The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-07 00:00:00

UT N.

I.ON N

oitirrneur. In conveying these sentiments to 011, sir,
I am performing both a pleasing and a painful duty
—pleasing, because I have the honour to be selected to
express the unanimous kind feeling of so many gentle-
men of the county towards you—and painful, because
the time has arrived for our separation. In taking our
leave of you let me express a hope that we may
all meet again at no very distant period. When
I entered this room I had no idea that I should be called
upon to address you, therefore I have had no time to
study eloquence. My words are words of the heart, and
if I have saceeeded in conveying to you the sentiments
of the gentlemen who are now present in as strong a
manner as I know they feel them, I shall be truly happy.
I now, sir, in the name of my brother magistrates, beg
you to accept of our sincere and heartfelt wishes for
your health, happiness, and prosperity, and in this ear-
nest wish we beg to inclade Lady Ommanney and the
whole of your family.
At the close of Sir Henry's address, Sir JOUR OXMAN-
NET rose and replied to the following effect:—My Lord
and Gentlemen, I avail myself of this opportunity to do
that which common courtesy towards yourselves would
have required of me, and which is now rendered the
more necessary from the course which you have been
pleased to take. I thank you all for the very kind man-
ner in which you have been pleased to receive Sir Henry
Leeke's proposal, which has gratified me very much, and
I thank him too for the way in which he has made it. I
have now acted as a magistrate for, I think, 38 years, and
am almost the oldest magistrate in the county. At one
time, when I lived elsewhere, I acted for three divisions
in this county, but never did I act where I met with so
much support and good will from my brother magistrates
es I have uniformly done in this division. I am an
old man now, and by God's Providence I have been
blessed with much good health, as well as permitted to
come to an advanced time of life. I cannot, therefore,
look with any degree of expectation to a return to this
neighbourhood, but that matter is in higher hands. And
should a yet longer life be extended to me, I shall meet you
again with the utmost pleasure; and even now, although
removed from each other, I trust we may not be separated.
I do from my heart assure you, that could I have antici-
pated the pain I have been put to in parting from my
friends, I could not have made up my mind to accept the
appointment, important in every respect as I know it to
be. If business or pleasure should lead any of you to
the neighbourhood in which I am about to be placed, I
assure you that you will ever find from me the open
hand and the hearty welcome. My Lord and gentle-
men, again I thank you for your great kindness.
Several other gentlemen present made some observa-
tions, indicating their high sense of Sir John's services
as a magistrate, and Lord Henry Cholmondeley (after
expressing his entire concurrence in all the observations
of Sir Henry Leeke) added that Sir John had often put
to shame men much younger than himself, and who had
a much less distance to travel, by the punctuality and
regularity of his attendance at the Magistrates' Mee
ings.—Devonport Independent.

' MURDER of a HUSBAND in SHEFFIELD.
On Sunday morning the intelligence of a shocking
catastrophe was announced at the police-office, Sheffield.
The scene where the tragedy took place is in a square in
Duke-street, Sheffield-park. The name of the murdered
man is John Wilkinson, and the two parties in custody
on the serious charge are his wife, Eliza Wilkinson, and
John Batterley, a goods porter on the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway.
The following particulars have transpired. About
two o'clock on Sunday morning the wife of the deceased
took refuge in the house of a next•door neighbour,
alleging as her reason a family quarrel. On the follow-
ing morning the door of the house was found to be fas-
tened by a spring latch, and was ultimately opened by a
daughter of deceased's, who slept in the upper part of
the house. The body of deceased was then found in a
prostrate position in a pool of blood; the furniture,
walls, and ceilings were also besprinkled with it.
Wounds were found on the head and throat, and a
pocket- knife was discovered under a chair at the feet of
deceased.
The prisoner Batterley was a cousin of the deceased,
and lodged with him up to Saturday night. A jealous
feeling seems to have existed on the part of the deceased.
Batterley was reported to have left the house on the
night in question. On Sunday afternoon he reached his
parents' dwelling near Worksop. Hearing that policemen
Lad been there in search of him, he by the first train
on Monday morning returned to the scene of murder,
where he was forthwith arrested. That the murder was
one attended with much violence appears from the state-
ments of a neighbour, who alleges to hare heard noises
and strugglings of a most terrifying and unnatural cha-
racter soon after midnight.
The wifo says that her escape from the alleged vio-
lence of her husband was effected through a window.
The prisoner Batterley is about 22 years of age. Both
himself and deceased are represented to have been steady,
well-conducted men.