The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-10 00:00:00

THE HAMPTON COURT MYSTERY.

ADJOURNED INVESTIGATION.-CONCLU-
SION OF THE CASE.

Yesterday morning, Mr. Wakley, the coroner, accom-
panied by Mr. G. T. Brent, the deputy-coroner, resumed
and concluded, at the Mitre Hotel, Hampton-court, the
adjourned inquest upon the body of Lewis Solomons,
the Australian gold digger, whose body was found in
the river, near Thames Ditton, on the 28th of July last,
under circumstances which have been already detailed
to our reader..
As soon as the, jury had been reassembled, the Coro-
ner said that the Information which had been given to
Inspector Rapsey respecting the deceased man having
been seen on the night of the day on which he left home
had turned out to be incorrect. It must have been on
the Thursday previous. They bad therefore no further
evidence with reference to that matter ; and he should
proceed with the medical testimony in the case, with a
view to bring the matter to a conclusion.
The first witness called was Dr. Garrett, of Thames
Ditton, who said that be made the first examination of
the body on the 30th of July, but it was a very hasty
and superficial one. He made a second post-mortem
examination on the 25 h of August, after the body had
been buried. He found nine shots in the lower part of the
left lung, one in the diaphragm rend another in the in-
testines. The incisions in the heart, which on the first
examination were thought to have been inflicted by
some sharp instrument, had been ascertained to have
been rents caused by the force of the explosion, and the
shot had not traversed those rents. That was all the
evidence be was able to offer.
The Coroner said that the stomach and intestines had
been sent to Mr. Rogers, of St. George's Hospital Medi-
cal School, with a view to discover by analysis whether
any narcotic poison had been used that might have
destroyed life, and that gentleman had reported that
nothing of the kind was to be found. Under these
circumstances and as the else at present stood, the
jury were now in a position to proceeel to the con-
sideration of their verdict. The evidence was not
so clear on many points as could have been wished,
but they could not manufacture witnesses. There
was great credit due to the inspector and sergeant of po-
lice for the very creditable way in which they had con-
ducted the case, and evidence had been forthcoming
which was of some value. The jury must recollect that
it bad been proved in evidence that the body was found
oa Monday, the 28th July, in the River Thames, oppo-
site Thames Ditton. The first witness sailed was a wa-
terman, named Tegg, who saw that a hand was first seen
appearing on the surface of the water, and then sinking,
and afterwards the body of the deceased man, which has
been proved to have been that of Levy Solomons. It
appears that he was 34 years of age, and in theyear 1853
had gone to Australia on a mission for Mr. Davis, a
china warehouseman, of Tottenham-court-road ; and he
had returned to England between five and six weeks be-
fere his body had been found. There had been various
parties before the jury as witnesses who had seen him.
Both Mrs. Tyler and Mrs. Ungley had said that he had
slept at their houses. He was with his uncle, Mr. Ar-
nold, for one month, and both Mr. and Mrs. Arnold had
said that he left their house on Thursday morning, the
24th July, and that was the last evidence they had had
of him being seen alive. Where he bad been and what he
bad been doing from that day until the day he had re-
ceived his fatal wound there was no evidence whatever.
The witness Jeffreys bad been with him at a public-
house, where Solomons was calling for brandy and drink-
ing excessively. Immediately after leaving hie home on
that Thursday morning he was seen to pull out a purse
containing 15 or 16 sovereigns, and the disappearance
of that money, coupled with the wounds on the body,
had led to the impression that he had been murdered.
If these wounds had been caused by stabs it would then
have been quite clear that the deceased had lost his life
by the hand of an assassin, for it would have been also
quite clear that he could not have inflicted those wounds
himself, as any one of the threnrnust have been mortal,
and, after having inflicted one wound he could not
have had the power to have inflicted the second.
Dr. Garrett had discovered 11 shots in the lungs and
intestines, and these were to be accounted for. Now,
it appeared that the deceased was a man of very unfor-
tunate habits, as several witnesses had spoken to his
drinking to very great excess. He was constantly dis-
playing a dagger and pistol, both of which had been
taken from him by Mrs. Gray. Up to the 21st of July
he had a pistol and large shot in his possession, and re-
marked when in company with another witness, to whom
he showed it, "See, this is the way we colonists travel."
His friend, having apprehensions of danger, asked kim
to fire the pistol off, which he did. After this it had
been shown that be had a powder flask and 20 shots
with him. He had threatened to take away his own
life, the life of his sister, and that of Mr. Davie, adding
to that by further threatening to "make two widows at
_ _

one shot." Mrs. Tyler had slated that the deceased had
been at her house raving after brandy. He bad bitten
a piece out of the tumbler which was before the jury,
and chewed and masticated it so much that his mouth
had

bled, thereby showing beyond doubt that the man

was

not in a right state of mind. The man wag nothing

else than a madman, and they could come to no other
conclusion, at least he (the Coroner) thought not. Evi-
dence had been given that the deceased had died in con.

sequence of the wounds which had been inflicted upo
him in the heart. It was impossible to say what he
might have done with his property between the time of
his leaving home on the Thursday morning and his de-
stroying himself. On that point there was no evidence
whatever. There had been no evidence to show what

had become of him from Thurbday, the 24th July, up to
the 28tb, the day his body had been found in the River
Thames. He might have destroyed himself before he