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    No. 394, October . 10; j . 857:j . . ' ,...

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    OUR CIVILIZATION. — * THE BRAMA1L MURDER...

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    MimoKU at BinKKNiiEJO), LiVKRToor..—At e...

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    Continental Notes. France. Fkesh Inundat...

    a defaulter to the amount of 20 , 000 / . or 25 , 000 ? . He had gambled on the Stock Exchange , and has now fled . It is thought that he has committed suicide . Several small firm 9 at Vienna have recently failed ; and a M . Sternikel , a bookseller who had been concerned in stockjobbing , has blown out his brains id the streets . PRUSSIA . Prince Murat has been visiting at Berlin .

    SPAIN . The editor of the Discusion has been tried by the Special Tribunal on the Press for having published a seditious article ; but he has been acquitted . Spain is once more in -the throes of a Ministerial crisis . The Government has resigned ; "but it is not yet positively known whether the Queen has accepted the resignation or not . It is reported , however , that she has . At any rate , a bitter animosity exists between herself and Narvaez , whom she provokes with her witticisms , and who is said to have told her that she is designated by many of her subjects by a name not commonly mentioned to feminine ears .

    PORTUGAL . Fever at Lisbon still Continues to prevail , but in a mitigated form . The cases during the fifteen days previous to the last advices were estimated at about three hundred and the deaths one hundred . The King Don Pedro has paid a visit to the Fever Hospital , and thus evinced his conviction that it is not contagious .

    WEIMAR . " From "Weimar , " says the Times Paris correspondent , " we learn that the meeting between the two Emperors was most cordial . They embraced each other warmly , and had a conversation of three hours' duration , at which the Empress of Russia , who did not once leave her husband , was the only person present . There is a rumour of a visit to be paid to Berlin by the Emperor Napoleon . It may be unfounded , but there are persons who think that such a project is really on the tapis . Young Murat , who was sent by the Emperor with a letter to the King of Prussia , thanking him for his courtesy in sending the

    Pnnce of Prussia to meet him , was extremely well received , and the King told him that he should write to the Emperor of the French . With respect to the Stuttgard interview , I hear that Count Walewski has addressed a confidential circular to the French Ministers at foreign courts . Such circulars being not unfrequent ( one was sent , I believe , after Osborne ) , I mention it merely because my informant adds that the document , which defines the line of policy the French Government proposes pursuing in accordance ¦ with the great Powers of whose good will it is assured , confirms by its tenour all that has been said of the essentially pacific tendency of the Stuttgard meeting . "

    The Emperors of Russia and Austria at "Weimar have got on much more cordially than the Emperors of Russia and Prance at Stuttgard . Instead of coldness , there has been warmth : instead of the mutual distrust of an autocrat on hereditary principles and an autocrat who claims to be such by ' the will of the people , ' there has been the reciprocal feelings engendered by a common ' right divine' and old imperial descent . "When the two met at Belvedere , they kissed each other . They then retired to a room apart , and conversed for some time alone ; they then drove back into the town , still alone , without aajf attendants , lb & - Ewsperor of Russia seated on the

    right . Thelatter « hortly . afterwards returned to Belvedere , and went out shooting . Francis Joseph went ou foot 4 p pay a visit to Duke Berahard , at the FUrstenhaus , and then drove out . with the Grand Duke . In the evening there was a gala opera , and it is reported that there was a total absence of that restraint which was evinced by the Russian Emperor and Empress in the presence of Louis Napoleon . The Imperial party then rode back to Belvedere to supper . On the morning of Friday week , the two Emperors left by separate trains—the Austrian for lschl , by way of Dresden , and the Russian also for Dresden , to pay his promised -visit to the King of Saxony . . ' I . TURKEY . To relieve the pecuniary embarrassment under which it : is labouring , the Turkish Government has determined on issuing paper money to the extent of 75 , 000 , 000 piastres . The sum thus created will bo employed to pay off the most prea-Bing claims on the naval and military departments . XJU 5 DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES . The elections in Wallachia have terminated , and are ta favour of the Union . The Moldavian Divan was to assemble on the 4 th inst ., and that of Wallachia on the cth . ' ITALY . A weekly newspaper , ontitled The Observer in Italy , is aow publiahed at Nice . It is in French and English , « ftd contains , besides original articles and advertisements , a condensation of news and a list of ' Strangers Present . ' _ Aho Pontifical Government has published the following decree : — ' * Hi » Holiness , wishing to give a groater ^ tension to tho export of hemp from the Pontifical otates , baa ordered that the existing duty ou tho export oi Hemp shall bo reduced from twenty to fifteen bajocchi » " <} hundred pounds weight . " ( The bujocco is worth 48 . ) A bulletin published at Florence on tho 2 nd announces that her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess w xuscany , now labouring under an attack of monies , In going on favourably . '

    No. 394, October . 10; J . 857:J . . ' ,...

