The Warwickshire Herald. — 1888-08-30 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

GENERAL BOULANGER'S UNCLE. General Boulanger a short t ago recalled to an interviewer the fact that he was a Brighton schoolboy. "I have cousins in England," he said. "They are the sons of my mother's brother, who was murder d and robbed in 1848 or 1849 on the cliffs near Brighton. A reward of £2,000 was offered by the Government for the discovery of the guilty persons, but without success. I went to a boarding. school at Brighton, and I remember the town very well." As General Boulanger Was quite young when the murder took place, it is not surprising, says the Sussex haily .News, that he is not thoroughly acquainted with the facts. General Boulanger was born at Rennes, in Brittany, on April 29th, 1837, but his mother, who is still living, was an Englishwoman, her maiden name being Griffith, and she was sister to Mr. George Stonehouse Griffith, proprietor of the Rock Brewery. Brighton, who at the time of his tragic murder was a fine, good-looking, athletic man in the prime of life. For some time it was the practice of Mr. Griffith to visit the country customers of the brewery in the north-west of Sussex, on the first Tuesday of each month, but for 12 months before February, 1819. he hid :antinued this journey, his place being takeo by Mr. alartin, his chief clerk. Early in January, 1849, an anonymous letter was received directed to "Mr. Mertens, Griffis Bruery.''—" Sir,—" Some parties intend to rob you next time you goes to Horsham, so bee on your Fad.' Mr. Griffith thereupon resolved to make the journey himself, and armed with a pair of pocket pistols he started on February lith in a light gig, declining the offer of the chief of the Brighton police to accompany him. The outward journey was made safely, Horsham, West Grinstead, and Henfield being visited successively, and accounts collected. At the former place the landlady spoke of reccnt robberies in the neighbourhood, and Mr. Griffith produced and loaded one of his pistols. Between 1 and 2 in the morning a party of gentlemen returning home late from a shooting party found his body on the high road, about nine miles from Brighton, shot through the chest. The reMs were cut, and the gig turned towards Henfield. A struggle evidently took place, but by seine fatal mistake Mr. Griffith drew out the unloaded pistol, and the fact that so powertul a man was dragged out of the gig, and a pistol fired so close to his chest as to burn his clothes, supports the view that more than one person was concerned in the murder. The only booty secured was about -£2O in cash and the victim's watch, but the latter was soon thrown away, for seven years after it was found in a pond at Nutknowl, near the scene of the murder. A reward of £3OO was offered —£loo by the Government, and £2OO by private subscription—for the apprehension of the murderers, but no clue was ever obtained. From this it will be seen that General Boulanger's account of the murder is far from accurate. The reward was £3OO instead of £2,000, and the crime was committed, not on the coast, but some miles inland. But the discrepancies are excusable, seeing that Boulanger was a boy of 12 when hh uncle was murdered.