The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-07-22 00:00:00

ACCIDENTS AND OFFENCES.

-.TEN PERSONS POISONED NEAR ROORY.—A most
melancholy occurrence bu Jed taken place in a farm•
house at Ashby St. Leger*, a village on the borders of
Northamptonshire, not far from the town of Rugby.
It appears that Mr. William Payne Cowley, & fanner,
living in that village with his mother (who is a widow)
and his brothers, had his sheep dipped or washed last
week. The object of this dipping or washing is the
extermination of vermin, and for this purpose a strong
mixture of arsenic and soft soap, diluted with water, is
made. On Tuesslay morning last Mr. W. P. Cowley
sent his brother, Mr. Edwin Cowley, to the adjoining
town of Daventry, where lie purchased 61bs of arsenic
and a barrel of soft soap, weighing 301bs. On the
following morning Mr. W. P. Cowley and his mother
prepared the sheep-411ring mixture, in which some
lambs, were welshed. In this operation Mr. Cowley
and several labourers were employed. After assisting
her son in the preparation of the soap and arsenic, Mrs
Cowley proceeded to make a batter padding for the
dinner of her family, and the labourers and servants.
By some means as yet unaccounted for it appears that
sonic arsenic must hare become mixed with the pudding,
for the whole of the persons who partook of it, ten in
number, became violently sick just after dinner, and
exhibited all the symptoms of being poisoned. The
best medicel assistance in the neighbourhood was
procured, but one man has already died, and another is
not expected to survive; the others are all more Or less
affected. The name of the deceased is Richard Smith;
he was an agricultural labourer, and 53 years of age.
SIN GULAR ROBBERY .LSO RSCOVERY OP £4OO WOO=
Or JEWELLERY. —A travelling Jew, belonging to Merthyr
Tydvil, while staying at Tredegar on the night of
the 9th of June last, lost his box, containing jewellry
and very valuable articles to the amount of £4OO from
the house in which Ile lodged. The disappearance
of the box was at the time quite uniumountable, as
there were no marks of violence upon the doors and
windows, and it was conjectured that an inmate of the
house moist have aided the thief. About a week ago
another Jew was apprehended at Tredegar on suspicion
of being concerned in the robbery, and from infonnetion
he received Superintendent Fowler, of Tredegar, had
reason to conclude that some of the stolen property
might be found in Bristol. He accordingly arrived in
that city, and having secured the assistance of
Detective Perrett, of the Bristol police, went in search
of some of the mining articles. They at length
succeeded in finding • gold chain, another Albert chain,
three geld rings, and two keys, sold or pledged at
different establiahments. Upon returning to Tredegar
the superintendent discovered that the prisoner had
secreted the box, containing the remaining articlee, in
• wood near that place, and they were safely recovered.
GREAT FIRR IN LAMBETH.— One of the most ex-
tensive and destructive fires that have taken flue in the
metmpolia since the great wharf fire in Tooley-atreet,
in June, 1861. occurred on Sunday morning in the
Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth, by which • range
of houses and factories, covering between two and
three acres of ground, have been entirely destroyed,
together with a large amount of valuable property.
Adjoining the large drapery establishment of Messrs.
Harvey, a little to the west of the railway &rah crossing
the Westminster Road, has been corned on for many
years an extensive oil and floor-cloth manufactory, the
works of which extend as far back as Heathfield-street,
Stangate, and stretching out on each aide to
street on the west and to the Lower Marsh on the
south-east. The proprietors of this manufactory were
Meseta Buckley, Harvey, and Knight. About 3 o'clock
on Sunday morning, as a police-constable was passing
these premises, he perceived a strong smell of burning
oil, and on examination speedily discovered that a fire
was raging with great force in the workshops and
drying-room at the rear of the premises. Before the
arrival of engines the whole of the workshops and ware-
houses of the floor-cloth manufactory were in flames,
which were spreading with the utmost rapidity on all
sides. The engine from the Waterloo Road station, and
that belonging to Messrs. Hodges' distillery, were the
first to arrive at the scene, speedily followed by the
powerful steam-engine from Cinuidos-street. The expe-
rienced eye of Mr. Henderson, the brigade foremen, at
once detected the uselessness of any attempts to save the
floor-cloth factory and he therefore directed the firemen
to use every effort to save the premises of the Megan.
Harvey, the linen drapers, WllOlll3 warehouses, filled
with a valuable stock of summer good; had now caught
fire. To a certain extent these efforts were suecessful,
though& considerable portion of Mr. Harvey's premises,
immediately abutting on the drying-room of the floor-
cloth works, were destroyed, with their valuable con-
tents, and the extensive stock of the establishment
materially damaged by water. During the whole of
this time the flames had been making rapid progress on
the western side, and in spite of all the exertions of the
firemen, aided by the copious supply of water from the
mains of the Laiubeth and Southwark companies, house
after house fell a prey to the devouring element.
Before five o'clock the house of Mr. Hanley, grocer, 38,
Westminster-road, was a heap of rains, and such bad
been the rapidity of the flames that none of the furni-
ture and :tack could be saved. The fire next seized
upon the premises NOS. 37, 36, 35, 34, Westmineter-
road, in the respective occupations of Mr. Cox, hosier,
Mr. Lyens, clothier, Mrs Ward, shirt-maker, and Mr.
Lassareth, jeweller, and those were all speedily gutted
and their contents destroyed. About this time, also,
the King's Anus public-house, No 40, ignited from the
mass of -burning materials falling on the roof, and in less
than half an hour thiahoune was also destroyed. While
the work of destruction was thus rapidly progressing
iii the front the Beene at the rear was one of a still more
destructive and distressing character. At the rear of
the floor-cloth factory were several narrow streets and
courts, occupied chiefly by workmen employed in the
factories of Messrs. Myers, Mandslay, and other large
firma; and shortly before six o'clock the houses in
Garden-court and Heatheraeld-street, Mason-street,
caught the flames. Nos. 1,2, 3,4, and 5, in Garden-
court wore destroyed in • few minutes without allowing
any time for the inmates to remove any of their scanty
furniture. Noe. 17, 16, 15, and 14, in heather-
field-street were destroyed at the same time,
and the whole of the houses ill those
two places that escaped total destruction were much
damaged by the fire and saturated with water. The
back portions of the whole of the houses on the east
side of Masson-street, and on the west side of the Lower
Marsh, were also much burnt, as were likewise the
skittle ground and outhouses of the Sun, in Mason.
street. From 5 o'clock until 8 o'clock wall after wall of
the workshops and houses came tumbling down, and
several narrow escapes took place amongst the firemen
and police. By 9 o'clock in the morning the firemen
had succeeded in sulxlning the flames, after five horns'
immense exertions. It was then found that a square
space of ground, about 2i acres in extent, which a few
hours before had been thickly studded with workshops
and dwelling-houses, was now strewed only with the
burning and smouldering heaps of goods and furniture
belonging to the late occupants, and not a wall or timber
left standing. Had it not been for the powerful aid of the
steam fire engines, of which there were two, the destruc-
tion must have been even greater than it haa been.
The fire thus extending over so large • space, the soave
ia the neighbourhood as the morning advanced was one
of • most extraordinary character. At one time, when
the flames seemed to defy the efforts of the firemen, and
were extending themselves in all directions, • complete
panic seised upon the inhabitants, and in a short space
of time the roads and streets for some distance around
were filled with goods and furniture brought out of the
houses for safety. The origin of the fire or the amount
of the property destroyed cannot at present be sewer-
tamed. Happily no loss of life occurred.

