The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

FEBRUARY 21, 1857. and neglect of a poor suffering woman, one Sarah Balcon, who died on the 12th instant. A RELIGIOUS-LIBERTY DINNER took place at the London Tavern on Wednesday evening. Mr. J. R. Mills presided, and there were present, amongst others, Sir W. Clay, Bart., M.P., Mr. J. Cheetham, M.P., Mr. T. Barnes, M.P., Mr. W. S. Lindsay, M.P., Mr. E. Miall, M.P., Mr.l'. M. Weguelin, M.P., Mr. Sergeant Parry, Mr. J. Mellor, Q.C., Mr. W. Pollard Urquhart, M.P., Mr. W. Shaen, Sir Morton Peto. The customary loyal and patriotic toasts having been given and duly responded to, the chair man gave the toast of " Equal Civil and Political Advantages to Persons in every Class of the Commu nity, irrespective of religions Distinctions, an essen tial Element of Liberal Policy." The object of their meeting there that night was simply to enforce the old maxim of doing unto others what they would wish done to themselves—of having, in short, a religious peace, when civil advantages would no longer attach to the religious opinions of any creed. With what right or justice, he would ask, could this Government refuse to interfere with any class of religionists in a Mabommedan country when they were not prepared to accord the same religious free dom to all the denominations and sects which were already under their care? Mr. T. M. Weguelin, M.P., adverted to the necessity which existed, in a society constituted like that of this kingdom, iu which religious differences abounded, that they should be regarded rather as an evidence of earnest ness, and therefore there should he a mutual tolera tion among those who agreed to differ from the most conscientious motives. No man should seek for any civil advantages as attached to his religious opinions, but content himself with a conviction of the truth of the creed which he possessed. They were all storeys in one common building, differing perhaps in form and situation, but still belonging to the same general edifice, with unity of sentiment, though differing in action. Sir W. Clay, Sir Morton Peto, Mr. Cheet ham, Mr. Miall, and others, also delivered addresses on the occasion. A DREADFUL ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE 'LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY near the Barnes station on Monday. From the particulars obtained, it appears that the wife of the switchman noticed her child upon the line just as the whistle of the goods train, coming up, was sounded. The unfortunate woman rushed across the metals to save ber child, which she succeeded in doing, but before she could gain the platform sbe was caught by the train, thrown down upon the line, and her two legs nearly severed from her body by the passing of the wheels of the carriages over her limbs. The poor creature was placed in a train, removed to the Waterloo ter minus, and afterwards placed in a caravan and taken to St. Thomas's Hospital, but little, if any, hopes can be entertained of her recovery. THE COAI.WHIPPERS OF LONDO; waited by deputa tion upon Lord Stanley of Alderley on Wednesday to explain the grievances they now suffer from the with drawal of the bill which protected them from the old public-house truck system. The deputation prayed for the renewal of the old bill, and Lord Stanley promised that inquiry should be made into the matter. THE REGISTR.AR•GENERAL'S RETURNS for the week that ended on Saturday were 1,264, and exhibit a decrease on those of the preceding week of 104. Last week the birth of 947 boys and 904 girls, in all 1,851 children, were registered in London. In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1847-56 the average number was 1,550. Vrobinttal. A SINGUIAB CASE OF ATTEMPTED MURDER AND HIGHWAY ROBBERY occurred near Reigate, in Surrey, last Thursday week. As Mr. Ovenden, a tradesman in the neighbourhood, was driving in a cart near the Philanthropic Farm School at Redhill, between four and five o'clock in the afternoon, he passed a man lying across the road, who begged of him for God's sake to help him up. Mr. Ovenden got out of the cart, and was in the act of helping the man up, when the fellow seized him, presented a pistol to his head, and demanded his money. Mr. Ovenden imme diately seized the pistol by the barrel, when the man fired, and the bali entered Mr. Ovenden's shoulder. lie then threw Mr. Ovenden on the ground, robbed him of his money and his watch, and, presenting another pistol, threatened, if he moved or made the least noise, to " finish" him. The villain then made off across the fields, and Mr. Ovenden, though suffering much agony, managed to drive into Redhill. Information was at once given to the police, and a reward of 2001. has been offered for the apprehen sion of the robber. AN EMILESS TRAIN ran off the rails last Sunday evening, on the North Shields and Tynemouth branch. Fortunately the coupling chain between the engine and carriages broke, and though the car riages were smashed into each other, yet few of the passengers were seriously hurt, and no lives were lost. A COLLIERY EXPLOSION occurred near Wigan on Thursday week last in the Pew Fold Colliery, Ashton, THE PRESS. about four miles from Wigan, by