The Press. — London, England, 1855-12-15 00:00:00

DECEMBER 15, 1855. same progress be made through the last, mankind will be elevated to a pitch of civilisation which it is scarcely possi ble to have been anticipated. It rests with the youth of this country to determine whether those mighty changes shall be fur good or for evil—whether they shall tend to the benefit or deterioration of the country. It depends mainly on the education which the youth of this country receive whether this country shall rise or fall in its position among the nations of the earth. lint wherever these institutions are established an educated man can be in no want of innocent es well as wholesome amusement. There is no history, however ancient, that books will not teach him; there is no country, however remote, that books will not bring before him ; no discovery that books will not convey to him ; no art or science that books will not disclose clearly to him. Resolutions were passed affirming that the institute would be eminently serviceable to the young men of Glasgow, and calling on them to support it. THE BIRMINGHAU CATTLE -SHOW, epened On Tues day, has proved a decided success this year, the quality and quantity of the cattle bring in every re spect highly satisfactory. The cattle showed more symmetry and good feeding than size and over-feed ing. The two gold medals were awarded to a Here ford ox and a Hereford heifer, while the short-horns showed well, especially the Devons, among which many first-rate animals were to be found. Among sheep and pigs the show was good, while of poultry there was an immense display in some 1,800 pens, which showed every variety of breed. A novel feature in this year's show comprised an exhibition of roots, which proved highly attractive to the agri culturists. MEETINGS OF PUBLICANS have occurred at Bristol and other places during the last and the present week for the purpose of memorialising Lord Panmure upon the existing working of the billeting system. Various resolutions in accordance with the objects of the meetings have been proposed, and memorials to Lord Panmure unanimously adopted. Ar HARTLEPOOL a singular phenomenon occurred on Saturday last. In the course of the afternoon a dense cloud passed over the town, when suddenly the inhabitants were startled by the appearance of a flash of lightning, resembling a ball of fire, which shot over the town at a very low level, appearing almost to touch the tops of the houses. About fifteen seconds afterwards, a terrible peel of thunder burst over the town. No damage was done except in the docks, where the lightning for a moment played round the masthead of a Norwegian barque, and, after breaking off a few feet of the maintopgallant masthead, disappeared without doing further harm. A similar phenomenon has occurred during,the week in Paris. THE CHRISTMAS VACATION AT ETON COLLEGE commenced on Monday, when the sixth form and first division left; the remainder of the school took their departure on the ensuing day. The school re opens on the 16th proximo, when tie lower boys and collegers return. The fifth form return on the 17th, and the sixth form on the 1130, when the whole school will have assembled. ~lan . THE BIBLE-CURVING CASE.—The trial of Father Petcherine, which commenced on the 7th inst., ter minated on the following day. The indictment, consis.ing of seven counts, charged the traverser with having, to the discredit and dishonour of reli gion, burnt on the sth of November last a copy of the Old and New Testament, with the intent of bringing the Christian religion into contempt. The Attorney-General conducted the prosecution, and Mr. O'Hagan, Q.C., the defence. Two issues were raised, one on a matter of fact, did the traverser burn a bible ; the other on a matter of intent, did he mean by such burning to bring the Scriptures into con tempt. Several witnesses deposed to a fire being lighted in the chapel-yard, to the burning of a heap of books, under Father Petcherine's instructions, and to having taken up, handled, and read portions of a Bible, ''. el , ,tament, and Prayer Book, in and about the pile of ourning books; while the Rev. R. Wallace produced in court a portion of the hooka of Deuteronomy and Joshua, which he had personally rescued from the fire. But in the cross-examination of these witnesses it was proved that Father Petcherine was absent for half an hour after the fire was lighted, and there was no evidence to show that be examined the books or knew that there was a bible among them.—Mr. O'Hagan denied both the fact charged and the intent, and urged both the ab sence of testimony to show that the traverser knew that a Bible was among the books burnt, and the reverence with which the Roman Catholic Church had always regarded the Scriptures.—Baron Green, in charging the jury, said that the real question was, did the traverser know that a copy of the Bible wad among the b.ioks burnt by his directions ? as, if he did, it would be difficult to come to any other con clusion than that his objecj was to bring the Bible into contempt. In point of law, such an insult THE PRESS. offered to any copy of the Scriptures, whether of the authorised version or the Douay, or any other received by a Christian community as containing the revealed word of God, would be an indictable offence. The question of fact was one for the jury to decide on the evidence before them.