The Lancaster Herald, and Town and County Advertiser. — 1831-12-31 (Lancaster, Lancashire, England)

MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE OF THE  REV. MR. GRIFFITH.  A strong sensation has been excited in this town by the unaccountable disappearance of the Rev. Mr. Griffith, minister of the methodist chapel, in Morice-street. It appears that Mr. Griffith visited Kingsand, a village about a mile and a half on the other side of the Tamar, on Tuesday evening last, where he preached, and received the quarterly ticket money. He left that place about nine o'clock, in company with a man named Sanders, a mason by trade, and a member of the society, who says he parted with him at half-past nine, near the Old Hospital,on Maker heights, about a quarter of the distance to the Cremil Passage, since which no trace of him has been discovered, and there is too much reason to fear that be has come to an untimely end. There is no motive whatever for supposing that it can be otherwise. Ile was engaged so sup on that evening with several other Dissenting Clergymen at a friend's house in this town, and a boat was ordered to be in waiting for him at Cremil Passage at half-past nine o'clock. His character stood high with all that knew him, and he was a young man of considerable promise in the Wesleyan persuasion. A strict search was inunediately set on foot—numbers of his friends visited Kingsand and surrounding hamlets—the roads, fields, and woods were searched in all directions. The Rev. Mr. Ley, the magistrate, turned out a number of persons into the plantations and grounds of Mount Edgecumbe, and dogs were employed to endeavour to discover any vestige of his remains should he have been murdered. Twenty pounds have been offered for the discovery of his body, and an additional £5O for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the deed. It appears that previously to Mr. Griffith leaving Kingsand, he had returned the amount of the class collection to the steward, but he is supposed to have had a considerable sum of money in his possession, having left home with the intention of purchasing an Encyclopedia; and he remarked to a friend with whom he had a conversation previously to his crossing the passage, that he had some cash and hoped he should not be robbed. A woman living at Impacombe, not far from the Heights, says she heard a cry of murder" about ten o'clock on Tuesday night. In consequence of some suspicious circumstances which attracted the attention of a respectable merchant of this town, one of Mr. Griffith's friends set off for London yesterday, to inspe& the cargo of one of the London steamers, which left this port on Wednesday, the day after the disappearance of Mr. Griffith. The merchant alluded to was standing on the late victualling office point, when he observed a boat with three men hovering near the mouth of Catwater. The men were evidently watching the steamer's motions, and as soon as the agent had left and the vessel was preparing to move, they pulled swiftly towards her, and he saw a large package taken on board, when the boat again made off towards Hamoaze. It is very generally apprehended that he has been robbed and murdered. A rather singular circumstance occurred during the search on Thursday: A magpie was observed an a tree close by the road side, near the fountain, in great agitation and making a violent noise, tearing the bark and stamping with his feet. This brought a man to the spot, who, on searching, discovered a blue striped check collar, which had evidently been torn from the neck, and which was found to be marked with blood. Magpies are known to haunt places where blood has been shed, and it is remarkable that a murder, committed twenty years since on the same spot, was discovered through the instrumentality of a magpie.— Devonport Telegraph.  The Malta Gazettes state that Lieut. Walker, of the Alban steamer, has surveyed the new volcanic island off Sicily ; that it had diminished from a mile and a quarter to little more than aquarter of a mile in circumference; that the steam and bubbling waters continue, and that a new eruption is in consequence expected. Lieut. Walker is of opinion that in a short time the island will entirely disappear, that it is daily crumbling down, and that the first gale will wash it away.