The Sun. — 1864-05-17 (London, England)

TALE OF A LAY FIGURE.  On Thursday night an alarm was raised that a murder had been perpetrated in a house in a respectable locality in Belfast, and that the corpse of the victim had just been discovered. The body of the unfortunate man who had been so unfairly dealt with was found concealed in a box under the bed in a room which was used by a young man—a lodger in the house—as a sleeping apartment. As soon as the affair became public through this person, several policemen were brought to the scene of the supposed tragedy, for the purpose of inquiring into the matter, and ascertaining, if possible, and bringing to justice, the cruel assassin. Great consternation was created in the neighbourhood. Anxious were the inquiries to find out thename, address, appearance, occupation, &c„ of the murdered man ; but, as these facts had not transpired up to the hour of our going to press, we can only publish the following brief yet dreadful tale:— The young man alluded to had for a short time lodged in the house in question, and in the room, concealed under his bed, ho observed a queer, coffin-shaped, rough-looking deal box. Often did be look wistfully at the strange piece of furniture, for he could not get rid of a hankering suspicion that therein all was not well. On Thursday night, therefore, his curiosity, coupled with the aforenamed suspicion, impelled our lodger to draw the box gently and quietly from underneath the bed. He stopped. Conscience whispered to him that it was none of his business what was in the box, but, on further debate within himself, the young man made up his mind to open the lid, His heart throbbed: The lid he opened, but not a moment did he look at the contents—for, horror of horrors! —there lay stretched at full length before him—a corpse! I There could be no mistake about it—he was certain a foul and bloody murder had been committed and here was the unhappy victim I The silent language of the fact made its own eloquent revelation, Vain would be the attempt to describe the horror depicted on the countenance of the second floor lodger. To have lain with and upon a corpse was dreadful—in fact it was too much to bear. Now, the 3 oung man was determined to ferret out the mystery connected with the shocking spectacle he had seen in the deal box. Under such trying circumstances every one must give him credit for acting with so much coolness he appears to have done. It would have been bad policy, our cunning lodger knew, to have created an alarm in the house. He did not want the landlady to have the remotest suspicion of his discovery, for that must have been ruinous to his plans. The young man, shortly after witnessing the melancholy sight, put on his hat, and strolled about the street, but when out of sight of his landlady's house, he made his way with hurried steps and a sense of palpitation at the heart in search of a policeman to whom he might relate his tragic story. Police were found, and, attended by the heroic young man, they proceeded to the apartment in which probably the unfortunate corpse had made its last struggle. The box was produced in presence of the authorities, and then with great solemnity the lid was raised— wher, surely enough, an object worth notice presented itself. There lay the body, cold as ice, and though dumb it bore an expressive countenance. A titter from the police, followed by a loud laugh—induced the hero of the tale to take another look at the figure in the coffin. Affrighted or ashamed of the figure he himself cut, the lodger bounded down the stairs, and was out of the neighbourhood in half a minute, or about the same time it takes the fire-brigade to turn out. The secret of the young man's terror is easily explained. The landlady of the house is the widow of an artist, who in the pursuit of professional business, required certain lay figures, and one of these models was placed in the position in which it was found by the lodger. The rest will Le readily conceived. The poor follow who has been the victim of a common failing—curiosity—has not been seen or heard of since " that dreadful night." The serious part of the business, however, is this : Unless ample satisfaction be given by the young man for the annoyance he created, we understand the Law Courts will be called on to take cognisance of the matter.—Belfast .21orthern Whig.