The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-11 00:00:00

HORRIBLE DISCOVERY AT HACKNEY

A horrible discovery has been made at Hackney Wick.
in the immediate vicinity of the old Hackney Wick or
Victoria Park station on the North London Railway, a
new street has been recently built running down to the
railway
_embankment, and known as Elgin-place. Several
of the houses in it have remained for some time unfinished.
In the last week of December they were swept out and
secured, the front doors being screwed up and a bar placed
across them, and the back doors bolted. The windows,
however, were simply put in and not fixed, leaving
access possible by this means. It appears that the owner
and builder, Mr. Dabbs, of Belvidere, Surrey, had recently
determined to complete them, and about half-past
three o'clock on Thursday afternoon one of his carmen,
named Edward Morris, was instructed to leave a load of
sash weights at the house No. 21 in the street. As soon,
however, as he had opened the door he perceived an offen-
sive smell, and called to the foreman, Thomas Newsom,
and told him to go into the house and find out the
cause. He did so, and looked into the various rooms. He
found nothing but a black kid glove in the back room on the
ground floor. On opening a cupboard beneath the stair-
case on the same floor, however, the smell was found to
proceed from it. The two men obtained a light, and or
returning with it they found, to their horror, the dead body
of a man fully dressed, with his head towards the door;
and in a reclining position, lying against the. side of ti
cupboard. Newsom immediately made his master ac-
quainted with the circumstance, and he instantly commu-
nicated with Inspector Gibbons, of the Hackney sub-
division of police, and the coroner's officer. Dr. Powell,
of Gainsborough-road, who was also called in and inspected
the body, gave an opinion that it had been dead two to
three months. The police authorities sent Sergeant W.
Foden, 23 N, to the :gook, who made every inquiry, but
was unable ts find the slightest clue by which to identify
the deceased. The body, under the direction of Dr.
Tripe, the medical officer of the Hackney district, was
wrapped in a sheet, well soaked with Condy's disinfecting
fluid, and conveyed to the Hackney mortuary at the old
tower in the churchyard. The face is that of an evidently
intellectual man, the forehead is broad, and the features
are well chiselled. The hair, moustache, and beard are
matted with blood, but the eyes have been completely
destroyed. Over the right eyebrow is a deep depression,
as though a fearful blow had been inflicted. The right
hand lies open, while the left is convulsively clinched.
The hands are soft and delicate, as if the deceased had
been quite unused to manual labour, and, with the general
appearance and dress, seem to indicate that he occupied a
respectable position in society-. He may have been a sea-
faring man, as his trousers, waistcoat, and coat are of tiles
customary blue cloth, nicely cut, of fine quality, and well
made. On the person of the deceased no pocket-handker-
chief, per -il, scrap of paper, or small article of any
description was found. A " billycock hat" and the pair
of leather slippers which he had been wesring were found
close to his head, and also a single blucher boot and a
frock coat of good make, but very much worn. The
lappels of this coat are torn, and the arms and back beat
numerous stains of blood. The dress of the deceased
when the body was found was disarranged, and the braces,
which are much stained with blood, appear to have been
broken in a struggle.

There can be little doubt that the deceased has been
murdered, and the body secreted in the cupboard where it
was found, an entrance to the house having been obtained
from the window at the back, which looks out on the
marshes, as any person entering from the front would have
been observed from the houses on the opposite side, which
are tenanted. The blood-stained old frock-coat could not
have been worn by the deceased beneath his pilot-coat,
and the single blucher boot shews that some one else
beside the murdered man must have been inside the house
and had access to the cupboard in which the body was
found.

The police were actively engaged on Friday in making
inquiries, but no one has been missed in the neighbour-
hood during the period in which the murder must have
been committed, and there is at present no clue to a solu-
tion of the mystery. The age of the deceased must have
been about 34 or 35, and his height sft. Gin. to sft. 7in.
The face is not so much disfigured but that relatives or
friends might identify the body.

THE TICHBORNE BARONETCY.—An application
will be made to the Lord Chancellor to transfer the case
of " Tichborne v. Mostyn and others," from the court of
Vice-Chancellor Ginn]. to another court, his Honour
having been counsel for the claimant. No objection, it is
expected, will he made to the motion.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.—Notice has been given
that the annual series of special evening services in the
nave of Westminster Abbey will commence on Sunday,
the 19th inst. The opening sermon will be preached by
the Dean of Westminster, and that on the 26th inst. by
the Very Rev. Dr. Harvey Goodwin, Dean of Ely. It is
said that Dr. Stanley has invited Father Ignatius (the
Rev. J. Leycester Lyne) to preach one of the sermons.
THE COLLIERS' STRIKE.—A proposal has been
made to submit the question in dispute between the mas-
ters and men in South Lancashire to arbitration. A placard
has appeared on the walls of Wigan announcing that the
Mayor was willing to give his services as arbitrator, and
to sit in open court to hear both parties. The writer urged
the miners' agents to adopt the suggestion, and the
miners' committee have replied in a bill, which states
that they are quite willing to accept arbitration on fair
and honourable terms, namely, an equal number of
masters and men to arbitrate, taking the price of coal and
the miners' wages from 1862 up to the present time, some
independent gentleman to be selected as umpire. The
publication of this statement has not hitherto produced
any response from the masters. At a fortnightly meeting
of delegates, held at Mrs. Litler's, Denton-green, the
following resolution was unanimously adopted : "'That,
in the opinion of this meeting, riot, intimidation, or
violence of any sort is not only illegal, but, under present
circumstances, is calculated to injure the cause of the
working collier in the struggle with the masters ; and that
this meeting unanimously reprobates and condemns all
such intimidation, riot, and violence, and will not in any
way countenance or justify the same ; and further declares
that the society has nothing whatever to do with any acts
of violence that may have occurred, such acts being the
acts of individuals, and not committed with either the
consent or connivance of tho society."