The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-16 00:00:00

with a view to the preservation of life, the rate of
speed of steam vessels navigating between Deptford
and London-bridge should be at a reduced rate, and
that the attention of proprietors of steam-vessels fre-
quenting the river Thames should be called to this
subject, as well as to the number of passengers which
are received on board those boats, until the sanction
of Parliament shall have been obtained to such reme
dial measures as shall hereafter be deemed expedient.'
It was also submitted to the Committee that if regu-
lations, for steam navigation on the Thames were to
be manufactured from time to time at the suggestion
of the rulers of the wherrymen, it would tend to
paralyse the exertions now constantly in progress for
the improvement of steam navigation, as parties
would no longer be found who would apply their ,
capital to be subject to such harassing control. A
copy of a notice, issued some years since under the
authority of the Lord Mayor, for the regulation of
the speed of steam-vessels, with instructions to
the harbour-masters to see them carried into
effect, was produced, and it was suggested
that this should be brought into operation
until further lawful authority should be obtained.
Mr. Cruden concluded by disclaiming altogether
any design to obstruct the formation of a code of
rules and orders for the regulation of steam naviga-
tion on the Thames."

MYSTERIOUS MURDER AT HIGH
EIGHTON.

A most cruel and horrid murder was perpetrated
at the above place, in the county of Durham, on Sa-
turday last. It appears that a potatoe field, belong-
ing to Mrs. Mitcalfe, of High Eighton, had suffered
severely from depredators of late, and Mr. Fleck,
manager of the farm, had placed a watch to pre-
vent a recurrence of these losses. On Saturday
night last he had sent a young man, named Yarrow,
to watch; and he, in company with two other men,
had proceeded to the brakehouse of one of the pits
of Ravensworth colliery. Yarrow, as far as we
can learn, had stayed in the brakehdase till the
brakesman, Thomas Robson, and J. Jefferson, had
gone to see that all was right. While they were pro-
ceeding along the top of the field, Jefferson observed
somebody in the hedge, but went on without speak-
ing ; the brakesman also observed one, and called out
" Iloilo," upon which the villain instantly fired a pistol
at him, and he staggered a few yards and fell dead.
His comrade was so paralysed by the dreadful deed,
as to be completely deprived of his faculties, and he
also fell, and remained in a state of stupor for a con •
siderable time. At length Mr. Fleck came to the
spot, and found them as described. Robson was quite
dead, his heart having been partly blown out of its
place, and his breast dreadfully shattered.
On Monday an inquest was held before J. M.
Favell, Esq., County Coroner, and a most re-
spectable jury, at a farm-house on the Team Col-
liery, where the deceased had held the situation of
a brakesman. The testimony of the youth Jefferson,
Mr. Fleck, and Mr. Davis, a surgeon, were taken,
but the result of the examination only left this cold-
blooded murder involved in still deeper mystery.
Mrs. Mitcalfe's potato-field in High Eighton looks
upon the public road, from which easy access is
gained and according to the statement of Jefferson,
he and the deceased Robson were passing through
the field on Saturday night, on their watch, when a
man who was sitting under the hedge, wearing a hat
and round jacket, discharged a weapon at them, and
struck his companion. Robson staggered a
few yards, and then fell dead on the ground.
Mr. Fleck afterwards came up and found Jef-
ferson in a state of great alarm. Seeing some-
thing lying on the ground, he asked Jefferson
what it was. Jefferson replied, it might be a white
cat. Fleck then went up, and saw Robson, as he
fancied, asleep, but he soon found out that he was
dead, and then Jefferson told him that the deceased
had been shot. The body was removed, and a me-
dical man called in, but of course the deceased was
beyond all aid. Mr.f Davis, the surgeon, and another
medical gentleman, took a post mortem examination
of the deceased. The apex of the heart was shattered,
and no fewer than 187 shots were found in his body,
the greater part of them being in the back part of the
chest, and many of them were flattened by coming
into contact with the ribs. The Coroner said that no
time had yet been allowed to the police to make in-
quiry into the circumstances, and therefore he would
adjourn the inquest till Friday morning, at ten
o'clock, in order that more information might be pro-
cured. The inquest was then adjourned. Many
rumours are afloat, which it would be premature at
present to mention.—Tyne Mercury.