The Sun.
London, England, 1823-06-24 00:00:00

HORRIBLE CASE.

Yesterday evening an Inquest was held at the
sign of the Green-Dragon, Maddox street, Ila-
nover-square, before TuostAs illoGs, Esq. 'Co-
roner, on the bodies of Mr. Gnirrrrus, senior,
aged 60, and ABEL GRIFFITHS,.his son, aged 22,
who came by their deaths under the following
dreadful circumstances :

The Jury having been sworn, proceeded to take a view of the
bodies, which lay at their house, No. 4, Maddox-street. The
bodies of the deceased lar in the drawing-room, and presented
a moat awful spectacle. -The floor of the apartment was cover-
ed with blood ; the father lay prostrate on his back in one
corner of the room, and the son was lying about seven verde
from him. They resembled each other very much, anti the
greatest interest was excited on the occasion. Crowds of per-
sons assembled round the house and Jury house.
On the return of the Jury to the Green Dragon, Mr. Hunter
Nicholson, assistant to Mr. King, of Conduit-street, surgeon,
being xtrorn, said, that he was sent for at half-past 12 o'ciock yesterday afternoon. A person called in greet, haste saying that
a gentleman had shot himself. He went immediately.and ar-
rived at the house five minutes after the circumstance had taken
place. 'Witness was shown into the drawing room on the first
floor, where he found the two bodies, one near the door red the
other near the fire place. The father was dead, bu t the son was no:
quite so, but insensible. He died in five minutes aftee his arrive/.
Both the deceased had their clothes on. On examining the head et'
the elder deceased, hefound a wound proceeding feoni a pistol bar,
and alargequan tity of bloodhadflowed therefrom, and witness haci •
no doubt but this caused his death. There were no other marks of
violence on his person. The body of the deceased Mr. Griffith~,
jun., lay near the fire-place. tie found. a wound on the right
temple, evidently from a pistol bull, which had entered the
beam. The brains of the deceased were scattered about the
carpet. This wound, in witness's opinion, was the cause of his
death. There were two small pistols in the roete—one on the -
table, and the other on the floor. There was a discOlouraticor
theon ' fore finger of the right hand of Mr. Griffiths. jun., which
cetties witness to believe he fired aff the pistols. The hands of
the other deceased were perfectly clean. Ile had hie glo,•es on,
and his umbrella and hat Jay close by his:, as if he was on the
point of leaving the room when shot.
J. Heaveside, Esq., sworn, corroborated the testimony of the
above witness.
'William Wade, a man of colour, being sworn, said, that he
was servant to the deceased Mr. Griffiths, spn., whose son oc-
casionally visited the house. His family resides a: Southamp-
ton. Ho called five or six times lately at the house No: Maddox-street, lienover-square, where his hither lodged when
in town. The deceased, Mr.. Abel Griffiths, we.* stuaying for the law, and resided in Temple-hine ; bie father did not usu-
ally see him when he made his visits. Ile did not seehim the
second visit he made; when he first called, his father was not
at home. He saw him the third time he called ; witness on
opening the door, went up stairs, and informed the fitter ;hat
his son was below. He gave orders for hint to walk up stair:`.
They were nut on friendly terms; the deceased is not the only
son ; there are brothers, and his mother is living. The fourift
call the deceased son made, he left his card for his father, and •
left the place. iio called again on Saturday night.
Had you any reason to believe they were not on friendly
terms ?
‘Witnese.—Ves. The father had told me to deny him when
his son called. (hi one occasion when he, called, he requested
to have•an interview with his father ; and on wituess answering
him, lie was requested to walk up to the drawing-rooin, but
witness could not tell what transpired between them. The
last time he called watt yesterday noon about half-past twelve o'clock, when witness was up stairs. He - was informed by a
boy in the House that% young gentleman was below, tell° was
desirous of seeing his (witness's) master. Witness went down
stairs, and saw Mr. Abel Griffiths Standing in the passege._
He said he wanted to see his father, and asked if he was at
home ; witness, answered" that he wee," on which the deceased
asked, " might he ,go up stairs ?" Witness said i° no ;" he
would go, and he accordingly proceeded up stairs, and in-
formed the father, who consented to see him. Witness con-
ducted hint into the drawingeroom, Oct which he bowed to his
father, who returned it. The father was going out at the time,
and had previously announced his intention of doing so to wit-
ness. They remained in the room about twenty minutes; they
at first spoke very low ; witness heard the father say to his 41_4"
"'That he knew very well what would be the. end of ite
he
(the son) would not feel satisfied, until a gaol had picked him
up. lie also said, " I allowed you a certain sum of money,
and that would have kept you very well. You ought to have
stayed where you was." He did not hear the deceased repeat
the specified auto which he allowed him—nor did he know
where his father -wished him to have remained. Witness also
heard the father say to his son, " I must go out."
Coroner—Did you hear the son threaten hint ?-4 did not.
Juryman,..lVere there ever any letters receivedat the Howie
front the deceased youth ? 'Witness could only speak to one, the
contents of which•he knew nothing about. His master appeared
vexed with his son while in the room. They had not been there
long whets witness heard the report of n pistol.' Ile went to
ascertain the catui.e, and a lady of the home was neer the door;
they shortly alter heard the report of a second pistol, and on
opening the door, they KittV the old gentleman lying on the floor,
and bleeding very much.
.Do yon think your master was shot by hi; son, the deceased? •
suspect RIO.
I A gentleman here suggested that evidence out to be pro-
duced. relative to the son's state of mind. Ile had 'cloombers at
Air. Seward's, No. 5, Temple.lane, ,who. »o doubt, could (rive
evidence to that abet. The eldest deceased was a planter at
herb cckcew.
Mary Knight, who lived in the same 'house, and Sarah
Geuld, servant to the deceased Mr. Griffiths, sen., corroborated
the testimony given above.
The Coroner, in order to give time for the production of fur-
ther evidence, adjourned the inquest until four o'clock this day,.

