The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-26 00:00:00

THE ARM}.

Under new arrangements recently sanctioned by
the Secretary of State of War, with the concurrence
of the Duke of Cambridge, various non-commis-
sioned officers of the Royal Engineers, from the
companies at head quarters, Chatham, have been
selected as foreman of the works on the public under-
takings now in progress at various stations. Yester-
day an order was received from the War-office for a
non-commissioned officer to be selected to be fore-
man of works at Portsmouth, and a non-commis-
sioned officer of the Royal Engineers has been
ordered to proceed from Aldershot camp to Bromp-
ton barracks to take charge of the lithographic and
printing departments at the Royal Engineer esta-
blishment, under the direction of Capt. Schaw, C.E.
Recruiting for the Royal Marines is still proceed-
ing very briskly, numbers of young men arriving
almost daily at head quarters, Chatham, from the
Hull, London, Liverpool and Bristol districts.
At a late hour last night detachments of time-
expired mon and invalid troops from the regiments
serving in Australia and New Zealand arrived at
Chatham garrison from Gravesend, where they dis-
embarked from the passenger ship Roxburgh Castle.
The troops, who numbered 33 men of all ranks,
with one naval invalid, belonged to the 12th, 40th,
57th, and Goth Regiments. The whole were under
the command of Lieut. J. V. H. Rees, 40th Iteg,i-
meat, and in medical charge of Mr. Young, civil
surgeon. The Roxburgh Castle sailed from Mel-
bourne on the 28th of August last, and experienced
generally fair weather. One passenger and oue child
died on board during the voyage. After the troops
had been medically inspected at Fort Pitt, three
lunatics were sent to the insane hospital, and two
invalids admitted for medical treatment. The re-
mainder of the troops proceed to the invalid depot.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to pre-
sent her portrait to the head quarters of the
Royal Artillery at Woolwich. The picture was
yesterday morning hung up in the mess room. In
commemoration of the event a banquet on an ap-
propriate scale will be given this evening by the
officers, at -which his Royal Highness the General
Commanding-in-Chief, as colonel of the regiment,
will be present. The picture, which represents her 1
Majesty in Coronation Robes, is afterthe celebrated
painting of Winterhalter, and has been execntsdby
Mr. Melville with admirable taste and judgment.
In order to adapt the features of the portrait to
the present day her Majesty honoured the artist
with three sittings. Mr. Melville's picture differs
from the original in that adaptation only.
The whole of the troops in garrison at Woolwich
are under orders to parade (with the exception of
the!Military Train and the Royal Engineers) on
the lower part of Woolwich-common at 10 this
morning, for the purpose of marching into the
country. The Military Train will furnish two
ambulances to proceed with the troops.

THE MURDER AT ALDERSHOT.
INQUEST ON THE BODY.

ALDERSHOT, MONDAY NIGHT.

