The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-30 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY MURDER.

BELPER, SUNDAY EVENING.—It is our painful
duty to record one of the most cold-blooded and
daring murders that have ever taken place in the
county of Derby. The scene of the foul deed is
Belper, about eight miles from Derby, and near the
extensive cotton manufactories of the Messrs. Strutt.
The facts of the case are as follows :—lt appears that
a man named Anthony Turner, who resides at Lane-
end, and about half a mile from Belper, has been for
some years in the habit of collecting rents for a widow
lady named Barnes, who lives with a relative named
Bannister, a clergyman of the Church of England, at
Field-house, Belper. Turner having been a defaulter
to s considerable amount, Mrs. Barnes sent him a
note to say that he would not be allowed to colleet any
more rents, and that he was to consider himself dis-
charged from his situation. On Saturday evening
last he went to a provision shop, kept by a Mr. Hus-
land, and borrowed a large carving- knife, used for cut-
ting bacon. After they gave it to him he said he was
going to kill Mrs. Barnes with it, for not letting him
collect the rents. This was about eight o'clock in
the evening, and it appeared that he went direct from
Mr. Ilusland's shop to Field-house, deceased's resi-
dence, and asked to see Mrs. Barnes. The servant
went up stairs, and told Mrs. Barnes that Turner
wished to speak to her, but she refused to grant him
an interview. The servant returned with a message
to that effect. Turner said he would not go away
without seeing her, and, entering the house, pushed
the girl on one side and rushed up stairs. The ser-
vant girl was very much alarmed, and ran to fetch
the Rev. J. Bannister, who was in the adjoining
house. Mr. Bannister immediately ran into the
house, and on proceeding up stairs met Turner coming
down with a large knife in his hand, which was co-
vered with blood. Turner made a blow at Mr. Ban-
nister with the knife, and after a struggle between
them Turner was precipitated to the bottom
of the stairs. Mr. Bannister then went into the
unfortunate lady's room, and found her lying

on the ground with her head literally
severed from her body I Ono of her thumbs
was also cut off, as if in struggling to prevent the
murderous knife from lacerating her throat. Medical
aid was immediately in attendance, but life was quite
extinct. After the foul deed had been perpetrated,
Turner; after passing Mr. Bannister on the stairs, as
alluded to above, on leaving the house met the ser-
vant girl coming in, and made a❑ attempt to strike
her with the knife, but she turned her head on one
side and evaded the blow. The murderer then ran
off at the top of his speed, and has not since been
heard of. He is a married man, and has one child;
is a tailor by trade, and was formerly a local preacher
among the Wesleyan Methodists. His age is about
45 years, he stands about five feet 8 inches, has very
small black eyes, and had on at the time of the mur-
der a pair of drab trousers and black coat. The most
extraordinary part of this awful tragedy is the great
ease with which the murderer made his escape, as it
was only about half-past eight o'clock in the even-
ing, and numbers of people were stirring about the
neighbourhood. The electric telegraph was imme-
diately set to work at the Belper station, and the
news conveyed in a few minutes to Derby, Notting-
ham, and other midland counties. In Belper the
greatest excitement prevailed on the awful tragedy
becoming known, and a mob of some hundreds soon
collected round the deceased lady's residence. Mr.
W. Wragg, superintendent constable of Belper, and
formerly one of the detective officers of the Derby
police, was unable to render any assistance in finding
the murderer, in consequence of having received
severe injuries in attempting to prevent the fight a
few days ago between the pugilists Paddock and
Paulson. It appears that Turner cohabited with a
woman in Derby, and this afternoon Sergeants Hardy
and Fearn proceeded to the house of the woman, but
could find no trace of the murderer having been there.
The deceased, Mrs. Barnes, was about 60 years of
age, of eccentric habits, and the owner of considerable
property in Belper and Derby. The inquest will
commence to-morrow (Monday), before Mr. Henry
Mosley, coroner for the district.

