The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-20 00:00:00

THE LATE MYSTERI t US DEATH AT
ACTO

e body of John Gates, who
The adjourned inquest on tt.
was found on the night of la. A Monday week dead on the
Acton-road with a sword sta .b tl trough the heart, was re-
sumed yesterday at the _ging' s. Head, Acton, before Mr.
Wakley and a jury of the inbab itants.
Mr. Sergeant Ballautiue s ,ppeared for Lieut. H. A.
Clavering ; Mr. Gifford for Caw t. Miller; and Mr. Marshall,
solicitor, for the family of the a eeease.
The inquest-room was de' ssa. ly crowded during the in-
vestigation. _ . _

The jury having been sworn,
The Coroner inqured of 111 :T. Sergeant Ballantine whether
he or Mr. Giffard had any wi messes to call ?
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine ,- -You intimated OR the last
occasion that these gentlenie n ought properly to have some
legal advice, and we are here to-day rather out of respect
to your suggestion—at the rsametime it is impossible not to
feel the importance of the it quiry.
The Coroner—l this Lk it is quite right that they should
have legal advice, and I ant very glad that you are here.
Am I to understand tha t
,you do not give in the names of any
witnesses ?
Mr. Sergeant Ballantin, s—Not at present. Lieut. Claver-
ing and Capt. Miller are here, and will answer any qw.s-
Lions you may desire to pu t to them.
The Coroner—Capt. Mill er was under examination at the
last inquiry, and at the con elusion of his evidence the fore-
man of the jury expressed a desire to cross-examine him,
and I interposed, as I did not think it advisable under the
circumstances to allow a cross-examination. He is now
fortified by legal assistance, ;And perhaps the better course
might be to recall Capt. Miller.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine_H,ai not Lieut. Claming been
examined ?
The Coroner—He said a few words at the last examina-
tion, but they were not taken down. I should now like to
hear from the jury whether they wish to have Capt. Miller
recalled.

The Foreman—We have certain westions which we wish
to put to Capt. Miller, and we should be glad to have the

opportunity of re-examining him.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine—Capt. Miller was examined on
the last occasion as a witness, and in tlu character alone I
have no objection to his being examined again.
The Coroner—l am quite sure that the only object which
the jury have in view in seeking to crass-examine Capt.
Miller is to ascertain the simple and naked truth.

Mr. Sergeant Ballantine—l am sure of that, and I can
only say that my client is most anxious that the whole truth
should come ont, and with that view is desirous of giving
every information and assistance in his power.

Capt. Miller, R.N., was then called and re-examined.
The Foreman—What did you mean by saying on the last
occasion that the deceased made " a great commotion ?"
Witness—The commotion was this : the man was swearing
asd making a great noise. He seemed to be quarrelling with
himself. It is extremely difficult to define what is a com-
motion.

The Foreman—lf you were so near the body when the man
fell, did you observe any particular motion of the arm by
Lieut. Clavering? I ask you, as a naval officer, accustomed
to the use of arms, whether, if the sword had been run into
the body of the deceased, there would not have been a jerk
to withdraw it? Did you, in fact, see Lieut. Clavering
make any jerk with his arm, as if withdrawing the sword?
Witness—l observed nothing of the sort. I saw no thrust,
nor did I see him withdraw the sword as if he bad made a
thrust. . .

The Foreman—Yon said that when you got to a lighter
part of the road you examined the sword to see whether
there was any blood on it. How far was that light place
from the place where the deceased fell ?
Witness—l cannot say how far it was. It was the first
light place we came to.
The Foreman—Was it beyond the railway bridge ?
Witness—lt was beyond the bridge some little distance.
The Foreman—Was it before you came to the lamps at
Ac‘on Vale ?

Witness—Oh, yes ; long before it.
The Coroner—How many yards were you from the body
when you met the cart?

Witness—lt was some little distance, and the persons in
the cart could not have seen the body. I should think we
were twice the distance between the lane and the bridge
from the body when we met the cart. I should think it was
about 200 yards.

The Foreman—When you consulted as to whether you
should go back and ascertain whether the man was hurt,
had you seen whether the cart had stopped at the body and
taken it up ?
Witness—No, we had not. We were too far off to see
whether the body was taken up. Had we not met the cart
for a mile, I would have stopped it and said the same
thing.
A Juror—Now, I wish to ask you whether you and Lieut.
Clavering were sober at the time?
Witness—l was as sober as—what shall I say ? —as sober
as a bishop. (Laughter.)
The Coroner—You mean you were perfectly sober. Was
Lieut. Clavering the same ?
Witness---1-1c was.

