The Sun.
London, England, 1825-02-24 00:00:00

ATROCIOUS MURDER IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.

The county of Bucks has of late been the
theatre of two horrid murders. Scarcely had the alarm slut
pervaded the persons resident at Whaddon, Aylesbury, and
the parts adjacent, produced by the late murder of Abtaharn
Hogg, by Lynn, subsided, before they were again thrown into
the greatest agitation, by a desperate attempt made on the! life
of the toll-collector at Winslow, which is at present enveloped in
mystery • and since Saturday night last, the alarm has been
indescribably increased, in consequence of another foul and
bloody deed being committed in the parish of Astor.-Clinton,
small village on the turnpike-road, about 2i miles from Tung,
and about Zq miles from Aylesbury. The place where the in-
human deed was perpetrated is a road called Oreening.street,
leading from the high road by the side of the New Bell public-
house, and the unfortunate victim is a young man abOut 2U
years of age, named Wm. Morris, a farming man in the employ
of Mr. Horwood, of College-farm of respectable connexions.—
The perpetrators of the revolting deed are John Allen, (the prin-
cipal) Thos. collier, and Thomas Beeves, all labourers in
the parish of Aston-Clinton, and associates of Morris; who
were apprehended before their victim was cold, and lodged in
Aylesbury gaol. On Sunday they underwent an examination
in private before Sir John Dashwood King, Bart., and COlonel
Browne, who thought it expedient to prevent the proceedings
being published till after the Coroner's Inquest had .been.
holden ; and Sir J. D. King said that on Wednesday the pri-
soners would be brought up for final examination, when the
investigation would be conducted publicly. The inquest was
accordingly held on Monday, 4nd after an inquiry which lasted
seven hours, the Jury returned a verdict of—" Wilful Murder
against Allen, Reeves, and Collier."
Yesterday forenoon, precisely at 12 o'clock, Colonel Browne,
the Rev. Mr. Ashfield, Rev. Mr. Owen, and the Rev. Mr. Tur-
ner, assembled in the Magistrates' Chamber, at Aylesbury, f.or
the purpose of proceeding in the examination of the prisoners.
Long before the arrival of the Justices, and the opening of the.
Court, the concourse of people anxious to be present was im-
mense ; and when the Chamber was opened, the space without
the bar was crammed almost to suffocation, such was the inte-
rest excited on the occasion. Shortly after the Magistrates had
taken their seats, the prisoners were brought into their presence
by Mr. Sheriff, the Governor of the gaol, and Collins, his
assistant. They are all young men, of rather diminutive sta.
ture. Allen stood about five feet two inches; Reeve about five
feet four ; and Collier five feet six inches. They were dressed
in the prison clothing, their own having been taken from them
on entering the gaol. Silence having been obtained, the testi-
mony of the following witnesses were taken by Mr. Batten, the
Magistrates' clerk, who conducts the prosecution.
Joseph Thorn, sworn—l live at Aston-Clinton, neat the spot
where the murder was committed. A little after two o'clock
on Sunday morning last, my brother told me that Will Morris
had been murdered in the road, and that he was lying at the
public-house. About seven o'clock, I was told by Joseph Lut-
man who resides in Greening-street, that he had been robbed
of a'bedge rail ; and, in consequence, I and several others went
in different directions to look for it, and in John Nicholls's
garden I found the rail now produced (it was made of beech, and
was a most formidable weapon, being about four feet in length,
six inches wide, and above an inch thick, with a large spike
nail at one end : it was covered with blood at one end, and it
was also splintered,) just within the hedge that encloses the
garden. It appeared as if it had been thrown into the garden
from the road. The place where the murder was committed is
about 20 yards from Master Nicholls's garden. After finding
the rail, I carried it to the Bell public-house, in the village,
and there delivered it into the hands of Mr. John Holdon, rite
constable, in whose possession it has been ever since.
William Reeves sworn.—l am brother to Thomas Reeves,
one of time prisoners, and live at Buckland. On Saturday night
Last, about half-past ten o'clock,,l was at the Duke's Head
public-house, at Blackburn, in company with the deceased, and
after leaving there, we overtook the three prisoners at. Aston
Clinton ; they were endeavouring to gain admission into the
New Bell public-house, but could not ; we then went together