GREAT LONDON DRAINAGE COMPANY.
Yesterday a meeting was held at the London
Tavern, for the purpose of calling public attention
to the plan proposed by the above company for drain-
ing the metropolis, by means of intercepting tunnel
sewers on either side of the Thames. The circular
which had been issued to request the attendance of
parties desirous of co operating in the prosecution of
the scheme stated that the measure had been before
Parliament in the session of 1848, " and was then
withdaawn, in consequence of the Metropolitan Com-
missioners of Sewers having declared that they were
contemplating the adoption of a more efficient scheme.
The result, however, has been that the Commission
have approved and proposed for adoption the plan as
originally suggested by the company, and it is there-
fore determined to renew the application to Parlia-
ment in the ensuing session. All the standing orders
and other preliminary proceedings have been com-
plied with. The interests of owners and occupiers of
house property in the metropolis are seriously impli-
cated in the success of the company's plan, inasmuch
as the ratepayers of the metropolis will be relieved
from the heavy rate which would otherwise have to
be levied upon them, whilst at the same time the
very important sanitary improvement so long desired
will be effected, and the shareholders will derive ample
profit."
The attendance of the public at the meeting was
extremely thin. Mr. Walker occupier the chair.
Mr. J. J. MOREWOOD opened the business by read-
ing the notice convening the meeting, and then pro-
ceeded to explain the general nature and objects of the
scheme. He said it was intended to preserve the
river Thames from pollution, and to afford the means
of efficiently draining the whole of the metropolis.
The necessity for such a measure was universally ac-
knowledged, and the only remaining questions were
which was the right plan to adopt, and how was it
to be carried into effect? The promoters bad been
waiting for six years in the hope that some other
body might step forward to undertake the work. In
1847, when the attention of the Government was
specially directed to the subject, a sanitary commis-
sion was appointed to inquire whether the health of
the metropolis could not be improved by a better
mode of house, street, and land drainage, and by a
better supply of water for flushing the sewers and
drains. 'The first report of that commission speci-
ally enumerated the sanitary evils resulting from
the retention of the refuse in the sewers without
the proper means of carrying it off, and called
attention particularly to the dense and noisome
fogs which enveloped London just before the
cholera made its appearance. Well, the plan
of that company had been brought before the late
Westminster Commission of Sewers, in 1845, and that
commission declared that it had found a mode in
which a system of house-to-house drainage could be
carried out without injuring the sewers or polluting
the river. And here it must be observed, that we had
been going on with the old Act of Henry
which not only did not enable, but absolutely pro.
hibited the commissioners from making any new
drains or compelling any man to drain his house into
a sewer; and it was not until the Westminster Com-
mission applied to Parliament, in the year 1847, that
they obtained powers to construct additional sewers
and to enforce house drainage, on the credit of the
plan which he was now advocating, and of which the
commissioners had highly approved. Many circum-
stances had, however, interposed to retard the accom
plishrnent of the project ; but he was anxious to show
that the promoters had fairly launched it before the
public, and could not be accused of having hidden
their light under a bushel. As far back
as the month of September, 1847, a full de-
scription of the plan appeared in most of
the morning journals and in many of the weekly
papers, and in refutation or amendment has therefore
been fairly challenged ; but no one had come forward
to devise
a better scheme. It was taken before Par-
liament in 1848 ; but on the second reading the Go-
vernment thought they would have a better plan, and
the farther progress of the Bill was suspended. It
had also been submitted in March, 1848, to the City
Commission of Sewers, who, after some discussion,
decided not to offer it any opposition, and many of
the speakers warmly commended it. Between 1848
and 1849 it was much advocated through the press ;
and when, in 1849, a metropolitan commission was
appointed, no less than 150 different plans for drain-
ing the metropolis were sent into the commissioners
the whole of which they declared to be founded on
insufficient data. Now, the promoters of that com-
pany abstained on that occasion from sending in any
