The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-16 00:00:00

SOUTHIT'ARK.

Thomas Potts, Mary, his wife, and a young man
named Quaife, the son of the man with whom they
lodged, were brought before Mr. Cottingham, charged
with breaking open a trunk belonging to William
Smith, and stealing a bag► containing 34 sovereigns.
The magistrate remanded the prisoners for further
examination.

DRURY 'LINE THEATRE.--Mr. Alcroft gave his
annual concert at Drury-lane last evening, assisted by
most of the leading vocal performers at present in town,
and many of the instrumental. The selection of music
WAS a varied and good one, Madame Dulcken bringing
out a new: pianoforte quartette. The house was well
attended.

Tun BRITISH AND NORTH :AMERICAN ROYAL
M &IL STEAM-SHIM—The British and North American
hne may now be said to be the only successful line of
ocean steamers yet organized. The English established
a line, and sunk a great deal of money in it between
London and New York, of which the British Queemind
the President were the principal boats. Anotherliine
was established between Bristol and New York, which,
with the exception of the Great Western, also turned
out a failure, like that of the London line. The French,
more recently, attempted the' same thing between Havre
and New York, which has met with some disasters, and
also turned out a similar failure. Even the American
line between this city and Bremen must be admitted
now to be a failure, for the first vessel, the Washington,
appears to be entirely unfit for steam navigation, al-
though she may be very beautiful in other respects. We
have had, therefore, two English, one French, and one
American line of ocean steamers, all failures. None
seem to have succeeded but the Liverpool line, composed
of vessels built on the Clyde, with engines constructed
in Glasgow. The Scotch line, as it may be distinctly
called, is the only line that has succeeded permanently
on the Atlantic. The blunders, errors, and miscalcula-
tions of the English, French, and American lines, would
fill columns. On the other hand, the prudence, caution,
skill, and enterprise of the British and North American
Royal Mail line, stand out aloof, and must be admitted
by all.—[Veer York Herald.
VOLUNTEERS.—A. number of gentlemen in London
have resolved to form themselves into a regiment, to be
termed "The Queen's Own Volunteer Rifle Corps."
The number at present proposed is GOO, but probably it
will be materially increased after it is fully known to the
public. The parties who have taken the lead in this
movement have received every encouragement from the
Government, and will have their arms and ammunition
supplied them. The uniform will be dark green, witk
black braiding, bronze ornaments, and a light cap. A
commanding officer has been appointed and approved of,
and the captains of companies and subalterns will be
chosen by the gentlemen terming the corp.

THE MURDER BY HIGHWAY MEN.
The unfortunate man, named William Whyatt, who
was shot on Friday near Adlington, in Lanaashire, by a
robber whom he had just captured, died on Saturday
morning. The inquest upon his body was held 1.11
Monday, at the Rising Hart, rott Shrigley, before Mr.
Roscoe, of Knutaford, coroner for the distr et. The fol-
lowing are the particulars of the evidence :
James Ernill having been sworn said—l live at Mac-
clesfield, and em a shopkeeper. I was at the Unicorn
public-house at Hollingworth-smitliy, Adlington, on
Friday last. I got there about a quarterletet three
o'clock in the afternoon, on my eay to Macclesfield.
There was no company there except the he dlord. I
remained there about ten minutes or a quarter of an
hour. I then proceeded to walk along the turnpike-
road towards Macclesfield. There was no one with
me. When I got up to the small \Vetch-wood planta-
tion, about 300 yards from the public house, I saw
two men in the act of getting over a gate at
the further end of the wood into the turnpike road.
They walked close behind upwards of a quarter of u
quarter of a mile without either of them speaking to me.
I then heard a quick step, and one of them entne came
directly in front of me. He took hold of me by the
breast, tearing my waistcoat and shirt, and said, " I)—n
your eyes, give up your purse and your watch this
minute, or you are a dead man." At the same moment
he presented a horse-pistol just in front of my eyes.
The other man, who had also come up, presented a pistol
to my left ear. He said, "D—n you, I'll blow your head
off." I did not at first believe they were serious, but
perceiviag that they were, I told them that they would
have a tougher job than they thought for, for I should
die hard, and I prepared to resist. The little man who
had presented the pistol to my ear then knocked me
down. They both kicked me severeel times while I was
on the ground about the head. I got up again, and the
pistols were again presented at me by both the men, the
action being again accompanied by tkreats. I told them I
would not give up my property, and they knocked me
down again. The same thing was repeated, and I was
knocked down in all five times. During the attack upon
me I screamed out and called loudly for assistance. A
Mr. Hordern came up, and got to within ten yards of us.
At this time we wore all in the ditch together. On see-
ing him the men got up sad began to walk away. Mr.
Hordern and I followed them and they held the pistols
towards us, threatening to shoot us. We had not seen
then any one else. When we got up to Stanhope's yard,
there was a young man and some railway men who had
seen the whole affray, who came up to us, upon which
the two men ran away, and we pursued.—(Mr. Legh
here stated that the spot was not more than forty yards
from the railway.) I was too ;much exhausted to go far
myself, and I was not present when they were captured.
They were takeir, and I saw them the same evening
at Adlington Hall, in the custody of Mr. Williamson,
special high-constable of Macclesfield. I am quite
certain that the two men I saw in his custody are the
same who made the attack upon me. I was not aware
till an hour after that I had been robbed.