The inquest upon the body of Sergeant John
Dixon, of the 78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs),
was held this afternoon, at Tilbury's Royal Hotel,
by Mr. Thomas Pain, deputy coroner for the divi-
awn of the county.
The jury having viewed the body, which lay in
the dead-house at the foot of Hospital-hill, on their
return the following evidence was taken :
Duncan Anderson—l am a private in the 78th
Highlanders stationed at Aldershot. I knew the
decea'ed John Dixon, who was a sergeant in the
company I belong to. I know Thomas Jackson,
who is a private in the regiment. That is the man
(pointing to the prisoner). On the night of the
23d inst., about five minutes past eight, I was in
the room No. 11 of the Permanent Barracks. There
were several others of the regiment there, and
amongst them wa§ Jackson. This was at the time
cf roll call, which Corporal Campbell was calling,
and Sergeant John Dixon was checking it. Pri-
vate Greenhill was holding the light. The prisoner
Jackson was standing between two cots after he had
answered. I saw Jackson go round and take his
rifle from the rack at the head of his own cot. He
put it up to his side once or twice to the attitude of
ready, and then fired it. He then turned round
and put the rifle back into the rack again. I saw
Sergeant Dixon, who was standing in front of him,
about two yards off, turn round, and he said, " Who
did that ?" That was immediately on the rifle
being fired. Jackson replied, "It was me, old boy !"
The sergeant muttered something which I could not
hear, and then he fell over. He died soon after.
Corporal Campbell was shot in the light
shoulder with the same shot, but not killed.
The prisoner was at once seized by some
other soldiers, but I did not hear him
make use of any observation. He was removed in
custody. I have heard Jackson say several times,
when speaking of Dixon, that he " would be hung
for that man yet." I never heard him say why.
The last time I heard him say anything of the sort
.7.11 e about a fortnight since. I know nothing about
his rifle being loaded that day ; he had not been at
ball practice, and would therefore have no occasion
to use his title or have ammunition. I examined his
pouch after he
v went away, but there was no ball
cartridge In
not be in it. The prisoner, as a recruit, would
Jackson fired with of ball cartridge. The rifle
That is the prisoner's rage, rifle. (Rifle produced.)
hi!, and I know it from being
in 'the same room with,
I took up the rifle and
handed it to the sergeant:
I examined the
pouch of the soldier who slept in the next cot, and
found one packet of his
and one
round missing. That was aftjeleloporisesOner had
been removed. I gave the loose packs t%O Sergeant
Profett.
By the Jury—The prisoner appeared to be sober.
Ice enlisted in 1858, and has only recently came
out of prison, where he had been confine for broai.
ing his rifle.
The prisoner declined to ask any questions.
Another witness gate similar evidence.
a Private in the 78th. I
Andrew Cormaek—l an'
was with the prisoner at the .
canteen on Saturday
1 he prisoner was
evening, but not in his company
drinking, but appeared sober enough.
with
I heard him
say to Walter Greenhill, who was in company
him, " I will do for the There were
present at the same time. There others
had been a
quarrel, and it was after that the remark was made.
He did not use any name that I heard, nor do I
know who he was talking about. In the even•
ing I was sent to the guard-room to search the
prisoner ; the sergeant-major was there. We were
obliged to use force to search him. He said, "It is
a pity I did not get more of you shot." This was to
the sergeant-major. There was a snap cap and an
ammunition cap and a watch key in his pocket
whet} I searched him. (The, prisoner did not ask
any questions.
y the
Sary,—, I was as much in his company as.
any one, attain :the month of April I was one of an
escort taking him
to
13 prison, and he, said, " I will
never soldier; a,
_ do something to get hung or

transported, or sent out of the regiment." He said
also that if Sergeant Dixon had come into the room
the night he broke his rifle he would have knocked
him down as he came in at the door.

Sergeant-major John Pocock—About seven mi-
nutes after S on Saturday evening I we it to No. 11
room permanent barracks, the death c f Sergeant
Dixon having been reported to me. I found him
lying on his back quite dead. I was told that Jack-
son had shot him, and been sent to the guard room.
I asked for his rifle, and it was handed to me. One
was handed to me which was afterwards identified
by the colour•sergeant. I found it had been recently
discharged, and had an exploded cap on it. I exa-
mined the pouch, and found there was not any am-
munition there. Some was missing from private
Nlunroe's pouch. I looked to see where the ball had
gone to, which I found had gone through the front
part of the sergeant's bunk, and had struck the
wall, anti then fallen to the ground. I gavo the
bullet to Mr. Superintendent Howard, as also the
rifle and the pouch. This ballet, which is now pro-
duced, is one of our regulation bullets. I took an
escort from No. 4 company and searched the pri-
soner. I found a cap, snap cap, part of a chain, and
a watch key. While there the prisoner said, " I am
very sorry, I have been a fool to myself as I did not
shoot more of yea." He did not say any more, but
when we got to the station house he said to Ser-
geant Profett, "It will be your turn next, and it
will be done by the lath of December, or before
Christmas, as I have left some one to do it."
After some corroborative evidence, and medical
evidence as to the nature of the wound,
The Coroner addressed the prisoner in the usual
words of caution, and he (the prisoner) replied," No,
I don't want to say anything; I've got nothing to
say."
The Coroner then summed up.
The jury, after a very few moments' consultation,
returned the following verdict :—We find that Ser-
geant John Dixon came by his death by the hands
of Thomas Jackson, and we deliver a verdict of wil-
ful murder against the said Thomas Jackson, and
we wish to make the following addition to our ver-
dict : We cannot separate without expressing our
deep conviction that speedy and effectual steps
should be taken by the military authorities and the
Government to prevent the repetition of these fright-
ful and diabolical crimes, which have been of late
so frequent, and which tend to degrade the ranks
and produce terror in the minds of the officers and
spread horror through all classes of the community.
We do not wish to suggest any steps, but we con-
ceive that the removal of the ready means would be
the effectual remedy, or that such an example be
made that wonld, by its prompt execution on the
spot in one case, act as a terrible warning to others.
The Coroner then made out his warrant for the
committal of the prisoner to Winchester Gaol on
the charge of wilful murder, and the prisoner was
removed.

The inquiry then terminated.
In the course of the evening the prisoner was re-
moved by Superintendent Howard to Winchester
Gaol ; and the wretched man treated the proceedings
throughout with a degree of callousness and levity
that disgusted those who witnessed his demeanour.