The Sun. — 1857-03-03 (London, England)

MURDER AT LANCA&TER.  Much excitement has prevailed during the past week in the usually quiet town of Lancaster in consequence of the discovery on Sunday morning, the 22d ult., of the body of a man named John Cragg in au unused stone quarry, abouthalf a mile from the town. The deceased was a warehouseman in the employ of Messrs. Charnley and Co., ironmongers, and was seen alive by different persons in several parts of the town shortly after the midnight of Saturday, being at the time a little " the worse for drink." He was traced in the direction of his own home, in a hamlet about a mile east of the town, called " Golgotha," and was seen in the company of two men up to a certain distance in his homeward road. Cragg's body, when found acciden'ally by an old man who lives at a small house in the so-called " Scotch" quarry, was lying at the case of an escarpment 68 feet high, protect d above by a six-feet wall of loose rubble stone. His pockets had not been rifled, and the only suppositions which remained to account for his unhappy death were either suicide, the having mistaken his path home, or foul play. A most mortem examination, undertaken by Mr. Hare, surgeon, discovered that the liver was doubly ruptured ; the heart ruptured at the apex of the right ventricle, and an external wound ou the left temple, corresponding with an internal depression of the bone..beneath. The brain and abdominal viscera were perfectly healthy, but a fracture of the skull, extending from the wound on the temple across the base of the  temporal bone, nearly separa.' ed it into two pars. The indefatigable exertions of Mr. Wright, the borough superintendent of police, led, in the courseof Sunday, to the apprehension of two men who had been last seen with the deceased. Much evidence of an inculpatory character was adduced before Mr. R. Hinde, the Mayor, and a bench of borough magistrates at three examinations held on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The character and extent of the evidence may be gathered from a brief summary. The two men were heard quarrelling with Cragg, and one of them speaking to him in a threatening manner on his way home. A prostitute deposed that she overheard that night the other prisoner vowing vengeance against some one whose name she could not catch. The two prisoners were found by a labourer in a barn on a farm called Highfield, about half a mile from the quarry, early next morning, and one of them began a conversation about Cragg, with whom he said he had hal a quarrel the night before. Added to this, the other prisoner had been repeatedly known to express animosity towards the unfortunate man for the share he had had in his apprehension and conviction for burglary in 1852. The discovery of the poor man's cap a few hundred yards from the place where his body was found, marks thereof n heavy substance being dragged across the footpath, the deceased's clothes being covered with mud, a breach in the protecting wall of the quarry larger and differing in the position and character of the marks on it and of the thrown off stones from those which could have been made by one man, sounds of contention heard by three or four inmates of the workhouse hard by about the time when Cragg was last seen, and when he would be two-thirds of the distance towards his own house, and a great amount of minor collateral evidence, all seemed to fix grave suspicion on tho prisoners, while the locality of the quarry precluded the probability of Cragg's having either committed suicide or mistaken his way in the bewilderment of intoxication. The prisoners were remanded till next Thursday, but pending the inquiry before the magistrates the jury at the coroner's inquest on Friday night found a verdict of " Wilful Murder" against the two men, Nelson and Leach. The former, as we have already stated, was sentenced five years ago to transportation, and received a ticket of leave a few months since. The latter is well known to the local police as a poacher and man of dissolute habits.  The adj turned debate on China was resumed by Dr. PHILLIMORE, who addressed the house at con siderable length on the ,gal bearing of the question, in the course of which he argued that under no statute or international law could this lorcha be considered a British ship. Assuming that the lorcha was a British ship, as contended by the Government, he called on the house to look at the hideous difference between the grievance complained of and the chastisement given. A. middle course was open, that of reprisals, and that should have been adopted. He considered that the Chinese gave full satisfaction for what they did, and that it was not lawful, on any principle of law, justice, or humanfor thiety rt.); rmy aktehawt a rb had punishmentc tetao aannda t tin ohe i reparation made. In conclusion, he said that he was led, by the plain dictates of corn, mon sense--by the principles of reason—by the laws o his own country—by the international law— and on the foundation of the eternal principles of justice written by the finger of God on all men whether English or Chinese—to pronounce the war to be unjustifiable in its origin and unblessed in iii continuance. (Hear.) Sir G. GREY said that he was perfectly content to rest the legal portion of the case on the arguments of his THE boo. aud learned fliend the Attorney-General. (Hear, hear.) He did not think it necessary to occupy any time