The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING JANUARY 23, 1856

LINE 6 ASED A NIS Kis KENTALt.

THE ASSASSINATION OF MR. WAUGH.

THE RESCUE OF THE DISCOVERY BARK

_RESOLUTE FROM THE ICE.

Coroner's Inquest.—(This Day.)

This vessel, which was one of three ships sent out in
1851 in search of Sir John Franklin and party, and
which was abandoned in 1853, by Sir Edward Belcher,
in Wellington Channel, in about lat. 76, long. 94, has
been recovered, after drifting 1,000 miles, and taken
into New London, United States, by Captain Budding.
ton, of the whaling bark George Henry, belonging to
that port. It was on the 10th of September, in lat. 67
N., and while in a field of ice, that the captain disco-
vered a ship in the distance, bearing north east, about
20 miles from Cape Mercy. The head of the stranger
appeared to be due east, and during the whole of that
day and the one following the course of the ship did not
vary more than a point or so from the east. Both ves-
sels gradually approached each other, during five days,
in an extraordinary manner, caused, as Captain Bud-
dington supposes, from the vessel having been struck
by a counter current from Davis's Straits. On the
sixth day a party was sent from Davis's Straits. On
the sixth day a party was sent from the George Henry
to report upon the abandoned vessel, and, on their
return, the captain, hearing that it was her Britannic
Majesty's ship Resolute, and knowing the history of the
Arctic expeditions, determined to endeavour to rescue
her. Captain Buddington, with this intention, loft his
own vessel and boarded the Resolute. He commenced
immediately to search the vessel, in order to ascertain if
she was seaworthy. On descending the hold it was
found to be entirely full of water up to the floor of the
first deck. The well was then sounded, and 7 feet of
water were discovered to be in the ship. The pumps
were then visited, and, being of a new construction,
none but the captain was acquainted with the mode of
working them. One of them, which was a force-pump
very great power, was rigged, and the following morn-
ing was got in working order. A gang of men were
then set to work, and for three days the pump was kept
going. Fourteen hours out of the 24 were consumed
in thus freeing the vessel, On the third day all the
water was cleared from her bold, and the attention of
the captain was turned towards extricating the prize
from the dangerous position she was then placed
in. The appearance of thing§ on board, as represented
by Captain Buddington, when he had leisure to ex-
amine the vessel, was doleful in the extreme. Every-
thing ef a moveable nature seemed to be out of its place,
and was in a damaged condition from the immersion
in the water. The cabin was strewed with books,
clothing, preserved meats, interspersed here and there
with lumps of ice. There was one thing, however,
which struck him as being very remarkable, and for
which probably no satisfactory explanation can be given ;
and this was the presence of ice for several feet in thick-
ness on the larboard side, while there was not a particle
on the starboard. The only argument that can be pre-
sented to explain this curious freak of the elements is,
that the Resolute, lying with her head to the eastward for
probably more than a month, received the direct rays of
the sun on the starboard quarter, and nowhere else, and
thus a daily warmth was imparted to this side of the
ship, while the other side, being without this heat, be-
came as solidified with ice as though the sun never shone
on it. This supposition may be very plausible and satis-
factory to many, for, to the certain knowledge of Captain
Buddington, the head of the Resolute never varied
from the east for twenty days, notwithstanding she
was constantly drifting in a south-west direction (the
course of the pack.) There was scarcely anything on
board the abandoned vessel that was not more or less
destroyed. There was a great lack of fuel oa board, al-
though in the course of the search throughout the vessel
a little coal was discovered in the hold, but the quantity
was very small, and entirely inadequate to supply the
vessel more than a week. Of provisions there was
enough, perhaps, to last a crew of 75 men (the number
originally carried by the Resolute) for nine months.
The salt meats were the only articles that were at all in
a state of preservation. Everything had gone to decay.
Even the ship's sails, found between decks, were so
rotten that the sailors could thrust their fingers through
them like so much brown paper. An attempt was sub-
sequently made to rig a top-mast studding-sail out of
some of the canvas found saturated with water ; but it
blew out of the gearing, and was scattered to the winds
like chaff. The lower hold was found to contain the
library of one of the officers of the expedition, valued at
over $l,OOO. The books were entirely valueless when
discovered by Capt. Buddington, and subsequently thrown
overboard as worthless rubbish. After great difficulties
the captain succeeded in getting clear from the ice on the
16th of Oct., and commenced his homeward voyage.
Upon this fresh difficulties arose. The ballast-tanks
having burst in the hold rendered the Resolute very
light and apt to roll heavily in the trough of the sea,
and gale after gale was experienced. The open sea was
gained, and on the 20th of October the homeward voy•
ago commenced. After a succession of strong gales and
head winds the New London Lighthouse was made on
the 24th of December. During the voyage, when a
little to the north of the Banks of Newfoundland, the
Resolute came in contact with an iceberg about 50ft. in
height, on the top of which there was a detached piece
of ice of many tons' weight, and which the captain
expected every moment would tumble down upon the
