The Sun. — 1846-08-06 (London, England)

MURDEROUS ATTACK BY A RAILWAY POLICE- SERG EANT. ETON, WEDNESDAY.—Yesterday evening a man named Anthony Thomas Ryines, about forty years of age, the police-sergeant at the Maidenhead station, in the employ of the Great Western Railway Company, was brought before the Rev. Thomas Carter, the sitting magistrate, in custody of Daniel Sexton, the Maidenhead constable, charged with having inflicted a serious, and, it is feared, mortal wound, upon the body of Mr. Henry Plumb, an articled clerk to Mr. William Ward, solicitor, or Maidenhead, between nine and ten o'clock on Monday night. Mr. J. J. Williams, barrister-at-law, and Mr. Ward, solicitor, attended on behalf of Mr. Plumb, who was in too weak and dangerous a state to be present. The following certificate from Mr. Bellis, surgeon, was handed to the magistrate:— " I hereby certify that Mr. Henry Plumb is not able to attend the magistrates, in consequence of having a punctured wound in the back." The prisoner, upon being placed at the bar, appeared perfectly cool and unembarrassed. Mr. John Mahon Williams (a son of Mr. Williams, the barrister), who was on a visit at Mr. Ward's, at the time of the unfortunate occurrence, deposed as follows :—I was taking a walk with Mr. Plumb on Monday evening, at about half-past nine o'clock, and as we were passing the Dumb Bell public-house, which is opposite to the Maidenhead station, we heard some music, which induced us to stop outside to hear it. A boy ( who it has since been ascertained was the son of the prisoner, and who is a page in the service of a family in the neighbourhood), who was standing near us, looked up in Mr. Plumb's face and laughed. Plumb then remarked, "That's the famous Buttons." I said, "Oh, is it ?" and walked towards him. The boy then ran away up the road towards Maidenhead, calling out, "Father, they have been licking me." We ran a little way after the boy. and then stopped. The boy turned round, when he got near the prisoner's house, and said, "You come here, and we will give it you." The boy then went in, and we walked on towards Maidenhead. Just as we got opposite the prisoner's house, the boy hallooed out two or three times, " It's young Ward," evidently mistaking us for Mr. Ward's son. He was in the garden with his mother. I then saw the prisoner run into the house, and taking something from oil' the place on which a candle was standing, immediately run out again and jump over the gate into the road. The prisoner's wife called after him," Make haste, give it them well." Plumb ran away as soon as the prisoner came out of the house. I stayed until he jumped over the gate; but when I saw he was coming after us, I ran away as fast as I could. Prisoner followed, and when, I found he was close upon me I ran across the road and jumped over the fence into the ground next to the railway. Prisoner followed Plumb, calling out to some men in the road, " Stop the young blackguard." I heard one of these men say, " I shall not stop him; what has he done ?" Almost immediately afterwards I heard the cries of Plumb. I heard him distinctly say, " Have mercy on me, and don't hit me with that." then ran across to the railway on to Mr. Ward's house for assistance, and returned with Mr. Ward's man-servant. On our return we found Mr. Plumb at the King's Arms Inn, Maidenhead-bridge, attended by Mr. Bellis, the surgeon. As soon as I saw Plumb, and the dreadful state be was in, I fainted away. The shirt, waistcoat, trousers, and coat, worn by Mr. Plumb at the time he was attacked by the prisoner, were produced by Sexton the constable. The lower part of the waistcoat and shirt, and the trousers, from the waist to below the knees, were saturated with blood, as well as the skirts of his coat. In consequence of the dangerous condition of the unfortunate young gentleman, it was not deemed necessary to enter into further evidence at present, and the prisoner was remanded until Monday. The weapon with which the wound was inflicted was It large table knife, with a sharp point, like a pig-knife. would appear, from an examination of the clothes worn by more than Plumb, that the prisoner must have struck at him than once, without the knife penetrating the flesh. There e are three cuts in the shirt, corresponding in size with the width of the knife, and two in the waistcoat. The knife penetrated the back, just below the ribs, between two and three nches.