The mansion is finely placed on a hill, and the conflagration was observed at a great distance. The popularity and influence of the Marchioness over this district is immense; and, therefore, as the alarm spread, the people turned out as they would have turned out in the old days to the aid of their feudal baron. When the news reached Stockton, the fire-bell was rung, the engines despatched by post-horses, the police were 'sent off, and the Volunteers turned out and marched off to Wynyard at the double. By the great exertions of all, the mansion was saved, but the chapel and entire west wing were destroyed. Wynyard has been twice before burnt down. The present mansion is consequently a modern structure. It

is of noble architecture, and sumptuously furnished. Close adjoining the destroyed wing is the splendid "marble room," which contains the monumental armour, swords, trophies, and military memorials of the late gallant Marquess. These escaped injury. The suite of state apartments, besides its sumptuous furniture, contains many fine pictures, which also are undamaged. The Marchioness and family were at this time residing at Seaham Hall, a few miles off.

20. THE BILSTON MURDER.At the Stafford Assizes, David Brandrick, 20, puddler; William Jones, 21, miner; and William Maddox, 28, puddler, and four other men, were indicted for the wilful murder of John Bagott, at Bilston, on the 29th of September. Mr. Bagott carried on the business of a tailor and draper in a house at the corner of Church Street and Stafford Street, in which latter there was a side entrance. Though possessed of considerable property, VOL. CIII.

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he lived alone, and his habits were somewhat eccentric. He was accustomed to keep the rooms in the upper part of the house locked, and to carry the keys about his person. He was also in the habit of carrying in his pockets the daily receipts of his shop, and had been known to produce large sums from the upstairs rooms. money, it is supposed, was secreted in out-of-the-way places, such as the sacking of his bed, or a hole beneath the floor. On the afternoon of Saturday, the 28th of September, Mr. Bagott left his house in charge of a charwoman, who acted as housekeeper for him during the day, but left the premises at night. He went to a public-house called called the King's Arms, where he met two business friends, with whom he dined in the commercial room. Mr. Bagott became intoxicated, and was assisted to his house by one of his friends about 5 o'clock. The bar of this public-house was frequented by low characters, and some persons were seen to watch him as he was conveyed to his house. When he entered his sitting-room at the back of the shop, he fell down on the floor, and remained for some time in a perfectly helpless state. In the course of the evening he so far recovered his senses that he lighted the gas, and attended to his customers. At 11 o'clock P.M., Mr. Bagott closed the shop; and the charwoman, having procured some whisky and oysters for his supper, and a bottle of wine and a joint of lamb for his Sunday's dinner, left the house by the side-door, and heard Mr. Bagott turn the key in the lock. About 3 o'clock on the following morning the house was broken open and plundered,

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and the unfortunate man, who is supposed to have been still seated at the supper-table, overcome by sleep, was forced down upon the floor, and strangled or suffocated. No noise was heard while the murderers were within the house; but about 3 A.M., a young woman who dwelt in a house a short distance from that of Mr. Bagott, and who was sitting up for her brother, heard voices and strange exclamations in a passage at one side of the house, which gave her great alarm; she, therefore, made a noise, at which the persons were startled, and she then heard the footsteps of several men hurrying away. Immediately afterwards, the brother returning home met three men in the street, near to the entry of the passage; they were running, and seemed agitated. When he had entered the passage he stumbled upon a parcel, which, being examined, was was found to consist of three jackets and a pair of trousers, which he immediately suspected had been stolen from Mr. Bagott's shop. Information of the supposed robbery was given to the police, and a sergeant of the force proceeded to Mr. Bagott's premises. He found the side-door closed, but unfastened; and the backdoor, which led into the backyard, in the same state. house had been broken into with the greatest deliberation and labour; doors had been broken open and gratings removed. It was clear that several persons had been engaged in the burglary, and that they had some reasons for thinking that the only inmate of the house would not be aroused by noise. When the policeman entered the sitting-room, the gas was still burning. The remains

The

of the supper were on the table, and bottles, keys, and other things, were strewed about the room. Mr. Bagott was lying on the hearth, with his head hanging over the fender; his waistcoat was unbuttoned, and the pockets of his trousers had been torn open. The poker was placed across his throat, and his hands and face were grimed with soot. He was quite dead, though the corpse was still warm. There was an abrasion and a clot of blood at the back of his head, as if his head had been held down upon the floor; while an indentation made by a fingernail on the top of his nose, a graze on the chin from which blood had flowed, and his blackened face, indicated that he had been “burked” by pressure from a blackened hand. Upon examining the upper rooms it was found that the doors had been broken open with great violence. A piece of cotton cloth, was smouldering on the carpet, and had already burnt through to the boards of the floor; and had it not been discovered in time, the bed would have taken fire and the house possibly destroyed. The drawers had been forced and ransacked, and a cashbox had been wrenched open and thrown upon the floor. Other rooms had been ransacked, and the condition in which they were found showed that the plunderers had been seeking for hidden treasure. The reserved habits of the murdered man rendered it impossible to ascertain the extent of the plunder; but it was thought that a considerable sum of money had been taken. The suspicions of the police fell upon the occupants of a disreputable alley called the Berry Yard, situate about 200 yards from the house of the deceased, and four men were appre

