The Sun.
London, England, 1821-10-10 00:00:00

MURDER NEAR ROMFORIi

APPREHENSION ,OF THE
.MURDERER,
INQUEST, (S.C.
We haVe already giiren a short account of
murder having been perpetrated near Itomford,
and of the murderer having absconded. We are
happy to have it in our power to state, that
through the exertions of the loCal police .of
Romford, &c:, the delingtient has beenappre
hended. He Was taken in bed at a tavern at
Gravesend, and eonveyed lief Ore the Mayor,
fore whom he Was eamined on Saturday last;
The prisoner, Whdse name is Daniel Seward, is a:
dark, ill-favoured Man ; he is about 24 years of
age. lie was charged with the wilful murder of
John Ballard, by Ctitting and stabbing him in
five different parts of the body. On the prisoner
being brought to the TOwn Hall at Gravesend
for examination, thousandS of per Sons had assem
bled, anxious to catch a glimpse of the accused:
The etidence against him was the young woman
whom he fdrinerly courted, and who was in the
cOmpany .of the, deceased when the prisoner
stabbed him: The following is her evidence :

.111snt SrarTit sworn-the was servant at the White Horse
Tavern at Chadwell, which is shout two miles from Romford.
She kneW the prisoner ; he had ;it one time paid his adress...
her. She knew the deceaied Ballard; at the time of his deat4
he was her lover. On Wednesday last she Went with the de-
cea:ied to RlMfOrd to see the Staiiite Fair ; while they were in
the fair, she obs'erved the prisoner following them from one
part of the fit!" td aridther. At eight O'clock the deceased and
herself returned from Romford towards Rush Green, and there
met the pr:sonee Ile Said, " Mary, I want to speak to yeu."
She speak then Y Can hear you ;" he' rejoined, " I
wish to *.at a Word privately to you." She answered, " What
you have to say to me speak out." He refused to do so, and
intieated her to leave the deceased, and walk aside and heae
what he had to say. She want up to the prisoner, some short
distance from the place where the deceased stood, and the
soner begged. that she would not go home with the deceased ;
she said that she certainly should, that she did not wish his
(the prisoner's) company, she had done with him, and requested
him to leave her. Ile declared that he would not, and seemed
greatly agitated ; he called her many vile names, and said that
she was a w—e, and she knew it. The deceased stepped up
on hearing such infamous language, and told the prisoner to go
about Lis business ; the prisoner appeared very furious, and
seemed inclined to do her some harm ; he used the grossest
language towards her, and then the deceased took him by the
collar, and a scuffle immediately ensued. The prisoner struck
the deceased a blow, which was returned by the deceased, and
they fought two or three rounds. The deceased appeared to
have the best of the fight, and at the third scuffle the de-
ceased cried out, " he has murdered me, he has cut out my
bowels," and put his hand to his belly, to prevent his bowels
protruding. There being a number of houses near' the'spot,
she alarmed -the inhabitants by crying " murder !" The
prisoner ran off' before assistance arrived. The &Ceased
walked a short distance, and then was carried to the Crown
Tavern, at Havering Well. She did not see a knife in the pri-
soner's hand at the time of the scuffle. •

After the above evidence had been received,
the prisoner was delivered, by the Mayor, into
the custody of Adams and Finch, the constables
of nomford, on their producing a warrant under
the hand and seal of—TALßoT,Esq.tbe Magistrate
of Ron►ford. On Saturday evening the prisoner
was taken to Romford; l►e slept in the gaol at
night, and on Sunday morning he was taken to
tl►e Police Office, before TALBOT, (Esq. and
STERRY, Esq., the Coroner.—An Inquest
was held on the body of the deceased at the
Crown Tavern, Havering Well, before Mr.
STERRY, and, in addition to the evidence of
Mary Smith, tl►e following was adduced :

