Star. — 1828-08-01 (London, England)

MURDER OF CAPTAIN COX. • ROSCOSIIIIIN ASSIZES, Jew 2s. In the month of March last -the English papers glowed with jultly indignant. repreimsions of the cold-blooded murder of Captain C•ix, an English Gentleman, who had the superintendence of the iron works that ere carrying on in d part of this ebdnty.. The savage act could not be exaggerated in descrill; nor could any degree of ..reprobation be tdo strong for the occasion. There was, however, one feature in the picture exhibited by the London journals flr which, it .now tqrns pm, that Aber* was not the slightait foundat/hts. Those Journals. on the authority of the most corrupt press Under the sun, "suggested, and in many instances broadly asserted, that, the origin of this murder was connected with a national and a Aaolitical cause. It was 'said that the unhappy GentleArm was murdered because he was an English Protestant, andthecanse he was hostile to the collection of the Patholicaeut.lfsuch causes were in imistence,they would with eagerness and alacrity have been made apparent st the trial ; but the contrary has been estehlishel The truth turns out to be, that a gang of miscreants had formed themselves into a body for the purpose of plundering the house of Capt. Cox; and the time they "fiftad on for the purpose was the night of the day when the Captain returned from the town of Sligo, carrying with him, as it was erroneously, but with great probability, supposed, a large sum of money. The party consisted of 16 or 17 .persons, most of whom are now in custody. Satisfae. tory evidence could only be procured against three of these men ; and these three, two of the nahse Of Grogan, and the third named Burchell, are capital indicted, and tried this day, at Roicommon. It appeared from the evidence, that the gang had concerted this attack, and had made themselves acquainted with some domestic arrangements of Captain Cos's family on the day in question. The house which they had to penets ate lay at some distance down a yard, the entrance to which was by a strong gate. A lodge stood inside, occupied by a man and his wife, the former acting as porter and guard of the premises. The plunderers, being well aware of the difficulty of forcing an entrance by the gate, resolved to gain ingress by means of stratagem. They had discovered that Captain Cox's sister had that morning ordered some articles of household consumption at the usual place in the adjoining town. These articles were not sent home before the time when the party arrived, so that when one of them, who bad been sent forward for the purpose, knocked at the gate, and was asked his business, he replied that be came w,th the " flour and things.* The gate was opened, and in rushed the whole body. They pinioned the porter and his wife, so that they could not stir ; and they then locked the door, so as that they might not be heard if they made any noise.— One of the party then took up the porter's gun, whioh he found, upon examining it, to be well loaded; *pi he, accompanied by the rest, proceeded to Capt. Cos's house. The unusual sounds hid already drawn that Gentleman to a window fronting the yard. He was instantly recognised by the party below, the piece vias levelled at him, and in' a few seconds he was a dead man. Two of the men then entered the house, and fearing delay, they contented themselves with carrying off two trunks that lay in the chamber of the deceased. Theprincipal witnesses on the trial were Miss;Cox, the porter and his wife, and an approver. The latter declared that he wes pressed into the gang against fiis will on the evening of the murder; he clearly identified the men at the bar, and there could be no moral doubt whatever of their guilt ; but unfortunately the ends of justice have been tor a time delayed, in consequence of a slight variance in the evidence, which had the effect of raising a doubt in the mindsof the Jury. The porter's a ire, in identifying one ()idle prisoners,stated that she saw him through the door of the lodge,he being outside and she inside; that she observed his person and clothes, and could not be mistaken, although no candle was lighted: The approver, however, stated that he was in company with the prisoner during the whole time that they were inside the gate; that they remained invariably at one side of the house, which could not be seen by any person from within it; and, that the prisoner did not attempt to leave that spot, to approach the door, for an lost nt.