The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-25 00:00:00

DEPOSITION:

William Mackreth—That-17nY name ; sometime this
morning, while I was in bed, I was awoke by feeling some-
thing at my throat; I put my hand to my throat and felt a
hole ; I felt no pain ; I felt blood running, and in a moment
I felt hands there ; I instantly pushed them away and jumped
out of bed ; it was dark, and. I could see no one ; I jumped
out on the side next the window ; I called for assistance, and
broke the window to make an alarm ; I found the blood
runninn. fast; I went to the window again and broke another
pane of glass; no one answered me. I groped round the
room to find the door; I could not find the door; at last I
found the door and got into the passage ; I turned to the left
and went down stairs, calling out as loud as I could till I
found myself getting weaker, and I could scarcely speak at
all. When I got to my bedroom door it was a little open ; I
am quite certain it was not shut, although when I went to
bed last night I locked the door ; I remember well the lock
went hard, and I turned the key both ways before I could
lock it ; I had only two razors about me ; they are in sepa-
rate cases, with white handles ; one was in my small box,
with the razor strop, combs, brushes, &c., and the other
was in the large box. Mr. Cooke, the landlord, was the
first person, I believe, that came to me when I was calling
out going down the stairs ; I retired to bed last night about
11, or very soon after. I took my boots off in the travellers'
room and had a pair of slippers to come up to bed ; I left
my slippers when I got into bed on the right hand side of my
bed, where I undressed myself ; my large box was open when
I went to bed ; it was on the chair by the window ; I kept
my smaller box inside the larger one, and I had taken the
small one out and placed it on the dressing table before I
went to bed ; I remember when I was disturbed this morning
and when I jumped out of bed that I opened the large bor,
lifted up the lid, and put a small parcel and a bottle into the

ox. 1 was not aware I was cut so bad then ; this was after
I had broken the windovir and cried out ; thought I heard
;some one answer at once. My driving box was also in my
fbed4ooin, where.l 'keep my money and pocket-book. I can-
+not swear whether the driving box was locked last night or
[not. I had about £BO or £9O about me.
I am quite certain the individual who injured me stood on
t the left hand side of the bed. I was half awake when I felt
the hole in my throat. I did not feel the cut that had done
!it at all; but in a moment when I put iny hand to my throat,
I felt some man's hand upon mine ; and then I jumped out
of bed, dragging the clothes with me. I felt the blood and I
was much alarmed, and cried out as loud as I could.
When he saw the landlord he could not speak, and made
signs for something to write on • when he saw he did not speak,
he said, " what have you been ;bout," supposing he had done
;it himself. In the travellers' room there were three highly
respectable persons with hirn ; one thin and two stout
.; there
came in two or three more ; they were come to the fair ;
more that he was acquainted with came from Bridgnorth last ;
I arrived here at five o'clock last night ; dined at Munslow,
; the hundred house ; slept at Wenlock the night before at the
I White Hart ; drove in a horse and gig alone, and dined alone
at Munslow ; he had his driving box open when the three
last getitlemen came into the room (thinks it was an intention
to rob some one, not against him).; immediately the three
rast persons came in, he had finished writing, and lashed his
box. He carried up the driving box and put it on the draw-
! ers ; the chambermaid carried the candle ; had no suspicion
till roused in the manner described ; I put up my right hand,
felt a hole, was alarmed, and then felt hands over me (a razor
with a black handle was here produced by the policeman, and
to a question if that were his razor, he replied, It is not ");
had no Lucifer matches about him, never carried any ; re--
collects distinctly on turning the 'lock twice, he did lock the
door, and believes it was locked ; it was closed. (Here the
lock was tried, and found to fasten.)
Heard a person at the time he awoke, and cried oat ; was
lying (on his back) just as I am now. (The wounded man
was asked " If there was any knowledge who the razor with
the black handle belonged to.") He left no one in the com-
mercial room when he came up; the chambermaid had come
up with him, and she shut the door.
He here asked, "If the razor was bloody ?" Mr. Downes
said " Yes," and told him to keep himself easy, they should
soon make some discovery'hereto.
During reading the 'deposition, "he said his night shirt was
detained (held by some one) when he jumped out of bed, and
torn. The shirt, which was round the body of the poor gen-
tleman, was examined, and found torn from the left shoulder
downwards.
He perfectly recollects being held; did not look under the
bed ; but believes there was some person concealed in his
room, or caine down the chimney, or got in some way. The
statement is true, and has' not the least objection to swear
it.

