The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-18 00:00:00

THE LIVER

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

DR. EARTH, whose travels in Central Africa have rendered
him celebrated, arrived at Marseilles on the Bth, in excellent
health.
THE CHOLERA is so violent at Cataneo, in Sicily, that there
is a regular panic. Every one is escaping into the open
country or woods, and trade is completely stagnant.
A CAT at Doncaster has been released alive from beneath a
chamber floor after being confined there for seven weeks. It
is supposed to have been put there by some plasterers when
completing their work.
WILLIAM STRAMAN, Robert Mahin Bates, and Sir John
Dean Paul, Bart., were committed for trial on Wednesday,
charged with feloniously disposing of a large amount of
foreign securities, lodged with them for safe keeping, as
bankers.

A TREMENDOUS CONFLAGRATION' occurred on Monday in
the extensive range of premises belonging to Messrs. George
Baker and Sons, builders, Lambeth. The damage is estimated
at £50,000, exclusive of £2OOO worth of tools belonging to the
workmen, and uninsured.
A MR. W. G. BARKER, a surgeon at Brighton, has been
distinguishing himself by grossly abusing Mr. French, a
reporter, and threatening to strike him because he had
described him in his paper as merely " Mr. W. G. Barker,"
instead of "W. G. Barker, Esq. !" The magistrates bound
over the conceited son of lEsculapius to keep the peace, and
ordered him to pay £1 3s. 6d. costs.
TIIE CHOLERA is raging in Tuscany. The number of cases
throughout the grand duchy averages, according to the
Monitore Toscano, 700 per day. The Grand Duke fre-
quently visits the cholera hospitals, and distributes aid or
consolation to the patients. From the other parts of Italy
the news is satisfactory : the cholera is mild at Rome, and
has nearly ceased at Bologna; it is decreasing fast at Genoa,
as well as in the provinces of Ozieri and Alghero, in the
island of Sardinia. There is still some intensity in Lombardy,
the number of cases throughout the kingdom having been
873 on the 28th ult.
A HARD CASE.—At the Petty Sessions held at Stony-
Stratford, Buckinghamshire, on Friday last, a man named
Levi Henson was charged with firing off a gun within 80 feet
of the turnpike-road. The evidence was very conflicting. The
defendant was employed in a field, and had been ordered by
his master to shoot the birds if they touched the wheat. He
had, it appears, shot a jay, and his master, having measured
the ground, found that the spot was above 80 feet from the
road. The magistrates, however, told the defendant that he
stood convicted " upon the clearest evidence they had ever
heard," and fined the poor fellow £l, with 17s. 6d. costs.—
Bucks Advertiser.
IN TIIE LIST OF KILLED sent home with the last despatch
from General Simpson is the name of Corporal John Shane,
who met with his death under somewhat peculiar circum-
stances. He belonged to the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers, and having
been wounded severely at the battle of the Alma, he returned
to England, and was presented by the Queen with a medal.
During his stay in England, he visited his native place near
Exeter, and having sufficiently recovered he returned to the
Crimea. On the night of the 17th of August he volunteered
as a sharpshooter, and it being moonlight the Russians were
able to take good aim. A ball struck him on the left breast,
cutting his medal in two, and he died almost instantly. The
melancholy intelligence has just been conveyed to his mother,
who lives near Exeter, by a comrade who saw him fall.
RUSSIAN FESTIVITIES AT LEWES.—Tuesday, the 11th
instant, being, according to the Russian calendar, the 31st of
August, the anniversary of the christening of Alexander 11.,
Emperor of all the Russias, and his consequent reception into
the holy Greek Church, which is the occasion of national
rejoicing in Russia, was duly celebrated by the prisoners of
war at Lewes, at the expense of his Imperial Mikjesty, who
remitted the funds to a bishop of the Russian Church, who is
residing in this country, for the purpose of administering the
rites of the church to the prisoners at Chatham, Plymouth,
and Lewes. The whole of the officers here, to the number of
20, viz., 12 Finns and 8 Russians, were provided with a dinner
at the Star Hotel, while the soldiers and non-commissioned
officers within the prison were also liberally regaled, and in
the evening, while the townspeople were drinking success to
the allied powers, and cheering for their late victory, the
Russians were responding to the health of the Emperor, and
drinking success to his army.

