The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-19 00:00:00

Scotlanb.

PRINTING BY WATER POWER.—The Montrose Stan-
dard is now printed by water power. The engine con;
sista of two oscillating cylinders with pistons acting on
the shaft of • driving pulley, the pistons being moved
by water, as those of a locomotive or other steam
engine are by steam. It differs from the steam engine
chiefly in the absence of eliding valves, which are inap-
propriate to the etuployment of water in the place of
steam. The means through which these are dispensed
with are in the highest degree simple and ingenious.
WHERE TO BUILD A BIG SHIP—The mishaps
attending the launching of the Leviathan must natu-
rally draw the attention of monster-ship builder" to the
possibility of finding a dock in which a giant vessel could
be constructed-, and after being constructed could be
floated merely by letting in the water. There is such a
dock, and as It does not appear to have been mentioned
In any of the numerous and valuable dissertations laid
before the public on the subjects of cis inertia, momen-
tum, power, presses, rams, drums, friction, iron ways,
and wooden engineers, we venture to suggest it to the
next enterprising speculator' who wish to construct a
big ship at much less then the cost of the Leviathan.
This dock is the great quarryhole at Granton, near
Edinburgh. It is close to the seashore; so close, in
fact, that • higher tide than usual broke the embank-
ment a few years ago, and filled the quarry with salt
water. It is quite deep enough to hold a ship much
bigger than the Leviathan, and large enough to hold
anything that is likely to be built of iron. It has per-
pendionlar sides, which would enable all the materials
to be run close and lowered down, instead of being
hoisted up—a most important consideration when it
Colllotl to hoisting 10,000 tons of iron and timber, to say
nothing of fittings. If the Calvionian branch line of
railway is brought to Granton, all the materials might
be brought by rail to the very spot of construction ; and
it is well known that his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch
is one of the very few of the aristocracy who take an in-
terest in public works, and that he probably would afford
the most liberal eneouragement to the enterprise. The
water in the quarry could easily be pumped out, and •
gate constructed. When the ship was oompleted, all
that would be requisite would be to dig a short canal in
the sand—let in the water—float the ship, and move her
out at ones to sea. Should another big ship be contem-
plated, we seriously recommend its projectors to have this
quarry properly inspected before deciding on • locality
for building. At least £lOO,OOO of the outlay on the
Leviathan would have been saved at Granton, and tak-
ing into oonsideration the difference of wages, and other
facilities presented by the Firth of Forth, we Bhould
scarcely exaggerate were we to estimate the saving at
£200,000.
A Caimmails CARICER.—On Thursday morning John
Thomson, alias Peter Walker, was executed at Paisley
for poisoning • young named Agnes Montgomery
with prussic acid at lesham 20 . About ,000 persons
were present, many o the number being women and
girls. The behaviour of the crowd was very decorous.
Contrary to the usual custom, no religions ceremony
was performed previous to the execution, it being dis-
pensed with at the prisoner's request. The culprit died
almost instantly. On the night previous to his execu-
tion the prisoner was attended till a late hour by the
Rev. Mr. Airken. He then retired to rest, and slept
soundly for about three hours, after which the governor,
Mr. Bird, spent an hour or two with him. About half-
past 6 the clergyman who accompanied him to the
scaffold arrived, and remained with him till his execu-
tion. The prisoner, considering the awful position in
which he was placed, remained remarkably composed
and collected. Shortly after sentence of death had been
passed upon the prisoner he acknowledged himself guilty
of the crime for which he was about to suffer, and also
of the charge laid against him of attempting to poison
Archibald Mason and his wife in Glasgow. At this time
he alleged his motive to be to obtain possession of any
money that might be on the persons or in the house of
these people; but within a day or two of his execution
he acknowledged to the Rev. Mr. Wilson that in reality
he had no motive whatever; that he was impelled to
the commission of the crime through an influence for
which be could not account. He also confessed to
having, while a boy of nine or ten years of age, inten-
tionally pushed a companion into a quarry bole in the
vicinity of his native place, Tarbet, Argyleahire ; but
his motive for committing this crime appears to be al-
most as incomprehensible as in the case of the others.
The murderer was a ticket-of-leave man, having been
sentenced in 1853 to seven years' transportation for the
theft of L'22 from his master. Thomson's explanation of
this is that he had been paying his addresses to his
master's daughter, and had been thus led to spend
more money than he could afford. He therefore fell
into debt, and had appropriated his master's money to
make up the deficiency. This is the first case of poison-
ing by prusitio acid being brought to trial in Scotland.