The Sun. — 1858-08-12 (London, England)

MURDER NEAR LISBURN. On Monday night a very melancholy occurrence took plrce at Ililden, near Lisburn, County Antritn, which in a few minutes after resul ed in the death of one man named Owen Hughes ; and axother, named Kelly, is not expected to live an hour. Two men, named John Martin and Alexander Martin were immediately after arrested for the murder.  The particulars of the sad affair are as follow :—Hilden is the place at which the Messrs. Balfour's spinning mill is situated, and in the neighbourhood there are several rows of neat brick houses, occupied by the mill workers. Monday night astrolling fiddler happened to pass along the roads playing some tunes, and a number of the young men, employed in the mill asked a Mrs. Burns to allow them to bring the fiddler into her house and have a dance there. She consented, and a dance was accordingly held. Next door to the house in question the prisoners and accused—the two Martins— resided,' and it seems that when the hour became late, about eleven o'clock, the elder of the Martins objected to the dance being continued any later as he had to be up. early next (Tuesday) morning to go to his work, and wanted to sleep. It appears Martin proceeded to the watchman at the mill to get him to clear the house of the dancers, and when the latter heard of this they left the Louse and gave up the dancing, lest Mr. Barton night hear of it and be displeased. As they were leaving the dance-house they met the elder Martin coming up he row in his shirt sleeves. The first man that he met with was James Kelly, and Martin, with an oath, said that he would put an end to the dancing. Kelly and Martin then struck at each other, and the younger Martin came up, ran at Kelly, end stuck him. Kelly shouted out that he was stuck, and lay over against the wall. He walked in for a little time into one of the houses in the row, and was subsequently removed to his own residence in the County Down on the other side of the Lagan, about a quarter of a mile from the mills. At about the same time one of the Martins got into hold with Owen Hughes, and in a moment he also shouted he was stabbed, and was taken into his own house in the row, where he died in less than an hour.  An inquest was held on the body sf Owen Hughes on Tuesday, before Mr. J. K. Jackson, coroner, and a respectable .jury, in the office of Messrs. Barbour, at Kilden, when the facts above stated were given in evidence. The depositions of Kelly had been taken by Mr. Gregg, J.P., as it is feared the man will live but only a short time, and in these depositions the dying man states that be struck John Martin, and he believes it was the younger Martin who stabbed  Rolnti amn acyabt he tlni cesn, twiohnieled ea tprtonsee rsa t;irthe rdoat en: all the witnesses for the Crown deposed that there was no party feeling in the matter. Dr. J. Campbell, of Lisburn, deposed that he was called tea n were ts; but on to visit Hughes and Kelly. Arrived at about 12 o'clock on Monday night. Pound Hughes dead and cold. He had received a stab which passed into the chest. It was a triangular wound, more like a bayonet wound than that of a knife. The man could not have lived after it. The wound Kelly received was a stab in the navel. He had hopes that Kelly would live. Head-constable Stafford said be got one of the Martins in bed and the other up in the hou.se. Searched the house, but found no weapon in it. The result of the inquest has not yet been published. At the last assizes several of the judges found it necessary in their charges to deplore the fact that stabbing was now a prevalent crime in Ireland. Their strictures on the cowardliness of using the knife wire very pointed; but they have not had the effect, it seems, of diminishing this continental vice. - - -