The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-22 00:00:00

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

No CALENDAR, AND AN EMPTY GAOL.—At the Epiphany
Quarter Sessions, held at Rye, on Thursday, there were no
prisoners for trial. Jessop, the chief officer, also informed us
(Sussex Advertiser) that the gaol was empty.
TILE WAR, it appears, has eaten up all the spare bronze.
To an application to Government for a contribution of metal
for the proposed statue of Newton, an answer has been re-
ceived that all the bronze in the possession of Government is
required for the casting of cannon.
IT is stated, in a medical journal, that Dr. Marshall Hall
has discovered that the hitherto inscrutable poison of strychnia
may be discovered, on post mortem examination, by the aid of
a frog, the fiftieth part of a grain of the acetate of strychnia,
dissolved in water, being sufficient to kill a frog immersed
therein.

ATTEMPTED BANK RODBERY.—A desperate attempt was
made, on Tuesday morning, to rob the bank of Messrs. P. and
W. Hancock, of Wiveliscombe. The burglars effected an en-
trance, forced open a door, several drawers, and one iron safe,
but found the strong room impenetrable. They only succeeded
in stealing' between £3 and £4, left in a private till. It is be-
lieved that four persons were concerned in this robbery.
ONE dark night last week, William Goulder, a labourer at
Caversham, was driving his master's cart over a bridge of the
Great Western Railway, near Sonning, when the wheel ran
against a projecting stone, and jolted his whip out of his hand.
In alighting to pick it up, he stepped on the parapet of the
bridge ; thinking it was the step of the cart, he took another
leap, and fell on the line of railway, a distance of full forty feet
from the parapet. He died a quarter of an hour afterwards.
THE statue of Charles 1., at Charing-cross, London, has just
undergone some very necessary repairs. It has been raised one
inch, and generally strengthened in its place; it having been
found, on inspection, to have been only kept erect by an iron
bolt, of the thickness of only half an inch by three-sixteenths
of an inch (which was considerably corroded), inserted into
the near hind leg of the horse. New spurs have been given to
the King, and a bridle to his horse.
RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—On the Great Northern Railway, on
Wednesday, a tire of a wheel of a first-class carriage in the up
mixed express train broke about two miles south of the Tal-
lington station. Before the train could be quite stopped, the
carriage turned partly over, and two passengers were injured—
Lady Harris, who had the small bone of her arm broken, and
aon of Colonel Smythe, who was slightly hurt. They are at
the hotel at Peterborough, and doing well. None of the other
passengers were hurt, and all proceeded on their journey.
Ma. FREDERICK SERGEANT, son of a farmer at Northill,
went into a hovel where there was a bull, which had been in
their possession five years, and had always been very quiet.
The bull rushed at Mr. Frederick Sergeant, knocked him
down, and gored him so frightfully that he died the same day.
It was stated at the inquest that the deceased had just been
assisting in killing a pig. -and went to the bull with hands
covered with blood. Several jurymen remarked that bulls
always evinced great irritation at the sight of blood. A verdict
of "Accidental death" was returned.
THE correctional police of Dijon last week punished a man,
named Viennot, for selling his wife to a neighbour of the name
of Saget, and this latter for being concerned in so immoral a
bargain. The former declared before the court that the sale
was only a fictitious one, devised by him to try the affection
and virtue of his wife ; whilst, on the other hand, Saget
assured the court that he had acted with perfect good faith,
since, being lame, and earning his bread by the sale of ginger-
bread and sweetmeats in the open air, he considered that the
wife of his neighbour would be a valuable assistance to him in
his little business. The court condemned both the men to a
year's imprisonment.
ADVICES PROM IVIEMEL give the statistics for the past year of
the Russian exports and imports carried on through that port,
and demonstrate that the traffic, instead of being checked, is
largely increasing. The quantity of flax exported was 47,000
tons against 32,230 tons in 1854, and of tallow, 25,140 tons
against 15,500. Hemp shows a moderate diminution, the
totals being 17,930 tons against 20,510 tons ni the preceding
year. Ali kinds of munitions of war are stated to have been
imported across the frontier with such perfect 'connivance on
the put of the Prussian authorities as to have reduced the
current prices for them. to a peint in many instances almost
approaching those of times of peace.
JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.—It is rumoured that the new
net 'now in preparation by government for the incorporation
and regulation of joint-stock companies contains a clause
which will increase, by defining, the responsibilities of
directors. It is said to declare that every director shall be
held to be acquainted with all the acts of the board, and also
that every director shall be responsible for the truth of the
-statements which they put forth. If they say that a railway
las made a profit, or that a bank has assets to meet its en-
gagements, they are to be held responsible to all parties
-interested, for the truth of what they thus publish.—Times.
FARMERS' PROSPECTS TOR 1856.—Seldom has a year
,commenced with fairer prospects for the farmer. Though
the prices of wheat and other agricultural produce have fallen
''considerably within the last month, they are still high. We
never participated in the opinion that something like famine
prices would occur, and have constantlylooked for a reaction
in prices as has occurred. The supply of Christmas meat to
the metropolis has so much exceeded the demand, that prime
meat has been sold at very moderate rates. The wheat plant
generally looks well. The worst effect of the high prices has
been that landowners are drawing back from improvements,
which they felt compelled to effect' when wheat sold for 40s.
per quarter ; whilst farmers are again falling into their old
error of neglecting to lisist on terms which they know to be
essential to profitable farming.—Economist.

BONA FIDE STARV'ATION.—In the storm of the night of
Tuesday, the 18th ult., at about ten •o'clock, the schooner
Ellen, of Wisbeach, was cast ashore at the entrance of the
Tay. At the moment she struck a poor boy Was washed
away and perished, and after a time the:master, the mate, and
two hands succeeded in gaining the inhospitable shore, and
made for the lights on the railway. Unfortunately, it was past
eleven o'clock before they were able to claim admittance at the
door of an inn, where they were refused shelter, and, on appli-
cation at other houses of so-called entertainment, these un-
profitable customers were " not heard." In fact, in Car-
noustie the law is so rigorously observed that it was three
hours before these poor, half-drowned, perishing strangers re-
ceived that shelter they thought they 'had a right to expect
in a Christian land. At last, it appears, they fell into the
hands of one who considered them to be both " bontifide
travellers and bong fide fellow-creatures," and, regardless of
the law, took them in, and made them as comfortable as his
circumstances would allow.—North Briiieh Daily Mail.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES.—Two daring and successful rob-
beries have just been committed in Devonshire. On Monday
night the premises of Mr. Burrington, of lligh-street, Exeter,
were entered, and from 60 to 70 gold and silver watches, 30
to 40 gold chains, the same number of Albert chains, and a
number of second-hand silver watches, estimated to be worth
in the aggregate upwards of £l,OOO, were stolen. The thieves
effected the robbery in a most ingenious manner. They en-
tered at the back of :the premises, cut a piece of glass out of
the kitchen window, carefully removed some hyacinth glasses,
and, having lifted the sash, they thus obtained entrance into
the house. They then went through a sitting-room into the
shop, and took away the property named, without disturbing
the owner, who slept in a room above the kitchen, where they
first entered, and madeoff with their booty. The police are
on the alert, but as yet :no clue has been obtained to the rob-
bers. On Sunday night the premises of Mr. French, a gentle-
man residing at Crediton, were entered, and a large quantity
of silver plate was carried off. In this instruce also no clue
has yet been obtained to the perpetrators of the robbery.
