age, of general sober and steady habits. In the early part of Sunday he attended church, and nothing was observed that might be called unusual in his manner. In the evening he left the house to attend his duties in the stable, which is situated about a quarter of a mile thence. Nothing was seen or heard of him after the time he left for the purpose stated. Much surprise was created at his absence during the night; but not the slightest cause for suspicion of harm had been given, or could be surmised by his parents. The unhappy truth was soon, however, to be developed; for on John Phipps, the father, going at an early hour on Monday morning to the stable, he found the outer door of the yard unlocked, and on advancing to the folding doors of the shed, which were partially open, he beheld his unfortunate child hanging before him!

The old man was rendered help less by the sight, and a neighbour aroused by his cries, came to his assistance, when the body was cut down, but found to be in a state such as precluded all idea of resuscitation. The unfortunate youth had taken the pains to strap his legs together with a leathern strap and buckle, for which purpose he must have been seated on a platform or floor which divides one part of the shed, so as to form a partial upper story: this must have been done, it is supposed, after he had reached the elevation by means of the ladder, which was left standing, and up which it is not probable he could have stepped with his feet so confined. A handkerchief had been carefully tied over his face, with the corner hanging below the chin, so as to prevent the possibility of sight.

In this state he was cut down and removed to his father's house. It is remarkable, that the rope with which the act was committed was of a slender kind, not so strong as a common sash line; and what is still more worthy of note, a large quantity of strong rope was close to the spot whence he threw himself into the space below.

13. MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT AT LIVERPOOL.-This afternoon an inquest was held in the Sessionshouse of this town, before Mr. P. F. Carey and a respectable jury, on the body of Hugh M'Neile, a youth about the age of fourteen, who met his death by a pistol-shot wound.

The first witness called was Edward Ashton Southern, a youth about thirteen, who stated that at the beginning of last week, the deceased was on a visit to Mr. Edwards, of Toxteth-park; and that he (witness) on Thursday last called at Mr. Edwards' upon the deceased, for the purpose of accompanying him to Liverpool. They started for Liverpool in company with another boy of witness's acquaintance, named John Ashton. They stopped a little on the road.

John Ashton had a pistol with him; and they all went to a piece of vacant ground in the park, when John Ashton fired his pistol at a bird in a hedge, but witness could not tell whether it was loaded with ball or not. He believes that the deceased afterwards loaded the same pistol and fired at a bird, but could not tell whether it was loaded with ball. Witness subsequently fired it in the Park-road, but it had only powder and paper in it. There was no firing after they left the road, and the pistol was the last time loaded by John Ash

ton. While they were on the piece of vacant land near the Rev. Mr. Nolan's, witness was talking to the deceased, when the latter said something which made John Ashton laugh. At this time John Ashton had the pistol in his right hand, pointing downwards, with the thumb of his right hand resting in his pocket. Just at that moment witness heard a report, and on looking round, he saw the deceased standing with one leg partly raised from the ground, and having his hands to his side-not looking as if he were in pain, but as though he were astonished. Deceased called out "Murder." Witness ran up to the deceased, and asked him if he were hurt, and he called out "Murder" again. I saw from the manner in which the deceased held his hands, that he was hurt. John Ashton appeared bewildered, and ran off for about fifteen yards, but then came back again. Witness ran to the Rev. Mr. Nolan's, and knocked for assistance. Mr. Nolan came out immediately, and caught hold of the deceased in his arms. He was taken first to a surgeon's in the neighbourhood, who was from home; thence to a druggist's, and from there to Mr. Bickersteth's, surgeon, of Rodney-street. John Ashton followed to Mr. Bickersteth's. Mr. Bickersteth was from home, but his assistant saw the deceased, and Mr. Bickersteth was afterwards fetched, and took him home in his carriage. John Ashton never saw young M'Neile before that morning, and witness introduced them. They both appeared friendly; they had had no quarrel, neither had any angry words passed. On their way to the druggist's, the deceased said that he heartily forgave John Ashton.

The Rev. T. Nolan, incumbent of St. Barnabas Church, spoke to what he saw of the deceased after the occurrence, in corroboration of the last witness.

