The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-10 00:00:00

CLAIMS ON THE COMMISSIONERS

Mr. MALLABY said that Mr. Law had called upon him to
state, that Mr. Fairhurst was determined to put his security
into effect, unless the interest on the amount due to him was
paid. When it was considered that interest had not been
paid for a year and a half, on the security which he held, it was
not surprising that he should be pressing for its payment.
He had also had a communication from the executors of the
late Mr. Hetherington, whose interest was in arrear, and
insisting on its being paid. if any funds were obtainable,
they should be appropriated to these purposes, otherwise pro-
ceedings would certainly be taken against the commissioners.

Mr.-131m asked whether a bond had not been ordered to
be taken for Mr. Fairhurst's amount?

Mr. MALLABY was understood to reply in the negative

Mr. FRY said lie had a strong recollection of a bon'd having
been ordered, and he should like to know why it had not
been executed.

A clerk in the office was called in, and he said the com-
missioners had ordered a bond to be prepared which Mr.
Fairhurst agreed to take, but it had not been executed,

Mr. MALLABY said he now recollected that a bond had
been ordered, and the draft of it was prepared, but from some
cause it had been overlooked.

After some further conversation, the applications of the
parties were referred to the Law-Clerk, to make the best
arrangement in his power.

THE CHURCH CLOCK

Mr. MALLABY said he had received a letter addressed to
the chairman of the police commissioners by the Rev. Mr.
Knox, the incumbent of the church, stating that three years
ago Mr. Robt. Russell, in the name of the parish, requested
Mr. Price to give a clock for the use of the parish, to be
placed in the church-tower, and he did so on condition of
the parish keeping it in repair. Mr. Cunliffe, the maker,
undertook to keep it in repair for £1 a-year. He (Mr. Knox)
paid him the first bill, and when it was sent before the com-
missioners they refused to pay it back. It was clearly un-
just, under all the circumstances, to put this expense upon
him year after year; and he now sent the account for three
years to the commissioners, trusting that they would give
an order upon their treasurer for its repayment. Mr. Mal-
laby concluded by saying, that he really thought, as the clock
was for the use of the parish at large, the commissioners
ought to keep it in repair.
Mr. COLE remarked that it was heard all over the parish.
The CHAIRMAN asked the commissioners whether they
would like one put up in Mr. Baylee's church?
Mr. MALLABY said the clock bad been put up at the ur-
gent request of the commissioners who got Mr. Russell to
write about it.
The CHAIRMAN enquired whether there were any resolu-
tions upon the books stating that fact ? If there were not,
the commissioners had nothing to do with it.
Mr. MALLABY.—We ought to have a town clock.
A COMMISSIONER.—But it ought to be upon the Town-
hall, if it is any where,
Mr. Plat.—Who paid for it?
Mr. MALLABY.—Mr. Price gave it to the town.
Mr. Pm.—Then it is our clock, and that is the only way
in which this charge can come to us.
Mr. MALLABY.--You never can get a clock put into any
public situation which will do the same good as this, because
you can never get such a large bell attached to it.
Mr. FBI, said, he thought it a fair demand, and the dis-
charge of it ought not to be left to a private individual. He
would, therefore, move that it be be paid.

Mr. LAIRD seconded the motion.
Mr, PIM said the motion should recognise the clock as the
property of the parish.
Mr. FRY acquiesced in the suggestion.
A CommissioNan. asked whether Mr. Price could not
take the clock down ? _ .

Mr. MALLABY did not think he could any more than he
sould move the church. He did not think he bad power the
either to take down the church or the clock. He had only a
right to the pew rents. The church was recognised as the
parish church in the act of parliament.
The resolution was then carried unanimously.
Some other business of a minor character was then dis-
posed of, and the proceedings terminated.

PUBLIC MEETING OF THE TRADESMEN'S
ASSISTANTS.