AN AFFAIR WITH THE PIRATES.—Her Majesty's
steam sloop Prometheus arrived at Gibraltar on the 26th ult.,
from the East. On her way down she touched on the Riff
coast near Melilla, and ran down along the land to abreast of
the Sera Bay, where she hauled close in and hove-to to make
out some articles and boats that were observed lying on the
beach ; and when close in the Ruffians hoisted a flag of truce,
which was answered by the ship. As the ship was canting off
shore, which she did slowly on account of her keel touching a
bank, the Riffians opened a heavy fire of musketry upon her,
killing the boatswain on the forecastle by a shot through the
head. The Prometheus then steamed off a short distance,
hauled down the flag of truce, and opened fire with shot, shell,
and musketry upon the Riffians and continued firing upon
those who were collected around, and, no doubt, killing and
wounding many of them, besides destroying two large boats.
Finding the Riffians had all disappeared, at 5 30, p.m., she
ceased firing, and ran down the coast to Alhucemas Bay, where
she anchored for the night.
A MORMON PREACHER DROWNED.—A young man named
John Dudman, of Bath, aged 20, a Mormon preacher, who
had for several days been in the neighbourhood, propagating
the doctrines of the notorious Joe Smith, was accidentally
drowned in the river Lynher, whilst in the act of bathing.
Deceased was accompanied to the river by a person named
Gartrell, whom he urged to bathe with him. Gartrell refused,
and persuaded the preacher not to venture in a particular part
of the river, on account of a strong current there. Disregard-
ing advice, Dudman immediately plunged into the stream,
and for some awe Lorc liluxeclf awflurnlng, stating that
he was providentially protected and feared nothing. His
situation in the river being dangerous, Gartrell handed out a
pole close to him, by aid 'of which he might have saved himself;
but, refusing his proffered assistance, he almost immediately
after sank.—Plymouth Mail.
Wno ARE rxrE ZouavEs.?—The Paris correspondent of the
Nation tells us something extraordinary, after the fashion of
Paris correspondents generally. Entering a café the other
day, he (or she) noticed a party of Zouaves, who were regaling
themselves, and heard one call the other " Byrne." Curious,
the correspondent made inquiries —The Zouaves were Irish-
men ! That is to say, they were the sons of Irish parents,
who had settled, or rather unsettled, in Algiers. It is won-
derful how the Irish turn up everywhere ! Eugenie had a
narrow escape of being claimed as an Irishwoman. Cavaignac
was proved to mis-spell his name, which is Kavanagh. Heki,
the New Zealand.chief, is Mr. Micky, of Dublin. But nobody
-could have expected that the Zouaves would turn out to be an
Irish brigade. An Irish corporal's wife is now Empress of
Morocco ; and we shall soon see that all the harems of Algiers
and the whole of the world are engaged in producing Irish
Zouaves.

FRIGHTFUL RAILWAY ACCIDEFT.—An accident of a very
shocking character occurred at the Dudley station, on the Ox-
ford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway, on Sunday
night. A train is due from Worcester, at 846 p.m., but it
did not arrive till about nine o'clock, when it ran into the
station at about the usual rate. Previous to the stoppage, the
doors of several carriages were seen open, and although the
usual cry was made to the passengers to keep their seats, one
or two of them jumped out, and among them was Mr. John
Cooper, assistant clerk in the Walsall County Court, who had
a child about four years old in his arms, and who, in descend-
ing from the carriage, fell between the carriage and the plat-
form, and was dragged a distance of about 20 or 30 yards. It
was found, on the train being stopped, that his legs were bent
back, and that the body was jammed in between the carriage
and the platform. He had his child grasped firmly in his arms,
and the train had to be detached from the carriage, and the
carriage itself raised with jacks, before they could be extricated.
They were conveyed into the porters' room, and Mr. Johnson,
surgeon, was sent for ; but Mr. Cooper had expired. Several
of his bones were broken, and his body dreadfully crushed.
The child was found to be seriously hurt, the poor creature's
thighs being fractured, and its body otherwise injured. The '
deceased was only 32 years of age.— Wolverhampton
Chroadele.

