The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-12 00:00:00

THE MURDER AT HITCHEN

HERTFORD, THURSDAY NIGHT.—An inquiry which
was opened on Thursday last by Mr. Osbaldiston, one of
the coroners of the county, was concluded to-day at
Hitchen, on the body of George Tomlin, aged 16, in the
employ of Lord Deere, who died on Tuesday, the 2d
instant, from the effects of a gun-shot wound, fired by a
youth of the name of James Lawrence, under circum-
stances showing apparent deliberation.
His deposition, taken before his death, was as fol-
lows :—I work for Lord Deere on the Hoo Farm, in the
parish of Paul Warden. On Suoday last, between two and
three o'clock, I went from Lord Dacre's farm-yard into
the timber-yard, which is close by, where I saw James
Lawrence. He had a gun under his arm, and I supposed
he was bird-keeping. He told me he had shot a hedge-
sparrow, and had broken its leg, and that it was
somewhere in the hedge. We looked for the spar-
row, but could not find it. We then walked a few
yards, when I told him I must go and and attend to
the pigs. He said, " Tben shoot you," and pointed the
gun at me. I ran behind a tree, and he came peeping round
it, poking the gun, and then bolted to the other side of
the tree, and he again came after me, pointing the
muzzle of the gun at my forehead. I then ran away, but
directly I did so he shot me in the back. I did not see
what became of Lawrence, I believe he ran away, but I
don't know exactly, I was so frightened.
It further appeared that on Lawrence being appre-
hended (who, it should be observed, before the death of
deceased, bad been committed by the magistrates to
Hertford gaol on a charge of shooting with an intent to
do grievous bodily harm) he admitted that his gun had
shot the deceased, but that it had gone off accidentally
by his coat getting entangled with the trigger. He had
never any against him ; they were always on the
best of terms, and the reason he poked the gun at him
was in " fun."

The evidence of the medical gentleman having been
taken, proving the wounds to be the cause of death,
The CORONER addressed the jury on the melancholy
circumstance of the case, and the impropriety of entrust-
ing fire-arms to youths of the description of Lawrence,
who was only 15 years of age.
The jury retired, and in a few minutes returned a
verdict of " Manslaughter against Lawrence."

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1 Britsh North American 51. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0
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