The Sun. — 1853-02-03 (London, England)

SUSPECTED MURDER AT RATCLIP.f.  Yesterday morning, about half-past one o'clock, as police-constable 300 K, was going his rounds in Glasshouse street; Ratcliff, he stumbled over the apparently lifeless body of a man lying in the roadway, under the windows of the Newcastle and Sunderland Arms beershop, at the corner of Broad-street and Glasshouse-street. The man had only his shirt, drawers, and stockings on ;there was blood oozing from one of his ears, and from the position in which the man was found the policeman was at once led to believe that he had either fallen or been thrown from the upper floor of the beer-house. The policeman immediately knocked at the door, and some of the inmates, who had not gone to bed, answered him, and the mutilated and wounded man was at once identified to be Captain Edward Pennington, the master of the ship Pallas, trading between the north and London, an old frequenter of the house, who was there on Tuesday evening, and went to bed in a room on the second floor, the window of which overlooks Glasshouse-street, at 11 o'clock the same night. Mr. Carson, a medical gentleman in Broad-street, and others of the faculty, were immediately sent for, and did everything in their power to restore the unfortunate man, but he was beyond the reach of human skill, and he expired in about six hours afterwards. Bayliss, the landlord of the beer-house, and his wife, said their opinion was that the deceased had thrown himself from his bedroom into the street. Very strong suspicions, however, are entertained that Captain Pennington has come by his death by unfair means, and that he was thrown into the street by some of the inmates. From a minute examination of  theat premises dsummoning ma de officer Mr. e rto. Pmbt heee 01 e r, b o neerad , it of Ra tcliffappears t the window of the bedroom was raised to a height of one foot and nine inches, when Captain Pennington was found in the street. There are marks of a person's hands on the window sill, or stone, as if ho had tenaciously clung to it for life as long as he was able ; and there are also marks on the brick-work beneath. The deceased, in his fall, struck the first floor immediately under the window of his bedroom, and diglodged two panes of glass. The frame of the window is also broken. There can be no question that the deceased fell in a perpendicular direction, and that he made a desperate effort to save himself. His body was found close to the side ;wall of the house. If he had flung himself from the window of his bedroom Ins body would have been in the middle of the street. It appears that the house in question is frequented by thieves and prostitutes. Many robberies have been committed there, and some of them have been of a very serious nature. The upper part is registered as a common lodging-house, and there were several women of the town, visitors, and others staying there on Tuesday night. A few of them slept on the same floor as the deceased. The affair has caused a great sensation in Ratcliff and its vicinity. Very recently Captain Peter Gray was hocussed and robbed in Garden's-court, in the same vicinity, and, on a post =Kent examination, opium in sufficient quantity to destroy life was found in the stomach.