He has everything to make him happy, and was going to
be married in five weeks.
Some of his linen is marked " M," or " W. M: M."
He said he had five pair of stockings, and on examination
they will, no doubt, be discovered. • -
Five pair of stockings were here produced and identified by
the wounded man, to whom the deposition as in' substance
above was read by the Town Clerk.
The wounded gentleman having been sworn to the above
statement, he signed it with a firm hand.
" WILLIAM MACKRETH."
In answer to a question. by one of the magistrates, he
stated that he was baptiged William Miller Mackreth.
The magistrates and town-clerk then retired to the room
where the prisoner, Misters, was in custody. In answer to
the magistrates and town-clerk, he made the following
VOLUNTARY STATEMENT. •
My name is Josiah Misters ; I live in Birmingham ; I
have no luggage ; I came. four miles this side of Ludlow
yesterday. I slept in Worcester the night before last ; I did
not sleep at any inn ; I slept with a woman ; I don't know
her address or her name ; it was close down by the river
Severn. I was going to Leominster. I have no business in
Ludlow. I had a sovereign and twopence in money with me
when I arrived here ; I had a pair of gloves.
[His pockets were here searched, and contained a pair of
gloves, a silver pencil-case, twopence, a farthing, two keys,
an empty purse, and an old silk handkerchief, which appeared
wet, as if recently washed.]
He continued—The stockings I have on are not the stock-
ings I had' n last night. I could not find my stockings this
morning. They were white cotton stockings worked with
an M, I think ; Mrs. Cook provided me with the stockings
I have on: 1 don't know what has become of the sovereign
I had when I came here last night ; it was in my breeches-
pocket. The last time I shaved, I shaved at Birmingham,
at my lodgings, with my own razor; I brought no razor to
Ludlow with me. The one I used at Birmingham is a black-
handled one, rather small ; there is a mark on if, where it
has lain in the wet, rather rusty. I have but one, and that
is at home ; I brought none away with me.
There was no one in the travellers' room with me this
morning that I knew, or was personally acquainted with. I
don't know the individual that paid for his breakfast. He
was asking why there were' so many people outside, and I
told him. The waiter was in and out. I walked from Wor-
cester yesterday morning. It was about four o'clock in the
afternoon 'when I came to Woofferton., I don't know what
is become of my sovereign. I had it last night, but I have
not seen it this morning. I came into Ludlow by the coach
from Woofferton. I had been at Ludlow, and seen parties
fishing, and returned to Woofferton, intending to go to Leo-
minster, when I got on the coach close to Woofferton, and
came back to Ludlow. I was not at the public-house at
Woofferton at all. I walked from Worcester to Ludlow, and
back to Woofferton, before I took the coach. My lodgings
are No. 50, New Canal-street, near the railway station, Bir-
mingham. The only person I knew in the travellers' room
last night, was Mr. Ludlow, of Birmingham.
By Mr. Downes.—Where are your razors now ?
Prisoner.—l have but one, and that's at home : brought
none away with me. There was no one in the travellers'
room 'this morning that I knew ; not an acquaintance. Don't
know the individual that paid for his breakfast. He was ask-
ing why there were so many people, and I told him. The
waiter was in and out.
By the Mayor.—Have you been in the habit of sleeping at
this house before?
Prisoner.—Once or twice. But my lodgings are at No.
50, NeW Canal-street, near the railway station, Birmingham.
John _ Knill, of Tibberton, near Hereford said, I came
to Ludlow by the Hereford coach this morning ; I break-
fasted in the travellers' room ; the person now in custody
was there also and sat in the room. I asked him what the
row was about, he replied, " a man has cut his throat last
night in the house, and that he had ran out into the passage
crying, smile villain has done it, but there is no doubt he has
done it himself."
Mr. Knill was willing to come forward at any time when
required. The magistrates thanked him for making the
above statement, as there was some suspicion the person
who breakfasted with the prisoner was some person of his
own class, and perhaps an accomplice in the deed.
After the prisoner had made his statement, the magistrates
retired to another room to consult upon what means should
be pursued. In the interval, the Rev. C. Waleot, of Bit-
terly, a county magistrate, visited the prisoner, upon con-
sulting with the mayor and borough magistrates, and in-
quired if he would not like to write to some of his friends,
explaining the painful situation in which he was placed, in-
timating that what he wrote would be read by the mayor.
He said he would write to his brother, and pen, ink, and
paper being supplied, he wrote a letter accordingly, in a good
hand, and addressed it to his brother at Aston Manor, near
Birmingham, in which, as ,we understand, he explained the
situation he Was in, and complained that no other person in
the inn but himself had been searched. In the meantime
the magistrates dispatched a police officer to Birmingham,
" express," to search the lodgings of the prisoner, to see if
he had a razor there, and get other information. The mayor
and magistrates thedadjourned to three in the afternoon.
At that hour they again met,, in the' same room at the
Angel Inn, which was very crowded. Several witnesses were
examined, whose evidence tended to implicate the prisoner.
The examination was continued on Friday, and afterwards
adjourned till Wednesday (to-morrow).

