The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-26 00:00:00

BURGLARY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER,

PLYMOUTH; SATURDAY.
This town and neighbourhood has been thrown
into a state of great excitement and alarm by the
perpetration, in the middle of the night, of a cruel
attempt to murder Mr. Braddon, a magistrate at
Cornwall, in his bedroom at his country seat at
Blackland. This morning about two o'clock the
servants were aroused by the ringing of their
master's bell, and, the cook having alarmed the
butler, he found Mr. Braddon lying with his face
covered with blood. His son was then called, and
the family for some time considered that an artery
had burst. Shortly after, however, the pantry
window was discovered to have been forced, the
drawing-room poker in a bent condition was found
lying inside the front door, and the door unlocked.
These evidences of the intrusion of burglars were
unfortunately confirmed on a surgical examination
of the condition of their victim. One of Mr.
Braddon's eyes protruded from the socket, and his
temples exhibited two blows, laying open the skull
bone, which was fractured, the wounds and the
shock had thrown him into a state of insensibility,
from which he recovered to ring his bell. We regret
to state that there is very little prospect of his sur-
viving. It is evident that at least one of the bur-
glars knew well the interior of the premises and the
habits of the inmates, and that after passing through
the pantry and spending some time below he armed
himself with the poker and went up stairs to the
bedroom, where, probably, in consequence of Mr.
Braddon's being aroused, the injuries were inflicted.
At this moment it is supposed that some imaginary
alarm induced the robbers to make a precipitate re-
treat through the front porch. Mr. Braddon's watch
was under his pillow and 14 or 15 sovereigns were
on his dressing•table loosely covered with a hand-
kerchief. The plate-room door was locked ; the
burglars did not attempt to force it for fear of dis-
turbing the inmates, and they failed to open the
lock with the keys of two other rooms, which they
carried off. These, and an Oxford grey greatcoat,
belonging to Mr. Braddon, jun., are the only arti- 1
cles missing. Outside were found a pair of men's
shoes, and, wrapped in a handkerchief, a Bible and
Prayer-book, like those given to convicts on their
departure from the Dartmoor prisons, which are
not far off. Mr. H. Troll., who resides at Gada-
moor, having been speedilycalled, waited the arrival
of Mr. Pods, surgeon, from Plympton, and
then proceeded to the Cornwood Station of
the South Devon Railway, about a mile south,
to watch the departing passengers ; and infor-
mation having been forwarded to Plymouth, In-
spector Thomas, of the detective force, went to
Blackland, and was followed by Dr. Yonge and Mr.
Square, surgeons. Mr. Braddon, who is a widower,
nearly 70 years of age, was formerly judge of the
C dcutta Sadder Dewanoy, the highest of the
Company's courts in Bengal ; his residence is in the
parish of Plympton St. Mary, eight miles from
Plymouth on the west, and five from Ivybridge on
, east.

Strong suspicion rests on a man of Swiss extrao-
ion, called James Baudiste, who, about two or
,bree years since, was taken into the service of
Mr. Braddon. He was dismissed for improper con-
duct towards one of the servant women. This
man went to the house of Captain Hewlett, RN.,
a relative of Mr. Braddon, at Portsmouth, and
robbed his servant of 5?. eis supposed about
the same time to have broken open his landlady's
desk and taken therefrom several sovereigns. A
coachman at one of the Plymouth hotels was also
plundered. His last known theft was that of a
gun, for which he was imprisoned six months in
Winchester gaol. The abstraction of the greatcoat
increases the suspicion, as the clothes of Mr. Brad-
don jun., are known tO ' fit Baudiste, and there are
indications that the conflict in the bedroom was
caused as much by a spirit of resentment and re-
venge as by a desire for gain. An empty bottle
and the footmarks of two persons were found under
a window in a secluded part of the premises, and
near it, on an artificial bed of shrubs, were marks
made apparently by two men reclining. Here,
concealed by the foliage, the robbers are supposed
to have watched the gradual extinction of the
household lights and the approach of the hour best
suited for the execution of their villanous designs.
PLYMOUTH, SUNDAY EVENING.
The ex-butler Baudiste, who is supposel
to have made the murderous attack on Mr. Brad-
don at Blacklands yesterday morning, was cap-
tured hero by the police in the stree's this morn-
ing. He had on a grey greatcoat, contain-
ing a pair of gentleman's kid gloves and two strange
keys. His companion, Thomas Brown, 19, dressed
like a sailor, acknowledged, after considerable pre-
varication, that they arrived here by steamer from
Portsmouth on Friday. After examination before
the Plymouth bench to-morrow the prisoners will
he transferral to the magistrates of Plympton St.
Mary.