The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-08-29 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER OF A CHILD AT
GLASGOW.

On Saturday last a very shocking child murder
was committed at Glasgow. Mr. and Mrs. Shields,

two respectable persons living in Commercial-road,

had a little interesting boy, two years of age, named
John, and on Saturday he was sent to meet his father
coming from work, but instead of meeting his parent,
he was picked up by a lad of about twenty years of
age, named John M'Fadyen, and taken away up the
bank of the raver. The father soon came without the

boy, and a search being made for him, the mother, in
going up the Clyde, met the lad M'Fadyen carrying
what she immediately recognised to be the clothes of her
missing child. She questioned the young man as to
where her boy was, when he told her that the boy was
drowned, and that he had got his clothes, and
was going to sell them. Just at this moment several
parties came up and accused M'Fadyen with drowning
young Shields. He had been observed in the very act,
and was, of course, taken into custody. It would appear
that M'Fadyen had led the unsuspecting innocent up the
river side till opposite Higginbotham's works, and there
he began to strip him of his clothes, for the purpose of
appropriating and selling them. It is thought that his
original intention did not extend beyond this, but accord-
ing to M'Fadyen's own subsequent confession, the child
began to weep and cry for its " Ma, " while being
undressed, and it was then that the 'horrible idea was
first suggested to him, that by destroying the child he
should prevent detection. Acting on the insane thought,
the boy was no sooner naked than, notwithstanding his
piteous cries and infantile struggles, the murderous youth
lifted him in his arms and pitched him into the water.
Fearful lest his object should not be accomplished, the
young fiend got a stick about three feet long, and as his
little victim was struggling close to the shore, M'Fadyen
held him down with the wood till life was extinct. The
murderer then lifted Shields' clothes and turned his face
towards the city. It may excite surprise that all this
could be perpetrated at three o'clock on Saturday after-
noon at such a place, yet it is nevertheless true that
only four persons saw the horrid action, but they were
at too great a distance to render timely aid. The batty
was afterwards recovered. On examination a large cut
was found on one of the cheeks, evidently caused by the
piece of wood with which the young monster held the
boy below water. The body was given up to the dis-
tressed parents. The murderer is stated to be idiotic.

CHERBOURG A THREAT TO ENGLAND.

A correspondent of The Times says :—Visitors to
Cherbourg appear to labour under a misapprehension
as to what is to be seen there, and, disappointed at not
finding an armada ready for a descent upon England,
they turn round and rate the good folks at home for
ever having had a moment's uneasiness about so inoffen-
sive a spot. It is those tourists, and not the British
public, who really are at fault as to the character of
Cherbourg. They are evidently as astonished to find
that a French Sebastopol can look pleasant, and have
sweet music discoursed on its ramparts, as that French
soldiers should be jolly dogs over their claret and filberts.
Yet, for all that, I say John Bull is perfectly right in
keeping a sharp and suspicions eye upon a vast fortication
and arsenal especially created for his destruction in the
next French war. Cherbourg, we all know, is not, tike
Portsmouth a natural harbour of God's
own making, and
whenceships Plymouth,
have been sailing for peace or
war from all time—where, from centuries of practice, the
people are naturally sailors and the builders of ships; and
availing itself of those qualifications,. the Government
has there established Royal dockyards, and surrounded
them with works for purely defensive purposes. The
visitor to Cherbourg should remember that it is the
creation of the ambition and warlike genius of man,
exerted, not for a benificent purpose, but purely out of
hostility to Great Britain. It is a vast fortification and
armed roadstead, with a parely naval and military
arsenal enclosed within its girdle, Behind that armed
breakwater a single ship or a great fleet will lie equally
secure from hostile attack, and sheltered from all
storms. The docks, the basins, the slips, the extensive
workshops, factories, and steam mills are there all
ready, not to construct ships, but to repair, make good
defects, equip, and send to sea in perfect trim any force
that should ever be suddenly concentrated in Cherbourg.
The great barracks, the well stored magazines would
then come into play, and the perfection of Cherbourg
for its especial purpose would then probably strike the
most incredulous Englishman, and we might have cause
to regret not having a secure roadstead of a similar
character as nearly as possible in front of it. Napoleon
111., to whose genius we owe rifled cannon and iron-
shod ships, knew well, when he was carrying out the
designs of his great uncle, that for Cherbourg to be 'of
any use as a point d'appui for an assault upon England,
or the freedom of the Channel, it must contain within'
itself the means of thoroughly re-equipping any steam
fleet. He knew that our system of having the steam
factory at one end of the Channel, the roadstead in the
centre, and the arsenal at the other extreme,--Keyham,
Portland, and Woolwich, to wit,—would never do on his
side of the water. Cherbourg, therefore, combines the
characteristics of all three, with the additional advantage
of being secure from any assailant, whereas our ports are
not likely to be so for the next three years. An invasion
of this country by France, I, with most naval men,
laugh at ; but what she can now do with the armed road-
stead of Cherbourg is clear enough. She would in the I
event of a war, render the English Channel very unsafe ,
for our commeroe. She would, I fear, cripple the
traffic of the port of London, and constantly harass
the whole of the south coast of England by partial
forays and expeditions. Ido not believe it any longer
possible to closely blockade through 'summer and winter
such a port as Cherbourg, if there are fast steamers and
enterprising sailors within it ; and as an instance, the
feats of the Vladimir, Russian corvette, may be quoted,
when Sebastopol was blockaded by an entire allied
fleet. Lastly, without tiring you with nautical and
strategical reasons 45 to tht) serious importance of Cher-
bourg, I am sure all naval officers will agree with me
in saying, that in the next war ten sail of the French
line behind the Digue, ready to put to sea, will cause
more anxiety from the Lizard to Yarmouth roads than
four times their number would have done in Brest

