The Sun.
London, England, 1829-04-17 00:00:00

SINGULAR NARRATIVE.

An awful affair was,on Monday the Gth inst,
brought to light at Marsden, a small manufactur-
ing village in the West Riding of the county of

York, the following narrative of which may be
relied on as correct, having been committed to;
writing from the dictation of one of the parties
intimately connected with the circumstance :
On the 3d of November last, throe young
men, of the names of George Proston, Joseph.
Becket, and David Haythorn, left Dewsbury, to
go, as they said, to Manchester in search of em-,
ployment. That evening they stopped at a,
place near Marsden, and on the following day
two of them, Proston and Haythorn, returned to
Huddersfield, Proston being without a hat.
Since then Proston has left the country, and the
two gave it out that Becket had proceeded on-
wards to America. On Sunday last Becket's
father was accosted by Haythorn, who said he,
was come to make a full disclosure about his
son Joseph, supposed to have sailed for Ame-,
rica ; that he had had it on his mind a long
time, ever since the 4th of November, and could'
bear it no longer. He said that himself; Pros-
ton, and Becket, slept in a barn at Pilgrim's Cot.
on the night of the 3d of November, and -
early in the morning of the 4th they set off"
to seek work at Manchester. When they
came to Marsden they called at a house, and ,
each bought a pennyworth of bread, and the,
woman of the house let them wash themselves.
Then they went forward to the toll-bar at the,
Mount beside at which bar they,
each purchased a pennyworth of gingerbread.—
Then they agreed to. go to the top of the hill to
see if they could perceive Dewsbury ; and when,
on the top, they noticed at some distance below
an old flint engine, and went towards it suppos-
ing it was a house, where they could purchase•
some provisions ; but when they got to it they'
found it to be an old engine-house, with all the
doors walled up and the window-frames of cast;
iron. Proston then took a stone, broke a win-
dow-frame, and went in ; staid a minute or two,
and came out. Then Becket went in, Proston,
followed him directly, and in about a minute
called on Haythorn for help. Haythorn got
through the window, and found Proston sus-
pended by a piece of timber over the mouth of a
pit. He got hold of one of his (Proston's).
hands, but he desired him to let that go, until,
he secured himself better with the other, or, if,
he could not do that, to let two perish, and the
third go home and tell. He, however, got,
Proston out, and they went back to Hudders-
field by a .different way to that they came. At,
Huddersfield, Proston bought a leathern cap,
having lost his hat at the engine-house, and they.
parted, previously agreeing not to disclose the
secret of Becket's death, because, as Proston
said, they should be suspected of .having done_'
something wrong.

After making this declaration Haythorn was
placed in custody, and Becket's father and uncle
immediately proceeded to- Marsden, and about
twelve o'clock at night arrived at the spot pointed
out by the informer. Having procured assist-
ance, they lowered a number of candles, and by
their light could plainly perceive the body' of a
man
,lying on his back at the bottom of the pit
or shaft, which .was about sixty yards deep. It
is what is called a balance shaft, and was sunk
for the purpose of conveying away the soil during
the driving of the great canal tunnel under Stan-
hedge: From the bottom of the shift ran a drift,
to the distance of three or four hundred yards,
emerging at the foot of the hill, on the open
common ; and as there was no winding gear ht
the pit head two young men on Monday morn-
ing were induced to proceed up tht drift, for
the purpose of bringing the yaway ; they
accordingly went up, and htving arrived at the
bottom of the • shaft, f'o'nd a body with the fea-
tures entirely oblitet-ited. The body lay on its
back, with the left arm extended, and the right
compressed to the side, and two hats under it.
The dress exactly corresponded with that in
which Becket left home. The body was in such
a state, that it could not be removed until it had,
been sewed in a pack-sheet. It was then CCM«
veyed to an uninhabited toll-house on the Old
road,. where it lay until Thursday, when an in-
quest was held by Michael Stocks, jun, and a
respectable Jury, who, after hearing a repetition
of Haythorn's confession, toge,Aber with other
evidence corroborative of it, pronounced a ver,-
diet to the effect that-....(c The body of J. Becket
had been found dead, but how he came by his
death no evidence appeared."

Last week at Barnstaple die quay Fits covered
On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the EN... I
CHEQUER, the Order of. the Day for the
:;oel na':v in the hands of the
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
growers in that nightlourhood. ; many of the farmers
reading of title Bill was read. second 1
therewith saarcekismomf
ewnosoel
sltannet
afx a.- the n —risfr; traders, though
havinc, four, fore, una even snore Years' clip by them
The dbeivessed sta.t..l bf the' woolni whicht ra(l e,
someat thltahsetßris .1
said he would take that opportunity to state, that
when the House should go into Committee on this A
fair, oercu'an Opportunity North
Bill he should propose an alteration in it, for the -i,
, -,,,,ev0n manufacturers availed themselves, of making pur-
purpose of depriving the commissiaries of the oiwev . chases there at a much lower price than they could buy for
of granting. annuities for terms of ye us. to eclal" ►
I at home; and hence the unusual circumstance of au im-
mence after the death of the part, Anugities of portation of
.wool, in the place where large quantities were that kind would interfere with the practice of the used to be exported. —Bath Chronicle.. . .
insurance-offices ; and it would be necessary for the i
Government tA4 all such instances to ascertain the
state of health of the parties applying for sac}) all. On Monday week last, about three in the
afternoon, as MARY DURSTON, wife of a labouring man
at Gamlington, near this town, was crossing the stile
nuities—a thing which it would be obviously most from the - Bishops Hull Road, in her way borne, across
inconvenient for the .Government to, do. the fields, she was violently attacked by JAMES 'Floor, an
Mr. WARBURTON suggested. that the seemid inhabitant of this town, who once kept a livery stahle„
reading of this silk should be postponed till after and who now rents a few acres of land, on which 1w keeps
the holidays, that time might be afforded for the cows, and supplies families with milk. The poor woman,
consideration of the principle of the measure. who is the mother of four children, was brutally assaulted
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER by the ruffian, and having been dragged by him to a con-
remarked, tha the principle had been already ti,,nous ditch, was there violently and infamously treated.
discussed, and that a further opportunity for
.the
full A woman corning up to the spot, the assailant leaped
aver the hedge, and ran away. The victim of this out-
discussion of the principle and details of the mea- rage was led home in an exhausted state, and has been
sure would be afforded when the House went into ever since under niedieal attention.' A warrivit has been
Committee upon it after the recess. issued for the apprehension of the offeud, r, who has oh-
The- Bill was then- rend a mend time, and or. seonded.-. Taunton Courier.