A Juror—Did the deceased fall upon his face or back ?
Witness—My impression is that he fell upon his side.

Lieut. Clavering was then called in and examined—My
name is Henry Augustus Clavering. lam a lieutenant in
her Majesty's navy, and have served in China and elsewhere.
Capt. Miller was staying with his wife at my house at the
time of the occurrence. I am married and have two
children. There was anether officer, Capt. Skipwitb, staying
at my house that evening. At 10 o'clock it was suggested
we should take a walk, and Capt. Skipwith declined. I said
I had taken a good deal of exercise in the course of the
day, but was " game" to walk to Harrow or Acton. I
knew the road perfectly, but we missed the turn to the rail-
way in the dark. We met two men, and one of them said
we had gone too_ far, and the other subsequently said,
" Young gentlemen, we thought you were making
game of us in asking the way." We then went on,
and came to the station-house, and sang out, but
got no answer. We subsequently found ourselves in
Priory-lane, when, just as we got to the top,:we heard a
noise. We heard a man swearing and cursing, as if he had
lest something. He was on the other side of the road, and
a goad deal in advance of us. I wan he was nearer to the
railway bridee than to Priory-lane. Capt. Miller said
to me, " Stop a moment, and let that fellow go on, he seems
to be a bad character." Capt. Miller meant he should go
on, and that was in the direction of London. We stopped
accordingly, and then he made a rush back on us from the
tar ,ide of the road. Capt. Miller was then on my right-hand
side. I cannot say which of us he rushed at. The man said,
" What the h— are you doing here now ?" I said,
"We are two gentlemen taking a carstitutional walk after
dinner, and allow us to pass." He then muttered some lin-
precaqoas, and I said, " Take care, I am armed with a
sword-stick." He then grasped at my sword-stick, and said,
"You —, I will do for you both." He wrenched the
sheath off my sword-stick, made a spring back, and then
rushed on me and st:uck me on the forehead. The blow
made a mark on my forehead which was very apparent at
the time. He again struck me on the right shoulder, but
the blow was rather broken by the rim of my hat. He then
sprang back to make another blow, and I held the sword-
stick with the point upwards as a guard, and he bit
the sword a violent blow which I thought had broken
it. He then made another spring at me, and I said,
"I am a strong and determined man. If you strike
me again I may do you some injury." He did not strike
me again, but he rushed forward and fell. I considered
he had fallen over the rough stones on the road. On my
oath I was not conscious at the time that I had inflicted
any personal injury upon him. When he fell he let the
sheath of my sword-stick fall out of his hand. I did not
see him rise again. I made a grasp at the sheath of my
sword and walked on. I said to Capt. Miller, " I hope
I have not pricked that fellow in the arm." The effect
of the blow on the sword was to turn the point down. I
was not conscious of the fact that it reached his body, or
that his body reached it. When I got to a lamp-post I
looked at the sheath, and found that some of the woody
fibre was cut awn). I was certain the notch or cut
in the sheath was not there when I took the stick out,
as it was quite fresh from the maker. When the
deceased first caught the stick I thought he would have
!lend. I houg'at the stick in March
last, wrenched
when
it othought
I should have to go to Siam. I had
charge of the Siamese Embassy when they were here. It
was I who sang out to the man in the cart to look oat, as
there was a drunken fellow in the road. I never saw any
announcement of the circumstances until I saw it in the
Observer on Sunday, as I came home from church. I then
went to Sir Richard Mayne, at four o'clock the same day
and disclosed everything I have said here to-day. I had a
ball at my house on Tuesday, went to the theatre on
Wednesday, to a pic-nic at Richmond on Thursday,
and had a dinner-party at home on the Friday following the
occurrence. I will swear I never made any blow at him. I
have been in command of two ships of war. I took Lord
Lyons out to Sebastopol, the day it was taken, and I brought
home Sir William Codrington. I also commanded the
Pluto, on the coast of Africs, and the Carmine, in the Medi-
terranean.

By Mr. Marshall—l had a glass of whisky and water at
the Pack Horse, Turnham-green, and Capt. Miller had a
glass of beer. That was all I had had but two glasses of sherry
at dinner. We only went into the public-house in order to
ask our way. This was about half-past 10 or 11 o'clock.
By a Juror—Did you consider the deceased was intoxi-
cated when he attacked you ?
Witness—l did. The man was not so drunk that he could
not stand or fall, as his rush was the most vigorous thing I
ever saw. I attributed his fall to his being tripped up by
the rough stones. The affray did not last more than a
minute and a half at the outside.
By a Juror—l got a slight wound on the head when Iwa