The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-05 00:00:00

MURDER IN MY ERNES'S.

On Sunday morning last, says the Inverness ilcd•
vertiser, the community were horrified to learn that
a man had been found dead, and to all appearance
foully murdered, in a backyard of one of the houses
in town. The facts of this painful case, in so far as
they have been allowed to transpire, are beliexed to
be as follows :—David Cumming, joiner, a young
man of 23 years, in the employment of Mr. Mackay,
of this town, had been working for his master at a
job in the country, and returned to Inverness on
Saturday to visit his parents, who are decent
respectable people residing at the Shore. In the
absence of his master, Cumming, we believe, received
from Mrs. Mackay £1 as wages, and thereafter he
appears to have been engaged chatting with
acquaintances, one of whom he treated to a bottle
of lemonade, leaving him at 11 on Saturday evening
at the head of Church-street. So far as yet ascertained
this was the last time Cumming was seen in life. His
road homewards was by the foot of Church street, on
his way to the Shore, and as the place where his
body was found lay out of the path some malign
influence must have withdrawn his steps in the di-
rection of Rose-street. When last seen Cumming
was quite sober; and, indeed, as we are given to
understand, he was remarkably correct in his
habits, being a temperate and well-behaved young,
man. On the south side of Rose-street, and imme-
diately beyond the foundry of Messrs. Smith and
Mackay, there is a range of three tenements of two
stories each. These ere numbered 35, 36, and 37,
and are inhabited by the poorer class of people, one
family occupying the ground floor, and a second
the attic above. All the houses have back gardens
of considerable extent, which stretch to the boun-
dary wall of Bell's Institution. No. 37 is the house
nearest Academy-street, and part of the ground at
the back of this house is occupied by a stable which
has an entrance from the street. There is also a
range of three wooden cellars at the back of this
tenement. It was in one of these erections, the
centre one, that Carnming's body was found on Sun-
day morning. About seven o'clock, and while yet
dark, Mrs. Fraser, who occupies the lower part of
No. 37, heard heavy moaning outside, as from some
person in distress, and, procuring a light, she went
into the back yard, and opening the door of the
centre cellar, front whence the sounds proceeded, to
her extreme horror and surprise she saw a man
lying on the floor, and apparently dead. She in-
stantly gave the alarm, and the burgh police and
Dr. Mulford were immediately on the spot, and had
the body removed into Mrs. Fraser's house. By this
time, however, only a little warmth remained to in-
dicate where life had once been. The poor lad was
dead; nor was the cause of death difficult to dis-
cover. On his temple were the marks of a blow as
if from a heavy hammer, which had cut in and
indented a portion of the skull. When first seen the
body was entirely divested of clothing, with the
exception of two stocking and one boot. It being at
once apparent that there had been robbery, if not
certain and deliberate murder, the police set to
work to discover if possible any traces of a struggle
near the place, and observing marks in the court-
yard as if a body had been dragged along, they
followed the traces. These led through to the
back garden past the stable, and from a point here
across the garden of No. 36 into tno one belonging
to No. 35 of the street, and through this garden
immediately to the back of this particalar house.
Further search revealed to-day the clothes of Cum-
ming, which were brought from an out-house of
the same garden, and a little later, Superinttndent
Sutherland having observed something protruding►
from the ground of the cabbage plot of this house,
only a few yards from the back window, the spot
was dug up and brought to light the watch, a
broken guard, a necktie, and ls. ld. of money, be-
longing to the apparently murdered man. As a
matter of course a watch was placed over the in-
mates of the house No. 35, and in the course of the
day they were apprehended and carried to prison.
The tenants of this house consist of a working
mason, his wife, and Vireo daughters, who, with
the exception of the youngest daughter, a mere
av
child, now lie in the police-office to await the inves-
tigation of the authorities. 'We understand that,
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remain in great mystery
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tamed by the authorities it wouldae behs been ob-
imprudent at this stage to reveal to th em manifestly
in
case that the ends of justice might be thereby
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