JAMES BASKET sworn—He is a shoemaker, residing at.
Romford. Ile had known the prisoner for some years ; they
had worked together for a considerable time ; but not recently.
On Wednesday last the prisoner came to his house about five
o'clock in the evening, and borrowed a sharp pointed knife,
which he (witness) used for cutting the edges of shoe soles.—
He said he wanted it to .cut a stick with. He went away with
the knife, and returned again a little after nine the same night.
lie took a seat, and said that he had been almost murdered since
he went away. He had not brought the knife which he bor-
rowed back, having lost it; but he would pay him for it. H a
(witness) declined receiving any thing for the knife, though the
prisoner offered to pay him twopence for it. The knife was about
six inches long in the blade, with a common wood handle to
it. He (witness) asked the prisoner what had been the matter ?
He replied that he had been as far as the hurdle makers
at Rush Green, and had met with a young man and woman,
and he talked to the young woman with the knife in his hand,
and whilst he was talking to her, the young man that was with
he came up and struck him, and in the scuffle he lost the knife.
The prisoner then asked him to go as far as the White Horse,
Chadwell, to learn what -was going forward, and what was doing
relative to the quarrel with the deceased. Ile refused to go.L.
His (witness's) wife said to the prisoner, " 1 hope you have
not done any bad act with the knife ?" The prisoner replied,
" No, unless the man fell on the knife in the scuffle." He
(witness) then became alarmed, and ordered the prisoner to leave
the house, which he did.
Mr. CARUTHERS, surgeon of Romford, was examined; he
described the nature of the wounds inflicted by the prisoner on
the body
,of the deceased. There were five wounds. Three of
them were mortal. One of them was between one and two inches
in length and depth across the belly, below the navel.
The Jury returned a verdict of " Mur-
der against the prisoner, Daniel Seward."
The above evidence being read over to the pri-
soner by Mr. STERRY, he was asked, if he had any
thing which he wished to say ? The prisoner re-
plied, " impart of the evidence is true, and part is
false ; that is, all. I have to say." The prisoner
was then fully committed to Chelmsford, to take
his trial at the next Essex Assizes. When the
prisoner was being removed from Gravesend, he
said to Finch, the constable, " the knife was in
my waistcoat pocket, point upwards, and the de-
ceased might have been wounded in the scuffle ;
I know nothing more about it." On the night
the deed was perpetrated, the prisoner (after he
left Basket's house) went to the Fox and Hounds
Tavern, at Romford, and asked for a bed, and
was informed that all the beds were engaged.—
The landlord noticed that his coat was torn.
He (the prisoner) afterwards, went to the Crown,
at Romford, and was drinking with the company
(who had not heard of the murder), as if nothing
had occurred, and appeared quite unconcerned.
The unfortunate deceased lingered of his wounds
till five o'clock on Thursday evening. lie in-
quired very anxiously, a short time before he
expired, if Seward was taken, and said, " that
he was dying, and he hoped justice would be
. done to his murderer."

THE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY EXTRACTS FROM THE 310RNING PAPERS,
October 10.

[THE TIMES.]
YELLOW Fma.—Ex tract of a letter from the
Agent to Lloyd's, at Gibraltar, dated Sept. 6 :-

" The Superb, Murdock, and the Auspicious, Drowett, have
arrived here from Malaga. They were mitered away from
thence in consequence of a man having died on board of each

eti the 2d inst., with symptoms of the yellow feier. The
Superb came in yesterday, and had one man sick on board, who
died last night. The Auspicious was visited this morning, and
vies found to have one man sick. The former sailed this morn-
ing at
.10 o'clock, and the latter is now (3 p. ni.) going out; both
I believe, proceeding to England ! I"
The vessels above.amentioned have now arrived
—the Superb in the Clyde, and the AuspiciouS
at the port of Bristol. Is the Council Board, we
ask, sufficiently awake to the circumstances under
which these vessels have reached the English
shores ? If not, they can neither plead ignorance
nor deny a gross neglect of duty. Our informa-
tion is, certainly not that the laws of quarantine
are wholly neglected, but we have reason to fear
that the same lax system is still pursued, and
that no orders have been transmitted for the
exercise of any increase of vigilance on ac-
count of the augmented danger. We learn that
the Superb has been ordered to the quarantine-
ground in the Clyde, but we have heard nume-
roas instances of crews being permitted, in such
cases, to go on shore occasionally, or to receive visits
from the adjoining population ; some assurance,
therefore, ought to be given,where undoubted dan-
ger impends, that the law will not in this instance
also be transgressed,and that the entire absence of
all contagion may bi.ascertained beforecommunica-
tion is permitted. From Bristol we have no ac-
counts of any precautions being used with regard
to the crew of the Auspicious, the arrival being
simply notified in the usual manner without the
slightest comment. Whatever has been the
course adopted, the public at large, but more
especially the mercantile worlds. have a right to
know it. A third case has been mentioned to
us, in which the law has been relaxed, and un-
der very suspicious circumstances. We must be
understood, however, not to give our own au-
thority for the statement, and shall be happy, if
incorrect, to contradict it. We refer to the ar-
rival of a vessel, called the Prince Regent at
Dartmouth. This vessel is last from Malaga,
where she underwent an inspection by the
Board of Health of that place, and, being
declared to have the yellow fever on board,
was ordered to Mahon to perform quaran-1
tine. Instead of compliance with this order,
she came direct to England. On reaching
Dartmouth she was placed under quarantine, but
within two days afterwards, just time sufficient
to allow the return of the post from London, an
order for her release was transmitted from the
Council-office,'and free Communication took place
of course, as
,if the east of Spain had been a coun-
try quite free from contagion. It is obviously
our purpose, by the above statement of facts,
which have every claim to serious attention, to
remove the causes of public alarm on a subject
the most terrible that can agitate the mind of
man, by- a timely incitement to the use of
such precautions as may avert from this coun-
try a disease which" has swept away thousands
on the spot where it rages, and has desolated and
depopulated the finest portion of one of the finest
regions in Europe. The parental and incessant
vigilance of the French Government on the
Spanish frontier ought to rouse our own from its
apparent sleep, unless it may be thought a piece
of justifiable policy to expose England to the
" preventive check" of pestilence, last those of
war and occasional want of food should fail suf-
ficiently to reduce her numbers.

