The Sun. — 1846-07-16 (London, England)

MILITARY FLOGGING AT HOUNSLOW. HOUNSLOW, WEDNESDAY NlGHT.—During the last two days an extraordinary feeling of excitement has been created in this town and the surrounding neighbourhood, in censequence of a report getting afloat that one of the privates of the ith Royal Hussars, at present quartered at Hounslow Barracks, had died in consequence of the severity of the flogging he resleived shortly before, by order of a courtmartial.  From the great secrecy which is always maintained on the part of the military authorities respecting occurrences within the barracks, the actual particulars of the affair have not been allowed to transpire beyond the barrack walls, and consequently all that is at present known is rumour and report. From the inquiries instituted by our reporter, it appears that the first knowledge of and• of the privates of the 7th Royal Hussars having been subject to corporeal punishment, since the arrival of the regiment at Hounslow from Ipswich, about two months since, was on Monday evening, when it began to be whispered about that several soldiers had been flogged, and that one of them had died the next morning. No credence was, however, at the time placed upon the statement, and all who heard it considered it unfounded. On Tuesday morning the report was revived with greater confidence, with the addition that the body of the deceased soldier was to be buried without any inquest, on Wednesday (this day) afternoon, at three o'clock, in Heston churchyard, in which parish the barracks is situated. In the course of the forenoon the reports having reached the ears of the local magistrates, and of the parochial authorities, official inquiries were instituted by Inspector Lawrence, T division, and Mr. Brent, butcher, of Heston, the result of which was, that communications from both were, in the course of the afternoon, forwarded to Mr. Wakley, M.P., coroner for Middlesex, who immediately issued his warrant for holding an inquest on the body. The news that there was to be a public inquiry into the matter flew like wildfire through the town, and completely silenced those who disbelieved the truth of the reports. To-day the forthcoming inquiry is the all-absorbing topic of conversation, and it is looked forward to with the greatest anxiety by all well-informed persons as the stepping-stone to the total abolition of the obnoxious system of corporeal punishment in the army. Persons whose business takes them frequently to the barracks, state to-day that the deceased soldier, whose name has even not transpired, was flogged about five weeks since; that after the infliction of the lash he was immediately removed to the barrack hospital, where he remained until his death, which took place on Saturday last ; and that subsequent to his death two military surgeons had been sent down from town by order of the Horse Guards, and had opened the body, and found the cause of death to be ossification of the heart, which had burst. Others as confidently assert that the flogging was more recently inflicted than five weeks since, that the offence that the deceased, who was a recruit who had only joined the regiment about three months, had committed, was striking his sergeant violently across the breast with a poker; that he was tried by court-martial, and ordered to receive 1.50 lashes; that the punishment was, as is customary, inflicted in the presence of the surgeon of the regiment, and the commanding officer (Colonel Whyte) ; that after about 70 or 80 lashes had been received, the surgeon declared that any further punishment would be dangerous, but that the commanding officer directed that it should be continued ; and that the surgeon upon finding that retired from the scene and interfered no further. It is also stated confidently that the deceased, shortly before he expired, exclaimed, " I am a murdered man."  There is also a report that there are two other of the privates of the same regiment at present in the hospital for cure from floggings, one of whom of the name of Mathewson is not expected to recover.  The above are the principal of the reports and statements in circulation, but the real facts will not be publicly known until after the inquest is concluded.