The Sun.
London, England, 1871-02-24 00:00:00

THE STRATFORD MURDER.

Tire is little doubt that the police are on the right
track in this case, " information " having, it is said, been
furnished to them in the first instance by a near relative
of one of the gang. The Government reward of £lOO has
been supplemented by a similar amount from the parish
authorities of Stratford, and by £5O presented by Colonel
White on behalf of the 3rd Essex Artillery Volunteers,
of which corps Mr. Galloway, the murdered man, was an
honorary member.

PROVIDENT CLERKS' BENEVOLENT FUND,

'lheld'hoenthwrirteideotheeadnaynueavlegneinngeraaltmteheetinLgoonfdtohois
Tsoacvieetmy
,wtaos
receive the annual report and transact general business.
The chair was taken by the treasurer, Jervoise Smith,
Esq. (son of the late respected J. A. Smith, Esq.). The
report stated that the income of the fund for 1870
was, from subscriptions and donations, £1,726
Bs. 6d. ; from interest on investments, £1,562
3s. 3d. ; making a total of £3,288 11s. 9d. The
annuitants now upon the fund were 103 in number, who
were receiving collectively £2,080 per annum. The board
recommended that seven additional annuitants be elected
during the present year. It was with the deepest sorrow
that the board had to report the heavy loss the fund
had sustained by the decease of their highly-
esteemed treasurer, Mr. John Abel Smith. Mr.
Smith's connection with this fund dated from its
formation in 1840, and from that time until his death
he was its constant, warm, and untiring friend. The
board announced with a satisfaction which they were sure
the members would share, that Mr. Jervoise Smith, the
eldest son of their late respected treasurer, had' consented
to fill the office rendered vacant by his father' sZecease. —The
Chairman in moving the adoption of the report,said he hoped
that they would carry it with the same unanimity
as they had done on previous occasions. It needed
no recommendation from him , but it proved that the
prosperity of the Provident Clerks' Benevolent Fund had
increased, and was constantly increasing. The present was
the thirtieth annual meeting, and, thanks to the board of
management, it had passed through many difficulties with
great success. In 1842 it was enabled to have but one
single annuitant--vhereas in 1870 the number was 100,
and this year a considerable addition would be made.
They would therefore allow him to offer his hearty con-
gratulations on the history of the past, and to express his
hope that for the future they would meet only to hear
of the prosperity of the Provident Clerks' Benevolent
Fund. There , was one paragraph in the report
which deeply touched him, and that was the
allusion to the death of his lamented father,
expressed in such touching and affectionate
language. It was not for him to say anything on
such a subject, but he could confirm every line in the
report as to the interest evinced in the society by their late
treasurer, and that the number of years with which he was
connected with it served only to increase an interest that
ceased only with his life. lie moved the adoption of the
report, which was carried unanimously.—Resolutions
for the election of the additional annuitants, thankine,
the directors for their exertions, and appealing to the
public for increased support by way of legacies and bene-
factions, were also carried unanimously.

CRYSTAL PALACE.—Oue Shilling Day—Thurs-
day,rY 23, 1871.—Admission by season tickets,
1,589; on payment, 970 ; total visitors, 2,559.
F eb
dittoru a

THE NEGOTIATIONS AT VERSAILLES.
The Telegraph correspondents forward the following by
special despatch

VERSAILLES, February 22 (Evaning),

Thiers, accompanied by Barthelemy de St. Hilaire and
a French General Officer, arrived here at eleven o'clock
yesterday, and drove to Count Bismarck's, with whom
he held a long conference. He returned to
Paris at half-past four this morning. He came
back again with fifteen Deputies of the National
Assembly, and paid another visit° to the Reichskanzler.
It is believed that the terms of peace will be
definitively settled to-day. Nancy will not be included
in the portion of Lorraine made over to Germany. It
will be a French frontier town. Great pressure has been
put upon Count Bismarck from Germany with respect to
a demand for Cochin China, but it may be reasonably
hoped that the Chancellor will not yield to popular
feeling so as to materially alter any part of his pro-
gramme. The German troops will probably enter
Paris on Friday or Saturday from several points
of enceinte, to familiarise the populace with their
presence. They will receive billets from the mayors of
the arrondissements. The triumphal entry will probably
be delayed for some days, perhaps till the middle or end
of next week, as the German troops from various
points will all march to Paris, and the occupa-
tion may last two or three seeks. The Ger-
man commanders believe • there will be no disturb-
ance. Last night the King gave a grand banquet to
the Crown Prince, on his return from Orleans.
All the Ger Man Princes and Commanders wete
invited to meet him ; 120 covers were laid. Captain
Hozier paid his respects yesterday to the Crown Prince.
He was charged with messages from her Majesty, the
Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cambridge, of felicita-
tions upon the successes won by his army. These
messages have given the greatest satisfaction
to the highest personages and the superior
officers at the Imperial Quarters, and have
brought abovt a salutary change in the feelings
entertained by the German military authorities towards
the English. Last night two Mobile officers, who were
captured in the affair of January 19th, were released on
parole. The French authorities here consider this a strong
symptom of approaching peace. A requisition was levied
upon Versailles yesterday. It was at first fixed at a
million francs, but upon a representation of the
poverty of the inhabitants, the Germans reduced the de-
mand to 300,000 francs. They ordered 100,000 francs
to be paid before 5 p.m. With great difficulty this was
done, and the other 200,000 francs must be paid by
Saturday. A requbition of ten millions of francs has been
made on the department. New uniforms are arriving for
the troops, who will all have them before the entry to
Paris. When the King leaves for Berlin, the Crown
Prince will accompany him. It is poisible that instead
of the King visiting each of the South German Princes,
be may take up his residence for a short time at Carls-
ruhe with his son, and there receive the visits of the
Kings of Bavaria and Saxony, having previously seen the
King of Wurtemburg at Versailles.

