The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-09-18 00:00:00

THE BERMONDSEY MURDER.

On Tuesday, Mr. Binns, Manning's solicitor, wrote to
the Commissioner of Police for a portion of the seventy-
three sovereig is found on his wife, for the purpose of con-
ducting his client's defence. He urged his claim on the
ground that the money was Manning's,and as his wife had
been allowed £2O by the magistrates, the same indulgence
should be granted to him. The Commissioners have
directed Inspector Yates to deliver to Mr. Binns a similar
sum to that granted to Mr. Solomon for the defence of
Mrs. Manning.
The cholera has attacked some of the witnesses in the
Bermondsey murder case. Mr. Bassett, clerk to Messrs.
Killick, sharebrokers, Bank-buildings, to whom Manning
disposed of O'Connor's Eastern Counties shares, was
suddenly attacked on Friday week, and expired next day.
Mr. Hammond was also attacked on Sunday. Both were
in good health and spirits on Friday, when at the Police-
court.

During the last few days Inspectors Yates and Burton
have discovered some important additional evidence.
Burton ascertained on Friday that the daughter of Mr.
Wells, the bricklayer, was in the counting-house when
Manning entered it to write his name and address for the
lad co carry the lime. She took such particular notice of
the man from the bouncible manner in which he conducted
himself, that she informed Burton she was confident she
could identify him again. In consequence of that In,
spector Yates obtained an order from Mr. Secker for her
to visit the prison, when the male prisoner was placed
among twenty others in one of the yards. She instantly
pointed him out as the party who purchased the lime.
Her evidence, therefore, will be conclusive on that point.
Hannah Fenner, the girl who washed the house for Mrs.
Manning on the Saturday after the murder, also visited
the prison, and identified her among other female pri-
soners as the person who employed her. These witnesses,
with three or four others, were examined on Saturday.
On Thursday. Inspector Yates received the following
curious letter from Bolton, in Lancashire, relative to the
murder :

" Sir,—ln a cellar underneath the house where the body of
O'Connor was found concealed will be found the pistol with
which the murder was committed. Should the information be
correct, publish it immediately, and I will send you more infor-
mation, detailing the. particulars of the affair, which I am
enabled to do by the ata of a clairvoyante.
" Your obedient servant, " W.
_ _ .

" P.S.—The clairvoyante says that there are three cellars
underneath the house, and she could not see the one in which
the pistol is hid. Search and you will find it."
What makes this letter rather extraordinary is that
there are three cellars, and one of them bad not been
minutely searched. During Burton's search on Thursday
afternoon, with Mr. Colman, the son of the landlord of
N 0.3, Miniver-place, be perceived some spots and streaks
of blood on the wall opposite the back kitchen door.
The finding of these marks corroborates Manning's state-
ment respecting nis wife's conduct towards O'Connor,
" that she induced him to go down stairs to wash his
hands, and jest as he had reached the passage leading to
the kitchen, she put one hand round his neck, and shot
him with the other." The marks of blood are very thick,
and it is supposed by Burton that O'Connor, after being
shot, must have fallen against the wall, and that he was
then struck with some heavy instrument. It is very
strange that these marks were not discovered before by
the constables who searched the house, as they were very
prominent near the back kitchen door.
Theinhabitants of Bermondsey, especially those residing
in the immediate vicinity of the scene of murder, contem-
plate making Barnes and Burton (the two officers who
discovered the body of the murdered man) some testi-
monial for the activity displayed by them in tracing out
the extraordinary evidence which has brought the guilty
parties to the hands of justice. In the course of a few
days, a meeting will be held for that purpose. It appears
that the " Clairvoyant" is mistaken in her letter of advice
from " Bolton," received on Thursday by Mr. Yates,
Burton was actively engaged on Friday in searching the
cellars, but no pistol or other deadly instrument could be
discovered with which the murder was supposed to have
been committed. The " Clairvoyant" is, therefore, la-
bouring under a delusion.
On Saturday, the re-examination of the prisoners took
place. The court was densely crowned.
Precisely at a quarter to two the prisoners were brought
in, each held under the arm by a policeman, and in charge
of Mr. Keene, the keeper of Horsemonger-lane Prison.
Manning entered the felon's dock first, and took his seat
in the right hand corner of it, by the side of his solicitor,
Mr. Binns, and with his face towards the bench. Mrs.
Manning next entered, and sat down in the left hand
corner of the dock, her back being towards the bench.
Opposite to her sat Mr. Keene. her solicitor, Mr. Solomons,
not having as yet arrived. The male prisoner looked ex••
tremely pale and wo-begone ; in fact, he was the picture
of despair. On the contrary, Mrs. Manning looked the
picture of health, and one would rather have thought that
she had arrived from a country cottage than from a prison
cell. She was dressed very neatly in a straw-bonnet of
modern make, a black satin visite, and a dress of similar
material. She wore a plain muslin collar, and ruffles at
her wrist of rather ornamental fashion. Tight-fitting
black gloves were on her hands, which were small and
well-shaped. She immediately complained of the absence
of her solicitor, through Mr. Keene, and through him re-
quested that the proceedings might be stayed until the
arrival of her legal adviser. In a minute or two Mr.
Solomons entered the court, and took the place Mr.
Keene occupied.
The prisoners were here ordered to stand up. Mrs.
Manning immediately rose, lifted her veil, divested herself
of her visite, turned towards the bench, and leaning her
left arm on the left partition of the dock, and holding the
tips of her left hand fingers in her right hand, remained
immovable in that position during the remainder of the
proceedings. Her husband complained of weakness, and
begged to be allowed to remain in his already sitting
posture. His request was complied with. Whatever may
be the character of Mrs. Manning's countenance, her
figure is decidedly good, and she is remarkable for what
the French would term, "une suelte ceinture."
After the examination of two or three additional wit-
nesses, including the girl employed by Mrs. Manning as
a charwoman, on the day after the murder, the prisoners
were again remanded for a week, with an intimation that
when next brought up they would be fully committed to
take their trial at the October sessions of the Central
Criminal Court.