The Sun.
London, England, 1814-03-05 00:00:00

IiOUS MURDER.

the rfiurtlei: of Mr. VARNEY; an anal man, in
his 80th year; who kept a chandler's Shop in
Newtonlongville, near Fenny Stratford, having
been attended with the most wanton circumstances
of aggravatidn, the gentlemen of that part ofthe
country wrote up for a Bow-street officer to be
seat down, to endeavour to detect tle murderer,
and Bishop was in consequence dispatched. He
found it necessary to detain in custody -a young
man of the name of John Matthews, a journey-
man carpenter, who had been suspected previous
to his arrival. Matthews has undergone several
examinatians before the Migistrates of that dis-
trict, and on -Monday he underwent a final exa-
mination at Wing, when it-appeared, that on the
evening of the 21st of February, about twenty
minutes before eight o'clock, Mr. VARNEY was
alive and well in his shop, having served a boy
with some candles from behind his counter. A
short time, after the.clock struck eight, a man was
passing by Mr. VARNEY;S house, who observing
Iris door open, and hearing sonic very distresSing
groans, he was induced to go into the Red Lion
Inn, which is but a few yards distance from Mr. •
VARNEY'S house, where he related what he bad
seen and heard, '.which induced a number of per-
'sons to go with him to the house. They found
the shop door open, and Mr. VARNEY most cruelly
wounded, behind his counter. A . surgeon was
sent for, but the old man expired in about twenty -
minutes. The surgeon, on examining him, found
that he had received severe Wounds on his nose,
ender his eyes, on
.his temple, and on his skull,
which appeared to have been given with a Mallet
or hammer, ; those on his nose appearing to have
been given with the -claw Of a large hamnter, It
was also ascertained that!the house had been rob-
bed,. but to what amount could not be then as-
certained' 'The murder and robbery caused very
considerable alarm in the villago ; but it was
observed, that- John Matthews did not appess to
take the same interest in what had happened- as
the. generality of the people did, which was the
.original ground of suspicion against him. It was
proved Unit he was the last and only person who ,
-was seen near the deceased's house. Three wit-
nesses said, they saw him close to the deceased's •
,
door, about eight o'clock, although be denied
baying been at that end of the village during
that night. One of the witnesses stated, that
lie had no doubt Matthews was.the man whom
he saw close to time deceased's door about eight ,
o'clock, and that he' called to him at the time,
saving, " Good night, Master Matthews ;" but
received no answer, which he observed to a
friend as being an extraordinary circumstance
in' Matthews' conduct, as he knew hint ex-
tremely well. Another witness, who saw hint
close to the -deceased's door, observed to a
friend that he bad seen-that fellow, who was tobe married the following morning, meaning John
Matthews; skulking about the door of the de-
ceased, anal had also seen him in the same situa-
tion on the Sunday night previous, and wondered
what he could want there: Matthews denied be-
ing at the door of the deceased, but was not able
to account for the last half-hour of the time when
the murder was committed. Under these cir-
cumstances it was thought right by the inhabi-
tants to stop the marriage on the following day,
and accordingly, when he was walking to the
church with his intended wife, an industrious lace-
maker of that village, he. was stopped till the ar-
rival of Bishop from London, and then delivered
into his custody. When searched, there was
found- on him a canvas hag, containing twenty
shillings, also five shillings which Matthews ap-
peared desirous to conceal . they had the appear-
ance of being bad, but this proved only to he the
effect of being hoarded. -On being questioned
as to how he became possessed af tliis money, and
also the bad shillings, he conceiving the five shil-
lings to be bad at that time, replied, that he had
taken them in change or the deceased about a
fortnight previous to the• murder. The prisoner
had been out of work for three months previon&,
and being about to get married was considered.
a very extraordinary thing by all who knew him,
as it was known that he had- no means of
porting a wife. He• had not purchased the wed-
: ding ring till the morning after the murder, which
he did, at a very early hour, of Mr. Domville, at
Fenny Stratford, and for which he wa.s to pay ten
shillings ; in part of payment he gave eight six-
pences, all of Which appeared- to be bad, hut, on
examination, proved merely to have been hoarded.
The same day he paid twelve shillings fstr six
gallons of beer to make. merry with at his wed-
ding. He had ordered clothes of a tailor residing
at Leighton Buzzard, which were to come to
71. without any visible mesas of paying for them.
A son-in-law of the deceased, who keeps a
shop in the same village, declared his belief that
be had seen silver in the possession of the de-
ceased. similar to that Which had the appearance
of being boarded, and also spoke to a bad shill-
ing and sixpence found on the pri4oner as being
similar to what he had seen in the deceased's pos-

session.
Bishop searched the house-of the deceased, and
found, concealed in different mid very unlikely
places, 1,17 seven-shilling pieces, 72 half-guineas,
8 guineas, 1241. in Bank-notes, and silver to the
amount •of several pounds. A tin tea-canister,
however, is missing, which contained a 20/. note,
and 301: in small notes. The instrument that per-

petrated the horrid deed has not yet been found.
Matthews was lodged in Aylesbnry-gaol or
Monday, to take his trial at the ensuing Assizes

The Hertford Assizes commenced on Thursday
but no cause of importance came on that day.

The ancient Castle of Carlow, the fall of which
we lately noticed, is much tcgrette►l in that part
of Ireland. It was built by the banes, in the 10th
century, on a scite commanding a view of the
river Barrow, and surrounding country.

A few nights ago, an English rider dropped his
pocket-book in the Trongate of Glasgow, which,
fortunately for him, was found by, a respectahle
woman. Its contents amounted to about 20001.
in bank notes and bills. The name of the owner
being on the book, he was soon found out, and
the whole. restored to him.