The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-11 00:00:00

THE EMBL ETON MURDER.

The mystery which for some time shrouded the
horrible murder committed at Embleton a fortnight
ago has now been dispelled by the confession o f
George Cass, Mr. Fearon's husbandman, that he
was guilty of the foul crime. Suspicion pointed to
Cass from the first, as, according to his own ac-
count, confirmed in some of its material points by
other witnesses, he was about the house near the
very time when the murder was committed.
So far, however, the case was only one of sus-
picion, there being no positive evidence to
implicate him, for although the clothes which
he wore on the day in question had been sent
to Professor Taylor in order that certain suspicious
looking spots might be analysed, this point had not
yet been concluded. Cass was therefore kept under
the most strict surveillance, day and night, until
last Friday, when Mr. Dunne, the chief constable,
deemed it his duty to direct his apprehension. As
soon as it became known that Cass was to be appre-
hended the greatest excitement was manifested at
Cockermouch and the neighbourhood. Mr. Dunne
left Cockermouth, accompanied by some of his
officers, at an early hour, and many persons had
then gathered on the road to Embleton in order to
see Cass as he was taken to the station. Cass was
apprehended and brought to Cockermouth in a close
conveyance. Crowds of people had by this time
gathered along the route, and an occasional hoot as
the carriage passed showed how great was the sym-
pathy for the girl, and the detestation in which the
people held the horrible crime which had been per-
petrated. The prisoner was lodged in the lock-up.
At about half-past 8 o'clock in the evening he ex-
pressed a desire to see the chief constable. Mr.
Dunne went to him, when Cass told him that he
wished to make a statement about the murder. Mr.
Dunne sent immediately for Mr. Waugh, the magis-
trates clerk, and his assistant clerk, and in presence
of these three gentlemen Cass confessed that he had
murdered Ann Sewell. He said that when he re-
turned from the field for his mare, the girl asked him
I something about mending her clog for her. He would
not comply with her request; she therefore called
him names and threw the tableknife at him, the
handle of which struck him on the face under the eye.
He threw it back at her and it struck her throat
and cut it. She then told him that since he had
gone so far he had better finish it and murder her
altogether. He seized the knife again, and setting
upon her committed the foul deed withwhich he now
stands charged. It also appears, from the pri-
soner's confession, that after he had murdered the
girl he robbed her. A sovereign and a half-crown
have been found along with the girl's purse, the
two latter bearing marks like blood stains, The
half-crown was obtained from Mrs. Johnston, the
landlady at the publichouse at Eaglesfield, where
the prisoner and his father spent a shilling of it on
the Wednesday after the murder. The sovereign
was found in the possession of the prisoner's mother,
and the purse was discovered buried twelve inches
below the ground at Sosgill, Bramley Moss, near
Lowe's Water. From this it would seem that the
murderer had rifled the box of his victim while his
hands were still wet with her blood. On Saturday
the prisoner was brought up before the Cockermouth
magistrates :—General Sir H. Wyndham, Mr. T. A.
Hoskins, the Rev. E. Fawcett, and Mr. John Steel,
M.P. Mr. Dunne formally charged the prisoner
with wilful murder, and applied for a remand. The
prisoner was remanded until Thursday, by which
time the coroner's inquest will probably be closed.

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING TH.N
WEEK.

(From the Report of the Registrar-General.)

The return of births and deaths in London,
issued by authority of the Registrar-General,
states the deaths registered in the week that
ended last Saturday were 1,439, and they show a .
great decrease on the 1,708 returned in the previous
week. The average number of deaths in the
corresponding weeks of the ten years 1850-59, '
when corrected for increase of population, is 1,288.
The rate of mortality therefore continues high; for
the deaths in the present return exceed the esti-
mated number by 151. In the last two weeks the
deaths by bronchitis have decreased from 272 to
1166 ; those by pneumonia from 162 to 109. Small-
pox also exhibits a decrease ; it was fatal last week
in 23 cases. Scarlatina numbered only 26 deaths,
diphtheria 4. Three children and an adult died
by murder or manslaughter. Three deaths were
caused
oby
ied at theprivation.
ageAn of 9
ostler
yearsrdied ;
from glanders.
idglwandoewras.
A
at the age of 99, one of whom died in King-street,
Camden-town, and her age is proved by baptismal
certificate.
Last week the births of 838 boys and 755 girls,
in all 1,593 children, were registered in London.
In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1850-
59 the average number was 1,617.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the wean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.470 in.
The mean temperature of the air in the week was
45.7 deg., which is 0.9 deg. above the average of
the same week in 43 years. The lowest tempera-
ture was 33.4 deg. on Wednesday; the highest, in
the shade, 62 deg., occurred on Saturday. The
wind blew chiefly rom the south-west; on Thurs-
day and Friday it was in the north-east. There
was 0.32 in. of rain.
The quarter comprising thirteen weeks that
ended Saturday, 31st March, was distinguished by
a high rate of mortality. The deaths in London
in that period rose to 18,814, whereas in
the four corresponding quarters of the years
1856-59 they were in one instance as low as
14,533, and did not in any other exceed 17,308.
The excess was caused apparently by the coldness
and occasional severity of the weather in February
and part of March. Zymotic diseases, which num-
bered 3,380 deaths, were, taking them in the ag-
gregate, less fatal than in the two previous corres-
ponding quarters; but under other general heads
the mortality was higher than it usually is in the
winter quarter, which is the most fatal in the year.
A comparison of the numbers referred to particular
diseases will indicate the nature of the causes by
which the weekly mortality was raised from about
1,300 at the beginning of the year to 1,700 at the
end of March. The deaths by phthisis rose from
1,916 in the same quarter of 1859 to 2,009 in last
quarter; those by small-pox from 201 to 464 ; those
by paralysis from 335 to 398 ; those by convulsions
(almost wholly amongst children) from 577 to 701 i
by heart disease from 659 to 795 ; by bronchitis
from 1,754 to 2,966 ; by pneumonia from 1,056 to
1,685 ; by asthma from 167 to 275 ; by disease of
liver from 141 to 185; by nephria from 83 to 91;
by disease of the kidneys, not defined, from 85 to
104 ; by skin disease from 11 to 24; by old age
from 614 to 790. The mean temperature of the air
was much higher in the former of the two quarters
thus compared than it was in the latter, for in 1859
it was 43.3 degs., in the present year it was 39.9
uegs.

In a cold season fatal cases of burns will probably
be more numerous, and they rose last quarter to
138, and were 22 in excess of those in *the winter
quarter of 1859 ; the increase is also great in easel
of suffocation (115), most of which occurred to chi'''.
dren in bed ; also in murder and manslaughter
(chiefly infanticide), the number of which cases wa°
37. Sixty-three persons died in the quarter by
their own hands.