The Commonwealth. — 1866-12-15 (London, England)

THE CARR'S HILL MURDER.  The young man who has been come time in custody because he confessed to having perpetrated the atrocious outrage and murder that was committed at Carr's-hill, near Newcastle, in April last, was brought up for trial at the Durham Assizes on Monday. It may be necessary to recall the circumstances of the horrible case. A little girl, named Sarah Melvin, five years of age, the child of a hawker and his wife, who lived apart from each other, on the 13th of April last, going from her mother's home to where her father lived, in the suburbs of Newcastle, lost her way. It was in the evening and partially dark, when a man passing along a narrow path at Carr's. hill, found the body where it had been cast down on the way. Round her neck a string was tied tightly, which had suffocated her; her bands were bound together with a similar cord; and when the corpse was examined it became manifest that the child had been horribly outraged and wounded he• fore her death. The police could not discover the murderer, and justice was for some time at fault, although Government offered a reward of ..C.OO to whoever could detect the perpetrator of the crime. At this juncture a young man named Cuthbert Rodham Carr, 18 years of age, the son of a respectable man, living close to where the body had been discovered, gave himself up to the police, confessing that he had murdered the child. He had taken her in his arms to a loft belonging to his father, and having there committed the crime, carried the body and left it where it was discovered. He was always looked upon by his family as weak in intellect, but had notwithstanding been at one time apprenticed by his father to work at a glass factory. When he was placed in the dock on Monday, on being asked to plead, he said, in a clear and distinct voice, " I am guilty." The Judge (Mr. Justice Lush) inquired if the prisoner knew what it was he was pleading to? After his counsel and solicitor had spoken with him, Carr said that he would continue to plead guilty unless his father apologised to him for having bound him to work in the glassworks. Judge: Are you aware that if you persist in that plea I will sentence you to be hanged? Prisoner: I plead guilty still, and will take all the consequences thereof. Judge: Da you know that you will be hang,ed:if you persist in that plea ? Prisoner: I cannot act against my conscience, howover it may be with me. His father approached the dock and conferred with him, after which he said ho would plead not guilty on the condition he had formerly stated. The jury were empanelled to decide whether he was fit to plead at all. Dr. Robert Smith, of Sedgfleld Lunatic Asylum, and Dr. Shaw, surgeon to Durham Gaol, testified that the prisoner was not, in their estimation, fit to plead, and the jury found a verdict accordingly. The Judge: Let the prisoner be kept in strict custody till her Majesty's pleasure is known.  Found at Last.—Some important discoveries of Roman remains were made at L 3, dney, in Gloucestershire, not long ago, and involved a very curious incident. Among the remains of a temple dedicated to the god Noden, found there, was a brass plate on which was an inscription offering a reward for a ring, and stating that, in the event of its being found, some portion of money would be dedicated to the god Noden, but that if any person who found it failed to restore it to the owner the curse of Noden would be upon him. Most singular to say, a ring corresponding with the lost one, and bearing the name of the person offering the reward, has been found at Silehester.—Bt4i/cler.