The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.

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:ecated for. He says Rush paid him for doing the deed.
lie is in the 48th Regiment. I went to see the man, anti
he seems in a very distressed state. They say there is no
peace for the wicked, and I believe that is true, for he has
Always been in trouble, as he has been tried by courts-
martial ever since he has been a soldier.

on the causeway in Workhouse-lane. Having appa-
rently satisfied himself that the body which lay there
could be no other than that of his son, he waited to
ask for no description of the body—would give none
—but forced his way through the crowd, past the
police at the door, and upstairs in the most frantic
manner. While he was upstairs a series of the most
piercing shrieks rent the air without. These pro•
needed from a cleanly-dressed woman, who also had
evidently come to the conclusion that the deceased
was her son, for she uttered the most piercing cries
of " Oh my child, my child—my darling child ; I
know he's dead, and that he's here." And then
forcing her way into the inn fell back insensible,
exclaiming as she did so, " Oh, I cannot look at
him." The man hearing the cries, and imagining it
to be his wife, ran downstairs, exclaiming, "It is not
he." Hearing this, the woman caught at the hope
that her son was yet living only to lose it again, for
in the meantime her husband had recognized the
body as that of his son, and coming downstairs could
not conceal the fact. er grief now knew no bounds.
She beat the table with her bands, stamped with her
feet, and screamed in the most frightful manner for
nearly half-an-hour, and was at length with difficulty
borne home. Deceased was known as Albert Sales, ,
and was the son of a filecutter in the employ of Mr.
Cammell, of the Cyclops NVorks. The following is a
complete list of the persons killed :—Thomas
Morton, aged eighteen, grinder; Philip Childs,
grinder; Alfred Day, grinder; Ellen Staley; Albert
Sales, filecutter; JohnWigley. From inquiries made
at the infirmary we learn that the two men taken there,
and who are both suffering from concussion of the
brain, have recovered sensibility, and are likely to live.
Neither of them, however, is yet in a state to give
any particulars as to how he received his is juries.
The coroner's inquest upon the persons killed
was opened on Tuesday evening, before Mr. Badger,
coroner. The bodies lay in one of the rooms of the
hall near that in which the jury were assemblei.
The jury having heard the evidence of Greaves as to
the cause of the alarm, which was confirmed by
another lad, and some explanation as to the state of
the gas, the inquiry was adjourned till Thursday
next. After the jury separated the bodies were
removed to the homes of their relatives. Mr. Yondan
has announced his intention to defray the expenses
of the funerals. He also kept his place of enter-
tainment closed till Friday evening, by which time
all the deceased were interred.

A. rigid inspection of the gas pipes was made on
Wednesday by two competent parties, wha arrived at
the conclusion that no explosion had taken place.

MR. THOMAS HUNT, one of the United All Eng-
land Eleven cricketers, met with a shocking deatu
within an hour after the close of the grand cricket
match between the Eleven of England and Twenty
of Rochdale, on Satuiday evening last. Alter packing
up his cricketing materials, he engaged a man named
John Wild to carry them to the Rochdale station.
Mr. Hunt and the man Wild determined to walk
upon the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to the
station. Wild went a short distance before Mr.
Hunt, and the latter incautiously picked his road
between the up•rails ; and when be had gone a dis-
tance of about two hundred yards, Wild heard the
whistling of an engine, and turned round to look
what it was. It was a train due at Rochdale station
from Manchester at 6.50. He saw the danger in
which Mr. Hunt was, but was too far oft to render
him the slightest assistance. He appeared to be
in a complete state of bewilderment, and unable to
discover a place of safety. He turned round quickly,
and in a moment was caught by the buffer of the
engine, which threw him down on the rails. Both
his legs and his left hand were across the rails, and
in that position the train passed over him, cutting
off both legs across the calves, except a few shreds
of skin and flesh, and smashing all the fingers of his
left hand, over which the wheels seem to have gone
in a slanting direction. The train was stopped and
the body taken up. Surgical assistance was procured,
but too late ; the unfortunate man died in a few hours.
THE CAPTURE OF A BURGLAR was effected in a
detached cottage at Twickenham, within almost a
stone's throw of the church, occupied by an elderly
maiden lady in very delicate health, whose establish-
ment
consists merely of a cook and housemaid, a
few days since. On the night in question, however,
there was only the housemaid and her sick mistress
in the house. In the evening, the housemaid went
into her mistress's bedroom to inquire if anything
was wanted before retiring to rest. On opening the
door she was startled by seeing a lad, not more than
eighteen, standing over her mistress as she lay in
bed, apparently in the act of striking her with a
bludgeon. Without hesitating, she immediately
rushed upon him and seized him, closing with him
so rapidly that be was unable to use his bludgeon.
A desperate and long-protracted struggle ensued, the
poor invalid lady awaiting the issue in intense anxiety.
At length the brave girl succeeded in completely
overpowering her antagonist, and kneeling upon him
1 as he lay upon bis back on the floor, she held him
down and called to her mistress to bring her a piece

