The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-13 00:00:00

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE MARQUIS 07

SALISBURY.

We regret to announce the unexpected death of the
Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., which took place shortly
after six o'clock on Sunday evening, at Hatfield House,
the ancient family seat in Hertford. The Marquis of
Salisbury left town on Saturday for Hatfield in apparent
health. On his valet going into his room on Sunder
morning he found his master evidently labouring eider
very severe illness, and, in consequence, the Marchloaess
of Salisbury, who had gone on gaturday last to Knole,
near Sevenoaks, to visit the Earl and Countess De la
Warr, was sent for. Her ladyship arrived at Hatfield
about a quarter of an hour before her husband eapired.

The late James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cep,
Marqtais and Earl of Salisbury, Viscount Cranborne,
county Doinet, and Baron Cecil of Essendine, county
Rutland, in the peerage of Great Britain, was the only
son of James, fiat Marquis of Salisbury, by his wife,
Lady Mary Emily Hil, second daughter of Wills, first
Marquis of Downshire. He was born 17th April, 1791 ;
consequently, had he lived a few days longer, he would
have attained his 77th year. He succeeded to the family
honours on the death of his father, 13th June, 1823. The
deceased marquis was twice married—first, f_sud February,
1821, to Frances Mary, only daughter and heir of Mr.
Bamber Gascoyne, which lady died 15th Oct., 1839 ; and
secondly, he married, 29th April, 1847, Lady Mary
Catherine Sackville-West, second daughter of the Earl
De la Warr. By his first marriage he leaves surviving
issue Lady Mildred, married to Mr. Alexander J. Beres-
ford Hope, M.P.; Lady Blanche, widow of Mr. James
Maitland Balfour, of Whittinghame ; Viscount Cranborne,
M.P. for Stamford ; and Lord Eustace Cecil, M.P. for
South Essex. By his second marriage his lordship leaves
issue three sons, viz., Lord Sackville, Lord Arthur, and
Lord Lionel Cecil ; and Ladies Mary Arabella and Mar-
garet Elizabeth Cecil. The Marquis of Salisbury was
appointed lord-lieutenant of the county of Middlesex on
the resignation of the late Duke of Portland, was made a
D.C.L. at Oxford in 1834, and was created a Knight of
the Garter in 1842. He bad been colonel of the Herts
Militia since 1851, and was major of the South Herts
Yeomary Cavalry from 1847 to 1854. He was appointed
a deputy-lieutenant of Argyllshire in 1859, and on
the resignation of the late Lord Dacre was unani-
mously elected chairman of the Herts quarter sessions.
The late Marquis of Salisbury accepted office in the
Earl of Derby's first Administration, in 1852, as Lord
Privy Seal, and again in Lord Derby's Government, from
February 1858 to June 1859, was Lord President of the
Council. The deceased nobleman, it is almost unneces-
sary to say, was a staunch and consistent Conservative in
polities, and a supporter of the agricultural interest. He
supported the late Sir Robert Peel's Government up to
the proposition to repeal the corn laws.
Viscount Cranborne, M.P., by the lamented death of
his father, succeeds to the ancestral honours and large
landed property. The present peer was born Feb. 3,
1830, and married July 11,1857, Georgina Caroline, eldest
daughter of the late Sir E. H. Alderson, one of the Barons
of the Exebequer. He was educated at Eton and Christ
Church, Oxford, and obtained a fellowship at All Souls
in 1853. His lordship has been member for Stamford
since 1853.

The families of the Earl and Countess Cowley, Colonel
and Lady Rosa Greville-Nugent, the Marquis and Mar-
chioness of Downshire, the Marquis of Westmeath, Lord
and Lady Dangan, Mr. and Lady Mildred B. Hope, and
others are placed in mourning by the death of his lord-
ship,

THE MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY AT
HACKYEY.

