The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-24 00:00:00

APPREHENSION ()F A MURDERER IN
AMERICA.

The Boston Courier of the 2d mentions the arrest
of a man named James Johnson on board the ship
Brewster, Capt. Fessenden, from Calcutta, Nov. 30,

on a charge of murdering three seamen belonging
to the British man-of-war Retribution, from Cal-
cutta, about five months since. The facts in the case,
as near as can be ascertained, are as follows :

"Johnson is an Englishman by birth, and states
that he is 23 years of age, althmigh he appears
several years older. He belonged to the British
army in India,-froni which be deserted two or three
years since: He afterwards acted as a bar-tender
at a low rum shop in Calcutta, and it was here that
he, with others, murdered the three seamen. The
men were killed by being beaten over the head with
a slung shot and glass bottles. ThE y were sui-iposed
to have been murdered for their money. Johnson

was supposed to be the chief perpetrator of this
horrible murder, and officers were sent in every
direction to ferret him out if possible. Ile escaped,
however, by hiding behind a eftimney in the Louse
of a friend, where he remained three days without
anything to eat. At the end of that time he left,
and smuggled himself on board the ship North
America, which was to sail immediately Tor the
United States. He bribed the mate by giVing him
a gold watch to allow him to remain. He was de-
tected; however, by some of the crew, as a fugitive
from justice, and sent on shore. Ile then went on
board the bark Clarissa Currier, which was hound
for Boston, and bribed the mate by giving two gold
rings and, a silver watch to allow him to stay; but
here ho was discovered again while going down the
river Hoogly, and to get rid of him they sent him
on board the ship Brewster, which was just leaving
for this port. He climbed over the bows of that ship,
and, when one of the sailors asked him what he
wanted, he said„" For God's sake save me ; if the
officers get hold of me I shall catch the seven
stretchers.' fhey concluded to bring him over, and
did not suspect at the time that he was a murderer.
The sailors state- that during the passage he has
been seen to start up in his sleep, and cry out,' Go
away, I did not murder you alone ; he helped me to
do it.' IMy God, there they are !' See the blood
and other exclamations of horror,- mingled with
oaths. The police are in search of the mate- of the
Clarissa Currier, to whom the prisoner is supposed
to have confess,d the crime. The ship arrived here
about a week since, and the mate has concealed him-
self on account of a debt for which he has become
liable, and for which a warrant has been issued
against him. The evidence is probably strong
enough to convict him without the testimony of the
mate, but the British Consul desires to have the evi-
dence beyond a doubt before sending him to Cal-
cutta. Johnson is of medium size, arta has a decidedly
hard looking face, especially when looked upon as
a murderer. He refuses to hold any conversation in
regard to the crime with which he is charged."
A Vicksburg (Mississippi) paper relates another
case of negro burning as follows :
" We have just come in possession of the follow-
ing facts in relation to the burning of a negro man
at Mr. Woolfolk's plantation on Deer Creek. It
seems that- the negro thus summarily dealt with
was a vicious, self-willed fellow, and, becoming
offended at a woman (black) on the same planta-
tion, wall:ed up to her as she was working in the
field and deliberately plunged his knife into her
heart. Upon perpetrating this bloody deed he fled
to the woods, not, however, before giving several other
negroes to understand that their time would come
next, and after them two white men living hard by.
Dogs were put on his track, and after a chase of seN o-
ral hourshe was captured, though not without a des-
perate struggle—the pursuers being put to all they
knew to take him alive. Having securely bound
him, they took him back to the plantation to con-
sider what was best to be done in his case. Several
highly respectable gentlemen were present at the
council, who concluded the severest punishment
possible should be inflicted upon the black despe-
rado who had for so trivial a cause taken life, as it
might be the means of repressing at once any simi-
lar ebullition of passion on the part of other despe-
rate negroes in the neighbourhood. They decided-
to burn him at the stake, which was done in the
presence of all the negroes on that and several of
the adjoining plantations, all of whom seemed ter-
rified out of their wits on viewing so awful a scene.
The spirit of the doomed negro never was subdued.
He died cursing his judges—his last words being
that he would 'take vengeance on them when they
meet each other in —.'" •

PRIZE-FIGHT in ANCIENT TDIES, or a" BELL'S

LIFE" in the YEAR 260 B.C.

