The Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times. — 1880-01-17 (Atherstone, Warwickshire, England)

BRUTAL MURDER AND MUTILATION NEAR LONDON.  A shocking case of murder and mutilation is reported to have taken place at Hendon, near London. On Saturday the body of a man named William Sibley, residing at Burnt Oak, Edgware, was found floating in the Brent River, and on examination it was discovered that the lower part of the abdomen had been cut away, anti was missing. A man named George Abery, who was driving past in a cart, first saw the batly, at about 8 a.m., and with the assistance of two men who were with him, threw a rope over it, and got it to shore. The body was then removed to the Midland Hotel at Hendon, and enquiries were set on foot, when it was .bond that Sibley, who is 61 years of age, slept on Friday night with his son at Burnt Oak, who did not see him get up, and did not wake until eight a.m., about the time when the body was found three miles off in the river. Inspectors Millwani and Bannister were engaged in trying to unravel the mystery all Saturday, but nothing could be found of the knife or missing parts of the body. On Sunday morning, howev; r, the local police, headed by Inspector Goldsmith and Sergeant Porter, were dragging the river very early, and also searching around the spot, when they founti some distance away the 'missing parts of the body hidden in a hedge. They subsequently found a hat and a sack also hidden, and lastly a table knife, with a white handle. There can be no doubt that the deceased met with his death by foul play, as there were only a few spots of blood in front of the bridge, and the missing parts oh the body were found 20 yards from the place where the deceased was put into the water, whilst the knife was carefully hidden away. It is supposed that the man was brought to the bridge in a cart, and then, in a semi-insensible state, thrown over into the water.  Offictal statistics of Italian education for the year 1878-9 show that there were 278 institutions for secondary education in the peninsula, the entire number of pupils receiving secondary instruction being 23,404. There were also in Italy 164 technical Behoolsand 63 technical institutes, having altogether 21,40:1 pupils. A sum of more than £B,OOO has now been subscribed in France to the fund organised for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of the late Prince Imperial. This is considered to be sufficient for the purpose, and Baron Haussman has obtained the consent of the Commtttee, of which he is president, to the erection of a memorial chapel on some suitable site between the Arc de Triomphe and the Invalides. The chapel will be erected in the midst of a garden. Lord Waveney, speaking at Suffolk Quarter Sessions, on Thursday, said that in the present depression of trade every Ilagistrate and every legislator should impress upon the Government the extent of the burdens of local taxation. He never remembered such a year as that just ended, wen] h was not equalled even by the one immediately preceding die passing of the Poor Laws. The troublous times had been met by the agriculturists and tenant farmers, upon whom the burdens pressed most severely, with • firmness and courage which was absolutely marvellous.