The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-14 00:00:00

THAMES.

James Hughes, described as a cooper, aged 48, and
Daniel Budd, 39, who both refused to give their ad-
dresses, were brought up in custody of Police-
sergeant Kelly, No. 2 H, on a charge of stealing five
sovereigns, the moneys of Mr. James Mettam, the
landlord of the China Ship public-house, in Little
Hermitage•strcet, IVapping, and also with burgla-
riously breaking and entering the dwelling-house of
Mr. Woolf Harris, clothier and outfitter, in Upper
E Ist Smithfield, and stealing therefrom twelve sove-
reigns and other property to the amount of 501. and
upwards.
It appeared, from the evidence, that the prisoners
hid recently paid several visits to the China Ship,
and generally remained in the club-room on the first
floor, which is level with the bed-room, from which
place Mr. Mettam had more than once missed sove-
reigns and other property, but the prisoners, who
had the appearance of tradesmen or shopkeepers, were
never suspected until Wednesday afternoon, when
they again visited the club-room with another
man. They ordered refreshment, and for some time
afterwards one or other of them was continually
running down stairs to the bar, to have their glasses
of spirits and water replenished, and on being asked
why they d:d not ring the bell, made an excuse they
did not like to give the landlady or her servants the
trouble of running up and down stairs, and they also
said they did not hear the bell ring. The female
servant having occasion to go up-stairs to change her
dress, heard the bed-rcora door opener', and saw Hug Les
close to the club-room uoor, with a glass in his hand,
looking towards the bed-room. He immediately ad-
vanced towards her, and said, " Go and fill that glass
,in." She ran down stairs, to her mistress and
communicated what she had seen and heard to Mrs.
Mettam, who, on ascending the stairs, met Hughes
The bed-room door was open, and Budd was leavir g
it. There was another man in the bedroom. She
immediately raised an alarm, and called out '° Thieves,
thieves." The prisoners rushed down stairs, and
endeavoured to pass by her. Mrs. Mettam boldly
seized Budd, and forced him back. Her son and pot-
man almost immediately came to her assistance, and
they were soon joined by the landlord. In the con-
fusion one of the robbers made his escape ; and Budd,
after a desperate struggle, got away from Mrs. Met-
tam, rushed up-stairs, and jumped out of the window
into the street. He was again seized by Mr. Pannell,
a master butcher, and secured. Hughes made a violent
resistance, and was eventually overpowered by Mr.
Mettam and his son. While Budd was struggling,
he threw at his feet a large bunch of skeleton keys,
of the best description, capable of opening locks of any
description. Two picklock keys, a wax-candle, and
some lucifiers, were found in the club-rooom. Mr.
Mettam examined his bed-room, and discovered
that a desk had been forced open and five
sovereigns abstracted. No money was found on
either of the prisoners, and it is supposed that their
confederate took the gold away with him. When the
prisoners were brought to the station house Sergeant
Kelly said that Budd was fixed this time, on which
the prisoner said, " Yes, I know I am. It may be
your turn one of these days; we are none of us in-
fallible—don't laugh at me." Sergeant Kelly pro-
ceeded to the China Ship with the bunch of skeleton
keys, and was enabled to open the bed room door
with one of them with the greatest ease. He also
opsned the door of dr. II irri3's shop with another.
Mr. Elias llarris, st n of Woolf Harris shut up his
shop on Friday evening lest, at the commencement of
the Jewish Sabbath, and, upon returning an hour

