The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-02-09 00:00:00

eetterat Nebns.

A COTTON SPINNER CHARGED WITH ARSON—Early
in November last the cotton spinning mill of a Mr.
George Thwaites, at Enxton, near Chorley, was wholly
destroyed by fire. There were suspicious circumstances
attending the fire which caused impiries to be instituted
as to its cause, but leading to no result at the time.
The mill was insured in the Manchester office for the
sum of £2,670. It now appears that James Holden, a,
carder in the employ of Mr. Thwaites, has made a state-
ment to the effect that his master instigated him to set
fire to the mill, and that he waste receive £lOO for the
deed. On Wednesday last Mr. Thwaites and Holden
were both apprehended, and they now stand committed
for trial on this most serious charge.

THE WADSWORTH-MOOR M ORMIR.--Joseph Shep-
herd, the young man in custody on a charge of murder-
ing a cattle-dealer named Bethel Parkinson, at the Com-
mons Farm, Wadsworth-moor, on the 13th ult., and
against whom the coroner's jury have already returned a
verdict of wilful murder, was taken before the West
Riding magistrates at Halifax on Monday week for
further examination. Mr. Marsden, solicitor for the
West Riding, again appeared on behalf of the prosecu-
tion, and produced a voluminous amount of evidence
similar to that given before the coroner. It is stated
that the prisoner is to be charged with highway robbery
with violence as well as with the capital offence. His
demeanour on Monday WU more serious than on any
former occasion. Great excitement prevails in Halifax
on the subject of the murder, and the Court-house was
densely crowded during the day. It is reported that
the mother of the prisoner is in a distressing state of
illness and not likely to survive.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY OF JEWELRY.—Between the
hours of 10 and 12 on Sunday morning the shop of
Messrs. Fattorini and Sons, jewellers, Bradford, was
entered and about £l,BOO worth of jewelry was stolen
therefrom. It appears that the proprietors of the
establishment were attending mass at the time of the
robbery, and that the premises, which are usually
guarded night and day, were left wholly unprotected.
Adjoining Messrs. Fattorini's shop, which is situated in
Kirlcgate, is an empty house, the upper front room of
which is divided from the upper room of Messrs. Fat-
torini's house by a wooden partition, in which a square
hole had been cut by means of a centerbit and saw, and
through which the thief effected his entrance to and
egress from the jeweller's shop. The following is a list
of the missing articles :—About 40 gold and 45 silver
English lever watches, 40 gold and 35 silver Geneva
watches, 150 gold wedding rings, 50 gold hoops, 50 gold
chains, six gold Albert chains, five gold fob chains and
topaz seals, four gold bracelets, 24 silver guards, six
silver albert guards, three plated fob chains, and •
number of second-hand watches. Most of the watches
bore the name of "A. Fattorini and Son." his thought
the thief or thieves may have been disturbed in the
depredation. A large quantity of portable property,
such as silver spoons, gold rings Ac., was scattered about
on all sides; indeed, the shelves in the windows whence
the watches were taken were filled with clusters of
valuable rings and jewelry, and yet they were left un-
disturbed, lt is supposed the thief was disturbed in his
operations and had to beat • premature retreat—a sur-
mise which is strengthened by the amount of property
left behind, and by the fact that at about half-past 11
o'clock a son of Mr. Fattorini, who was paining the
house, tried the door to ascertain if any of the family
were at home, but receving no response he went away.
At present the robbery is involved in much mystery,
and the attempts of the police to trees the thief have
completely failed.
THE CRYSTAL PALACE AND TEE SABOATR.— The
following letter in reference to the recent deputation to
the Home Secretary was received by the Lord's-day
Society on Monday morning :—" Whitehall, Jan. 30.
I am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey to inform
you that he has given his attentive consideration to the
memorial presented to him by a duputation of the
Society for promoting the Due Observance of the Lord's-
day, in which it was stated that a resolution had been
submitted to a meeting of the Crystal Palace Company
on the 11th of December last, and carried by a large ma-
jority, authorizing the Board of Directors to
.agree with
any Proprietor for a conversion of his shares in the com-
pany into tickets of admission into the buildings and
.grounds of the company, pursuant to the 11th section of
the Crystal Palace Act, 1856, and requesting the Board
of Director' to peas a resolution authorizing admission by
these tickets to the Palace and grounds on Sunday after-
noon, as a gratuitous privilege, and without any money
payment to be made, directly or indirectly, to the com-
pany for such privilege which resolution, if carried into
effect Sir George Grey understands the oommitte of the
society to contend would be either a violation of the Act of the 21st of George 111. chap. 49, or an infringenient
of the condition of the charter of the company, that no
person shall be admitted to the building or grounds OR
the Lord's-day in consideration of any money payment
made, either direotly or indirectly, unless with the ex-
press sanction of Parliament. It appears to Sir George
Grey that the application of the society for the interfer-
ferenee of the Governinent in this matter is at least pre-
mature • as, unless the resolution is carried into effect,
which Is not stated in the memorial, no proceeding could
be taken against the company on the ground of the
alleged violation of the condition of their charter. If
the resolution should be acted upon Sir George Grey will
be prepared to consider whether the interference of the
Government is required. With reaped to the prayqr of
the memorial, that no alteration be made in the charter
to permit the admission of the shareholder's or others to
the grounds of the company on the Lord's-day. I have
to inform you that no application for any such alteration
hoe been made. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, H.
WADDLNOTON."