to the Old Bell, and failed in getting any thing to drink there.
Allen, Collier, and my brother, then went on towards Allen's
house, and I and the deceased followed them. As we proceeded
my brother turned round to me and said, " You deserve a good
hiding," and told the deceased he ought to have a good hiding
too. My btother then left us, and went back towards his home ;
Allen, who had a bag in his hand, gave it to Collier, and then
he (Allen) ran down the street, and returned in about a minute
with the stake now produced, in his hand. He said," Now, l'll
end it," and then made a plunge with the rail at me, but I
warded off the blow with a draining spade that I had in my
hand. Allen then struck the deceased a violent blow on time head,
which knocked him to the ground, and at this moment my
brother returned again, and endeavoured to take the spade ourof my hand, and in the struggle I was knocked down anti kick-
ed by Collier and my brother, and beat so unmercifully that
the bone of my right knee was put out i • . they then left me; and
presently Allen and Collier came back together, and began
again to kick and beat me. I said, " For God's sake have mercy
on me, for they have beat and kicked me to pieces." Collier
and Allen then went away, and as well as I was able I crawled
to the deceased, who was lying on the slope by time side of the
road. I felt his body, it being so dark I could not see him ;
and on feeling the back part of his head, my fingers rushed
into a very deep wound. The deceased seemed quite dead, he
did, not move or groan. I then went, as well as I was able, to
Allen's house, and saw Collier standing near the door. I said,
" The man is dead, his scull is split—Allen has killed him, and
nf
oo e onea lthoughi
ge
butht, w Cehnoetl I
sti
heo ruNtsvemehmei t
ee:dus
tai liooafur nsdieo dar
s,
fa n.e
wdA sdoorst aid,th this
t he
time
nedc dead,
Collier
came out of Allen's house, with a candle and latern, and went
with me to the deceased; Allen came out also, but he bad
changed his clothes. I and Collier went up to the body, and I
remained with it till some persons came and conveyed it to the
Old Bell public-house. Collier assisted to convey it there.
I.
knew of no quarrel that existed between them ; they were
wrangling on the road between Blackburn and Aston-Clinton.
The men were rather fresh, but certainly not drunk..
Spencer, a constable, stated, that about one o'clock
on Sunday morning he was sent for, and found the deceased
lying quite dead. Witness proceeded to Allen's house, and.
found there Allen and Thomas Reeves. Allen said he did not
strike the deceased. NVitness afterwards found a fustain jacket
in the house, with spots of blood upon it.
Reeves, the first witness, identified the jacket as that worn
by Allen on the night of the murder.
Spencer continued—He thefilook Collier into custody. •
George Thorn stated, keiresided near the spot where the vio-
lence was committed, and heard loud screaming
God on the night in
question. He heard John AllentS wife say, bless you,
John, don't strike him any mare; if you do, you'll certainly
kill him." Witness heard several blows given in quick succes-
sion. After the blows, he'heard Allen say, " I have settled
him, and if you don't be off, I'll settle you." Witness heard
Thomas Reeves say, "If you band'nt been my brother I
would have served you before now ;" and. Collier said; " And
serve him right too." The witness added, that the deceased's
head lay in a hole in the earth, as if it had been pressed in by
some person. This witness was also reproved by the Magis-.
trates for not endeavouring to prevent violence on hearing that
blows were passing.
Mr. Hayward, the surgeon, stated, that he found,a lacerated
wound at the back part of the deceased's skull, two inches long
by one and a half deep ; this wound occasioned death. P_e_
found wounds on several other parts of the body. Anlgrt
surgeon proved that he heard violent quarrelling on
of the murder, and several heavy blows struck,
between
saw the body of the deceased with a shovel lying
legs. .1 with which the
A man named Lutman proved that the
raja hedge near his
deceased had been struck was taken out of .
residence. ed whose evidence was
Several other witnesses were exami
E'tliat the deceased and
not material, most of them merely proving public-house. The
the prisoners were heard to quarrel r an arwnarhcliss
Reeves and Collier blood was fnur_ bods
y of the deceased.—
clothes of the three prisoners were P
for by saying that he had liftnea P
fully coiemmittedfor trial.
The three prisoners were
d laced,twhi
c h thaenida
tut
ep:anc
uosnet
ecmcif.