plan to the commissioners, and the result
was, that almost the whole 150 rival schemes
were either copies or letter originals of that
which had been set forth by the Great London
Drainage Company. And further, the plan which
the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers had ulti-
mately decided upon was identical with theirs ; and
indeed so strong was the resemblance that when he
laid it before the surveyor of her Majesty's Woods
and Forests, that gentleman observed that it was the
plan of the Metropolitan Commissioners. When, in
October, 1845, ho went down to the marshes, east of
the metropolis, to decide on the locality for the con-
struction of a deep receptacle to afford a better out-
fall, the point on which the whole scheme rested, he
actually selected the very spot at Barking Creek
which the Metropolitan Commissioners of Sewers
adopted in January, 1851. The modifications which
the commissioners had made were really rather ad-
ditions than alterations. They proposed an extension
to Hackney, and things of that kind, and also a
high level sewer. These might be all very
good improvements in their way; but it was
obvious that the "bonstruction of a tunnel,
sewer to provide a sufficient outlet, was the
first thing to be done, and it would require two years
to complete it. When it was finished, Hackney, or
any similar district, might be called upon to carry
out the subsequent parts of the soheene, for which the
way would have been paved. The concurrence of the
Commissioners of Sewers he took, therefore, to be de-
cisive as to the merits of their scheme. The next
question was—How was the plan to be carried out ?
Were they to wait till a commission was unanimous
on the matter, and obtained an Act of Parliament to
secure it ; or, could they all, individually and collec-
tively lend their assistance to remove a gigantic evil
in the city which they inhabited ? Well, the pro-
moters of that project, who were only private parties
without any high name yet to advertise as their
chairman, although they expected to have the aid of
a leading nobleman, could at present do no more than
lay the matter before the public in such a shape as
would enable it to be taken up by those who were
able successfully to carry it out, feeling satisfied that
if it were only properly
understood there was sufficient
capital to he found in the metropolis for its com-
pletion. They intended to go to Parliament in
the ensuing session, and all the standing orders
had been complied with, the plans deposited, and the
requisite notices served. Their Bill had also been
drawn, and could be inspected by any gentleman who
wished to see it; and the subscription contract and the
subscribers' agreement were also prepared because the
promoters were anxious to have matters so far cut
and dried and ready to hand as would enable all
parties, whether they had only a few shillings to
spare, or had their pockets full of money, to do some-
thing to assist the common object. Some objected to
proceeding with the undertaking that the question of
drainage was mixed up with a better water supply,
and that the two could not be separated ; but he
thought they should first construct the tunnel sewers,
which would prevent the pollution of the river, and
then they would find that the water question had
settled itself, or at least had wonderfully simplified it.
By the present system of drainage they estimated
that 200,000 tons of valuable manure were annually
wasted, and the farmers of the country were paying
to a foreign Government 151. per ton for guano, when
a substance very similar could be supplied to them

ready to hand at 30s. per ton, and an ample profit be
realised by the shareholders. The shares would be
201. each, and the first deposit 1/. 23 , and only 41.
would be allowed for preliminary expenses, so that
Ils. would be returnable if the Act was not obtained.
He begged, in conclusion, to move .—" That the plan
proposed by the Great London Drainage Company
for draining the metropolis, by diverting all the soil
and soilage into tunnel sewers, thereby intercepting
the same for use for agricultural purposes, and pre-
serving the river Thames from pollution, is deserving
of public support, and this meeting pledges itself cor-
dially to assist the proposed undertaking."
Mr. HAT, the engineer to the company, seconded
the resolution, and excused himself for taking such a
part in the proceedings on the ground that the pro-
ject was only in its infancy. He said be had minutely
examined the " borings" of Losidon, and had no
hesitation in saying that the whole line of proposed
tunnelling would pass through a bed of blue clay of
sufficient thickness to guarantee the stability of any
tunnel made in ir. Thy. plan of the Commissioners of
Sewers would not confine the work to the blue clay
stratum.

