The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-26 00:00:00

Central ItTetas.

THE KEIGHLIII POISONING CASE.—The inquiry into
the cause of the death of Barbara Sugar, was resumed at
the Keighley Court House, on Wednesday morning.
The depositions, which were of considerable length,
having been completed and subscribed, Sugar was com-
mitted for trial for the murder of his wife at the next
York assizes.

BALLOT MEETING AT AYLESBURY. A crowded
meeting was held at Aylesbury on Wednesday evening,
to promote the adoption of the ballot. Mr. John Gibbs
occupied the chair. The meeting was addressed by Mr.
E. C. Witehurst, Dr. Lee, of Hartwell Park, and
several gentlemen well known in the locality. The ar-
rangements for taking the votes by ballot in Australia
were explained, and a resolution was unanimously
passed that no measure of parliamentry reform would be
acceptable without the ballot.
-- •

THE ORGAN-GRINDING NUISANCE.—On Monday
evening week a highly respectable public meeting of
the inhabitants of the parish of Padaington was held at
the Prince of Wales Hotel, Bishop's-road, for the pur-
pose of taking into consideration the best course to
pursue with a view of putting a stop to the continual
nuisances caused by street musicians, organ-grinders,
haulers, and other disturbers of the public peace.
After much indignation had been expressed a committee
was appointed.
A NEW RAILWAY AT THE CAPE.—A prospectus has
been issued of a Cape Railway Company for the con-
struction of a line in the eastern province of that colony,
under a board of direction similar to that of the Cape
Town Railway and Dock Company. The proposed
capital is £600,000, and the object is simply for the
company to be prepared to tender at the proper time for
the execution of works in the district indicated, in case
the colonial Legislature shall, according to expectation,
authorize at their approaching session a concession to
be granted, with a guarantee of 6 per cent.

months

ALARMING ACCIDENT TO LADY MARY HOOD.—On
Thursday afternoon, as Lady Mary Hood was leaving
Park-street, Windsor, on her return to Cumberland-
lodge, driving a pair of spirited horses in a sociable, she
accidentally let fall one of her reins, which coming
against the heels of the horses set them kicking and
plunging until they literally kicked the carriage to
pieces. Lady Hood was thrown violently on the pave-
ment and received a contused wound on the face, her
ankle sprained, and she was otherwise much bruised.
Her ladyship was immediately attended by Mr. Brown,
Her Majesty's surgeon at Windsor, who accompanied
her to Cumberland-lodge. Notwithstanding the severity
of the accident we are gratified to learn that the injuries
are not considered to be of a dangerous character.
REMARKABLE ESCAPE.—Mr. Pierrepoint had a mi-
raculous escape at the Great Northern station on Satur-
day week. He wished to cross from the north to the
south side of the station, but the moment he got upon
the steps a pilot engine and tender entered the yard,
and thinking it was coining up the south side he stood
still a moment, and descended to the north line, just as
the engine and tender came up that line. He was in-
stantly knocked down, and his legs going under the
fire-box the bar caught his feet, and he was pushed on
full twenty yards. The steam was shut off, and the
engine was reversed directly the accident happened. As
soon as the train 'stopped Mr. Pierrepoint scrambled
from underneath unhurt. Had the engine been going
at high speed death would have been instantaneous.
—Lincoln Mercury.
SHIPS' SIGNALS.—The Board of Customs have just
issued a circular directing their officers at the several
ports of the United Kingdom to endorse upon the cer-
tificates of registry of British ships, when presented for
clearance or report, and also on the certificates of all
new ships at the time of registry, the four letters by
which the signal flags appropriated to their official num-
bers are distinguished in the commercial code of signals.
Every vessel has an especial signal which, hoisted when
passing ships of war or signal stations, will be reported
through the usual channels. It behoves owners who
wish to be informed of the progress of their vessels, to
provide these four flags, even when they do not adopt
the whole code, and 80 avail themselves of this useful
regulation.
VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER AGAINST TWO MEDICAL
MEN.— The inquiry at Maidstone into the cause of the
death of Betsy Brooker, a young married woman, was
resumed Thursday before Mr. Kipping, the coroner for
the borough of Maidstone, at the Old English Gentleman
Inn, in that borough. There have already been two
previous inquiries before .the coroner, and the case,
from the circumstances connected with it, and the sup-
position that was generally entertained that the death
of the deceased was owing to the unskilful treatment of
two medical gentlemen who attended her during a pre-
mature confinement, has created s great deal of interest
in the neighbourhood of Maidstone, where one of the
gentlemen in question has carried on an extensive
practice for a great number of years. At its conclusion,
the jury deliberated for some time, and when the court
was opened they gave a unanimous verdict of "Man-
slaughter" against Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Aycost, but at
the same time expressed their sympathy with the latter
on account of his advanced age. The coroner upon this
made out his warrant of commitment of the parties to
take their trial at the ensuing spring assizes for the
county of Kent.