Since the particulars of the facts attending the disce"ery
of the dead body in the unfinished house, No. 21, Elgin-
place, have been made known, considerable advance has
been made towards a solution of the mystery. Constable
Nixon, of the N division, having heard that an inmate
of St. Luke's Lunatic Asylum had been missing
for some time, communicated particulars of the dis-
covery of the body to the authorities. Dr. Ellis,
of the asylum, informed the police, that during the
night of February 11 a patient named Heewsman con-
trived to effect his escape in a very mysterious man-
ner. He was confined in the centre ward of the
asylum, and although there were six doors, all locked,
separating him from the exterior, yet he managed to pass
through them all. During his passage through the
several wards he helped himself to articles of clothing
belonging to other patients. The police spewed the body
to Dr. Ellis, and he at once identified it as that of his
missing patient. In the blucher boot is marked " Har-
nett, C.W.," the name being that of a patient at present
in the hospital, and " C.W." signifying " central wing."
As soon as the body was deposited in the mortuary,
Sergeant Foden, N, was instructed to make a thorough
examination of the house and its immediate vicinity.
The tb ors at the back were found screwed up, as well as
Volted, just as they were left by the landlord's workmen
about Christmas. There was one window at the rear,
which was closed but not fastened ; but it was several
feet from the grou:cl. The deceased must, then, either
have been in his concealment before the doors were screwed
up, or obtained access by the window. There were no
traces discoverable, outside the house, of any entrance
having been effected by the window. Mention has also
been made of an old black frockcoat, which was on the
floor of the cupboard, and which was said to have been
stained with blood ; in one pocket there has been found
a copy of a London paper, dated January 31, 1863.
From the creases in the paper, it is conjectured that
it must have been used as a fold for some letters, or
small books. In the farthest corner of the cupboard
Sergeant Foden found a small empty phial, labelled
" Laudanum-Poison." At present two statements
have been published with respect to the position in
which the body was found : one account stating that the
head was close to the door, and another that the head was
in the further corner of the cupboard. In the latter case
the head must have lain close to the empty phial. Many
applications have been made by both gentlemen and
ladies at the police office for the most minute descriptions
of the body ; and, as is very often the case in discoveries
of this character, the body is stated to correspond exactly
with the descriptions given by all who have instituted hie
quiries concerning some missing relative. The police, how-
ever, believe that Dr. Ellis has solved the mystery. One
couple who thought they identified the photograph of the
corpse stated that it resembled their son, who eighteen
months ago ran away from his wife and family, and took
with him £2,000 in money ; no traces of him had been
discovered.. The most satisfactory evidence with regard
to the deceased after his escape from the e eel ma has been
furnished by a carpenter named Henry 1- . He states
that one day in the first week of February he was
working on the roof of a house near Elginplace when
his attention was drawn to a man sitting on a heap
of sand in the rear. Some labourers at work in a
brickfield were also attracted by this person's conduct.
In the course of the afternoon Price passed the sand-
heap, and then saw that the man, who was of gentle-
manly appearance, was whittling a piece of wood into the
shape of a boat. The day was bitterly cold, and Price,
accosting the man, said, " You have got a cold seat there,
sir." To this he replied, "You are the civillest man I
have spoken to to-day. My God keeps me warm. Friend,
do you attend church or chapel ?" Price said in reply
that he had been brought up a Churchman, and attended
church, whereupon the stranger responded, " I always
pray to God in my own room. I have got a nice
one at my sister's, at Poplar." Price then said, " It's
kcold job you have got, anyhow." To which he replied,
" 1 do it for my amusement. There is a river near
my sister's, where I swim my boats ; and now, my friend,
you go and mind your business, and I will mind mine."
During this singular conversation Price noticed that
the stranger was using a buckhoru-handled knife,
that he had an awl to bore holes with, a piece of
leather on his trousers to prevent cutting them, and a
piece of linen cloth. When Price and the labourers in
the field left work, the man was still whittling away at
the boat. None of the articles that Price saw the stranger
using had been found ; but he most positively identifies the
body as that of the person with whom he held this conver-
sation. After the body had been identified by Dr. Ellis,
a lady made application to see the corpse, and positively
stated it was that of her husband, who had been missing
for some time. She particularly described an injury to
one finger, which corresponded with one of the deceased's.
There can be little doubt that the lady is mistaken. Two
young ladies also believed that the corpse was that of their
brother, who had been missing from St. John's College,
Cambridge, for four months.

Between forty and fifty gentlemen met at Nock's
Hotel, Birmingham, on Saturday evening, and presented
£lOO and a copy of the " Cambridge Shakespeare" to Mr.
John Lovell, ono of the oldest and most valued member::
of the newspaper pr;:ss in Birminf-;ham.

A noted sporting authority in London is said to
have been paced in a curious difficulty after the Univer-
sity boat race last week. Two carrier pigeons were taken
down to Mortlake, each with a slip of paper tied to it,
Oxford, the winner, being written on one, and Cambridge
on the other. Unfortunately, in the bustle of the
moment after the race, as the Oxford pigeon was being
taken out of the basket, the Cambridge bird struggled and
managed also to get free, the two birds coming swiftly
home in company, and driving their owner to despair by
the contradictory intelligence.