Irish
watchman ini
t
a
business is to
beingae y uSn ed
es vs icor ons e mi
givngr irritated,
and becoming her observed to the Counsel, who
During la
bring thieves tojustiee, and yours is to help them tct escape it," was from the alone country as himself My
teevOilesinesd

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY
ixtractsfrom the Morning Papers,Feb.24,lB2s.

[THE TIMPS.I
T.Yhe,Clait/Is of the Army of the Deccan to sus-
tiee. are becoming daily more and more urgent,
and the
_language of the sufferers assumes a louder
and, bolder tone as their hopes of redress grow
fainiei. In consequeoce of this feeling, s
jtate-
'tnentS Eave found their way into the public our-
mats, whiCh, though imperfect and in some re-
spects erroneous, have naturally excited consider-
able attention. We have fortunately beets re-
cently enabled to possess ourselves of much addi-
tional. evidence to explain. the causes by which
the expectations of the army have been baffled,
and which we can disclose whenever it may be-
cocrie expedient. The notorious facts, however, of
this extraordinary case are in themselves sufficient
so awaken suspicion and compel inquiry. It is
known that eight years have elapsed since a large
bp'oty was acquired in a contest of singular hard-
ship and danger—that some of the booty was ad-
mitted by all parties to .be lawful prize, and its
*mount ascertained—that claims have been made
to a far greater extent on the East India Com-
pany,: who derived such extensive and important
benefits- from the war—that, after a protracted
litigation, the rights of the actual captors were
fully 'recognized by the. Crown, and a grant
made to trustees for them to collect the booty
and frame a scheme for its 'distribution among
them, according to the usages of the service
and the Prize Act ; and yet that up to this hour
not a farthing has been disbursed, nor a single
claim successfully asserted. Such a result is
surely calculated to shake the confidence of the
army in usages which 'are held more sacred
than law, and to make them apprehensive that
on future occasions the systematic gratitude of
the Crown may be defeated- by the chicanery or
weakness of its delegates. These circumstances
are so extraordinary, that, whatever rutty be said
of the fitness and integrity of the individuals who
have been appointed to act as trustees for the
army, it is scarcely possible hut that the suspi-
cion must be circulated of their being the princi-
pal if not the only cause of a delay so ruinous to
the captors, and so injurious to time character of
the country. We may fairly, too, inquire why
The Commander-in-Chief of the capturing army
has not be. n appointed in this instance to su
perintend the collection and distribution of itsl
prize-money ? Why has this wise and just
rule not been adhered to ? Of all other men
he has the greatest interest in recovering the
booty, time closest sympathy with the soldiers
who- have fought under him, and the best oppor-
tunity of obtaining information .respecting the
p-riie-money. But the Crown, it seems, was advised
in the case before us to deviate from this salu-
tary practice, and to appoint time Duke of Wel-
.fington and Mr. Arbuthnot—relying, perhaps,
on the zeal of the former for the interests of his
own profession and his general knowledge of In-
dian military affairs. We are sorry to have to
add,-that the tenour of the information we have
received justifies us in stating, that their conduct
as trustees has been of late, to say the least of
it, kighly reprehensible. We understand that
they now exclude parties deeply interested from
all information, debarring them not only from all
share in their councils, but from all knowledge
of their proceedings. At present we abstain from
tracing the history of the transactions which
have led to this extraordinary state•of affairs, but
it cannot long be concealed. In the mean time,
the hdvisers of the Crown will do well to take
care that its own intentions are not defeated, and
that the boon it. has granted—or rather, the sa-
cred right which it has sanctioned—is not con-
verted lute a source of intrigue oni the one 'side,
and of protracted vexation on the other.

We are informed, on military authority, of
what appears to he an abuse of patronage, or at
feait a fact requiring explanation ; because, al-
though it he on a small scale, it is of a nature to
excite jealousies in one department of the army,
and so far to injure the public service. The Ox-
ford Blues had two troops added to them in 1812 ;
these two troops were reduced again in August,
114—that is to say, the non-commissioned of-
ficers awl privates; but the Captains and sub-
alterns were retained, and are still retained,.
upon the strength of the regiment, and on fiat
pay. Now the other cavalry regiments have only
othcers for eight troops, the actual -number of
their establishment ; but the Blues, consisting of
eight troops likewise, have officers for ten—a
difference not, merely expensive (pro tunic) to
tke country, but unjust to other cavalry corps.—
We trust that his Grace the Duke of Welling-
ton, whose reputation is certainly not that of a
jobber, will, if this be wrong, take care to have
it rectified, or that Parliament will do it for him.
•

[MORNING, C.111:0N-IcLE-]
The Army Estimates have now been laid be-
Vire the House of Conimons and printed, by
which we are enabled, will'', much satisfaction,
to appeal to the correctness of the information
Which we exclosively furnished, at the moment
when the Chancellor of the Exchequer felt him-
self justified in declaring that the amount of the
augmentation. was 8,000 men. We, in the
face of that higli authority, said that it would
!us nearly • 20,000, and the Estimates shew an
increase to the ling of i'9,000.* It remains
with the Chancellor to reconcile his statement
with the Estimates. The reluctance of
ill inis-
ters in 1113 king admissions as to the increase of the
Army may readily be explained, if, as rumour
reports, circumstances base occurred since the
Speech was delivered to Parliament, which may
materially affect the nature of our Foreign Rela-
tions. Our present object is chiefly to shew that
we have been correct.
• The disembodying of the Veterans can scarcely be taken
as a reduction, betause the officers and men will go back to
their fell pay-and pensions, and are liable at any time to be
again callei out.
Mr. Brougham, in moving for leave to bring
in ICBM to amend the Apothecaries Act, took
occasion to say " that the Colleges of Edinburgh
sad Glasgow -were the two most eminent Medical