FURTHER PARTICULARS.
(From the Morning Herald of Yesterday.)
BIRMINGHAM, SUNDAY.—I transmitted you on Friday
evening last a hastily-written account of the attempted mur-
der of Mr. Millar Mackreth, a gentleman holding a very
responsible situation in a commercial firm of some magni-
tude in Bristol. lam happy to communicate that the intel-
ligence received in Birmingham of the death of that unfortu-
nate gentleman, as stated in the Herald of Saturday, is in-
correct. He is, hOwever, in great and imminent danger ; and
the medical gentleman in, attendance upon him can give no
opinion upon his case at its present crisis.
It is now fully shown that the attempt to assassinate Mr.
Mackreth resulted in a mistake. The intended victim was
Mr. Ludlow, an extensive buteher and cattle dealer of Bir-
mingham; and there is a startling impressiveness in the pro-
vidential circumstances which were auxiliary to his escape,
that cannot fail to strike us with awe. The prisoner
Misters, who is most respectably connected both in Bir-
mingham and Leominster, has resided for a considerable
time in Canal-street, in this town. By some means
or other he ascertained that Mr. Ludlow intended to take a
journey into Shropshire for the purpose of attending a sale
of cattle. A person answering the prisoner's description
is proved to have called at the Unicorn Inn, in Shrews-
bury (the house at which Mr. Ludlow usually stopped in
that town), and inquired if Mr. Ludlow was within. The
latter individual being well known to the landlord, the pri-
soner was informed that Mr. Ludlow was not there, and that
it was believed he had gone to the Earl of Powis's sale of
sheep, &c. The prisoner accordingly left the house, and it
would appear that a few miles distance from Ludlow he gave
a signal to the driver of the Red Rover coach that he wished
a seat. The coach accordingly stopped, and the prisoner
went inside, when, remarkable to say, the only passenger
therein was Mr. Ludlow himself. A conversation was natu-
rally commenced, and on the arrival of the coach at the Red
Rover Inn, both parties entered the room, and partook of
supper. Subsequently Mr. Ludlow inquired of the chamber-
s
enaha(i
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slept
chamber-
maid, in the presence of the prisoner, whether he could have
w
the room he usually slept in (No. 9, I believe), when he was
answered in the affirmative. The prisoner shortly afterwards
called for a light and went to bed, leaving Mr. Ludlow in the
travellers' room. The'cireumstance which followed, in all
human probability, saved Mr. Ludlow's life. The prisoner
had not long retired to bed, when the chambermaid again
entered the room, and informed Mr. Ludlow that she had
in
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companied by a loud smashing of the window-glass, as if a
person was endeavouring to break the panes, rushed from his
room, and encountered in the lobby other parties whom the
noise had brought tothe spot. The first object which struck
their attention was the unfortunate Mr. Mackreth, lying
prostrate on the ground, near to his bed-room door, with his
throat dreadfully gashed, and his cheeks mangled in the most
horrible manner. The first impression that struck the be-
holders was, that the wounded man had committed suicide,
and he was immediately carried into his bed-room, and placed
on the bed. He could not utter a word, but making signs
for pen and ink, he wrote, " I have been murdered by a
villain !" The parties in the house were now in the utmost
state of excitement. Medical assistance was promptly sent
for ; and the inn was searched for the perpetrators of the
deed. Notwithstanding the accumulating noise on the
stairs*, the prisoner Misters never made his appearance ;
and the suspicion of the parties being once aroused they
went to his bed-room, but found it locked. After knock.
ing for some time they gained admittance ; but he denied
all knowledge of the dreadful crime; and said that Mr. Lud-
low knew him well. The entrance of Mr. Ludlow, however,
into his bed-room, who declared he knew nothing of the man
beyond the slight acquaintance contracted in the coach, con,
firmed the suspicions already entertained. He was immedi-
ately secured ; and, after a minute search, they traced marks
of blood from the chamber of Mr. Mackreth to that of the
prisoner—marks as if the prisoner's stockings had been sa-
turated with blood. Spots of blood were also discovered on
the curtains of the prisoner's bed. The next object was to
examine the apparel of the prisoner, but nothing to excite
suspicion was found thereon. His stockings, however, were
not to be found, nor have they since been. I have already
stated to you the discovery of a razor in an entry opposite the
prisoner's bed-room, and upon which were spots of blood,
not then dry. It was also ascertained that the prisoner, on
retiring to bed, had a whole candle, but in the morning it was
found burned down to the socket of the candlestick. There
are other circumstances of a collateral nature all tending to
criminate ' the" prisoner, who, however, preserves a dogged
demeanour, and insists upon his innocence.

THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL.

The Last Five Nights of
MR. W. FARREN AND MRS. STIRLING.

There will be a performance at the Theatre every Evening
this week.
THIS present TUESDAY, the 25th instant, will be per-
formed a Comedy, written by Mr. Poole, called

MARRIED AND SINGLE.
Bean Shatterly Mr. W. Farren,
As originally performed by him in London.
Mr. Melford Mr. W. Howard.
Mr. Bickerton.... Mr. Chaplin.
Mr. Ferret Mr. Baker.
Mrs. Bickerton.. Miss Cleaver.—Miss Fanny.. Mrs. Tellei.
After which, for the third time here, a new Drama, ended
ANGELINE LE LIS, /
Which has been received with the most rapturods applause.
Angeline le Lis..
With the ORIGINAL EPILOGUE ADDRESS, at/originally per-
formed by her in London/
Maurice Middleton, Esq Mr. W. Howard.
Simon Simkins.... Mr. Slaiter.
Nanguette de Vrood Mrs. Tenet.

To conclude with, for the second time here, a new Drama, as
produced last season at the Theatre-Royal, Haymarket, called
THE VILLAGE DOCTOR,
Which was received on Friday evening with the most
distinguished approbation.
Pierre Boneceur (the Villagt Doctor) Mr. W. Farren,
As originally performed by him at the Haymarket Theatre.
Baron De La Fadaise Mr. Chaplin.
Ferdinand Mr. W. H. Bland.
Coco Mr. Slaiter.
Marchioness De Viellecour.
Baroness De La Fadaise.. Miss Cleaver.
Louise Mrs. Stirling.

