The Sun. — 1827-07-16 (London, England)

HORRID ATTEMPT AT MURDER AND  ROBBERY.  (From the Kentigh Gazette.)  On the night of Tuesday last, about half-past ten, two men knocked at the door of Mr. William Buckhurst, at Binney Farm, Allhallows, in the hundred of Hoo, and on the maid-servant inquiring who they were, they replied that they had a letter for her master from Mr. Richard Knight, on which she opened the door, when they rushed in, and taking the candle from her, one of them proceeded up stairs, while the other remained below, threatening that if she made asiy noise he would silence her. At the instant they entered the house, the girl gave a loud shriek, which aroused her master, who was in bed, and asleep at the time, and he immediately arose; on opening his bed-room door, he encountered a man having his face blackened, and holding a candle in one hand, and a bludgeon in the other. Mr. Buckhurst immediately closed with the villain, end seising him round the neck, endeavoured to push him down the stairs; in the scuffle the stick was dropped, and Mr. Buckhurst having forced the fellow near to a door of his man-servant's bed-room, called to him to come to his assistance; instead of which the man, alarmed at what he heard, secured the door and remained inside his room; in the mean time, Mr. Buckhurst was knocked down, and the villain recovering his stick, after beating him about the head with it, threw him down stairs. Here he was severely beaten about the head by both the fellows, and they then attempted to tie his hands, but notwithstanding the cruel treatment he had received, he still retained strength and presence of mind sufficient to struggle with them, and ultimately escaped from the house into an adjoining meadow, followed by these diabolical villains, one of whom appears to have thrust the rugged point of his bludgeon into a deep wound previously inflicted at the back of his head. In this meadow they overpowered their victim, and after a further beating trampled on him and left him for dead. In the mean time, the man-servant came down stairs, and brought the dog in from the back of the house, for the protection of himself and the servant-girl, concluding that his master was murdered, and that the thieves would return. Mr. Buckhurst came back to the house, and endeavoured to gain an entrance, but was unable to speak, and the servants when they heard him groping about the door, supposed it to be his assailants, and he remained outside until his sisters, on their return home from Stoke, found him faint from loss of blood, leaning against the garden fence. He spoke to them in a low tone of voice, and as they concluded all were murdered within the house, they led him to the village, being a distance of three quarters of a mile. The approach of this part of the family is supposed to have induced the parties to decamp. The servant girl describes the blows which were inflicted on her master after he was thrown down stairs as dreadful, any one of which seemed sufficient to deprive him of his existence. It is greatly to be lamented that the man did not come to the assistance of his master at the moment when he had nearly overpowered his first assailant, as in that case there can be no doubt that he might have been secured. The men are described as being dressed in dark-coloured clothes, one of them tall and slender, the other of the middle size ; their faces and hands were black, and each wore a cap made from light-coloured cotton hose; their shoes apparently of light make, with iron heel-specks, one of the specks half an inch shorter on one side than the other. The following articles were left by them :—The two caps above described, the bludgeons (a blackthorn hedge-stake cut in two), a small tin pot containing charcoal, three pieces of dark cloth, from a coat or jacket, with a gun pick, and " John Allan" scratched on the handle. A reward of 30/. has been offered for the discovery of the offenders. Mr. Buckhurst lies in a dangerous GUILE, but hopes are entertained of his recovery.  An Irish gentleman at cards, having on inspection found the pool deficient, exclaimed, Here's a shilling short, who put it in ?"