The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

1130 but recovered after shedding a flood of tears.) She then proceeded to say—When we got to Ditton Church it wanted four minutes to three o'clock. When we go, to Ditton Plough we went into the kitchen. She bad a glass of cherry-brandy, and I had a glass of brandy and water. We then went into the parlour, where she had another glass of cherry-brandy, and we went across the green to the boat-races. We were gone about ten minutes, and then returned to the Plough. She returned with Mrs. Ford to the Plough. I and the latter went into the parlour, and she went on to the kitchen. She was gone about ten minutes, and then returned to the parlour. The two gentlemen into whose trap we got came in there. I never saw them before in my life. She had another glass of brandy and water in the parlour, and smoked a cigar. Sho had smoked another in the fly. She was smoking and drinking in the parlour about half an hour. She bad more than one glass of brandy and water there. She had three glasses of brandy and water there, but Mrs. Ford drank with her, and one glass was upset and the contents spilt. The two gentlemen (Mr. Pear son and his friend) were in the room when the three glasses were ordered ; they were in conversation with us. I asked the gentlemen whether they were walking or driving. They said they had a trap, and I asked them to take me for a drive. They con sented, and one of them and myself also asked de ceased to go, and she consented. I and one of the gentlemen were behind, and deceased and the other in front. The thinner of the two gentlemen (Mr. Hulbert) was in front; he was sitting on the driving side. As we were going to the trap, deceased said, " Who is going to sit in front'" I said, " I am." She said, " No, if I go I shall go in front, and I shall drive." They very much wished her not to drive, but she would, and when on the road they begged of her to give the reins up, but she would not. She got in first, and the reins were given to her by a lad who was standing by. I believe she was then ex cited by what she had taken, or she would not have driven. She was not drunk, however. She did not drive fast at first, and when near the turnpike she whipped the horse, and drove through the turnpike gate galloping. She turned on the high road towards Cambridge, but ,hen turned back and drove through the Newmarket-gate towards Bottisham. She then went quietly some distance, and then would whip the horse again and urged him on to the gallop, and the latter continued galloping up to the time of the acci dent. I several times begged her not to go so fast, as I said I 2ould hardly hold on. I told her I was sure there would be an accident if she did not give up the reins, but she would not. The gentleman next her attempted to take the reins from her, but she snatched them away. There was a cart close to our trap in front, but whether she ran against it or not lam not able to say. I felt a jerk, and was thrown out instantaneously. The gentlemen gave her no permission to drive, but wished her not several times. She said, "I can drive. I know how."—Tlie coroner having summed up, the jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death," the foreman adding that they were of opinion the death of the deceased was attributable to herself alone. A post-mortem examination revealed that the death of the deceased was caused by concussion of the brain—a slight bruise on the forehead, and a graze, scarcely perceptible, down the side of the face being the only outward marks of injury. A MOST EXTRAORDINARY ACCIDENT occurred last week on the North-Eastern Railway. The engine of an eleven o'clock train from Newcastle to Shields and Sunderland, after leaving the Felling station, broke down in a deep cutting approaching a long tunnel which runs underneath the village of Heworth. At the moment that the engine broke down, the driver and guard knew that a heavy goods train, drawn by two large engines, was following them, and that the fast train from York and Manchester and London was due, and might pass any moment along the opposite pair of rails. The passengers, to avoid being smashed by a collision with the goods train, would have to escape across those up•rails on to the opposite embankment The engine driver, thinking this the lesser of the two dangers, called on the passengers to jump and clamber up the opposite wall for their lives. All who heard got out of the carriages, and the ladies had to be pulled up a six-foot wall ; all, however, were not able to get up in time. The guard was sent back to warn the goods train ; but though its drivers saw him and took off the steam, they were not able to pull up in time, and they ran into the passenger train, sending a first class carriage off the ways, and half across the up pair of rails. In a moment, after this occurrence the fast train was discovered emerging from the tunnel, and it was seen that it had all its steam on. The ladies who had not escaped on the embankment, were held close to the will, and the train dashed against