The Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin advertiser. — 1874-12-26 (Wenlock, Shropshire, England)

THE STAFFORDSHIRE 3117RDER. That, of the three murders of which Stafford. shire has so recently been the scene, the accused in two instances have been set free, cannotb truly denominated a "failure of justice," for English justice would indeed fail, if it failed to require the clearest possible evidence before it pronounced any man's life forfeited to the The police of Wolverhampton have not failed to do their utmost to discover the assassin of lit Nendick, and whoever, and wherever, he may he, he must, as he reads the care with which they have brought to bear all that would tell agaiaßt the men u horn the Stipendiary has now released from custody, tremble' with apprehension at every turn. He will derive no consolation from the faet that justice has declared there was no sufficient evidence to commit the men for trial, for the 1 criminal cannot feel that that which provides for the safety of the innocent is a security for him; and he must ever live in dread of the chain, or the missing link in the chain, of evidence that should bind him to death on the gallows. The innocent and well-disposed citizen will, on the other haad not regret to learn that the two men were not pat upon the hazard of a trial for their lives um mere suspicion however strong, for if men could be so tried and condemned who would be safe, and to the fear of the assassin Would be added that of the executioner.  We have spoken in the singular number with regard to the responsibility of the death of the late Mr. William Nendick ; for the evidence points to but one man; and now, we would ask, does the evidence support the idea that the object of the attack was robbery? Not only is there no such evidence, but the evidence carefully considered leads to a directly contrary conclusion. The murderer TA armed with a clumsy dirk or dagger made out of an old file, and yet in a few second rained down twelve murderous blows upon the head, face, and neck of his victim and then ran, leaving his stick behind. Is this the art of a thief who, we have been told, had been probably, coolly, cautiously prowling about for months for an opportunity to carry off whatever money a tradesman in so swill a way of business as the deceased was, might have had by him; or is it rather the act of a man driven by a wild-rat pas. sion of furious revenge for some fancied injury ? What, then, could have been the reason for the attack? it may be asked. We cannot say; but cautiously reply by asking, what could have induced the deceased to declare to his first quo. tioner that he had been attacked by three net who came down the chimney, to only modify this statement afterwards by declaring the men to have been as black as sweeps: and though he was in the full possession of his faculties up to within a few hours of his death, and never at any time was oppressed by any of the feelings one might have looked for as following such an attack, but was light, and clear, and ready-witted, yet never gas. e any man a coherent account of the horrible circumstance. We eanbut ask these questions. We cannot answer thee; and we ask them in the interests of justice, for to obstinately pursue the one idea of robbing where some other passions than greed of grain may hare been aroused, may well lead to a failure of justice. Remember, the deceased was a lonely man—lived alone by hiumelf—so apart ti.at his own brother did not visit him, and saw him chiefly as a customer for grocery There is something out of the common then even here in the life of the murdered man, and a field for inquiry presented in the pursuit of justice, as to who has at any time made his acquaintance, under what circumstances, and whether under any circumstances friendship at any time has been turned to or led to hate? There is work here, at least, for a skilful detective who is something more than a mere thief catcher, who has read strange rdmances in actual moving humble life, and knows how among the mass of men, a sense however unwarrantable of injury received, more often plies the dagger, orthe dirk, than greed of gain.