The Sun. — 1857-10-26 (London, England)

BURGLARY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER,  PLYMOUTH; SATURDAY. This town and neighbourhood has been thrown into a state of great excitement and alarm by the perpetration, in the middle of the night, of a cruel attempt to murder Mr. Braddon, a magistrate at Cornwall, in his bedroom at his country seat at Blackland. This morning about two o'clock the servants were aroused by the ringing of their master's bell, and, the cook having alarmed the butler, he found Mr. Braddon lying with his face covered with blood. His son was then called, and the family for some time considered that an artery had burst. Shortly after, however, the pantry window was discovered to have been forced, the drawing-room poker in a bent condition was found lying inside the front door, and the door unlocked. These evidences of the intrusion of burglars were unfortunately confirmed on a surgical examination of the condition of their victim. One of Mr. Braddon's eyes protruded from the socket, and his temples exhibited two blows, laying open the skull bone, which was fractured, the wounds and the shock had thrown him into a state of insensibility, from which he recovered to ring his bell. We regret to state that there is very little prospect of his surviving. It is evident that at least one of the burglars knew well the interior of the premises and the habits of the inmates, and that after passing through the pantry and spending some time below he armed himself with the poker and went up stairs to the bedroom, where, probably, in consequence of Mr. Braddon's being aroused, the injuries were inflicted. At this moment it is supposed that some imaginary alarm induced the robbers to make a precipitate retreat through the front porch. Mr. Braddon's watch was under his pillow and 14 or 15 sovereigns were on his dressing•table loosely covered with a handkerchief. The plate-room door was locked ; the burglars did not attempt to force it for fear of disturbing the inmates, and they failed to open the lock with the keys of two other rooms, which they carried off. These, and an Oxford grey greatcoat, belonging to Mr. Braddon, jun., are the only arti- 1 cles missing. Outside were found a pair of men's shoes, and, wrapped in a handkerchief, a Bible and Prayer-book, like those given to convicts on their departure from the Dartmoor prisons, which are not far off. Mr. H. Troll., who resides at Gadamoor, having been speedilycalled, waited the arrival of Mr. Pods, surgeon, from Plympton, and then proceeded to the Cornwood Station of the South Devon Railway, about a mile south, to watch the departing passengers ; and information having been forwarded to Plymouth, Inspector Thomas, of the detective force, went to Blackland, and was followed by Dr. Yonge and Mr. Square, surgeons. Mr. Braddon, who is a widower, nearly 70 years of age, was formerly judge of the C dcutta Sadder Dewanoy, the highest of the Company's courts in Bengal ; his residence is in the parish of Plympton St. Mary, eight miles from Plymouth on the west, and five from Ivybridge on , east.  Strong suspicion rests on a man of Swiss extraoion, called James Baudiste, who, about two or ,bree years since, was taken into the service of Mr. Braddon. He was dismissed for improper conduct towards one of the servant women. This man went to the house of Captain Hewlett, RN., a relative of Mr. Braddon, at Portsmouth, and robbed his servant of 5?. eis supposed about the same time to have broken open his landlady's desk and taken therefrom several sovereigns. A coachman at one of the Plymouth hotels was also plundered. His last known theft was that of a gun, for which he was imprisoned six months in Winchester gaol. The abstraction of the greatcoat increases the suspicion, as the clothes of Mr. Braddon jun., are known tO ' fit Baudiste, and there are indications that the conflict in the bedroom was caused as much by a spirit of resentment and revenge as by a desire for gain. An empty bottle and the footmarks of two persons were found under a window in a secluded part of the premises, and near it, on an artificial bed of shrubs, were marks made apparently by two men reclining. Here, concealed by the foliage, the robbers are supposed to have watched the gradual extinction of the household lights and the approach of the hour best suited for the execution of their villanous designs.