The Express. — 1848-11-07 (London, England)

NEW SOUTH WALES.—We have received parrs from this colony by mail, but they add nothing to the intelligence transmitted by our Singapore correspondent In the Sydney papers we fun d the following horrifying narrative of the crime, trial, and executon of William Fife: "The trial of the amused emupied two days. The unfortunate person murdered was an Englishman, named Cox, possessing a small independence a short distance up the country. known as Kangaroo-point, and the prisoner, named William Fife, acted in the capacity of storekeeper and waiter at the Bush Commercial Hotel, belonging to Mr. Sutton. On the 25th of the preceding month the deceased, who was a man of somewhat intemperate habits, entered the hotel in question, and in the course of the evening he accused the prisoner of picking his pocket while asle•p, whether justly or otherwise does cot appear. The charge led to much angry feeling between them. The deceased determined to sleep there that night, being slightly inebriated, and between nine and ten left to go to his bed-room, which was in a des tacked building from the hotel. At a later hour at night the landlord went over the premises, as was his custom before retiring to rest, and was surprised at finding Cox lying apparently asleep in the kitchen, wrapped closely up with some quilts, and the prisoner assuming to tuck him up.' It afterwards turned out that he had murdered him a few minutes before, by plunging a large knife into his heart. Two or three hours after the master had retired to bed, the prisoner knocked him up, raying that Cox (the deceased) had got up and left the house, by elimbins over the yard-tens. During the remainder of the night and the following morning he was heard at work, and very busily sweeping the yard and the back part of the house. Not much notice was taken of the deceased's disappearance for two days afterwards, when the greatest excitement arose by the discovery of a human body in the river, shockingly mutilated. A boatman, it appeal, was rowing past Kangaroo-point, when he observed the lower part of the trunk end legs of a body, with a portion of the intestines attached, lying on the mud, and, within a kw yards of these remains, found the upper portion of a body and arms, with other portions of the intestines attached, but wanting a head. They had apparently been thrown into the river, over the hanks, at high-water, and had been washed down to the place described, where they had been left by the tide. Upon placing the parts of the body tope. they, they appeared to belong to the same individual. The deceased still being missing, it was supposed the remains were his, which led the police authorities to proceed to the hotel, where he was last seen alive, and examine the premises. They bad not cemmeered their search many minutes ere sufficient proof came to light showing some foul eked had been perpetrated in the kitchen. Underneath the flooring was found a shirt shown to be the priaoner's, sad a chest clotted with blood, and, in a well adjoining, a whitsrhamnal carving-knife, 'mired with blood, while the water in the well was also tinged with it, some linen having evidently been rinsed in it. There were marks and clots of blood disemered outside the house, and by the yard-fence, as if the body had been lifted over it, the ground on the other side being saddened with blood. The constables then searched a field adjoining the hotel, where some long grass grew, and some distance from the house a human head was found. The prisoner, who was attending to the people in the hotel, was tailed to the spot to ascertain if he could recognise it, which he did immediately, by saying it was Cox's head. He was then taken into custody, as also was his master (Mr. Button) and five other persons. The latter however were discharged some few days afterwards, the charge of murder having been clearly substantiated spinet the prisoner. His clothes when arrested were found spotted with blood. The demand's clothes had been burnt in the fireplace in his bed-room, the buttons of them having been discovered among the burned ashes. The prisoner was found guilty, and sentence of death was passed upon hint, which was carried into effect on the 7th of July. The night helms the culprit's execution he made a full confession of his guilt"