The Sun.
London, England, 1812-01-07 00:00:00

fIIAL, .tA. 4.

A man is now in custody in this town who .has
excited much curiosity and bustle among the inha
filtants ; and from many peculiar eit-cumstances
which have transpired in the course of his exatnioa-
tions, there is'so much suspicion attaches itself to
the object of all this curiosity, that the -Mayor of this
place, and the'MagistrateS hitve deemed it right to
remand him for furtber examination. In the interim
they have direeted all possible itiquiries to be made
about this man, as well as regarding the truth of
his statements. Atnong other things he Was ques-
tioned 'very pointedly respeeting his knowleJee of
the horrid- murders recently committed at Ratcliffe-
highway but we shall detail the particulat's of his
-examinations as fully as they have reached us,
thereby furthering -the efforts of the Mayor and Ma-
gistrates:
'On . Thursday last the first examination took
befOre the Mayor and sevetal Magiitratese of
a man of suspicious charther and appearance, who'
called himself .John King. He is about .five feet
nine inches high, stammers a little, is thin visaged;
with:d.irk piercing eyes, aged about thirtv7tvo.—,
He was 'dreSsed in a sailor's brown jacket, 'blue
trowsers, blue arid whire worsted neckloth, h.itco-
vered with black oil cloth, &c. He was apere-
hended on Wednesday evening, in consequence of
entering by the back way into the premises of Mr.
T. Gore, of this town, who On seeing him ap-
proach the house, questioned hiM•as to his etrand.
The 'mau ieplied, he wanted something to` "drink.
He; was 'informed by Mr. gore that his was net a•
`public-house, and requested King to retire, With
which request he insolently' declined to comply.
Mr. Gore, who is a constable, then insisted `on his
_quitting the premises, or be would force hirri to do
so, • immediately shewing his staff of office. To
enforce his command Mr, Gore struck ipm a blow
on his right arm, whereupon King put 'his hand
to his waistcoat pocket in order t,J draw out a knife.
_Perceiving this, Mr.' Gore-again struck 'him,
knocked MM. down. -Mr G. then, howeVer,torced
him to retire. After King was thns forced out of
the premises, he was observed to cut a 'nark with
his knife on the door frame. King.then retired to a
public-het:se. -
Tbe rencontre between Mr. Gore and King was
soon -spread. abotit Deal, -and several neignoonrs
went witli'Mr. Gore to the public-house King had
retired to, %%here he was then creating a disturb-
ance, and behaving insolently. King-being identi-
fied as the person who entered Mr. Gore's premises,
it was deemed prudent to make inquiries about bias,
whence he came, &c: King, in re llying to the
questions put to him, prevaricated'very much, and
at one lime sneeringly said, that he belonged to the
Audacious man of war, and afterwards to the Inso-
lent gun-brig. This contluet exciting suspicion,
King was; put into the watch-house for the night,
and was this morning taken before the• Mayor and
Deputy, ;N here he underwent an examination, tti the
course of which the following pal ticulars were dis-.
closed :

The prisoner (J ic.n King) described himself to
have come on. shore on Christmas-day morning
front on board the Sally West Indianian, bound to
Jamaica, commanded by Captain Williamson. and
stated that he had been left on shore by the sailing,
of-the Sally, with the rest of the Fleet ; that he had
left London about five weeks ; that while there, he
had lodged with Mr. Dempsey, in Ge:age•street,
Commercial-load. On being questioned by the
Mayor whether he had heard of 'the murders in
llalclifTe7highway, King sharply replied, " Do you
supOse lam a murderer ?" He evinced some agi-
tation on being asked by the Deputy Mayor where
he came from 5 and replied, " From Yarmouth by.
land." He was informed that it was not possible
for him to have come such a distance within the
time mentioned ; and King, was at the same time
advised not to secrete the truth. He then exclaim-
ed, " Well, to tell you the truth, I have come out
of Newgate." He had been confinA ih,re twelve
Months, he said, for a misdemeanour. Alter -this
declaration, and after other wiestidni had betn
answered prevaricatingly, the Mayor adjourned to
the Town Hall, and sent for the Town Clerk to
taki., in wkiting such depositions as 'King 'ini,;ll,
Make.

KING'S EXANIINATION IN THE TOWN-HALL.

