The Press. — London, England, 1858-09-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 25, 1858. 922 and shovel were resumed with deep and sullen curses, and the captured prisoners walked off to con finement. As the day passed on small spasmodic rushes of desperate men took place, but the swords of the warders and the front of the Wexfords re pressed any tendency to violence, ana they were easily captured. Some of the convicts admit their plan to have been to rush from all outlying parts of the quarries, to concentrate in the centre, and to arm themselves with the tools, such as ham mers, picks, &c., then overpower and murder the guards, burn the prison, plunder the villages, and make their escape to the mainland before assist ance could arrive • and I am quite convinced that bad they been allowed even a few minutes to concentrate, a most desperate scene of bloodshed would have ensued. On Tuesday all the convicts appeared sulkily quiet, and proceeded to work as usual, but without any appearance of alacrity, when suddenly the same shouting was heard, and a body of between thirty and forty were seen rushing from the western quarry towards the centre. These were promptly met by a body of Wexfords on the raised road between the quarries, and the same scene occurred as on the pre. vious day. The conspiracy then assumed the dogged, sullen form of small numbers at a time, or indivi duals throwing down their tools, and walking quietly into the sheds and surrendering themselves. This continued throughout the day, and partially so on Wednesday, when, the convicts apparently no longer being able to resist the conclusion that they were overpowered, it subsided." A SHOCKING OCCURRENCE took place at Strand upon-the-Green, near Kew, on Thursday morning. Some workmen were proceeding along the bank of the river when they passed a respectably-dressed young female with an infant in her arms; she wished to avoid ;hem, and her manner was strange and agitated. On the return of the men, half an hour afterwards along the same path, which is very retired, they met some boys, who said they had just seen a woman, with a child in her arms, jump into the river, at the same time pointing to a large sub stance floating with the tide. The men gave an instant alarm to a waterman, who rowed off in his boat, but when he arr;ved at the spot both woman and infant had disappeared. The drags were pro cured as quickly as possible, but the bodies were not recovered. THE CATASTROPHE AT THE SHEFFIELD MUSIC•HALL, on the 13th inst., when five persons were killed, was further inquired into on Thursday, at the Town hall, before Mr. Badger, coroner. The chief point to which the coroner and jury directed their inquiry was as to whether the flash and report proceeded from an explosion of gas or from the firing of a pistol. The evidence was conflicting. Several persons who were examined deposeu to having seen a pistol in the hands of a man, and the gas fitters who had been deputed to examine the fittings, denied that any explosion of gas had taken place. The inquiry was again adjourned. A FRIGHTFUL DEATH has occurred at Woodchurch, in Cheshire, Mrs. Watkeya, a young lady who had only been married a few weeks, having been burnt to death by the ignition of a quantity of pitch, which came in contact with her muslin dress. She was stirring the pitch which her husband had de-ired her to prepare in order to cover the roof of a henhouse, when some of it escaped into the fire, and the flame extended to her clothes. The un fortunate lady lost her presence of mind, rushed from the wasbhouse, where she VMS at the time of the accident, through the garden into the kitchen, and thence into the parlour, where was a young friend of hers named Rimmer. No other persons were in the house at the time. Miss Rimmer ran after her in a state of excitement and distraction. By this time Mrs. Watkeys was a mass of flames, and from her dreadful screams her sufferings must have been most intense. The attention of the neighbours was now aroused, and a gardener who was working near ran to the lady, threw her upon the ground, and endeavoured to stifle the flames. Other assistance was soon rendered, but unfortunately it was too late, and Mrs. Watkeys expired soon after in great agony. At the inquest a verdict of " Accidental death " was returned. THE EXPLOSION OF • SUBMARINE SHELL On Wed • nesday disturbed the serenity for which Herne Bay is so remarkable. It appears that, Captain Harvey, R.N., a visitor there, put posed to astonish the natives by an experiment with a submarine shell of his own invention. For this purpose ho obtained an old cutter, used by the coastguard, but recently con demned, and, having furbished her up, proposed ooe fine afternoon to illustrate the force of his infernal machine by blowing her to pieces. The cutter was anchored, and awaited its final doom. The captain, with two or three of his friends in a boat, took out the shell, and all was anxious expectation. The captain, in the boat, with a long rope attached to the shell, tried