These are the considerations which have justly
awakened the anxieg upon this side of the Channel,
of those who look a little deeper than the surface of
what is apparent at Cherbourg, and are neither carried
away by good music, nor the charming sociability of
French military or naval officers.

Mr. Barry Sullivan played Macbeth at St. James's
Theatre, London, on Monday night , and the sumo
play was represented that night at the Princess's by Mr.
J. Anderson, Miss Elsworth, &e.

DONNYBROOK' FAIR.—The 26th, instead.of the 19th
inst., was, it appears, the "walking Sunday" to Donny-
brook, supposing the fair, to be still in existence, and
every body knows it is not. Although legally abolished
some years ago in the interest of good order, sobriety,
and morality, an attempt, however, has been annually
made to carry on the fair at Donnybrook, not for the
buying and selling of horses, &c., but for the promo-
tion of rather questionable festivities and amusements,
which for six whole days attended the business pro-
ceedings of the fair. The substituted fair has been
held in an inclosed piece of ground to the right of
the road leading from the village, and opposite the
real fair green, and this year, as usual, a consider-
able muster of persons walked and jaunted to this
place, the majority, however, merely for the purpose
of seeing whether it was intended to attempt the fair
this time despite the official notice of its abolition, and
the general feeling of aversion entertained towards the
proceeding by the citizens. If the visitors hoped to
see no indication of the fair, they
were disappointed, for
the customary preparations for it were visible, although
on a miserable scale compared with the past ; a couple
of dismal-looking shows, half a dozen shakey swings,
the same muster of soiled tents, And a sprinkling of stalls
for the display of fruit and gingerbread, and similar
.
luxuries, comprise the whole of the entertaiurßeuts pro-
vided for those who may be sufficiently foolish, or have
the bad taste to visit Donnybrook this week. The great
objection to the proceeding in question is, that it brings
c'4ll
together nearly all the bad characters of the city, in the
expectation of meeting a crowd of victims. Constables
were stationed on Sunday along the road from Leeson-
setornefeutsißorni,dgaendto
hackney
ybrocaorks tow eprerez:t.,
uocrosr
will they
they and
during the week be allawe.d Co, form stands " in the
vicinity of Donnybrook.... The authorities have notified
that they will enforce the prompt closing of the public-
houses at the proper hours, and take other measures to
prevent disorder. In all the Catholic chapels of the city
the clergy have earnestly impressed ur,on
,u'e people the
advice of the Archbishop, thc,,t, they ‘r
tuiperan9e, and good conduct, and there is no
should not visit
hat this advice will be attended
Donnybrook fair, a were 60 inevitably dangerous to
will have few visitors except those whose
to, and that the
. +s ways.
by many devices.
e‘m'fmaaiolurlribantthlgiisitwiseetok prey upon. the pubkic yarip,and

A DOUBLE ATTEMPT TO COMMIT
SUICIDE.

A dissipated-looking, middle-aged man, named Thos.
Wright, was brought before Mr. Burcham at the South-
wark Police-court yesterday, charged with attempting
to hang himself and afterwards attempting to drown
himself. Police-constable 291 M said that about one
o'clock yesterday he was on duty in the Old Kent-road,
when a young girl came up to him and requested him to
come with her, as her father had attempted to commit
suicide. Witness went to 14, Amelia-street, and in the
back room he saw the prisoner lying on the floor, with
a rope tied round his neck, and a portion fixed to a nail
in the wall. The rope had been cut, and the daughter
told him that she had cut her father down a minute or
two previous with a pair of scissors. As witness was
leaving the house he heard a splashing with water in
the back premises, and on going there he perceived the
prisoner struggling with his head in the wator-butt.
He succeeded in pulling him out, and then he felt bound
to take him into custody. Mr. Burcham ordered him to
be detained for the attendance of his wife, and he was
taken back by the gaoler.