which three colliers were killed and two others very seriously burned. The explosion took place about four o'clock in the afternoon, caused it is said by a naked light. The two injured men are now lying in a very precarious state, but are likely to recover. A COLLIERY EXPLOSION of the most disastrous nature occurred on Thursday afternoon, at the Lund hill Colliery, near Barnsley; 142 men are believed to have been destroyed. The explosion of fire-damp was so terrific that it shook the earth for miles around, set fire to the pit, and the raging flames shooting up the air-shaft—upwards of 600 feet deep— towered sixty feet above the top, lighting up the country for au enormous distance. The mouths of the different shafts were stopped up with planks and earth to choke the draught and put out the fire, but not the slightest hope exists that any of the unfortu nate men left in the pit can be alive. THE LACE FACTORY of Mr. Berry, in Bent's lane, Nottingham, was destroyed by fire on Thursday. The loss is very great. There were thirty-one lace machines, all of which are destroyed or rendered useless. They were of the newest make, with all the modern improvements, principally used in the manufacture of plain nets. The damage is estimated at between 20,000/. and 30,0001. anb Volta. Mr.s. Au.sor, whose case has excited so much commiseration, appeared before Mr. Broughton, at Marylebone Police-office, on Tuesday, and after re plying in a very unsatisfactory manner to several of Mr. Broughton's questions, was addressed by the magistrate in the following terms : I believe that your story with regard to your five sons having lost their lives in the service of their country is a fable. If it be not so, it is a most extraordinary thing that clergymen and others whose names you have made use of in various ways, and who, as stated by you, have known you for a long while, know nothing respecting your children, the young men whom you state have perished in battle. You told the guardians and directors of the poor that you had three sons and two daughters only, and the letter which I have by me, addressed by you to Colonel Phipps, is dated March, 1850. When I received it from you it bore the date 18;nt. The Prince caused inquiries to be made, and they turned out to be unfavourable—hence arose the letter declining assistance to the widow. I (added Mr. Broughton) have also made the most diligent inquiries, and they are equally unfavourable as regards your claim for assistance. After a careful investigation I come to no other conclusion than that you ( Mrs. Allsop) had no sons killed either at Cahill or in the Crimea, and that your story in your applications to Royalty was not founded in fact. Mrs. Allsop then left the court, saying, "I'll have the whale of my case put into all the papers." A VERDICT OF " WILFUL MtirtnEn" has been re turned against Beam by the coroner's jury engaged at Stamford in the investigation of the causes of the death of Mrs. Bacon, sen., on the 15th of May, 1855. Bacon, it will be remembered, is now in gaol on sus picion of having cut the throats of both his children and attempted to murder his wife at Walworth some weeks since. During the investigation, certain rumours rtached the authorities of the peculiar symptoms attending old Mrs. Bacon's death in 1855, and by which Bacon came into certain property. The body of the deceased was promptly exhumed, and the viscera submitted to Dr. Taylor for chemical analysis. On Wednesday Dr. Taylor presented to the coroner's jury his report, which may be summed up in a few words. Three quarters of a grain of arsenic were detected in the intestines, stomach, liver, kidneys, and spleen. The evidence of several witnesses proved that in March, '55, Mrs. Bacon had suffered a sudden and severe attack of illness, falling suddenly from her chair in a sort of fit. From this she recovered, but in May of the same year she ex • perienced a second and almost similar attack, exhi biting symptoms of extreme suffering, with great thirst, paius in the abdomen, spasms, stiffness of limbs, and purging, with sickness. The symptoms in some sort resembled those of cerebral disease, and at her death the local surgeon, bearing in mind the illness in March, gave a ceitificate accordingly. The prisoner's sister-in-law, Ann Bacon, swore that on the 12th of May Mrs. Bacon was quite well ; that on the 13th, while staying at her son's house, she was first taken ill, and told witness, who was sent for, that she (Mrs. Bacon) had been very well all the morning, but had been seized with purging and sick ness while at dinner, after taking some broth. During Monday Mrs. Bacon continued very ill. On Tuesday she became worse:— She had great pain in her body, and complained of being stiff all over. Thomas Bacon was in the house when I got there, and continued about all day. Daring the morning I beard Thomas Bacon say to his wife, " Give mother something out of that bottle now," pointing to one on a dressing table in the bedroom. I said, " What is it?" Thomas Bacon replied, Something that mother had yes terday that does her good." I observed that it was not an ordinary• medicine bottle, but did not examine it particu larly at the time. I thought it was a little peppermint, or something of that kind. It contained a whitish•colonred 179 liquid. On the night Mrs. Bacon (lied, and immediately after death, Thomas Bacon said, " This bottle belongs to me ; I may as well take it away, as it will be of no further use." 