the first class carriage that lay in her way, smashing its end to pieces, and tearing twu or three other carriages of the standing train off the rails. On it dashed, however, and, having ascertained at the Felling station that no one was killed, the engine. THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858. man ran on to the Newcastle station, carrying a portion of the smashed carriage on the end of the engine. The only accident that °centred to the fast train was that the engine broke one of its buffer ends, and smashed the glass in the plate protecting the engineman trum the weather. A shipwright, who was deaf and did not escape with the other passengers from the Shields train, had one or two of his ribs fractured by the goods train running into it, and another man was cut about the head. These were the only injuries done to the passengers, whose escape was one of the most remarkable in the history of railway travelling. A SHOCKING ACCIDENT occurred at Preston on Saturday, to Mrs. Sarah Shaw, a widow, which has resulted in her death. As she was reaching some thing from a shelf, a loaded pistol fell down, which on striking the ground exploded, and the contents were discharged into her leg. They entered at the lower pert of the calf, and, passing upwards, shat tered both bones of the limb into innumerable splinters. The unfortunate woman, with great pre sence of mind, bound a handkerchief round the wound to check the effusion of the blood, and de spatched a messenger to Preston for surgical assist ance. Amputation was performed, but Mrs. Shaw never recovered the shock her system had sustained, and gradually sank and expired. She was to have been married on the very day on which the inquest was held upon her remains. The pistol which caused this deplorable calamity was placed in the cupboard, loaded and capped, by one of the farm servants. He had previously been firing it. The verdict was " Accidental death." A DISGRACEFUL OUTRAGE was committed last week in the church of All Souls', Langham. place, the fine picture of "Jesus Crowned with Thorns," which was valued at 8001., having been completely destroyed, and the letters " 1.H.5." cut out from the front of the cloth covering the communion table. The outrage is supposed to have been the act of a fanatic. LORD REDESDALE met with a serious accident while out with the Heythrop Hounds on Monday. The horse ridden by the noble lord, in taking a low fence, stumbled and fell, throwing his lordship to the ground with great violence, and falling upon him. Medical assistance was at hand, when it was found that Lord Redesdale had been rendered insensible by the fall, but fortunately no bones were broken, and, having soon rallied, he was removed in a fly to his seat, Batsford park. The noble lord is progress ing as favourably as can be expected. AN ATTEMPT AT SUICIDE of a mo3t frightful and determined character has been made by a girl named Hannah King, aged thirteen years, by placing her self on the rails of the North London Railway, near Dalston-lane Bridge, at the time a train was ap- proaching. She is the daughter of respectable parents, living at N 0.6, Frederick place, Kingsland road, and was in the service of Mr. Johnson, of 47, Stanley-road, Dalston. On Saturday last she was requested by her master to take back some candles to a shop in the Kingsland-road to be exchanged for better. She proceeded first, however, to her parents' house, and when there began to weep most bitterly. On being asked the cause, she said she was not satisfied with her situation, and should come home. Her mother said that she could not afford to have her at home. The unfortunate girl in an excited manner then replied, " Very well, I shall go away, and you will not see me any more," and left the house. At the shop to which she was sent, she told the man to send the candles to Mr. Johnson's, as she was not going back any more. Nothing tur. the' was heard of her until about a quarter after six o'clock in the evening, when a man named Finch, who was pas'ing over the Dalston-lane Bridge, heard violent screams for help proceeding from the rail way, and on getting on the line found the girl lying on the ground, with the blood pouring from some frightful wounds on her legs, which had been caused by the wheels of a train which had a few moments before gone past. Without delay she was conveyed to the German Hospital, where it was found she bad received most serious injuries, one of her feet having been completely severed from her leg. Both her legs had to be amputated, and she lies in a very precarious state. Two WOMEN WERE KILLED, and several persons were scalded, at the Independent Calvinist Chapel in Ryecroft, Ashton.under•Lyne, on the 13th inst., by the explosion of a boiler placed in a cellar under the chapel, which was used to heat water for the purpose of warming_the chapel by pipes running round the building. A GLASGOW COTTON FACTORY, the property of Messrs. Grant and Sons, was totally destroyed by fire on the 12th inst. In less than half an hour the roof fell in with a tremendous