The Press. — London, England, 1854-04-29 00:00:00

APRIL 29, 1854. of London warehouses at midnight In many instances the v gilance of the police has been frustrated by their carrying sliding plates, bearing different numbers, and substituting one plate for another, in order to prevent their being traced from place to place. The detectives have just made this discovery, and a communication has been made to the Excise respect lig the re puted owners of these vehicles, which will lead, it is expected, to important disclosures. Muses at present stands committed on four distinct charges. It has been ascertained that several vessels laden with stolen goods are now on the high seas for Australia, anti measures have been adopted to secure the booty. Ou Saturday morning a burglary in Whitechapel was committed, and 1,5001. worth of bilks stolen. The police are in pursuit of the burglars. THE FATHER OF Two INSANE CHILDREN, a working tailor, named Benwell, applied to the authorities of St. Giles's parish to be relieved of th em w ith ou t the necessity of becoming a pauper himself. His time was taken up in watching the poor idiots, so that he could not work as he was otherwise able and willing to do to maintain himself and them. The board, however, refused to take either child into the work house unless the father also became an inmate. The man, therefore, applied for advice to Mr. Hardwick, at Marlborough•street Police Court, and was ordered to return on Saturday, when the St. Giles's overseer would be present to explain his conduct. On that day, while the man and his children were at the court waiting for the overseer, the whole place was kept in confusion by the howlings of the eldest child, who exhibited signs of active and dangerous lunacy : Being questioned ty the magistrate, Mr. Riley, the relieving overseer, admitted that the board had refused to receive the eldest child unless the father also became an inmate of the work house. The child had been seen by their medical mini, who had pronounced it not insane. 111',HAREAVICK : Not insane! Why, what other evidence of insanity could be required ? Here is the statement of the father, who says the child has been an idiot from its birth; here are proofs that the child has become a dangerous lunatic, and that it is necessary to keep constant watch over it to prevent it from setting tire to the place, and from exercising its vicious propensities ou its little brother. In addition to this, there are the appearance and the frimotic howlings of the child to show its actual condi tion. It. is not a case where subtleties present themselves, such as are sometimes found in cases of mental aberration, and it passes my comprehension to conceive how any one could have the hardihood, iu the presence of such evidence, to pronounce this child to be of sound mind. The overseer said that the board, after hearing their medical man's opinion, ordered a minute to be made to the effect that the applicant must come into the workhouse. Mr. ilsaowice: A decision more remote from common hu manity and common sense it is utterly impossible to conceive. What right have the board to say this man shall be shut up in the workhouse because he has the misfortune to have an afflicted child, whose dangerous lunacy requires proper restraint and treatment, and not workhouse discipline ? I have asked the overseers of St. James and St. George what they would do in such a case, and they replied they would take the child without a moment's hesitation. The whole proceedings of the board of guardians of St. Giles appear to be so monstrous that I am of opinion the system of parochial management ought to be brought under the notice of the Government authorities; and I can only say, if the case is not dealt with in a more satisfactory manner, 1 will draw up a statement of the whole of the circumstances, and transmit it. to Mr. Baines, the Chief Poor-law Commissioner, for his opinion. The overseer promised to make another represen tation to the board. AN ACTION FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT, brought by Mr. Wyld, proprietor of the "Great Globe" in Lei cester-square, against Mr. Calvert, a returned emi grant from Australia, occupied the Bail Court during Saturday and Monday last. The defendant had re turned, it seems, after many years' residence in the colony with a large collection of geological specimens, and an immense number of valuable gold nuggets. This collection Mr. Wyld thought would furnish an attractive exhibition, and made overtures to Mr. Cal vert, which resulted in his agreeing to lend and ar range his geological specimens, together with models of the nuggets, the originals being too valuable to be so used, although the public were not to know of the change—indeed, iron bars were put up for their pro tection, and a policeman stationed with a revolver for additional guardianship over the shining treasures. The plaintiff, however, now complained that only a few specimens, or even models, were sent, that the defendant would not arrange them or aid in making an attractive exhibition out of them, and generally had broken the contract entered into, for which he was to have received 1501. per annum : The counsel for the defendant (Sergeant Byles) stated that his client was one of the first discoverers of gold in Australia, and on his return from that country brought with him a valuable col lection of mineralogical specimens, and also specimens of gold in nuggets and in pieces of quartz as taken from the rocks. Soon after his return to England he had interviews with the plaintiff, who wished him to allow him to exhibit his collection at the Great Globe, and said e wld give 1,1. for the right to ex hibit them. The defen h dant ou replied that they were far too va luable to allow of that, and also that he should be obliged to sell a large part of them to meet a debt he owed to the Californian Bank; upon which the