vessel and sink the prize so gallantly obtained. So great
was the danger that the boats were all in readiness to
push off, should the overhanging glacer be precipitated
upon them. However, after a great deal of careful work-
ing and hard labour, the dangerous obstacle was cleared.
When the Resolute was first boarded, the ice around her
was from 25 to 30 feet thick. Everything was stowed
away in proper order for a desertion, spars hauled up to
one side and bound, boats piled together (covering snow
sleds), hatches closed, &e. In the cabin everything was
silent and dark, but they broke in the hatchway door,
and felt their way in the darkness to the table ; on it they
found matches and candles, and the decanters of the
officers with excellent liquor in them, glasses standing
around, just as they had been left so many months before.
A dry mould had gathered over everything. The iron
water tanks in the hold had burst from extreme cold,
and the water they had held had flowed over the bottom ,
of the bold. Between decks everything was covered
with moisture. A sort of perspiration had risen from the
water underneath and settled above. Many articles of
apparel were found " wringing wet." The party made
a fire in the cabin, and the mould soon began to drip do an
upon them. Upon the reporters from the different jour-
nals boarding her upon her arrival all articles of a perish.
able nature were found to be utterly ruined ; glue had
dropped out of locker joints, and everthing was covered
with rust and mould. The books in the library were
for the greater part in a good state ef preservation, al-
though they were much damaged from the tallow and
grease spilt about the cabin in the voyage home. The
wines'„ocker, facing the library, on the opposite s de of the
apartment, was filled with a goodly array of bottles, filled
with port, sherry, brandy, and champagne. The ceilings
were entirely covered with firearms, whaling gear, lances,
surveying instruments, telescopes, rocket-guns, and sig-
nals. Indeed every portion of the entire cabin seemed to
have been stowed away with valuables. There were two
closets at each side of the library, running back as far as
the dead lights, which were completely jammed with
clothing, boots, stockings, and other articles of wearing
apparel. Rolls of cordage and gutta percha piping—the
latter article was evidently meant to cover a telegraph
wire—also huddled together among the mass of rubbish
that had been stowed in these closets. In the petty
officers' room the British navy uniform was scattered
about in all directions. Some of the coats and panta-
loons were in good condition, and apparently had suf-
fered but little from the damp. In the berths were
hooks, suits of clothing, firearms, powder in canisters,
flasks, pictures, tobacco-pipes, and matches. Besides
the above articles, there was a variety of eatables
and preserves, with which the whale men had made sad
havoc. Many little dainties, such as chocolate, preserved
fruits and jams, were found snugly stowed away in the
nooks and corners of the berths. In the centre of the
apartment the mess table once stood, but in the voyage
home it fell to pieces and had to be thrown overboard by
the crew. Here there were several theatrical costu mes,
which would have been suitable for some of the best
" stars" of the day. The. habiliments of Othello,
Richard, and King Lear were carelessly lying among a
pile of clothing which were, no doubt, intended for
clowns and tumblers, for the spangles and variety of
colours on the latter would lead one to infer that even
Circus performance had been attempted on board the
Resolute. Wigs and other articles necessary to a
good representation of either farce or tragedy lay scat-
tered around the floor in a blue mouldy condition. To
a close observer there was in the middies' room every-
thing that the lovers of sport or amusement could desire.
Iu the steward's pantry all was nearly perfect, but in
the seamen's room the cookery utensils were missing,
having apparently been carried away by the exploring
party as the most useful to them. All the other por-
tions of the ship were stored with valuable descriptions
of property suited to the purposes on which the Resolute
was employed. As a curious and interesting coinci-
dence, it is stated that, in the year 1852, Messrs.
Perkins and Smith, shipowners, of New London, sent
out a bark called the M'Clellan to Davis's Straits for
the purpose of getting oil and bone. While fishing
here the captain of the M'Clellan fell in with Sir Ed-
ward Belcher's squadron wintering in the ice. While
in their company the M'Clellan was crushed in the ice,
and it was thought prudent by the captain to abandon
the ship, and sell her and the contents to the com-
mander of the British squadron. This was accordingly
done, and the whaling-bark was stripped of every-
thing that was valuable on board, and the articles dis-
tributed on board the various vessels composing the
fleet. The George Henry, Captain Buddington, was
fitted out by Messrs. Perkins and Smith to fill the place
of the lost barque M'Clellan, and in 1855 she proceeded
to the very sea where the latter was abandoned to Sir
Edward Belcher's party, and here, in the course of the
voyage, one of the very squadron which assisted the
M‘Clelland's commander in his difficulty was picked up,
an abandoned ship, by the vessel fitted out in the place
of the one taken possession of by the British three years
previously. This is not all. On board the Resolute ore
now pieces of sail of American manufacture, which had
doubtless hung from the topgallant yard of the ill-fated.
M'Clellan. It is very strange that, after such a !aPst°B!
time, a remnant of Messrs. Perkins and Smiths I 0 t
vessel should be brought to their very doors from the
depths of the Arctic regions in this manner.

