The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-17 00:00:00

THE LAND TRANSPORT CORPS.

ANCIENT COFFINS.—The Dundee Courier says sever&
stone coffins have been found within I,lle last few days
during the laying out of the grounds on Mr. Yeaman's
property on the Ferry-road, Dundee. On Monday morn-
ing one of great length was opened, in which the skele•
ton was remarkably well preserved. The bones were
extraordinarily massive, and must have been those of a
large and powerful man. The coffins are of the same
kind as those found a year or two ago near Baldovan,
but if anything mere shapely. No inscription of any
kind has been observed upon them, and in one only were
found a few small copper coins, the date of which was
quite illegible. The time and circumstances of the in-
terments are entirely left to conjecture.
HORRIBLE MIIRDER.—Our county has been disgraced
by a most atrocious murder, made doubly so if the case
as it is now represented be fully proved, a thing which
we have little reason to doubt. The prisoners, who
now lie in our county gaol, committed on a charge of
murder, are two brothers named Lydon. It will be
remembered by our readers that at the last assizes here,
a man named Pat Lydon was indicted for a serious
offence, but on the evening before his trial was to come
on, he was married, in his cell in the gaol, to the girl
who was to prosecute him. On being placed in the dock
next day, and on the prosecutrix stating that she was
his wife, the judge was under the necessity of liberating
him. After being thus di:chargcd he returned to his
home, and the young woman to her parolee house; but
some time afterwards he went to her father's residence,
and said he wanted her to go and live with him, being
his wife ; she maid that on the next day she would r
ba
e
prepared to do so, and on that evening
went out fo
time with bine, and in passing along saw a man
standing near where they were walking, disgud, as it
on some evil intent. Becoming a little frightened, she
returned home, and acquainted her brothers of the cir-
cumstance, stating that it was her looenlietihteh n
neerxtanevinendinisg.
guise was her brother-in-law. lip
ho returned again, and she went out with him, and was
not heard of after for a length of time, although every
search was made for her. A few days ago, however,
a man who was going observed theore, out olegs of a f a boat,
huma
thn
e
banks of Lough Corrib,
body protruding from the sand, ,and without d'eli,y
informed the constabulary, who instantly arrested the
two Lydons,_ and then proceeded to raise the body,
which proved to be that of the missing girl, buried in the
clothes in which she left her father's place. Mr. G.
Cottingbam having held an inquest on the body, the
Lydons were committed to take their trial at the ensu-
ing assizes in this town, for the murder of the unfortu•
nate girl. In this we have given the facts as they now
appear, but cannot say whether they may be fully sup-
ported before a jury or not. The crime was a shocking
one, and we hope, be the criminals the Lydons or some
other persons, they will get the full benefit of the law.—
Gaiwoy Acepros,

- mr-L...aulk. LORD MAYOR.
Yasterday morning a deputation from the members of
the Land Transport Coips waited upon the Lord Mayor,
by special appointment, at the Mansion-house.
Mr. JAMES REDSTIA.Vr, who headed the deputation,

read the following address :
" To THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR.
" We, the artificers of the Lend Transport Corps, lately
returned from Malta and the Crimea, humbly beg to lay
before your lordship our grievances and wrongs, and ask
you to come forward to aid and assist us in obtaining our
just rights from the Government, according to our engage-
'gent. We beg to explain to your lordship what the en-
gagement was. We were to have Gs. a-day with clothes
and rations free. Now, the Government have not fulfilled
that engagement in any one instance ; for they have not
paid Gs. a-day ;we have had to pay a great portion of our
rations ; and they have taken from several of us our
clothes, which wore a free gift to us ; and, worse than all,
we have been sent home with an illegal discharge, so that
we are unable to obtain employment. Trusting in your
lordship's kindness, we humbly pray that you will cot-
von° a public meeting, so that we may be able to lay before
the citizens of London our claims, knowing as we do that
they already sympathise with us, and that they will do all
they can to rescue us from the deplorable condition in
which we aro placed by the refusal of the Government to
fulfil their engagements in the way they have done with
other corps whose conditions of service were the same as
ours."
The LORD MAYOR inquired whether the men were in
the position of soldiers, placed under martial law, and
how long they had been at home
Mr. REDSHAW said they were in the position of sol-
diers duly enlisted, and had been home three or four
months.
The LORD MAYOR presumed these men had made some
representation of their grievances to their superior ea-
cers—to the commander of the corps, Per instance I
Mr. REDSHAW said they had fully represented their
case to Colonel M'Murdo, the commander of the corps,
but without avail.
The LORD MAYOR asked whether the men had been
discharged I
Mr. REDSHAW said they did not consider themselves
discharged. They had a paper given to them which was
not a legal discharge. Many of them had applied for
employment in different quarters, but were rejected on
account of the insufficiency of their discharge paper.
The LORD MAYOR (after inspecting the document,
which was a common pricted paper, covered with era-
sures and interlineations) remarked that it certainly was
a very curious affair, and said the men had, of course,
been paid.
Several men at once exclaimed that they had not been
paid since the 9th of June, and that although they had
memorialised Lord Panmure on the subject, his lordship
had not condescended to favour them with any reply.
Their great grievance was that if they were called upon
to enter the service to-morrow, they would be compelled
to comply, and yet their position was not recognised nor
their claims discharged.
The LORD MAYOR said it appeared to him that there
must be some way of obtaining redress for the men. If
they were not disbanded, they were clearly still in the
service of the Government. If their statement was cor-
rect that they had represented their case to Lord
advise
them to appeal to Lord Palmerston, who was always
anxious to assist those who had served their country.
He could not accede to the request that had been made
to him to call a public meeting; but if the men liked to
entrust their memorial to him, he would forward it, with
his own recommendation, to the Prime Minister. In
the memorial which had been read, allusion was made
to what had been done for another corps. What did
that mean I
Mr. WHARTON said that each member of the Turkish
Contingent bad 181. on enlisting, and on being discharged
had 21., on condition of not too frequently wearing their
regimental clothes, which it was arranged should 1.•
given up to the Government.
The LORD MAYOR thought that, with proper perse-
verance, the tnen must succeed. Their claims appeared
to be strong.
Mr. REDSHAW said they had frequently been to the
War-offiee. The authorities there referred them to Col.
11141\lurdo, but they could obtain no redress from him.
The LORD MAYOR expressed his regret that the men
should be compelled to sue as paupers.
te WHARTON repudiated the designation of paupers
as applied to them. All they wanted was that they
should be protected, as they went forth for the protec-
tion of their country at the call of duty.
The LORD MAYOR said he did not use the term in an
offensive sense. It was very heed that men who were
called upon when the country required their services,
should be thrown on one side when their services were
no longer required. He had no doubt they had a fair
claim upon the Government, but the only difficulty was
as to the way of asserting it. Ile wished tote repeat that
if they a anted a friend he should be happy
intercede
with Lord Palmerston on their behalf. At the same time,
he thought they would do well to make another appeal
to Col. M`Murdo and the authorities at the War-office.
It was difficult to bring Governments to book ; but, in
this case, lie was strongly of opinion that the claims of
the Land Transport Corps should be recognised.
Tue deputation, after thanking his lordship for his
courtesy to them —a compliment which was certainly
very well deserved-09u retired.