—The jury, after an ab sence from court of three quarters of an hour, returned a verdict of Acquittal, which was received with shouts of applause both within and without the court, interspersed with groans for the Attorney- General. It is stated that the jury was composed of five Protestant anti seven Roman Catholics. THE EARL OF CHARLEVILLE, in consequence of the late agrarian outrages in King's County, has addres. sed a letter of advice to his tenantry, and warning them to abstain from nightly meetings, and to desist in time from bringing upon themselves misery and ruin. THE IRISH TENANT LEAGUE held a noisy and dis cordant conference on Tuesday last in Dublin. Mr. Kennedy, M.P., Mr. O'Brien, M.P., Mr. Corbally, M.P., and Mr. Maguire, M.P., were present. .t CURIOUS ACTION FOR LIBEL VMS tried this week in Dublin. The plaintiff was Colonel White, of Woodlands, and the defendant Mr. Tyrrell, a solicitor of Dublin. From the evidence it appeared that Mr. Tyrrell, for a friend, bad made an application to Colonel White for a commission in the Longford Rifles. Colonel White, suffering at the time from severe domestic afflictions, neglected to reply to the letter. Mn Tyrrell thereupon wrote several angry letters, and finally puhlished the correspondence in a pamphlet, which formed the ground of complaint. The jury returned a verdict for 3001. damages and costs for the plaintiff. AT THE COMMISSIONERS' COURT OR Monday the boy Hamilton was put upon his trial for assisting Father Petcherine in burning Bibles and Testaments. After a brief investigation the boy was acquitted. OFFICIAL RETURNS show a marked increase of live stock and land under cultivation since 1852, the increase in stock amounting in value to 4453011. sterling, and in land under crops to 112,382 acres. Sam ad Volta. THE BURDON POISONING CASE. Is the criminal annals of England, or in those of any other country, there is not to he found a more singular trial than that which was concluded on Tuesday last at Durham. It is true that the case was destitute or all romantic incidents; there was no suspicion that the unfortunate deceased fell a victim to the illicit passions, or even to the avarice of her husband, who stood charged with her murder. The fearful crime of poisoning was never perpetrated beneath a plainer roof, or under circumstances less calculated, one would suppose, to engender evil desires But in the whole transaction there is such a depth of mystery, that the case must be perused with great interest, and it further shows how life may be sacri ficed through the absurd scru2les of those who should be its natural guardians. Joseph Smith Wooler was indicted at Durham on the 7th inst. for the wilful murder of his wile, Jane Wooler. Mr. E. James, Q.C., was the loading counsel for the prosecution; the defence was onducted by Mr. Serjeant Wilkins and Mr. Overend ; Mr. Baron Martin was the judge. Mr. and Mrs. Wooler had been married for eighteen years, and during the whole of that period had, so far as appeared, lived happily together. Mrs. Wo iler was the daughter of a medical man ; the cir. cumstances of her husband were not stated, but it is to be presumed that he had a small independent for tune. They resided together at Burdon, near Darlington, and kept only one female servant. In this place :hey had dwelt tor seven years, but previous to that had travelled abroad, and had made two voyages to India, where they had stayed some time. During those voyages the prisoner had been accus tomed to keep a stock of medicine, and when he last returned to England be had brought with him a basket of bottles containing medicines, some of them deadly poisons. This basket it will be seen was often referred to in the course of subsequent proceedings. The maid-servant who resided with them was named Ann Taylor. About seven years ago she had resided with Mr. and Mrs. Wooler for six mouths, and she bad re-entered their service iu March, 1854, about fourteen months before Mrs. Wooler was taken seriously ill. There were no other than these three persons in the house until after Mrs. Wooler's illness became serious. Mrs. Wooler had been for some time in delicate health, and Mr. Wooler was incurably lame, so that he was dependent on his wife for continual assist ance. This dependence, according to the wi r iitesses who knew them best, had generated a moat affec tionate feeling on both sides. In all household matters Mrs. Woofer had entirely her own way. Her husband never contradicted her. The ruir who kept their garden in order said that Mcs. Wailer ' 4 was a very kind Tidy," and that he often saw ba with her husband in the garden, " very kind to each other." 