[MORNING POST.]

All is still doubt, apprehension, or hope, as in-
terest or sympathy prevails, with respect to the
'great question of war between Russia and Turkey.
Meanwhile the Greeks, though left to them-
selves, seem evidently to be gaining ground.—
It is now admitted on all sides, that they
possess a decided superiority at sea ; not,
indeed, in size of ships and weight of metal,
but in the number of their vessels, and above
all in the skill and bravery of their seamen.—
They have now established over .the Turks, who
never were fond of the sea, that kind of tacit
superiority which the exploits of our navy gained
during the last war over every nation with whom
we had to contend, and which, overawing the
spirits of an opponent before the fight com-
nlences, delivers him half-conquered into the
hands of his enemy. This is evident from the
reluctance which the Ottoman fleets have be-
trayed to engage. They have boastingly gone
forth to seek and exterminate the Greek flotillas;
but no sooner have they come in sight of their
comparatively puny foes, than they have taken
flight and run for.shelter into every harbour they
could find. Reduced by their own cowardice
to the defensive, they have not even known how
to defend themselves effectually. Some of their
largest vessels have been burnt, most of the trans-
ports which they convoyed destroyed, and they
have alMost deemed it a triumph to be able to bring
back the wrecks of a mighty armament to a place
of safety. Such has been the naval career of the
Turks since the breaking out of the Greek in-
surrection. By, land they have been more suc-
cessful, where division and treachery prepared
the way for the admission of their overpower-
ing numbers... But where union and real pa-'
triotism prevailed, they have not been able
to maintain their ground. Partial advantages
have no doubt attended their arms, but those
only served to show the strength and consistency
which the Greek insurrection had acquired. For
had it been as weak and helpless as the friends.
to Turkish domination would endeavour to per-
suade the world that it is, it would neither have
had it in its power to risk the engagements which
it has lost, nor having lost them, to recruit itself'
so as to stop and even to repel its conquerors.'
That this has been the case is evident from the
relative positions of the Belligerents. The Penin-

sula of Mount Athos has teen cleared of its in-
vaders. The whole of the Peloponnesus is free.
In other parts of Greece, the fortresses occupied
by the Turks are now falling or stirrendering
one after the other,, and unless the Porte should
make some mighty exertion,-bf which it isdiffi-
cult to believe it capable Under present circum-
stances,
_well-founded hopes may be entertained
by all who feel an interest in the triumph of Jus-
tice and Christianityj that Greece, single-handed
and abandoned, if not opposed by the Christian
Powers of Europe, will he able to accomplish
her own salvation, and td establish her inder-
pendence.

