The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-19 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. JOHN BIBBY.

The suspicions which are entertained by the relatives
of the deceased, as well as by many other persons, that
the death of Mr. Bibby was not altogether accidental,
have been kept alive, if not strengthened, by some cir-
stances which have recently been brought to light.
The offered reward of 500/. produced no effect, and it
was conceived that the mystery which hung over the
event would never be satisfactorily cleared up. Tit:
Magistrates of the district, Charles Birch, Esq., John
Formby, Esq., and the Rev. Miles Formby, have, how-
ever, been all along in possession of a piece of informa-
tion respecting the departure of an individual soon after
Mr. Bibby's death, which, coupled with the fact of the
watch not being found, tended to keep alive their suspi-
cions, and to urge them to usa all diligence in pursuing
the inquiry. A few days since a mars (not the party
above alluded to) was appreEnded by out of the rural
police, and, after having twice undergone examination,
he was remanded until yesterday, to afford time for the
collection of additional evidence. The circumstance of
Mr. Bibby being almost invariably in the habit of car-
rying home money on Friday night, for the payment of
his brickmakers (although he missed doing so on the
eight of his death), was known to many in the neigh-
bourhood, and especially to the brickmakers. The pri-
soner, it appears, was formerly ia the employ of the
deceased as a brickmaker, and he was seen by a police-
man named Ratcliffe, on the morning of Saturday, the
18th ofJuly last (the day of the death of Mr. Bibby), stand-
ing on the brink of the pit where the body was found.
This was about four o'clock. On seeing the police offi-
cer the man walked away at a rapid pace, followed by
the officer, who also increased his speed, but the man
continued in advance of him until he reached the farm-
yard near the spot, into which he entered and escaped
before the policeman reached the place. The, officer
had then no suspicion of any murder having been com-
mitted, but seeing a mar. in the field at that hour, he
watched him as we have stated. It turns out, however,
that a boy living at the farm-house was at the bed-room
window, and saw both the men enter the yard, and has
identified the prisoner as one of the individuals. It is
also rumoured that another person, who was likewise in
the service of the deceased as a brickmaker, has bee❑
absent from the neighbourhood since the event, and
suspicion attached to him, but the police have not suc-
ceeded in apprehending him.
At the examination on Thursday, Mr. Davenport,
who appeared for the prisoner, stated that he should on
Monday produce witnesses to prove an alibi.
The person in custody on suspicion, the name of
whom is James Cullen, was again brought up before the
three County Magistrates above named, on the morning
of yesterday. The examination which ensued lasted
nearly seven hours, and the witnesses brought forward
were principally those which Mr. Davenport had in-
tended to produce. Mr. Carson, the solicitor for the
relatives of the deceased, himself called them, however,
and conducted their examination in chief'.
Henry Smith, a joiner, living at Seaforth, in Lither-
land, stated that on the morning of Friday, about, as
nearly as he could guess, half-past five o'clock, he was
proceeding to his work in the village of Litherland,
when he met the prisoner between Linacre-lane and the
Red Lion public-house. He had, however, met Cullen
three or four times before, at about the same hour in the
morning. About five minutes afterwards he met a
police-officer, whom he believed to be Ratcliffe, but he
could not be positive on that point. Ratcliffe himself
stated that he had no recollection of having met Smith,
and stated that no other policeman was en duty in Li-
therland until after six o'clock in the morning, when he
went off duty and another officer came on.
Betty Muihall, the wife of Patrick Mulhall, who
works at Mr. Wareing's tannery, and lives in a cottage
on the Litherland side of the tannery, stated that at the
time of the death of Mr. Bibby, there lodged at her
house James Cullen and his wife, Richard Mull-
hall and his wife, (who all slept in one room), and
James Walker, Martin Cain, and a man from
the county of Monaghan, whose name she did not
know, who slept in another room. The witness
and her husband slept in the back kitchen. On the
night of Friday, the 17th of of July, all the lodgers
went to bed before she and her husband went, (ten
o'clock, and during the night she did not hear any
person leaving the house, nor did she hear any
voices or footsteps. She recollected hearing on the
night of Saturday, the 18th of July, that the body of
Mr. Bibby had been found in a pit. She thought that
Mrs. Cullen sent her word of it, through a boy named
Groves. She did not see Cullen go out on the morning
of the Saturday ; he generally went to his work about
four or five o'clock. She saw Cain come down between
six and seven, and he went out with a man named
Long Tom," who called for him. He came back be-
tween ten and eleven, paid his lodging-money, and left