THE MYSTERIOUS AND MELAN-
CEIOLY DEATH OF MR. LOUIS SHADWELL.
Yesterday Mr. W. Carter, the coroner for East
Surrey, ornpannelled a highly respectable jury at
the Red Lion Tavern, Hammersmith-bridge-road,
Barnes, to inquire into the circumstances attending
the death of Mr. Louis Henry Shadwell, aged 3§,
a barrister, and second son of Sir Lancelot Shadwell,
Vice Chancellor of England.
The jury, having been sworn, procceeded to the
Vice-Chancellor's residence, Barn-elms Park, to view
the body, which lay in the library. The face of the
deceased was much bruised, particularly the nose,
and water-insects had commenced eating away the
lower portion of the face. There was cotriderable
abrasion of ,the skin on the knees, as also the hands.
The jury having returned, the following evidence
was called :
Mr. Alfred Hudson Shadwell, solicitor, residing
at Barn-elms, deposed that the deceased was his
brother, and a barrister-at-law by profession. He
would have been 39 in May next.
Police constable
_Line, 282 V, deposed, that on
Tuesday morning he went, accompanied by Boyce, a
gardener in the service of Sir Lancelot Shadwell,
along the towing path, to search a'ditch which skirts
Barn-elms Park, for the body of Louis !.-badwell,
whom he understood to be missing. They had
proceeded :about half a mile towards Hammersmith-
bridge, and were standing on the Cotton bank,
opposite the Crab Tree, when Boyce called his atten•
tion to some 'dark object in the ditch, and he wont
down the bank and distinctly saw the body of a man,
lying face downwards; the back of the head was
about an inch above water, but the other portion of
the body was immersed. He knew the body to be
that of Mr. Louie Shadwell, and with the assistance
of the gardener, got it out of the ditch. The heed
was hare, as also the feet, and he did not see any het
or shoes. On searching deceased, witness found 4s.
Id., a door key, end a gold signet ring on the third
fieger of his left hand, and a pair of wet socks, the feet
of which were covered with gravel or sand. These were
in his right-hand coat pocket. 13oth the knees of the
trowsers were very much torn, and there were
scratches on the knees. The clothing had not been
otherwise disordered. The water in the ditch was not
more than two feet in depth. There were no appear-
ances on the bank at that spot as if the deceased had
slid or rolled down, and there was no indication of
violence having taken place. Witness's opinion was
that deceased had walked into the ditch, unknowingly,
and fell in attempting to get out. His hands were
clenched, and full of black mud, and he was partly on
his knees.
George Boyce, the gardener spoken of by last
witness, was next examined. He said, that on ascer-
taining that Mr. Louis Shadwell was missing, he pro-
ceeded to drag the ditch from the fishing-bridge to
the lodge, and afterwards as far up as the high bridge.
He also dragged the lock, but did not discover the
object of his search. The witness then corroborated
the facts deposed to by last witness, and gave it as his
opinion that the deceased had first got out of the
river and then tumbled into the ditch, where he was
suffocated. Had known deceased nearly 12 years,
and believed him to be of sound mind. He believed
that Mr. Shadwell had in the first instance missed the
road, tumbled into the dock, and as a means of extri-
cating himself, swam out into the river (it being then
about high tide), and was carried by the tide up the
river to where he landed.
George Pearson, butler to Sir Lancelot Shadwell,
deposed it was the custom of deceased to come from
town on Saturday evening and remain till Monday.
Ile slept at the lodge, but took his meals with the
family. Ile generally resided in chambers. On last
Sunday evening deceased dined with Sir Lancelot and
the family, and he appeared in his usual health. Wit-
ness last saw Mr. Shadwell alive at half•past nine
o'clock that evening, when he came down stairs from
the drawing room. Went to the cellar and had one
glass of port, which was his usual custom before
leaving, and then left for the lodge; the distance he
had to go was 880 yards. Witness saw Mr. Shad-
well out at the stableyard-gate, and at that time it
was very dark and foggy. He did not hear of him
again until nine o'clock the next morning, when Mrs.
Samuel, the woman at the lodge, asked him if he had
seen Mr. Louis, as his door was locked, and she
believed he had not been in his room all night.
Witness procured a ladder, looked through the
window, awl saw that he was not in his apartment,
nor bad he been to bed. His hat and gloves were in
the room, and his watch in the table-drawer. De-
ceased, when at the mansion, usually wore a cap.
This witness was of a similar opinion as the last,
as to the cause and manner of the death.
William Mason, a labourer, living near the Crab
Tree at Hammersmith, proved that on Sunday night,
at about a quarter to eleven o'clock, he heard cries
from the other side of the river, and a person repeating
" Oh, Lord! Oh, God !" many times, and groaning.
The party also said, " George, George !--a light !" It
was a weak voice, and witness thought it a female.
By the advice of Mr.l3ullin, the landlord of the Crab
Tree, they went to Hammersmith-bridge and got a
boat and a lantern ; but by the time they had reached
the spot where the cries proceeded from, more than
half-an-hour had elapsed. They searched the towing-,
path and bank, and on the latter discovered the im-
print of naked feet from a distance of twenty or thirty
yards and back. These marks were seventy or eighty
yards from where the body was found. Tile
Height,rewas
no sign of any recent violence. Ttey called aloud,
but got no answer. The tide was nearly at its
but not over the towing-path.
IV. Morris, a labourer, produced the decettsed's cap,
which had been found near the Putney steam boat
pier on Monday afternoon, as also one of his shoes,
which he had picked up off the College of Civil En-
gineers.
After some further evidence,
The CORONER addressed the jury, and after enume-
' rating the facts, remarked upon the mystery that
shrouded the case. The singular fact of the deceased's
socks being in his pocket, his cap and one shoe betng
found in the river, clearly proved he had been there,
but how he came on to the footpath, and then into
the ditch, could only be surmised. The hypothesis
trust be that he lost his life by. mischance.
Mr. Bullip, the landlord of the Crab Tree, here
observed that he heard some one cry distinctly " Help,
help," and " George, George," and a paddling in the
water. Had he had a host, he was convinced he
could have saved the party.
Mr. Alfred Shadwell said he could not conceive
that his brother was the victim of violence, as no
money had been taken from him; and he believed,
with the rest of the family, that the melancholy event
was purely accidental.
The jury were unanimously of opinion that Mr.
Louis Shadwell was accidentally drowned or suffo.
cated, and returned a verdict accordingly.

DREADFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—About three
o'clock in the afternoon of Friday last the neighbour.
hood of the Moss, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, Was
the scene of unusual excitement in consequence of an
explosion which took place in a pit there, the property
of and worked by the Brymbo Colliery Company. In
this pit about forty men were at work at the time of the
explosion, and, as may well be imagined, the utmost
consternation prevailed when the fact became known.
From inquiry made on the spot, it appears that some of
the men whilst digging cut through into the level of
some old workings tilled with foul air, which rushed like
afl :ad into the pit where the men were at work, and
then by some means ignited. Three of the colliers im-
mcdiately made their way to the bottom of the shaft,
and signalled to the engineman to wind them up, which,
in the fright he did, after some delay. By this time the
blaze was ascending the mouth of the pit, and whilst
being drawn up she poor fellows' clothes caught fire,
and they were dreadfully burnt—two of them receiving
such serious iejeti:s that they have both since died, and
the other man now lies in so precarious a state that he
is not expected to recover. The other men in the pit,
with great presence of mind crept through an aperture into
an adjoining pit, which most providentially was the means
of saving their lives. A long time elapsed before their
safety was ascertained, and in the interval hundreds of
people were congregated round the pit, many of the
persons present being relatives or friends of the collier',
and whose cries and shrieks during the awful suspense
were of the most heartrending description, and testified
the agony of their feelings. The fire blazed for two days
to the height of about ten feet above the mouth of she
colliery, and roared like a blast furnace. Water bas
been let into the pit, and the mouth has been stopped up,
but up to this time (Wednesday) the fire continues to
burn with great fury, although it is expected the means
adopted will eventually extinguish it.
THE OUTWARD-BOUND OVERLAND INDIA MAIL;
—We learn from our Malta correspondent that the
Overland India mail, dispatched from London on the
24th of November, had not re.,ched Malta up to ten
see. on the 4th of December; in consequence of which
it vtai feared that some accident had happened to the
machinery of her Alejeste's steamer Medusa, conveying
the same to that island from AI irseilles, though even in
that case, with the s'roug north-west winds which had
prevailed for many days, the vessel might have m.de
her passage nearly as quickly under canvas. The Pe-
ninsular and Oriental Company's steam-ship India, which
reached Malta on the evening (seven o'clock) of the 30th
of November, left fur Alexandria at nine P.M. on the
33 of December, with the Southampton mail of the 20th
of November, after a detention (by the senior naval
fficer lied post-office agent) of twelve hours beyond the
time specified in her contract. Her Royal Highness the
Princess Merienne of Holland, formerly the wife of LIS
Roe al Highness Prince Albert of Prussia, with a suite
of ton persons, took
. passaLe to Alexandria in the Indus,
en route to Palestm

A.STLE VS ROYAL AIciPIIITHEA.TiM.
Proprietor. k: r. W. Batty.
THIs EVEN NG,
Mr. BATTY has great pleasure in announcing that he has sue
ceeded hi engaging Mademois,dle ANGELE, from the Hippodrome,
Paris, and who is the first Equestrian of the day, with her highly-
trained Ste,-Ale, "Senora" and "Bertram." Mademoiselle Angelo is
the same Lady that rode the celebrated English Steeplechase Mare
"Angela" over twenty-eight feet of water. She will shortly make
her appearance at Astley's Ampitheatre.
Sir. BATTY has much pleasure in announcing that he has engaged
Cocloni, the most graceful performer on the Tight Rope in
Europe, who will appear every Evening.
The performance will commence at a Quarter to Seven, with the
Grand national and magnificent Spectacle of THE BATTLE OF
WATERLOO, in which Mr. Edward Gomersal will appear in his
original character of Napoleon.
Ater which Batty's SCENES OF THE ARENA, anLivened by
Messrs. T. Barry, E. Jacks:.4l, and Wheale.
To conclude with the new Extravaganza of Mr. BRIGGS ; or
the PLEASURES OF HOUSEKEEPING AND HORSEKEEPING,
in which the whole Company and Stud of this Establishment, a
long train of moveable=, comprising Omnibus, Barouche, Ge-Cart,
and other vehicles, wPI. appear.

Box-office open from Eleven till Fur.
Sta.✓.e Mrnager, Mr. W. West.