ATTACK ON A SENTRY.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1272, 16 July 1886, Page 4

ATTACK ON A SENTRY.

A murderous affray was reported to •the police at Woolwich lately, aud the investigation which followed engaged both the military aud civil authorities for a great part of the day. The scene of the occurrence is No. 1 Powder Magazine in the Plumst ad Marshes, the nearer of the two brick buildings which stand so prominently by the river bank below the Arsenal. It is n very lonely spot, quite out of the or dinary track and, although passed by a public footpath, seldom visited by strangers even in the daytime. A tramway to the Arsenal extends to the rear of it, and there is a delapidated and little-used causeway running down the muddy foreshore to the river. Formerly tbo watchman who resides on the promises was the sole custodian of the place, hut of late years Fenian threats and outrages have led to the establishment of military guards in the Marshes, the guard room which protects No. 1 Maguzine being just behind the building 70 yards removed, while No. 2 has also a guard house on the premises, close to which a soldier was bayoneted to death in the eaWy parlNjjfahe present year. No 1 is prosen tries, one of whom had his beat osjc Thursday night on the river bank, goidg on at 1 o clock for theMsualTurn of two hours. It was very stormy, so that way« farers or wanderers of any kind might not have been expected in such a re* mote and desolate spot. The sentry in question, it appears, was standing at his post at half past one in the morning, looking over the river, the only objects visible in the misty darkness being the riding-lights of some ships at anchor, and the lamps across the water at Heck ton and the Bocks. Suddenly two men sprang upon him out of the gloom. One seized him by the throat, the other tried to wrench from him his rifle, and both demanded tbo keys of the magszine. Ho tried to call out for assistance to the other son* tries, but the man at his throat never relax-edliis hold, and the other pro. ceeded to fill his mouth with handsful

i,f gravel and dirt. They kicked hie legs, and having brought him to the ground, beat him about the face. As he still continued to resist and to make what noise he could, they stabbed at him several times with some sharp weapon, penetrating his great coat and tunic, and puncturing his breast in two places. Eventually supposing their victim to be dead, or fearing the approach of help, they fled across the marshes towards Abbey Wood and Belvedere. The sentry, lying ex* hausted and motionless on the ground, saw them decamp, Boon afterwards he became unconscious, in which state he remained until his cerarades came to change the sentries. Lie was not severely injured, and having been restored to consciousness, related what had happened. This statement was communicated yesterday morning to Inspector Mackay and afterwards to Inspector Phillips, of the Criminal Investigation Department. These, with other police officers, at ones visited the spot. The heavy rain of the night may have obliterated the traces of the struggle, for there was little to be seen either on the grass or the gravel to bear out the story of the assault. The belief of the sentry was that the men cams up the bank from the river, but the tide had rolled over the beach and swept away any footmarks which the ruffians might have left behind them, and the police came to the conclusion that their was nothing whatever to be gathered there in corroboration of the tale, Nevertheless the man has undoubtedly suflered violence ; his face was bruised, his clothes had been pierced, and those who found him testified that his mouth was grimed with gravel. Either these indications wore self-inflicted, or they had been the result of an enemy’s at tack. Against the latter assumption was the statement of the other sentries that they heard no noise; but it should he noted that the wind was blowing fiercely, and would not only have outroared a man’s shouting, but have carried the sound away from the maga zine. For a long time yesterday morning a private enquiry was prosecuted in the office at the Cambridge Barracks by the authorities of the Shropshire Regiment, to which the guard belonged The police inspectors were piesent, and all the witnesses who could throw any light upon the matter were fully examined. The result of the investigation is unknown.