The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-28 00:00:00

SUPPOSED MURDER.

On Saturday, at Clerkenwell Police-court, George
Campbell, aged 23, described on the charge-sheet as an
upholsterer, residing at 42, Alfred-street, Barnsbury, was
charged before Mr. Barker with wilfully and feloniously
murdering John Moir, aged 28, by shooting him through
the head with a rifle, at 42, Alfred-street, Islington.
Alexander Fergusson Weatherspoon, the first witness,
said: The prisoner resides in the same house as I do, and lived
with the deceased. We had aparty on Christmas night, and
the prisoner was one of them, and so also was the de-
ceased. We were going on all right with songs and recita-
tions and such like, when the prisoner asked me if Iwould
go upstairs and have a quiet drop'of rum in Moir's room ;
that is, the room of the deceased. I said " No" at first,
but he so pressed me that I went. The deceased
followed close behind us. I asked the deceased what he
was going up to his own room for, and he said, " For
the Christy's Minstrels Song Book." The prisoner
then began to talk to the deceased about wrestling,
and offered to bet him four or five shillings that he would
wrestle him and throw him. The deceased said., "We do
not come here to wrestle," and that passed off. We all
three got into the deceased's room, no one else being
present, and the deceased was in the act of pouring out
a glass of whisky for me, and whilst I was drinking of it
the prisoner put his fists in a fighting attitude and said
something about fighting. The deceased offered to " take "
him with one hand. That passed off, and the prisoner
went and took the rifle that was hanging on a nail on the
top of the cupboard. The bayonet was close beside it, and
the bayonet fell down on the deceased trying to get the
rifle from the prisoner. There was a sort of scuffle in
trying to get the rifle away from the prisoner, and then
it was that the bayonet fell. Whilst I and the deceased
were looking for the case of the bayonet the prisoner
walked round the table with his rifle. He went out
of the door of the room, and was gone, perhaps, about a
minute and a half, when be returned with the rifle, and
just arrived as the deceased and I found the bayonet and
the case. I gave the deceased the bayonet, and be was in
the act of putting it in the case when the prisoner cocked
the rifle. The deceased said to the prisoner, " What are
you going to do ?" There was a lamp standing on the
table, and the prisoner, in reply to the deceased, said, "I
am only going to put out the light." The prisoner was
all this time in the middle of the room, and before either
the deceased or I could utter a word the prisoner fired
the rifle. The prisoner held the rifle in the ordinary
position. The rifle was fired by the prisoner, who
held it to his shoulder. The lamp, the prisoner, the
deceased, and I were in a direct line. I saw the flash,
and the deceased fell motionless. I was struck in Vie
eye, and I fell on an easy chair, my legs on he seat,
and my head on the back. I had some tobacco-pipes
in my hand, and as they were broken I cannot say
whether I got the marks on my face from them or not. I
commenced screaming " Murder" and " Police." As
soon as I found I was not severely hurt I got up and ran
to the door, and as I passed the prisoner I called him a
fool, and said, " See what you have done." I called
for my brother Archibald, and he came up on the instant,
and he told me to go and get a doctor, and I rushed
out without my hat and got one. When I came back,
which was in about twenty minutes, as I bad to
go to the residence of three surgeons before I could get
one to come, the deceased was dead, but I believe that he
died on the instant he received the shot. Before I called
the prisoner a fool, and whilst I was in the chair
calling "Murder," the prisoner said, "What is the
matter?" That is all I remember his saying. At the
time the rifle was fired, the paraffin lamp, myself, and
the deceased were in a line almost, and the prisoner was
also in a line with us. The deceased was shot in the left
temple, and his head was higher than the level of the
lamp. I was higher than the level of the lamp, and the
deceased was taller than me. The rifle belongs to James
Moir, the brother of the deceased. Ido not know whether
it was loaded or not. I did not notice whether the
deceased was shot in the head or not until after I re-
turned from the doctor's. I thought he might have fallen
to frighten the prisoner. When the deceased put up his
hand and said he would " take" him with one hand, he
also immediately said, "We did not come here to
quarrel." The deceased and the prisoner have lived and
slept together for the past three months, and had been
good friends up to Christmas night, as far as I know.
Nothing passed but what I have stated. The prisoner
was sober.

Evidence corroborating this was given. and the prisoner
was remanded. There are stories afloat that the whole
matter arose out of "a love affair."

It is said that Rossini's widow has been offered
7,000,000 f. for the posthumous IN orks of her husband.

JAPANESE CONVERSION.— The AMeriCalbMcthodist
states that on Sunday, November 22, Iwaski Nagai, -4
student at Rutgers' College, New Brunswick, N.J.,
was baptised and received into Church membership in
St. James's M.E. Church in that city. The young
Japanese, it is said, is the second of his nation who has
openly professed the Christian faith. He was baptised
with the name of John Wesley Iwaski Nagai, after the
founder of Methodism.

A glance over some of our colonial contempo-
raries often supplies us with amusement. Here is a cut-
ting from the correspondence column of a Queensland
journal :—" To the editor of the Sir, I wish you
would speak to Captain —, when his steamer arrives
with the mail in the morning, not to give our postmaster
any breakfast, Every time the steamer arrives in the
morning he goes on hoard, and stays there stuffing and
gorging till his eyes nearly start out." Our own post-
masters
.are sometimes sleepy ; but do they go out to
breakfast?

THE CORPORATION AT LAN.—The present week
has been an unfortunate one for the Corporation of the
City of London with respect to its law business. The claim
made on behalf of the Emanuel Hospitalhas broken down ;
Madame Rachel has been set free, owing to an informality
which might have been avoided by the expenditure, at the
proper time, of some five-and-twenty shillings on a new
commission for the Central Criminal Court ; and an action
brought against the Registrar of the City of London Court
has been decided against that officer.—City Press,

The Pennsylvania Historical Society has recently
come into possession of a letter written by Mrs. Martha
Washington to a friend during her husband's first presi-
dency. The V.rginian dame evidently knew little about
spelling. The ...nest correct passage in the letter runs
thus :—" Mrs. Sims will give you a better account of the
fashions than I can—l live a very dull life hear, and know
nothing that passes in the town—l never goe to any public
place—indeed I think I am more like a state prisoner than
anything else, there is certain bounds set for me which I
must not depart from-7and as I cannot doe KT like I fin
c'a'.iaate and stay at home a great_cleal.",