The Sun. — 1858-10-28 (London, England)

IRELAND.  DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY MORNING. ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION IN DONEGAL.  The wretched Gweedore dispute is likley to bear bitter fruit. One of the landlords, whose name in connexion with the district has been frequently before the public, has ere this probably perished by the bullet of the assassin. Late yesterday evening a hasty report reached town that the Rev. Alexander Nixon had been fired at and badly wounded on Sunday last while leaving church, in company with his wife and daughter. Other accounts state that the shot had proved fatal, but a despatch dated Tuesday (last) night says that the unhappy gentleman was still living, but that no hopes were entertained of his recovery. The ball passed through the neck by the mouth. The Derry Guardian of yesterday gives the following version of the dreadful affair :—" According to a report which was generally circulated in this city yesterday, the Rev. Alexander Nixon, when returning in his carriage fpm the church of Myra, within 41 miles of Dunfatiaghy, accompanied by his wife and daughter, and not far distant from hir place of residence, fell a victim to the bullet of an assassin. The only particulars that we have heard respecting this sanguinary tragedy are that three men, disguised in female attire, were observed on the road along which the carriage was passing, and from their conduct it was supposed they were slightly intoxicated. As the carriage drove up one seized the reins and stopped the horses, while another commenced singing, and the third began to leap and fling himself about. The rev. gentleman, with the view of ascertaining what was the matter, opened the window of the carriage, but no sooner had he put his head tout than a pistol was discharged at him, a ball from which is said to have entered his mouth and passed transversely close to the opposite ear. Our report states that he was killed on the spot, but the latest account that reached us is that he lived till yesterday morning, in great agony, and then expired. We have not learned whether or not the murderers were pursued, or any efforts made to take them into custody. The worst of it is that there is too much reason to believe that the peasantry of the surrounding district would rather screen than deliver up to justice the perpetrators of this coldblooded murder. The deceased, it will be remembered, was one of the witnesses examined before the Parliamentary committee appointed to investigate the state of Gweedore, being. himself a land-owner in the district, and his evidence was totally at variance with the statements contained in the appeal' of the 10 priests. Mr. Nixond thataffirmed his that tenants his landswerrents,f er t aahnl e more comfortable than they had been some years bewe theerne fore. He stated also that there was a hiding of stock by the peasantry after the committee was granted, and that the money placed at the disposal of the Roman Catholic priests was disbursed in some cases among undeserving persons. Judging from his answers to the interrogations put to him on that occasion, we should regard him as a fearless, ,just, clever, and good-natured inv n —on e unlikely to act harshly towards his tenantry Ytt his life has been ruthlessly sacrificed, either because he dared to tell the. truth, or it may be exercising his legal rights as a landlord. Since the Romish clergy have not used their influence to repress crime in the locality, the strong arm of the law must be employed to put it down, and to extir