1189 Miss Elizabeth Lanehester, who had known them intimately for the seven years they had resided at Burdon, and who had stayed with Mrs. Wooler during the last month of her illness, and slept with her in bed, spoke to their domestic happiness. "/f she had a wish, and he knew it, he would gratify it." This was also the testimony of Miss Bucknell, Mrs. Wooler's sister, who had resided with them some years previous for three months at a time, and who came to see her sister some days before her death : " I never saw anything but the greatest affection he tweea them. I believe she was allowed to have her own way in everything." Shortly before her death Mrs. Wooler remarked how kind her husband had always been to her. On the Bth of May last Mrs. Wooler became very and was seized with violent sickness ; she re sisted the proposal that a medical man should ho called in, but her husband insisted on it, and Dr. Jackson, of Darlington, was sent for. He treated her for dyspepsia, but a week after sh 4 became worse and had vomitings, which continued a\ intervals of a few hours until her death, and usually about every two hours. Soon after Dr. Jackson first attended her he had occasion for some medicine to administer to a patient near at hand, and Mrs. Wooler went to a cupboard and brought out an Indian basket contain ing about thirty different medicine', and among them Fowler's solution of arsenic, veratria, strychnine, nux vomica, corrosive sublimate, calomel, sweet nitre, ipecacuanha wine, Altrop's mineral, and tincture of iodine. Mr. Wooler, when asked by Dr. Jackson for what purpose he kept those dangerous medicines, replied that having been at sea for six months toge ther, he had gut into a habit of keeping them. Some of the bottles were labelled from Bombay, and others from the Cape. On the 18th of May she was seen by Dr. Jackson's medical assistant, Mr. Heuzell, who found her in a state of extreme weakness, with uneasiness at the pit of her stomach, pulse at 110 to 120, nausea, and a discharge from her bowels of mucus, tinged with blood. At that time, however, she continued to sit up. Mr. Henzell did not visit her again until the 4th of June knowing, and then, perplexed, he says, by so many symptoms for which he could not account., he was led to con jecture that arsenical poison might be the cause, and that it had been administered in small doses over a long period of time. As she evidently became worse, Dr. Jackson suggested that other advice should be called in, and Dr. Levey, the brother-iu-law of Dr. Jackson, was sent for. On the 7th of June Dr. Jackson first suspected that arsenic was administered, and then commupicated his suspicions to his assistant, adding emphatically—" Poison is there, and there is some person in the house who understands the use of it." We may presume that his suspicious at this time rested on Mr. Wooler, as he said nut a word to him OD the subject, but spoke of his wife's condition as very serious, and said be thought she was consumptive. and had ulceration of the bowels. Mr. Wooler then appeared angry that he bad not been informed of this before, and said he wished to have the best vice called in. On theBth Ji W versatiou on the sub. clergyman of the ne Dr. Ilazlewood, and sent for, and he until her death. her with special refE husband seemed no the lungs slightly diate importance to far as her lungs • At this time he chance for her' was first called ipecacuanha, and, produced the Indian posed: — My attention was specially called to three bottles, contain ing respectively veratria, strychnia, and liquor arsenicalis. I understood the last to be Fowler's solu:ion of arsenic, and spoke of it as such to the prisoner. 1 joked with Mr. Wooler on his having so much poison, and said, " Why, you have enough here to poison all Burdon." nut was the only day that t saw those bottles. From such expressions as "My attention was specially called," and " I understood the last to be Fowler's solution," it would be thought that sofas conversation as to this basket had taken place be tween Dr. Jackson and Dr. Hazlewood, but the for mer gentleman and Mr. lienzell say that they did not communicate their suspicions until 17th June, when Dr. Haziewooti's thoughts were first directed into that channel. On neither occasion, when the basket and bottles were exhibited, did Mr. Wooler appear to think that the smallest concealment wad necessary. Up to the 17th June Mrs. Wooler had been se riously ill for about six weeks, and it is impottint to note what the conduct of the prisoner had been during that time. As bliss Lanchester says that slie stayed with the deceased fora month before her death, it is to be interred that she arrived at the latter end of May. The niece of the prisoner, Mar garet Wooler, a girl of fifteen, came to stay at his the Bth June Mr. Wader bad a con. abject with the Rev. Mr. Simpson, a neighbourhood, who recommended nd that gentleman was immediately continued to attend Mrs. Wooler He seems first to have examined eferencelo consumption, which her most apprehensive of. He thought y diseased, but attached no imme• to that, saying she might live, so a were concerned, for twenty years. be thought that there a was a On the oth June, the day after he in, he bad occasion for some , mentioning his wish, Mr. Wooler idian basket. Dr. liazlewood de-