Fate willed that Ned should not rest there;
A fisher’s friendly hand
His body in the deep blue sea
Both found and brought to land.
That he might lie in native earth
With those he used to love,
His body there to rest; his soul
To flee to realms above.
In All Saints ground poor Edward lies,
Within the silent tomb
One victim of that fatal gale,
On second day of June.
There many were who shed a tear
When tolled the funeral bell,
Yet with that tear devoutly wished
Ned’s soul in heaven would dwell.”
What was done for the families of the poor men who were drowned in that terrible summer gale will be found in the next chapter, under “Hastings”.
Other Particular Deaths
A Supposed Murder. The body of a bricklayer named William Sands, who had worked for Hughes and Hunter, and had lodged at the Nag’s Head, St. Leonards, was found on the sea shore near Rye harbour, with a number of incised wounds about the head and face. It was proved by several witnesses that the unfortunate man had previously gone from St. Leonards to Hastings, and from Hastings to Rye. It was also shown at the inquest and adjourned inquest that Supt. Jeffery had exhausted every resource to unravel the tangled mystery of death, but had not succeeded. It was reported in Rye that a coastguardman had seen a man and two women drop something heavy at the edge of the harbour channel on the Tuesday night preceding the morning when the body was found. The adjourned inquest was held on the 4th of February, and the verdict arrived at was that the deceased had been wilfully murdered by some person or persons unknown. The deceased had a son, 13 years of age, lodging with him at St. Leonards. He came, it appeared, to St. Leonards from Maidston(sic), from which latter town it was learnt that he was an intemperate man; that he had another son in the Cocksheath Union, and that he had two daughters, one in service at Maidstone and one in London.
Singular Deaths. “In our obituary” says the St. Leonards Gazette, of May 5th, 1860, “is recorded the deaths of two infant children belonging to Mr. John Bray, of Sussex place, St. Leonards. These children – a boy and a girl, were born at the same time, and consequently, were twins. The girl, during her existence of a year and eight months, was subject to occasional fits, some of them of several hours duration, but the male child grew up apparently strong and healthy; yet, strange as it may seem, the former was seized with a fit of much less violence than many she had previously endured, but which nevertheless, carried her off in a very short time. This, though a source of grief to the parents, was felt to be less loss than -
