The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-15 00:00:00

THURSDAY

should fine Gs. for the damage, 40s. for having assaulted
the, waiter, and should require him to find sureties to
keep' the peace for four months.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
On Tuesday an inquest was held by Mt. Baker, at the
George the Fourth public house, Vincent-street, Old-
street-road, on view of the body of Caroline Lawson, a
widow, found dead in a cab, and upon suspicion of causing
whose death an Irishwoman named Moriarty, atias Mu-
earthy, is now under remand from Worship-street
Police. court.

Several additional witnesses were now examined, and
their testimony tended to render the death of the de-
ceased even more mysterious and doubtful, if possible.
than that before given. It was distinctly proved that
the deceased nas perfectly sober and in sound health
when she quitted her home at four o'clock on Saturday
last; and it did not appear that she had either seen or
spoken to the woman Macarthy since the preceding
Tuesday (when Macarthy threatened to bo revenged
upon her for turning her out of her house, in conse-
quence of her nearly biting a lodger's finger off) until
about nine o'clock on Saturday night, when the deceased
entered tne house of a publican with whom she was ac-
quainted, in Holborn, and was shortly after followed in
mere by the prisoner Nlacarthy, apparently topacify and
get rid of the latter, who was quarrelling with and at-
tempting to strike her; she called for some spirits, but
drank none, and then left with a female friend, and went
to another public-house, where they called for a pint of
porter; but as :soon: as it was drawn Macarthy followed
her in again, using most disgusting language, and swear-
in that she was determined to go to the deceased's house
that night, although the latter refused to admit her, and
the deceased accordingly quitted this public-house also,
leaving the beer on the counter, without drinking
any of it, and Macarthy remained behind. It was now
about ten o'clock, and at that time We deceased and
Macarthy entered a third public-house, in Gray's Inn-
lane, kept by a Mr. Jessamy, apparently on somewhat
friendly terms, and there, as deposed by Mrs. Jessamy,
the deceased only drank two very small drops of brandy
diluted with water, and lett with Macarthy at ten minutes
or a quarter past eleven, seeming quite sober then also
About half an hour or three-quarters after that the two
women, as stated by Mr. Puddick, the keeper of an
eating-house in Smithfield, entered his house and called
fur some soup and some eatables; but, though Macarthy
devoured her share, the deceased ate nothing, but sat
looking about her, and was shortly afterwards noticed
by Mr. Puddick to be choking or strangling, and alto-
gether so dangerously ill that he carried her out into the
street, and having placed her against the railings, ran in
for a tumbler of water, on his return with which he found
the deceased lying on her back on the ground, to which
she had just been knocked, with a blow on the back of
the head, by a man who was seen leaning over her, and
suspected to have been attempting to rob her, and he ran
away immediately he was spoken to, and some silver
rolled out of the deceased's bosom. At the time that
these distressing circumstances were occurring to her
friend in the street, the prisoner Macarthy remained in
the eating-house, never once inquiring about or looking
after her, and displayed such heartless indifference to
the woman's fate, that Mr. Puddick ran in, and, re-
proaching her for her conduct, desired that she would
go out and see to her, on which the prisoner exclaimed
that the deceased was an artful —, and nobody could
do her any harm very easily. She did, however, at
length go out, and after shouting for the police, using
vile language, and conducting herself otherwise very in-
decorously, assisted in placing the deceased in a cab,
which a young man named Thomas Gearing, who was
accidentally passing, and recognised the deceased, pro-
cured fur the purpose, Gearing taking his seat on the
box with the driver, and Macarthy riding inside with
the deceased. On reaching two streets off the deceased's
residence, the prisoner stopped the cab and got out, and
just before doing so the deceased was observed to be
sitting up in the cab, whether alive or dead was nut
known, but on opening the door to lift her out, she
was found to be a corpse, lying at the bottom of the
cab, and with her head doubled up either against or
under the seat opposite that on which she had been
sitting.
The evidence, which was so far as consecutive as could
be expected, only went to prove that the deceased had
partaken of nothing, since she was known to be perfectly
sober at nine o'clock, but two small glasses of brandy,
before spoken of, up to the time of her death ; but
Mr. Coward, the divisional surgeon, now stated that
he had performed a post mortem examination of the de.
ceased's body, and on so doing had found the stomach
nearly filled with porter, and the internal parts very
flaccid and weak, and exhibiting signs of inflammation,
in his opinion produced by the beer which had been
imbibed, and the brain so much surcharged with blood,
that he had no hesitation in saying—as there was no
wound at the back of the head, on which the deceased
had fallen when knocked down by the strange man in
Smithfield, nor sufficient injury on any other part of the
body to otherwise account for it—that she must have
come by her death from apoplexy.
Several of the jury with surprise remarked on the
total discrepancy between the medical testimony and
that given by the other witnesses ; and one in particular
drew attention to the discolouration spoken to by the
police as existing round the deceased's neck, as if pro-
duced by fingers ; but
The CORONER said that this discrepancy between the
medical and other evidence was of very frequent occur-
rence, and that it was impossible for non-medical persons
to account for it ; and, having related several instances
of a like description, which would be somewhat ludi-
crous if not arising from such serious occurrences as
death from poison and such like events, expressed his
opinion that the death was involved still in very great
mystery, not unattended with suspicion ; and he would
therefore advise the jury to return an open verdict,
which would still leave a field for further investigation.
The jury, after considerable consultation, ultimately
coincided in this advice, and the verdict returned was,
" That the deceased was found dead in a cabriolet, but
by what means she so came by her death there was no
evidence before the jury to prove."
The inquest appeared to excite a great deal of interest,
and the house where it was held was ineouvenientl)
crowded towards its termination.