EXTRIORDINART CAPTURE OP THREE BURGLARS.—Quite
a sensation has been created lately in Somerset, Gloucester,
and Wilts, by the number of burglaries perpetrate& An ex-
traordinary and rather an amnsing capture of three fellows
gives sonic hopes, however, that a check will be put to the pro-
ceedings of the gang. On Sunday evening the Rev. Mr.
Meade, vicar of Wingfield, near Bradford, Wilts, went to
church with his family, leaving the vicarage unprotected.
About half-past six o'clock, a boy, twelve years of age, named
Henry Gilson, the son of the parish clerk and constable, who
was playing near the vicarage, had his attention attracted by
two strange men, whom he afterwards saw enter Mr. Meade s
premises. He immediately went to the church, and commu-
nicated to his father, who was officiating at the time, his sus-
picions that all was not right at the vicarage. Mr. Gilson at
once interrupted public worship by declaring his suspicions
that the parson's worldly goods were in danger, and after a
short conference the congregation set off towards their pastor's
house, which they surrounded, thus cutting off all means of es- i
cape. Some of the boldest of them then entered and found
Joseph Withy, a returned convict, and two others, who there
is reason to believe are ticket-of-leave men. A large quantity
of plate had been packed up in the rev. gentleman's carpet
bag, ready for removal, and would, no doubt, have been speedily
transferred to some distant place, but for the opportune dis-
covery, as a vehicle was driven from the neighbourhood by the
supposed confederates of the thieves soon after the congrega-
tion so unexpectedly emerged from the church. The burglars
were handed over to the police.

DISTRESSING CALAMITY.—The hop season, usually prolific
of fires amongst the dwellings of the pickers, has this year
been inaugurated by a fearful calamity. Preparations for the
accommodation of the pickers had, as usual, been made on the
homestead of Mr. C. Gibbs, at Nettlestead, near NVateringbury
station—various available lodges and sheds having been appro-
priated to their use. In one of the barns a female, about 12
months old, named Bridget Donovan, was sleeping on the
straw, at about one o'clock on Saturday, whilst a girl, about
eight years of age, named Julia Sullivan, was charged to watch
over her. This girl was engaged in cooking at a fire outside
the gate, when her clothes caught, and the poor child in her
fright ran into the barn, and probably rolled in the straw, to
subdue the flames rising around her. The straw became
ignited, and in a moment the barn was filled with fire and
flame. The alarm then became general, and all hastened to
render assistance. Foremost among these was a poor Irish-
woman, who it was said had charge of the children. She ran
into the barn, and through the smoke and flame succeeded in
grasping the elder child, when she flew to a pond a few yards
distant, with the burning child in her arms, into which she
threw her. The girl was soon rescued from this second chance
of destruction, and the remains of her clothes were removed.
In the meantime the fire had progressed with the utmost ra-
pidity, and several buildings became involved. In a barn was
a quantity of wheat, oats, barley, and peas, and about 200
trusses of wheat straw, and adjacent were one stack of oats
and two of clover, which were all destroyed, as well as a stable,
the barn and lodge, and other buildings. A telegraphic mes-
sage was sent to Maidstone shortly after two o'clock, and the
engines arrived at the fire at a quarter to three. Previous to
this, the engine kept on the property of Alderman Lucas had
arrived, and had been brought into play. It was, however,
evident that nothing could save the buildings or the stacks, as
the roof had fallen in, and nothing was left but an immense
mass of blazing ruins on the ground. The engines played
upon the flames for about half an hour, particularly upon the
spot where the body of the child lay, and the trunk was then
recovered, the extremities having been burned away. The
elder child was taken to Coxheath union-house, where her in-
juries were attended to. She was alive on Monday afternoon.
The stock destroyed, of the value of about £6OO, was insured
in the Sun office ; but the buildings, the property of the Right
!lon, Pemberton Leigh, were not insured.—Maidstone Journal.

OL STANDARD.