Mr. R. Bickersteth, surgeon, of Rodney-street, Liverpool (brother of Lord Langdale), stated, that on Thursday last, between eleven and twelve o'clock in the day he was sent for home to see the deceased, who had been brought there in a coach. He found him lying on a sofa, and blood was flowing from a wound in his right side, about one inch above the groin. On probing the wound, he found its direction downwards, and outwards at the thigh. He made efforts to trace its progress and to extract the ball, having been informed that it was a pistol shot which had caused the injury. He then dressed the wound, and conveyed him home. The boys Ashton and Southern were both present, and expressed the greatest anxiety and regret. The deceased repeatedly expressed his hearty forgiveness to the boy who had caused the injury. For two days no alarming symptoms made their appearance. On Sunday morning erysipelas attacked the left hip; this was relieved by the remedies applied. On the same night the fever increased; and on the following day erysipelas attacked the right hip, with appearances of mortification in the centre. On the Wednesday morning, about four o'clock, he died. On the same evening witness examined the body, and traced the wound the bullet had originally made to where it was found in the head of the thigh-bone. The injuries that the deceased had received by the bullet were the cause of death. John M. Ashton, who was the

unfortunate cause of the death of the deceased, was next examined, and gave testimony similar to that of the first witness.

The Coroner then summed up the evidence, when the jury returned a verdict, "That the deceased came to his death by misadventure," declaring the weapon to be forfeited to the Crown.

Accompanying the verdict, the jury made the following presentment:"The jury cannot separate without expressing their earnest hope, that this melancholy event will operate as an impressive warning to parents, guardians, and others, against intrusting fire-arms to persons too young to use them with safety either to themselves or to the public."

SNOW STORM.The me tropolis was visited with a severe snow storm, the heaviest that has fallen this winter, accompanied with a fresh breeze, varying in the course of the day from S.E. to E.N.E. Early in the morning there were slight showers of snow; but about ten o'clock the flakes increased in size, and continued fall ing until four o'clock. In the neighbourhood of the metropolis, the snow lay in many places to the depth of ten inches; and where it had drifted, travelling has been much impeded. Several of the mails and stage-coaches were considerably beyond time, owing to the heavy state of the roads; and several vessels in the docks and at the wharfs, ready for sea, delayed taking their departure, in consequence of the easterly winds, and the unpropitious aspect of the weather. The masters of several coasting vessels, arrived in the River yesterday, report having experienced for several days heavy falls of snow, accompanied with

strong variable winds and squalls; and many vessels had been driven on shore along the eastern and northern coasts. Fortunately none of their crews were lost.

Ex

17. HORRIBLE Murder. TRAORDINARY TRIAL-A trial took place in Dublin to-day which excited extraordinary interest. The prisoner, John Delahunt, had already earned considerable notoriety by his evidence at the coroner's inquest on an Italian boy, Garlibardo, who was murdered near Dublin in February last; upon which occasion he stated, that he saw the murder committed by a tinker of the name of Cooney. His statement, however, was so confused and improbable, that he was not brought forward on the trial of Cooney, who was acquitted.

He next appeared at the trial of some coal-porters, whom he charged with an assault on Captain Craddock, during the last election for the city of Dublin. On that occasion, he completely broke down in his cross-examination, and the prisoners were discharged-the counsel on both sides unanimously concurring in opinion that the witness (Delahunt) had not been present at the outrage, and had come forward for the purpose of obtaining a reward, by prosecuting to conviction the persons he had pointed out as having committed the assault.

At ten o'clock, the appointed hour, the prisoner was placed at the bar. His countenance was pale and haggard, and betrayed the utmost anxiety. He almost immediately leaned forward on his elbows, and with a handkerchief in his hand, covered the lower part of his face. Throughout the trial he remained in the same position.

The prisoner was charged with the murder of Thomas Patrick Maguire, on the 20th of Decem· ber last, to which he pleaded" Not guilty."

Mr. Brewster (Queen's counsel) addressed the jury for the prosecution, and confined himself altogether to a statement of the facts, a course which he deemed the more necessary, because he was not able to produce any person who saw the fatal act committed, nor any witness who could depose to the blow which caused the melancholy death of the unfortunate child.

