CHRONICLE. 



IS 



Britain and this country, with the 

 pretended opinion of the people as 

 lo the prosecution of the war. 



4th. A mob of poor people met 

 on Streatham common, and set the 

 heath furze on fire ; the. conflagra- 

 T.ion was tremendous, but the neigh- 

 bours rather promoted than lent any 

 assistance for extinguishinn^ it. It 

 seems that the Duke of Bedford 

 used formerly to let the poor have 

 the furze, but this year he sold it 

 for near 801. On Saturday Mr. 

 M'Naraara, hisagent,by his grace's 

 order, took in some ground from 

 tile common u hich was formerly 

 used for the poor people's cattle, 

 and in the evening a hackney-coach 

 drove to the spot, when six men, 

 dressed in black, and crapes over 

 their faces, got out of the carriage, 

 and with carpenters implements cut 

 down the.paleti inclosure, returned 

 into the coach, and drove off. 



A horrid murder has lately been 

 committed on the bodycf Mr. Reed 

 of Svvanley, ir.GlocesterSi'.ire. Hav- 

 ingbcen lately ill in health, his wife 

 persuaded him to make his will in 

 her favour of the v,]io!e of his pro- 

 perty, amounting to GOOOl. Soon 

 after theexecution of his v>-i!I, there- 

 was reason to believe shei'iiad infused 

 a dose of poison in some broth, as it 

 was observed, after he had taken it, 

 he began to be very sick, and vo- 

 mittc in a most violent manner. 

 Mrs. Reed tlien persuaded him to 

 go to bed, where he had not long 

 l>een before or,e .lames WatkiiiS 

 came into the house, when she told 

 liim the job w~% not completed. 

 "No sooner had she spoken the word, 

 than he took a broomstick in his 

 baud, and said he would finish it ; 

 and, going up stairs, struck the un- 

 fortunate man sjvcial blows upon 

 tlie heaij one cf which cut the flesh 



down three inches over the fore- 

 head, and he repeated the blows 

 till he was dead. Hearing, soon 

 after the deed, th.at it had gone 

 abroad, and that the coroner wan 

 determined to have an inquest, Wat- 

 kins absconded, but the women has 

 been taken and admitted to bail bv 

 the Glocestershire magistrates. The 

 voluntary narrative of Robert Ed- 

 gar, a stripling of the Dorsetshire 

 corps, led to the discovery of this 

 murder, and the apprehension of 

 Mrs. Reed, the surviving widow, 

 by the vigilance of the Bow-street 

 magistrates. Since heradmission to 

 bail, she has v/ritten to the brother 

 of her murdered husband in London 

 that the perpetrator of the horrid 

 deed was her own brother — ^Wat- 

 kins; and that the remorse and con- 

 trition impressed on his own mind 

 " had led to the destruction of him- 

 sclt by a pistol." The investigation 

 of this circumstance remains to be 

 luifolded ; and the measures of the 

 Bow-street magistrates are well ar- 

 ranged to develope this extraordi* 

 nary mystery. Mrs. Reed, when at 

 Pooic, was enamoured of Edgar, 

 who was bred a surgeon, and is yet 

 a mere buy, to appearance not more 

 than 15 years old ; and according 

 to his own narrative, was led to 

 j>roniiae her marriage in case of her 

 husband's death, and Watkins un- 

 dertook to rid them of him on a 

 prom.is." of 2001. 



An inquest has been taken, at 

 Bishop-Fromc, Herefordshire, on the 

 body of Watkins, who hadshot him • 

 selt at his father's house in that pa- 

 rish, where he h.ad been concealed 

 since the murder of Mr. Reed. The 

 jury brought in their verdict, Fdo 

 c!e a. 



lAih. London. Mr. Stone, acoal- 

 merchant of Rutland-street, Thames- 



sticcf. 



