The Sun. — 1858-08-12 (London, England)

MURDER NEAR LISBURN.  On Monday night a very melancholy occurrence took plrce at Ililden, near Lisburn, County Antrim, which in a few minutes after resulted in ;lie death of one man named Owen Hughes ; and another, named Kelly, is not expected so live an hour. Two men, named John Martin and Alexander Martin were immediately after arrested for the murder. The pa-ticulars of the sad affair are as follow :—Hilden is the place at which the Messrs. Balfour'S spinning mill is situated, and in the neighbourhood there arc several rows of neat brick houses, occupied by the mill workers. Monday night astrolling fiddler happened to pass along the roads playing some tunes, and a number of the young men employed in the mill asked a Mrs. Burns to allow them to bring the fiddler into her house and have a dance there. She consented, and a dance was accordingly held. Next door to the house in question the prisoners and accused—the two Martins— resided, and it seems that when the hour became late, about eleven o'clock, the elder of the Martins objected to the dance being continued any later as he had to be up early next (Tuesday) morning to go to his work, and wanted to sleep. It appears Martin proceeded to the watchman at the mill to get him to clear the house of the dancers, and when the latter heard of this they left the house and gave up the dancing, lest Mr. Barton might hear of it and be displeased. As they were leaving the dance-house they met the elder Martin coming up the row in his shirt sleeves. The first man that he met with was James Kelly, and Martin, with an oath, said that he wound put an end to the dancing. Kelly and Martin then struck at each other, and the younger Martin came up, ran at Kelly, and stuck him. Kelly shouted out that he was stuck, and lay over against the wall. He walked in for a little time into one of the houses in the row, and was subsequently removed to his own residence in the County Down on the other side of the Logan, about a quarter of a mile from the mills. At about the same time one of the Martins got into hold with Owen Hughes, and in a moment he also shouted he was stabbed, and was taken into his own house in the row, where he died in less than an hour. An inquest was held on the body et* Owen Hughes on Tuesday, before Mr. J. K. Jackson, coroner, and a respectable jury, in the office of Messrs. arbour, at Kilden, when the facts above stated were given in evidence. The depositions of Kelly bad been taken by Mr. Gregg, J.P., as it is feared the man will live but only a short time, and in these depositions the dying man states that he struck John Martin, and he believes it was the younger Martin who stabbed him. It may be mentioned that those at the dance were all Roman Catholics, while the prisoners are Protestants; but all the witnesses for the Crown deposed that there was no party feeling in the matter. on to visit Hughes and Kelly. Arrived at about 12 o'clock onHe had on Monday night. Found Hughes dead and cold. triDr. J. Campbell, of Lisburn, deposed that he was calledlock received a stab which passed into the chest. It vqi knife. The man could not have lived after it. had ho es Kelly received was a stab in the navel. lie p angular wound, more like a bayonet wound than that Kelly would live. Stafford said he got one of the Martins in thswataouonf da Head-constable The result of the inquest has not yet been published. At the last assizes several of the judges found it necessary in their charges to deplore the fact that stabbing was now a butbed faunududthueu otherwe weapon up in in it. the house. Searched the house, prevalent crime in Ireland. Their strictures on the cowardliness of using the knife were very pointed; but they have it seems, of diminishing this continental notvic had the effect, vice.