A public meeting of the Tradesmen's Assistants engaged
in all branches of trade was held last night at the Clarendon
Rooms, for the purpose of petitioning the Mayor, Aldermen,
and Council, to close the markets at six o'clock every eve-
ning except Saturday, and on that day at eight o'clock. Mr.
FLOWER presided. The first resolution, " That the petition
read by the chairman, addressed to the Mayor, Aldermen, and
Council of this borough, praying the early closing of the
markets, be adopted by this meeting, and that the committee
of the Association of Assistant Tradesmen be requested to
undertake the presentation thereof," was moved by Mr.
NODDER, who impressed upon the meeting the importance
of the early closing of the markets, in order that the trades-
men of the town may be enabled to comply with the petition
of their assistants for an abridgement of the hours of labour.
This resolution was seconded by Mr. CHARLES WILL-
MER, who expressed a hope that the council would take
their petition into their favourable consideration. He
said, he felt no doubt that they would do so, as the abso-
lute necessity of its being done, in order to carry out
the desire of closing the shops at seven o'clock, would
appear to them self-evident. The second resolution—
" That this meeting cannot but express its deep regret that
several wealthy tradesmen of this town, who had agreed to
close their shops at seven o clock, should have already for-
feited their pledge, that the respect of the servants can only
be secured by the undeviating honour and good faith of their
masters; and this meeting earnestly desires that, whether
the petition agreed upon be granted or not, those gentlemen
will perceive that the good work of human improvement will
be forwarded by the fulfilment of their promise, and that the
hopes of the whole body of the assistants are put in
jeopardy by the course they have adopted”—was moved by
Mr. Smut', in a neat and pithy speech. Mr. C. W. CON-
NOR seconded it in .a speech of some length and eloquence.
He regretted that employers of respectability and influence
should regard with such tenacity the non-compliance of some
of the inferior class of tradesmen of not adhering to the regu-
lation of closing their shops at seven o'clock. He then con-
gratulated the meeting upon the sympathy of the public for
the condition of the assistants, as expressed through the me-
dium of the press generally, and particularly through the
columns of the STANDARD, Mercury, and Journal. The
following resolution was then moved by Mr. Box:muss :
" That this meeting of the Tradesmen's Assistants again
appeals to the public of Liverpool for support in this mea-
sure, and earnestly and most respectfully exhorts all persons

to abstain from frequenting the shops after seven in the
evening, as the only means of rescuing a large class of their
fellow,creatures from a system destructive to their health,
dangerous to their morals, and subversive of the doctrines of
pure religion."

This was seconded by W. B. Jones in a most animated
address. He aaid that in many towns in England the shops
were already closed at the hour the assistants of this town
seek. He mentioned Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, York,
Chester, Huddersfield, and many others. Mr. Southworth
spoke in support of the resolution. The resolutions were all
carried unanimously.

THE MURDER AT ST. HELENS

(From our own Correspondext.)

. ST. HELENS, THURSDAY MORNING.
The excitement produced in the town and neighbourhood
of St. Helens by this lamentable occurrence has not yet
much subsided, and it is still made the all-prevailing matter
of conversation and conjecture. The enormity of the offence
with which the whole district has been alarmed, is aggrava-
ted on the public mind by the yet apparent impossibility of
tracing the crime home to the hardened wretches who per-
petrated it. The coroner's jury have met, but the evidence
taken, impartially considered, merely gives rise to a vague
suspicion that those in custody are the assassins. How-
ever, in order to give time for the production of further evi-
dence, the inquest bas been adjourned until next Tuesday.
At ten o'clock on Tuesday morning last, John Heyes,
Esq., coroner, arrived at the Gerard's Arms Inn, Denton's
Green, where the body was lying. Here he was met by a
most respectable jury, consisting of the following gentlemen :

—Mr. Isaac Sharp, foreman, Mr. John Speakrn-au, Mr. S.
W. Clough, Mr. Taylor Stainer, Mr. George Webster, Mr.
J. W. Glover, Mr. 0. Gregson, Mr. Wm. Hurst, Mr. John
Ansdell, Mr. James Finney, and Mr. R. Baxter.

