The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-13 00:00:00

John Turner, police-officer, said—l searched the road
which the parties had taken after the man was stabbed,
and found a penknife open, lying on the side of the foot-
path, about 180 paces from where the murder took place.
It was rusty, but the ground was wet, and it had rained
the night before. Thera was the appearance of blood
on the knife.
Thomas Commons, surgeon, said—l made a post-
mortem examination of the body of the deceased, and
found a wound on the inside of the left thigh, nearly in
the groin. It was two and a half inches long, one and a
half inches in depth, and three-quarters of an inch wide.
It appeared to have been made by a plunge and a rush
upwards. The femoral artery was transfixed and lace-
rated upwards nearly an inch, and the vein had also been
opened. Death was caused by the loss of blood conse-
quent on that wound. The animal life would be extinct
in a few seconds. A penknife is an instrument that would
make such a wound.
The clerk to the magistrates stated that the next wit-
ness was expected to prove that Mathews and the de-
ceased had nad a battle on that day month, when the pri-
soner Hughes acted as the second of Mathews, but he
found that he was not able to identify the parties.
No other witness was called, and the prisoners on
being charged—Mathews with the murder of the de-
ceased, and Hughes with aiding and assisting—said
they were not guilty. The prisoners were then formally
committed for trial at the Northumberland assizes.
Mr. REED, the coroner, was present during this exa-
mination, and at its close he said he had a complaint to
make against the gaoler, for having disobeyed his war-
rant in not bringing the prisoner before him at the in-
quest which was held on Wednesday.
The gaoler said he was ordered not to do so by the
magistrates.
The CoaosrEn said that made no difference. He
ought to have obeyed the order. As it happened, it
was of no consequence, for the-prisoners were identified
by Captain Potts, who had had an opportunity of seeing
them.
The Clerk of the Peace said the prisoners were com-
mitted by the magistrates into the custody of the gaoler,
to be produced before them on Thursday, and they
had subsequently altered the time to Saturday. The
gaoler was to keep the prisoners in this county, and if
he had taken them to the inquest they would have had
to pass through the borough of Newcastle, which would
have been virtually putting them out of his custody
altogether.
The COURT—When the prisoners were remanded
into the custody of the gaoler, he was required to pro-
duce them before this Court, and he only obeyed the
instructions of the Court in keeping them in custody
within the jurisdiction over which this Court exercises
its authority.
The CORONER was then asked if he wished the pri-
soners to be produced before him on Monday? when he
replied that he would leave the mattyr entirely in the
hands of the magistrates.
The Court, after a brief consultation, deferred signing
the committal until Tuesday, to which day the prisoners
were accordingly remanded.
The immediate cause of the brutal attack seems at
present involved in considerable mystery. It appears
that frequent quarrels have lately occurred between the
Irish and English labourers. The deceesed was often
heard to complain that the Irishmen were always
molesting him, and he appears to have had a fight
with one of them. He had the reputation of a
fi4later, but was, nevertheless, of a very peaceable
position. The evidence of the girl Bryson, as to what
deceased said to her, would lead one to suppose that
the men had robbed him, but there does not appear to be
any good ground for that supposition. From the pay-
ments which deceased was understood to have made after
receiving his wages on Saturday, he was not likely to
have had any more money in his pocket than what was
actually found upon him, which was 6d. and some
copper. The only circumstance which might lead to a
suspicion of robbery was that of Murray throwing
away a pair of trousers in attempting to escape, but the
trousers have since been identified by his landlady as his
own, so that his throwing them away could only have
been to facilitate his escape.
Hughes, the taller of the prisoners, is a good and in-
telligent looking man, of strong muscular powers, keen
eye, and large perceptive faculties. Mathews presents
a remarkable contrast to him in all these respects. He
has, besides, a vacant stare, which gives him an appear.
ance almost idiotic. Both prisoners were dressed in the
ordinary costume of their class—fustian trousers and a
white smock frock. Hughes stated that his name was
not John Hughes Murray, but John Hughes.

HEAVY GALES IN THE IRISH