TILE KING OF PRUSSIA. AND RELIGIOUS TOLERATION.—
Our readers will remember that Sir Culling Eardley and
others, as representatives of different countries, waited on the
King of Prussia some weeks ago; at Cologne, as a deputation
from the Paris Evangelical Alliance Conference. His Majesty's
answer is published in eaxtenso in the Post Zeitung, of
Frankfort. It is dated the 11th of December, 1855, and
:signed by his Excellency M..de Bernsdorff. The sepresenta-
tive of the king reiterates at 'the outset, in the name of his
august sovereign, the assurances of hearty goodwill given by
the king himself to the deputation at Cologne ; he then informs
Sir Culling Eardley that his majesty has ordered a searching
inquiry with respect to the acts .of intolerance which had been
notified to him by the deputation as having been committed
in his own dominions ; and that he has, moreover, instructed
his representatives at the courts of Electoral Hesse, I.lledlen-
burg-Schwerin, Saxe-Meiningen, and Schaumburg-Lippe, to
call the attention of those governments to the acts of perse-
cution committed in these several states, as set forth also by
the deputation—and to urge an inquiry and the adoption .of
measures for insuring religious liberty to Baptist Christians.
In conclusion, his majesty request Sir Culling Eardley to
communicate this reply to the members of the deputation.
A Wursis Os.—We take the following from the Perthshire
Advertiser I—An ox belonging to Mr. Thompson, a farmer
of Eleho, broke look, and when next heard of was in a
perfectly wild state, and ravaging the country around.
Various tactics were adopted to capture or shoot it, bnt the
animal seemed to know the real range of a rifle-shot—even
its scent appeared to have become as acute as that of a red
deer—so that it was impossible to surprise it at its favourite
repast in the barnyard. A few days ago, we quote
the Advertiser) the obnoxious brute was seen sumptuously
feasting itself in a stackyard. Suddenly it seemed to know
that preparation was being made for its capture, and went off
with its tail in the air as usual, clearing hedges and ditches
with as much ease as if it had been a thorough-bred hunter.
In a short time the country got awakened to what was going
on. Every one grasped a fork, a spade, or something else ;
whiz went the bullets in wonderfully rapid succession, and
past rushed the wild chase like a whirlwind. Over height,
over hollow, through moss, and through moor—dykes,
ditches, wilds, and woodlands were cleared with a celerity that
mocked at space. Four balls had now taken effect, but the
animal unflaggingly pressed on, and, leaving the hill range,
thundered away among the woods of Bacgowan. About 9 miles
had already been gone over ; and, altboughthe horse wasbegin-
ning to flag, the ox appeared vigorous as ever. Gaining by a
double, another shot was fired, which, taking effect, rendered
it defiant in return, and, wheeling upon its pursuers, the
tide of war had every appearance of showing a melancholy
reverse, and in all probability would have done so had the
infuriated beast, in its eagerness, not slipped a foot and
tumbled into the Pow, where another shot rendered it lifeless.
BRANDY FROM CoAL.—Brandy distilled from coal is one
of the proposed applications of chemical science to support the
wants of man, which is just now creating some sensation.
Hitherto brandy has been made indifferently from potatoes,
wine, beet-root, and other vegetable sources ; but from coal—
villauous black mineral, mirabile dictu ! The experiments of
Berthelot, which demonstrated the possibility of producing
alcohol from common coal, have so seized upon the imagina-
tion of some French Yankees, that it is seriously proposed to
distil alcohol first from coal, and after dilution to give it the
colour and taste of the best yin cognac. I have no doubt that
the thing will be tried, for brandies have risen enormously.
Possibly it may succeed, for Frenchmen are not only inge-
nious, patient, and persevering, but very enterprising. For
the information, probably amusement of your readers, I may
state that the modes operandi, is as follows :—Coal gas is
first distilled in the ordinary way, and conducted into a re-
ceiver. It contains about eight per cent. of hydrogenous bi-
carbon in a gaseous state, which is separated therefrom (ra-
ther a complicated affair), and introduced into a close vessel,
containing sulphuric acid ; the vessel is agitated until the acid
absorbs the gas. Water is then mixed with it, and the whole
distilled for alcohol, which is brought over. Good news this
for the Londonderrys and Lambtons, if the chemical experi-
ment should prove capable of being applied to a manufacturing
purpose. Our coal districts transformed into brandy-producing
countries, rivalling with Angouleme itself,, will be one of
the curiosities of the nineteenth century, although, probably,
our children may find nothing unusual in asking for a drop of
the best old Northumberland, or a glass of Durham water,
hot, with a slice of lemon, and not too much sugar.—Mining
Journal.