The neighbourhood of Shadwell and Wapping was in a state
of great excitement on Saturday last, owing to a report being circulated that John Peacock Wood, a waterman who lived in Lower Shadwell, had been murdered by the Police. A Coroner's Jury was summoned to inquire into the circumstances of the case, on Saturday night ; when a very long and minute investigation was commenced, which has lasted the whole of this week. It appeared that Wood had been drinking at the White Hart public-house on Thursday night, when it was " cleared out" by the Police, who had not unfrequently been employed there on the same duty. Wood, somewhat intoxicated, was pushed out with great vio- lence, and fell upon his back with his head on the curb-stone. There seems to be some uncertainty as to what was immediately done with him ; but about an hour afterwards, several Policemen were seen carry- ing him to the Stationhouse. He was then insensible, bleeding, and covered with dirt. One of the witnesses says that, more than once, the Policemen let him fall with his head upon the ground with great violence, and that they also dragged him along the street for a short distance. It appears that the Policemen afterwards gave an Irish labourer fourpence to carry him on his back to the Stationhouse. He was then entered on the books in the drunken list. Some witnesses stated that he was very roughly used at the Stationhouse by the Police. He was extremely sick, and vomited a great deal. On Tuesday morning he was sent to his own house, where he soon died. Mr. Mil- lard, a surgeon, examined the body, and said that death had been occa- sioned by severe injuries on the head. There appeared to be one very severe blow, which might have been given by a Policeman's truncheon ; and the Jury laboured hard to prove this point. A great deal of con- fused and contradictory evidence was given relative to the occurrences of Thursday night, the treatment of the man at the Stationhouse, and in the streets, by the Police. The Jury appeared to be very much prejudiced against the Folice, and eagerly laid hold of every circum-
stance which tends to make the case look badly for them. The Coroner, on the other hand, seemed rather to take their part ; and the disputes between him and the Jury were constant, and not by any means courteously conducted. Last night, the Inquest was again ad- journed; and the Coroner bound over the jurors in the sum of 401. each (instead of 101. as hitherto) to appear on Monday.
An inquest was 141d on Monday at the Red Lion, King Street, Bloomsbury, on the body of Mr. Tweedie, aged sixty-three. On Saturday night, Mr. Tweedie, bearing that the kitchen chimney of his house in Southampton Row was on fire, ran down stairs ; and having procured two pails of water, with the assistance of another gentleman, extinguished it. The deceased then went up stairs, but had scarcely reached the landing when he fell down, and was heard to groan heavily. The two gentlemen immediately put him into a chair, but life appeared gone. In about two minutes Mr. Keeling, surgeon, Little Ormond Street, arrived, and administered everything by which reanimation could be brought about, but without the desired effect. Verdict- " Died by the visitation of God."
The Coroner's Jury summoned to hold an inquest on the body of Edward Thomson, who, we mentioned last week, lost his life in a bat- tle for five pounds with the conductor of an omnibus at Whetsone, has found a verdict of Manslaughter against Murphy, the principal, and eight others who had been parties in the affair.
David Hawker, a broom-seller, having quarrelled with a fellow named Blackman, on Tuesday week, fought a battle with him, in the King's Bench Walk. They had fought four rounds, when Blackman, saying, " I'll kill you this round," caught the deceased by the throat and threw him on the curb-stone. He then fell upon him and hit him in the face ; after which he said, " There, I've knocked your brains out." Hawker soon died, and a Coroner's Jury, on Wednesday, found a verdict of Manslaughter against Blackman.
Mr. Murcott, Common Councilman of the Ward of Farringdon Within, yesterday morning, in a fit of temporary insanity, threw him- self out of his two-pair window, and only survived about three hours.
The daughter of the driver of a Wandsworth coach, a girl about thirteen, drowned herself on Sunday last, in the Thames at Putney. She had been out at service, but not liking her place, had returned home, which made her parents angry. It was just after being scolded by her mother, that she threw herself into the river, from Putney Bridge.
The body of an elderly man was found on Saturday morning, in a copse near Highgate. He had evidently been poisoned; and a paper was found in his pocket in which it was written, that " the first dose of laudanum had not sufficed, but that the second should do the business.
A Clapton coach, laden with passengers, was proceeding on Monday at a moderate pace through Shoreditch, when a child about eighteen months old ran under it ; the bind-wheel passed over its right thigh and left leg just above the ankle. A surgeon immediately examined the child, but found that no bones were broken, and that it was only bruised a little.
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