The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-14 00:00:00

T II

Ho RIBLE AFFAIR.
(From the Cerh Examiner.)
We hove been informed of the main feature, of a most
horrible and atrocious deed of b!ood which was perpetrated
on Sunday night last in the town of Buttevant by some
soldiers of the 16th Beginunt, lying in the barracks of
that town, upon an inoffensive young man, of 19 years
of age, the only support of an aged mother, who now de-
plores with maternal agony his untimely removal from
this It appears that a feeling of has for some
time subsisted between the people of the town and the
military, between whom occasional scuffles took place as
opportunity offered for collision. On Sunday night last
two soldiers of this regiment had a scuffle of this kind
with two civilians which, we understand, resulted
in the defeat of the soldiers, who retreated to their bar-
racks, and after a short time again re-appeared in the
town accompanied by a large body of their comrades, to
the number of 15 or 16 men. The party searched every-
where for the persons who had been engaged in conflict
with their comrades, but without success; and failing
in the object of their pursuit, they laid violent hands on
a young and inoffensive man, Denis Coughlan,
a baker by trade, they crying out at the same
time—" We'll cramp him." They then surrounded him,
and seizing him by the back of the neck, -.they
pressed his head down to his breast. When they let him
drop, he was a corpse! Some few people, alarmed at the
furious cries and threats of the soldiers, fled from the scene as
they beheld the fatal deed perpetrated ; and when they had
the courage to venture near the spot again, they removed the
body, and laid it inside a wall at the end of the town, where
the tiled crime was perpetrated.
An inquest was held next day, and the doctor of the regi-
ment was one of the witnesses examined—the medical wit-
ness. We are not acquainted in detail with the evidence
given at the inquest; but we understand that the verdict
returned was—that the deceased, Denis Coughlan, came by
his death from a rupture of the heart ! As we are informed,
it was not said by what caused. As we have only learned,
as we said above, the main features of this appalling case, we
shall not venture on any comment at present.
If the facts are as we have stated, nothing but an imme-
diate investigation will satisfy the ends of justice.

SUSPICION OF MURDER.
SERIOUS CHARGE.

Yesterday at the sitting of Mr. Stoddert, at Henry-street
police-office, a man named Abel Browne was brought up in,
custody of Sergeant M'Nally, 138 D, under the following cir-
cumstances appeared that on the 24th September last a
young man named William MacPherson, a private in the 64th
Regiment, was missed from his quarters at Richmond Barrack,
and in a day or two afterwards a man, who was found in the
street with MacPherson's clothes on, was brought up at Henry-
street police office, and sentenced under the mutiny act to three
months' imprisonment. Nothing was heard of 'MacPherson
until yesterday morning, between six and seven o'clock, when
Sergeant M'Nally discovered the body of a man floating in the
water between the sixth and seventh locks on the Royal
Canal. The sergeant got the body out, and sent for Henry
Davis, Esq., one of the county coroners, who held an inquest
on the remains, but as there was no evidence either as to the
identity of deceased, or how he came by his death, the jury
returned a verdict that a man, name unknown, was found by
Sergeant M'Nally, drowned in the canal. The sergeant,
however, suspected that some foul play had taken place, as
the hands of the deceased were tied with a handkerchief, in a
horizontal rosition before his breast, and Sergeant Fry,
18 D, on examining the clothes of deceased, found
a piece of linen, on which was stamped, " Staffordshire
Regiment, No. 1,548. 1844, William MacPherson." This at
once led Sergeant M'Nally to ti e conclusion that deceased
belonged to some regiment; and after inquiring at several bar-
racks in town, found that a person of the name, and answering
the description of deceased, was missing from the 64th
Regiment at Richmond Barrack since ;he 24th Sep-
tember. The deceased was dressed in a baragon jacket,
grey trousers, shirt, and boots ; and the circumstance
of a man having been committed to bridewell in a day
or two after the disappearance of deceased, and
dressed in his (deceased's) clothes, gave the sergeant a clue
which he followed up, and after a great deal of exertion
and inquiry, he discovered that two men—one the prisoner,
the other the person at present in bridewell—were seen in
company with deceases the night before he disappeared
from his barrack. M'Nally then traced the parties
to a house of ill-repute in Wood-lane, on the night
in question, and it appeared the three persons
left the house together, any nothing more was heard
about deceased until he was found in the canal as above
stated. The sergeant, after a great deal of exertion, suc-
ceeded in arresting Browne, who said he was in company
with deceased on the night previous to his disappearance,
and that he left him in Portobello Barrack with one of the
Scots Greys, and knew nothing more about him. Under
these circumstances the sergeant charged the prisoner.
Mr. Studdert remanded him to Saturday.—Freeman of
Friday.