    No . 394 , October . 10 ; j . 857 : j . . ' , THE LEADEI . 969

    Our Civilization. — * The Brama1l Murder...

    OUR CIVILIZATION . — * THE BRAMA 1 L MURDER . The inquest on the body of James Henderson , the farmer at Branaall , ChesMre , who was shot dead in his bed on the night of the 29 th of September , still leaves the case involved in painful mystery . The eldest son , who is now in custody on suspicion of having committed the act , showed some degree of nervous agitation on being brought to the inquest-room on Tuesday morning . He was probably startled at seeing so large a crowd of persons -waiting outside to behold him . The first witness called was Michael Malochney , a farm labourer in the service of Mr . Henderson . He said : — " I lived on the farm , and slept in the granary with John Dillon , a fellow servant . It will be fifteen weeks to-morrow since I entered the service . On Tuesday night last , the 29 th of September , I went to bed at half-past eight o ' clock , and Dillon did the same . I was awoke about two o ' clock . I suppose it was by James Henderson , who called from the kitchen or pantry for me to get up quick . I commenced dressing . My sister also lives as servant there , and she and James came and called again soon afterwards , and desired me to ' come down smart , ' and not to dress . I and Dillon then went down and found James in the kitchen with a gun in his hand . His brother Thomas was there , my sister , and Blaize , a servant lad . James asked if we had heard anything ,

    and we said , we had not . He said , ' Come up-stairs ; there are robbers in the house . ' I went up-stairs , but we ( James , Thomas , and 1 ) first went into the cellar . "We found that there was no one there . He then said , ' Come up-stairs , and we' 31 try the rooms . ' "We all then went up-stairs . James then went into one of the bedrooms , tut not that in which the old man lay . He had a candle and only looked inside that room , and then he went into deceased ' s room . The door was not open , because I saw him raise the latch . "We followed him in , his brother Thomas following first , and then myself and Dillon . James said , ' Come on out , my father is killed . ' He had not been up by the side of the bed , but he went a little past the foot of it . He did not touch his

    father , nor did Thomas . We then left the room . No search -was made to see if anything had been taken . James then went into his mother ' s room , and I heard him tell his mother that his father had been killed . I did not go into her room , and did not hear whether she made him any reply . I did not hear any shriek nor any expressions of grief . We next went down to the back kitchen door , when James gave the gun to his brother to fire , and Thomas discharged two shots , one after the other , outside the kitchen door . James then took us into his sitting-room , and showed us his leathern desk

    ( like that produced ) , which had been broken open . He went and examined the desk , and said , ' Here ' s where ray money was , and it has been taken out . ' I think he said there was 15 / . 10 s . "We all then went into the kitchen , and James and Thomas told us ( me and Dillon ) to go and dress ourselves . "We did so , and returned . We found the prisoner and Thomas , when we returned , in the back kitchen , and Dillon was sent with Thomas to fetch the police . James and I remained by tho kitchen fire to guard the house . While I was there , my sister came down . James asked me out after the others

    had gone—about live minutes after—to look at my bedroom door , which is outside the house . He said , ' Come , Mick , let ' s go look at your door . ' He had a light in his hand , and vent up the steps to the door before me . I was opening tho door to go in , and he said , ' Oh , Mick , look what's in your door 1 ' and he got hold of a piece of wood that was stuck in tho latch . £ The door is fastened outside by a wooden latch , and persons inside could only open it by putting one finger through a hole under the latch . 3 The piece of wood ho showed me sticking in the latch was about the size now shown to me . I said , ' Oh , James , what put this here ? ' and he said , That ' a a bit of wood put there to keep you in . ' We returned to the kitchen , and soon after he asked me to come from the fire into the back kitchen . He told me to atop there -while ho went to look about the hedges

    and ditches , and I did so . He took no light with him , nor any -weapon . He remained away nearly half an hour . When lio returnod , he asked me to go up-stairs with him , and I -went into his own bedroom with him . Ho went to his drawer or box , I cannot say which , and he pulled out some papers and put them into his pocket . He did not go into tho old man ' s chamber again , but went down stairs to tho fire . Hero he pulled a quantity of papers out of hia pocket , and throw them into tho fire and burnt them . One of the pieces fell out , and be got hold of it and put it into the firo again . My sister Nuncy was present at tho time . " This witness added , that he never saw any quarrel between James and his father , but that they never talked together . The old man , ho said , was a tender-hearted master and a kind father .

