The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-31 00:00:00

THE Gazette de Lyon states that, a few days since, a man;
121 years of age, passed through that city, accompanied by
his two nephews, on his way to Savoy, his native country.
This man had passed 80 years at the Bagne, from which he
has just been released !
AN AcnoN for libel, brought by Mr. Rudgard, an alder-
man of the Lincoln Corporation, and Mr. Brogden, the Mayor,
who is also proprietor of the Lincolnshire Chronicle, was
tried at Lincoln on Friday. The action arose out of a claim
made to waste lauds by the plaintiff, and an insinuation was
made in the Chronicle that he had but " confused notions of
the important matters of meum and tuum." The jury found
for the defendant.
THE Grand Duke of Tuscany has released the unfortunate
cigar maker, Cecchetti, who was sentenced to a year of impri-
sonment for reading the Bible in company with the members
of his own family. The Marquis of Normanby had interested
himself on behalf of Cecchetti, and the Grand Duke has now
remitted the remainder of the sentence on condition of Cec-
chetti absenting himself from Tuscany during that time, and
he is now in Genoa.
SINGULAR WHIRLWIND.—On the afternon of Friday last
there was observed in one of the plantations at Abbotsford
a whirlwind, running along like a dark furrow, shaking and
twisting the branches as if it had been some aerial monster
seeking to suck the trees from their classic ground. The
same phenomenon was seen in the plantations at Dryburg,
shortly before the thunderstorm which broke over the dis-
trict.—Scottish Record
Mn. PENNETHORNE, the architect, makes an ominous re-
port on the state of the public offices in Dawning-street. He
describes the whole of them as ricketty. " The Colonial Office
(says he, speaking before the fall of Lord John,) is worse than
the Foreign Office." The latter "is propped or tied up in va-
rious parts :" and, adds the architect (for the admonition of
Lord Palmerston,) "the First Lord of the Treasury's Office is,
though in appearance strong, in reality in a more dilapidated
condition than the others."
SIAM.—I think it is likely a Siamese ambassador will next
year visit the Court of St. James. The gorgeous splendour of
the Court of Bangkok (as we have seen it) exceeds belief.
When I can find time I propose to write an account of my
visit and of Siam. It is a country of wonderful beauty, great
resources, various productions ; and Bangkok will, I trust,
become again what it once was—one of the largest emporiums
in the eastern world, following only Calcutta and Canton.—
Letter from Sir John Bowring.
ALEXANDER MURRAY, a cooper, while walking in the
neighbourhood of Sinclair Castle, was attacked on Friday
night by a detachment of weasels, some fifty in number,
which issued from beneath a furze hedge in a field. He kept
them at bay with a fishing-rod, while they were making
vicious springs at his person. He managed to kill two of the
pack, and struck some others, which made them retreat to
their holes. The same vermin had previously attacked a
shepherd and his dog.—John o'Groat Journal.
FAILURE OP A GOVERNMENT TRAINING SCILOOL.—The

Kneller-hall School, after a large expenditure, has completely
failed. From different sources we find that the building,
estimated at £lO,OOO, has cost the country £41,000. The ex-
penditure for five and a half years has been £21,000. A lec-
turer on English history and literature at £5OO per annum,
was •one of the trainers of these teachers for pauper schools
The number of students admitted was 120. Of those who
have left, 19 are not now teachers at all, 15 are in other
schools, and only 49 are in workhouse and penal schools.
Swiss SENTENCE.—A sentence recently passed in Swit-
zerland upon a man found guilty of sacrilege, shows consider-
able ingenuity in the art of punishment. The criminal is to
be exposed for a quarter of hour in the iron collar used at exe-
cutions, and under the surveillance of the executioner ; to re-
ceive publicly sixty strokes of the rod, from the hand of the
same dread officer; five years of hard labour ; to remain ten
years within the boundary of his native commune ; never to be
able to marry, and to lose all civil and political rights ; to pass
through certain religious exercises ; and, filially, to confess his
crime in the church—a rod in his hand and a cord round his
neck ! The tribunal from which his sentence proceeds is that
of Obwald. ,

AFFECTING- INCIDENT.—On Wednesday week, a woman,
her husband, and child, were travelling to Weston-super-
Mare by a train. When near Ashton, the child, which had
been leaning against the door (the latter suddenly opening),
fell out of the carriage, to the horror of all who witnessed it.