The first resolution was carried nem. con.

Mr. MOREWOOD said he had already the names of
five respectable merchants of the city of London, nod
as a great deal of work hail to be got through within
the next few days, he would propose that Mr.
Frederick Mildred, of Nicholas-lane, and Mr. C. R.
Thompson, of Winchester-howe, Old Broad-street,
be requested to receive the names of gentlemen who
might be desirous of being inserted in the prospectus
as directors ; and that as the Parliamentary contract
must be lodged on Wednesday next, that they also be
requested to insert two names of gentlemen qualified
to act as trustees, in whom would be vested the further
prosecution of the project.
Mr. CLARKE seconded the motion, which was then
decided to be carried nem, con.. and the proceedings
terminated.

PROSPERITY OF BIRMING'dAM
The year just drawing to a close has been de-
cidedly one of the most prosperous ever experienced in
the trading, annals of Birmingham. From January
down to the moment at which we write the tide of
prosperity has encountered in its flow very few of the
impediments usually attendant upon commercial trans-
actions so vast that the manufactures are spread over
almost every civilized clime. As we have no dispo-
sition to enlarge unduly upon this cheering state of
affairs, neither is there the slightest ground or pre-
tence of reason to be urged of a contrary character.
One of the very oldest names connected with the mer-
cantile concerns of the town publicly declared, only a
day or two since, that en experience of 45 years had
not revealed to him any thing like the general pros-
perity that has been experienced during the last
twelve months. The gentleman to whom we refer
is Mr. Van Wart, whose connexions extend
almost throughout the entire American continent.
In the opinion which he entertains there is
scarcely a manufacturer or merchant of eminence
hereabouts who does not concur. This is not the
head under which to enter into publie discussion, but
the undoubted fact may at least be stated, that from
the earliest moment when the free-trade principle
came into active operation, the aspect of commercial
concerns hereabouts began to undergo a rapid and
ultimately a complete change. Instead of months of
languor and depression, accompanied by fitful vi-its
of comparative prosperity, the last five years have
been characterised by a continuation of good trade—
by a steady demand for the goods manufactured—by
the opening of new markets hitherto of trifling value
—by an immense improvement in the quality of the
manufactures both as regards design and workman-
ship, and by a degree of prudence in the conduct of
trade, such as has never perhaps before been exhibited
where the temptations to overtrading are increased by
competition, or by the desire to acquire wealth. In
the five years just gone by, there has been (with two
exceptions) scarcely a failure worthy of notice in
the town or district. In point of magnitude the
Stourbridge Bank failure stands alone, and the
instability of the concern has been evident for years.
That fruitful year for embarrassments, 1847, pro-
duced in the Birmingham district little beyond tem-
porary difficulties of inconsiderable amount, and
there have been abundant indications since,
that speculations beyond the limits warranted by
capital have been the exception rather than the rule.
Perhaps the best index to this fact is to be gleaned
from the flourishing condition of the chief joint-
stock banking establishments in the town, most of
which have sprung into existence in the last twenty
years. Neither has the year just closing been merely
a successful one so far as may be estimated by the ex-
tent of the orders executed, although the enormcus
ratio in which hardware orders have increased might
afford matter enough for congratulation ; but it has
been marked by an improvement in the conduct of
business, and every disposition has been shown by the
leading manufacturers to profit by the fine collection
of foreign products displayed at the Great Exhibition,
the excellence of which in many respects far surpassed
that of our manufactories. This defect in our goods
hai been attributable to two causes—first, to indispoe
.ition on the part of the manufacturers to pay for
modelling; and secondly, to the badness of the school
in which most of the modellers have been educated.
