The Sun.
London, England, 1836-08-06 00:00:00

(From the Lisbon English Journal of July 16.)
We copy the following most atrocious and unparalleled
murder, committed near Coimbra, from the Revista of the Sib
of July, as a specimen of depravity under the cloak of religion.
If confirmed, it is one of the most powerful examples of the
most dreadful mischief that the want of moral education can
produce in the human mind :
I• "At a place thinly inhabited in the vicinity of Coimbra two
individuals lived, man and wife, whose only son (we shall
call him Henry in our history) went abroad at an early age in
search of fortune, as he could not expect to meet with it un-
der the roof of his parents. Fifteen years had elapsed since
his absence, and during this time no ship arrived from Para
without bringing a letter from this excellent son, nor one
single month passed but the payment of a sum he had settled
upon his parents was duly remitted to them, through the Post-
a-ice, by his correspondents in Lisbon ; this sum, however,
was not great. Ferdinand and Isabel (we shall likewise give
these names in our history to the old parents) were no longer
able to work, old age parelvzing their limbs, and as they were
suffering from chronic illness, their wants caused them to be
deeply in debt. They were sitting one night at the corner of
their hut, when the sky suddenly darkened, they could see the
lightning- through the crevices of their hut, and hear the hur-
ricane whistle so hard, that their badly constructed hut was
nearly shaken to the ground. They thought in their humble
corner, before a miserable light, of addressing the Almighty
on so horrid a night, with a Pater praying for relief for those
unfortunate men, who were at that moment sailing on the
ocean, and another for those who were travelling on that oc-
casion, without being able to find any shelter. After per-
forming this devotion they began to tell their beads in the
rosary. Scarcely had they begun their prayers, when they
imagined they heard a knock at the door, but the thunder was
so very loud that they were not sure they heard right, they
continued, and a double knock followed, which they could dis.
tinctly hear. Isabel rose from her seat and asked who was
there, without opening the door. " A strayed traveller," was
the answer. " Allow me, good people, to shelter myself from
this storm, lam wet to the skin, and as cold as ice. I beg
for an hour's hospitality, and I shall afterwards continue
my
journey." Isabel looked at Ferdinand with an eye of suspi-
cion; but the old man gave her to understand that he wished
her to open the door without delay. The rough wooden bar
was removed, and on the door being opened a gentleman pre-
sented himself, begging to be allowed to enter. "We have
only these two rooms on the ground floor," said the old man,
" your horse must share the same accommodation." " May
God reward you venerable people," said the gentleman, and
walked in, tied his horse to one of the poles, and the door was
bolted again. The gentleman then taking off his hat and
cloak, proved to be a well-made, tall, handsome young man.
The fuel was already light, and a good fire made to warm the
traveller, and to dry his clothes, and the three sat round it ;
no one could have supposed such gay conversation as ensued
could be consistent with the horrors of so dreadful a night.
The young gentleman gave an account of his journey, and
how he left Leiria to proceed to Coimbra, where he had
never been before. The old pair told him that he was not
far from the City, but as it was too late in the night, if he
would put up with one night's bad accommodation, and lay
upon straw, it would be better for him to depart next morn-
ing. The thunder-storm did not abate, and the traveller wil-
lingly accepted their offer. So lively he found the conversa-
tion of his venerable hosts, as to continue talking until the cock
crew, when they all retired to rest. The candle continued
burning, the young gentleman took off his embroidered jacket,
waistcoat, and a belt which he carried round his waist, and
throwing himself upon a bundle of straw, he fell asleep im-
mediately, overcome with fatigue. Isabel gazed upon him a
long while in silence, but what could her arched eye-brows
and the contracted muscles of her face mean ? Who can tell?
most likely some hideous thought running across the mind.
She came nearer to Ferdinand, and muttered these words in a
low tone, "we are poor, and very much in debt." " True,"
answered the old man, " we shall be forced to pay six moidores
within the following three days, and we have no other resource
but selling our hut." " How lucky some men are 1 this lad
carries a belt full of gold. If we possessed so large a sum we
might live in peace all the rest of our life," said the wife.
" You are right," was the answer, " but it is late, go' and lay
down." "I am not sleepy," said she, and a profound silence
followed, which the old woman interrupted, continuing thus,
" Do you not hear him snore ? Your spade is not far off, and
if " Hold your tongue, wretch," said Ferdinand, putting
his hand to her mouth, "lay down, and go to sleep." " Very
well, I shall lay down," was the answer. She did so, and
about half an hour afterivards listened, and found both her
husband and guest were fast .asleep. She rose, removed the
candle to the inner room, and stuck it against the wall. Again
she gazed both at the belt and the traveller, and afterwards
ran for the spade, and so dexterously levelled two blows on the
head of the guest as to killtim without being able to speak a
word, but died uttering a groan. At this no:se Ferdinand
awoke, and ran full of fright to witness the horrible scene. It
exhibited to the old man the youth murdered by the old woman,
the straw saturated with blood, and gold money falling from
the belt. To describe the agitation of the old man would be
impossible, but the mischief was done, and the only remedy
they had left was to hide his body. They both proceeded to
a neighbouring field, buried the unfortunate victim, and re-
turned to the but to burn the stre.v, in order to do away with
any object which could lead to the discovery of this horrible
crime. No one saw the traveller go into the house, conse-
quently there could be no fear of his being missed, How-
ever, after ten days having elapsed, another stranger knocked
at the door of their hut, inquiring after Henry. They an-
swered him that he was in the Brazils. The stranger replied
that he had returned with him rein Para a fortnight before,
and parted at Leiria, where Henry would notastop a day, as
he was eager to go and embrace his parcnts,'whose dwelling
he was informed was there. Ferdinand fell senseless to the
ground; the stranger, suspecting that something was wrong,
sent to the magistrate, who was conducted by Ferdinand to
the very grave in which he had buried a son murdered by his
own mother.