    Other inmates , of tho house corroborated this tcstimon 3 ' , and tho next important witness wan Mr . Andrews , superintendent of police , who said that he examined tha premises on the day after tho murder , and found no ¦ narks of violence on the outside doors . Thin was accounted for by Jainca llcmlertton on the . supposition that one of the burglnrit had concealed himself on the premises during tho duy , and bad let his accomplices in at night . Tho feature . ! of the diad mnn seemed to indicato

    by their placidity that he had been shot while " asleep . " A table that stood under the window , " said Mr . Andrews , " was pointed out by the prisoner as the " place where the old man kept his money . I found the top locked , and the table had no appearance of having been disturbed . The room struck me as in a remarkable state of neatness and order , considering what I had heard had taken place . There was a piece of carpet by the bedside which had not been disturbed . I then locked the room and went to make inquiry at Stockport about a discharged man-servant . I returned about nine o ' clock in company with Messrs . Graham and Son , surgeons , of Stockport , and called their particular attention to the position of the body as 'to whether deceased had been shot while asleep . I then made a search of the bedclothes , and picked up about twelve pieces of paper on the body and bed and side of the bed , which appeared to

    have been used as the wadding of the fire-arms with which deceased was shot . They are blackened with powder , and singed . They are now produced in the state in which I found them . They were in places where they might be expected to be found if a gun had been discharged at the deceased , at or near the foot of the bed . I also produce two teeth found there . " Mr . Andrews likewise described the similarity existing between the pellets and wadding found in the bedroom and the body of the murdered man and those discovered on the stairs where James Henderson says he fired at the burglars ; and proved that the paper forming the wadding corresponded with portions of a torn copy of a story called The Cottage Girl , or the Mamage JJuy , found in the bedroom of the young man . Owiny to these circumstances , Mr . Andrews arrested young Henderson on the Wednesday afternoon , at which he expressed some surprise , but made no resistance .

    The evidence of Mr . Graham and his son , the medical gentlemen who made the post mortem examination , was to the effect that every appearance corroborated the belief that old Henderson had "been shot in his' sleep " , and that he had died at once , and without a struggle . He was lying on his back , and the bedclothes vere perfectly smooth , and tightly tucked in at both sides and at the foot . A printer confirmed the assumption that the pieces of wadding found in the body and on the stairs were portions of the book found in young Henderson s room . He spoke from a close examination of the type , aided by . a perfect copy of the same work . Mr . John Walker , a steam-packet agent at Manchester , testified to repeated quarrels between the father tincl son ; to the latter abusing the former in words of frightful vituperation , and to his wish to get him into a madhouse . In the course of last March , young Henderson left his father ' s lease of the farm with Mr .

    Walker , to remain till called for . "A few da ; ys after the lease was left , the prisoner called on' me and said , ' We can ' t put up -with that old fellow ; I have given him something that he'll mind . I have had to tie his hands and feet . ' Thinking that the old man had been hurt , I went over to Vramall the next morning to see him . I then saw marks of violence on his bocty . His two eyes were very severely swollen and blackened . ( Sensation . } His upper lip was also swollen , as was likewise his left jaw , which seemed to have been caused by a kick . The skin was all off his left arm which he bared to show me . The shin bones of both logs were black with bruises . Those were all the marks that 1 saw . On the Wednesday morning after the murder , the prisoner called upon me in Manchester . He first called between nine and half-past nine o ' clock , but I had not then arrived , and he came again shortly before eleven o ' clock . I had then heard of the murder . When ho

    came into the office , he walked round the counter to tho window where I was standing . He was then accompanied by another young man , named Matthieson , and I asked them to be seated . " Mr . Walker remarked that God would be certain to find out the murderer , if man could not ; upon which , Henderson and Matthieson got up and left . John Cooke , a land-agent of Lieutenant-Colonel Davenport , from whom the farm was leased , gavo evidence to the effect that James Henderson , Jun , had consulted him as to tho possibility of getting the lease transferred to himself ( young ; Henderson ) , us his father was stupid and half blind , and unable to manage properly . He said his mother , brother , and sisters were willing that this should bo done . Mr . Cooke refused to have anything to do with the matter . Ho considered the elder Henderson quite competent to conduct hia nffuira .

    Charles Henry Smith , son of one of young Henderson ' s employers , said ho and his father discovered in the grass of the garden of Mr . Henderson ' s house , on that morning , some pieces of a pair of braces , an old pair of trousers , and several pieces of old cloth . One of tho pieces of brace had a mark on it aa of blood . Mr . Superindent Andrews was then recalled , and sworu that thoso fragments were not in the garden at tho time bo examined it . The Coroner then summed up , and the jury , after half an hour ' s deliberation , ununlmously found James Henderson , jun ., guilty of tlio murder of bia father . The accused was then " committed to prison . Ho exhibited very little emotion during the wholo proceedings .

    Mimoku At Binkkniiejo), Livkrtoor..—At E...

    MimoKU at BinKKNiiEJO ) , LiVKRToor .. —At eleven o ' clock lust Sunday night , two police conaUblct ) on duty

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 10, 1857, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10101857/page/9/