The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-23 00:00:00

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.

An inquiry of a very painful character took place
before Mr. C. J. Carttar, the Coroner for West Kent,
on Saturday evening at the New Farm, Beckenham,
near Bromley, touching the death of Edward Cran-
field, Esq., the proprietor of the farm and the adjoin-
ing estate, who destroyed himself by discharging a
horse-pistol into his mouth, and literally blowing his
head to atoms. The jury having been sworn pro-
ceeded to view the body, which presented a dreadful
spectacle, the upper part of the head having been
completely blown away and nothing remaining of it
but a portion of hair and skin hanging to the lower
jaw. Witnesses were then examined, from whose
evidence it appeared that the deceased hid been poorly
for some days, but on Thursday morning he appeared
somewhat better. He had been to London on the
Wednesday and brought thence with him a
large horse-pistol which he told his wife he
had bought in Smithfield for the purpose
of giving to a boy to frighten away
the crows. On the Thursday morning after
breakfast, a servant, upon going into the break-
fast-room, saw the deceased standing before the look-
ing glass with the pistol in one hand, and he at the
time appeared to be picking his teeth with the thumb
nail of the other hand. Upon observing the servant
looking at him he iinmedialely quitted the room, and
went to the water-closet, and directly afterwards the
report of a pistol was heard, and the unfortunate gen-
tleman was found in the state above described. Mr.
Flett, a surgeon at Bromley, was sent for, and he
speedily attended, and from the examination made by
him it appeared that the pistol had only been loaded
with powder, but the charge was so heavy that it ap-
pears wonderful the pistol did not burst, as it was evi-
dently loaded completely to the muzzle, and in the
act of discharging it the right hand and arm of the
deceased were very much scorched. Upon these facts,
and after evidence, as to the state of mind of the de-
ceased had been adduced, the jury returned a verdict
—That the deceased destroyed himself while in a state
of temporary mental derangement.

BURNLEY POLICE.--MONDAY.
(Before Lord SYDNEY, and the Revs. Sir C. FARNADY
and 'l'. ScoTr.)
Mr. Bourne, the poor-rate collector for one division
of the Bromley Union, attended before the Bench to
give some explanation of an alleged illegal and im-
proper distraint upon the goods of a labouring man
named Bryant, under the following circumstances :
It appeared from the statement of the complainant
that he found a summons for non-payment of poor-
rate of the amount of four shillings in the window of
his house, and as it was not addressed to him he took
no further notice of it. It was subsequently explained
that the summons was intended for him, and his wife
paid Mr. Bourne two shillings of the amount, and he
then promised that no further proceedings should be
taken, but on the same day a broker came with a
distress warrant, and although he was shown Mr.
Bourne's acknowledgment for the portion of the rate
that had been paid, he persisted in making the dis-
traint, and they were obliged to pay him the whole
amount of the rate and seven-and-sixpence costs.
Lord Sydney, upon the above statement being
made, requested the collector to give some explana-
tion why these poor people had been treated in this
manner.

Mr. Bourne said that he had summoned the party
by the name by which he was generally known, and
as he did not attend to answer the summons, a dis-
tress warrant was applied for and obtained in due
course, and it was placed in the hands of the broker
who usually executed this description of process.
Bryant's wife had paid him a portion of the rate ; and
he directed the broker not to execute the warrant
without communicating with him ; but instead of do-
ing so, he executed the warrant, and exacted the
whole amount of the rate, and the expenses also.
Lord SYDNEY—SO that, in point of fact, these poor
people have been compelled to pay two shillings more
than the full amount of the rate, and expenses also
The collector said that it was so, but it was no
fault of his, as he told the broker not to execute the
warrant. He was, however, ready to repay the ex-
penses the parties had been put to.
The BENCH said this must be done. The collector
should return the amount that had been received over
and above the rate, and also return the expenses of
the warrant.

Sir C. FARNABY said he thought that the collector
ought also to pay Bryant for the loss of his day's work
in attending the Bench.
The other magistrates concurred, and an order to
that effect was accordingly made.

A harrowing scene of cruelty took place, on Thurs-
day evening, at the north part of the town. The object of i
was a bullock, which, about four o'clock in the afternoon, was
driven in from the Lewes-road, but, on reaching Richmond-
place, turned back and got a considerable distance before it
could be overtaken. About seven, however, it again made its
appearance in Richmond-place, in a dreadfully exhausted con-
dition, and followed by a large number of persons. About the
middle of Richmond-place it fell, and uttered groans of a most
piteous character. All the ingenuity which cruelty could de-
vise was now resorted to in order to make the animal get up.
It was beaten, poked with sticks, its tail cut, and at length,
these means being ineffectual, some straw procured, placed
round the animal, and set tire to! This proceeding was suc-
cessful. The beast got up and staggered along as far as the
Richmond Hotel, where it again fell ; and again was a fire lit
around it. This scene of cruelty lasted from between seven and
eight till ten o'clock, and during this time the whole neighbour-
hood was shocked by the cries of the wretched animal. If there
ever was a case which required investigation, it is this. We are
informed that the bullock belonged to Mr. Boon.—Brighton
Gazette. •
The great anti-corn-law meetings in this borough,
which, are to be held on Friday next, will afford the opponents
of the• sliding scale a gratifying opportunity of assisting the
League in getting rid of that most mischievous and most
clumsy of ministerial and agricultural delusions. How the
juggle of such a scale came to be maintained so long in a com-
mercial and common-sense-boasting country like England, is
what no farmer, or farmer's friend, has ever yet been able to
explain to the world. The best defence we ever heard made
for it was, that a corn-law could not be maintained without it;
inasmuch as the juggle served to cover the dishonesty of taxing
the bread of the people, by complicating what would other-
wise be a question of simple fraud. The free traders, we are
happy
,to find, require no spurring. They are as earnest and
zealous as becomes honest and free men in a good cause. —Hull
Advertiser.

DREADFUL COLLIERY .AcctuENTs.—A poor man of
the name of Nimmo, a redsman at Clelan, near flol)rtown,
lost his life on the morning of the 16th inst., in the No. 10 pit,
under the following distressing circumstances :—Nimmo was
refitting in the main coal-seam alone, and is supposed to have
lost his light, and to have made for the bottom of the pit; but
being in the dark, and a stranger to the workings, fell into the
shaft down to the splint seam, and was smashed to pieces, his
head being nearly laid open. A wife and six children are left
to deplore his untimely end. In the last page will be found an
account of more coal-pit accidents. Surely it is necessary for
the Government Inqpeclor, "now appointed to see the Colliery
Act fully carried into operation in Scotland," to turn his
attention to these accidents, which appear to he on the increase
in Lanarkshire.—Glasgow Saturday Post.
-MILDNESS OF TIIE SEASON.--On the 11th instant
as a elan, named Henry Williams, was at work in a field in St.
Just in Penwith, he gathered two blackberries, in a perfectly ripe
state, from a bush on which there were others in different stages
cf Wcaterfforr,