The Sun.
London, England, 1828-09-27 00:00:00

MYSTERIOUS' tatttMSTANCE.

A tale of horrid import, sufficient to harrow
up the soul, has been in circulation some days,
in this town and neighbourhood, the particulars
of which, as well-as we have been able to recol-
lect them,. are as follow :—On the morning •of
Wednesday week, at the early hour of two
obelock, two men, goingg, with. their master s team
from Dale Abbey, in Derbrhire, to. the village
of Bulwell, in this county; for a load
.of lime,
when passing near Broxtowe Hall, in the parish
of Basford, perceived
a light in a wood, or :plan-
tation, not far ;from the road ; their curiosity
being excited by so unusual a circumstance at •
.that hour, one of the men remained in chate
of.the waggon and horses, whilst the other went
to see what was, the. cause, when, to his great
astonishment" he perceived a man, who, throw-
ing something out of his hands, snatched. up a
lanthorn, and putting out. the light, instautly dis-
appeared ! His astonishment, however, was.
still greater, on going to the spot, and finding
a hole dug in the shape' of a grave, with .a
PicLaxe lying near, and a man's red waist-
coat ; scarcely knowing what he did, he
took up the axe and the waistcoat, and hastened
to his companion, to tell his tale of wonder !
On searching the pockets of the waistcoat, a
huge knife was found therein, and the two coun-
trymen had no difficulty in coming to the deci-
sion that a murder had been about to be com-
mitted, which they had probably prevented.—
They went OIL their way, discoursing on the
strange thing that had happened, when they met
a young woman, of whom they, inquired
_where
she was going ? To this she replied in a petu-
lent manner, " What's that to you ?" and re-
fused to give any satisfactory answer., At length
they showed her the red waistcoat, when she ac-
knowledged she knew it well, and. was going to
meet its owner ! They then told her what they
had seen, and accompanied her to the grave
side, which when she saw, she fainted, and fell
therein ; with some difficulty they got her out
of the hole, and then she confessed other par-
ticulars relative to her connexion with this
man, and pointed out where he lived in Bul-
well. They then accompanied her to her
Amine, at .Bulwell, and having seen her safe,
proceeded on their way, put up their horses at
the Red • Lion, and left the red waistcoat, axe,
and knife, with the landlord : they then got in
their load, and the men returned home. Such
was the account brought to our office on Mon-
day, and we have felt it our duty to investigate it.
True it is there is a hole in the shape of a grave,
about six feet long, three wide, and two deep;
dug at the
.place named, and hundreds of per-
sons from all the surrounding country have been
to see it ; but on going to the girl's friends,
whose name we purposely omit, we found
to our astonishment, that they all denied it,
and asserted that she was not out that night.
Resolved to fathom the mystery, we pro,.
ceeded to the Red Lion, at Bulwell, when
the landlord denied having seen the men or
the waistcoat, but he had heard of the
tale, and believed
.there was some truth in.
it ; we then inquired at the different lime-
kilns, and other places that were at all likely to
afford any clue, but one and all denied having
seen the men, the waistcoat, or any thing
else connected with the story. We also found,
that the ,Rev. W. Herbert, the minister of the
parish, along with, C. Alcock, Esq., had exa-
mined into the rumour the day before, and were
satisfied that it had no foundation. We then
saw the man who was- accused, but he stoutly
denied it, and gave proof, which to us was.quite
satisfactory, that lie was not a -party to the trans-
action ; and further inquiry convinced Us-that the
horrid Red Barn tragedy had been talked about
in the country, with variations ; Lady-wood,
near Dale
.Abbey, had at first been fixed upon
as the spot for the. grave, but afterwards a than,
who was desirous of a hoax, went to. the wood
near Broxtowe, and dug the hole, that he might
enjoy the,sport of thousands going to behold it,
—We have been thus particular in the affair, in
order not only to correct the generally received
rumour, .but also to show how easily. a marvel-
lous tale may be conjured up and gain credence,
without any foundation in fact.—Nottinglrani
Review.

