The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-19 00:00:00

SINGULAR WIFE MURDER.

A remarkable confession of wife murder was made at
Warwick on Sunday morning. The town was agitated
by a rumour that a man named Charles Chapman, twenty-
seven years of age, had drowned his wife on the preceding
night in the Warwick and Napton Canal, near to Leam-
ington. The report turned out to be correct. It appear?
that on Saturday evening about eight o'clock, Chapman
accompanied his wife to Leamington, about two miles
from Warwick, for tile purpose of purchasing her a pair
of boots. They then seemed to be on good terms, and
nothing further was heard of them until Sunday morning,
when Chapman went to the Warwick police-station with his
father, and the former addressing the officers Police-con-
stables Satchwell and Fletcher, said, -" I have come to give
myself up for murdering my wife." The officers thought
the man had been drinking, but he repeated the state-
ment, and the father said he believed the statement was
true, as his son had been to his house and was wet through
when he arrived. He had, however, since changed his
clothes. The officers at last entered the charge, and the
prisoner then said if they would go to the side of the
canal, near to Lean Bridge and drag, they would find his
wife's body. He had drowned her in the bridge hole, a
deep part of the canal. As the prisoner appeared so
positive in his statement, the officer placed him in a cell,
and went with the drags to the place he mentioned. After
dragging for about an hour they found the body of the
woman. Her dress was much torn, and round her body was
a rope, as if her husband had tried to tie her arms together.
On the bank were evidences of a severe struggle having
taken place, and the officers found one of the prisoner's
coat sleeves on the embankment, as if his wife had torn it
off while struggling with him. Her apron and three-
pence in copper were also found on the path, and from
the appearances it is evident the murdered woman fought
hard for her life. The deceased is the mother of three
children, the youngest of whom is only four months old.
The prisoner has since stated that he was nearly being
drowned with his wife. The alleged cause of the murder
is jealousy, the prisoner asserting that while he was ab-
sent at work in Birmingham a few months ago his wife
was familiar with other men. The murdered woman was
only 20 years of age, and was much respected.

MORE IRISH COMFORTS.—The following paragraph
appears in the Dublin Evening Mail :—" A correspondent,
whose veracity we trust in, informs us of circumstances
which we state with full confidence in their accuracy, but
without specifying particulars of who and where. A cer-
tain Roman Catholic clergyman, holding a farm of some
acres, was applied to for six years' arrears of rent due to
his landlord, a Roman Catholic gentleman of position.
He refused to pay any rent, but gave up the land a few I
weeks since. n the necessary absence of the landlord his
steward is afraid to till the land, which now lies waste.
No one would venture to take it upon any terms."
AVERAGE ENGLISH IDEA OF FEMALE BEAUTY.—
Reduced to the plain expression of what it is really worth,
the average English idea of beauty in women may be sum-
med up in three words—youth, health, plumpness. The
more spiritual charm of intelligence and vivacity, the subtler
attraction of delicacy of line and fineness of detail, are
little looked for and seldom appreciated by the mass of
men in this island. It is impossible otherwise to
account for the extraordinary blindness of perception.
which (to give one instance only) makes nine English-
men out of ten who visit France come back declaring
that they have not seen a single pretty Frenchwoman, in
or out of Paris, in the whole country. Our popular type
of beauty proclaims itself, in its fullest material develop-
ment, at every shop in which an illustrated periodical is
sold. The same fleshy faced girl, with the same inane
smile, and with no other expression whatever, appears
under every form of illustration, week after week, and
month after month, all the year round. Those who wish
to know what Mrs. Glenarm was like have only to go out
and stop at any bookseller's or newsvendor's shop, and
there they will see her in the first illstration with a,young
woman in it which they discover in the window.—
Cassell's Magazine.
A GOOD FRIDAY PILGRIMAGE.—A Custom the
origin of which is lost in the obscurity of time prevails in
the neighbourhood of Guildford of making a pilgrimage to
St. Martha's (or Martyr's) Hill on Good Friday.
Thither, from all the country side, youths and maidens,
old folks and children, betake themselves, and gathered
together on one of the most beautiful spots in Surrey, in
full sight of an old Norman church which crowns the green
summit of the hill, beguile the time with music and
dancing. The annual assembly Sand revel were held as
usual on Friday last, when the concourse of persons was
greater than has been known for some years past. The
greensward at the foot of the hill was crowded with
dancers, who, in pursuing their favourite amusement,
seemed to attain the height of rustic enjoyment.
Others who were too old, or whose inclina-
tions did not prompt them to such active
exercise, ascended the hill as far as the curious old church,
which stands alone, far away from any human habita-
tion, where they had the opportunity of enjoying a splen-
did panorama, including a sight of that picturesque part
of the county near Haslemere where the
Poet Laureate has built himself a new abode,
and whence may be expected to proceed some of
the happiest efforts of his muse. From every
indication which presented itself it was apparent that
the pilgrimage to St. Martha's, whatever its origin, is one
which commends itself to the taste of the present genera-
tion, and is not likely to die out with the lapse of years,
but to increase in popular estimation as long as the green
hill lasts
Lto attract the worshipper of natural beauty, or furl4sil the mere 'votaries o leasuretht
I)lsolllMitTiat 1)12194401