The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-20 00:00:00

A TROCIOU,s MURDE !?.

On Wednesday night last a most atrocious mur-
der was committed at the house of a ltbeurng
man, named Edwards, living at 21, Boffin d w,
Maidstone, on the way to Peeenden-he ale The
unfortunate deceased was the eldest son of Edwards,
and, with his brother?, lived in the slum hens°
with his parents. The Edwards fancily e )nsisted
of the fa.tht!r mother, and 3 s )113—viz., Th
who was murdered, Gon-ge, the criminal, and a
younger son, named William. Them is and George,
who slept together, were net upen the best of terms,
the former, who was an industrious, ha- d-werkeig
1113,11, age 1 24,
having occasion to find fault with
George, aged 18, who, hivieg, done no work for
some mouths, was a complete border to Vie family.
Hence a feeling of t iwards his brother was
engendered in the mind of George, and this doubt-
less led to the fearful occut rcnce. On Wednesday
uct,
morning, before going to his work, Thomas a..itn
anupOlalt
1)
mean: his
tn t. iitlte )
work. Thomas returne 1 home in the iithceo
didn't
an
i
even-
ing, and soon aft r nine o'clock went to be 1. As
before stated, he slept in the same room wit h Ge )rge.
The mother, shortly after tea, went up stairs,
and before going into her own room, she, according
to her invariable practice, went into her sons' bed-
room, when she sa iv that Thomas was fast asleep.
She soon afterwards heard George, wham she had
left below, come up stairs and enter the bed ooze,
closing the door atter bite. Ater going down stairs
to make sure that all was propeily fastened she re-
turned to herbed and went to sleep. She was after-
wards aroused by hearing a heavy moaning noise,
apparently proceeding from her sons' room. She
procured a light and entered the room, when she
was horrified by seeing her son Thunas lying in
the bed in a state of insensibility, with the
blood streaming from no less than five severe
wounds—two upon the head, two across the lower
jaw, which was smashed, and nearly seVered from
the face, and one a slight wound in the throat.
The window of the bedroom was open, and George
vat gene. The candle she had left down stairs
was burning on the table. She gave an imme-
diate alarm, and the active superintendent of the
borough police, Mr. Blundell, and luspctor Fan-
cett were quickly on the .spo, as was also Mr.
Saunde:s, surgeon to the police force, and every
possible remedy was put in use, but there was
from the first not the slightest hope of recovery.
George had got clear off—his mode of escape being
through the window, as was evident from the fact
that a flower-pot underneath thewindow was smash-
ed to pieces. The unfortunate young rime died
shortly after seven o'clock on Thursday morning.
The wounds had evidently been inflicted by some
heavy sharp instrument, and the officers found
under the bed a broad carpenter.' axe, covered
with blood ; the axe was hidden in some rags. Mrs.
Edwards had used the instrument that same night
at 10 o'clock. The murderer has not yet been ap-
prehended, but the police aro on his track.

SCENE _IT T.

'LL COLLIERY.

MEETING OF ENGINEERS.

One of the most painful scenes connected with
this melancholy accident occurred at the offices of
the Londhill Company on Wednesday evening last.
It havieg been made known that the engineers
would meet on that day, and that in all probability
orde• s ay.gild be given for immediately commencing
ope-a.ions for thawing off the water, a great num-
ber of the widows and female relatives of the poor
men now ly;ng iu the pit surrounded the offices in
a high state of excitement.
A t '7 o'elock . the wagineers—Messrs. Nicholls
Wood and Elliott (of Newcastle), Holt (of Wake-
field), and Wo ,dliouse (of Derby)—met at the
offices. The report of Messrs. Webeter, Maddison,
Ooe, and Pease, as to the state of the pit since the
meeting on Saturday, was given in. After consult-
ing together for about an hour and a half, the deci-
sion of th 3 committee was made known to the pro-
prietors. In consequence, however, of the great
anxiety evinced by the assemblage outside, Mr.
Wood undett ok the task of making known to them
the conclusion they had arrived at.
Mr. WOOD commenced by stating that he bad a
vet y painful duty to perform in announcing to them
the decision arrived at by himself and the other gen-
tlemen who had undertaken the duty of opening the
pit and recovering the bodies of the unfortunate men.
They greatly feared that if the pit were premature'y
opened, they might have to close it again. It ha I
been shown that the temperature of the water in
the pit was not uniform, it be.ng 61 deg. at the
bottom, and 66 at the top, clearly showing that the
burning matter still remained in the pit. They
might rest assured that not a minute's time
should be lost in getting the bodies out, as
soon as ever the pit was in a state to warrant them
drawing the water out. All of them, including the
owners, were desirous of doing everything they
could to facilitate that operation. The engineers
had fixed upon a height which the water should
rise before it should be drawn out., and such height,
they were of opinion, would be attained on Mon-
day next, on which day the committee would again
meet, when, as everything was ready, he believed
that they would commence the task of drawing out
the wats.r and reaching the bodies. Every one
must deeply sympathise with them in their anxiety
to recover the bodies of those belonging to them.
In conclusion, he. hoped that the Almighty would
support them in their great affliction.
The announcement that the opening of the pit
was put off to Monday next was received by loud
lamentations, the women and children appearing
almost overpowered with emotion. The scene was
altogether of the most harrowing description—the
agonising cries of the poor women being painful in
the extreme. The sad and dejected faces of the
assemblage, as seen 'mid the gloom of the night,
the only lights being those from the lamps of the
few carriages and cabs around, formed a melancholy
picture, the recollection of which will not easily be
effaced from the minds of those who witnessed it.

Mr. MORTON, the Government inspector, said
that he quite agreed with the decision the com-
mittee had come to, for should the pit be opened
and any of the burning matter remain unquenched,
the accumulated gas coming in contact with it might
cause such an explosion as would not only greatly
endanger the lives of those .gallant men who had
undert iken the onerous taQk of searching for the
bodies, but probably be the means of closing the
pit. The maximum height which the engineers
were of opinion should be reached, before there was
a certainty of the fire being put out, was 60 feet up
the s'‘aft. As the water had already reached 47
feet, that height would doubtless be attained by
Monday. The proceedings did not terminate until
after nine o'clock.

At the meeting of the Barnsley guardians on
Tuesday, most of the widows of the men killed by
the explosion at Lund+►ill Colliery appeared to
claim relief, it being understoo I that the amount
received throughout the country should not alto-
gether exonerate the ratepayers fr•im supporting
those whom they were legally called upon to main-
tain. A. resolution was proposed, having for it:
object the exclusion of widows without children,
who were in receipt of pay from the committee of
subscribers to the general fund, from receiving pa-
rochial support. 'The discussion, which was of a
very strong character, and. carried on with closed
doors, resulted in the defeat of the motion, relief
having been ordered to be given to the widows for
another month, when the subject will be again
brought forward. A similar proposal for exone-
rating ratepayers from supporting those who were
relieved out of the subscriptions, was mooted at
the pub'ic meeting, and was all but unanimously
condemned.— Manchester Guardian.