The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-30 00:00:00

Frscon up to our hour of publication We "etre un-
able to karn.

The scene of tbe catastrophe was an object of
gri-at interest throughout the whole of Saturday.
gredge, who was communicated with while in
London, visited the spot early on Saturday, and gave
it as his opinion that the loss of prop€ Tty would not
be so serious as had at first been estimated. The
resident engineer to the North-Eastern Railway
Company also came forward, and said he had been
instructed not only to offer his advice as to the course
which should be pursued towards recovering the
girders, but that the apparatus belonging to the com-
pany should be placed at the disposal of the con-
tractors, to enable them to carry out the professional '
advice which might be given to them. Several days
will, no doubt, elapse before that is done, as at pre-
sent the works are entirely suspended.
THE INQUEST.

On Saturday afternoon a jury of 15 attended at
the Guildhall for the purpose of investigatinr, the
circumstances connected with the death of John
Manuel. They were also sworn in the case of Richard
Masser, and the inquiry was conducted before the
city coroner, Mr. J. P. Wood. Mr. Shepherd, bar-
rister, watched the case on the part of the corpora-
tion, and Messrs. Calvert, the contractors, and Mr.
Lee, the resident engineer, were also represented.
Before the jury had viewed the bodies the coroner
told them to dismiss from their minds any preju-.
dice which might have arisen from the excitement
which had necessarily taken place from this cala-
mity, and that they must give their verdict upon
the evidence which would be brought before them.
The jury havingreturned from viewing the bodies
the Lord Mayor stated that the corporation were
anxious that the fullest possible investigation should
take place into the whole of the circumstances.
Mr. Dale said he attended there on Fehalf of
Messrs. Calvert and Locking, who were as anxious
as the corporation that the fullest inquiry should
take place.

Tic, of the workmen, named Isaac Fletcher and
William Lilley, were then examined as to the cir-
cumstances attending the accident, and the cross-
examination of these witnesses tended to show that
every care had been used by those employed at the
works.
The inquest was then adjourned until Friday
next, and it was arranged that the jury should view
the bridge on Monday morning.
It was then reported to the coroner that the body
of Luke Brown had shortly before been taken out
of the water near the bridge. The body presented
a ghastly spectacle, the head of the deceased being
so dreadfully mangled that the brains protruded,
and one of his thighs was broken. The same jury
were then sworn to inquire into the circumstances
attending Brown's death.

SHOCKING MURDER AND BURGLARY

AT BILSION.

B ILSTON, SUNDAY.
A foul deed was committed this morning in
Bilston. A tradesman in Church-street, named
John Ba,gott, was deliberately murdered in his own
house, and his premises were plundered and fired
The victim was a Mr. Bagott, who carried on busi-
ness as a tailor and clothier at the corner of Staf-
ford-street. At about four in the morning the
family of Mr. Beard, of that street, were disturbed
by hearing voices in the side passage of their house,
and thinking it was her brother returning home,
Miss Beard went down with a light. In the pas-
sage she stumbled upon some bundles of cloth and
men's new garments. Her brother happened to be
coming down the street at the same time, and saw
three men carrying a bundle. Information was at
once conveyed to the police-station, and it was soon
discovered that Mr. Bagott's house, situate opposite
to that of Mr. Beard, had been entered. The officers
found a little gas burning in the small sitting-room
on the ground floor, numerous bottles and drinking-
glasses on the table, and the body of a man lying
with his head on the fender, in front of the fire, with
a poker across his throat. His face was discoloured
with soot, and the policeman at first thought that the
body was that of a burglar, but on turning on the
light it was found that it was the proprietor of the
house. He had been dragged to the ground and
forcibly held down in the position in which he was
found till life was extinct. Mr. Bagott was a
bachelor, 45 years of age, and, though possessed of
considerable property, lived alone. His habits were
somewhat eccentric. He always carried the keys of
his upper rooms and the day's receipts of the shop
about with him. He kept a banking account both
at Dudley and at Bilston, and the premises in which
he lived and those adjoining belonged to him. He
had been known to produce as large a sum as £2OO,
which there was reason to believe had been secreted
in out-of-the way places, like the sacking of a bed,
or beneath a quarry or stone of the floor. Of all this
the murderers seem to have been aware, for the
pockets of the dead man's trousers had been torn
open with much violence. His keys were all laid
upon the table, but the money was taken away.
The burglars had forced open the doors of the up-
stairs rooms with a heavy cm! hammer. In a simi-
lar manner access had been had to the drawers and
the cash box, and the bed had been tossed over.
There is no means of ascertaining the amount of the
booty the villains had found. A fire of paper and
linen had been made in the grate. and the embers
had fallen out upon the carpet, which had ignited.
Happily the watchfulness of the police is likely
to prevent this fearful crime from falling into the
list of mysterious murders. Several burglaries have
recently been committed in the district. The police
believed they knew the offenders, and last night
Superintendent M'Crea had taken steps to arrest
one of the gang. Shortly after the three men spoken
of were disturbed in Stafford-street, three men car-
rying a bundle were stopped near Bradley, which
adjoins Bilston. When challenged by the policeman
they threw down the bundle and decamped. The
officer pursued them a short way,but wisely returned
to the spot where the property fell. Whilst watch-
ing here a man named Wm. Jones, aged 20, of Canal-
street, Tipton, returned, and fell into the officer's
clutches. The bundle contained property that had
no doubt been stolen from the house of the murdered
man. Knowing Jones's haunt the officers proceeded
to a brothel in Bury-yard, kept by Samuel Bills,aged
25. Here they found Thomas Jukes, aged 28, who
is well known to the police. He had just come in,
had blood upon the front of his shirt, and seemed
greatly agitated when the officers appeared. Bills
was also apprehended, and so was Thomas Lilley,
aged 24, a chapman, well known in Birmingham,
for he too was in the house. The last two it is
thought may be able to give evidence of a corrobo-
rative nature against the others, respecting whom
the police entertain little doubt. Jukes is one of
the three who ran from the constable at Bradley,
and the third is supposed to be David Brandrick, a
puddler, aged about 21.