The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-26 00:00:00

DESPERATE ENCOUNTER with POACHERS
and MURDER of a GAMEKEEPER. ,
We lament to state that in the night of Friday last
an outrage of the most atrocious character was com-
mitted by a party of poachers, on the domain of 'Wil-
liam Newton, Esq., of Elvedon-hall, near Thetford.
As a great :many exaggerated and erroneous reports
are in circulation, the following statement of facts,
collected on the spot by our reporter, may be de-
pended upon :
In consequence of this locality having been lately
infested by poachers in unusual numbers, and an in-
timation given by a person in respectable circum-
stances of life that probably on Friday night the
Elvedon estate would be visited, the keepers and
watchers on the estate were more than usually on the
alert. The intimation, however, which had reached
them was not given in a sufficiently grave tone to
warrant very strong defensive measures. About
eleven o'clock shots were heard in a plantation
about half a mile from the hall, upon which the
head keeper (Mr. Napthan) proceeded to sum-
mon his under-keepers and watchers. The party
of keepers who proceeded in search of the poachers
were Mr. Napthan, Isaac Allen, Thomas Allen,
and John Allen (under-keepers), and Jonathan
Jessup, watcher. Isaac Allen was the first to
come up with any of the poachers. When he
was entering a plantation known as the George the
Fourth cover, he saw a man emerge from it in an
opposite direction, that the man had a gin, and that
he was almost immediately joined by two others.
Allen, though at this time quite alone, pursued them
for a considerable distance, he thinks for at least a
mile. At this time his brother Thomas and his
father (John Allen) came up with him, and joined
in the pursuit. The poachers seeing the number of
keepers augmented, endeavoured to make their escape
with more eagerness than before ; the keepers, how-
ever, kept close upon them for at least a mile, when
one of the poachers turned round and swore that un-
less the pursuit were abandoned he would shoot them.
The keepers, though checked for a moment, resumed
their pursuit, which was continued for about another
mile, when they crossed near the road from Elvedon
into the parish of Eriswell. Here the keepers were
joined by Napthan and Jessup, upon which two or
three of the gang turned round, and, levelling their
guns at the gamekeepers, threatened, with
oaths, to blow their brains out. The keepers,
being accustomed to threats of this kind
used by the poachers without any intention
of carrying them into execution, and having
besides the experience of the present instance, in
which no firing had resulted from the threats, with
great courage kept up the pursuit with unabated
vigour. When, however, they were nearly four miles
from the hall, in the parish of Eriswell (about mid-
way between Elvedon and Alildenhall), several of the
poachers turned round and fired three shots, one of
which took fatal effect upon Napthan, and another
severely wounded Isaac Allen in the left hand and
arm. Jessup and Isaac Allen were within ten yards
of the poachers when the fatal shot was fired, and the
former states that Napthan was not more than five
yards from the muzzle of the murderer's gun. The
charge entered the left shoulder, and passed directly
through the heart, and his death was almost instanta-
neous. Isaac Allen, though very severely wounded,
is not now considered in a dangerous state. It is be-
lieved, from the rapidity with which the two last re-
ports followed each other, that the three shots were
fired by two men, one having a double-barrelled gun.
Immediately after this bloody deed, Jessup,Allen, sen.,
and Thos. Allen flew at the poachers, and a fierce
scuffle ensued ; but it resulted in the escape of all the
gang, amounting, it is believed, to six or seven in
number. It should here be stated that the assault, so
far as the keepers are concerned, was perfectly un-
provoked. Not one of them was armed with any
more formidable weapon than a small stick, and the
wounded man, we believe, was so hurridly called from
his house as not to have prepared himself even with
that defence. The body of the murdered man was
immediately after the unsuccessful result of the scuffle
brought to the Cornwallis Arms Inn, Eriswell, to
await the coroner's inquest, which was fixed to be held
on Monday evening. Allen was conveyed to the
house of his mother, and the attendance of Mr.
Bailey, surgeon, of Thetford, was procured. A dis-
patch was also sent to Bury and other adjacent rail-
way stations, and to the different police -offices, giving
such descriptions of the ruffians as could be supplied
by the parties actually engaged in the conflict.
Jessup states that when Napthan was almost at
the heels of his murderer, he turned sharply round,
exclaiming, " Curse you, now we'll do for you," and
at once deliberately aimed at him, and shot him
through the heart. The man by whom the fatal shot
was fired had on a dark velveteen frock coat, and
Jessup has no doubt but that he should be able to
identify him. The man who discharged the gun at
Allen was at a somewhat greater distance, and was
dressed in a check slop. The moon was just past the
full, and though its light was considerably obscured
by a haze, there appears no reason to doubt but that
the parties may be satisfactorily identified. By the
active exertions of the magistrates and the police,
four men were apprehended on Saturday, and two
I more on Sunday, and when our reporter was on the
spot intelligence arrived that a seventh had been taken.
They were all lodged in the station-house at Milden-
hall, where an examination was to be held at noon
this (lay (Tuesday). In the present stage of the pro-
ceedings it is deemed unwise to enter into details cal-
culated to frustrate the exertions of the police in
bringing the offence home to the guilty parties; we
shall therefore wait until after the examination, a full
report of which will be given in our next.
Napthan was a man of excellent character, not only
of sober and industrious habits, but of religious prin-
ciples—a peace-maker—though his vocation, as the
event has unhappily proved, was rather of a warlike
character—a friend to his poorer neighbours when in
want of assistance, having saved a little property by
his frugality ; and withal an excellent keeper and a
faithful and respectful servant. He has left a widow
and one son, and there are many more by whom he
will be greatly missed. He bad occupied his situa-
tion on the above estate between 17 and 18 years, and
was held in honour by every member of the family.
He was 47 years of age.

