The Sun.
London, England, 1838-09-11 00:00:00

MURDER OF EIGHT PERSONS.

(From tbt•.., Charleston Patriot,)
By the tfnited Ural^ gtetieder Poins'elt, Captain Peck, ar-
rived this afternoon from Black Cfeek, it received the
Jacksonville Courier of the 9th instant, from which t+e eopy
the following :
Ft,rartinn PARTICULARS OF THE LATE INDIAN MURDERS IN
apdßat —.lle following is an extract from a letter to the
lilditter, giving further particulars of the late Ldian murders in
denfgia, an account of which appeared in our Paper of Thurs-
day last i

" (fort Gilliland (E. F.), July 31, 1538.
og eapfess has just art ived from Little Creek, and
it appears that tne Indians are commencing their career in
genrria. I have received d letter from an officer of our
who vfg,l an e-e witness to the Melancholy fact."
•
WILT§, tieolp,;, :Jul,' 23, 1838.
iSunday
" Forty-five miles north:l,o3'A bf Centrgville,
morning, a man came full speed Into' tritOp with the cry or
Indians. I asked where? fle said about five miler; ofr, That
he had just removed a family who heard the report of guns and
the screams of people. We were in our saddles in a few mo-
ments, and under full speed to the spot where the alarm origina-
ted ; and 0, God 1 the most horrid of all the scenes I ever saw
presented itself to view. On reaching the ground a man, wife,
and four of his own children and two of his sisters, had fallen '
by the Indians. Three children of the six were alive when we
reached the spot I one about three years old had been shot
through the abdomen, and lay asleep on the dead mother,
anothr about fen rdde from the mother. Iluti 0, horrid to
tell, I found a fide :;tritne lady of eighteen shot in ttvo places,
and dirtied in another, with about twenty hogs around her,
and she yet alive and had her senses perfectly. This was
the moot trying time I had ever seen. I gave her cold water,
which she wished much, and remained with her as long as I
could, till obliged to go in search of the Indians. We left
a guard to protect them, and to administer to them all that
they could, but all expired in less then twenty minutes
after we left. The Indians scattered in all directions,
and it was some time before we could find the trail. We
followed them about twenty-five miles, until further pur-
-1 suit could not be had, having then gone into the Oka-
fanoka, as far as white man could well go. Weld% our
horses and waded nearly to our hips in mud for two miles,
which roes as much as we could stand. We returned that
night, found all buried, eight in number, in one grave. We
returned to camp, then camp —, but now camp Wthis, that
being the name of The murdered family. Two children
escaped. One of them says that rt white man was with the
Indi.nS, and caught him—asked him why he 414 not run : the
boy told him he would, if he would let him go—Which the
man did, and said, Now, damn you, run,' and so escaped.
On our return, we found all the families had removed to our 1
encampment.

.
" We are making arrangements to scour the country about.
Fort Fanning and its vicinity. In haste, the express awatt-
ing.—With respect, your obedient servant,
" N. DARLING, Lieut. 2d Dragoons.
" To the Editor of the Courier."
The following letter fiom our fellow-citizen Colonel James
Gadsden (says the Tallahassee Floridian of the 4th instant),
gives an account of another horrid murder committed by the
savages near Bailey's mills, a few miles f. om Colonel G.'s, en-
tirely within the frontier border. An express to the Govern-
nor, received on Thursday, states that two Indian arrows were
found in the breast of a small girl, one of the victims. One of
the arrows was brought up by the express, which we saw. It
was about three feet in length, the barb of iron about two
and a half inches long and one inch in width, thin and sharp
at the point.

" Wednesday Morning, Aug. I, 1838.
" Sir,—The early part of last evening Mr. Singletary, his
wife and two children, were shockingly murdered in this neigh-
bourhood. But one of the family, a girl about five years of
age, miraculously escaped, to tall the melancholy tidings of her
parents and sisters. She says the deed was perpstrated by
Indians, accompanied by one or two coloured persons. Major
Dearborn, with volunteers from the neighbourhood, is in the
search for the murderers ; but as they had a whole night in
advance to escape, it is not probable that their trail can be
followed, or the party overtaken. Comments are unnecessary.
The contest waging in Florida with the Seminoles has as-
sumed so erratic and guerilla a character as to require the ac-.
tivity and vigilance of every individual to bring it to a close
No one can. anticipate whose house or whose family may be
next victims.—Yours, JAS. GADSDEN."
" To the Editor of the Floridian."

THE MURDER NEAR HERTFORD.