'Ms was the same bottle I had previously observed on the dressing• table. Professor Taylor, after hearing all _the evidence, said : I am of opinion that the attack in March, as described by Mr. Barber and Ann Bacon, is unlike the effects of arsenic ; that the symptoms of pain, vomiting, purging, and thirst on Sunday, May 1:1, occurring after dinner, are such as wonld be and are commonly produced by arsenic ; and, as arsenic was found in the body, in my opinion they were occasioned by that poison. The symptoms observed on Monday night and on Tuesday of spasms and delirium with general depression, u described by Mr. Barber, are such as may be produced by arsenic when a person has survived two or three days. They are not so common in cases of poisoning by arsenic as symptoms of vomiting and purging, and they may Le produced by disease of the brain. Looking to the description of the symptoms on the attack in March, and their similarity to those ob served by Mr. Barber on Tuesday, May 15, it is possible that death may have been caused by a sudden recurrence of disease of the brain, and not by arsenic. At the same time the symptoms of Sunday, Monday, and Tnesday, in the month of May, taken together, as described by Mr. Barber and the other witnesses, are, in my opinion, consistent with death from arsenic. The coroner then recapitulated the evidence, when the jury returned a verdict of " Wilful murder." On the same day Bacon and his wife were finally examined before Mr. Elliott at Lambeth Police-court on the charge of murdering their children, and both prisoners remanded till the depositions of the wit nesses were prepared. The body of Bacon's father, who died suddenly is 1854, is to be exhumed at once. SECOND EDITION. SATURDAY AFTERNOON. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. PERSIA. The Persian manifesto of the Bth of January, after alluding to the concessions offered by Persia to Great Britain, and instituting a contrast between the friendly disposition of Persia and the determined hostility of England, concludes in the following terms:— Seeing after this the fruitlessness of its friendly advances and loyal efforts, and being persuaded that England will not refrain from carrying further its domineering desires and unjust views, the Persian Government finds itself obliged to appeal to the favour of the Most High, and to use all the means in its power to defend the country and people, and t) resist an insolent enemy ; and to submit to any sacrifice for the welfare and honour of the nation, that these objects, its holy religion, may not be lightly exposed to ignominy and dishonour. It is clear that the Persian Government has had no in tention of offending a powerful ally or of finding pretexts for infringing upon treaties, nor a desire to revive slumber ing grievances or to see the shedding of human blood. Which of the two parties will have provoked this great calamity the Most High will judge. The Persian Govern ment has not neglected, nor will neglect, anything in the despatch of commanders and sufficient military forces and artillery, or in the adoption of all suitable measures for the repulsion of the enemy. AUSTRIA. The Times Vienna correspondent (second edi tion) writes on the 19th : The positive assurance has to day been given me that the idea of placing Trieste, Istria, Dalmatia, the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, and the Southern Tyrol under one and the same governor-general has never been entertained either by the Emperor or his Ministers. It is credibly related that the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian has resolved not to accept the office of Governor-General of the Lom bardo•Venetian kingdom, unless the military as well as the civil authorities of the country are placed under his control, and the refusal of the Emperor to accept the condition is supposed to have occasioned the sud den departure of the Archduke from Milan Authentic information has to-day been received that an " extremely energetic " note was about a week ago ad dressed by Count Buol to the Sardinian Government lhe Austrian Minister complained bitterly of the excessive li cense of the press, and expressed his indignation that the Turin Government should permit papers which openly re commend regicide to appear in Sardinia. Many persons fear that there will be a regular rup ture between the two Governments, but Austria has no intention of going to war with Sardinia. If the Turin Government does not undertake to keep the press within due bwouds, Austria is likely entirely to break off her diplomatic relations with Sardinia, but she will not endeavour to obtain satisfaction by force of arms. A telegraphic despatch, which has just arrived from Tnrin, announces that the Italia a Popolo, the most violent of the ultra• Radical papers published in Sardinia, will cease to appear. Crry, Eleven o'clock. Consols for Account.. • • 93 - 4 111•11 NI W 4