899

of cord, with which she firmly secured the bands of
her captive, who was then locked up, in spite of
his entreaties for mercy, in a strong cupboard, and
shortly afterwards was delivered up to the police, to
whom he was well known. The lady states that she
was asleep, when he awoke her, and, raising his
stick, demanded her keys. She was dreadfully
frightened, and was on the point of delivering them
up when her servant entered the room. The maid
afterwards received a handsome present from her

mistress.
A DESTRUCTIVE FIRE broke out early on Sunday
morning in the house and shop of Mr. Roper, corn
chandler, Royal-hill, Greenwich, which unfortunately
resulted in the loss of life to two children—the one
a girl aged five and a half years, and the other a boy
aged one year and nine months. The premises were
totally destroyed, and the rest of the inmates with
difficulty escaped by the roof of the house. The
prowess of the flames was so rapid that an escape
could not be procured in time to be of service.
THE OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON
RAILWAY COLLISION again occupied the attention of
the Coroner and jury at Brierly-hill on Wednesday,
and was adjourned, as it was understood, merely for
the purpose of summing up by the coroner and
deliberation by the jury. The inquest was again
resumed at the Bell Inn, on Thursday morning.
When the jury had assembled, Mr. Homer, solicitor,
said he must object to the conduct of the foreman of
the jury, because he had, since the commencement
of the inouiry, been assisting in settling cases of
compensation on behalf of the company. Mr. Bailey,
the foreman, said he had not in any way acted
discreditably either as foreman of the jury, a Gospel
minister, or an Englishman. Some conversation
ensued, and Mr. Bailey ultimately retired from the
jury. Some evidence was then gone into, when a
witness said that if the break had been put on in
time the accident would not have happened. It
was also stated that the excursion train was only
intended for children of the Sunday schools on the
lines between Oxford and Wolverhampton. At the
close of the evidence the coroner, to the astonish-
ment of every one, adjourned the inquest for a fort-
night.
MR. JAMES LORD, late partner of a firm of tilitlser
merchants of Liverpool, and part owner of the-Red
Jacket and other vessels, met with a shocking death
on the 24th ult. in Canada. A gentleman writing
from Toronto on the 30th ult. to a friend in Man-
chester says :—" On Tuesday last :our friend Lord
was killed on the Northern Railroad in a dreadful
manner. He had gone out with a party to Lake
Simcoe to fish, and when they arrived at Bell Ewart,
the lake port., they all 0 ,t off the carriages, and went
on the boat. Lord, fancying that his carpet-bag had
not been taken off the cars, went back, and, by an
unaccountable aazident, was crushed to death, There
is a platform a'. each end of American railway car-
riages, by which yen get off and on. There are steps
leading to it from the side. The train bad gone to the
side of the wharf, and was going back, when Lord
jumped on board. He was backing down the plat-
form steps, behind one of the carriages, when the
train came beside the elevated platform in front of
the station-house. The width between this carriage
and the platform—don't confound the carriage plat-
form with it—is 13 inches. Not seeing that he was
near the platform, he got squeezed into the space,
which gradually narrows to six inches. His body
was twisted round into this narrow space ere the
train stopped. Imagine how a stout man like him
must have been crushed ! As he was pushed up this
space he cried, " Oh ! oh ! oh ! " but his death fol-
lowed almost instantaneously. The party with whom
he was, with a heartlessness, thank God, not often
equalled, left him there, and went on with their
sports. Nay, there was one who stayed behind,
Mr. —, of this city, formerly of Liverpool. We
buried him on Thursday."

PRESENCE OF MIND is a rare quality, but its value
was shown in an occurrence which took place a day
or two ago. As a woman was on her way to Milton
farmhouse, for the purpose of procuring milk, the
watch-dog, a large animal of the mastiff breed, broke
loose, and rushed at her. A young man, a son of
the proprietor, observed the circumstance, and ran
forward for the purpose of seizing the dog, but some.
thing lying in the way tripped him and he fell, when
he was caught bold of by the furious brute and his
leg torn in a dreadful manner. The lad, with great
presence of mind, seized the dog by the throat, and,
notwithstanding that the animal struggled violently,
he maintained his bold until it was strangled.
THE GREAT AMERICAN ALOE ( the Agave Americana)
is now in bloom in the gardens of the Botanic Society,
Regent's-park. It is a remarkably fine plant, healthy,
vigorous, and lofty. Its height on the 12th of June
registered as 7 ft. 8 in., since when it has increased to
24 it., an altitude which it reached some days ago,
and at which it is now stationary. The flowers
cover some three feet of the stem from the summit,
the lower ones being fully open, while the others are
gradually unfolding themselves. This fine plant is
worthy of the inspection of the horticulturist.