Guided by no normal rules of art, and deficient in
that acquired refinement of taste which a judicious
course of artistic discipline is designed to im•
part, the amateur's fancy has hitherto ran
riot, and designs of the most mereti icious
character have been too frequently the result. In the
department of lamps and chandeliers these fine speci-
mens of a bad system were to be seen in no incon-
siderable number in the Great Exhibition, but still
more so in the smaller one here in 1849. The excuse
of second-rate manufactures is thatsuch articles found
more purchasers amongst the general public, whose
preference for the gaudy and inelegant has arisen from
pretty much the same cause that has led to its pro-
duction. A better example has, however, recently
been set by several of the leading manufacturers, who
have an eye to their ultimate credit rather than im-
mediate profit, and it is an example that must be
generally followed. Lamp and chandelier making has
become one of the most valuable branches of our
manufactures ; the export trade has very largely in-
creased during the last year or two, and the demand
for the home trade, especially for lamps, has extended
in at least equal proportion. Throughout the whole
of the year the orders have been extremely large, and
are so even at this moment. Cabinet brass-foundry,
one of the oldest of the Birmingham trades, has been
generally brisk, with the exception of a slight
lull in the month of October ; but the partial
slackness has ceased, arid all the manufac-
tories are in full work, with at least a
sufficiency of orders to carry them over the two
next dreary weeks. The brass-cock founders report
that their trade is steady, and generally in as satis-
factory a condition as could be wished. Hook-and-
eye and steel-pen trades are reported to be brisk, the
demand for the latter for the foreign trade being
greatly on the increase. The pin-makers have had a
sufficiency of orders to keep the works well going
throughout the year, and are still in pretty much the
same condition. Under the head "light steel toss"
are comprised a multitude of articles...in general use :
in this branch the export trade has very much in-
creased, especially for the colonial market ; during
the autumn there have been some very good orders ;
at present there is a slight depression, but it is of a
very trifling character. For " heavy steel toys" the
trade continues good ; the edge-tool makers, espe-
cially, are well off for orders; their consignments to
South America have been immense during the last
eighteen months—a fact which is, perhaps, mainly
attributable to the low price of the raw material. The
iron wire drawers have had enormous orders during
the last twelve months, and still continue busy, chiefly
in consequence of the quantity required for the electric
telegraph. The japauners have had a capital trade
throughout the year; just now the orders are not quite
so brisk. For papier mache goods very large orders were
received whilst the Exhibition was open • of these many
are not yet completed, and the bulk of the orders are
for the foreign market. The electro-platers have been
busyi throughout the year, the orders having been
larger than were ever before known : in this branch
the demand for goods seems very likely to be very
greatly increased. The gunmakers, sword cutlers,
engine makers, and fender and fire-iron makers, all
speak cheerfully of the condition of their various
trades, and of the materials for congratulation which
the expiring year affords. In other branches of minor
importance the reports are equally satisfactory ; the
various branches of button trades are at present expe-
riencing a scarcity of orders, not an unusual circum-
stance at this period of the year; neither has the at-
tempt to re-introduce the fancy gilt buttons been at-
tended with even partial success. The fancy trades
are languid just now, except in a single article—geld
chains—for which the orders have been enormous
all the year. The factors, whose business
lies chiefly in the fancy goods, are complain-
ing that the orders for the home market are less than
usual this month, a stimulant being generally given
to the trade consequent on orders for the Christmas
presents. At most of the works in the districts the
hands are in full work; at Walsall the saddler's iron-
mongers have a fair average amount of orders, and at
Bilston the tinplaters are working full time. The
glass makers are said to be extremely busy both jn
the manufacture of crown and plate glass; and in a
branch where competition has as yet been scarcely
felt, that of gas fitting, there is every reason to be-
lieve that those engaged in the trade have quite as
much work as they can execute, and this has been
the case for a considerable time. The nailers, both
in the town and district, are in full work, and the
impetus recently given to the gun trade of Birming-
ham has operted equally beneficially for the gun-
lock filers of Darlaston. the foreign trade generally
has been good throughout the year, especially as
relates to all the markets of the Meditcr-