Star. — 1829-08-04 (London, England)

THE MURDER OF MR. DOW.  The Ayr Advertiser of Thursday, after quoting the account from the London Papers, of the examination of the person charged at Bow-street, with this murder, which took place at Ayr in 1812, says--This statement appeared in the London papers of Saturday, which reached Ayr on Monday night, and, from that time till the arrival of the mid-day coach yesterday, when the man alluded to in the narrative was brought  here, the feelings of the people of this place were excited greatly, and those *feelings strongly manifested by the crowds surrounding the coach, every succeeding arrival. It will be observed the statement in the London papers differs from the real circumstances detailed at the time, as to dates a little, and as to the cause or motives of the murder considerably, and this difference had a tendency to throw some doubts on the probability, otherwise great, that the murderer was detected ; and this served only to augment the curiosity or excite the feelings of the people. But, just as the excitement rose to the highest, the coach arrived, and it was allayed in an instant. A man of colour, certainly, was. on the .coach, chained by the arm to an officer of justice, with another in escort, and having all the symbols of a man lying under a heavy charge ; but the coach was surrounded by people intimately acquainted with the person and features of Johnston, and with one voice they declared he was not the man. The sheriff, magistrates, gaoler, and constables, were in attendance, and the man, with the officer to whom he was coupled, was taken into the King's Anus : but without a moment's delay, the testimony of a ntlabar of gentlemen, having the very best means of knowing timately and accurately the person and features of Johnston, was taken, proving decisively that there is no identity and little or no similarity between him and the man in custody, and in an hour after his arrival, he who lay se long under the most heinous charge, confined for such it length of time, and dragged so far to answer for it, was released from bondage, and was walking at large on the streets ; and the feelings of indignation against the murderer of Mr. Dow, renewed by the circumstances just related, gave place to those of pity for the man having the misfortune to be taken for him. John Johnston, the murderer, was born at Cross-hill, in this county. He is the offspring of a white woman and a Mulatto, and in the language applied to that gradation, is called a Quadroon. He served an apprenticeship on board the barque Hopewell, and was ultimately a sailor on board the barque Avon, both of this port. He will now be about 32 years of age. On the other hand, the man taken for him is called Thomaa Stevens or Ste. phens ' • he was born in Grenada, and is about 27 years of age. His father, according to his account, and there is no reason to doubt his statement, was a Manxman, of the lame of Thomas Stevens, who went to Trinidad and married his mother, a Creole, having a plantation in the iaiand, and he was their only child. He, therefore, an contradistinction to Johnston, is a Mulatto. When about six years of age he was brought to the Isle of Man, where he lived with a relative of his father, *a person called " Vicar-General Stevens," and was apprenticed to a hatter in the parish of Ballaugh, sear• Ballykain. On the elapse of his apprenticeship he wrought as a journeyman, and, latterly, took up baminess for himself at Ballaugh-bridge, and had a wife and four children. In 1826, his business becoming dank, he sailed for Trinidad in the brig Lady Dawson, Dawsen,lnaster,• leaving his wife and children in the isle of Man. In Trinidad he wrought in the plantations • -of his mother, became sick, and went through a variety •of '4l4S:wings. . Teo gentlemen in Trinidad, belonging originally to the Isle of Man, came forward and made oath to the chief  _.....,instance* just related, and especially that he resided • there AS. wrought as a hatter for many years up to 182(3, • ahB7'conaequently, in 1824, when the murder was cam:Bitted; but die•authorities of Trinidad found it proper to proceed teatimow of the soldiers, and, after being ior some time in prison, he was transferred from Trinidad to Barbadoes, liihere ho suffered a farther imprisonment, and latterly he was conveyed to England and from hence aither, in the manner already described.