The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

P THE PRESS, JULY 4, 1857. of their college because it embodied in perfection the principle of toleration, giving perfect freedom of conscience to all the students, and thus showing that it was quite possihle to educate together Church men and Dissenters, Catholics and Protestants, Christians and Jews„ and even, as was proved by that day's proceedings, Hindoos and Parsees. There youths of various race had shown that they could drink at the same fountain of knowledge, and con tend amicably for the prizes which it was in the power of the college to bestow." THOMAS GABRIEL has been elected Alderman for Vintry Ward, in the room of Sir William Maguey, resigned. THE METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS have decided to proceed with the bill for the Finsbury-park, not withstanding the refusal of the MAW. by Parliament. Vrobintial. THE Emu, OF HARDWICKE, the Hon. Eliot Yorke, Mr. E. Ball, M.P., Mr. Philip Bennet, Sir Charles Allix, and other gentlemen have issued an invitation to the inhabitants of the county of Cambridge to attend a public meeting on Tuesday, the 7th of July, for the purpose of considering the best means of raising a memorial to the late Duke of Rutland. The meeting is to be held at the Public-hall, New market. HARROW COMMEMORATION DAY was kept up with great eclat on Thursday, a crowd of old Harrovians being present on the occasion. TEE STEAMER Naas, from Bristol for Rotterdam, went ashore on Saturday night on the eastern side of the Longships Rocks, off the coast of Cornwall. A portion of the cargo has been saved. A SAD ACCIDENT occurred at Wandsworth last week. Two young gentlemen, George and Ernest Rankey, were shouting in the yard with a revolver, George, after loading the pistol, turned round to explain to Ernest the nature of its construction, foolishly pointing the muzzle at Ernest's body. The ipistol exploded, and the poor boy died in about lourteen hours. rtlant. Sir Charles Napier, M.P., Mr. Greer, M.P., Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Sergeant Parry, Mr. Nicholay, Mr. Sharman Crawford. Mr. Philips, M.P. for Bury, presided. Mr. Milner Gibson was the principal speaker of the evening, and he said : It appeared to him that if Mr. Berkeley has for his sup• porters a large majority of the Liberal party, the Liberal party were entitled to go in a body to Lord Palmerston, and tell him that he could not expect to be supported as the Minister of the country by the Liberal party, and that he and his friends cmnot be permitted to be at the head of public affairs with the support of the Liberal party, unless they are prepared to carry out the principles of that parts, and of which the vote by ballot was one of the most im• portant. If Lord Palmerston believed those gentlemen to be in earnest when they made the communication, he (Mr. Milner Gibson) said it was his firm belief that the Ministers would gird up their loins and submit a proposal for vote by ballot to Parliament. But if they thought they could get the support of the Whigs and Liberals without conceding this measure, they certainly would not make the concession. They wanted the support of the Liberals ; the Liberals wanted the bill. If they could get the support of the Liberals without granting them what they required, why should they make the concession ? He was not one of those who would not have vote by ballot without an extension of the suffrage —or, on the other hand, an extension of the suffrage without the ballot. Several resolutions and a petition in accordance with these objects were framed and passed. The adjourned meeting on Wednesday was held to consider the steps advisable to be taken in conse quence of the de'e3t of Mr. Berkeley's motion on Tuesday night. Mr. ‘Vhitellurst, vice-president of the Ballot Society, occupied the chair. The meeting was not very numerously attended. The chairman, in opening the business of the meeting, said he thought the agitation bad not been without effect since the formation of the society in 1853. The greatest number that ever voted for the motion was 216, and on Tuesday 181) members voted for the motion, while 24 paired in its favour, making with the two tellers 215, or within one of the greatest number e'er attained. A resolution in favour of the ballot was adopted. - Bitiropolitan. THE HATLEYBURY STUDENTS passed their usual half-yearly examination On Monday. The first class Bengal prize of those leaving college was won by Mr. Colvin, the son of the lieutenant-governor of the north-wes!, provinces, while of those remaining in college Messrs. Hutchins, Bernard, Temple, Garrett, and Burney were highly distinguished. Tile chair man of the East India Company was present, and addressed the students. After luncheon the chair man again spoke, and, referring to recent events in India, observed that her Majesty's Government and the East India Company were most cordially co operating in devising measures that would effectually put down all distu bance and disaffection in India, and would, he firmly believed, place that vast emfire on a more settled, satisfactory, and lasting basis than ever. THE FOLLOWING SYSTEM, devised to test the