HORRIBLE MURDER and SUICIDE.
On Tuesday, between the hours of four and five, a
fearful tragedy was enacted in Hickman's Folly, Ber-
mondsey, by which the whole of the neighbourhood ha,
been thrown into a state of painful excitement. Th 4,
following particulars connected with the distressinr, case
have been obtained from persons residing in the house,
and may therefore be relied upon as being strictly ac-
curate:—
it appears that a cooper named Griffin resided with
his wife and family at No. 6 in the Folly. For some
time past a daughter of Griffin's, a fine young woman.
named Matilda, 19 years of age, had been correspond-
ing with a person named Henry Parker, about 21 year
of age, who lodged in the same house. During the past
few days Parker had accused the young woman of being
attached to another person, and added, on more than one
occasion, that rather than any one else should gain her
affections, he would lay violent hands, not only on him-
self, but also on her. Nothing particular, however, was
thought by her of the threat held out, but her mother
had frequently cautioned her, and told her if she broke
off the correspondence, to keep away from him, as she
feared he contemplated something dreadful.
I 'During Tuesday the young woman was at home
nearly the whole of the day, and Parker was noticed to
go in and out of the house more than usual, yet nothing
transpired during the morning to excite the suspicion:,
of any party. About a quarter to four o'clock the young
woman was singing, as she proceeded up stairs, the well-
known ditty, .

There's na luck about the house,
ge r ew' sbna at
wasluck
aboutat a',"
halfnb afterwards the people living
d
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et
lean
entsl hearing
yi loudhera.r hastened
kcffie ridienpl
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follow.
vl
udAt
bbeo About
aacne
party
s
of the house. Mr. Cremer,,tspttlproceeding
rbenwsno,heyo,
butwoni
neghgcaout:p_:ibael
eptwhti
hhrrot
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rl
iceeriuei
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ita,
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e
the back attic heta
1.
outr
oimnuttboe discoveredstl
obtaintrh e ari na
throats.rt
medicalai
np appalling
sa ul
assistance.
surgeon,
gc spectacle.eggirl Co fr
eB intoleer.t
Upon the floor were lying the bodies of Matilda Griffin
and Henry Parker, literally covered with blood, which
immediatelytwesspacethnn oissuing
ranv
mondsey, arrived, and at once pronounced life in both
cases extinct. A razor covered with blood was fount]
lying by the side of Parker, with which the deed had beet,
accomplished. There can be no doubt that the man first
cut the young woman's throat, and afterwards added to
his crime that of suicide.
It is not a little remarkable that the unfortunat,
woman, whilst talking to Mrs. Cremer, in answer to as,
inquiry as to how she felt, said, "
,Ohl pretty well; bus
I am going to have my throat cut. She, no doubt, at
that period alluded to some threat held out by Parker.
The discovery in the first instance was made by Mrs.
Griffin, who feeling suspicious at her daughter's being
upstairs rather longer than she expected, went to look
after her, when, on entering the room, she found the
bodies as previously described.
Mr. Superintendent Evans, of the M division of police,
Sergeant Hormsby, and several officers immediately re-
paired to the place, and it was with the greatest diffi
culty that the crowd, numbering several hundred per-
sons, could be kept from filling the house. The police,
very judiciously, would not allow any one unconnected
with the family to enter.
The young man who committed the dreadful deed was
in the linendrapery line, but his place of business could
not be ascertained.
The two bodies have beewho will keep possen in charge
ess on by Mr
of
Slow, the coroner's officer,
them until after the inquest is held,

g,
DISTRESSED NEEDLEWOMaN S SOCIETY. TUes-
da y
a meetin consisting
chiefly of ladies, supporter-
of this society, was held at the Hanover square Rooms.
Lord Dudley Stuart (in the absence of the president,
Mr. Alderman Fairbrother) took the chair. The hono-
rary secretary read a correspondence between the corn.
mittee and Sir G. Grey, from which it appeared that the
Right Honourable Gentlemen had refused an interview
with a deputation who were to explain to him the great
injury done to setupstresses by allowing shirts and other
clothing to be made at the lowest rate in prisons and
workhouses, and by sanctioning contracts for the making
of the uniforms of the police, army, and navy at
starvation wages. In his last answer, Sir G. Grey said
that his predecessor in office, Sir James Graham, had in
1844 instituted an inquiry into the subject, and the re•
sult was that the contract system was not to be inter-
fered with. The honorary secretary said that, had it not
been for this system of low wages, one firm in the City
would have given remunerating employment to 2,000
sempstresses. Resolutions were passed in furtherauce
of the objects of the society, and deprecating the refusal
of Sir George Grey to listen to the representations of
the committee. The chairman having received the usual
f9arksio, tike meeting separated,