The Sun. — 1845-10-17 (London, England)

FATAL OCCURRENCE TO A MILL TARY OFFICER. A very considerable and painful excitement has for sae last few days prevailed in the village of Elstree, near ESLs aware, from the general rumour that Lieutenant-Co'osal Edward James Metcalf, of the Royal Horse Artillery, had been killed in a duel by a brother officer, and that the be ,y had been removed to his residence in the dead of the nig t, and that it was the intention of his friends to conceal tie :affair from the public, and to bury the corpse without an investigation of the circumstances leading to his death. This r. port was so current that every body believed it, and the affair became so public that it was the general topic of e,:aversation. The parish authorities lost no time in making the necessary inquiries, and succeeded in ascertaining that the report of the unfortunate gentleman having fallen in a duel was without foundation, although he had died from the effects of a pistol-bullet under circumstances of the m ist afflicting nature. Notice was immediately forwarded to the Coroner, and an inquest was held at the Artichoke Isla in -he village, when the following evidence was given in elucidating the melancholy affair William Howard stated that he lived as groom to the late Colonel Metcalf. He occupied the room immediately under that of his master. On Saturday night last, the Ilth in 4., witness saw him go into his apartment for the purpose of dressing to attend a party ; witness heard him go out in about an hour after, and he (witness) then went to bad. In a-short time his master returned, and again went into his room, but did not remain long before he left. Witness want to sleep, and did not hear any more of him during the night. At about seven o'cloCk the next morning, he went into his room, as was his custom, to call the deceased, when, upon entering, he was astonished at finding two candles burning in the sockets of the candlesticks, and his master not in b 3d, nor had the bedclothes been disturbed. Upon looking behind the screen, which divided the room, he discovered the deceased sitting on the sofa, with his head reclining over the side, weltering in blood, which appeared to come from his mouth, although his lips were closed, and he was quite dead. WitneSs made an immediate alarm, and hastened to procare the attendance of a surgeon, who, on arriving, declared the deceased to have been dead some hours. The deceased was undressed, with the exception of his drawers and stockings ; witness afterwards found the pistol, now produced, in his drawers, which were hanging about his legs. The deceased was a widower, and lived by himself. He was about 57 years of age. Captain Robert Maynard stated he was well acquainted with the unfortunate gentleman, who was very highly connected. Witness saw the remains of his Gallant Friend scan after the last witness gave the alarm. The pistol appeared to have been recently- discharged. On opening the lie s, the whole of the upper jaw was found to be completely shatterad, and the ball had lodged in the back of the head, and was subsequently extracted. Witness was confident that the deceased never intended suicide, but that his death was caused someway or other by accident. He was a particularly hiAitspirited man, and the last in the world to commit selfmurder. In answer to questions, Captain Maynard said he was strengthened in his opinion that it was accidental, from the examination he had mad 3 o the pistol. Upon looking at the ramrod he foutal it was very difficult to remove, from which he believed that the deceased was'about to draw the charge of the pistol, and finding he could not shift the ramrod. with his hand, he had appfted the teeth of his bottom jaw to a small ridge near the top of it, and in so doing the jerk must have caused the pistol to go off, and produced-the dreadful event. The pistol Was closely inspected by the Coroner and jury and The ramrod certainly was difficult to remove. Captaih Maynard further stated that he never saw law thing in the conduct of deceased indicating insanity. He could state that in all his experience he had never ksos n a man more careless of fire-arnis than the deceased. He was continually trying experiments with them. Major Thornton said he was at the party with the deceased, who was in high spirits. He (deceased) bad been upon a shooting excursion the day previous, and killed some pheasants. By the Jury—There was no gambling introduced daring the evening, by which the 'deceased lest money. Lieutenant Mahon said the piStol which occasioned the calamity was his property. He lent that and another to the deceased a short time ago. Witness thinks his death IS'azt accidental, as the unfortunate gentleman was notoriously t arcleßs'Of fire-arms. After much discussion, the jury returned a verdict, •"fhat the deceased was accidently shot." The inquiry lasted three hours, and was attended by numerous friends and brother officers of the deceased, by whom he was highly respected.