the house. She had only seen him on one occasion
since, when he called in as he was going by, and told
her that it was his intention to go to the harvest.
Walker and the Monaghan man left on the same day.
Walker came to his breakfast, as usual, at eight o'clock ;
but he had left before the boy Groves brought the mes-
sage of Mr. Bibby's death.
Patrick Mulhall generally corroborated the evidence
of his wife, though there were some slight discrepancies
between the evidence of the two. He stated that he
was told of Mr. Bibby's death in his own house, about
five o'clock on the Saturday evening. He himself
roused Walker from bed on the morning of Saturday,
July 18. Walker had never made any secret of his in-
tention to go to the harvest. It was his general prac.
tice to do so.
Richard Mulhall said that the fact of Mr. Bibby's
body having been found in a pit was talked of in his
brother's house at 12 o'clock on the morning of Saturday,
July 18. He, his brother, and their wives, together
with the boy, Groves, were in the house at the time.
lie did not know who mentioned the circumstance,
but he was positive that it was mentioned. He could
not say whether he then heard that the body had
been found ; but he heard that the body was to
be earning home. [The body was not found until
nearly two o'clock.] He was positive that the prisoner
went to bed, in the same room with himself, on the
night of Friday, the 17th. Cullen generally rose be-
fore him. He did not see or hear him leave the house
on the Saturday morning. Cain went to bed before
he (witness) did, and he heard him talking to
Walker and the Monaghan man for about half an hour
afterwards. The last time he saw Cain was about
three weeks ago ; that was at his brother's house.
Peter Pimblett, the contractor for the late Mr.
Bibby, at his brickficlds, stated that Cullen had been
employed by him as a temperer since the beginning of
April, He, along with the other temperers of clay,
was discharged on the Monday or Tuesday after Mr.
Bibby's death. He usually paid the men at five o'clock
in the afternoon of Saturday at Oldfield's beer-house.
On Saturday, the 18th July, the prisoner was there
waiting to be paid, along with the other men.
The prisoner was remanded until eleven o'clock on
Friday.—Liperpool Times of Aug. 18.

SIR WALTERM ENT. sCOTT's NON

(Abridged from the Edinburgh Courant.)
LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION STONE.
Oa Saturday, the 15th, the foundation-stone of the
proposed monument to Sir Walter Scott, was laid in
Prince's-street Gardens, opposite to St. David's-street.
The ceremony was,most imposing and solemn ; and on
no former occasion do we ever remeiniJer to have wit-
nessed so vast a concourse of people. It was a grati-
fying and a wonderful spectacle—all classes vying with
each other in expressing their sympathy in this grand
national object, and in joining in one harmonious tri-
bute to the memory of the illustrious dead. Few, in-
deed, among all our greatest names, ever combined
so many attractive qualities as Sir Walter Scott.
It war: not merely the fame of high genius that re-
commend6d him to his countrymen—it was his
social qualitieg, his warm affections, and those national
predilections by which he was enabled to pourtray to
the life the Scottish character in all its varieties, and
ti!'embalm in his immortal works the peculiar manners
aid dialect of his native country, now fast disappearing
befolre the progress of modern improvement. Hence
we scarcely know a single name so universally popular
as that of Sir Walter—of which the countless multi-
tudes which, from an early hour, thronged the streets
on the day appointed for laying the foundation-stone of
his monument, offered a most gratifying proof.
The day was observed throughout the city as a
general holiday ; the shops in the principal streets
were shut ; and in those where the procesciot) was
to pass, all the situations from which a view could
be obtained were occupied from an early hour. Not
only the windows, but the house tops, both in the
North and South Bridges, and in Prince's-street, as
well as the Tron Church, the Register (-Mice, the
Theatre, and other public buildings, were occupied by
trowds of spectators. The Masonic procession was
direekgi to assemble in the square of the College, and
f o that point a large concourse of the populace was
directiad 3 hut ,9ViiP.F; to the admirable
rde
rarrangementswas othe civil Rua pre-
served.military The attedance c(f t'il'e fi.ctrous lodges of masons
was more numerous on tilts than cYi
.ocogt former
eecasion, comprising, not only the various fcdge,s iu fowl),
;but rep i
resentatives from the lodges in the most rercote
4lstri,Cts .of
...,cotland,. forming a procession more nume-
rous than any ,otherwe have witnessed of late years.
Soon after two o'elcck, the Masonic procession, con-
sisting of upwards of 2,009 members, began to move
from the College, along the South and North Bridgea,
preceded by the band of the 2d Dragoon Guards, and
farming an imposing array. The procession was closed
by a detachment of dragoons. . They arrived in
Prince's-street, where the foundation-stone was to be