A correspondent writes as follows :—The contest

between Pollux and Amycus, az; described by Theo-
critus in his 22d idyll, is so singularly like the late
fight for the championship that I think the follow-
ing extract from Mr. Banks's literal translation
will amuse and interest those who are not already
acquainted with it.
The idyll in question describes the arrival. of the
Argonauts in Jason's ship at the shores of the
Bebriciams, and their landing. Castor and Pollux,,
going i❑ quest of water, meet the gigantic Amycus,
and a quarrel ensues :
(Extract from Idyll xxii. of Theocritus.)
" And here a man of overwhelming size would sit

and take the air, terrible to look upon, having his
ears bruised with hard thumps, and his huge chest
and broad back were arched and rounded with iron

flesh like a forged colossus. And on his strong
arms the muscles stood out at the surface of the
shoulder, like round stones, which the river tor-
rent has polished by rolling in its vast eddies; but
over his back and neck was hung a lion's skin,
fastened on by the paws, and him the prize-man
Pollux first bespoke:—
" Poll.—Save you, stranger, whoever you are,;
who are the mortals to whom this country belongs?

And they quickly gathered together to the shade of
the plane trees, at the blast of the trumpet, the
always long-haired Bebricians. In like manner, too,
Castor, pre-eminent in fight, went and summoned
from the Magnesian ship all the heroes. Now they,
when in fact they had fortified their hands with
coils of ox-hide, and had rolled great thongs
araund their arms, proceeded to engage in the
midst, breathing slaughter one against the other.
Hereupon a great struggle arose to them, as they
were urgent which of the two should get the glare
of the sun at his back. But by skill you over-
reached a great hero, 0 Pollux, and all the counte-
nance of Amycus was being struck with rays. Then
he, in sooth, enraged at heart, was advancing for-
ward, taking aim with his hands ; when the son of
ndarus hit the tip of his chin as he came on,
and he was raised more than before, and dealt
his blows at random, and kept rushing on with
great force, bending over the earth, and
the Bebricians began to shout ; but on the
other side the heroes were cheering on strong
Pollux, though fearful lest haply, in a narrow
spot, a man resembling Tityus should bear down
and subdue him. But, in truth, the son of Jove,
on his part, coming up with him in one place and
another, kept wounding him with both hands in
turn, and was checking from his onslaught the son
of Neptune, overbearing though he was, and he
stood reeling with blows, and spat out gory blood,
and then all the chiefs raised a shout together when
they saw grievous wounds about his mouth and
jaws, and his eyes were straitened for room on his
swollen visage.

"Him,indeed, the Prince Pollux disturbed by
making feints with his fists on every side ; but
when, at length, he perceived that he was dis-
tressed, he drove his fist above the middle of his
nose right down his brow, and stripped off all his
forehead to the bone. But he, having been stricken,
measured his length on his back among the green
grass. Hereupon a fierce fight arose again when
he had righted himself, and they were hurting one
another by blows with the hard emstus. But the
ruler of the Bebricians, for his part, was directing
his fists against the chest and outside the neck of
his foe, while Pollux, the invincible, was disfigur-
ing all the other's visage with unseemly blows,
and his flesh (i.e., that of Amycus) was sinking
through sweat, and, from being huge, he had
become on a sudden a little man ; but the other,
as he tasted toil, was bearing limbs even stronger,
and still improving in healthy colour.
Now, how at last the son of Jove overthrew
the athlete declare, thou goddess, for thou knowest
and I, the interpreter of others, will speak as
much as thou desirest, and is agreeable to thy-
self. In truth, Amycus, on his part being desi-
rous to do some great deed, seized with his left
hand the left hand of Pollux, bending slantwi;
with a lunge, and, with the other hand making h's
assault, raised his broad fist from his right s;de, as d
he would have hit and injured the King of the
Amyclwans, but he in turn came up secretly from
under with his head, and then with his strong hand
struck him under the left temple and fell on his
shoulder. Then the dark blood poured out rapidly
from his gaping temple ; and with his left hand he
struck his mouth, and the thickset teeth rattled ;
while he kept maiming his face with ever sharper
blows, until he had smashed his cheeks; beat then
all on the ground he fell senseless, and lifted up
both hands at once as renouncing the victory, for
he was nigh unto death.
"To him, thou wast victor, 0 boxer Pollux ;
thou didst nothing madly violent."

TILE WINE LICENSES BILL.—A paragraph has
been put in circulation stating that 125,000 people "rave pe-
titioned against the Wine Licenses Bill. The real •number
up to April 18, according to the last report, was 17,506.