* We have just been reading a letter written at a place near
Coimbra, which relates the above history as matter of fact, and
as such we insert it in this paper, but it appears so extraor-
dinary to us, that we wait for its confirmation to be able to
believe it. We only change in our narration the style in
which the letter is written, but we have not omitted any par-
ticulars that relate to it.

CAUTION TO RETAIL STATIONERS.—For
considerable time past a most dexterous thief has been preying,
in numerous instances, in -the metropolis and its suburbs, on
persons of the above business, and others with which it is com-
bined, particularly where females or boys are engaged in the
duty of serving. He has robbed several of stamps to a large
amount, and filched considerable sums from the tills of others,
with a facility scarcely to be credited. On Thursday last ho
paid a visit to the Doctors' Commons circulating library,
Addle-hill, where his plan of operation was as follows :—On
the preceding day he had called and purchased a few sheets of
foolscap paper, and, in tendering a shilling in payment, con-
trived that it should roll over, and fall down behind the coun-
ter, which gave him an opportunity of observing the situation
of the till, and he was thus enabled to call on the following
day prepared to carry his real purpose into eff,:ct, and which
he accordingly did, under the plea of wanting to purchase a
few quires of large brown paper, which he took care to have
shown him at an opposite counter, and then retiring to the
counter behind which his object lay, and taking a folded sheet
of extremely large size from his pocket, chose his position and
spread it open, walking front one counter to the other to com-
pare the various sizes shown him with his own, and in this
manner abstracting the attention of his victim, while, at a con.
venient opportunity, extending his arm underneath his unfolded
sheet of paper, sYllich more than covers a very broad counter,
his fingers become master of whatever happens to be in the till
beneath. On the present occasion he succeeded ia stealing
four sovereigns and some silver, after which, pretending to re-
collect that he was also directed to purchase some other sort,
he affected to go a few doors off to make inquiries respecting
it, leaving the shopkeeper to replace his goods, and find out
his loss. fle is a man of about 5 feet 8 inches in height, of
thin and haggard appearance, and attired in some instances as
a porter, in others as a carpenter, mason, or labouring man,
and also employs an agent or two previous to his depredations
to ascertain, by the purchase of some trifling article, the depo-
sitory of money or light valuable
MISAPPLICATION OF CORPORATE PROPERTY.
—We published, a few posts since, an abstract of a Bill,
which, after referring to the abuses and corruptions of the
Irish Corporations, enacted that all dispositions of corporate
property should be made void after the sth of June, 1835, un-
less in payment of lawful debts, legal salaries, and other legal
and necessary disbursements, usually made for three years
before. One would suppose that these exceptions were com-
prehensive enough to cover all fair and proper disbursements,
We, however, find a column and a quarter of the Constitution
occupied with a violent and elaborate invective against this
Bill, which is represented as vastly and beyond all comparison
worse than Calie-ula's edicts. Apprehensions are, it seems,
entertained that the 200 guineas voted by the Corporation for
a piece of plate to Robert Deane, Esq., may not come within
the exception of ,legal and necessary disbursements, usually
and lawfully made for three years before the sth of June,
1835, by the body corporate, and that the gentlemen who
voted the money out of the public purse may ultimately have
themselves the pleasure of paying for the plate. That would
certainly be " too bad," and Caligula was never guilty of
such enormous iniquity. May not the Common Council, how-
ever, find a precedent to justify the disbursement? We have
some recollection of a sum of 40 guineas voted for a gold
watch, and the one disbursement seems to have been as law-
ful and usual as tide other. If the Attorney-General should
be unreasonable enough to consider the vote in question a mis-
application of the corporate property, and oblige the Alder-
men with whom it originated to pay for the plate, they will at
all events have this consolation, that it is a very handsome
article, and that they will figure in a novel capacity as patrons
of the fine arts I—Cork Southern Reporter.
A ,OENSIBLE Preaelicr was one day
struck, vith " surprise on beholding a beautiful 'set
.of corls 00
the head of a lovely maid, a member of his class, wbbse hair
had been usually very plain. " Alt ! Eliza," said he, "you
should not waste your precious time curling your hair; if
God intended it to be curled, he would have curled it for you."
" Indeed," said the witty maid, " I must differ from ycu.
When I was an infant he curled it for me, but now I am grown
up, he thinks I am able to do it in)self."— York Courant.
AGRICULTURAL STOCK.—Agriculturists in this
quarter are now paying more. attention than formerly to the
teeding of live stock. In the course of the last ten days, two
calves, which had been reared and fed by Mr. Hunter of Ar-
garth, were purchased by Mr. John Wilson, fleshier, here, and
when slaughtered, were found to weigh upwards cf l 8 stones
each. Calves of such a vs-eight and quality were never before
ofF2red for sale in the town.—Dundee Chronicle.