MR. JOHN BRIGHT, M.P., AND THE BIRMINGHAM
REFORMERS.—A meeting of the newly-constituted Bir-
mingham Reformers' Union was held on Monday night
week. One of the speakers (Mr. J. S. Wright) said he
would state a few facts with reference to the health of
their esteemed member, Mr. Bright. A paragraph had
appeared in the Daily Press, intimating that Mr. Bright
would not, perhaps, enter Parliament at all. What he
(Mr. Wright) had to say he had authority for saying.
Ten days ago he had seen Mr. Bright, and, therefore,
he could speak with certainty as to his health. Ile was
the same john Bright as during the corn law agitation,
possessing the same energy and power of mind; and
Mr. Bright intimated to him that if he (Mr. Wright)
were with him for three months he would see no differ-
ence in his health. Sir James Watts, Mayor of Man-
chester, had also told him that Mr. Bright would soon
be able to take part in public matters. He had likewise
imen the brother of their esteemed representative, with
the view of ascertaining if the latter could attend a
meeting in Birmingham. His brother said that Mr.
Bright would not like to plunge at once and so boldly into
public business. Mr. Wright afterwards went to Roch-
dale, and there he saw Mr. Bright; he described the
anxiety evinced by that gentleman to return to public
life. The time authorized by Sir James Clarke and
other physicians as necessary for his restoration to health
had nearly expired, and no doubt in a few weeks Mr.
Bright would be found in his place in Parliament—not
iyrigohftehicadpredsaeisnirgedhhisimvi(erdwrs. upon
Wright) to
to remain there like a slave till 2 or 3 o'clock in the
morning, but, as he himself had said, he would take an
at pain and regret he felt at not being
geearxupelresytizonpipohertmgreurn. t
able to attend the first meeting of the Reformers'
Union. There was, however, no doubt he would soon
be restored to public life, to take his seat in Parliament,
and afterwards come among his constituents. This state-
' insist was received with touch cheering.

ANOTHER COAL PIT ROPE ACCIDENT—An accident,
attended with the loin' of four lives, occurred at No. 3
Tartan Pit, Clayeross Collieries, near Chesterfield, on
Monday afternoon. At about 20 minutes to 1 o'clock
four men got into the chair to descend, and had been
lowered only a few feet when the rope broke, and they
wero all precipitated to tho bottom and killed on the
spot, their litnbs being frightfully mangled. The four
deceased were named Edward Johnson, aged 30, married,
widow and two children ; Junes Green, 19 unmarried;
Joseph Vardy, 20, unmarried ; Edward Stones, 17, un-
married. The cause of the accident has not yet been
explained. The rope was made of wire ; it was care-
fully examined before the colliers went to work in the
morning, and again at noon before they were drawn up
to dinner, and had in the interim drawn up about 200
tons of coals. Another fatal accident occurred at Clay.
cross the same morning. About half a-ton of "bind"
foil upon a man named Robert Cane as he was working
in an ironstone pit, and killed hiui.
CORONERS' FEES. —At the adjourned Christmas
quarter cessions for the West Riding, held at Wakefield
on Saturday week, the 'subject of coroners' fees again
came under discussion. The chairman, Mr. J. B.
Greenwood, suggested that the coroners should present
their accounts every month, instead of every three
months as heretofore. The Court then proceeded to ex-
amine the accounts presented, the ouroners explaining
the nature of the various cases in which inquests had
been held. Claims were made for fees whenever the
death had been occasioned by violence of any kind ; but
the Court disallowed the fees unless; direct criminality
had been suggested, and an absolute necessity existed
for an inquiry. In those cases where more than one
person had been killed by the same accident, such as the
bursting of a boiler oi an explosion of firedamp in a coal
pit, the fee for one inquest only was granted, notwith.
standing that the inquiries were long and adjourned,
The total number of cases in which the fees were dig.
allowed was 30, of which 33 were violent or accidental

