The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-17 00:00:00

kTaval aid Military Intelligence.

I The First Lord of the Admiralty held a levee
yesterday afternoon at the Admiralty, .Whitehall.
The sailing ludiatnan- Essex, Capt. John Lash,
belonging to Mr. George Marshall, of 18, Philpot-,
lane, City,' arrived at Spithead yesterday, from
Bombay, with officers, .men, women, and children
on board, from various regiments serving in India,
in the following strength :—Capt. Tennant, 45th
Regiment, in command ; Lieut. Hook, 45th Regi-
ment ; Lieut. Mackay, 00th Regiment ; Lieut.
Richards, 103 i Regiment ; Staff -Assist.-Surgeon
Bourke, in medical charge of the troops ; Miss A.
hough, private passenger ; 178 invalided non-
commissioned officers and soldiers, 11 women,
and 17 children. The Essex will discharge the
troops this morning at Spithead into a Government
steamer for transfer to the Royal Victoria Military
:Respital at Netley, and afterwards proceed to Lon-
con to
.deliver her Indian cargo. The ship left
I,l3ombay on the Bth of February, and passed 'St.
Helena on the 2d of April.
• On- Wednesday night Mr. W. 11. Bayley, coroner
for Aldershott, held an inquiry at the Ic canteen,
North Camp, touching the death of Thomas Lilley,
aged 31, late Sergeant Instructor of Musketry of
the 70th Regiment, who Was killed at the rifle butts
at Ash-common, as detailed in The Sun on Tuesday.
The first witness-called was Corporal Patrick Gil-
lespie, who deposed—A little before 12 o'clock on
Monday I was at ball practice, volley firing with
the deceased Serg. Lilley. We. had fired 10 rounds
when the order was .given to throw away empty
cases and close the breech until the order was
given to reload. The deceased told us he would
explain how to use the rifle without raising the back
sight. He then marched us down to the 300 yards'
• range. He then told us to take aim at his eye. He
commenced with the right-hand man (Serg. Pear-
son) and went down to the left. I was on the right
of Private Warburton when I heard the shot, and
saw the deceased fall. I afterwards acted as corporal
of the escort in conducting Warburton to the guard-
room. I did not hear him say anything. He has
lived in the same hut with me since the arrival of
the regiment at this station. • Ile has always been a
very steady man, but he was very awkward at drill..
The proper way of ascertaining if the rifles are un-
loaded is for the rear rank of the party to take
open order," each man then opens the breach of
his rifle and the officer examines it. This course
was not pursued on the occasion of the accident.
Serg. Henry Page Pearson said—l am a sergeant
..of the 70th Regiment stationed on the North Camp.
I was acting as sergeant of the section which
was volley firing on the morning of the 13th.
After 10 rounds had been fired at -the 400 yards'
range the deceased gave the order to " throw empty
cases." We then advanced to the 300 yards' range
to commence independent practice. While the
markers were checking the targets. deceased told us
to take aim without "using the back sight, but that
no man was to, load until he was ordered. I was
righthand man of the squad. I snapped my rifle,
and deceased then passed down the line, and when
he had got to the end I heard the report of a rifle.
I leant forward and saw deceased falling. I ran up
to him and knelt down beside him. There was a
wound in the right cheek from which the blood was
issuing. He was quite dead. I have known War-
burton as a steady man, but he had the character in
the regiment of being an awkward one. I examined
his cartridge pouch after he was taken into ctistody,
and found only nine rounds. I asked him where
the tenth was, and he gave me to understand 'that it
must have been the one that had killed the deceased.
The section had never used the Snider rifle before
this course of ball practice. Colour-Sergeant John
Hasler corroborated the previous witness's evidence,
adding that Warburton had a.• good character, but
was stupid. Capt. Wright, the officer in charge of
the squad, was also examined, and said the company
was efficient in the use of the Snider-Enfield rifle,
but he considered Warburton very, clumsy, and not
intelligent. Surgeon T. 0. Hession described the
nature of, the wound, which was sufficient to cause
instant death, and the Coroner having summed up,
the jury, without hesitation, returned a verdict of
" Accidental death."

Yesterday the infantry, including the five regi-
ments of Militia in camp at Aldershot, had a field
day on the Queen's Parade, North Camp. This
was the first occasion during the training of the
Militia of their taking part in any manoeuvres with
the regular troops of the line. The regiments hay.