sincerity of a te, enta-it criminal, is carried out at the London Reformatory, the annual meeting of which society was held at Willis's rooms this week. The probationary system was detailed as follows : The governor having ascertained that he had committed crime, and that his health was good, admitted him, subject to the approval of the committee, to probation. He remained in a small room, aloe, on bread and water diet, for ten days, occasionally visited by the governor. He might leave at any time. It he stood the ten days' tea*, he was admitted to the institution, and sent into one of the workshops. The age fur admission was between twenty and thirty five, that men and bo n a might not be mixed together. The sincerity of the criminal having been tested by the probation, he entered into his course of reformation. Emigration was the ultimate ol.ject. He was to be fitted for this by undergoing the discipline of a well-ordered institution, and by learning a trade. Religious and secular instruction were imparted. There was a system of rewards by prizes, and punishmenis by fines. The diligent workman, with good conduct, might gain fid. a week, of which three-fourths were paid him, and the remainder accumulated for his benefit when he left. The I-a I workman, whose conduct was bad, might be fined to the same extent. It was a fundamental rule that an inmate ha ing the institution was never readmitted. Having shown by his good conduct during a twelvemonth that he might be trusted, he was sent out as an emigrant. But the rule of emigration, like all other general rules, was not always adhered to—an inmate who preferred a situation in th s country, and could find one, was assisted to obtain and t i, a it. THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE toot place on Wednesday. Sir J. G. I. Letevre, K.C.8., presided on the occasion, and was supported by Lord Brougham, Lord Monteagle, Lord Furtescue, and a brilliant assembly. A re markable feature in the dax's proceedings was the number of prizes carried off by gentlemen of the Jewish persuasion, the most distinguished of all the prizeholders being %young Hebrew, Master Solomon. :Abi chairman, in the course of his add r e ss t o th e Wdents, said "he rejoiced the more in the success • 1 TIIE MURDER OF MR. LITTLE. THE prisoner Spollen was brought up on Saturday last before the magistrates, and underwent a pre liminary examination. Spollen is a man of middling height, with large red whiskers, and has lost his right eye. Mr. Corbaltis opened the case, and briefly detailed the circumstances of Mr. Little's murder : The case he proposed to offer was not based on direct evidence, but rather circumstantial. In a Icng interval which elapsed after the murder, no clue could be dis covered ; but in the course of last week the authorities had received such evidence as led to the arrest of James Spollen. Nothing would be mentioned against the prisoner which was not perfectly legal. Certain money was found in the prisoner's house, and it would be proved that it bore the mark of a witness who wss forthcoming, and also the initials of the lamented gentleman. I t would also be proved that accused had this money on the night of the murder; that, when it was found, it was wrapped up in a piece of calico which could be traced to his habitation. Spolien's occupation favoured the commission of the crime. From his house Mr. Little's office was visible, and when the gas was lit in deceased's apartment he could be seen by the prisoner, who had lull opportunities of approaching Mr. Little's office unobserved. They could prove that he was missing from his house at half past five on the even ing of the murder, and there was other evidence of a strongly corroborative nature. The witnesses were then called. Mr. J. W. Cham berlain, clerk to Mr. Little, identified his own initials upon certain scraps of paper found with the moneys di-covered. It was also shown by the time.book that for thirteen days previous to the murder Spollen had been at work in Mr. Little's office, and that on the 13th November, the day of the murder, the prisoner had lost a quarter of a day. Spollen's daughter, a child of eleven years of age, was next examined, and, atter some immaterial questions, she stated as follows : P.emembers the day Mr. Little was murdered. Her father came home on that evening between seven and eight. Her mother was at home Saw her father get up on a roof near his cottage by a ladder. He had someth►ng like apa in his hand. It was large and round. Recollects having a sun-bonnet. No one was with Spollen, who took tea at home that evening. Never wore the sun b nnei It went about the house as a duster. (The piece of calico in which Meyers found the money inclosed was here shown to the child, who stated that it was the duster alluded to.) Examination resumed: Saw the duster before the murder, but never after. Her father desired that she should deny having seen a piece of chamois leather if any person asked concerning it. This was in reference to a razor-case Spollen had made for his razor. At this stage of ale proceedings the prisoner was remanded until Wednesday, when he was again brought up. The depositions taken on Saturday were