At this examination numbers of the inhabitants
were plesent, 'and the particulars of it were nearly
as follow :-;

His name was John King,' he-was born in mg,
a) North Yarmouth ; his hither was a soldier. When
he left school, .he went out in a ,Wt st Indinnau to
Jamaica, as book-keeper to a coffee planter, at
Mount Moses, in. that Island. - He Was afterwards
clerk to Mr. Nicholas, who was also a planter and
condu4ted his own sugar-works in the same island.
King then took several voyages to Baltimore, .Sa-
;vannalt, &c. 'and returned to England. His em-
plOyment subseenent to his return, he could not or.
would not particularize ; nor, on being question'ed
as to w Ityririd for what crime he had been confined
in Newgate, would he confess before so many per-
so.is. He said he was discharged from Newgate ott
the 31st, of July or f st of August last, and bait since
been employed in the London and New D!cks,- and
-on board ships in the river, until about five weeks
List past, 'when he engaged himself as cook, at 41.
15s. per tijoOth, to Captain, Williamson, of the"
Sally West Indiaman, bound to Jamaica, on-board
of which lie:had been but three days before she left
the Red House, Deptford. ' They -dropped down
to Gravesend, where the ship lay nearly three
. weeks, ,tad sailed front thence on the 23d for the
Downs, where she, arrived,on Christina's-day in the
morning, just-at sun-rise. He then came•-od shore"
in the ship's boat, with others of the crew,, to pur,
chase liquor for the tia: of the ship's company, and
went to public-house,. where be got too much
quor himself, and the ship sailed without -him.t--;,
Since the 25Th ult. he had existed on ten shillings,
the balance Of his month's adVanee and river pay,
as received from Captain Willsainson, sleeping at
different public-houses,' and paying, among other
ierns-,one 'Shilling, per night for his bed. During
his examination he disclosed having a brother and
Other relatives. his brother be described to be an
officer, with the rank of 'Captain in the Artillery
Company, and by
..whOuir he had been supplied with.

.tAtIl and apparel Tor the last ten rears. King Maid
that he had lately written, to this brother, but d
not yet received an answer. He also mentioned,
by name, a OrtiCtilar friend, and an uni:le, a cler-
gyinan (whose names and address we shalt, from,
motives of respect to theindtvidoali, Cr, the pre,,ent
_forbear to mention), who knows hith and his Whole
Connexion and career thrtiugh, hfe.' Upon t'eing
closely questioned by the' Mayor a4"to his residence
.between the time of his Newgate and' em-
barking on board (lie &illy, 'he said he "of i and
on for many years lodged with Mr. Dempsey, a car-
penter, who resided in Denmark-street,i
Highway, near the Black Dog. public4ious,". to
.
whom he paid for board and lodging 1635. or 195. per
week., and to whom he had been known for many
yeats. He added, that Mr. DernpseY had lately re-
moved to the Commercial-road-. On being again
-questioned ik.hether he heard or read of the mur-
ders of the Maiis and Williamsons ? he replied, be
believed, since be had been at Deal he hard of the
murders; and that a man had been take; i from on
board some Kihg's .ship for having, done them, and
had acknowledgedthat he had read the newspipers,
but could not remember -reading about any
he might have read them? but could' not retneini:r
thatlie had.

The Board of, Trade on Saturday- gave notice-of a
new arrangement with respea to thes,licenses
granted for the commerce to Norway. It has been
determined by their Lordships, that none will be
-issued for imports 'from that" country, excepting
to such ships as take exports from hence of British
goods, to the value of 51, for each ton of their balk.
The officers of he Hero,. who perished in her,
were---Cap(ai it J. Ne,Alman ; Lieutenants James
Wilcox, John Allen Meadway, John Mitchel!, John
Norton, Charles B. Hitchens ; Mr. John M. Leake
P•irser ; lihn Merritt, Gunner; William B. Wat,
son, Bo3ts,Aain ; Mr. Thomas .Murray,-Carpenter.
In the late tremendous gale, the Cressy coming
from the Baltic, could flat carry her courses, and
was with muc:e difficulty prevented being driven on
shore. She had supplied the St. George with a tem-
porary rud&r, made of cable, which it was hoped
might have ansWered the purpose of managing her.
In consequence of the gale, sire parted company on
the 23d ult. and left the Defence, • Bellette, Hope,
company with the St. George. The Cressy
brought her pilots the whole of the way, the wea-
ther being so very boisterous she could not putthem
on shore. „