deaths.
—On Monday last the new suspension
the road
howell, which spans the river Severn, upon t
four
or about our
leading from Gartlimill to Montgomery, a
fell, din
or five miles from the latter town, suddenlyan
of four
its fall precipitated into the river two teams
unfortu-
nately
FALL OF A SUSPENSION BRIDGE ANDhLoridsgse
OF
LCrraeEr:
horses each, and the wagoners, one of whom
drawing
of Dudston, and Mr. E. Jones, of Crankerell, werea paass-
ing over the bridge, the former about a dozen y rd
advance of the latter, and when the first was near the
four
horsesl o lost
ahai s'
each,
abyalmanogirniagngtatmtwo
.teGatamayaosf,
in
centre of the way the structure fell at both ends, preci-
pitating horses, wagons, and Mr. Groves' wagoner into
the river. The boy driving Mr. Jones's team, with ad-
mirable presence of mind, when he saw the crash, leaped
the left-hand parapet and escaped unhurt. Immediate
assistance was procured, and the horses got out alive
and not much hurt; but the man, named Gush, was
taken up quite dead. An inquest was opened before
Mr.
Dr. Slyman, coroner for Montgomeryshire, when
Wilding, surgeon, Montgomery, said that he had been
d
in the habit of passing over the suspension bri ge, which
was a light looking structure,
a good deal, and for the
last month, from the jingling of the chains, he had a
presentiment that it wasnot quite safe. On the morn-
ing before the accident he passed over, and thought the
noise greater than usual. After some formal evidence
had been given the inquest was adjourned until Wed-
nesday.
FATAL ACCIDENT AT DOVER.—OR Saturday week,
while a salute was being fired from the Drop Redoubt,
Dover, in honour of the arrival of the Duchessof Saxe
Coburg, a disastrous accident took place, one of the guns
having prematurely exploded. Two artillerymen, who
were at the time engaged at the muzzle of the gun—one
having just put the cartridge into the mouth of the gun,
and the other being in the act of ramming it down—were
by the force of the explosion blown over the parapet
which surrounds the battery into the ditch below, a
depth of 40 feet. Each of the unfortunate men lost both
arms, and one of them, a gunner, John Firth, was so
injured by his bayonet sword being forced into his
stomach that he died on the following night in great
pain. The other poor fellow is lying at the hospital in a
very critical condition. An inquest was held on Tuesday
before Mr. G. T. Thompson respecting the death of
Firth. One of the witnesses, a bombardier of the Royal
Artillery, gave his opinion that the explosion arose from
!he cartridge catching a spark. He said that occasion-
ally the grass in front of the guns ignited, and in carry-
ing the cartridge over the burning grass it was possible
for a particle of fire to adhere to the funnel. The jury
returned the following verdict:—" That the deceased
John Firth was accidentally killed while firing a salute."
They requested the coroner to write to the proper mili-
tary authorities expressing their opinion that, judging
from the evidence, the guns had not been placed in a
safe position upon the occasion of this deplorable acci-
dent, and trusting that in future the guns would be
placed at a greater distance from the edge of the parapet.
CEMETERIES FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS.—A short time
ago a memorial was presented to the Commissioners of
the Doncaster Cemetery on behalf of the Roman Catho-
lic community in that town praying that a portion of
the cemetery grqund should be set apart for the inter-
ment of deceased members of that body exclusively.
The application led to a warm discussion, which ended
in the rejection of the memorial by a small majority.
Mr. H. F. Tempest, of Nether-hall, thereupon addressed
the Home Secretary on the subject, in consequence of
which a letter, of which the following is a copy, has
been received by the board :—" Whitehall, Jan. 16.
Gentlemen,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George
Grey to inform you that he hem recently received a
letter addressed to him by Mr. Tempest, on behalf of
himself and the Roman Catholics of Doncaster, com-
plain' ing orthe refusal of the commissioners under the
Donca.ster Cemetery Act to set apart a separate portion
of the cemetery for the interment of Roman Catholics,
such interments numbering as it is stated about one-
third of the interments in the unconsecrated portion of
the cemetery. While Sir George Grey must disclaim
all right to interfere with the discretion which the law
has left to the commissioners in this matter, he thinks it
right to inform you that such a complaint has been ad-
dressed to him, and he desires me to say that he can
scarcely doubt that due consideration will be given by
you to the facts upon which the application of the
Roman Catholics at Doncaster appears to have been
made. I am, Gentlemen, your obedient servant, W.
MASSEY." This letter it will be seen, was written on
Saturday, On Friday the Doncaster Cemetery Com-
missioners held their first meeting since the last annual
election of the members of the board, and the question
above referred to having been again brought forward,
the previous decision of the board was reversed, and the
application of the Roman Catholics granted.
MURDEROUS ASSAULT.—A shocking case of assault
was brought under the notice of the county magistrates
of Bishop Auckland on the 14th inst. It appears that a
' pitman named Henry Etherington had been cohabiting
with a woman named Mary Venison, of Byers-green,
since her husband left her and went to America, 15
months ago. The woman has recently had a child by
