The Press.
London, England, 1858-09-11 00:00:00

THE PRESS, SEPTEMBER 11, 1858.

After this the unfortunate woman sank rapidly, and
Aft
medical man, Dr. Girdwood, sen., was sent
for, but before he arrived she was dead. On the
following day a postmortem examination of the body
was made by Dr. Forrest, Stirling ; Dr. Hamilton,
Falkirk ; and Dr. Myrtle, Polmont. The report made
by these gentlemen, and which is in the hands of the
authorities, has of course been kept private; but we
understand that it was to the effect that the uterus
was found to have ben pierced in two places, one on
each side, by some© nstrument, and that death had
been caused by the excessive hemorrhage produced
by these wounds. The deceased was about twenty
three years of age. We now come to the second part
of this shocking case—the suicide of Dr. Girdwood,
jun., the son of Dr. Girdwood who was called in to
attend the woman Taylor. The news of Ann Taylor's
death, it was observed, threw young Girdwood into
a state of great excitement. He went into the
publiahouse in High•street, Falkirk, occupied
by Mr. M`Naughton, and called for writing
materials, stating that he had a letter to
write, and giving orders that it was not to
be posted before eleven o'clock next day (Tuesday).
At the same time he sent out to Mr. Cochrane's,
druggist, for four ounces of laudanum, and when the
messenger returned with the laudanum, he said he
had to go to Linlithgow, and requested Mr.
NPNaughton to go to the Red Lion for the purpose of
hiring a machine. Mr. Scott refused the machine,
but one was got from Mr. Hutton, of the Railway
Hotel. Having requested M'Naughton to accompany
him, the party proceeded in the direction of Lin-
lithgow. On the journey, the deceased was heard to
moan very much, and seemed asleep. When near the
Free Church at Linlithgow, about twelve p.m., Mr.
31.Naughton proposed to the driver that Mr. Gird-
wood should be aroused. This was attempted, but
without success ; and as he seemed much excited
and not well, it was resolved to return to Falkirk,
which was accordingly done. On arrival, deceased
was taken into M‘Naughton's, and laid upon a sofa,
while the machine was despatched to Grahamston
for his father. Before that gentleman arrived, how-
ever, his son was dead. The letter written by the
deceased Mr. Girdwood was found by his father in
one of his pockets, but its contents have not been
disclosed. Immediately on discovering what had
been done to Ann Taylor, Dr. Myrtle gave notice to
the police authorities, and suspicion falling on Reid
as being concerned in the affair, a warrant was a
once issued for his apprehension. Raid, it will be re-
membered, was tried along with a fellow-clerk named
Gentles and convicted at the Stirling Circuit in 1857
of having abetted Mr. Henry Salmon in his plun •
dering of the Commercial Bank at Falkirk, of which
he was agent, of money to the amount of upwards of
JOAN. Strong representations, however, were
made to Government in favour of Reid and Gentles,
as being merely the dupes of Salmon, and they were
liberated some months since. Salmon, it will be re-
membered, hanged himself at Conway, in Wales.

A FEARFUL EXPLOSION at the Haggerstone Gas
Works took place on Thursday morning. A number
of persons were greatly injured, five of whom are
dreadfully burnt. The scene of the misfortune was
the Independent Gas Factory, situate at Hagger-
stone. The premises were of great extent. Whilst
a number of men were at work in different parts of
the building an escape of gas took place from one of
the great mains in the valve, or regulating shed, and
before any attempt could be made to stop the defect
in the pipe the gas rushed out in such quantities
that it entered the smith's shop, and reaching the
furnace, it ignited and exploded with a noise re
sembling the discharge of a piece of ordnance, and
the two shops presented a sheet of flame. A most
searching investigation will be made by the directors
of the Independent Gas Company as to the origin of
the calamity.
A FATAL RAILWAY ACCIDENT has occurred on the
Aberdeen and Inverness Junction Railway, opened
to the public about three weeks ago. On Satur-
day afternoon an engine and tender were taken
by its driver, without orders, to the Orton Junction.
Four or five other men went with him. He had to
pass the Mulben Junction, but the rails here not
being prepared the engine was turned into a siding,
and struck against the fixed buffers with so great a
force that the tender, which was first, was fairly
lifted up and tumbled on the engine. Three of the
Party, who were on the engine, met a most shocking
fate. They were crushed so against the fire plate
and box, by the overtopping tender, that one of them
may be said to have been literally roasted to death.
All three poor fellows only lived a very short time.
The engiue-driver and fireman, who had jumped off,
were not seen for the night, but the next day both
were apprehended and lodged in the gaol at Elgin.
AN INCOME•TAX COLLECTOR, named Burbridge, was
examined before the Richmond bench of magistrates,
on Saturday, charged with having embezzled a large
amount of public money, and also with having col-
Lseted taxes after his dismissal from his situation.
The prisouer was committed for trial.