[NEW TIMES.]
We are sorry to see that The Morning Chro-
nicle, on occasion of our comparing its pages with
those of John Bull, has lost both its temper and
its judgment. Instead of fairly meeting the
question at issue, it pretends to regard the matter
as one involving the personal character of its own
Proprietor : and very unnecessarily cites as evi-
dence to that character, the Parliamentary
speeches of Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Can-
ning. Far be it from us to question the personal
respectability of the Gentleman alluded to ! We
belicfie it to be unimpeachable, and we certainly
have never entertained the most distant idea
of impeaching it. But what is this to the pur-
pose ? For any thing that we know, he may not
have written a line in The Morning Chronicle
for the last ten years ; and indeed we have
lately heard, with sincere regret, that his health
does not admit of any close attention to literary
pursuits. Be this as it may, his private worth
(which we have never questioned) is surely not
to preclude us from a fair examination of what
appears in a public Journal; and the more likely
that Journal is to influence public opinion, the
more imperiously does our duty call upon us to
make such an examination.—The question from
which the Chronicle shrinks is, whether its own
personalities are more or less reprehensible than
those of John Bull y This is a plain question of
fact; and it is not to be answered by vapouring-
protestations on one side or the other. Instead
of railing at John Bull, calling him " a merciless
and cowardly slanderer," and so forth, let the
Chronicle fairly contrast his own paragraphs with
John's, and show to demonstration (if he can)
that the former are merely playful " satire" and
sportive " raillery," while_ the latter are a tissue
of hateful " detraction" and " slander." 'When
he has done that, and not till then, he will have
a right to hold his head as high as he affects to
do above the weekly culprit ; but at present his
hauteur only reminds us of the highwayman who
ordered the chimneysweep to stand further from
him, when they were both brought out to under-
go the last sentence of the law.

[BRITISH PRESS.]

Although, in the last correspondence with Sir
Robert Wilson, (see our fourth page), the Duke
of York appears merely in his military character,
as Commander-in-Chief, we must not forget that
he is the first Commissioner in the list of persons
to whom the King, on his departure for Hanover,
thought fit to delegate his powers. His answer,
therefore, may be considered as the final answer
of the Executive. The severity of Sir Robert
Wilson's case is so clearly stated in his letter, we
can add nothing to enforce it, and little remains
but to express our surprise and regret for his fate.
To punish a man without charge or trial is so re-
volting to British feeling and every principle of
British justice, the Treasury scribes on the first
opening of the business justified the refusal of a
trial, upon the alledged ground that as an officer
on half-pay he was not amenable to military
law ; but, Sir Robert Wilson in his answer
contends that before his dismissal he was so sub-
ject, and that if any objection now exists he is
ready to waive it; so that the justification at-
tempted is of no avail. The whole argument,
therefore, resolves itself into the sic veto sic jubeo.
'Fhe die is cast; there can be no revision of the
sentence. The case having been decided once,
his Royal Highness says, " he does not consider
himself warranted in takinr, any further steps."—
Like the laws of the Medes and Persians, it is
immutable and irrevocable. An innocent man
may be suffering a severe punishment, but this is
not to excite any feeling of regret or remorse.—
While the King in Council can sit in deliberation
upon the case of every capital convict of the Old
Bailey, the cause of Sir Robert 'Wilson is not
held worthy of reconsideration. It would be
only so much time thrown away upon and his
long series of splendid and meritorious service
in his profession, instead of enlisting kindness
and favour on his side, h converted into the
means of punishment. In no other line of life
could the property expended by Sir Robert Wil-
son in the army have been confiscated at the will
and pleasure of Ministers.

" Oh ! it is excellent
To have a giant's strength"
But we hope we shall never again see a giant's
strength exercised in this way. The means of
vindicating his character being thus refused by
Government, Sir Robert Wilson can only look
for redress to the country and the House of Com-
mons. The one has it in its power to make him
compensation for his pecuniary loss, and a vote
of the other may heal his wounded feelings.

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
We lay before our readers a second corres-
pondence between Sir Robert Wilson and his
Royal Highness the Duke of York, which took
place immediately after the arrival of the former
in England. This demand for information re-
specting the charges against him, and for a rigor-
ous investigation into every part of his conduct,
has been met by a refusal, on the part of his
Royal Highness, to take any further step. If
this is not arbitrary we know not what is so.—
If the pittance enjoyed by this Gallant Officer
were merely a consideration for his distin-
guished services during thirty years, tr:, deprive
him of it, without even condescending to tell
him why, would be a piece of gross injustice ;
but when it is considered that it was pur-
chased by no less a sum than 5,0001. which is lost
to him and his family for ever, it is impossible ,to
speak of the measure in terms of sufficient repro-
bation, Sir Robert might well, in speaking of

the chargeS, use the words, if they exist at all.
We have every reason for believing that tliese
charges are yet- to seek. Ft is evident, from
what has already -appeared our columns, that
much industry was at o,►e time fruitlessly employed
in an endeavour to find them. But under the new
system, the non,exhibition of diarges renders' their
existence a matter of no -importance ;. and as no
reason need, be assigned for a determination, it is
evidently not necessary that_ there should be any
reason.