferry he was seen about• 10 o'clock.gallopping his horse on
the bank towards Chapel-hill. The next morning an alarm
was raised, the horse being found on the bank, and also
the cap of the deceased. On the river being searched the
dead body was very soon discovered, and as the face was
much discoloured a rumour soon spread rapidly that the
deceased had been murdered. As the inquiry is not yet
concluded we forbear to express any opinion, but the fol-
lowing evidence taken at the inquest will afford the
fullest particulars'as at present known.
George Stothard, parish constable, said— On Monday
morning, at 9 o'clock, I accompanied Mr. Geo. Longthorne
and Mr. Retch to make search for the deceased, Edward
Longthorne, who was reported to be drowned or killed We
took a boat and went about a mile and a half from Chapel-
hill towards Boston. There were many other persons on
the bank also looking for any signs of the body. When we
got opposite the "round house" I saw him lying at the
bottom of the water. He was flat on his back, his arms
raised and elbows doubled. We got him into our boat.
His left cheekbone and forehead seemed much bruised.
Mark Baker—l was going home along the Witham bank
last Sunday night about 11 o'clock, when I passed a man
who was lying on the ground against the river, opposite
the "round-house." He was on his face, as if asleep or
drunk. I did not think it my business to speak to him or
disturb him. When I got further on towards Chapel-hill,
about 100 yards, I saw a horse standing against the gate
trying to go through. I thought it looked like the packet
horse ; it had hauling gears on. I know nothing further. I
met no other person on the bank and saw no one. Towards
Chapel-hill I could hear loud voices as of people quarrel-
ling ; the voices appeared to be on Mr. Goose's farm.
Joseph Holmes—l was at Tattershall-bridge last Sunday
evening, when I heard a party in a boat engage the deceased
to haul them to Boston. I saw them start, deceased having
put the gears on his horse. About 4 o'clock the next morn-
ing I started to go to Boston. When I got about a mile and
a half-past Chapel-hill I saw a horse standing at one of
the gates on the bank. I knew the horse. It belonged to
deceased. It had on the hauling gears. It was reined up.
One of the hames was broken off by the collar, and the
headstall of the bluff was broken in two. I thought that
deceased must have gone on the other side the hedge for a
certain purpose, and I passed on. Further on I found a hat
on thebank. When I got to Langrick Ferry I made inquiry,
and a man, whose name I do not know, said that ho saw
deceased galloping towards Chapel-hill between 9 and 10
o'clock the night before. I then gave the alarm to the
friends of deceased.
Alfred Barker—l am an engineer. On Monday morning
I heard that the body of deceased had been found in the
river, and I went to examine the spot. Close to where he
was found I observed that a horse's foot had slipped from
a raised part of the bank, and had ploughed up the sod
downwards, as if the horse had fallen.. At this spot there
was also a quantity of vomited matter, showing that some
person had been sick. There were also the footmarks of
one person at this spot right down to the water. These
footmarks were distinct. There was no sign of scuffling or
any struggle having taken place. There were many foot-
marks of people who had been on the bank that morning,
but they were several yards to the right of this particular
spot.