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

MELANCHOLY AFFAIR AT MARLEE LOCH.-011 Monday
week, two young women belonging to Perth, and two lads,
said to be either from Dundee or its neighbourhood, had been
spending Hansel Monday, were drowned. They had ventured
upon Marlee Loch, near Blairgowrie, the ice of which was not
sufficiently strong to bear their weight. One of the young
women was in the service of a respectable family in Perth, and
the other lived with her mother.—Scotsman.

THE CIIRRENCY.—The rumour that Ministers are discuss-
ing the propriety of an issue of one-pound notes has been
current in numerous circles during the last fortnight. The
object is the withdrawal of an equal amount of gold coin.
By this plan it is suggested the metallic reserve of the Bank
might be increased, and after making due provision for the
convertibility of the new one-pound notes, a portion of the gold
thus obtained might be rendered available for the exigencies
of the war. We must repeat, however, that no authoritative
information of any description has been put forward.—Daily
News.

SALE OF PALMER'S RACING STUD.—The brood mares,
horses in training, and yearlings belonging to the notorious
William Palmer, were put up by auction, by the Messrs.
Tattersall, on Monday, last week. Many of the leading
patrons of the turf, and most of the trainers from the north
and south of England, were present. Major Grove, Her
Majesty's commissioner from the royal paddocks, bought
Trickstress for 230 guineas; but, although he appeared to bid
anxiously for Nettle—a decidedly superior animal—he at last
let her go, Mr. F. L. Popham purchasing her for 430 guineas.
Nettle was first favourite for the Oaks last year, but she fell
over the chains soon after starting, and her jockey had his ,
thigh fractured. The Chicken was knocked down" for 800
guineas ; the first bid was 300, and Mr. H. Hill spiritedly
advanced the price until he reached 780 guineas, when he
stopped. The horse was ultimately sold to Mr. Harlock, who,
it was understood, bought him for " a noble lord." For the
three-year-old filly, by Melbourne, out of Seaweed, Mr. Sargent
gave 590 guineas. Staffordshire Nan was purchased for 300
guineas.
AN UNHAPPY MISTAKE.—A melancholy accident hap-
pened on Sunday night in the cemetery of Montmartre, near
Paris. In consequence of numerous thefts which had lately
been committed in the tombs, orders had been given to the
guards to exercise the greatest vigilance; during the night-
time they were armed with carbines, and were instructed to
fire even after a single challenge, if unanswered. On the
night in question, M. Vaulabelle, the director of the ceme-
tery, being desirous of ascertaining by personal inspection
whether his orders had been executed, proceeded to visit
the different parts of the cemetery alone. Having reached
a part of the wall which had been particularly noticed as
bearing marks of a recent escalade, one of the guards stationed
there, named Mabille, challenged him three times, and, most
unaccountably, receiving no answer, fired. A groan convinced
him that his shot had taken effect, and calling to his com-
panions, he hastened with them to the spot, where they
found, not the nocturnal thief they expected, but their own
chief, weltering in his blood. They instantly conveyed him
to his room and procured surgical aid, but in vain. The ball
had penetrated through the body not far from the heart,
at the same time fracturing two fingers of his right hand,
which the victim had thrust between his coat, when buttoned
up, and his waistcoat. M. Vaulabelle has left a widow and
two young children. Notwithstanding the excellent character
of Mabille, he has been provisionally placed under arrest.—
Galignan,i's Messenger.
ENTRY OF A NUNNERY.—At the Leeds Court-house, on
Monday, three respectable young men were charged with
burglariously entering the convent of the Sisters of Mercy, in
Cross-green-lane, York-road, Leeds, early on Sunday. The
charge was instituted by Sister Mary St. Joseph. In defence,
it was urged that there was no felonious intention in the
matter; that they had all been drinking together at the
Queen, in Roundhay-road ; that at midnight they left that
house considerably excited by liquor ; that on their way
home one of them proposed to his companions to go and have
a lark at the nunnery ; that they all agreed, and went down
to the nunnery, and obtained admittance into the garden by
climbing a wall ; that they had then uo intention of entering
the house, but finding the sash of the library window un-
fastened, they had entered that room and thrown about several
articles found upon the tables ; that they had also thrown
several devotional books and other articles out of the window
into the garden •, that when they were alarmed by the police-
man's rattle, they did not offer any resistance, but gave
themselves into custody ; and that there was no felonious
intent. After a brief deliberation, Joseph Richardson, Esq.,
chairman, intimated that the bench were willing to take a
merciful view of this case; and if the prisoners would pay £5
each to the Leeds Infirmary, they would be discharged. The
money was
.immediately paid, and they were discharged from
custody,