A MELANCHOLY AFFAIR occurred et Manchester on
Wednesday. John Griffith, a working collier, of good
character, had a daughter, named Emma, aged
fifteen, in service at a neighbouring beerahop, kept
by a man named William Trunter. On Sunday fore-
noon, some men in the house heard the poor girl
call for help, and there appears no doubt that he
shamefully abused her. The girl, on escaping from
him, went home, told something of what had occurred
to her mother and female relatives, but appeared in
great dread of the truth being told to her father, and
on a man not of the family appearing she ran
affrighted in another room. On Tuesday, her
father went to the magistrates' office, to apply for a
warrant against Trunter, desiring his daughter to
follow him. Still her fear and shame withheld her,
and she did not go. Her father upbraided her for
this, and, some additional facts having transpired, he
told her that next morning she must go to a surgery
for examination. On Wednesday morning, when the
time came, it was found that the poor girl had left
the house. The father sought her, and learnt at her
grandmother's that she had been there, and said she
would never again return home. On prosecuting his
search further, he caught sight of the poor girl, who,
on seeing him, ran off down a by-road in the direction
of the coalpits at Blaken-hall. Her father followed
slowly, till, seeing that she got near an old coalpit
shaft, he called to some men to stop her. The girl then
ran into the " field," up the bank which surrounded
the shaft, and had thrust herself between the aper-
tures of the.planks which formed the protection to the
shaft. Her father, seeing his worst fears about to
be realized, shouted with much feeling, " Don't do
that, my wench !" but the girl was too determined or
too pauicstruck to heed him. Dragging through
the rest of her body, she rolled herself into the pit.
By this time her terror-stricken father had ap-
proached near enough to her to imagine that he
could yet arrest the dreadful act. He clutched at
her, but she had fallen too far. The shaft was
known to be a deep one, and to have lain unworked
for six years; if, therefore, she had escaped being
dashed to pieces, there was yet no hops for her life,
as the foul air towards the bottom of the pit must be
fatal to her. Nevertheless, active efforts were at
once commenced to recover the body. A brave fellow
named Elwell, an engine•driver at a neighbouring
pit, volunteered his services. He commenced de-
scending, amid the hearty though stifled cheering of
some hundreds of anxious spectators. He had not
gone down far, however, before he was beaten back
by the carbonic acid gas. Other attempts followed,
but they were unsuccessful, until some air-troughs
were procured from Messrs. Aston and Corns, the
proprietors of the colliery. By these the shaft was
cleared to within nine yards of the scaffold, which
ran across the shaft at a distance of sixty-nine yards
from the month, and upon which it was known that
the body of the girl must be lying. Elwell thrust
himself through that, and hastily groped for the body
in the dark. His hand first reached the foot of the
corpse, end he speedily drew it up to the safe air.
Upon the corpse reaching the bank, it was found
that there was a bruise upon the face, upon the left
elbow, a cut upon the knee, and blood was oozing
through her clothes from her back. She had then
been in the shaft about seven hours—from 10.30 a.m.
till about 5.30 p.m.
THE DUDLEY RAILWAY CATASTROPHE, arising from
the collision on the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolver-
hampton Railway, on the night of the 23rd ultimo,
was further investigated on Tuesday, at the Bell Inn,
Brierley.hill, before Mr. T. M. Phillips, the coroner,
and the jury already empanelled. Previous to the
inquiry being gone into it was announced that another
death had taken place—Mrs. Rogers, of Princes'-end,
having succumbed to the severe injuries she had sus-
tained. Mr. Fenton, the chairman of the company,
and several of the directors and officers, attended by
Mr. King, their solicitor, were present. As on the
previous occasions, Mr. Burbury, Mr. Round, Mr.
Herapath, and other legal gentlemen, attended on
behalf of the relatives of some of the deceased.
John Cording, the assistant guard of the excursion
train on the 23rd ult. ; Joseph Williams, a boatman,
residing at Worcester, who rode in the break-van with
the guard of the excursion train on the night of the
accident; and Frederick Cook, the chief guard in
charge of the excursion train, were examined ; after
which Mr. King intimated that the company proposed
to call Mr. M'Connell, locomotive superintendent of
the London and North Western Railway, and Mr.
Craig, of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire
line, to give evideqee of a scientific character. The
Coroner said ho would leave it to the company to
produce such evidence as would be likely to elucidate
the causes which led to this sad calamity ; and the
inquiry was further adjourned for a week.
A SINGULAR ACCIDENT, attended with fatal conse-
quences, occurred last week to a young gentleman,
named Dickens, while bathing at Tynemouth. He
had been taken a short distance into the sea in a
machine, and, after undressing, instead of dropping
from the ladder into the water, he
.had sprung from
the floor. Finding that he was alighting m shallow