LIABILITY OF RAILWAY COKFANIIR—At the lad
sitting of the Leeds County Court an action was brought
by Messrs. W. Sugden and J. Royston, of Leeds, and
John Holmes, of Hunslet, to recover thc sum of 4.!2 zs,
from the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company,
being the amount of expenses incurred in consequence of
the defendants having started a passenger train from
the Wakefield station, on the sth of September last, two
minutes before the time specified in the company's bill.
It appeared thrst the clock dial on the platforim by
which the trains were started, gained a few seconds
every time the minute-hand paned the half-hour, and
thus got in advance of the time indicated by the dial
: outside the station. The plaintiffs were in a neighbour.
' ing refreshment room, and, in consequence of the dis-
crepancy between the two dials, missed the train. They
afterwards posted to Leeds, incurring the expenses now
claimed. The judge Mr J. H. Marshall, gave a verdict
for the plaintiffs for the amount claimed.
FRIGHTFUL COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—Abont 5 o'clock
on Tuesday evening a dreadful explosion occurred at the
coal pit known as "The Diamond Pit," at Bardsley, a
locality in the Knott Lanes division of the parish of
Ashton-under-Lyne, and about two miles north of that
town. The colliery is worked by Mr. Wilde and
another, and about 200 men and boys are employed in
the pit. The explosion occurred just as they were leav-
ing the pit, and the engineer thinks he had drawn about
one-half the number out of the pit, so that when the
catastrophe occurred there would be about 100 persons
remains in the pit. The force of the explosion was so
great that, although the shafts is 470 yards deep, the
rope attached to one of the cradles was blown off the
pulley at the head stocks, and the rope was at once
taken of the druin. The conductors were also broken,
and the utmost care became necessary in winding up and
down with the remaining rope. Of course the explo-
sion soon attracted numbers of colliers and others to the
mouth of the pit, and as soon as it was possible to
descend there was no lack of volunteers to go down and
aid in bringing up the survivors. The shrieks and cries
kto.
ef
..I,
one
emi s
of
not
.th
the
of the women and children of those below were appall.
ins. Those uriderlookers who were out of the pit used
every exertion to expedite the working of the apparatus
for descending. The confusion and the darkness pre-
vented any regular master or roll-call of the men and
boys brought up before and after the explosion ; but the
engineer estimated that by half-past 7 o'clock 40 had
been raised, two only of whom were dead. One was
identified as James Brierley ; the other was not recog-
nized. About 12 others of the 40 were more or less
burnt; others had escaped without the least injury.
Within • short distance of the Diamond Pit is another
belonging to the same colliery, named the Victoria Pit,
aca't ei nn.
ineP effsewc ll wHii, teeihr were frightfully
eyil:f
which is used only for sending up the coal. It is stated
that the force of the explosion at this pit was eo great
that the coals in the tubs were actually ignited, and it
r:rigrt.hheWtfulliunldyed,ebrsournioon
was reported (with what degree of truth it was imp, .
sible to ascertain) that some of the poor fellows in their
.andThhisegeopfionuhrm htadhatnioltwleasft
proprietors,
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,w. p
enr:di
what
William
is, i
ahngvemoet
ou endeavour
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ni to od,
the mine
. eerjste
little remarkable that Mr. Whitehead, the Government
inspector of mines for the district, had been down ba-
the pit more than a quarter of an hour, and the in-
spector had just expressed his entire satidaction with
exceedingly well ventilated, when the explosion oc-
curred. It should be stated that there had been few
explosions at this colliery. The last at this pit occurred
about six years since.