AFFECTING INSTANCE OF SUDDEN DEATH.—On Tues-
day night, Mr. John Burgess, shoemaker, of Lowestoft, was
expecting his son home from a sea voyage of between three
and four years' duration. He had, we believe, been disap-
pointed in meeting him two or three nights, and on Tuesday
was again on his way down to the station to meet the ten,
p.m., train. It appears that the train bad arrived, and, when
against the Crown Hotel, the son, on his way up, met the
father, but neither appeared fully to recognise each other. The
son walked on and the father overtook him, looked at him,
and passed ahead of him, not even then identifying his son,
until the latter said, " Hold hard, father, don't be in a hurry,"
when he stopped and said, "Is that you, John !" They
walked on together, when the son went into Water's beershop,
and wished the father to go forward and break the news of his
arrival to his mother. Observing that he looked pale and
excited, the son wished him to take something, but he did
not, and proceeded to inform his wife of the son's arrival, in-
teading to go back and return with him. The son, finding
he did not come, feared that his mother had been upset, went
home, and found his father a corpse on the floor. On re-
turning he had opened the door and exclaimed, " Maria,
John !"—and fell down dead before finishing the sentence.
He was a most affectionate father, and, no doubt, the joy he
experienced on the return of his son was more than his frame
could bear.—Norfolk Chronicle.

