The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-24 00:00:00

MURDER OF THE EARL OF MOR-

LET'S GAMEKEEPER.
SALTRAM, THURSDAY.—This ' morning an inquest was
held at the Union Inn, Underwood, by Mr. A. B. Boney, on
tke body of Edward Tothill, the gamekeeper, whose unfor-
tunate death in an affray with poachers has been already
mentioned. Application was made for the admission of the
press, but the Coroner refused to allow any but the witnesses
to be present at the proceedings. It is, however, understood
that the evidence of Mr. Belvin, the head-keeper, was, in
substance, as follows :
"At four o'clock on the morning of Wednesday, the 21st
inst., I was out in Earl Morley's preserves with a party of as-
sistance, nine in number. The deceased, Edward Tothill, was
the second keeper. The first intimation we had that there
were poachers out was from reports of guns in the Morefield
preserve. We proceeded in that direction, and came up with
the poachers, who were armed, and had dogs with them. In
the hope of deterring the party we fired upon the dogs, and
they ran away. I then challenged the poachers to stand,
which they refused, and three shots were fired at us. One
of the keepers, named Belevin, was struck in tke shoulder,
though not seriously injured. Judging from their number
and daring character that our lives were in danger, I ordered
the keepers to fire in the direction from whence the last two
flashes appeared, and after discharging their guns to rush
in upon the gang. They did so, and while I was reloading
my gun, I heard one of the keepers call to me for assistance.
1 ran towards him, and found him struggling with one of
the poachers, named William Foote Read, whom the keeper
had by this time got down. My assistant, Timothy Loper,
was endeavouring to wrest from Read a double-barrelled
gun. In the struggle Read got away and discharged thet
gun at Loper, but fortunately without effect,
the charge passed over bis head. I was
Loper
t near
enough to render any assistance, but i,
imme-
diately knocked Read down, and be was secured.
I then called to Tothill for the handcuffs, but receiving
no answer I became alarmed for the man's safety. I
afterwards heard another shot further down the planta-
tion. Calling the men together, we went in search of Tot-
hill, and found him hislyingonface; he had either a gun or
d N ext
pistol wound in the breast, and
was quite ead.
morn-
ing, when sufficiently light, I proceeded with some assistance
to the place, and close to where the body of Tothill lay, we
found three hats belonging to the party who had escaped;
one of the hats had several shots through it, so that I have
no doubt but that some of the party were wounded."
Several witnesses are still to be examined, and it is pro-
bable that the inquest will last for at least another day. It
appears that the man in custody, who was not actually pre-
sent when the murder was committed, was formerly a sur-
veyor, but has latterly kept a butcher's shop. He has re-
ceived some small shots in the head, but is not considered
in danger.

CIIICIIESTER.—An instance has just occurred in
this vicinity of refusing to read the burial service at the
grave of a child baptised by a Dissenting Minister. The
circumstances of the case are as follows :—An infant whose
parents are members of the Independent chapel in the vil-
lage of Bosham being unwell, their minister was sent for to -
baptize the child ; subsequently it died. The vicar of
Bosham being applied to to bury it, he sent for the father, .
and told him he could not read the burial service, because
• the child had not been baptised by him who, being a
successor to the apostles, was alone qualified to perform
that religious rite, and that the Dissenting Minister acted
only by Satanic agency. These arguments, however, having
no influence with the father, another stratagem was resorted _
to in order to induce him to consent that the child should b
interred without the usual forms, viz., that the reading of
the burial service could be of n.) service to the dead; to
which the father, being a conscientious man, assented. The
vicar then asked if he would be satisfied if he attended the
funeral without reading the service? The father replied that
feeling conscious the child could not, be benefited, he should
not insist on its being done: but he wished for the sake of
others that it might. A witness being called, he left the
vicar's house. The Dissenting Minister having hoard
what had taken place, was on his way to lay the
matter before the Bishop of the diocese when he was met by
the father, who told him that the vicar had not positively
refused to read the service, and that he felt persuaded
shie
would. The child was, however, taken to the grave n
lently interred, after which the vicar read the Lord's Prayer
and the Benediction only. What a pity thoatt
imitate his
holding the sentiments of Dr. Newman do n.
example and go at once over to Rome. ThethVeichaurroisflßno.tsehsatnto
will do well to be cautious how be refuseslikely
that another
another Dissenter's child, as it is n
father will be found who will subm?itts'o.eqrjt.iietly to his priestly
authority.—Brighton Guardian.
sT
tI
hi e REGARD
ntenton
THE GoVERNM EN T,
TO RAILWAY RILLS.— Urnlje°rPst°asnirtrat iNtV
eecise on Monday that a Committee
of Sir Robert Peel t p‘lo
should be formed of top
Members of both Houses of Parlia-
ment,for the purpose of instituting. a.preliminzryasextoamseilneac-t
tion into all the proposed railway schemes,
those projects which,. either for local or general benefit, it
would be most desirable to carry into execution, and that
the Bills for the lines so selected will alone be permitted to go
before the Standing Orders Committee.
The Barbudoes Globe, of the 18th of December, gives
the following account of an accident to the Governor :—" It
is with exrreme regret that we announce an accident which
this day occurred to our esteemed and indefatigable GoVernor.
While walking in his gardens at Pilgrim, this afternoon, his
Excellency, by some chance, tripped and fell, unfortunately
breaking his right leg just above the ankle."

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