Swansea and Glamorgan Herald, and South Wales Free Press. — 1864-11-16 (Swansea, West Glamorgan, Wales)

ATROCIOUS MURDER.  On Tuesday afternoon, at half-past one o'clock, the headless body of a man was found in the reeds on the north bank ot the reaches of the river marshes at Silverton, between Black wall and North Woolwich, one of the most lonely spots in the neighbourhood. The body, whieh was discovered by a boy and a man out sho is believed to show from unmistakeable marks that the deceased was the victim of a murder.  A stretcher was obtained as soon as possible from the Victoria Do:dis, hard by, upon which the body was conveyed forthwith to the Graving Dock Arms, where a great crowd of persons had assembled. The body was there placed upon a litter in the stables, and upon inspection it appears to have been that of a young foreigner of between 20 and 25 years of age, and of the middle rank of life. It was clothed in good black cloth trousers, hessian boots, and socks. The buttons on the trousers bore upon them the mark of " G. Graerel, Hamburg " The shirt, which was somewhat worn, bore the initials 0. IL, 6." There ss ere no braces or drawers. The body from the abdomen upwards was perfectly bare, the right arm resting on the breast. All the fingers bad been eaten away by the water rats. The left shoulder bone also bore indications of the gnawing of the water rats, but in all other respects there were no indications whatever of decomposition or decay. The body seemed not to "eve occupied the spot in which it was found more than 20 or 30 hours. The mud upon the boots, moreover, was quite moist, and to all appearances the corpse was that of a man who had only ceased to breathe for a day or two. Search during the day was assiduously made, but ineffectually, for the head of the murdered man, which it is supposed was sent adrift down I the river. The Thames police were on the look-out all day, but without making any discovery either of the head or of the upper dress of the murdered man. The trunk of the body where the head was dissevered presents a most ghastly appearance. The first blow, either with a hatchet or other sharp instrument,failed to accomplish its intended effect, leaving only a gash upon the neck, but the seoond blow was apparently delivered so decisively that it severed the head from the trunk with the cleanness of a guillotine. The height of the murdered man from measurement token on the spot (minus the head) would appear to have been sft. sin. The only property found upon his person was a farthing and a scrap of paper, the shred of a letter probably in the German language. The blood on the neck was quite fresh and new. A portion of clotted blood and brains was found in the immediate neighbourhood of the river, where the body was discovered, and this, with the rushes by which it was surrounded, were put together and preserved for the inquiry into all the circumstances to take place before Mr Lewis, the coroner for Essex. Various conjectures, as on all such occasions, are afloat as to who was the murdered man, and how he came by his death. One supposition is that he was a foreign sea-faring man recently arrived by ono of the Hambneg vessels at Victoria Docks, that he attended a pigeon shooting match held in the neighbourhood a few days ago, with notes and cash in his pocket, and that he was drugged lured away and despoiled of all he tad Another rumour iitha his ewes *a German employed in the district, and that he fell a sacrifice to some quarrel with others among whom ho lived. Up to nine o'clock on TLesclay night several persons visited the Graving Dock Arms, in order to identify the body, but being divested of its head there was of course the utmost difficulty in any identification. In the meantime the most diligent investigation is being prosecuted into the mysterious affair by Superintendent Howie and Sergeant Nightingale, of the K division of police, and other officers, who conceive they have a clue to the discovery of the crime.