The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-17 00:00:00

APPREHENSION OF THE MURDERER.

LATEST PARTICULARS.—(From the Liverpool Mercury
of Thursday.)
Information of the murder was transmitted to Liver-
pool, where Evans, it was ascertained, arrived about
two o'clock. Here the 'case was taken up by Mr.
Inspector Anders, one of our most active officers.
After strict inquiry, the porter who carried the blue box
from the railway was found, and Evans was taken into
custody yesterday morning at two o'clock, by Mr. Anders,
in a street near the Clarence Dock. The prisoner, on
arriving here, went directly with the porter to the
George's Pierhead, with the intention of proceeding
by either the Mostyn Quay or Rhyl boat to Wales.
After some conversation the porter persuaded him not to
go with the steamer, as the weather was likely to be stormy
and the water rough, and Evans then accompanied
the man home. Whilst on the pierhead the strange de-
meanour of Evans excited the suspicion of one of the
officers on duty there, who states that he almost felt in-
clined to apprehend him without a warrant or authority,
being persuaded in his own mind that there was something
wrong about him, he conducted himself so strangely.
Mr. Anders took his prisoner to the police-office, High-
street, where he detained him till the following morning.
He then left by the seven o'clock train for Manchester,
and the case would yesterday be brought before the
authorities there. Whilst sitt ng in the Police-office
here, in the middle of the night, the prisoner
killed a mouse which was playing about. He then
remarked to those near him, with the utmost levity,
that that was another murder he had committed. The
whole of the stolen property, with the exception of the
watch, was found in the possession of the prisoner. It
does not amount in value to more than a few pounds.

ALLEGED MURDER ON THE HIGH
SEAS.

The return of the ship Thomas Bennett to Liverpool,
on Wednesday, in consequence of the murder of the cap-
tain by the cook, was mentioned briefly in our paper
yesterday. The following are the painful details :
It appears that the Thomas Bennett, a fine American
ship, of 483 tons burden,; sailed from Liverpool for
Charleston on the 3d instant, with a general cargo, worth
about 30,0001. Her commander, Captain Halsey, who
was also a part owner, was an American, and a married
man of respectable family and connections. The cook,
John Kent, an able-bodied fellow, with fine blue eyes,
and rather well looking, is a native of Liverpool, and has
a wife residing at 27, Great Howard-street. The dread-
ful occurrence we are about to relate seems to have
taken place in the afternoon of the Bth ;inst, five days
after the vessel had left Liverpool. She was at the time
in the Bay of Biscay ; and upon the eventful day in
question the captain, according to the account of
the crew, had swallowed no less than a pint and a half of
brandy, and had been more or less intoxicated from the
date of his departure from the Mersey. At the moment
of the occurrence, three o'clock on the Bth, they des-
cribe him to have been quite drunk, and very abusive
in his language, as well as violent in his demeanour.
The immediate cause of his irritation was either a delay
in getting his dinner ready, or some fault in cooking it.
He proceeded from the cabin to the cook-house on deck,
in which the steward and cook were employed in dress-
ing the victuals. The cook was in the act of peeling
potatoes, and had a large sheath knife in his hand for
that purpose. The captain, in the first instance, seems
to have abused the steward about the preparation of the
dinner, and then snatched a large table-knife out of the
steward's hand, and ordered the latter out of the caboose.
He then seized the cook with his left hand by the throat,
and dragged him out upon the deck, What occurred at
this moment does rot appear to have been exactly wit-
nessed by any of the crew ; and therefore we are unable
to corroborate that part of the rumour which goes to
say that the captain made an attempt, with his knife,
upon the cook's life. If, however, the attempt was
made, it must have been unsuccessful, for the cook es-
caped without having received the slightest injury.
There is no doubt, upon the other hand, but the cook
used his knife with a very effective and determined
purpose ; for scarcely had he been dragged upon the
deck when the captain fell at his feet a wounded, bleed-
ing, and mangled corpse. The mate had hardly time to
run from the after part of the vessel and lift up the cap-
tain's head, when life was completely extinct. The body
was then examined, and no fewer than nine deep stabs
were discovered. Three of those were on the breast ;
three others on the neck
; one on the jaw ; one on the
left side of the body ; and one on the shoulder. The
cook was immediately secured and placed in irons ; and
the mate, having taken charge of the vessel, deemed it
the most judicious course, as she was so much nearer to
Liverpool than to Charleston, to put her about and bring
her back to the former port. She accordingly arrived at
the Rock Lighthouse yesterday morning ; and was soon
boarded by several boats' crews, who brought the dis-
astrous intelligence to the police-office. IR a short time
several constables were sent out in a pilot-boat, and they,
having taken the cook into custody, safely lodged him
in Bridewell. The remains of the captain were con-
veyed to the dead-house. In the course of the afternoon
the cook was brought before Mr. Rushton on the charge;
but as he alleged that he had no money to fee a solicitor,
wished to see his wife, and prayed for a postponement
until to-day, the hearing of the case was adjourned until
eleven o'clock this morning. The Coroner and a re-
spectable jury proceeded to view the body yesterday ;
and then the inquest was adjourned until one o'clock on
Thursday.