Sonic idea may be formed of the value of laud
in the centre of Birmingham, when we state that about
10,000/. was recently asked for an unoccupied space of
about three quarters of an acre. The widening and im-
proving the Stafford-street entrance into Birmingham has
been determined upon.—Litchfield Mercury.

The wife of a man residing near the Wicker,
on expressing to her husband a wish to go to Doncaster to
see the great St. Leger race; found that he was similarly
dispo,4ed himself, but the difficulty was how to obtain the
needful—neither of them having any money, nor indeed
was there any thing in the house that could be conveniently
converted into cash after consulting together on the sub-
ject, it occurred to them that as they had a little .credit
with a neighbouring shopkeeper, the. difficulty might be
obviated. The wife accordingly got two stones of flour on
credit, and innnvliately took it to a pawnbroker, who
not only received it in pledge, bot•engaged that his wife
should get it inade into bread, with an understanding that
it was to be redeemed, loaf after loaf, as the parties might
be able to work out its deliverance after their retuin.—
With the money thus obtained the congenial couple'went
to Doncaster.—Sheffield

3liidame tie TALL
ARD used to tell to her
circle of friends some droll anecdote's of
very wealthy financier of the periti Snit,
i
of'L LOl3nEL,F:Nxmt vo a
._,
Louis wishei 'to borrow from this millions of
livrcs, and the Duke of NoaILLEs was charged to manage
the loan. BERNARD replied with equal spirit an I
that such a demand was not undeserving a requestutttoZtTe
KING himself. Such an opinion did not seem
able, and the Duke of NOAILLES was instructed to conduct
hanker to Choisy. The two arrived there just as atlct
KING was going out to hunt. "You see, BERNARD,"
Paid the KI:, u, while proceeding across the passage, " that
I am just going to hunt; a walk is more suitable to your
age, and so I shall leave you in charge of the Duke of
NOM LLESIIC will guide you wherever -yon .wish to go.
You will dine with him afterwards, , and he will then talk
v., you of the money I stand in need of, and which I
request of you." BE RNA II I) bowed to the ground at
this speech, and before he recovered himself the
monarch was gone. The Duke acquitted himself of
his commission admirably. " You have heard the KING's
orders," said he ; " they must be obeyed. I skill tell
you,
rtx then, to begin, that his MAJESTY never sleeps in
this
nu, although you see there is a bed in it ; lie
merely dresses here. Let us get out by this door ; it
opens into a cabinet which leads to the council chain-
b s ra:wta.o;s• ybaauusyr :ntdobeserve.that the King, young as he is,
seetally. with the finances. Still
farther on, added tl 4.. Duke, still moving forward, "is a
salt on—a very pretty '
as you may perceive. We must
go fairly into it :. the1,0.(%e,, is. in the habit of sitting in it,
and only his mostintiroateafcratebods and acquaintances are
admgitotedinb. bore. 6 TmtreEsi
,sr, lneht that way—but we can-
botkeeps
Nowis papers in it, and has
always the key in his pocket.must be con-
cealed front you, so take a look atyt,l,:aotnticiionrgridor, and that
door ou the left, and all the rest.
gardens.know 'as much
a:6 we do ; we shall therefore get to theWe shall
go out by this back door.; we shall reachthe
srillhiss-lea.
minute.. But, by the by, put on your hat, Mr, lishade in
a
Here's a parterre that the KING .nude ; but it. ' ERTD.
t o the .gratifyfu hee a
~ure that it should. not be adinired--ittbisleiar
you more. Let us take this road;
pantry : you will see a number of China pheasapt.
They aro exceedingly rare.; if you were very moor'''.
however, to have one, the KING: would not refuse it. n''
I
shall willingly undertake. to repeat it for you. Now,l
• think, We are pretty well appetited for dinottr, The
1.5,000,00 t) were obtained....Freftek Parr.