The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1838-08-24 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

ECKINGT.ON.—A most atrocious murder was committed at Eckington, some tune in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday last, on one of the workmen of the North Midland Railway, named Richard Sanderson, supposed to be a native of Long Sutton, in Lincolnshire. The inquest will not be held in time to allow of our giving authentic details of this horrible deed. The following, however, are the leading circumstances :=On Tuesday evening the deceased was at the sign of the Bear, in Eckington, drinking with some otherss and rather late left the house in company with them. It does not appear that any serious quarrel had taken place, though some angry words passed at the Cross; and they afterwards, walked forwards along the Southgate to a narrow alley, called Rotten-row, where John Guest, one of the party, resided. What passed there remains to be inquired into • but it is quite certain that Guest went into the house and brought out the blade of a sythe, with which he struck Sanderson on the head. The blow divided the scalp from the corner of the eye, across the top of the head, almost to the neck behind; and completely severed a large portion of the skull, and the projecting part of the brain. The sequel is yet involved in obscurity, but several persons were taken into custody early in the morning, and from their own statements, Thomas White, a sawyer, of Bar-borough, and John Turner, the son of publican in Eckington, were so seriously implicated, that, together with Guest, they were sent to Chesterfield to await the verdict of the coroner's inquest After Sanderson had received his death-blow, he appears to have staggered back into the street and repeatedly fallen; for in the place where he fell there was a pool of blood; and in one spot the detached portion of his skull, some inches in extent, was found on the pavement, no doubt torn off from the flesh in his agony. Ile afterwards struggled amongst the wood in an adjoining wheelwright's yard, the blood still streaming ftom him, and there must have become completely exhausted. After daylight, the poor creature was found under a tree in Lady SitweWs school-yard, but he never could have walked thither; for it is nearly 200 yards from the spot where the last trace of blood could be seen; and so complete was his exhaustion, that Mr. Askatn, surgeon, who stood for some time talking with a person between 2 and 3 o'clock (certainly after the sufferer had been deposited there,) and within a few yards of the spot, heard nothing to indicate his being near.. Every possible attention was paid to him; but though he lived till 3o'clock on Thursday morning, he never spoke or showed the least sign of consciousness. On stripping him, it was discovered he had also received a severe wound in the loins from some sharp instrument. An inquest was held yesterday before Mr. Hutchinson, coroner, and a most respectable jury, and after the;examination of witnesses, it was adjourned until Friday next.—Derbyshire Courier.  On Tuesday last, as the workmen were digging on the site of Salem Chapel, at York, two ancient coffins were found 1? feet below the surface. They each consisted of a solid block of oak, hollowed out, but one was much decayed; the other, which was 22 inches broad, contained a skull and other bones. The York antiquaries have assigned them a very early date, supposing them to have belonged to the ancient Britons.