—-- _
SUICIDE IN THE MILLBANR PRISON.—A SEVERE
SENTENCE.—On Thursday Mr. Higgs held an inquest in
the Millbank prison, on the body of Thomas Bentley,
aged thirty-two, an inmate. Mr. Hatchard, the deputy-
governor, stated that deceased Was admitted on Monday
last from Stafford gaol, having been convicted at the last
July Stafford sessions of stealing rabbits, and sentenced
to seven years' transportation. The eertificate of the
previous character of deceased was good, and it stated
that he had been a blacksmith, and worked for ten years
under the same master. When received into the prison
he did not seem depressed in spirits, and exhibited no
symptoms of insanity. Thomas Higgins, a prisoner,
said that the deceased had told him (they were both
tried for different offences at Stafford) that he was in-
nocent of the crime for which he was convicted, and
that it was committed by another man, who had been
only sentenced to six months' imprisonment. Previ-
ous to the robbery of the rabbits, the man in ques-
tion had asked deceased, he said, to participate in
it with him, but he refused. Deceased first ap-
peared as a witness against the man, but something came
out during the trial which caused the chairman of the
sessions to tell deceased that he was the more guilty of
the two, and he was placed at the bar, tried, and sen-
tenced to seven years' transportation. Deceased also said
the principal evidence against him was a little blood and
some rabbits' fur found in the pocket of his jacket. He
likewise stated that he had been married but two months,
and that circumstances, coupled with the severity of his
sentence, was enough to make him cut his throat. He
made the above statement in Stafford gaol, and the
authorities having heard of it, he was not allowed to re-
main in a cell by himself. Mr. Hatchard said if he had
known this he would not have confined deceased in a
separate cell. William Trevelt, a night-guard of the
prison, proved finding deceased early on Wednesday
morning in his cell, suspended by the neck from a clothes
peg in the wall by means of his handkerchief. He was
cut down, and Mr. Sunman, the resident surgeon, was
called, who said he had been dead some hours. Verdict,
" Temporary Insanity."
The Duke of Rutland commenced grouse shooting
on Tuesday, at Longshawe Lodge, near Batewell, where
his Grace is entertaining
a party of friends, including
the Earl of Jersey, Lore Forrester, Lord George Man-
ners, Mr. Thoroton, Itcc. The party bagged forty-five
and a half brace on the first day. His Grace will enter-
tain a succession of distinguished visitors at Longshawe
during the ensuing month.
HARBOUR DUES.—The Treasury have called for a
return of the several dues and charges of every kind
levied on shipping at each port, harbour, or creek, in the
United Kingdom, stating the rates of the several dues
levied per ton on each vessel, and whether under autho-
rity of Acts of Parliament, and what Acts ; whether by
orders of municipal corporations, and of what date, or
whether by charter, consent, prescription, or any other
authority, so as to exhibit the entire charges of every
kind on vessels at each of the harbours, ports, and creeks
of the United Kingdom, distinguishing the several
charges upon vessels taking refuge in the harbour only,
from those upon vessels delivering theecarcgluosiivnewohfotlheooser
in part ; and also on vessels in the coasting or in the
localf o foreign glni
lights
ea
n;
db distinguishingea e
beacons
in
eachalso
the charges levied for
port
(exclusive
of tho Trinity House, the Irish Ballast Board, and the
Commissioners of Northern Lights), the charges for
pilotage into and out of each harbour, and the charge for
ballast, and whether under any and what Board the same
are levied.