AN INCORRIGIBLE YOUNG THIEF.—It will be
recollected that in May last, a lad named Russell (whose
friends are highly respectable, residing at Beaconsfield),
who was apprehended at Stoke, near Slough, for attempting
to pass 21 counterfeit half-crowns, was mainly instrumental
in causing the conviction and apprehension of a gang of
swindlers with whom he was connected, who had obtained
large quantities of goods, by means of fictitious orders, from
Messrs. Morrison, Dillon, and Co., of Fore-street, and
Messrs. Leaf aad Co. The proceedings instituted against
the lad by the Mint solicitor took place before the Eton
bench of magistrates, by whom he was reminded from time
to time, until after the trial of the swindlers at the Old Bailey
sessions, When the trial was over, the Mint, in conse-
quence of the important evidence given by Russell, and of
his expressing his contrition for his past offences, and pro-
mising to amend his conduct, declined to go on with the
prosecution, and he was liberated and sent home to his father
at Beaconsfield, in the hope that the narrow escape be had
had would prove a warning to him for the future. Shortly
afterwards, however, he resumed his connexion with his
London thieving associates, and he is again in custody, at
Aylesbury gaol, charged with stealing a pony, the property
of Mr. Saunders, a builder of London. It appears that Mr.
Saunders gave the prisoner a horse to hold while he went
into a house to transact some business; and on his return
both the horse and the prisoner had vanished. In conse-
quence of the robbery being advertised in the Police Gazette,
the thief was apprehended by Sergeant Cornaby, of the
Aylesbury police, riding upon the pony near Beaconsfield.
The prisoner, who is not more than 16 years of age, admit-
ted to the magistrates that he had committed the robbery,
and he was fully committed to take his trial for the offence at
the ensuing sessions for the county of Bucks.
THE W BATHER AND THE CROPS IN JERSEY.—The
weather becomes every day, if possible, snore unsettled. Al-
together, a season like that which is said nominally to be
gone, but which in reality might be almost asserted never to
have existed, has not been known in Jersey within the me-
mory of the oldest person living. The crops which generally
do not arrive at maturity till mid winter are completely de-
stroyed. The potatoes are scarcely fit for dog's meat, while
a great portion of-the onions and. carrots are, completely
rotten.—Jersey Times, pct. 7.
THE MAN-WOMAN MYSTERY CLEARED UP.—A
case arising out of the death of the eccentric person who
for a considerable time wore the garb of a man, and went
by the name of Sir Edward Douglas, but who was, in fact, a
female, said to be the natural daughter of an English noble-
man, came before the Civil Tribunal of Paris on Wednes-
day. After this person's death, and the absence of all claim-
ants, the officers of the Crown took possession of her furni-
ture as an escheat. Subsequently, however, a Mr. George
Carter came forward, and claimed this furniture as being his
in right of his mother, who was the reputed sister of Sir
Edward Douglas, alias Miss Digby. In founding his claim,
he stated that the two sisters lived together until the death
of Mrs. Carter, to whom the furniture belonged, when the
surviving sister requested to retain it, allowing Mr. George
Carter Mt a-year for the use of it. The evidence produced
by Mr. Carter in support of his claim not being satisfactory
to the Crown officers, they refused to give it up to him, and
thereupon he appealed to the tribunal, which, after consi
dering what he submitted to it, decreed that he was entitled
to the furniture, ordered it to be given up to him, and con-
demned the Crown to pay all the costs of the suit.
THE NEW GAMING ACT.—It was stated in a para-
graph relating to the new Gaming Act, which appeared in
this paper of Saturday, that the magistrates at Marlbos ough-
street Police-office, who had looked into the Act, were of
opinion that an oversight had been committed; inasmuch as
it appeared, according to the wording of one of the clauses,
that licensed victuallers could claim the advantage of keep-