THE BALTIC TRADE or RUSSlA..—Letters from Elsinore,
of the Bth instant,'state that the weather continued mild, and
that a number of vessels with coals and salt had proceeded to
Riga and Revel. An American ship and two fruit ships from ,
Messina had arrived at Revel in five days from Copenhagen.
Another American vessel, the Telegraph, from London for
Revel, was reported in the Cattegat. The apathy of the Allied
governments in having taken no precautions against the pro-
babilities of a mild season, and the consequent continuance of
open water, is a subject of general remark. Advices from
Memel give the statistics for the past year of the Russian
exports and imports carried on through that port, and demon-
strate that the traffic, the profits of which constitute one of
the inducements for the complicity of Prussia in the prolonga-
tion of the war, 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 tons.
Hemp shows a moderate diminution, the totals being 17,930
tons against 20,510 tons in the preceding year; but this is
attributed to the amount of the supplies already on the market.
With regard to the goods sent into Russia, the totals last year
were 6,466 tons of cotton, 4,821 of sugar, 376 of indigo, 4,216
of oil, 2,093 of coffee, and 532 of rice. In addition to these,
all kinds of munitions of war are stated to have been forwarded
across the frontier with such perfect connivance on the part
of the Prussian authorities as to have reduced the current
prices for them to a point in many instances almost approach-
ing those in times of peace. The port of Konigsberghas like-
wise, in its degree, been characterised by corresponding
activity. The stocks of goods in bond at Memel on the 31st
of last month are stated to have been :—Hardware, 117 tons;
wine, 52 tons ; fruit, 40 tons ; spices, 64 tons ; coffee, 45 tons ;
rice, 98 tons ; tea, 108 tons ; sugar, 6 tons ; oil, 28 tons ; salt,
24,500 tons ; and herrings, 5,020 casks.
ATTEMPT TO POISON A. WlPE.—Thomas Robson, alias
William Wilson, was brought before the magistrates at New-
castle-on-Tyne, on Monday, on remand, charged with attempt-
ing to poison his wife, Elizabeth, and her fellow-servant, on
the Ist of December last. The prisoner was a deserter from
the Coldstream Guards, and was separated from his wife. On
the Ist of December he had gone to see her at Mr. Foster's.
His wife and her fellow-servant, Frances Dobson, sat with
him in the kitchen three hours, and he appeared to be kind
and affectionate to his wife. His wife saw him to the door,
and, as they were parting, he pulled a lemonade bottle out of
his pocket, and said that it contained whisky. He told his wife
that he had brought it from Scotland for her—that she had
to take one-half of it when she went to bed, and give the other
half to her fellow-servant, and that it would do them good.
On returning to the kitchen, Mrs. Robson showed the bottle
to her fellow-servant, and took a mouthful of its contents. It
tasted in her mouth like alum water, and shortly after swal-
lowing it she became violently cramped in her stomach. Her
fellow-servant also drank a small quantity. She shortly after
became sick, and felt other unpleasant symptoms ' • both women
were ill all night, and next morning they found a quantity of
sediment in the bottom of the bottle. Upon submitting the
sediment to a chemical test, Dr. Richardson discovered it to be
impregnated with sugar of lead ( a poison), in the proportion
of twenty grains of sugar of lead to each ounce of liquid.
Twenty grains of sugar of lead are sufficient to poison one
person, so that, after the sediment had been drained off, there
had been sufficient poison left in the bottle to kill five persons.
When apprehended, at Acomb, the prisoner had denied that
he was a married man, that his name was Robson, or that he
had been at Newcastle on the Ist of December. He was again
remanded.
DEPUTATION FROM THE GREAT DESERT Or SAHARA.--
The Akhbar gives the following interesting account of a
deputation which has just arrived at Algiers from the Desert
beyond the French possessions in Africa :—A considerable
sensation was created on the 6th, at Algiers, by the arrival
there of a deputation of four Arabs belonging to a tribe in-
habiting the Great Desert, and known under the name of
Tooaregs. Since the conquest of the country bordering on
the Great Sahara has been effected by the French troops, it
has become a matter of interest to the French government
to establish a friendly intercourse with the tribes inhabiting
the Desert itself,—a space measuring upwards of 400 leagues
from north to south ; that is, from Onargia, the last oasis oc-
cupied by the French, to Timbuctoo. The tribe above men-
tioned is divided into eight different branches,—the Azguer,
bordering on the regency of Tunis; the Hoggar, inhabiting
the mountainous range of that name; the Ahir, living south
of R'at ; the Ennebigh or Lemden, in the vicinity of Tim-
buctoo; and the Kelooel, the Boodal, the Kelgueres, and the
Itissa tribes, occupy the country between the black population
of the Soodan and the far whiter race inhabiting the north of
Africa. The Tooaregs are very nearly white. They inhabit
tents made of tannedhides, and live chiefly on the produce of
the chase, their camels, and a kind of fleeceless sheep called
denzman, of which they possess immense flocks. In the south
they cultivate rice and maize ; those of the north have but lately
turned their attention to agriculture. The men wear two
large gowns, a white and a blue, of Soodan manufacture, a
kind of woollen or silk caftan reaching to the ground, and
wide trousers, closing at the ankles, with a gaudy trimming all
round. They wear no stockings, but red leather sandals,
of good workmanship. On their heads they wear a red skull-
cap, covered by a kind of turban, from which a blue veil
descends to as far as their mouths, while a kind of cravat, be-
ginning from the occiput, covers the lower part of their faces,
thus quite hidden from view, while their women, on the con-
trary, wear no kind of veil, and enjoy the greatest liberty.
Their weapons consist of a long poinard, called deraia, and a
double-edged sabre; a lance, a musket, and a shield made out
of an elephant's ear. The deputation above-mentioned was
received in the most friendly manner by the Governor-
General of Algiers, their own behaviour being respectful and
dignified in the extreme. "You possess," said they, "cloth,
silk, cotton stuffs, and pipes; bring us those manufactures of
yours, and others too, and we will exchange for them ivory,
skins, perfumes, wax, gum, and gold-dust. We shall on
both sides derive considerable profit from this traffic,
which will also cement our friendship." The Governor-
General intends, it is said, shortly to test their friendly feeling
by sending a caravan into their country—an expedition which,
if crowned with success, may re-open the commerce which
was anciently carried 911 with the centre of Africa.