The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-08 00:00:00

MURDER NEAR MAIDSTONE.

Deeds of violence never seem to come alone. The
norrible murders at Poplar, that of Wednesbury, that of
Mullingar, are now supplemented by a deliberate murder
in the vicinity of Maidstone. As far as the facts can be
ascertained, it appears that shortly after twelve o'clock on
Sunday, two lads were proceeding along the Ashford-road,
and when near the wall enclosing the park of Mr. J. What-
man, M.P., they discovered the body of a man bleeding
from the face, with a bundle close to him. They pro-
ceeded to give an alarm at Tinker Mill, within a few yards
of the spot, when a man named Tover returned with tht m,
when they discovered that the bundle had been taken
away. Information was at once given to the police,
and upon the arrival of Inspector Hills he had the
body conveyed to the Artichoke Inn. Mr. Furber,
surgeon, arrived shortly afterwards, and pronounced life
to be extinct. Upon an examination of the body he
found that the deceased had been shot through the mouth
in an upward direction. Several teeth were knocked out.
Shortly afterwards the body was recognised as that of a
young man named John Phinn, tailor, residing with his
friends at Weavering-street, near Maidstone; to where
he was supposed to be proceeding when he was brutally
murdered. During Saturday night the deceased had
been for a walk with his sweetheart, and left her
at the door of her residence shortly after ten o'clock.
He then called at a Mr. Knight's, tobacconist, for a
parcel he had left, and hid him good night to go home.
What became of him between that time and the commis-
sion of the deed is unknown. During the morning a por-
tion of the contents of the missing bundle was found near
Gidd's Pond, about half-a-mile from the place where the
deed was perpetrated. If the motive of the murderer had
been plunder, he was frustrated, as upon the deceased was
found his watch, purse, and contents.

.AA OTHER TRADE E OUTRAGE AT
SR EFLELA

Tf Mr. Roebuck's royal carnmission has thrown light
on some of the dark deeds of Broadhead and his party, it
has neither prevented rattening, nor, it would seem, the
more ghastly deeds of trades unionists of Sheffield. We
are told by the local journals that an attempt to blow up
a non-unionist has just taken place at Sheffield, the means
used being very similar to those which were adopted in
the notorious New Hereford-street outrage. The outrage
implicates the saw trade, and the object of it was a
non-unionist. Some time ago the saw-handle makers in
the employ of Messrs. Spear and Jackson left work in
consequence of their being given notice of a reduction
which was about to come into force. Since then
Messrs. Spear and Jackson have been very short of men,
and have from time to time employed non-unionists as
they presented themselves for work. Amongst these was
a man named Joseph Martin, 76, Broad-lane. He was,
until recently, in the employ of another firm, but owing
to orders being somewhat slack, on Tuesday last he went
to Messrs. Spear and Jackson's, was taken on by thew,
and continues in their employ. Unlike many outrages
committed at Sheffield, he received no warning, either
verbally or by note, that it would be better for him
if he ceased to work for Messrs. Spear and Jackson, and
until the very moment that the outrage was attempted he
was in perfect ignorance that any one desired to do him
harm. About one o'clock- on S turday morning, the inmates
of the house were awakened by hearing a crash against
the garret window, followed immecnately afterwards by
a still louder crash on the pavement beneath. On
getting up to discover what was the cause of this it was
found that something had been thrown against the garret
window, that one of the panes had been broken, but that
owing to the missile, whatever it w›-, having struck
the woodwork, it bad been prevented from coming into
the room. A policeman who happened to be passing
shortly afterwards discovered on the pavement a broken
stone bottle, and the contents, which consisted of powder,
steel filings, and steel scraps, were scattered around. The
bottle was securely corked, and the cork had a hole through
it, as if a fuse had been passed through, but we believe no
fuse was discovered. A chalk mark was placed near
Martin's door, and a similar mark was put on the pave.
ment opposite. The man whom it is supposed was intended
to be injured slept in another apartment, and bail the
bottle got into the room and its contents exploded, the
persons who would have been hurt were an old woman
who is an invalid, and two little children.