The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-06 00:00:00

TRIAL DOWN WEST.

Early in the summer a white man was found murdered
on an island in the Platte River, and, as the spot was only
thirty miles from the Pawnee reservation of Indians, it was
assumed that some of them were the culprits ; but
inquiry and search proved nothing conclusive. Stiff;
four Indians were charged last month with the
murder—Yellow Sun, Little Wolf, Blue Hawk, and
Horse Driver. The trial was held at Omahg, and it is
stated that it was the first trial of the kind in the United
States. Some of the proceedings must have shewn the
Indians, if they understood what was going on, that there
was anything but a friendly feeling towards them. A per-
son called as juryman was asked if he had any prejudice
f.gainst the prisoners, as Indians or otherwise, that would
prevent his giving an impartial verdict ; he replied, " No,
only that he had been chased by Indians, and had been
in battles with them, and that he would hang every
devil of them at sight." Another juryman, being asked
the same question, said he certainly had a prejudice against
the entire Indian nation. The Judge inquired whether
he would not consider himself responsible to obey his
oath to give a true verdict according to the evi-
dence. The juror replied that he did not consider him-
self responsible for anything he could to do an Indian. It
might remind one of the trial scene in Bunyan's account of
the Pil rims passing through Vanity Fair; but at Omaha
both these persons were passed over in making the jury.
All the lrisoners were found guilty of murder; a local
?aper states that this was more than even the attorneys
for the prosecution had any hope of, but that "popular
opinion fully endorses the verdict." On the way back to tho
cell Blue Hawk and: Horse Driver suddenly bounded over
the fence of the gaol-yard, and were lost hi the darkness.
An hour afterwards Horse Driver knocked at the door of
the gaol and asked for his blanket, which had fallen off as
ho jumped over the wall. He was immediately secured,
greatly to his surprise and indignation, as he evidently
believed that having stood his trial and made good his
escape he would not be molested again, and that he would
be allowed to have his blanket.

The Boylston Bank of Boston has been robbed of
nearly 300,000 dols., mostly in United States Bonds. The
robbery is supposed to have been perpetrated by some
persons who rented a room in the adjoining building, and
cut their way through the wall into the vault.

On the 4th of January the leading members of all
the leading London theatres will pay Mr. Mathews the
rare compliment of playing for his benefit at a morning
performance in Covent Garden Theatre.
A dancing mistress has been awarded £1,550 as
compensation for compulsory removal. Mr. Hawkins, in
stating the case for the plaintiff, said she numbered
amongst her pupils duchesses, countesses, viscountesses,
both English and Irish, and even archbishops patronised
her establishment.

Information has been received in Washington of a
severe fight with Indians on the Texan frontier. Two
hisndred cavalry met 400 Indians on the Upper Brazos and
fought them for two days, when the Indians fled, leaving
forty dead on the field, and their camp equipage, horses,
and: provisions. None of the troops were killed, although
nine of them were wounded.

A large and influential meeting of bankers and
.nerchants of New York has been held in that city for the
purpose of organising an association for the erection of a
national monument to the late Mr. Peabody. The funds
are to be raised by dollar subscriptions, and the monument
when completed is to be erected in' a commanding posi-
tion in Central Park. Six hundred names were at once
given in.

MADAME DE LESSEPS.—The lady to whom M. de
Lesseps has just been married was latterly known in Egypt
as the "Rose of Sharon," in commemoration of the mode
in which ho asked for her hand. He brought her a flower
from Suez. On this flower being twisted in the fingers by
anyone, it was understood to bulb out and disclose in the
centre of the blossom the holder's future consort. M. de
Lesseps is related to have given his lady-love this flower,
asking her whom she saw in its frail leaves. The lady very
soon said, "You!" and so the matter was settled. These
flowers will doubtless be soon on sale in Covent Garden
Market. They would'be exceedingly useful to the bashful
" popper."

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW " SETTING UP.—For
some months past the Saturday Review has been set up in
type, the separate letters of which are joined together with
a sort of gum or cornett, so that short words and parts of
words are lifted from the case by the compositor in one
operation, instead of picking up each separate and distinct
letter. It is understood that this modern adaptation of the
elder Mr. Walter's system of logotypography is not a com-
plete success, the multiplication of the type boxes and
difficulty of remembering the places of all the varied com-
binations of letters rendering the process slow and
tedious.

MR. DICKENS'S NEW STORY.—Mr. Dickens's new
story (says a writer in the Daily News) of which the first
portion will be published in March next, will, it appeal*,
be completed in twelve monthly parts, instead of in twenty.
hitherto the invariable limit of his story published in this
way. Readers not curious in calculation are perhaps not
aware that such novels as " Nicholas Nickleby " and
"David Copperfield" contain .considerably more than
twice the amount of reading of an ordinary three volume
story. Twelve monthly parts, even if they have no more
pages than usual, will comprise a story much longer than
the longest of Scott's novels ; so that it will only bo as
compared with himself, that Mr. Dickens will fall
short of what may be called full measure. It is
announced that the parts will be illustrated this time
by Mr. Charles' Allston Collins, Mr. Dickens's son-in-law,
who, though he began life as an artist, in thq footsteps
his distinguished father, is beat kupwa to the P44c afi,
essayist and neyelist,