The CORONER observed, that the jury had to inquire into
the facts of a most atrocious and inhuman murder, which
had been committed on the body of Henry Grayson ; and
they would be convinced that he had been most barbarously
used, because they must have perceived, on viewing it, that
the body was mutilated in a dreadful degree. Several par-
ties were in custody on suspicion, and it was the duty of the
jury to direct their attention strictly to the evidence which
would be brought before them, and decide on that as to
whether any of those i❑ custody were implicated,—taking
care they were not influenced or prejudiced by anything they
had heard out of doors.

Evidence was then adduced as to the finding of the body,
and as to the conduct of deceased on the previous evening;
but the particulars did not differ in any material respect from
those which we were able to furnish on Tuesday. We sub-
join the testimony of the surgeon and the police inspector :
Mr. John Blundell, surgeon, living in Tontine-street, St.
Helens, said he first saw the deceased on Sunday morning,
when lying in Unsworth's barn. He was lying upon some
straw, and his clothes were very wet and muddy. His coat
and the two waistcoats he had on were torn on the right side.
His smallclothes were torn near the right knee. His face
was covered with blood, also much swollen and disfigured.
The right breeches-pocket was cut off, and the front part of
his breeches unbuttoned. The right eye was ruptured, and
part of the humour had escaped. When first he saw the
body of the deceased, it was very much distended, and in a
state of emphysema. lie had made a post mortem examina-
tion of the body on Monday afternoon. There was a wound
on the forehead which penetrated through the scalp a little
above the nose, a contused wound through the scalp, and an
abrasion on the pericranium, to the extent of two inches by
an inch and a half, over the occipital part of the left tempo-
ral bone ; but there was no fracture of the skull. On taking
off the clothes of the deceased, the body presented the ap-
pearance of having been very much abused. There were
several contusions on the anterior part of both hips ;
also contusions over the left side, and very extensive
ones over the right side and right shoulder. On dissecting
the integuments from the chest he found a considerable
quantity of extravasated blood iu the cellular structures, cor-
responding with the bruises on the skin and the integuments.
He discovered severe dislocation of the right shoulder for-
ward, and the head of the none was lying on the pectoral mus-
cle, and resting on two of the ribs which were fractured. He
thought the shoulder bone had fractured the two ribs by the
force with which it was carried forward. On opening the
chest he found the lungs were collapsed, and there was a
lacerated wound on the inferior lobe of each lung. On the
right side the seventh, eighth, and ninth ribs were fractured,
and about three ounces of blood lying in the pleural cavity.
On the left side the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and
seventh ribs were fractured, and about four ounces of blood,
extravasated, in the left pleural cavity. He had not con-
sidered it necessary to open the head, as the injuries done to
the lungs were sufficient to cause death. The. lungs were in
a state of collapse, owing to the air having escaped into the
pleural cavities, which would hinder the power of respiration,
In his opinion the wounds on the head were inflicted with
some blunt instrument, and the injuries to the ribs were pro-
duced either by pinching or jumping upon the body. It was
possible that a man might live two hours after the lungs were
punctured. If the deceased had been run over by a cart, the
wheel must have passed ri,,,ht over him. There was no ec-
chymosis on the chest, and there would have been if a cart
wheel had passed over him. Deceased was a stout =sen-
ior man for his age.