TO-MORROW (Wednesday), for the BENEFIT of
Mr:. STIRLING, will be produced, a new Drama, never
acted here, called GWYNNETH VAUGHAN. Gwynneth
Vaughan, Mrs. Stirling, as originally performed by her in
London ; Owen Williams, Mr. W. Howard ; Evan Prit-
chard, Mr. W. H. Bland ; Hugh Morgan, Mr. Baker ;
Morgan Morgan, Mr. G. Horncastle.—After which, the fa-
vourite new Farce of ASK NO QUESTIONS; on, Tnt
OLD INVALID. Mathias, Mr. W. Farren, as originally
performed by him in London ; Gimblet, Mr. Baker ; Ma-
damelGimblet, Mrs. Tellet ; The Baroness, Mrs. Clarke.—
To be followed by a new Farce, never acted here, called
LOVE AND CHARITY. Julia, Mrs. Stirling.—To con-
clude with the Farce of JOHN JONES. Guy Goodluck,
Esq., (his original character,) Mr. W. Farren.
On THURSDAY, popular Pieces, in which Mr. W. Far-
ren and Mrs. Stirling will perform.'
On FRIDAY, Mr. W. FARREN':? BENEFIT ; and
On SATURDAY, favourite Entertainments, in which
Mr. W. Farren and Mrs. Stirling will sustain principal cha-
racters,—the Last Night of their Engagement.
•.-

THEATRE-ROYAL, LIVERPOOL.
ITALIAN OPERAS FOR THREE NIGHTS ONLY.
TUESDAY, Sept. 1, THURSDAY, Sept. 3, and FRI-
DAY, Sept. 4,
SEMIRAMIDE,
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA,
OTELLO, AND
LA SONNAMBULA,
Will be produced under the immediate direction of the
celebrated Pianist, Monsieur BENEDICT.
I'RINCtPAL PERFORMBIR4 :
MADAME GRISI,
SIGNORA ERNESTA GRISI,
SIGNOR BRIZZI, AND
SIGNOR TAMBURINI.
Mons. BENEDICT will preside at the Piano-forte.

In consequence of the great expense attending the engage-
ment of the above eminent Performers, the Prices of Admis-
sion, on the Nights of the Italian Operas, will be—to the
Lower Boxes, 6s. ; Upper Boxes, 4s ; Pit, 3s. ; and Gallery,
ls. 6d.

The Box-office for these 'nights will be opened on SATUR-
DAY NEXT, August 29th, and will continue open daily, from
Ten until Four, when Places for any of the nights may be
taken.

EXHIBITION.

WILL SHORTLY CLOSE.
CAPTAIN SIBORN' S MODEL OF THE BATTLE
OF WATERLOO.
THE celebrated MODEL OF THE BATTLE OF
WATERLOO is NOW OPEN for EXHIBITION
at the GALLERY OF THE UNION ROOMS, Slater-
street, Bold-street.
Open from Ten in the Morning till Ten at Night. Ad-
mission, One Shilling each.

MOVING PANORAMA.
\ATILL OPEN, To-MORROW, (Wednesday,) the 6th
V V instant, in the large New Brick Building, ere ed on
purpose, Newington Bridge, near 80ld-street, and xt door
to the Clarendon Hotel, Liverpool. LAID 'S cele-
brated PANORAMA of a Sail up the Bay an isit round
the City of NEW YORK; also a View of the Ship HUD-
DERSFIELD saving the Crew of the HUSKISSON
STEAMER ; and the late Fire at YORK MINSTER.
Day Exhibition punctually at One o'Clock ' • in the Even-
ing at Seven, and again at half-past Eight o'Clock. Boxes
Is. 6d., Pit Is., Gallery 6d.