crash, and the walls soon began to follow, toppling outwards and inwards in all directions. The value of the property lost is estimated at 60,0001. to 70,0001. This unfortunate occurrence will throw five or si; hundred hands out of work. Six HOUSES were burnt down at Stratford, Essex, early on Sunday morning last. The fire was caused by a spark from a candle. A MOST MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT, which has thrown the family of the Earl of Bradford into the deepest affliction, has just occurred. Lord and Lady New port arrived at the family seat at Weston on Monday last, and before retiring to rest, between twelve and one o'clock, her ladyship was engaged in conversation with the Ladies Lucy and Harriet Bridgman, when the dress of the latter accidentally came in contact with the fire, and was immediately in flames. Rash. ing out into the hall, she was followed by her sister, Lady Lucy, who, in her vain attempt to help her, likewise caught fire. The piercing screams of the terror-stricken ladies summoned the Earl of Bradford and Lord Newport, who were in a distant part of the house, and the domestics, who bad retired to rest. The flames were with difficulty extinguished, but not until the unfortunate ladies were fearfully burned, and the earl and Lord and Lady Newport were like. wise seriously burned about their hands in their efforts to save them. Special messengers were int• mediately despatched to the medical advisers of the family, Messrs. Turner and Johnson, of Shiffnal, and to Mr. Bennett, who was on avisit at Wolverhampton, and it is neediest; to say that every effort was made to relieve the fair sufferers which talent and kindness could devise. Lady Lucy Bridgman is, however, so dreadfully burnt about the head, chest, and arms, that faint hopes are entertained of her recovery, while her sister, likewise, is in a most deplorable condition. AN APPALLING TRAGEDY, says the New York Herald of the 28th of October, occurred at the resi dence of Mr. Francis Goudly, a retired merchant, residing at No. 217, West Thirtieth -street, on Tuesday night. The eldest son, Frank, a young man nineteen years old, returned home about ten o'clock, after all the family bad retired. His father chided him for keeping such late hours, and spoke to him about his extravagant course of living, when the yo ith retired to his room vowing vengeance on the whole house hold. Arming himself with a hatchet, knife, and pistol, he soon afterwards proceeded to execute his hellish intention. Descending to the bedroom where his father was sitting, he struck him on the bead with the axe until he was insensible; then, turning upon his mother, he attacked her with the same weapon ; then his brothers, Nathaniel and Charles, aged fourteen and six years, who ran to the assistance of their father, were assailed. The attention of the fiend was then called to the servant-girls, Joanna Murphy and Elizabeth Carr, and they in turn were also horribly wounded; and finally, the young man wound up the night's atrocities by blowing out his brains with a pistol. Altogether, the affair was one of the most horrible butcheries ever perpetrated In a Christian community. At the latest date, all the sufferers were in a fair way of recovery. A THIRD CALAMITY, remarkable as apparently arising from the same cause as the recent Bradford affair, has taken place at Bolton. Two children died suddenly, and a post-mortem examination proved that the only reason for death was inflammation of the stomach apparently produced by poison. the mother says she bought a pennyworth of lozenges trom Mr. Smethurst, of Bolt.on•moor. The deceased children partook of them. A coroner's jury has adjourned, in order that it may be put in pcssession of complete evidence. Obituarg. MAJOR GENERAL HENRY J. WOOD, C. 8., of the Bengal Artillery, died suddenly at the Trinity Rail way station, about nine o'clock on Saturday evening, the 13th instant. The deceased had been dining with a friend at Trinity, Edinburgh, and was on his return to the Royal Hotel, where he was residing. General Wood entered the Indian army in 1810, served in the Sutlej campaign of 1810, at Bhurtpora in 1825, and at Java in 1814. Mn. THOMAS HATCHARD, the eminent publisher , of Piccadilly, died at Brighton on Saturday last. He was a man of earnest unostentatious piety, as a master kind and liberal. His charity was unob trusive; but blessed with affluence, he was the humble means of distributing largely the bounty bestowed upon him to a large circle of poor of every grade. Rosen/. OWEN died at his native place, Newton, , Monmouthshire, on Wednesday morning last. ftle deceased was in his eighty eighth year. Rlisteilanenus. •••••• GENERAL Nrwr., of the French Engineers, wlio has just published a "Journal of the Operations of the Siege of Sebastopol," states that during the siege, which lamthrew into 331 days, the French artillery from howitzers, 350,000 shells from mortars, 911 8,000 rockets ; during the war the French i nfantry fked 25,000,000 of cartridges into the town 510,000 round shot, 236,000 h I