plaintiff said, "Ca you get me models of them made and cant in lead, and gildn ed?" Tha so t there were models in the British Museum and in dermyn-street ; and, as the scientific gentlemen there did not object to exhibit models, be ought not. Upon this the defendant consented ssrs that models should be made, which were to be gilded by Me. hikington. The plaintiff had great faith in the credulity of the Amish pub lic, and perhaps he was justified in that belief, for it was prover bial that more credulous animals did not exist. Perhaps some of the jury might have seen the exhibition? The Foreman : I did, and I certainly should not shilling to have seen gilded lead. (imm e nse laughter.)have paid my Sergeant BYLLS added that, in pursuance of the above arrange ment, the models were made and gilded, and the defendant eon tended that he had done all that he contracted to do, which was to supply models of the nuggets, and that be never for one , mo ment agreed to send any of the ori g inal nuggets to the Great Globe. Many witnesses were called to support the counter- l 1 THE PRESS. statements made for either side, and, at the close of a protracted trial, the jury retired, but after remaining some time in consultation were discharged without being able to agree upon a verdict. ANOTHER EMIORATION SWINDLE appears to have been discovered, the ostensible agent, whose name is John Smith, being brought up at Clerkenwell Police Court to answer the charge. Placards had been freely posted up in the district to this effect:— Free Emigration to Australia.—Seveuty carpenters and joiners, seventy bricklayers, and sixty labourers wanted. Single men and man and wife. Nu families taken. Apply for particulars at No. 35, York-street, dt. Luke's, from twelve to eight o'clock in the evening. Charles Coulson, a young bricklayer, was induced to go to the house indicated, where he saw several other labourers paying money and taking tickets, and was himself induced to pay 12e. to Mr. Smith, who repre sented that he was the agent of Messrs. Adam Smith and Co., of New York, and produced a letter in which it was stated that the " Waterwitch would arrive at Southampton on the 28th of March, 1854, in readi ness to take out emigrants." On receiving his money the prisoner gave him the following to sign:— A. Smith and Co., New York. I do agree to work for this company for twelve months for the wages going at Port Phillip, and 201. to be paid back to the com pany in twelve months for the passage. Received, 12s. as a deposit on the passage. Subsequently, suspecting that the affair was a fraud, he had applied to the police, and Mr. Smith was taken into custody. The officer who took the case in hand stated that the address given in the placard was a public-house, whew the prisoner transacted his business. His dodge appeared to have been profit able, as 501. was found in his possession, and nume rous instances in which working men had been induced to pay the 12s. demanded were already dis covered. It was also ascertained that he had no con nection with any shipping merchants or emigrant vessels whatever. The prisoner was remanded. Is the bankruptcy case of Mr. C. Mathews, lessee of the Lyceum Theatre, a first meeting was held on Monday last, for proof of debts and choice of assignees. The amount of the former proved during the day was about 2,8001., out of a total said to exceed 22,060/., but of which the greater part were long-standing liabilities incurred previously to the bankrupt's former application to the court under the arrangement clause. The receipts of the theatre had since been placed under the control of an inspector appointed on behalf of the old creditors, although nothing was realised towards paying them off. The debts proved included those of Mr. Hine, 4071.; Mr. J. H. Mills, 2291.; Mr. Henry Sloman, 188/. ; Mr. R. Roxby, 398/. ; Mr. Wm. Brough, 158/. ; Mr. Henry Lindus, 103/.; Mr. E. Henry Rickards, 1,3001. Mr. Allcroft, of New Bond street, theatrical agent, and Mr. Henry Lindus, were chosen assignees. pilots an (Offences. THE DowN MArr. TRAIN due at Plymouth cn Sunday morning at 6.25 a.m. did not arrive until half-past nine. The delay was occasioned by an ac cident to the luggage train, in which several carriages were smashed, near the Dainton Tunnel, and so ob • structing the line. No damage was done to any person. The line is now clear. x THE FATE OF THE City of Glasgow screw-steamer, so long a missing ship, excites most painful attention at Lloyd's, where anxious inquiries are made by the relatives of the people who sailed in her, numbering in all no fewer than 405. She sailed from Glasgow for the United States on the Ist of last March, since which time no tidings have been heard of her. An impression prevails that she has been beset by the ice, large masses of which are known to be drifting about on the banks of Newfoundland and the coast of North America. Several ships out from Liverpool narrowly escaped being nipped in it. The crew and officers numbered 75; chief cabin passengers, 50; and steerage ditto, 280. Total on board, 405. A Cowstox took place on the 31st of December last on the Granton and Burntisland ferry between the steamers Leviathan and Express, which created much alarm among the passengers, though fortunately no loss of life was occasioned. Blame was attributed at the time to the parties in charge of the steamer Express, and, after a preliminary investigation into the circumstances, the Crown deemed it necessary to institute a prosecution against Samuel Barker and John M'Lellan, captain and mate of that vessel. Their case was tried before Sheriff Monteith, at the Sheriff Criminal Court of Cupar, on the 19th inst. The indictment charged them with culpable and reckless breach of duty—the former in having left the deck without sufficient reason ; and the latter in not having kept a better look out, and in having failed toput his helm to starboard