MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Southland Times, Issue 734, 9 October 1867, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

♦ A mysterious murder has been perpe- , trated at Derby. An aged lady, the widow of a solicitor named Eootit, living in a terrace opposite the railway station, and close to the bustle of that vast establishment, was found, on the afternoon of Thursday, July 18, dying from the effecte of a large wound on the top of her head. Her son, who lived with her, left the house at 1 o'clock p.m., his mother then being in good spirits, and everything as usual.. A friend, who had been invited to tea, called at haif-past 3, and finding her knocking unheeded went round to the back door, which was open, and discovered the deceased in an insensible state, from which she never rallied. No property appears to have been taken, and no signs of a struggle were visible. The jury have returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder" against some person unknown. Mr James King, a solicitor, and clerk to the justices at Stourbridge, was drowned in the river at Stafford on Saturday, July 27. He had been attending the assizes on business, and he and a friend went out in a couple of canoes. Mr King, not being very skilful, capsized his canoe, and fell into the water. He was assisted out, and again entered the canoe. After some time he was again capsized, and was drowned. A hideous accident is stated to have occurred last week on the Bristol and Exeter Railway. A young gentleman and his wife entered a compartment at Taunton, in which there were no other passengers, and shortly after the train had started were roused by a crash of glass, and beheld the bloody face of a dead man, which had been violently forced through the plate glass of the window of the carriage, while his body was hanging i outside. When the train stopped at the next station it was discovered that its guard, from motives of curiosity, it is supposed, had left his box, and, standing on the step of the carriage, had been watching the gentleman and his wife, and that, passing under a bridge, he had been struck by the side of the arch, and crushed to death.