On 'Wednesday, as the carriage of the Earl of
ABINGDON, with the Countessof AftmonOti, Lord
NolillEYS, her infant son, and Lady;CAROLINE
BERTIE, were going from his Lordship's seat, at
Wytham, to Oxford, when they: had reached Bat-
ley,-one of the reins by some means became un-
buckled, and the coachthan, in endeavouring to Se-
cure it, lost-his balance -and fell frorn'the box ; the
horses immediately set off at full speed, entered
Oxford, and proceeded, with-. great rapidity,, along'
the High-street, Over Magdalen-bridge, to the turn-
pike in St. Clenient's, where the mi-npikelmari, by
shutting the bar, impeded their progre3s. The
Countess of ABINGDON leaped from the carriage at
the entrance of Oxford, and Lady CAROLINE, near
the Angt,l Inn; and dislocated her shoelder, but is
likely soon to recover; Lady CABOLI NE was severely
bruised in the face, but not seriotody injured.
A woman named Davies,- the wife of a gar-.
doper, iu Mead's -row, Lambeth, applied to the
Magistrates at Union-Hall on Saturday for a warrant
against two men, under the following circum-
stance being out of
'• ru,n
stotatiAince, t:7—wolnmA:ent) ts
nt l
, ef ‘,
acrainst.whom she now appli:,..;l, went to her house
ola:t, tti ii was one of tt .e-
one night, and having,got admission, informed Tier
th:y were in possession of a secret of the utmost
importance to her husband—nothing less, thao, his
having cornroitted a murder upwards of .20 years
ago, in WJes, for which two RICO had been *eite-
co,ed. On this account they had got an order from
-the LOrd of trre-Manor to-seize'all"her goods, and
unlrss-she could ply them twenty poutiCS immedi7
ately, they would take them, and then inform
again .t her husband, and, get him hanged. This
sum, tide assured them, she had not th,, power to
procure; upon which they pretended .to take an in-
ventory of the goods, and at length :terrlfied her so
much, that she promised to get tt.ern five pounds,
and did, by selling some of her things, iltocure them
that sum. On Wednesd3y morning last, about ono:
o'clock, she was again 'alarmed, her husband being
out
.of town, by another visit from one of the men
ullo Came before, accompanied by a stranger; they;
insistedion admission, andere•attempting to break
open the door, when the watchman Lame up, and
took them into custody.

The watchinan stated, that prelims to their going
to Mts. Davies's house, the two men came to him
at his stand, and wanted his gun, saying, they *ere
going to break open Davies's house, he having ben
guilty of murder. He supposing._ them to be drunk,
advised them to go home ; atm after some persua-
sion, they went away : he. folio .itied them at a dis-
tame, saw them turn into 'Mead7s-row, and came
up just as they were .attempting:to break open the
door, and, with the assistance of another watch-
man, he took them into custody, and concluded
them to the akll-.IIiMSN. The Con Stable of the
night, however, refused to take,. charge of them,
because Mrs. Davies did not attend, and they were
discharged ; he bad since, however, as: eitained
where they were to be found, arid the Magistrate
,gra/ntedia warrant for their apprehension.
No less than twelve houses in the parishes of St.
James,'s arte-MatSr-le-bone were broke open last
week. Lord: Harro,xby's house, in . Grosvenoi-
..-stinare, was broke open on. Sunday night, as it. is
supposed .by three fellows of susiiicious• appearance,
who were.obSeived late in the evening lurking abiiut
a mews at the back of the hou4e. 'At about twb
o:clock: in the morning, the under butler of Lod
Who slept below, heard footAeps in his master!s
dressing;t nom, and immediately rung, the alartn-
bell, and called the watchman He afterwards went
up stairs with a brace of loaded pistols, but the
thieVes had fled with some silk handkerchiefs: and
other. trifling articles, although the ron'in contained
many valuables. The robbers had effetied an en-
trance by getting through a. window from tile mews,
and bat-Mg several holes'in a door of the house, by
which they undone the fastenings.