Seminaries in existence." Alas! then, for the '
character of Medical Seminaries. They are
eminent, it is true, but how long will they con-
tinue so ? It is well understood, that they
live now enterely on their reputation. Our
youth, from the impossibility of obtaining sub-
jects, have been obliged to repair to the Con-
tinent ; and we are sorry to say that they
have not, in all cases, in lieu of the illi-
berality of the authorities at home, found better
treatment abroad. The English students have
been driven from Paris, where they were in great
numbers, from the refusal of the Government to
allow them to obtain subjects, which are provid-
ed to French students gratis. They have been
obliged to repair elsewhere to solicit from the
charity of other States what they cannot obtain
at home. What an idea foreigners must have of
our civilization, of which we boast so much,
when they find from the incontrovertible evidence
of numberless English fugitives, that. the most
important of all studies is. in a manner, inter-
dicted in this Island.—(lbid.)

[MORNING POST.]
A salutary regulation has been adopted by the
House of Commons for the due management of
private business. It is this—that Members shall
be excluded from voting on occasions where they
have a direct pecuniary interest. Mr. Grenfell
last night suggested that the rule of exclusion
ought also, upon the same principle, to apply to
those Members who had a direct pecuniary inte-
rest in the failure of the the measure. This is
certainly as necessary as the first, if it be wished
that true impartiality should guide the decisions of
Committees and of the House. Mr. Brougham and
Mr. Baring then gave much curious information
respecting the efforts made to obtain votes and
majorities in Committees on private Bills, which
shewed in a still stronger light the propriety of
the determination taken by the House. Mr.
Brougham indeed advised that it should be car-
ried farther, and should exclude those who had
a direct interest in any public measure. This,
however, appeared calculated to impede the free
play of the Parliamentary machine, and for the
present at least was laid aside. But Mr. Hume
gave notice that on Friday next he would submit
a proposition to the House to determine how
far it had been the custom of Parliament to
disqualify Members from voting upon measures
in which they had a direct pecuniary interest.—
In reply to some observations made by Mr.
Warre, whilst presenting a Petition from 'faun-
' ton against the Land Tax, Mr. Herries said, that
he was ready to redeem the pledge which he had
given last Session, and should shortly propose a
measure which would place in the hands of the
Treasury a controulling power over the whole
Assessment of the Land Tax.

[BRITISH PRESS.]
A Supplement to Tuesday's Gazette was pub-
lished yesterday, containing the official dis-
patches relating to the progress of the Burmese
war. With the exception of the loss of the
stockade of Tek Naaf, which was delivered up
by a mutinous body of irregular provincials, the
enemy has been foiled and chastised in every at-
tempt against us. The Governor-General states,
in his dispatch to the Court of Directors, that,
"in Assam, the progress of our troops has se-
cured the important object of depriving the
enemy of nearly two-thirds of that territory, of
destroying a considerable portion of their force
there, and, as we hope, of placing serious obsta-
cles in the way of any attempt which the Bur-
mese might be disposed to make to invade Ben-
gal, by the route of the Burhampooter."

The indefatigable Member for Aberdeen
moved, last night, amongst a number of other
motions, for a Return of the Sh►ps added to the
Royal Navy since January, distinguishing
all the circumstances of their building and treat-
ment, with a view to ascertain their present con-
dition, and the wisdom of the course followed
with regard to them. Sir George Clerk ex-
pressed his entire concurt-ence with the motion.
1k was " anxious to show the very efficient
state in which the naval force of the country was,
and the great superiority which the vessels lately
built held over those constructed at more distant
periods." It is of importance that this fact should
he known, for it is not enough that a nation
should be strong : she should seem what she is.
So much has been said on the subject of dry-rot,
that we believe some of our countrymen began to
dread that their wooden walls were not in the
soundest state. The assurances given on this
subject by Lord Melville on Monday, and re-
peated last night by Sir George Clerk, must sa-
tisfy every rational mind as to the falsehood of
the bugbear, tl►at our navy was crumbling to ❑o-
thing by some new and mysterious disease.—
( Ibid.)