8M

water, he had put out his hands to prevent falling on
his face. At the moment he alighted on the ground
he gave his head a sudden jerk back, which caused
the accident terminating in his death.
THREE ILLUSTRIOUS CONVICTS, Redpath, Burgess,
and Tester, were despatched to the Australian con-
vict settlements last week, in the Edwin Fox.
ltedpath, a few days before his embarkation, had a
farewell interview with his wife, and their parting is
described as being very affecting. Owing to his feeble
, constitution, which had suffered considerably from
the confinement of a prison, he was incapable of
enduring the severe labour of the quarries, in which
most of the convicts at Portland are employed, and
he was consequently put to work in the " drying-
room," where he had the light but undignified occu-
pation of hanging up linen.
THE FUNERAL of the six children of Mr. William
Smith, and the three children of Mr. George Torr,
of Greenwich, who were drowned by the swamping
of a pleasure.boat, at Worthing, took place, on
Saturday, at the Nunhead Cemetery. As the
mournful procession of hearses and coaches pro-
ceeded on its route the shops of the tradesmen at
Greenwich and Deptford were closed as a mark of
syinnathy to the parents of the deceased.

Disallaittotts.

THE TAY SALMON FISHINGS, belonging to the city
of Perth, have been let by public roan, on a lease of
three years, at the annual rent of 1,3901. The rent
paid for the fishings last year was only 8701., making
thus a rise upon the rental for three years to come
of 526/.

THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY'S SHOW, which commenced
at Aberdeen on Monday week, terminated on the
Friday, and is pronounced to have been most suc-
cessful. The only drawback had been the unfavour-
ableness of the weather, several of the days having
been rainy.
ALEXIS SOYER, the well-known chef de cuisine, has,
it is stated, bequeathed six pictures by Mine. Soper
to the trustees of the National Gallery.
STATISTICS OF RAILWAY ACCIDENTS in the five
countries which possess the most extensive systems
of railways—England, United States, Prussia, France,
and Belgium—comparing the number of passengers
with the number of those who suffered death from
railway accidents, and the number seriously wounded,
give the following result :—There was one person
injured in the United States out of 188,459 passen-
gers ; in England out of :311,345 ; in France out of
375,092 ; in Belgium out of 1,611,237 ; in Prussia
out of 3,294,075. This calculation is contained in a
report drawn up by a commission appointed for the
purpose by the French Government.
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH is at fault from a
defect hitherto undiscovered, and there have been no
intelligible signals from Newfoundland since the 3rd
inst. The directors are now at Valentin, and, aided
by various scientific and practical electricians, are
investigating the cause of the stoppage, with a view
to remedy the existing difficulty. Under these cir-
cumstances no time can at present be named for
opening the wire to the public.
CRINOLINE AND COMBUSTION are evils which Mr.
James Wylde, in a letter to a contemporay, proposes
to remedy. He says:—" By adding to the starch used
in preparing these dresses a table spoonful of com-
mon alum in a powdered state, the starch makes the
dress far stiffer, and prevents its bursting into flame
when placed in contact with any burning substance."
THE LEGION OF Hosona, at the close of the reign
of Napoleon 1., consisted of 9,000 members. Great
progress has been made since then. There are now
272,000 members.
THE VINTAGE in the district round Paris, as well
as throughout the whole of France, presents the
most favourable appearance, and there is every
reason to expect that the year 1858 will stand forth
among the most favoured ones, both for quantity and
quality.
THE BRITISH SALT MANUFACTURERS, through the
Salt Chamber of Commerce, have addressed a memorial
to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the
subject of the salt trade, as an article worthy of con-
sideration, in concluding a treaty with China.
THE WRECKS reported during the month of
January were 154, in February 162, in March 179, in
April 142, in May 128, in June 102, in July 101, and
in August 112—making a total during the past eight
months of 1,080.
THE COMET detected by Dr. Donati on the 2nd of
June has, during the last few days, rapidly increased
in brightness, and on Sunday evening, when the sky
was very clear, was fully as conspicuous to the naked.
eye as a star of the fourth magnitude. The tail
very distinct, forming, with the somewhat brilliant
nucleus, a pretty telescopic object. The brightness
of the comet will be constantly on the increase during
the present month. It will be found about
10 degrees above the north-west hods= at eight
o'clock in the