Etherington, and on Wednesday last he went to see her.
He asked her to have a glass of ram with him, but.
she refused. He then prevailed upon her to go with
him to the back-door of the house, alleging that he had
something to say to her which he did not wish another
woman who was present to hear. She went with him to
the door, when he began to talk about marrying her,
saying that his father had left him 220; but she refused
to listen to his overtures, said she wanted to have nothing
more to do with him, and turned back into the
house. He followed her, reverting to the subject of
marriage, and expressed his wish to have the child,
endeavouring to persuade the woman to put on ita
things and go with him to the back-door again. She,
however, persisted in rejecting his proposals, and was
going into the pantry to fetch something when Ethering-
ton stole behind her and dealt her a moot deadly blow
on the skull with a coal pick, which he had brought to
the house with him. She dropped almost senseless on
the floor, but almost immediately after raised herself on
her knees, and with her hands clasped, exclaimed, "Oh,
Harr!, don't kill me !" He replied, "Yes. I'll murder
you, and began to repeat his blows with the pick. The
poor woman, however, contrived to break away from
him, and ran into a neighbour's house, whither Ether-
ington, completely infuriated, followed her, seized her
by the hair, and was aiming another blow at her, when
her mother rushed into the oottage and seising his arm,
prevented him. The cries of the neighbours had by this
time attracted the attention of a policeman, and Ether-
ington was taken into custody. The magistrates fully
committed the prisoner for trial since his imprison-
ment Etherington has acknowledged that jealousy was
the exciting cause of his savage attack.
DARING BURGLARY NEAR BARNSLEY. Early 011
Wednesday morning a farmhouse in a lonely situation
on the road between Cawthorn and Denby, about five
miles from Barnsley, and occupied by Mr. Joseph Clark-
son, a person of some wealth, was entered by a gang of
burglars, who, with masks on their faces and otherwise
disguised, entered the sleeping apartment of Mr. Clark-
son, and rudely awaking him demanded his money. One
of them had a bull's-eye lantern, which he turned full
on the bed, and the others were armed with short
bludgeons, which afterwards turned out to be whip
stocks loaded with lead at one end, similar to "life pre-
servers." Mr. Clarkson, who is upwards of eighty-four
years of age, endeavoured to spring up as soon as he
saw the character of his visitors, but he was instantly
knocked down again by a blow on the head, which was
repeated amid oaths and menaces until the old gentle-
man became nearly insensible. His daughter-in-law,
who was sleeping in another room, was alarmed by the
noise in the house, and was in the act of leaving her
bed when she was seized by one of the burglars and held
down in bed, under a threat of being killed if she
moved. The servant man, named Richard Marshall,
who slept in an upper part of the house, was also
aroused by the voices of the intruders, and he armed
enide
himself with a gun which stood in his bed-room, but
y acceletedr
unfortunately it was not loaded, and there was no pow-
der in the room. Putting a cap on the nipple, however,
wbl:irs h
he sallied out on the staircase, where he encountered one
of the burglars, who, on seeing the gun presented at
him W
by the explosion of the cap. Marshall followed him out
tnm
of the house, and ran as ouickly as he could to the near-
est houses, the
of them soon accompanied him to back the farm, accelerated
In
he meantime
ti to e
flight,
th inmates of which he summoned, and 14
e robbers which
wadas considerably
s aiararmbl
at the escape
of the servant; they therefore left Mr. Clarkson in bed,
declaring they would murder him if he stirred, and ad-
dressing a similar warning to his daughter-in-law de-
camped with considerable celerity; they -
got clear ff
but with only a limited emount of booty.So °
cious characters were seen in the locality tt
theme allapm,
day, and two of these have since been anprehenXedev.
TUNNEL BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE.— Some
time ago a French engineer, H. Tho
published a plan for unitingE oie de Gamond,
England with France by
means of a tunnel beneath the sea from Boulo gue-sur-
Her to Dover. The Emperor of the m e French directed that
M. de Gamond's plan should be f dre erre to a commission
of Government civil engineers, all eminent men • anti
this commission, after examining the scheme in all is
details, has come to the conclusion that it is feasible,
and ought to be seriously
entertained; and it has re-
commended the Government to disburse £20,000 for the
purpose of making new investigations respecting it.
The same commission recommended that the English
Government should be requested to say if it be disposed
to take any part in these investigations.

CURES Or ABTRI(A, COUGHS, &C., Dv DR. LOCOCIt'a PIILMONIC
WATERB.—From Mr. Oldham, chemist, Market-place, Wif -
beach.—" From the great quantity of your wafers I have sold,
I have had an excellent opportunity of witnercing their effects,
and I have much pleasure in being able to inform you that
several obstinate cues of asthma and coughs have been coin.
pletely cured by their sine ; and, indeed, their efficacy is general
in diseases of the lungs." To singers and public epeekere they
are invaluable for clearing and strengthening the voice, They
have • pleasant taste. Price Is. ltd., 28. 9d. and its, per box-
Bold by s.D drugglete.