MELANCHOLY DEATH THROUGH CHINOLINE.—A
painful holing has been created in Hythe, Kent, by
the death of a young married lady, the wife of Mr.
Wersell, one of the principal tradesmen in the town,
resulting from burning. On Saturday, aa Mrs. Worsen
was near the fireplace, her dress, which was extended
by crinoline, came in oontact with the fire, and before
she was aware of it she was in flames. Two persons
were ih the house at the time, but were unable to
extinguish the fire until every particle of the lady's
dress except her stays and shoes was consumed. Mr.
Worsell was in the house in a few minutes, but too late
to save his unfortunate wife. Although the most
skilful medical aid was at once resorted to, she was so
fearfully burnt that she expired about three hours and
a half after the accident. It was only on the evening
of the sth inst. that the bells of the parish church of
Hythe rang out a merry peal to welcome home Mr.
Worsen and his bride, they hating been married but a
short time previously.

THE ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE MURDER.— CONFESSION
or ram PNISONEEN—At the Manchester New Bailey
police-court on Monday morning three men, named
respectively John Ward, Thoinas Barlow, and John
Clay Johnson, were brought up on remand, charged
with being concerned in the murder of police-oonstable
Jump, at Ashten-under-Lynep, on the 28th of June. It
being understood that no evidence would be offered the
counsel for the prisoners were not present. Superin-
tendent Ludlam, of the oeunty police force, applied for
another remand, which was granted. Ludlam stated
that be was now in possession of facts which would
lead to an elucidation of the affair, some of the other
prisoners having made • full confession. The prisoners
Ward and Barlow, according to the recently obtained
fade, were directly implicated in the crime while the
case against Johnson would be that he harboured the
other two men directly after the murder, knowing that
they were implicated in it. The prisoner Johnson
asked the magistrate to grant him bail, on the ground
that he was not directly connected with the murder.
The application, however, was refused. The prisoners
were then remanded for a week,

There is a growing objection amongst the consumers
of tea to the Chinese practice of colouring it, especially
since the Official information given on the subject be-
fore the Parliamentary Committee on Food Adultera-
tions, disclosed the fact, that the mineral facing' used
on the leaf comes off on infusion, and in imbibed when
the tea is drank. The public will, therefore, be pleased
to learn that many additional cargoes of pure uncoloured
tea have recently come in, per Empress of India, and
other ships. Purchasers will do well to bear in mind
that pure green is a dull olice—not bluish—pure
black is never very intensely dirk. Horniman rb Co.,
London, devote their entire attention to this important
, article, and to meet public requirements for strong, de
-
Below, and wholesome Rs, imixirt it withopt any artl
~flcial colour on the surface; they supply it in packets
through 2,280 Agents.

_
Thei e is le ison to believe that Seoretavy Seward has
received a note from Earl Russell touohing General
Sutler's "women order," so called. It will probably
be treated as the note from the same quarter remon-
strating against thp @tope blocked@ WU tree/v/4-144c
York Triblem