The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-14 00:00:00

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21172. SPEKE'S DISAPPEARANCE.

The disappearance of Mr. Speke is still a topic of public
comment. One writer thinks it is remarkable that his
relatives have not yet said whether any efficient search has
been made in the house at Eccleston-square by the polite ;
and it is still more remarkable that they offer no ex-,
planation of the extraordinary circumstance that up
to Friday last the detective police—though they had
been in daily communication with the family, and even
engaged with them in exploring the whole neighbour.
hood—were left in ignorance of the fact that Mr,.
Speke, who when last heard of was going "to West-
minster," had a sister whose town house was notAnly
in Westminster, but actually within a hundred yards of
the spot where the missing man's hat was discovered.
Nothing like a thorough search has yet been made in that
house. We are told that the police have made "inquiries,"
and received satisfactory " replies," and that they
are themselves " perfectly satisfied that nothing occurred
either in the house or garden." But something more,
than inquiries and replies are necessary to satisfy Cat
public mind ; nor is it possible to attach much weightto
the mere opinion of the police, or t:-) feel much conf.denco
in their exertions, when we remember that the very exis-
tence of this house remained unknown to them up to
Friday last, nearly a month after Mr. Speket disappear-
ILL CC.

Another correspondent writes : "The following facts
with regard to the disappearance of Mr. Speke may in
some measure account for the ineffectual search for him.
-From 5.30 to 7 o'clock on the night of the Bth January
there was considerable fog in the Birdcage-walk and
Westminster. About seven o'clock the weather cleared
and frost set in, bit the night was intensely dark. The
next night there was a dense fog, giving every opportu-
nity for the disposal of a body without attracting atten-
tion. Mr. Speke's friends, though they made inquirie
at the hospitals and of the police, put out no handbills
till some 'week or ten days after the Bth, w;tder the impres-
sion, I believe, that he might have been suddenly called
away, end because they were unwilling to admit the horrid
suspiCion that he had been foully dealt with. Thus
valuable time was lost that would give the perpetrators of
a warder a clear start of ten days to remove all trace of
their crime. Even the hat was not heard of for threq;
leeks; and who, happening by chance to have seen a street
frow some ten days before hlp was asked to recall the;cir-
cumstance, or a gentleman without his hat, would be
able to give precise information on a subject which, in
all likelihood, made but slight impression at the time,.
and was probably never thought of again ? Even the.
cabman who drove him from Water:oo station seems to
have forgotten the fact, or is dead, or he surely would
come forward, if only for the sum he would possibly get
for his trouble. I fear the delay has been too much in
favour of the perpetrators of a foul murder. Knowing Mr.
Speke well, I have formed my own opinion ; which is, that
being attacked, he resisted, followed his assailants, and
was fallen on by two or three of their associates, who hit
him harder than they intended, and were able, favoured
by circumstances, to dispose of the body unseen. Have
the arches under Victoria-street, where the ground is
boarded off from the street, and is set apart for building,
been carefully searched ? To some of this waste ground
children get access daily, but some of it is absolutely un-
frequented."

The Lancet says : "In a very interesting and incisive
piece of criticism published in the Spectator regarding the
mystery of Mr. Speke's disappearance, we find a sugges-
tion which is not infrequently made by persons ignorant
of the action of chloroform. Supposing Mr. Speke to
have been decoyed into a cab by any of the various
devices which have been mentioned, and then put
under the influence of chloroform, says our contempo-
rary, all would be explained. Now, it is a difficult
thing at any time to bring an individual under the
influence of chloroform against his will, and particularly
an athletic -person such as Mr. Spoke is described to be.
It is exceedingly improbable that any one for criminal
purposes would use an agent like chloroform, which would
infallibly cause considerable struggling, and consume a
good deal of time before it induced insensibility. It is
simply a delusion to suppose that this agent can be em.
ployed for the purposes of robbery, &c.; its administra-
tion under such circumstances would be attended with
infinitely greater difficulties than the brute-force expe-
dients which would be used by powerful and determined
ruffians."

THE -,ATE 002 RAGES IN CORK.