The adjourned inquest on the body of the unfortunate
Mr. Waugh was resumed this morning at the board.
room of St. Andrew's Workhouse, Gray's-inn-lane, be.
fore Mr. WaklV, coroner, and a highly-respectable jury.
The inquest was adjourned on the former day is order
that John Broadfoot Westron, the murderer, might at-
tend and be identified by the various witnesses who saw
the prisoner on the morning of the horrible and melan-
choly occurrence. A memorial was presented to the
Secretary of State requesting him to direct that the
prisoner should be brought before the coroner, who
issued an order accordingly to the Governor of the House
of Detention.

This morning the prisoner was conveyed in a cab, in
custody of Inspector Checkley and Sergeant Haynes of
the E division, to the board-room ; but owing to his
removal being earlier than was expected, but few per-
eons bad congregated to catch a glimpse of him. As
the investigation proceeded the numbers increased coa
siderably, and by the time the inquest was over the 1
neighbourhood of the workhouse was crowded by per-
sons eager to see him leave for final examination at the
Clerkenwell Police-court.

The prisoner whilst before the coroner appeared not
to feel the awful position in which he had placed him
self by the diabolical act he had committed. He stood
with his arms folded, and leisurely surveyed the pro-
ceedings in a manner almost amounting to total indif-
ference.

Mr. Humphreys attended on the part of the ex ecutors
of the deceased gentleman, and Mr. Lewis for the pri-
soners.

The various witnesses whose examination have already
been given were in attendance to identify the prisoner,
but before he was brought into court Mr. Wakley re-
quested Mr. Whitfield, the principal witness, to retire.
The prisoner was then brought into the room and allowed
to stand amongst the crowd, when Mr. Whitfield was
called in and asked to _pick out the man who he saw
shoot the deceased. He immediately pointed out the
prisoner as the man.
Inspector Checkley deposed, in addition to what has
already been published, that on searching the prisoner's
lodgings be found, amongst other things, a box contain-
ing powder, percussion caps, from 12 to 15 bullets, and
a bullet mould. The bullets fitted the pistol, which the
Inspector had ascertained the prisoner purchased about
15 months ago, for a guinea, from Mr. Wilcocks, tobac-
conist, Railway-arch, Minories. [lt was a percussion
Gap pistol, with a brass barrel, and rather elaborately
embossed stock or handle.]

The Coroner then directed the Inspector to remove
the prisoner from the room, and have him conveyed to
the police-station at once. _ _

Inspector Checkley said the examination had been
fixed to take place at 2 o'clock. He would take care
the pritioner was at the police•office in time.

The Coroner—l should wish him to be taken there at
once. I promised the prisoner should be at the police-
station by 12 o'clock, and I should like to keep ray
word. There is time enough to do it, and therefore let
it be done, that it might not be said any act of mine had
interfered with the administration ofjestice.