The woman, with a scream, was about to jump after it, when
her husband and some of the passengers near restrained her,
and fortunately so, as the train was going at full speed. The
agonising doubt of the poor parents until the train stopped at
Nailsea may well be imagined. From Nailsea, the husband
went back the line in search of his child, when he found it in
the care of a woman, who had seen it fall out of the carriage,
and, wonderful to relate, was only a little bruised about the
face.—Bath Chronicle.

Loss OF ANTIQUITIES FOR TEE FRENCH NATIONAL
Masstuss.—We regret to state that letters from the East
inform us that the greater part of the very fine collection of
antiquities made by Mr. Place and Mr. Fresnel, at Babylon,
have been lost just above the confluence of the Euphrates and
the Tigris, between the villages Lechian and Kornah. The
Asst advices state that they were several feet under the alluvial
soil, into which they had sunk .in four fathoms of water. We
`hear that Mr. Holland, commander of the Hon. East India
' Company's steam-ship Comet, repaired to the spot, sent down
divers, and used every exertion to recover 'them, but without
success. Of the whole of this magnificent collection only two
rafts, containing 15 sculpture figures and one large bull,
reached Bussorah in safety.
DESTRUCTION OF AN ELErmusT.—The large elephant, 120
years of age, late the property of Mr. Wombwell, being incapa-
,: ble of locomotion from diseased feet, the present proprietor
gave directions for its destruction in the easiest manner pos-
sible. Accordingly, Mr. E. Price, veterinary surgeon, and Mr.
Flewitt, chemist, of Birmingham, on Friday, proceeded to carry
his wishes into effect. Ina minutes from the application of
chloroform the animal became totally insensible; prussic acid
was then administered without effect, and two large doses of
strychnine without producing any perceptible feeling of pain.
Not succeeding in these endeavours, a continuous application
of chloroform was made, in the hope that the animal might sink
under it, but, after three hours' perseverance in this course, no
difference of respiration being observed, the administration was
stopped, and in one hour and a-half all effects of it had passed
away. The oily known means-of destruction left were the
knife and the bullet. The latter was first tried (the animal
again being chloroformed) and wounded a branch of:the carotid
artery, from which blood flowed in a tolerably sized jet. The
opening was then enlarged with a knife, and the artery fully
divided. In .a few minutes the huge animal ceased to live,
having died without a struggle, or evidencing the slightest
feeling of pain.
RUSSIAN ESTIMATE OF LORD RAGLAN.—The following ex-
tract from a letter dated St. Petersburg, published in -Le Nord,
shows how' Lord Raglan was appreciated by the Russians :
" Lord Raglan," says the letter, " has died. During the entire
period of the.tommand of this noble general he succeeded in
conciliating the esteem and respect not only of those with
whom his nation was allied, but also of the enemy to whom he
was opposed. He was one of the last of the heroes of that
glorious English army which, under the command of the Duke
of Wellington,lllustrated the English name on so many battle
fields, and of -Which the few remaining veterans bore on their
breasts, Ulnae-Iy, the honourable tokens. Lord Raglan was
on several occasions distinguished by the late Emperor Nicho-
las, as also by- the reigning emperor. He will be personally
regretted in Russia by all who had an opportunity of knowing
and appreciating the nobleness of his sentiments and the up-
rightness of his character. As a subject he performed his
duty by obesing;the command of his sovereign, and as a soldier
by valiantly defending the honour of his flag; but even in the
execution of his duty he preserved unblemished to his death
his own personal dignity and that of his country. He has
fallen, like so many others, a victim to this disastrous war.
'Honoured be his memory, and respected be his grave ! which
will be as sacred on the soil of Russia as on that of England ;
and, while pointing to it, no Russianavill refuse to say--Side,
viator, &mew cakes."
