The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-27 00:00:00

SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT

WIMBLEDON.

On Saturday evening an inquest was held by Mr W.
Carter, Coroner for:the eastern division of Surrey, at the
Dog and Fox Inn, Wimbledon, on the body of John
Tootling, aged six years and five months, who was shot
by another child named Charles Sadler, nine years of
age, under the circumstances detailed in the following
evidence :

Robert Pantling deposed, that he was a labourer, and
the deceased child was his son. Oa Thursday evening
about seven o'clock, he went to a piece of garden ground
in his occupation, for the purpose of planting potatoes,
and the deceased and another son, named Thomas,
went with him to assist. When he got to his garden,
he found another man named John Dorset, and a little
boy named Charles Sadler, his adopted child, also there,
and he observed a barrow and a gun leaning between
the handles of it, and which gun was used by Dorset
for the purpose of keeping birds from the
crops. The three children got together,
and were playing about, close to the barrow,
and witness entered into conversation with Dor-
set ; and at this time they, and the children, were all
standing clove to the barrow. An instant after the gun
exploded, and the deceased fell down, and exclaimed,
" Oh, dear me ! oh, dear me !" Witness picked him
up, and observed that the thumb of his left hand was
shot off, and he wrapped a handkerchief round the
hand and carried him towards his own home, and as
they were going along the poor child said, " I shall die."
At this time witness imagined that the thumb was the
only part that had been injured, but when he got the
deceased home he found that there was a wound larger
than a crown piece on his side, just underneath the
heart. The child died about nine o'clock.
By the Jury—The children were all behind me, and
I could not see how the accident happened, but from
what I have heard, I have reason to believe that the
little boy Sadler, caused the gun to go off. He is
about nine years old. I have no reason to believe but
that the melancholy occurrence was the result of acci-
dent. I never heard Sadler threaten my boy, neither
did I hear any quarrelling between them. I have no
doubt it was accidentally done.
Thomas Pantling, a son of the last witness, deposed
that he was nine years old. The Coroner having ques-
tioned him as to his knowledge of the nature of an
oath, and his answer being satisfactory, he was sworn.
Ho deposed as follows :—I went with my father and
my little brother, who is dead, to the garden on the
evening of Thursday, and we saw Charles Sadler there,
and he came to us, and we were all playing together
near the barrow where the gun was, and my father and
Mr. Dorset were talking together with their backs to us,
and Sadler and my brother and me were looking
at some dead birds that 11Ir. Dorset had shot, and Sadler
lifted up the gun and tried to cock it, and it fell out of
his fingers, and the gun went off and shot my brother.
One of the Jury here inquired what kind of a gun it
was, and he was informed that it had a percussion
lock, and that the cock was upon the nipple of the gun
when the child Sadler laid hold of it, and it was sup-
posed that, not having strength sufficient to draw it to
the half cock, it slipped from his fingers upon the cap,
and so caused the fatal accident.

In answer to questions by the Jury, the little boy
further stated that he did not think that Sadler knew
the gun was loaded. He did not say anything or
threaten to shoot his brother, before the gun went off.
He did not touch the trigger of the gun, but merely
pulled up the lock.
The beadle then informed the Coroner that the boy
Sadler was in attendance, if the Jury wished to ask
him any questions.
The Coroner said he did not think it would be neces-
sary ; but as he was in attendance, it might be as well
that the Jury should have an opportunity of question-
ing him.
He was accordingly brought into the room. • He is
an intelligent-looking lad. He cried bitterly, and ap-
peared to feel very deeply the consequences of the
thoughtless act he had committed.
The Jury having expressed an opinion that Sadler
could not throw any better light upon the matter,
The CORONER proceeded to address them, and said
that it was a most melancholy case ; but it appeared to
be clear, from the evidence, that the unfortunate oc-
currence was purely the result of accident, and that
no criminal blame could be attached to any party. He
added that if the Jury thought the circumstances of the
case would warrant them in so doing, they had a power
of declaring the gun to be a forfeit to the Crown.
The Jury then unanimously returned a verdict of
" Accidental death ;" and at the same time added that
as they knew Dorset to be a hard-working industrious
raan, and did not consider him at all to blame in this
transaction, they should not adjudge him to forfeit
his gun.
The CORONER then addressed the boy Sadler, and
said he hoped this melancholy occurrence would be a
warning to him, and that he would never touch a
gun again until he was old enough to know its na-
ture and use.

ANECDOTE OF AN ALLIGATOR.