in vain to cause it to explode, and at last he became so excited at the failure that he was obliged to be removed. Meanwhile the shell remained floating in the water. After a time a seaman named Wood, thinking it harmless, took the rope and commenced hauling the shell on shore No sooner, however, had it touched the beach than it exploded with a terrific noise, a dense volume of smoke shooting up into the air. The excitement and alarm in the crowd of spectators on the beach were intense. Fortunately no serious injury to life or limb resulted, but the concussion was suffi• cient to blow out the face of the clock tower in tha immediate vicinity, and to smash nearly every pane of glass in the shops of a neighbouring pastryconk and linendraper, and also of an adjacent public house. In addition to this, windows were broken in every house in St. Augustine's-terrace, and other houses adjoining. In the pastrycook's glass jars were broken and the confectionery strewn about the road. Altogether the damage done is estimated at between an. and 401. A shower of beach stones and lailt water was thrown over the spectators, but nothing more. Had the shell taken a slanting instead of an upright direction, many lives must have been sacrificed. A FEARFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION has occurred in Monmouthshire, at the New Tredegar Pit, near Rhymney, the result of the incautious use of the open safety lamp. The pit, owing to a disagreement between the proprietor, Mr. Powell, and his men, had not been in work for a fortnight; hut, on the morning of the mishap, some of the men had given in, and returned to their employ. Five of them de scended the pit, which is more than 000 feet in depth, but had not long been down when a noise as of thunder was heard, the machinery of the shaft being at the same time thrown completely out of order. About eight yards from the bottom of the shaft three of the men were discovered, dreadfully burnt and bruised, and quite insensible, while a fourth, named Pierce, was lying a little further off. He has since died. These were, as well as possible, conveyed above, and search continued for the missing man, whose body was found seventy yards further in, burnt completely to a cinder by the instantaneous action of the fire-damp. The poor fellow's lamp was lying about ten yards off, its being open indicating the origin of the catastrophe too plainly. The previous night the pit had been examined by the manager, and the air-passages were reported to be safe. An inquest was held on Thursday before Mr. Brewer, and a verdict of " Accidental death " returned. A DETERMINED ATTEMPT was made on Saturday by Thomas Williams and Simon Leonard to murder George Wheaton. The men were employed at the Pontymoile Ironworks, near Newport. On leaving work in the morning they went to a public house on the banks of the Monmouthshire Canal, where a quarrel arose between Leonard and another man, but Wheaton interfered and prevented a fight. Neither Leonard nor Williams approved the interference, and upon leaving the house the latter exclaimed, '° Let's kill him." Both attempted to seize Wheaton, who ran away and jumped over a wall. He was pursued, however, and dragged back by the hair of his head, the wall being broken down in the struggle. The two then threw Wheaton into the canal, walked in after him, and, while h Ading him under water, swore the same fate to any one who should render assistance. When Wheaton became quite still and insensible they left him, and he was got out of the canal by several men and laid upon the bank. A number of women then applied various restoratives, but it was upwards of twenty minutes before the unfortunate man returned to consciousness. Leonard subse quently absconded, but Williams was apprehended, and on Monday committed to the assizes upon a charge of attempting to murder, bail in 4001. being accepted for his appearance. e army June, y s ß o . n si n t ld L lB.:3el n y4d c , klnBo andh obtainedlt ahtee Mn.ce o r o lHo i heroic his sl defender ßryaw i eAoreßf d o ne of tl ! ne e oeN g l : a i of d ot a u y r:t t h h my e eer l ac O rh t o h afn i ht n i l so t f, age.in the C a m d c oir city y a I n vofa p r l abLcu. London, n , t od i in no n t y: h o a e n se sevent y . nt T dhe ll t formerly himself a Baltic merchant largely engaged in the timber trade. He was a f e ll ow of theßoyal Society, and a member of most of the learned societies of the metropolis. He was one of the earliest and principal aids of Lord Brougham in the foundation of a London University, and was a member of the senate when the first and second colleges were ia corporated. Political economy was his special study, in what was termed half a century since the school of Adam Smith. His hereditary political creed was that of a Liberal ; but he entered the House of Com mons, in 1826, as one of the members for Bridport, almost an unknown man. The late James Mill, father of Mr. John Mill, was his chief political in structor. With David Ricardo, C. P. Thompson (Lord