THE HON. Fasasz VinniEns.—The ease of. Wright v. Lord
Maidstone came before Vice-Chancellor Page Wood, on Mon-
ulay. It was a bill filed by the plaintiff for the purpose c‘
recovering from the defendant the amount of a bill of es-
',change for £lOOO,. drawn by the Hon. Francis :Villiers upon,
.and, accepted by, the defendant, and discounted by the plain-
. tiff. The bill alleged, that there had been -several renewals of
the original bill of exhange ; that, in October, 1854, the bill
then running was renewed for three months; that when that
bill became due the drawer brought to the :indorsee a bill in
renewal of it, purporting to be signed by the defendant; that,
theveupon, the old hill-was given up to the drawer, and was
cancelled or destroyed; sthat the' renewal bill turned out to be
a forgery. The bill had attached to it an affidavit, as in the
case of asking to sue upon .a lost instrument, and offered to
inderonify-the defendant against any loss Which might occur
in the-event of the bill alleged to have been destroyed being
at any fme presented for payment. To this bill there was a
general -.demurrer for want of equity. The Vice-Chancellor
said thatsin the case of a destroyed bill, there never, was any
difficultriu going at law, and, therefore, the Court•of Chan-
cery had never interfered. The demurrer must, -therefore, be
allowed, but he would give leave to amend.
FATAL Tgusonnsroasss.—On Monday evening Halifax
and neighbourhood were visited by a very heavy storm of
thunder and lightning, accompanied by a fall of rain which
completely flooded the town and adjacent country, doing a
vast deal of damage, and causing the death of a man named
Jenkineon, alias Woolerjenk, who was swept away by the
torrent at Waterside, which threw down the walls of a house
in Water-lane, occupied by Mr. C. Wilkinson. A child, about
eleven years of age, who was imbed at the time, was also
,killed. At Bottoms, a logwood mill was emptied of its con-
tents, and thirty tens of wood washed away. The accounts
from the neighbouring villages, especially in the northwest
,direction, tell a long tale of mishaps and loss. At Queenhead
much injury was inflicted. Messrs. ,J. Foster and Son, of
that place, are said to have sustained a loss to the amount of
£1,0(10. Derby and the neighbourhood were also the scene
of the force with which the storm raged for several hours.
At the Derby railway-station the thunder and lightning were
awfully terrific, and in some places the rails were under
water. At Loughborough and Leicester the storm was
unusually violent ; and at Oe,kbrook the rain descended in
torrents for four hours. At Smalley the lightning struck the
house of Mr. J. Wright. The electric fluid entered the room
in which Mr. and Mrs. Wright were, and hurled them from
side to sides but they were not seriously hurt. At Belper
the Union Workouse sustained some injury; and at Chevin a
cow was killed by the lightning.
DAMAGES FOR RAILWAY COLLISION.—At York assizes, on
Friday and Saturday, was heard the action preferred by Mr.
Hall, the Recorder of Doncaster, against the Great Northern
Railway Company, to recover compensation for the serious
injuries received by him while travelling from Leeds to
Doncaster on the 3rd of January last, for the purpose of
holding his sessions at Doncaster. The dantages were laid at
£10,500. The counsel for the plaintiff)* after giving an
account of the accident, went on to state that Mr. Hall was
carefully conveyed to the house of Mr. Teale, an eminent
surgeon in Leeds, when it was found that the right thigh
bone, at the point where it meets the knee joint, was broken
in various places ; and one result was that at this moment, and
so it would be to the end of Mr. Hall's life, that leg was about
half an inch shorterthan the other. The other leg al so was broken
immediately below the knee, and both the arms were broken.
It was about three months before he could leave his room, but
at present he seemed to be restored to a very considerable
degree of health. Besides personal injury, however, Mr.
Hall's professional career had been damaged by the occurrence.
He had lost two assizes, three terms, and one important year
of his practice. In 1854, Mr. Hall's income was about
£1,200, and this year, owing to his increasing practice, he
estimated that his income would have been £2,000. £5OO
for Mr. Teale, the surgeon who attended him, would be very
moderate remuneration indeed. To establish a case of negli-
gence on the part of the company, two civil engineers
were called, who gave evidence tending to show that the acci-
dent was caused by the " facing points" near the place not
having a man to attend to them, and by the train being
pushed instead -of drawn. Witnesses were then called to
prove there was no negligence, and that the disaster was
purely accidental, The jury gave £4,500 damages,