The Sun. — 1861-04-18 (London, England)

TILE MURDER OF A CHILD BY TWO  BOYS.  A child of two and a half years old, named George Burgess, whose parents reside in Baguley-street, Higher Hillgate, Stockport, has been murdered by suffocation in a brook of running water, by two boys, one named Peter Barrett, aged eight, and the other of the name of James Bradley, about the same age, residing in Middle Hillgate. It appeared that the deceased was playing on some vacant land near his own house early in the afternoon, when the two boys, without any previous acquaintance, took him away with them about half a mile, towards the suburbs of the borough, to a place called Hempshaw-lane, and thence into a footway to a brook of water at a secluded part of some fields behind the barracks. They were seen to drag the child along the place naked, but the circumstance did not attract more than a passing notice. One of the boys got a thorn out of the hedge and beat this poor little fellow on the back and legs in a merciless manner until they got to the water, where,thaving deposited the clothes higher up the stream, they absolutely forced him into the brook head foremost, and beat him about the head and body until he was dead, and left the body there. The next day (Friday) at noon the body was discovered, but there was no evidence forthcoming to show how or by what means it came there. Two boys had been seen with the deceased in the neighbourhood in the afternoon, but the deed could not then be fixed upon any particular individual. A coroner's inquest was held on Saturday, and, after receiving some preliminary evidence, it stood adjourned till yesterday evening (Tuesday). In the meantime the two boys, Barratt and Bradley, were apprehended. The coroner's jury reassembled at the White Horse, Hampshaw, last evening. Police-constable Morley said he went to the house of the prisoner Bradley, in company with Barratt, on Saturday evening, and charged them, in the presence of Bradley's father, with being in company with a little boy, in Hampshaw-lane, on Thursday, and they said they were. Bradley then said, in answer to the question where they went to, " That they went on down Love-lane till we got to a hole with some water in ; that they both undressed the child—that Peter pushed it into the water—and then they commenced beating it on the back and head until it was dead ; and they did not leave it until it was dead." No threats or promises were made to induce either of them to confess to the crime; and, on comparing the clogs of Bradley and the shoes of Barratt with marks in the soil, near the brook, they exactly corresponded. The evidence of the surgeon (Mr. Massey) was to the effect, that the wound at the top of the head had produced congestion of the brain and consequent insensibility. The immediate cause of death was of course " death from suffocation" by immersion in the water. ' Neither the parents nor the prisoners, who appeared very indifferent to their awful situation, asked the witnesses any questions. The jury returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder" against Peter Barrett and James Bradley, and they were committed for trial at the next Cheshire assizes.—Manchester Examiner.  When our artist came to depict the fair sex in China, he must indeed have been sorely tried. At first we thought he had given the reins' to his imagination, and treated the subject with a certain degree of artistic license, but a little study convinced us of the contrary, though 'we are compelled to admit that this accuracy is in some minor points of detail liable to be called into question. Thus, the lady in walking costume is drawn with a long sword by her side ; but this may be merely emblematic of strength of character. In other respects, allowing for the absence of crinoline, and a something about the bonnet which we have not yet arrived at, her dress may be considered faultless. To those who are curious in such matters, we would observe that the cloak is a bright red, lined with white; whilst the skirt is a pale blue, with a golden zone. It seems doubtful whether what she holds in her left hand is a spy-glass or a book. •We must leave our readers to decide this important question. We rather like the way she wears her hair, and are half inclined to call her pretty, though we could wish that her chin had not terminated in such a decided point.—Once a Week. [