The Oriental Herald contains, under the head, " Do-
mestication of the Alligator," the following interesting
particulars respecting a young Alligator which was
caught in a stream on the Ganges :—" The Alligator
which was about sixteen inches in length, having been
secured by a piece of ratlin about its neck, was placed
on the deck of the boat, where all had an opportunity of
examining the creature. Its first impulse when let
loose was to make its escape over the vessel's side, but
being checked by the string, it turned round, and opening
its jaws to their full extent displayed its formidable com-
plement of teeth, at the same time emitting a hissing
noise like that which is made by the goose. This con-
tinued until a piece of cane was placed near its snout,
when it seized the stick with the ferocity of a young dog,
suffering itself to be turned over and over before it
would quit its hold. Indeed, when at all disturbed, it
would on every occasion draw itself back, and com-
mence hissing with open jaws, until the cause of annoy-
ance had ceased. It is singular that during the two
months that this animal remained in captivity it was
never seen to eat anything that was offered to it, though
it evidently increased in growth.—During the stay of
the narrator in Calcutta it was regularly, however,
put over the boat's side, with the string attache !
to its neck, of a sufficient length for it to reach the
bottom of the river, and drawn in again in the evening.
On the return trip up the country it was kept in the
hold of the boat ; it was on such occasions, perhaps,
that he fed during the day, but it was invariably
thrown into the water when evening came, remaining
out all night. In this manner the owner carried the
animal to his house, where it was daily picketed on
the bank of a large jheel or lake, to reach which it had
to walk across a garden which intervened, following,
sometimes unwillingly, like an ill-broken puppy, the
man who was charged with the care of it. On arriving
at the water's edge it invariably rushed in with alacrity,
proceeding to the full-length of its tether, which was
drawn in at night, when the alligator was brought back
to the house. Here, to be more under observation, it
was accorded a place in the corner of its master's bed-
room, where it lay quite quiet, coiled up in the man-
ner of a dog, from which position it rarely stirred
unless disturbed, when it would erect its hack, open its
jaws, and commence hissing as I have already described.
In this manner it passed about a month, appearing lively,
and palpably increasing in size, since the string which
had originally been fastened round its neck was getting
tight, and would soon have had to be removed, in order
to give relief for the respiration of the animal. An un-
forseen occurrence, however, rendered this trouble unne-
cessary, and at the same time put an end to this in-
teresting experiment in zoology. Tile house being
merely a bungalow, or one-floored cottage on a large
scale, situate in the country, where it is usual to go to
rest with the doors, even of the bed-rooms, wide open,
on account of the heat, the custom had been followed :n
the present instance. It, however, proved fatal to the
domesticated alligator, for on getting up one morning
a heap of well-picked bones was all that remained of it,
a villanous mungoose (Viverra ichneumon) being sup-
posed to have attacked it during the night, having
gained access by the open door."—Scots Times.

Parliament re-assembles in the course of the en-
suing week. Whatsoever it pleaseth Toryism to do in the
House of Peers, whether from its caprice of faction, or from
the settled, inveterate hatred of Reform and its hallowed Mi-
nisters, Toryism, abusing its legislative privilege, can doubt-
less temporarily affect. We therefore pass from this Cham-
ber, so utterly dissociated from all popular sympathy, and come
to the House of Commons. The first measure of importance to
be brought before that assembly will be Lord Stanley's Bill for
the dectruction of the Irish Reform Act, under the false pre-
tence of an improved mode of registration. Mr. Stanley (the
Member for North Cheshire) most truly said last week, at the
dinner given to him by his constituents, that " the battle
of English freedom was to be fought on Irish ground."
We can add a fact irresistibly confirming that political
truth. At a meeting of Peers, held at Apsrey-house, on the
subject of the Irish Municipal Bill, a Noble Lord, a truly
sincere Tory (in fact, a political bigot—bigots, as Mr.
Stanley observes, are always sincere), astonished the noble
auditory by his strenuous advocacy of a Liberal franchise
in the cities and towns of Ireland. Pressed for an ex-
planation, he said, " We can make the exercise of that fran-
chise in Ireland so odious to the empire, that we can thereby
pave the way for the repeal of the Municipal Reform Act in
England and Wales." Most truly, therefore, did Mr. Stanley
say that the battle of English freedom was to be fought on Irish
ground. Well do we know that great alarm is felt by the sober-
minded people of England at the reckless threats of Lord Stan-
ley ; but really his is only a constitutional hatred of Ireland ;
and give him but the opportunity of venting his malice in a
good long speech, and he will fall back again until Sir James
Graham applies the goad. But, after all, in what a disgraceful
plight do the haters of her Majesty's:Government exhibit these.
selves. They threaten us with foreign dangers fraa every
quarter; and, as a patriotic anode of enabling us to work
through them, they not only proclaim to foreign countries that
we are weak and without the means of defence from foreign
aggression, but they damn themselves eternally by exciting
such domestic disturbance as must necessarily increase the
confidence of foreign enemies, and subject themselves (foolish
bad men !) to be again trampled upon by the indignant
people
of Ireland.-- Observer.
The first play ever written by
the author of
Love, was called the Gypsy, and played
lost, and
the late Edmund
Kean, at Belfast. The manuscript was .ost, and the play was
not published.