The special correspondent of the Daily News tele

graphs :

Rut's, February 22, (half-past 9 p.m.)

The armistice has been extended till Sunday next, the
26th, at midnight. M. Thiers passed the greater part of
yesterday at Versailles, in close conference with the Prus-
sian Chancellor. This intelligence appears in this mailing's
Officiel. With respect to the entry of the Prussians into
Paris, Count Bismarck is reported to have strongly in-
sisted upon it, and to have retorted, in relation to the
terms of peace, that the general tone of the Paris press,
and of the extreme Republican party, rendered it abso-
lutely indispensable for the future security of Germany.
that Prussia should obtain substantial guarantees for its
own safety ; that, in fact, France should be bound down,
under the heaviest penalties, to keep the peace.

SUSPECTED GAROTTE ROBBERY AND
MURDER.

Mr. William Carter, the coroner for the eastern dis-

trict of Surrey, opened an inquiry, at the Wellington
Tavern, Bermondsey, respecting the death of
John Robinson, aged GO, Police-constable Henry
Martin, 32 M, said that about 8 o'clock on Friday evening
last he was on duty in Long-lane, Bermondsey, a public
thoroughfare lealing from Loudpn-bridge Railway steps,
when he was informed that the deceased had been disco-
vered lying on the ground in the neighbourhood. The wit-
ness proceeded to the spot, and found deceased lying on his
back against the railings of a gentleman's house, eurrounded
by several people. As he appeared ill he asked him for his
address, which he gave, and was immediately taken to his
residence. When he was lifted up he could not walk,
and had to be carried home. He then became insen-
sible, and died on the following morning. Mrs.
Sarah Robinson, 50, Eastland-street, Bermondsey,
said the deceased, her husband, had been latterly
employed at London-bridge as an omnibus con-
ductor. On Friday afternoon he left home in good
health. She did not see him again until the evening, when
he was brought home by the last witness. She placed her
hand in her husband's pockets to get some money to give
the constable for his trouble, but she could not
find any, and then she felt quite satisfied th&t he had
been attacked and robbed. He was seen with money before
he was brought home, and she expected it from him,
He carried it in a leathern purse, which was also missing.
A juror said he had seen the deceased just before he was
toned. He then had money in his pockets, and appeared
in perfect health. John Dowling, timekeeper at
London Bridge station, said that he had known
the deceased for many years, and on Friday night last,
about half-past seven o'clock, witness saw him at Loath n-
bridge station. He was then in good health, and appeared
to have had a little to drink. He shook hands with
witness, and went towards his residence. Mrs. Robinson
was recalled, and said deceased often took a little
to drink,ibut never had too much. Mr. Charles Downs,
surgeon, White-street, Borough, stated that he saw
deceased just after death. He had made a post-mJrtem
examination of the body. All the organs were healthy,
and upon opening the head he found a fracture of the skull
and about half a pound of blood under the injury which
caused death. rhe coroner here said it had been reported
to him that the unfortunate man had been robbed and
murdered, and under the circumstances he thought it right
to adjourn and get further evidence. The jury agreed, and
the court was then adjourned.

The Indepenciance Beige publishes a telegram from Ber-
lin containing a denial of the statement that the Powers
of the Conference had agreed to authorise the Porte to
admit into the Dardanelles the armed vessels of all states,
Russia and Roumania alone excepted.
The Swedish journals speak of the Prussian design of
acquiring Carlscrcona as a harbour of refuge for the Prus-
sian fleet in the Baltic. Some Prussian engineer officers
have lately been exploring the neighbourhood on various
pretexts. Semi-official statements announce that the
Prussian Government is willing to give the Swedish
Government pecuniary compensation for Carlscrona if
they will cede it.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Beatrice, the
Ladies Campbell, Lady Caroline Barrington, Colonel De
Ros, and suite, honoured the performances at the Adelphi
Theatre last evening.

The armour-plated turret-ship Magdala, for the
Lefence of Bombay, arrived at that port on the 9th inst.,
laving passed through the Suez Canal, and made a good

iassage.

Mr. Ashbury's new yacht Livonia is being built by
the' same yachtwright as the Cambria, but is much larger,
and upon an entirely new design. Only a drawing could
adequately indicate her peculiarities, but a 280-ton
schooner that carries masts above sixty feet high, and
four times the area of canvas of the Captain, is evidently
meantsto race.
A fresh series of despatches relating to the pro-
ceedings arising out of the massacre of Messrs. Herbert,
Vyner, Lloyd, and others, at Marathon, last year, has
been issued from the Foreign Office. The correspondence
closes with a sharp despatch from,Earl Granville, in which
he strenuously opposes the proposed mode of investigation
into the massacre.

The death is announced of Sir William Hanmer
Dick Cunningham. the seventh baronet. He was born in
1808, and succeeded his father in 1849. He was formerly
a lieutenant in the Ist Dragoon Guards. He is succeeded
in the baronetcy by his son, Robert Keith Alexander, who
was born in 1836. He entered the 93rd Highlanders in
1855, and became lieutenant in the following year. He
was present at Lucknow and other engagements in India,
and has received the medal and olasp. He retired from
the army in 1863.

The medical officer of Birkenhead Workhouse, Dr.
Downing, has made the mistake of supposing that one of
the perquisites of his office was the right to employ pauper
labour in his garden without paying for it. ''his innocent
error has brought him into trouble with the Guardians.
lie has been censureda and required to pay 3s, 6a. per mau
yer day for the paupers be has employed.

OUR COTEMPORARIES—This Dlorning