The Sun. — 1861-10-03 (London, England)

THE ASSASSINATION AT NEWCASTLE.  NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, OCT. 2. The inquest upon the body of Mr. Mark Frater, assassinated in Blackett-street, in this town yesterday, will be held this evening. His dreadful murder is the one topic of conversation among all classes. The prisoner seems to be the only person unmoved by the dreadful crime he has committed. He is perfectly cool and collected, two things, from the manner he reiterates them, giving him the highest satisfaction,—the death of his unfortunate victim, and the vast bale the particulars of his crime will give to the penny papers. Mr. Frater was a middle aged, married man, with a family of daughters, and the shock of his death, as might have been expected, occasioned them terrible distress—his eldest daughter, 20 years of age, being very ill. The motive for Clark committing this foul crime was revenge. A local paper says this morning : " The motive whieh actuated Clarke in the perpetration of this foul and bloody outrage is no obscure one. At the time that Mr. Frater 's duty compelled him to distrain the goods of the prisoner, Clarke swore over and over again, both to Mr. Frater and himself, to his clerks, and to the bailiffs who were in possession, that he would be revenged, and that he would 'do' for the man who had injured him. This took place nearly six months ago, and it is therefore clear that during the whole of that time the miscreant has been nursing his fancied wrong and his passion for revenge. Whether he has waited thus long in order to obtain a proper moment for carrying his scheme into execution or not, none can say. The sharpening of the knife on Saturday, however, shows that on that day he had finally fixed upon the speedy execution of his murderous design. With regard to his previous habits and character we cannot state much. He is of Scotch or Irish extraction, but it is not known which, though it is believed that he belongs to Ireland. For several years past, however, he has resided in St. Nicholas' churchyard, in this town. He was unmarried. He occupied two rooms, using the ono as a sleeping apartment, and the other as a workshop. For some time past he had gained his living by making chairs for Mr. Easton, a cabinetmaker, of Pilgrim-street. Not very long ago he was fined £5 for a ferocious assault upon a man, and it is said that be once before nearly killed a former landlord, besides being the perpetrator of other violent deeds. It was broadly hinted yesterday by a number of philanthropists and others that he was quite insane, and that his execution would be, in consequence, as great a sin as the murder of which he was guilty. So far, however, there are not the slightest grounds for any such suspicion. Some weeks ago he was employed working at the gaol, and he is reported to have then remarked to one of his fellow workmen that he would soon be buried there. Whatever may be the truth of some of these and a thousand other rumours which were in circulation yesterday, and some of which were of the most absurd and impossible nature, there cannot be a doubt that for months past Clark has cherished a vindictive desire for revenge, and, with all the secrecy and determination of which only the worst men are capable has awaited an opportunity of gratifying it."