The Sun. — 1845-06-30 (London, England)

HUMAN REMAINS. A discovery, which has created considerable interest and excitement, took place at Birmingham on Tuesday. A number of workmen, in the employ of Mr. P. Smith, the town survey or, were engaged in sinking what is termed a dome well, at the Public-office, in Moor-street, when about seven feet from the surface of the ground they met with the remains of a large dog. This created no surprise, but immediately beneath the excavators found their work impeded by apparently a large box, but which, upon examination, proved to be an oak coffin. On its top was a porcelain pipe, of curious, and evidently antique construction, and an engraved heart, with the initials "W. S." The coffin, considering the number of years it is supposed to have been in the ground, was in a state of excellent preservation. Curiosity, as a matter of course, was excited to ascertain its contents, and, upon being opened and examined, it was found to contain the skeleton of a human being, through which, as in past times in the case of executed malefactors, a stake had been driven. The remains were submitted to the examination of one of the medical gentlemen connected with the Queen's College and Hospital. and he pronounced them to be the skeleton of a male, about the age of 25 or '26. The only point presented worthy of observation was an indentation of the forehead, from which it would be inferred that the deceased came to his death by violence. There are, however, very plausible reasons for coming to a different conclusion. It is not at all improbable that the fracture of the forehead was the result of the violence of the workpeople employed in the excavation ; and if the man whose remains are found was murdered, it does not appear likely that his murderers would have honoured his corpse with an oak coffin, decorated with expensive insignias. Moor-street, in which the remains were found, is now situate in the very centre of Birmingham; but two hundred years ago, at which time, at the latest, it is supposed the body must have been interred, it formed part of an extensive park, belonging, as some say, to the Jennings family, and subsequently to the ancestors of the present Earl Howe. His Lordship holds extensive property in the neighbourhood at the present time. Meriden-street, Park-street, Jennings-row, &c., constituted a part of the original domain. The probability is that the body found is the remains of some member of the family to whom the estate formerly belonged, and who, as is frequently the case, even in modern times, was buried within the precincts of the family grounds. This view is confirmed by the fact that in Oxford-street, now standing upon a portion of the same domain, a few weeks ago the workmen employed by the town surveyor met with the skeleton of a man who had evidently been buried for a great number of years, and between whose thighs was placed a large black bottle containing a black fluid. Unfortunately, however, the cupidity of an Irish excavator employed upon the work, who expected to find something to drink, led him to break the bottle, and its contents were never correctly ascertained. It is needless to say that the discovery of the remains of a human being in the immediate neighbourhood of the public prison has led to many vulgar and unfounded surmises. How these notions are to be corrected it is difficult to say, but it is to be presumed that the worthy borough Coroner, who, during his tenure of office, has been most extraordinarily industrious in the discharge of its duties, will find in popular clamour a justification for sitting in judgment upon the discovered bones.