Matthew Mitchell, a young man, a labourer, said that
about twenty minutes to four o'clock on Friday after•
noon he was at work on the railway at Addington, when
he heard a man shouting on the highway for assistance.
Ile immediately ran towards the spot, and saw three
men, one of whom was the last witness ; the others he
did not know. The two had something bright in their
hands. Witness was about 150 yards from them when
he first started. The two men ran away. Witness
stayed with Mr. Ernill ; heard from him a brief account
of the matter and set off in pursuit. A great many per-
sons joined also in pursuit. Followed them out of
Adlington in Shrigley. William Whyatt was amongst
the pursuers. The pursuit lasted about an hour and a
quarter. Witness came up with them at Blakley-wood
in Pott Shrigley. The two men were together when
witness came up with him. Each had a brace of pistols
in his hands. William Whyatt was just before witness
making towards the robbers. The taller of the two men
(Bates) fired a pistol, and William Whyatt instantly fell.
Almost at the same instant the shorter man (Wahl:lslay)
fired a pistol at Thomas Whyatt and wounded him in
the arm. The little man then ran away and was fol-
lowed by John Hunt, who took hold of his coat laps.
and they both fell down together. The little man then
fired another pistol, and others coming up both he and
the other were secured. Witness saw William Wll)att
carried oft Thomas Whyatt was able to walk away.
Witness was at Adlington Hall the same night. Did
not hear the names of the prisoners, and not know them,
but can swear to them. Did not hear of anythiag being
said on either side before the tall man fired.

James Bowes, one of the Cheshire constabulary force,
said he received the prisoner Walmsley from some Mtn,
and also two pistols, a powder-flask, and some cotton
wadding, which had been found ono' him. He said at
first that his name was John Redden, but when both
prisoners were together at Adlington Hall, Bates said
that his name was John Walmsley. Walmsley made no
reply. The pistols were very large ones, the barrels
being about nine inches long. Witness also found eight
percussion caps upon Walmsley. tThe witness pr.).
(laced a steel chain, two gold seals, and two keys, which
he said were found upon Bates, but the Coroner did not
think it necessary to go into that. j
Edward Newbold, surgeon, stated that about six
o'clock on Friday evening he was sent for to see the
deceased, Who was lying at the house of a person named
Wainwright, at Pott Shrigley. Got there about seven
o'clock. I)rs. Harrison and Vaux were there when
witness arrived. Found a wound like a bullet wound on
the fore part of the abdomen, about three inches above
the navel. A ball had been extracted before witness
got there by Pr. Harrison. Attended the deceased till
the time of his death, which took place on,Saturday
morning about a Anarter to eleven o'clock. Made a
post mortas examination yesterday, assisted by 1)r.
Vaux. Tho external appearances were those of a very
stout, able-bodied, healthy man. On opening the
abdomen witness traced the ball from the external
orifice. Found that it had passed obliquely downwards
and backwards underneath the integuments, fascia., and
muscles, perforating the peritoneum and entering the
cavity of the abdomen, penetrating the omentum, pene-
trating also the small intestines, from which souse of the
contents had escaped into the cavity ; then passing
through the colon, giving vent also to some of its con-
tents. It then escaped from the abdomen, passing
completely through the hip bone, and ultimately lodged
under the skin of the thigh. Lt only required a slight
incision to enable De. Harrison to extract the ball.
Witness had no doubt whatever that the death of the
deceased was occasioned by the wound from the ball.
The CORONER then said there were a great many
circumstances connected with the case which it was not
at all necessary to inquire into, since it appeared to him
that the cause of death was very clearly proved, and
that was what they had met to inquire into. Still, if
the jury required any further evidence, the witnesses
should be called. The law, too, was too well known to
the jury to need many remarks from him. He would
oily observe that it was either a murder or nothing.
There was only re point which he wished to explain to
them, and that was, that when two or more were en-
gaged in a common design, and death ensued in conse-
quence of that design, through the act of only ono of
them, they were all equally guilty. So that in the case
of these two men, Walmsley and Bates, the intention of
both was sufficiently evident, and both were equally
guilty.
The Jury without any deliberation returned a verdict
of " Wilful Murder against John Walmsley and William
Bates."
The inquiry lasted rather snore than two hours.
The deceased Vt'illiain Whyatt has left a wife and
seven children, the youngest of which was only born
last Monday. Thomas Whyatt is said to be going on
favourably.