The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-12 00:00:00

MYSTERIOUS DEATif.

An inquest was held at DOdridge's Richmond
Walk Inn, Devonport, on Friday, before A. B.
Bone, Esq., on the body of a young man named
James Wright, which had been found floating in
Stonehouse Creek, on Thursday morning. The
first witness called was,
George llc.nry Tickell, a lad residing in Stone-
house, who deposed to having found the body of
deceased floating in Stonehouse Creek, at about
eight o'clock on Thursday morning. He dragged
it on the mud by the waistcoat. He then left it to
get a policeman, and on his return found that the
body had been lilted upon the timbers close by.
Several persons were then gatheted around, and
within a quarter of an hour police constable Davey
(who had received information of the discovery
from Hicks, a Stonehouse policeman) came down.
A rope was put round the corpse, and it was then
towed to the Richmond Walk Inn.
John Davey, police-constable, stated that having
received some information on the previous morning,
he went to the Parsonage-field, and at the bottom
of the field he saw the body of a man lying on some
timbers, which were resting on the mud some dis-
tance above the bridge. The body was clothed in
a pair of black cloth trousers, short Wellington
boots, a dark waistcoat, and a white shirt and
stockings. On searching the pockets he found
two halfpence, a small iron cramp, a brace buckle,
some pieces of paper, and a comb. He also pro-
duced a cloth cap which had been given to him by
a boy named Roberts.
Joseph Wright, brother of the deceased, said
that he was a; straw-hat maker, residing at 34,
King-street, Plymouth. Had looked carefully at
the body found by Tickell, and knew it to be the
body of his late brother James 'Wright, who had
been his assistant, and had lived with him. De-
ceased was a little more than 24 years of age. The
last time he saw him alive was on the previous
Friday night. They were in a public-house in
Fore-street, Stonehouse, where they drank. He
could not tell what happened in the house,
not being sober at the time he entered it.
Did not think his brother was sober either, and
did not recollect going into the house. Some one,
whom he could not say, hurt his arm whilst
there, and that was all he could recollect of what
took place in the house. When he got out of the
house some marines knocked him down.- He re-
membered seeing his brother by the sidV of him
then. The man who knocked him down was coming
to him again ; witness ran away from him, and fell
down very heavily. He got up again and went on
somewhere, and found himself in the water. How
he got into the water or how he got out he could
not tell. The next thing he remembered was being
at home in bed.
Samuel Roberts, a lad residing in High-street,
Stonehouse, deposed that on the night of the 30th
ult., at about half-past 10, he and his brother were
coming down Fore-street, Stonehouse, and heard
an awful scuffle with some men in a public•house
—Mr. Lacey's house, the General Havelock. He
stopped and saw a man outside the door—a tall
marine was standing opposite to him. All at once
out ran another man with bis coat under his left
arm ; end the tall marine ran after him. He saw
them run to Stonehouse Bridge, the marine punch-
ing the man most shamefully. They went down by
the bridge to the water, the marine beating the
other on. -Witness stood by the bridge, being
afraid to go down. There was no light in the pas-
sage to the water, and be did not see what hap•
pened there ; nor the water. Deceased's brother
then came down, and stood by Stonehouse Bridge
gate. The marine came up from the passage by
himself, and said to Wright, in a rough tone,
" Who are your! 'Wright replied, "'Who are
you ?" The marine then set upon him right and
left, and punched him down the passage also.
Witness followed a little way, and found a cap like
that produced by Davey, to whom he had delivered
it. (Joseph Wright was then called, and identified
the cap as his property.) A little marine then came
down, and said, " Where's my chum ?" Witness
replied, " He's down there, knocking the men in
the water." The marine answered, "I musn't see
that," and went down the passage also. 'Witness
then saw Mr. Bridgman, landlord of the Bridge
Inn, come out of his house with a lantern, with
which he went down the passage_; some other men
also went down. Almost directly they all rushed up
again. The tall marine came up, and the little ma-
rine also came up with deceased's brother, who was
wet, and whom the little marine would now allow
anyone to touch. The man who was first driven
down the passage did not come up again. The tall
marine had no jacket or belt on, and neither of
them had their side arms.

Thomas Lemon, private, R.X, recollected being
in a public-house in Fore-street, Stonehouse, on the
night of Friday last. It was getting well on in .the
night. There were some civilians in the housealso,
and one other marine. One of the civilians was
about to strike a woman who was there ; and he
said, "Don't hit a woman; if you want to fight,
why don't you fight a man ?" Witness pulled the
civilian away, and he went into a back place. An-
other man, whom he believed to be Joseph Wright,
then came in, and said, " Who struck my brother ?"
They were in about the same condition as he him-
self—" pretty fresh." Lemon replied, "No one
struck your brother, but I'll strike you, if you don't
stash it." Then they both rushed out of the house,
leaving their ale on the table. Witness did not fol-
low them, but drank two glasses of ale in the house
afterwards. That was all he knew about it.
Thomas Crossing deposed that he had examined
the body of deceased on the previous day, at about
five o'clock in the afternoon. He found the corpse
in a very frightful condition, with all the appear-
ance of having been immersed in the water for
several days. Both the eyes were entirely destroyed,
probably by fish taking the integuments from the
orbits, and in a circular form round the cheek bones,
and exposing the temple bone. The lips were eaten
away, the mouth closed, with the tongue pressing
through the teeth; both ears were partly eaten
away. A wound was visible on the right side of the
lower jaw about an inch and a half in length ; and
another over the windpipe, obliquely passing from it.
These wounds differed in appearance in some measure
from the other marks before mentioned; but from the
very decomposed state of the body, witness was not
prepared to say they were not made in a similar
way to the others. The edges were smooth, and
could be brought together more like incised
wounds. Would not say that these two wounds were
not caused by a sharp instrument. The integuments
about the wounds were so saturated and decom-
posed as to render it impossible to say how they
were caused ; blood was issuing from the wound in
the neck. The blood in drowned bodies was usually
in a fluid state. 'Witness felt satisfied that no ad-
ditional evidence could be obtained by a post-mortem
examination ; decomposition being so advanced that
any internal appearances might be attributed thereto.
George Stoneman was standing at the door of the
General Havelock, smoking his pipe, when he saw
two civilians run out at the door, and a marine,
called Gloucester, after them. They all three ran
down the street, and he saw the marine kick them.
They ran out of witness's sight towards the bridge.
Wright was one of the civilians.
Francis Willeocks, lessee of the Stonehouse
Bridge, said that on the night in question, shortly
after 10, he heard a disturbance, and saw four or
five men running in their shirt-sleeves. They rau
down a passage on the north side of the bridge. He
went to look over the bridge. He went to look over
the bridge wall, and heard a voice in the passage
say, " I'll knock the into the water." In a few
minutes the men with the blue striped shirts came
up the passage with Joseph Wright, who begged
that they would not hit him. The men then took
Wright to the Prince George Hotel.

William Bridgeman, landlord of the Bridge Inn,
was called, but could depose to nothing further than
seeing some marines in the passage. Could not
identify either of them. He saw only two marines
come up. Some might have come up before. One
of the marines led up a man in dark clothes. The
passage slipped down very much to the water, and
a sober man running down fast in the dark would
be likely to fall.
The proceedings were adjourned.