The correspondent of the Times thus writes on Thurs-
day :—" The lawless state of Cork continues to be a sub-
ject of concern, not merely to the authorities, but to every
lover of peace and order. The police are perplexed and
harassed by scenes of riot and outrage which their ener-
getic efforts have hitherto failed to repress, and which are
well calculated to excite alarm in the minds of loyal
citizens. Two further attempts at assassination occurring
on the same night sufficiently indicate the desperate spirit
which-animates some of the Fenian bands which infest
the city, and whose favour with the populace seems to
grow in proportion to their criminal audacity. From the
various accounts which have been received the follow-
ing particulars are gleaned:— Up to seven o'clock on
Tuesday evening nothing occurred to attract attention,
but about that hour two constables, named Kearney
and Thompson, were walking down the main street on
duty, and had approached Austin's-lane, which runs
into Castle-street, when a pistol-shot was fired at them
from the opposite side, whether from a window or the
corner of the lane they could not tell. Of the object
intended, however, there could be no mistake, for a bullet
struck the shutters of a shop close to Thompson's head,
and became imbedded in the wood. The constables were
unprovided with firearms, and conceived it to be useless
as well as dangerous to attempt any pursuit, epecially
as groups of people about the lane received them with
mingled derision and menace. They reported the
matter at Shannon-street police-station, and a party
of armed constables turned out and proceeded to
the place, where a dense crowd had by that time
collected, who hooted and jeered at the police. The
mob was driven back, some suspicious-looking persons
were searched, as were also the houses in the vicinity,
but no clue was found to the perpetrator of the outrage.
The excitement subside,', and tranquillity reigned for
some hours, but about ten o'clock the populace were again
aroused by a report that a collision had taken place in
which a civilian' had been sle;t. The melancholy
affair,' as one of the local journals feelingly designates it,
occurred under the following circumstances :—Two police-
men, named Hunter and Flanagan, were patrolling the
street which runs between the Butter Weigh-house
and the North Infirmtry, when they observed two men
approaching whom they regarded with suspicion. When
they came near enough to discern the uniform of
the constables, they made an evasive movement
towards the other side of the street, which made them
the more strongly suspected. Hunter called upon the
first man to stand, which he did, and Hunter, feeling
his pockets, detected a revolver in the breast of his
coat, and said, ' Hand me out that revolver you have
in your pocket.' The man sprang back three or four
paces, and pulled out the weapon. Hunter put his rifle to
his shoulder, and threatened to shoot him if lie did not
deliver it up. He made an attempt to get past the con-
stable, but Flanagan, who was at the time engaged with
the other man, prevented him. He then presented it at
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They went forward to raise him, and the other man,
seeing them engaged, effected his escape. After bringing
him a little way they saw that he required medical aid,
and went to the infirmary to procure it. Having waited
for a moment to give notice of the occurrence and reload
their rifles, they returned to the place where they had left
the wounded man, but he was nowhere to be seen. A
crowd, however, had collected, and as they approached
two men were observed to detach themselves from the
rest and take to flight. The police pursued and arrested
them. They proved to be Lawrence Hynes, an apprentice
in a printing office, and John Bullen, of Hillgrove-lane.
On searching them the constables found the stock of a gun
on one, and a loaded barrel on the other. A patrol of
police arrived about half-past twelve o'clock, who assisted
in searching the house. In one of them, situate in
Dominick-street, they observed outside the door a six-
chambered revolver, two barrels of which had been dis-
charged, and the other four were still loaded. On
pursuing the search they saw concealed under a bed a
man named Dineen, a porter in the Butter Weigh-house.
He was bleeding profusely from a wound in the nose.
They also arrested a butcher's boy named Casey who was
in the bed. All the prisoners were brought up yesterday
at the police-office, and, with the exception of Casey,
against whom there was no evidence to warrant his deten-
tion. were committed for trial. The boy O'Leary, who
was ridden over, lies in a hopeless state. David Barry,
who is charged with being concerned in the robbery of
revolvers, has been fully committed for trial at the assizes.
Captain Mackay has been committed on a charge of
high treason."

During the debate in the House of Representa-
tives on the Deficiency Bill, the subject of allowance for
stationery to members of Congress came up, when Mr.
Maynard, of Tennessee, proposed that all members should
be allowed to draw whatever stationery they needed. Mr,
Stevens objected to this. He said that plan had been
tried, and had to be changed, because some members pro.
cured under the name of stationery pantaloons and shirts
and shaving soap enough to last them for years, Some
members had run up their account for stationery to nearly
119v.§Ancl
.cl9llare.

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