ing their houses open all night (Saturday excepted) for play-
ing billiards, and consuming excisable liquors. This con-
struction of the Act appears, however, on re-consideration, to
be erroneous. There is a subsequent clause which prohibits
licensed victuallers from keeping open their houses for bil-
liards between the hours of one and eight in the morning. It
is necessary to correct the statement in the former paragraph,
as it may otherwise mislead those most interested in the
matter.
FATAL ACCIDENT OFF BATTERSEA.—Yesterday
evening, between five and six o'clock, another melancholy
and fatal accident took place nearly opposite the Red House
Tavern, Battersea, by which an elderly gentleman named
George Rutten, of the Vauxhall-bridge-road, lost his life.
It seems that the unfortunate deceased and a friend hired a
small pleasure boat for the purpose of proceeding down the
river. They were rowing very gently down with the stream
when they, by some means, came in contact with a heavily
laden barge. The force of the collision turned their boat, a
" funny," completely over, immersing them in the water, in-
stantly. An alarm was immediately made by the persons
who witnessed the accident on shore, and severol boatmen
rowed to t ie spot, but before they could get to them the de-
ceased had disappeared. The other gentleman was fortu-
nately saved from a watery grave by clinging to the head-
part of the barge.
M. 'FRIERS.—It is said that M. Thiers does not
intend to prolong his stay in England beyond the close of
the week. lie will visit Lord Lansdowne, and will to-
morrow leave Alivart's for the Grange, Hants, on a visit
to Lord and Lady Ashburton' accompanied by Count
Walewski. Madame Thiers and Madame Donne take their
departure to-morrow for Paris. Count Walewski, natural
son of Napoleon, who has been the compagnon du voyage of
M. Thiers, is son-in-law of the Dowager Countess of Sand-
wich, and consequently nearly connected to the Earl of Sand-
wich. M. Thiers and Count Walewski were to have gone
on a visit to the Earl and Countess of Sandwich, at Hinchia-
brooke, near Huntingdon, but owing to the sudden death of
Lady Agnes Byng, of course they could not receive company
there.
A court-martial has been ordered on hoard the
Lynx brigantine, to inquire into certain conduct charged
against Mr. Mitchel, of that vessel, and the Lynx has been
sent roundsto Cork for that purpose.
RECTORSHIP OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, EDINBURGH.
—We regret to understand that Dr. Carson has resigned the
rectorship of our high school. There are few men who could
retire from official life with so large and unqualified a share of
public approbation and esteem. Dr. Carson has filled the
honourable and responsible office for upwards of twenty-five
years, and the singularly able and efficient manner in which
he has, during that long period, discharged its various duties,
render his retirement now a heavy public loss. The advanced
years of Dr. Carson form, we believe, the reason of the step
which he has taken.--Edinburgh Paper.
The nuptials of the Right Honourable Earl Howe,
Lord Chamberlain of the Hi usehold of her Majesty the
Queen Dowager, and the 11 on. Anne Gore, daughter of the
late Admiral Sir Juhn Gore, and one of her Majesty's Maids
of Honour, were solemnised on Thursday last, in the parish
church of Great Willey.—Arie's Birmingham Gazette.
QUICKER TITAN Timg.—The St. Louis papers are
felicitating themselves upon the prospects that, when the
magnetic telegraph is completed from 'Washington to their
city, they will be able to report the speeches in Congress
a few minutes before they are delivered, in consequence of
the difference of longitude between the two places.—.Anzeri-
can Paper.
THE LAST DAY PROPHETS.—Messrs. Dealtry
and Burgess, the parties whose preaching have recently
created considerable sensation in these towns and the neigh-
bourhood, and according to whose interpretation of prophecy,
yesterday (Friday) was to be the day for the second appear-
ance of Christ, left by the coach for Tiverton, it was under-
stood, on Thursday. About sixty persons were baptised by
these fanatics at Deadmaa's-bay on Wednesday.—Plrzouth
TiMes,