The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-05 00:00:00

ALLEGED MURDER AT WIGAN.

The neighbourhood of the Hallgat e, Wigan, was
thrown into a state of great excitemi ent on Satur-
day night, in consequence of a report. that a violent
assault had been committed by John O'Halloran, an
Irish labourer, residing in the Top Croft, Hallgate,
upon John Droney, another Irisbn3 lan, who lived
next door to him. The report pt.( wed to be too
true, the assault being one of the woi •st description.
Droney, after lingering in great pain, expired on
the following Tuesday.
On Wednesday O'Halloran was 'brought before
the magistrates at the police-court ,'when the chief
constable informed the bench th Ot on Saturday
night the deceased and the pris oner quarrelled
about a pipe of tobacco whilst their were enjoying
themselves somewhere (we have be e n told it was at
a wedding) ; that they both went to their homes,
and soon afterwards, whilst Drone y was comfort-
ably smoking his pipe by his own B reside, O'Hla-
loran came to the door and asked hilmi to come out,
as he wished to speak to him. D roney, being an
exceedingly quiet man, and few ing O'Halloran,
at first hesitated ; but at lent gth, after the
prisoner had again requested to come and
speak to him, he just stepped out ,ide the door when
O'Halloran, who had a large brink-bat in his hand,
struck him violently with it upon the temples.
The blow was given with such Farce that Droney
fell instantly, and was carried 'bleeding to lied.
The brick must have dropped from the hand of the
prisoner when the blow had bee,a delivered, as it
was picked up shortly after the ass ttult, and placed
upon Droney's pillow, where it remained until
Tuesday night, when death ended tl le sufferings of
the unfortunate man. Mr. Simni, the chief con-
stable, also stated that as soon as h e heard of the
occurrence, he sent an officer to Bury on Tuesday,
and in the evening he succeeded int capturing the
offender, and immediately brought, him to Wigan.
As the jury were summoned to m at the Town
Hall, and as there was no dcrubt that the
coroner would adjourn the inquos t until a post
mortem examination had been madu, the prisoner
was remanded to Friday.
The Jury having assembled andvit 'wed the body,
the Coroner adjourned the inquest.
From inquiries we have made, there does not
appear to have been any particular eg.use of quarrel
between the two, as the prisoner said when taken
back to the lock-up, "We had a sup (meaning a
little drink), and I do not know what we quarrelled
about ; but I was in a passion, and s truck him, and
I'm sorry for it." Droney was a very young man,
and the affair has caused a profound sensation
amongst the working classes of the neighbourhood,
who consider it a deliberate murder.—Manchester
Guardian.

COUNTRY MA.R 2rETS.

MANCHESTER—Nov. 4.

At our market this morning English wheat was difficult
of sale, and must be noted is to 2s per qr lower, foreign at
the same time time declining 2d to 3d per 701bs, without
leading to business. Flour was almost unsaleable, although
offered at a reduction of fully Is per sack. In oats and oat•
meal there was but little change observabkle, and the same
may be said of English beans. Egyptian, beans and Indian.
corn were each is per qr. cheaper,