It would appear in the course of the evidence, that the boy Thomas Maguire, who was nine years old, lived with his mother in Plunket street; and that he, about one or two o'clock on the day the murder was committed, asked her leave to go to play with some other little children. At that period the wretched mother was in an advanced state of pregnancy, and had the misfortune of being separated from her husband, or at least abandoned by him, after much harsh treatment on his part, and there was consequently no other person to take care of the child. The child having obtained his mother's consent was engaged amusing himself with other little children, when a person came up; and one of the questions which the jury would have to try was, whether or not the prisoner at the bar was that individual. It appeared that the child knew him, whoever he might turn out to be, for when called by his name, the little fellow answered, and immediately went with him, leaving his companions. That was about four o'clock in the afternoon; and where they proceeded to, or what they had been

engaged at up to six o'clock, he was not in a condition to detail to the jury; but about that hour, as would be incontestably proved, the prisoner at the bar, and the child thus taken and subsequently murdered, arrived together at the house of the prisoner's brother, in Britain-street, where the prisoner met his sister-in-law, who, upon his telling her that he found the boy straying in the Castle-yard (about a mile from where he really found him), begged of him, for God's sake, to take him home, lest his parents might be uneasy about him. The prisoner, under pretence of doing so, took the boy to a public-house in an adjoining street (Capel-street), where he remained for a short time; and the next place at which it would be proved he was seen in company with the deceased, was in Upper Baggot-street, which is about two miles from Capel-street, at the extremity of the city, near where the murder was committed, and not very far from the place where the prisoner's father, a carpenter by trade, was living.

It was undoubtedly one of the most singular, and at the same time one of the most distressing circumstances in that extraordinary case, that the persons who would necessarily be brought forward as witnesses against the pri soner were his nearest relations, and those most closely connected with him. It would appear that, in the neighbourhood of Baggot street, he was met by his sister and two or three young children, who would be produced; and that when asked by one of them where he was going, he replied that he was going with the child to his parents. He proceeded on in the same direction. It was then about

a quarter to seven o'clock; and, in twenty minutes or so after, he was seen in his father's house, but without the boy.

A very short time after that the child was found murdered a short distance from the spot where the prisoner met his sister; the poor boy was quite warm, and had been recently deprived of life, as the blood was still pouring from the dreadful wound which caused his death. Before the prisoner left his father's house, he promised to return in two or three days, and be present at an entertainment to be given by some children, with whom he seemed to be on the most friendly terms, and over whom he possessed great influence. He then went to the Castle, where he gave information of his having seen a murder committed on the child in the place where the body was found, and subsequently brought the policeman to the spot. In the meantime, the neighbourhood became alarmed upon the discovery of the body of the murdered child; and before the policeman and the prisoner reached Baggot-street, the police-station in that district had been apprised of the horrid deed, and were then engaged in making inquiries on the subject.

What made the case more horrifying was, the subsequent conduct of the prisoner, who, by the minute and detailed account which he gave at the station-house of the child, and by the description which he gave of the transaction, he alleged he had only witnessed, nearly caused the mother of the innocent boy to be arrested upon a charge of being the murderer of her own offspring. Providence, however, ordained it otherwise, and interfered to prevent the misfortune

which otherwise would inevitably have been cast upon her; for about five o'clock on the same evening she was taken ill, and was obliged to go to the lying-in hospital, where she gave birth to a child.

The prisoner having brought the policeman to the spot, separated from him, and proceeded to his brother's house in Britainstreet, where he found a different set of persons assembled from those he had seen there on the previous occasion persons who had not seen the child when he was there in the early part of the evening; but from a conversation which took place, they became aware of the circumstance; and when he was asked where he left the child, he replied, "At Buckingham-street, in consequence of an intimation given him by the child that he would find his way home from that locality."

There was only one other circumstance which he (the counsel) felt it necessary to advert to. It appeared that in a few days after the murder had been perpetrated, some boys, who were amusing themselves in a field close to the spot where the murder was committed, found a knife, which would be proved to have been the property of Delahunt's brother, and with which, no doubt, the boy's throat was cut. It would be also given in evidence, that the prisoner at the bar had sharpened that knife on the Saturday previous to the murder. Under these circumstances, it was that the prisoner had been arrested; and it would be for the jury to say, whether he was the person who had committed that dreadful crime.

This statement having been fully corroborated by the evidence of several witnesses