so as to pass the steamer Leviathan, in consequence of all of which the two ships came in violent collision, and injured several of the pas sengers. Some of the witnesses who appeared for the prosecution alleged that the captain left the deck in order to sell whisky to the passengers. The cap tain and mate got excellent characters from the ex- 395 found both panels GuiUy, but unanimously recom mended them to the leniency of the court- The sheriff sentenced Captain Barker to imprisonment for three months, and M`Lellan, the mate, to impri sonment for two months. The sheriff, while passing sentence, reprobated the practice of selling whisky on board the vessels on the ferry. SEVERAL DESTRUCTIVE FIRES hive occurred during the week. The premises of Mr. Davenport, a whole. sale chemist, in Great Russell-street, near the Bri tish Museum, were burnt down on Monday morning, the adjoining houses being severely damaged, and several persons escaping after much alarm and diffi culty by the tire-escapes and a plank frem the first floor windows. On Wednesday a fire broke out at an upholsterer's warehouse, No. 980, Tottenham Court road, and consumed much valuable property before it could be mastered. On the morning of the same day a house in Coleman-street, occupied by Messrs. Fauntleroy, Berlin wooldyers, was destroyed, with all its contents. A QUANTITY OF WRECKAGE, consisting of beams, deck plank, and casks of provisions, have been seen off Ramsgate, floating near the Spaniard sand, sup posed to come from some unfortunate foreign ship lost on the Knock, or Long Sand. THE TRIAL OF ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM for the murder of his wife on the 22nd of December last, at Girvan, in Ayrshire, took place on Wednesday and Thursday last week, before Lords Ivory and Cock burn, at the Ayr Circuit Court. There were sixty one witnesses cited in this case. The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and Lord Cockburn sentenced him to be hanged on the 11th of May, without holding out to him the least hope of meiey. A MELANCHOLY AND FATAL ACCIDENT occurred on Tuesday night to the Rev. Dr. Claxson, incumbent of Sandhurst, near Gloucester. The deceased was pro ceeding in his carriage to Sandhurst, to marry a couple, when in descending a steep street the horse ran away. Dr. Claxson attempted to get out of the car riage, and was thrown with great violence to the ground, his head striking against the kerbstone and fracturing his skull. He was carried home, but only lingered a few hours. ANOTHER FATAL COLLISION has taken place in the Irish Channel. The American ship Gazeteer, Cap tain Watlington, which sailed on Monday from Liver pool fur New York, came in contact, off Holyhead, with the French brig Pere °reset, from Santander, and carried away her jibboom and chafed her bows. The brig has been towed into dock in a sinking state. One of the crew of the Pere Grenet was killed by the collision, and another and a boy were drowned. AN INuuesT was held on Monday touching the death of Mr. R. Daly, a retired West India pro prietor, residing near the Gray's-inn-road, who had committed suicide on the previous morning. The deceased gentleman had been formerly in the receipt of an income of 4,0001. per annum ; but, in conse quence of the depreciation of West India property, had been lately in very straitened circumstances. Verdict, " Temporary insanity." A MEDICAL JOURNAL gives some curious details on the losses sustained by the Russian army in the campaigrs of 1828 and 1t420 against Turkey. Out of 115,000 Russians, who at that time crossed the Froth, only from 10,000 to, 15,000 returned to their country, the remainder having fallen not on fields of battle, but in the hospitals, from intermit tent fevers, dysentery, and plague Scarcely had the Russian soldiers in 1828 entered Bulgaria, where the temperature between the day and night varies as much as sixteen degrees, and where the dews fall like fine and searching rain, than their health began to suffer; they were attacked with a contagions fever, which the most rigid precautions could not cheek. In less than one year the number of patients in the hospitals and field hospitals reached to 210,108, in consequence of many having been attacked more than once with the same disease. Many of those who re covered from the fever were afterwards carried off by scurvy, which reigned amongst the troops to a frightful extent. During the march of the army on Adrianople the soldiers were suddenly attacked with violent fevers, prestretlon of strength. and delirium, which carried them off in a few days. At Adrianople more than a fourth part of the dispos able forces were ill. The plague carried off all the me dic al men, and out of 6,000 men who were in the hospitals 5,200 died. This mortality it should be said was chiefly due to the infamous neglect of the soldiers by their Go vernment and their officers. Nicholas is said to have shed tears when he learned how horribly the troops had suffered at Adrianople. Tire MAIL COMMUNICATION DITIFILZM New Yong AMD CALIFORNIA now occupies twenty-five days. It is a fort nightly emnniunication, and costs the American Govern ment about 200,000 i. a year. It has been seriously entertained by the American House of Representatives to offer half a million sterling a year to whatever eon= will establish a mail between New Orleans and Ben cisco in ten days. Of the practicability of the feat in a short time no doubt seems to be entertained. A VFW days since, as a train was p a s s ing on the part of the railway from Berlin to Hamburg which runs along the edge of the forest of Friesacker, a spark from the loco motive set fire to the wood. A despatch was sent of to Berlin by electric telegraph, and in a short time twenty firemen with engines arrived ; but, notwithstanding all their efforts the flames maid net be got under until 40 0 saes of the forest had been destroyed. • 1 i ' r.