Sydenham), Mr. Hyde Villiers, the elder de ceased brother of Lord Clarendon, Mr. Warburton usually acted when first in Parliament. He imme- diately attached himself to the small minority voting in Mr. Hume's early divisions. Mr. Warburton's first parliamentary essay was the prosecution of a reform of the Royal College of Surgeons. His bill to legalize and regulate the supply of subjects for our schools of anatomy was passed in 1831. His next legislative subject was an attack upon the game laws as they then existed. On the combination and machinery laws, select committees, and legislation before the Reform agitation Mr. Warburton was the active ally of Mr. Joseph Hume and Francis Place. In the memorable few days of May, 1832, he con tributed much to induce the more violent Radicals to accept the Reform Bill as amended in its passage through both Houses of Parliament. Mr. Warburton was an advocate of the ballot, and on Lord Melbourne's return to office he was spokesman of a deputation of members of Parliament, who stipulated with the Premier for the ballot being " an open question," and for the concession of the penny postage. Mr. Warburton continued to repre sent Bridport in seven successive Parham Jots. His last return was in 1841, and after a close and corrupt contest he was at the head of the poll; but a petition being presented against both the sitting memhers be surrendered his seat, accepting the Chiltern Hun dreds. He remained out of Parliament from the spring of 1841. till November, 1843. From that time he represented Kendal till the dissolution of July, 1847, when Mr. Warburton voluntarily retired from public life. In private life his character and private integrity were universally respected, and even his political opponents often advised with him on neutral and social questions. SIR GEORGE RICH died at his residence in Lowndes-street on Saturday. He was a Knight Bachelor created in Ireland in 1822, and was a second son of Sir Charles Rich, the first baronet. He was appointed Aide-de•Camp and Controller to the Household to Earl Whitworth in 1813, and was Chamberlain to the Viceregal Court to the Marquis o re l ce V iv e e li d eB t i h eY e ' hoonnohuil.. appointmentof three years of age. knighthood. to which He was osffievceenthyg- SIR OFFLEY P. WAKEMAN, BART., died on Tuesday forenoon, while on a visit to Mr. J. A. Taylor, of Strensham Court, Worcestershire, after an illness of only two days. Sir Obey was born in 1799, end succeeded to the family estates and baronetcy on the demise of his father, Sir Harry Wakeman, in 1831. He married in 1848 Mary, daughter of Mr. Thomas Arlington, of Bradenham, Norfolk, by which lady, who died in 1852, he leaves two sons—the eldest, his successor to the baronetcy, being born M 1850. The late baronet was much respected in the county of Worsester, and also on his estates in Shropshire. He was a Conservative in politics, but took no active part in political affairs, chiefly devoting himself to agricultural improvements and matters appertaining to the welfare of his tenantry. LADY WILLIAMES VAUGHAN expired on the 16th inst. at Rhug, near Corwen. The county of Me' rionethshire has sustained a severe loss in the death of one of the most estimable ladies in North Wales. Her ladyship, Frances Margaret, was t he daughter of Mr. Edward Lloyd, of Rhagatt, late chairman of the Merionethshire quarter sessions. She was born in 1810, was married in 1835 to Sir Robert Willi amees the Vaughan, of Rhug, Nannau, and Hengurt, in M rionethshire, to whom, and to the po or of all neighbouring localities, tier loss is irreparable. ife,r ladyship, who was in her forty-eighth year, has leg no issue. Her remains have been interr ed at Liao. fackreth, the burial-place of the family. LIEUT. THE HON. CROSBIE R. MAXWELL WARD, of the 73rd Regiment, brother of Viscount Bangor, died on the Bth of July, on board th e Indiana , on his way home invalided from India. He entered the army as ensign in 1851. Ohituarg. MR. Jous M'CTREGOR, of the firm of Tod and M'Gregor, the eminent shipbuilders of Glasgow, died on the 17th instant, at his residence, Mealowside house, Partick. COL. H. VAUGHAN BROOKE, C. 8., aide-camp to the Queen, died a few days wince at Holyhead, after a few hours' illness. The gallant colonel was long attached to the Send Regiment, and accompanied that gallant corps to India in 1846. Ho served during the campaign in the Punjaub i❑ 1848 and 1849, then in the command of the 32nd. and was present at the first and second siege operations before Mooltan, in cluding the action of Soorikound, in command of the left column of attack ; storm and capture of the city and surrender of the fortress ; at the surrender of the fort and garrison of Clieniste, and battle of Goojerat. For his services in India he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and subse quently one of her Majesty's military aides•de•camp. He had received a medal and clasps for his services in India. On retiring from the 32nd he was suc ceeded by Major• General Sir J. E. Inglis, K.C.8.,