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY
Karachi from Me Morning Papers) June 21.

[Tnc 'runts:'
The tide of platy spirit in Ireland Is rolling
on to its predestined issue. As if the country
were in a state of inconvenient composurnmid
tranquillity, or as if the Government were not
,already enough perplexed, 'the agitators of the
Catholic -Deily have been devising ways and
means whereby to embroil still more the Minis-
ters with each other ; and totame on all sides
the elements of revenge and animosity. That
newly crested power, which calls itself the
44 Catholic Association," .and which threatens
that by an act of outlawry against the Protest-
ants of Ireland, it will ere long assume tire title
ef " National Association," has voted an address
to the Lord Lieutenant,, for prevailing 44 tile
" annual Orange processions, which take place
" in various parts of the country, on the 1201•
44 of July." Now there is such a thing its
spoiling a day's sport by titling over the
hounds ; there is also such a harbavily sometimes
practised, as running a free horse off his wind,
and spurring the high-mottled animal till he
drops and expires under the clumsy brute that
has borrowed or hired the use of him. Hero is
Lord Wellesley, labouring indefatigably tor these
Catholics, outraged by their enemies, exposed to
censure, to distress, and mortification—nay, to
open ridicule—for the sake of these Catholics,
and purely in consequence of the attempts which
he has made to put down the demonstrstions of
the Dublin Orangemen ; and yet they (the Ca-
tholics) are not content with the sufferings in
which they have already involved his Excel-
lency and Mr. Pluakett, but must now drive
them into a fresh attack upon an adversary
flushed, with conquest and recruited in num-
bers ; while ,the party thus to be pushed on and
devoted, are •hooken iu spirit, and destitute of
support from without. The details.and subliities
of this subject are so.disagreeable, that we shall,
confine ourselves at present to these brief ques-
tions—whether the Lord Lieutenant and the
other friends of the. Catholics forming part of the
Ministry, or connected with it, are not consider-
ably, indeed beyond comparison, weaker than
they were twelve months ago ? and whether the
steps now preparing by the Catholitts, to force
the I rish. Government upon a further battle with
the Orangemen, not leaving it the choice of time
or weapons, are not calculated to insure it for a
fresh defeat ?

tstoltstgo Kim)
Let us no more be told of the gnmity of the
Spanitilt People to the regenerated Government.
Did not the Population of Madrid, when the
Government prepared to quit its accustomed seat,
present to the world a striking proof of the re.
verential and affectionate submission with which
it was ready, for the preservation of .thit Consti-
tntipn, to encounter every calamity and every
den rser? net the whole People, through
whose applauding,, ranks the Government passed
in its transit, and who omit have had many op.
portunities to impede its progress and defeat its
designs, attest their affection and resped, not
merely by acquiescence, though in all the circutn.
stances that would have been usuflicient attystation,
but by the most fervent and enthusiastic arclannt.
flops ? And, liully,littve riot she People ofSeville
now permitted, without resistance or obstruction
the perwou of the .King .and the seat of Govern-
ment to in' transferred ,torGadiz ? in the midst
of a population,ltostile or indifferent to the Con.
stltutiou, or, rather, perhaps, we. ought to .say, to
Ow independent Government. of Spain with
which the violent and unprincipled interference
of foreigners had identified that Constitution, in
the midst tif such R people we ask any Man of
coalition sense sad candour, if these things, or
any part of them, could have been acconi.
plished ? Nothing, indeed, can . betray a more
lcomplettr.igitorance of human nature than to sup-
pose it possible for any great number of Spa-
niel& .to be indifferent about the issue of the
struggle, and even tttp few who may care little
which party .sholl ultimately prevail, must he, of
oft their countrymen, the most anxious that the
coolest should be brought to a speedy termina.
tion. To throw the 'person of the King of Spain
into the hands of the uFrencit, must therefore, ut
necessity, im the desire, of all oho aro eithei
hostile or neutral, to, the Ciktj4R of indepentlenCe
And how contemptible. is, the force of these two
Pfliesr,united, may be fairly inferred" from the
-fart, that they have not .dared' to make sty
tempt—to hazard the slightest movement—or so
much as to whisper or intimate the vaguest me.,
mice, although circumstances offered every fad-
lit y,attd every inducement to obtain pesgrestdoo of
tint King's person,, and although a foreign army
wag rapidly advancing to Rive full effect to their
anece,is, or to ensure, complete impunity or mph;
• irovoita: ittwo to their failure.

(Mt IT! it 133.1
if Ilourdesoult's division has, as the Frenc
tapers announce, cleared all tilts difficult passes
of the Sierra Morena, where the French might
have been harrassed and opposed with so much
effect by even a few Guerilla corps, Seville lies l
opeb 'to them. it is incapable of defence but,
like Madrid, it brings no real strength or
tortance with its possessions but attacking Catlin'
is a different thing. This city was the surviving
refuge, of independence in a former war, • and
defied the collected strength of the French forces
every strong place in Spain was then in the hands
of the invaders. Now, though the campaign has
been more rapid, and the resistance, as y etv less
constant and serious, the Constitutional ,froops,
still hold every place on the soil of Spain capable
of making any effectual resistance. Angoulernea'
Regeney here commenced, in character, the work,
of terror in Spain. Aware that the horrible In-
quisition is detested by all classes, and could not
be revived, without general convulsion and re.
sistance, a State Inquisition has been subitittited
in its place, and a jealous and proscriptive police
established by this Regency, wherever through-
out Spelt' the French arms ,are dominant. This