dox) could distinguish through the partly-opened door, pressed the edge of the pan beneath their victim's chin; that he (Maddox) then went upstairs, with a view to get the money, but he could not succeed, and came down again and said so; that Brandrick then went up, with a coal-hatchet, and forced the locks of the drawers, and of the cash-box, and obtained possession of, he (Maddox) believed, about 1007.; but that neither Jones nor himself received their share of the money, for Brandrick had said that he lost it in "running" the policeman. Brandrick and Jones also made statements. Brandrick acknowledged that he took the chief part in strangling the deceased, but that Jones gave active assistance, and Maddox urged them to kill their victim. Jones acknowledged that he kicked and bit the deceased, while Brandrick grasped his throat. Both Maddox and Jones are old of fenders; and Brandrick, though not 20 years of age, was a most determined criminal. He confessed to being the murderer of the man named Walter Piper, who was discovered, at the commencement of April, lying under a hedge, robbed, and fatally wounded. The lives of Jones and Maddox were spared, and their sentences were commuted to penal servitude for life. Brandrick was executed.

23. THE FROME MURDER.Byard Greenland was indicted for the wilful murder of Uriah Greenland, at Frome, on the night of the 10th of August. It appeared by the evidence that the prisoner was the uncle of the deceased. They were both labouring men, and were frequently in the habit of working together. They resided at the village of Buckland,

near Frome. On the morning of Monday, the 5th of August, the two Greenlands, and a man named Milgrove, proceeded together to Codford, near Salisbury, for the purpose of working as reapers. They worked together during the whole of that week, apparently in perfect amity. On Saturday evening, the 10th of August, they left Codford to return to Buckland. Before they reached Warminster, they stopped at a public-house and had some refreshment, and Byard Greenland there used a pocketknife to cut his bread and cheese. After leaving Warminster, the three men were taken up by a drag that was passing, and conveyed to Frome, where they went into a public-house. They remained in the tap-room a considerable time, and Byard Greenland becoming uproarious, Uriah said to him, "You want to be blooded, "upon which Byard took out his knife and opened it, and, handing it towards Uriah, said, “Then you had better do it." The younger man told him not to be foolish, and Byard then put up his knife again. At about 11 o'clock, they started again on their way towards Buckland, and after passing through a turnpike-gate, they laid their scythes down by the roadside, and Uriah Greenland proposed to settle some money matters that remained open between them. Byard declared that he would not settle his part until he received 1s. 6d. for some injury that had been done to a gun that belonged to him. To this Uriah made no answer; but the next moment Byard struck him, and he exclaimed to Millgrove, "Oh, Bill, he has been and hit that knife into I." The wounded man then fell, but in a direction away

from where the scythes were lying. Byard turned to the other man, and in reference to the remark of the wounded man, said, "Bill, can you swear that? and Millgrove replied that he could, and immediately ran to procure the assistance of the man at the turnpikegate. The man refused to come out, and Millgrove then ran back to the spot where he had left the Greenlands. Byard was supporting the head of the wounded man, and Millgrove then sent him to the gate, but the man still refused to come out. Millgrove then, leaving the wounded man alone in the road, again ran to the gate; and when at length the two men returned with the gate-keeper, Uriah Greenland was found to be dead. This took place about 12 o'clock, and the prisoner was shortly afterwards taken into custody at his own house, when he declared that Uriah had run against the scythe. He had thrown away his knife, and attempted to conceal the fact that it had been in his possession since he used it in the public-house at Warminster. Search was afterwards made at the spot where the injury was caused, and in the hedge the handle of a knife was found without a blade, and it was sworn that the prisoner had bought this knife a short time before, that the rivet was loose, and the blade might be easily detached from the handle. Upon the body of the deceased being examined, it was found that an instrument like the blade of a knife had penetrated the heart, causing almost immediate death. The wound was three inches in depth, and the surgeon stated that it could not have been caused by a scythe. It also appeared that the scythe was tied to another one in

such a manner that a separate and single wound could not have been inflicted by either one of them. Then arose the question whether there was any motive to induce the prisoner to commit this crime, and it seemed that in April and May, on two occasions, the two men had quarrelled, and the prisoner struck the deceased, who took out a summons against him. The prisoner had been subsequently heard to threaten the life of Uriah upon this account. In the defence of the prisoner it was urged that he was subject to fits of violence, during which he was not responsible for his actions. His father and uncle were both born deaf and dumb, and he himself had been, some years since, struck on the head by a man with a pick, the indentation of the wound being still distinctly visible. The jury returned a verdict of Guilty, but recommended the prisoner to mercy, on the ground that the crime was unpremeditated. The prisoner was then sentenced to death.

23. FUNERAL OF HIS LATE ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE CONSORT.-With every outward mark of respect, and with all the solemnity which befitted his high station and his public virtues, but with little of the pomp and pageantry of a State ceremonial, the mortal remains of the husband of our Queen were conveyed to the tomb of the Princes of the House of Brunswick beneath the chapel royal at Windsor. By the express desire of His Royal Highness, the funeral was of a very private character; but in the chapel, to 'do honour to his obsequies, were assembled all the chiefest men of the State: and throughout England, by every sign of sorrow and mourning, the nation manifested