The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-21 00:00:00

THE HOMICIDE in the REGENT'

CANAL DOCK.

Yesterday an adjourned inquest was held before Mr.
Baker, coroner, and a jury, at the Three Colts, Lime-
house, on the body of R )bert Ablett, aged 40, a labourer
who was killed on the deck of the Lively schooner, in the
Regent's Canal Dock, on Thursday afternoon, while he
was heaving at the winch. The person who fired the
shot which caused the death of the unfortunate man is
William East, a hoop-bender, of 39, London-street, Bat-
cliff, who, according to his own admission, was firing at
an earthenware jug, fixed on the top of a post i❑ the rear
of his premises. He has been twice before Mr. Ingham
at the Thames Police Court, and liberated on bail. The
evidence given yesterday left no doubt that a gun was
fired by East in his yard at the time the deceased fell
mortally wounded on the deck of the Lively, and that the
shot carne from the direction of London-street.

Some additional evidence, not yet produced before the
magistrate, was given.
Mr. Spatt, a gunsmith, said ha had tried East's gun
with the " smaller charge," and found it would carry a
ball thirty or forty 3 ards beyond the distance where
Ablett fell, from where it was presumed to have been
fired. He tried on a measured distance, at a target. The
ball went thirty feet beyond the target, and stuck in the
bank; but so deep that he could not find the ball.
-

Two other witnesses (neighbours) spoke to having
cautioned the accused several times against firing off his
gun in his back garden, within the last twelve months;
but he would not desist.

Mr. Rowe, a surgeon, who had made a post mortem
examination of the body, said the ball entered two inchs
below the nipple, and penetrated the ventricle of the
heart, passing obliquely and resting in the sack of the
heart, carrying away pieces and splinters of the rib, and
embedding them in the heart. He produced a piece.
Mr. Pelham, who attended for the accused by direc-
tion of his parents, respectable working people, said the
young man was ready to be examined. He was under
rem-And, and on bail to appear before Mr. Ingham, and
therefore in the custody or the law, and he hoped that
the coroner, in the event of the verdict being adverse,
would not issue his warrant to commit, as that would
possibly create confusion, and there would be a clashing
of jurisdictions.

The CORONER agreed, and said, if it became necessary
to issue his warrant, he would not do so until after
Thursday, the day of the next examination.
The court being cleared, the jury deliberated for an
hour and a halt', and then returned a verdict of man-
slaughter against William East, and unanimously joined
in requesting the Coroner to suspend the execution of
the warrant until after Thursday next, to prevent the
recognizlnces entered into by East being estreated by
the magistrate.

The CORONER called Squires, 14 IC, the sergeant who
had charge of the cae, and gave him directions ac-
cordingly.
On the breaking up of the Court, however, it ap-
peared that rather than risk incarceration, the accused
had taken the precaution to quit the house, and could
not be found ; a juryman remarking that he had no
doubt his friend, Mr. Pelham, was for making safety
doubly sure.
Mr. Pelham—Certainly ; I advised East to be out of
the way till Thursday next, when he will meet the
charge.