,•
Serjeant John Branwood, No. 354 of the county constabu.
lary, said on Sunday morning, about seven o'clock, he came
up from St. Helens to Denton's Green, and found the de-
ceased lying in Unsworth's barn. After describing the situ-
ation ►n which he found deceased, he said his pockets were
all empty, except one of the coat pockets behind, in which
there was a small quantity of tobacco wrapped in paper. He

afterwards gave in-formation to Mr. Superintendent Storey,
who accompanied him to the spot where the murdered man
was found, and they examined it. He afterwards went with
Mr. Storey to Rainford in his gig, and on returning they
heard that the deceased was Henry Grayson. They called
at deceased's house, and Mr. Storey went in to inquire if his
family were aware if the deceased had anything in his pos-
session which might have been taken and here afterwards
identified. Witness remained in the gig, and shortly after
Mr. Storey had gone, he saw Thomas Meadowcroft and Isaac
Jacques coming round the corner of the barn. When they
neared him he saw that Meadowcroft's trousers were
dirty and bloody as he thought. He seized the men,
when Meadowcroft threatened to strike him if he did
not let them go. He called the superintendent to
his assistance, and they were secured. Jacques asked wit-
ness what he was taking them for, when Meadowcroft
replied, "Grayson lives here and I have neither murdered
nor robbed him." Witness and Mr. Storey had only shortly
before heard who the deceased was. Witness asked them
where they had been, and Meadowcroft said to Prescot Lane-
ends, at a publichouse. Meadowcroft was in liquor. Wit-
ness asked Meadowcroft what the spot on his brecbes was—
that he thought it resembled blood, but Meadowcroft said it
was off the moss, for they had come across the moss—Jacques
was going to have a brother married, and they were going to
meet him. On searching Meadowcroft, they found on him,
three sixpences, a pocket-knife, and a spike-nail. Witness
thought the pocket-knife had a blood spot upon it. Meadow-
croft made great resistance on being hand-cuffed, and witness
was obliged to get assistance. As they were bringing the
prisoner to the lockup, Meadowcroft kept saying " 1 have
neither murdered nor robbed Grayson." After this, witness
met police. serjeant Lloyd, who told him he had heard of these
parties having been drinking at a private house nearthe Seven
Stars, in Eccleston. They ascertained, then, that this private
house was kept by a woman named Ruth Bibby. They were
going up to the house when Bibby saw them and pushed to
the door, but they opened it. They found Robert Woods
(one of the prisoners) in it. Having taken him into custody,
witness searched the house. When he was up stairs, Bibby
followed him, and appeared as if very uneasy, lest he should
find something, but he discovered nothing particular. Woods
appeared dirty, and did not seem to have been in bed all night.
Ile told me he had been at the house of one John Parr all
night. A pair of shoes, the nails on which, corresponded
with footmarks near the place of the murder, were taken off
Robert Woods, and were now in Mr. Storey's possession.
Thelpolice had been since to Parr's house, but it was locked
up and he was gone. As they were taking Woods to the
lockup, he asked if they had not taken Isaac Jacques up.
Witness went to Parr's house, where Woods and he had been
staying all night, but he (witness), got nothing but abuse
from him.
Mr. Superintendent Storey announced to the jury during
their sitting, that the friends of deceased were willing to
contribute £5O towards a reward to be offered for the ap-
prehension of the murderer.
St. Helens, Thursday Evening, Five o'clock.
No new particular in addition to the above has since
transpired here, and there as yet seems no probability of
magisterial investigation being speedily dispensed with.
Samuel Taylor and Charles Orrell, Esqrs. met at the Town-
hall this afternoon, when all the prisoners in custody, on
suspHon, were remanded on the application of Mr. Storey.
Captain Willis, of the county constabulary, was present.
The prisoners denied any implication in the murder, and
protested their innocence.
Communication has been made to Sir James Graham, the
Secretary of State, to inquire whether government will grant
a reward in addition to that to be given by the relatives, for
the detection of the assassin, but no answer has yet been re-

. .
ceived.
The body of the deceased gentleman was removed from
the Gerard's Arms Inn on the day of the inquest, in a shell,
to his residence in Rainford, where it was received with
most heart-rending lamentations by his disconsolate and be-
reaved daughter. The interment took place on Wednesday
morning at Kirby.