verified, but no new evidence of importance was offered. Mr. Corballis, on the part of the Crown, applied to the magistrates to commit the prisoner for trial. Mr. Curran objected, and called on the counsel for the Crown to state whether or not they bad any other evidence ; wben Mr. Corballis said, the distinct answer to that is that there is. Under the circum stances the magistrate refused to commit finally, and the prisoner was remanded to Thursday the oth inst. The excitement of the Dublin public respecting the proceedings has been increased by the general search commenced for everything that could tend in any way to strengthen the case for the Crown. In this search one of the c illVaS bags which contained a portion of the money stolen from the cash•o®ce of Mr. Little on the night of his intu-ner was found on Monday last under a heap of stones near the hydraulic ram adjoining the privy, where the painter's tub was found, which contained the 87/. ss. in silver. This bag is alt torn, and it is believed that it was concealed where it was found by the person who hid the money in the privy, and it is also believed that that person VMS in the habit of taking money out of the booty he had hidden whenever he required it, and that this bag was concealed when all the money it contained had been expended. The piles of timber, sleepers, and iron rails in the neighbourhood of the cottage where the prisoner resided have been all turned over and carefully examined by the police, but nothing was found. '1 he chimney in which it is stated the prisoner placed the bucket containing the money on the night of the murder was also ex amined, when it was found that at about eighteen inches from its top, on the inside, there was the impress of the basket on the soot, and also the sign of the holdfast in the masonry, on which Mrs. Spollen stated her husband had rested the bucket when he ascended the chimney on the night of the murder. It was determined on that the canal in front of the terminus and the harbour should b• drained for the purpose of trying to get the still missing key of the cash-office. The work of draining commenced on Tuesday, and the canal has been drained. It is stated that Spollen attempted about a month ago to take away his wife's life by poison. About ta•o months ago he bad a pulmonary affection. Serious symptoms presented themselves, but a short time after his recovery his wife was attacked with violent retching, continuing a whole night. The physician administered the strongest remedies, and during the day of his attendance Mrs. Silollen complained of her side becoming paralysed. This is the foundation of the rumour that poison had been administered to her. James Spollen, son of the prisoner, is under detention. He has been subjected to a very searching examination by the Crown officers. The result ot this investigation is thus narrated by the Freeman's Journal:— He stated that his father, mother, and himself went out on the night the murder was perpetrated, and went to Moore street, when they bought black puddings, and that the three came home at about ten o'clock; aver that the puddings were cooked for supper. His father, on ob serving that his mother was nut eating, asked her why she did not do so? She rt plied that she could not, as the puddings reminded her of a case which occurred in England of a man who had committed murder, and who came home with sweetmeats in his hands, which were all covered with blood ; he offered his wile some of the sweetmeats, which she took, and a part of them stuck in her throat when she attempted to swallow them. It will be remembered that Mrs. Spollen stated that the money was brought home from the office of Mr. Little after the murder, and h.d in the chimney of the old locomotive sheds before the prison n- went into town with her and his son. With reference to the finding of the money, it is stated that young Spollen says that be saw his father go up the chimney by a ladder from the outside, taking a pot up with him. He also said that he thou 'lit it was water which his father was taking up to pour do •n through the chimney on a number of men who v ere in the habit of sitticg round the fire below. We undtratani that it was with much difficulty that these few rem, rks were extracted from him, and as it is supposed that he can tell much more, he was ordered to be taken back to the sta*ion•house, and not to be allowed to communicate with any person save the constables in char . , of him. Some fresh discoveries were made on Wednesday by the police. A razor, marked " James Spollen," has been taken out of the basin of the canal just opposite that portion of the railway terminus in wbich the office of the cashier is situated, and a further small sum of money has been discovered adjacent to the spot where the larger sums were found last week. How far these additional proofs may be rendered available towards perfecting the evidence against the accused, time alone can tell ; but, as no allusion whatever was made to the razor in the course of the adjourned investigation, an impression naturally pre vailed that at present, at least, the authorities re garded its discovery a s a m a tt er o f s e co ndary um, portance.