On Monday evening the inquest on the body of
Napthan was held before 11. Wayman, Esq., coroner,
and a highly-respectable jury, Colonel Peel being the
foreman.

The evidence of Isaac Allen (the man shot in the
hand), and Thomas Allen, bis brother, substantially
agreed with the above statement, but neither of them
could speak to the persons by whom the shots were
fired.

Mr. Bailey, surgeon, of Thetford, put in his report
of the post mortem examination, which showed that
death was caused by the contents of the gun wound-
ing his lungs and heart, and causing a great effusion
of blood into the cavity of the chest.
The jury found a verdict of " Wilful Murder"
against several persons unknown.—Bury Post.

ST. BARNABAS, PIMLICO.—This church was yes-
terday numerously attended, especially by its regular fre-
quenters, though there was also a considerable number ap-
parently drawn thither by curiosity to witness the semi-
Popish innovations in the service. The tapers stood in
solemn but unenlightened dignity on the altar. The Litany
was intoned as usual at this chapel. Priests, deacons, and
acolytes bowed, saluted, crossed, re-crossed, genuflected.
The Rev. Mr. De Gex having selected the 25th chapter, sth
verse of the Gospel according to St. John, delivered there-
upon a short discourse applicable to the day. The congrega-
tion quietly dispersed, and there .as not the slightest mani•
festation of feeling either in the interior or in the neighbour-
hood of the building. Mr. Bennett did not appear at the
church during the day.

SUICIDE OF LIEUT. GEORGE DUNN.—Paymaster
George Dunn, of the 23d Royal Welsh Fusiliers, committed
suicide on Monday morning, at eight o'clock, by hanging
himself to his bedpost. It appeared that the deceased had
for some time been suffering from an overflow of blood in the
head, which induced insanity. Since Friday last he had
been totally deranged. The coroner's jury, which sat in the
evening, returned a verdict in accordance with the evidence.
SEIZURE OF ILLICIT SPIRITS.—On Tuesday a
large seizure of illicit spirits was made by Mr. Cartwright,
supervisor of the excise, in the Old Ford-road, Victoria
Park. Having some suspicions of a man whom he ob-
served carrying a sack on his shoulders he questioned
him as to what he was carrying, and he replied that
it was varnish that he was going to take to his
master's. Knowing him to be an old offender,
Mr. Cartwright determined upon examining the
contents of the sack, which he found to consist of bladders
tilled with spirits of illicit manufacture. He then took the
man into custody, who gave the name of Taylor, but whose
real name is Allen. The officer had scarcely disposed of this
seizure, when, passing along North-street, Mile-end, he saw
two men, in the dresses of countrymen, calling at different
houses; he watched their manceuvres, and eventually went
up to them, and found upon them three bladders filled with
illicit spirits, four pewter measures, and a bottle of colouring
liquid, to give the spirits the colour of brandy. They were
then taken into custody, and the spirits secured.

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FINNON HAnnocKs.—The curing of these delicious
fish is not confined now to the district which has given its
name to this particular mode of preserving haddocks. They
are now prepared all along the east coast, and more recently
the West Highlanders have taken advantage of the increased
demand which has arisen for this important adjunct to the
breakfast table. Last week no less than sixty-five barrels of
"Finnon naddies" were brought here by the steamer iron
Stornoway, Lewis. The export has been progressively in-
creasing for some time, and now the natives have set them-
selves in earnest to supply the ever-craving demand of the
400,000 inhabitants of the capital of the West. If the Barra
people would only go and do likewise, we should have less
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