It lots already been stated that Thomas Taylor, the man
who was charged with three other persons named Roach,
Fletcher, and Sams, with the cruel murder of a pensioner of
the 45th Regiment, named William Bennett, at a place called
Tewen, a short distance from the town of Hertford, had been
taken into custody. Mr. Duncan, the inspector of police at
Hertford, received information which ultimately led to the
prisoner's apprehension at Exeter, and he was brought to
Hertford, and after a preliminary investigation he was sent to
d(cr,
receive
cmrtch,
siv.eN,t,-.aae2lslslclcteoi mefn:ioitseticerotdnob,
haeiitnrc,hdmAhiaityerw.
ibeaßefstecanotsihimiweetn:
Hertford gaol. As it is nearly twelve months since the mur-
s
lt
s
lithltotat:yod,
das.ctaoabmt
ocleeunbttroti
fihe
Hertford
eyearftotthfe:ceirriokto
r.
It was subsequently remarked that he was followed by four
men, and the next morning he was found dead by the road
side, and his watch and all his money had been taken
from him. Roach, Fleteln;r, and Sams were subsequently
apprehended, and suspicion fell upon Taylor, who ab-
sconded immediately after the murder was committed.
Sergeant Knight, of the Hertford police, traced hint to a
beer shop in Hodiesden, where it appeared he had called
for some beer, but some persons who were in the house hap-
pened to mention the subject of the murder, when he left
the house abruptly, without drinking any of the beer he had
called for. He subsequently traced him to Huntingdon,
where he lost all clue to him, and it appears that immediately
after this he enlisted, as has been stated, and probably, but
for the fact of his having written to his relations at Hertford,
he IA culd have eluded the pursuit ofjustice. Soon after Roach
and Fletcher had been taken into custody and placed in se-
iterate cells, they each made a confess'on, admitting that they
With Taylor and Sams, planned to rob the
had, in company -
deceased, but denying that they intended to kill him ; and
state I also that after they had got the old man's money, and
had gone away from him, Taylor came after them, and said,
" The old -- said he knew me, but I have given him a
kick under thc ear that will keep him quiet." Nothing
more was heard of Taylor after this, and Roach, Fletcher, and
Sams were tried at the Mnrch assizes, and the two former
were convicted and subsequently executed. Sams was ac-
quitted. rehended as above stated he was taken
to NtVh(l:enTaylor
station-house was app
at Hertford, where Sergeant Knight told
him that he was close behind him when he left Hertford, and
asked him whether he had not been to the places he men-
tioned? Taylor replied that he had, and after he had called for
the beer in the beer shop the people then began talking about
job," and he could not stand it, and •‘ cut" without
drinking his beer. He appeared quite unconcerned, and
whistled and sang during the whole time he was in the std
tion-house, and his awful situation did not eppear to affect him
in the least.
One of our correspondents yesterday obtained the following
made known to Mr. J . M. Carter, the gentle-
additional particulars. The fact of the prisoner's apprehension
was immediately
man who committed the other parties, and who exerted himself
in every manner possible to bring the foul deed to light; acd
on Saturday morning the prisoner was taken to Mr. Loegmore's
office, where a person named B.n.ks also attended. his evi-
dence was most material. The statement made by him was to
the following effect :
acquainted with Taylor, Ile stated that he was the man
charged with bean;; concerned in the murder; and on the
Thursday a'ter it occurred be was at a beer-shop drinking
eith him, cad his attention wits attracted by seeing that Tay-
lor appeared to have a great deal of silver, when he knew that
b .re he was without money. He had heard of
a day or two e
the murder, and he remarked to Taylor that he hoped be was
net in the job at Fie Cord.
Taylor at first denied that he knew anything about it, but
at length he said be would tell him the truth. He then went
on to say that he and three others had agreed to rob the old
man, and they al met at a beer-shop in Hertflerd, and watched
him out of the town, and followed him till they got near
Tewen, where they went into a wood and exchanged clothes,
in order that they might not be known. That as they were
going al.mg he was frightened, and wanted to go back ; but
Roach said, " Oh, come on, the old has got some
money, and we will have it." They then followed him through
Tewen, where they attacked the old man
and
got him down'
and lie end teiother held him, while the other two rifled his
p,,ekets. llc sad al.o that,while they d •
were doing this,
the old man looked at him
and
said, " Mind, I know you.'
Ile added that he went away, and Roach afterwards gave him
a sovereign for his share of.
the plunder. He immediately left
the others and went to f d
ert or , where he changed the sove-
reign at another beer- sho andgot half of beer. Banks
p, a pint
added, that Taylor
cautioned him not to tell any one of what
he had told hire.

This statement is confirmed in a very material point by the
keeper of the beer-shop referred to, who states that on the
night in ques'ioti, and within a very silent time of the period
when the murder was committed, the prisoner Taylor did ac-
tually come to his house for a half pint of beer, and paid for it
with a sovet ezn, and received the change.
As the Grand Jury bad returned a true bill for murder
against Taylor, it was unnecessary that any further examina-
tion sboula be gone into, Lord Denman having, upon the
finding of the Coroner's jury, issued a warrant for his com-
mitment.

.....
The prisoner was accordingly fully conlrnitted to Hertford
gaol, and 114 r. Der,m4a
received directions to subpoezza the
tit:cost:l.y wauesses to give evidence upon the trial.

Yesterdaynformati ___
on was given to
------
the police of the
escape
Edward Oakes. who contrived, while being
conveyed with several other convicts in a van, from
Kirkdale, Lancashire, to Chatham, to make his escape from
the .ehiele unperceived by the constab'e end the driver. who
of : i
were sittill in front. The fugitive was under sentence of
transportation for seven yeafs. He is described as being one
of the " thimble rig" fraternity, and well known at Liverpool
and iNianchester. A reward of fifty guineas is off, cd for his
apprehension.
Yesterday morning Mr. Pritchard found lying under
n sr, c in E:} de rark an unFortunate female in the last stage of
exlbinsli°". She could scarcely - articulate a word, and with
difficulty Mr. Pritchard collected from her that she bad been
lying there three nights without taking any support. Mr.
Pritchard had her removed on a stretcher to a place of shelter.