The prisoner was then removed.
Mr. Lewis said it was to be regretted that the pri-
soner laboured ucder a delusion with reference to the
decea'ed gentleman, and the friends of the prisoner were
anxious that it should be known that so far from that
gentleman behaving ill to him, he had treated him and
them with the greatest kindness, and had always acted
for their benefit. On another oceasion be (Mr. Lewis)
should be able to prove that the prisoner was labouring
under a delusion ; but it was useless for him to do so
then, as that Court could not aot on such evidence.
This delusion was, if he might so term it, an hereditary
complaint in the family. The prisoner's father and
uncle destroyed themselves whilst labouring under
mental derangement, and his aunt died in a lunatic
asylum. His conduct in bis lodgings had been such
as would leave no doubt but that the prisoner
ought not to have been permitted to be at large, and he
had had to leave various lodgings from his conduct being,
as the parties stated, that of a madman. On one occa-
sion he opened his wi❑dow and set the things in the
room on fire, and when remonstrated with alleged he
did it to destroy the devil.

The Coroner, in summing up, made some remarks on
the impropriety of allowing persons of the prisoner's
description being at large. Re did not consider it was
enough, when a man used violent threats to another, to
merely bind him over to keep the peace for a few months.
He considered that such men should be kept in custody
as a guarantee against Abair committing snob..acts as that
they bad the melancholy duty that day of inquiring into.
He looked upon it as an act of cruelty to allow such per-
sons their freedom.

The jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against
the prisoner.

The prisoner was ultimately taken to the Clerkenwell
police-station, where the prisoner was formally com-
mitted for trial for the wilful murder of Mr. Waugh.

FUNERAL OF MR. WAUGH.

The mortal remains of this unfortunate gentleman
were this day consigned to their final resting-place.
On its becoming known that the funeral of the de.
ceased would take place this morning, the vicinity of
the residence of the late Mr. Waugh was in a state of
much excitement, and groups of persons were to be seen
patiently waiting, at different parts of the road, the
arrival of the melancholy precession.

At eleven o'clock the funeral cortege, consisting of a
hearse and five mourning coaches, left the residence of
the deceased gentleman, in Ladbroke•square, Nutting-
hill, and proceeded at a slow pace towards the Highgate
Cemetery, at which place it arrived shortly after one
o'clock.

With the exception of the family and relatives of the
deceased gentleman, there were but few persons present
at the interment of the body.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day.)

CORN EXCHANGE.

Most of the supply of English wheat on *le here to-day
was the refuse of Monday. The amount of business doing
in most kinds was limited, at Monday's decline in the quo-
tations. The condition of the samples was very inferior.
There was very little inquiry for foreign wheat, the value
of which was almost nominal.
In floating cargoes very little was doing.
Barley and malt wary dull, but not cheaper.
There was a moderate sale for oats at full prices.
Beans, peas, and flour were exceedingly heavy.
AHRPIALS THIS ITEM
Ba4rloey. M. O. Fl9o6tior.
6,350
/ 1690sks.
I 410
buls.

Wheat.
750

Lnglish ..
Irish •• •._

Foreign 1 I 660

BOROUGH Hop.
We continue to have a fair demand for all kinds of hops,
at full prices.

WHITECHAPEL.

The supplies were large, and the trade ruled heavy, as
follows :—Beef, from 2s 10d to 4s 2d • mutton, 2s 10k1
to 4s 2d ; veal, 3s 8d to '4B 10d ; pork, 3s 4d to 59 Od
per Blbs by the carcase.

Mr. J. Clernentson, who, having held the office of
deputy serjeant-at-arms of the House of Commons for
50 years, was well known to the members of the to is.
ls.ture, died on Sunday last, at his residence, Felcourt
Lodge, Torquay.
THE AUSTRALIAN MAILS.---The White Star Royal
mail packet Sardinian, Captain Sheridan, belonging to
Messrs. Pilkington and Wilson, of Liverpool, sailed from
the Mersey yesterday at noon, for Melbourne, with the
usual bi-monthly mails for the Australian colonies, above
100 passengers, and a full cargo of valuable merchandise
on freight. The next mails will be conveyed from Liver-
pool to Australia by the Black Ball ship Joseph Tarratt,
Captain Hamra, appointed to sail on the 7th proximo.