The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-21 00:00:00

connected with the ease arc reported in the local papers. The
Derbyshire Courier states that on the trial, additional evi-
dence of considerable importance will be adduced. Since in
the county gaol, Platta his been much depressed in spirits,
and has evinced a degree of sullenness of disposition when
spoken to by the officers of the prison about his friends, and
he begins to cry. his rumoured that the wont is not yet
known—that more murders would be found to have been
committed—and that several cattle dealers had mysteriously
disappeared, after having been known to receive large sums
of money in the town.
rswvnvaliner

COMMITTAL OF A GAMEKEEPER FOR CROOTINO A
YOUNG WOMAN,—W. Hayter, the gamekeeper of the Rev.
W. Radcliffe, of Warleigh, Devon, has been committed for
trial at the next Exeter assizes, charged with wilfully and
maliciously wounding Marina H. Hicks, a girl of 16 years
of age, by twice shooting at her, on Sept. 4. The following
extract from the report of the examination of the prisoner,
which appears in the Plymouth Journal, will put the reader
in possession of the facts of the case :—The complainant WAS
the daughter of a person who rented land of the Rev. W.
Radcliffe, and he occupies a portion of garden ground which
abuts upon a plantation. It appears that between this piece
of ground, so cultivated, and the plantation, there is no
fence of any description, and, on September 4, the com-
plainant thought it no harm to enter the plantation to
gather blackberries. She had ascended some distance upon
the incline, a hen the defendant made his appearance, and
ordered her to start from that place. The poor girl was
somewhat surprised at such a salutation, and she endea-
voured to make the best of her way off from the place, and
in her attemp's to get away the defendant discharged one of
the barrels of the gun at her, and though fortun tidy it did
not take effect, he was not content with that. His intention
was not to frighten her merely, for when she got further
dawn the hill, he fired another barrel at her, and the conse-
quence was, that two of the shots entered her person—one
entering her thigh and the other cue of her fingers. Fortu-
nately fur the defendant, the principal charge entered a tree
near where the complainant was standing at the time, and a
very large number of shots were found in that tree.
THE MILLS in the Royal William Victualling Yard, at
Plymouth, ere (says the Poole Herald) immediately to com-
mence grinding, night and day, Indian corn for the supply of
the distressed Irish. It is expected that they will perform
about SO quarters or 38,4001 b. of meal per day.
CACTION TO FRIENDLY SOCIETIES.—A few days ainoe a
hearinx took place before BeUield, Esq., magistrate of
Paignton, under the following circumstances. Thomss
Beavis, Corresponding Secretary of the Exeter District of the
Odd Fellows F riendly Society, was charged by Mr. Oldfve,
of Brithani-lo see, with defrauding that lodge of IV., part of
its funds, which it was alleged he had demanded as an officer
of the society, he being at that time not in office, according to
the rules of the society. He was apprehended and taken
before the magistrate. J. Prin and J. Pope, of Exeter, and
Mr. Wheton, of Brixham, were sworn, and proved that the
money had been drawn by the defendant, who, they stated,
bad no authority to do so, as he was out office. For the
defence it was argued that the defendant was still in office at
the time of receiving the money, and that as the society had
not its laws enrolled, the ease was not cognisable by a magis-
trate. The case was dismissed on the ground that a magis-
terial inquiry could not be made in case of a secret society,
unless a charge of fraud could be maintained independently
of its rules.— II yinorals Journal.
CKINGIIAMMIIIRE.
A M ATRIMONI AL Ho %X h IS, it appears, been played off
at Stony Stratford, where some mischief-loving people replied
to an advertisement which appeared in a Sunday paper, and
abet a long correspondence induced the wife and fortune-
hunting advertiser to parade himself in the town in hope of
meeting his supposed lady-correspondent. A letter from the
neighbourhood thus describes th.: denouement " Somewhat
nervous did the principals in the affair feel when about nine
o'clock they saw standing at the hall door of the hotel their
correspondent permeated by a rather gigantic figure, at least
six feet one inch high, of very muscular frame, and with a
mien and appearance calculated to bear out a sentence in one
of his letters, ' that he never in his life submitted to an
insult from a gentleman.' However, there he was,
there they had called him ; and they (however
falsely) expressed to each other their intense hap-
piness at seeing him, though at a little distance.
Breakfast over, with brandy before and after the repast, to
stimulate him, the gentleman made a circuit of the town to
reconnoitre, after which, the hour being at hand, he pro-
ceeded to the place appointed for meeting. This was on the
road from the town to the raiiway station, from whence, if
by any fortuitous occurrence the lady was prevented meeting
htm, ke was to repair to the house of her milliner, where she
would await him. Having shown himself on the promenade
for two hours, during which time he was watched and passed
occasionally by the promoters of the hoax, the hero pro-
ceeded to the house of the milliner, who not being in the
secret, of course knew nothing of any lady having made an
appointment at her house. Suspicions now flashed upon him.
He made the , not-office hie next call to inquire who had been
to the habit of sending for the letters addressed there, when
the post-mistress told all she could of the mysterious corre-
spondence. Then the gentleman's ire boiled over; then he
betook himself to hemily, and after that to the suspected
parties, threatening the vengeance of the law, and the aid of
the police, if the writer and the letters were not given up.
Ile was only laughed at, although each person applied to
repudiatr d the authorship of any correspondence with him.
By this time the affair was all over the town; the place be-
"one OVCTWIII m for him; kis acquaintances were too mime-
s, us and disagreeable, and he was glad to avoid them, which
he did, by leaving by the next omnibus, threatening that the
post-office authorities, and all parties suspected, should hear
of him again, and sp:rddv."

........
AN EXTENSIVE FIRE AT BRINTOL broke out y sterday
morning in the workshops, at the back of the 13roadmead,
oecupied by Mr. Leech, cabinet maker. The wife of a
horse•keeper in the employ of Messrs. Bland and Co., the
large coach proprietors, and railway and general carriers, first
discovered the fire at about half-past one o'clock in the morning.
She promptly gave an alarm to the police, which was rapidly
spread throughout the city, and in less than twenty minutes
the police ergine and those of the different fire offices were
upon the spot, as was also a crowd of from 4,000 to 6,000
citizens, who nail been attracted to the spot by the alarming
nature of the fire, the flames from which ascended to the
height of a church steeple. In spite of the utmost efforts of
the firemen, the workshops and their contents were speedily
destroyed. The shop of a bedstead man: facturer named
Staddon, was next enveloped in flames, and as there was a
large stock of timber which had just been brought in, it
blazed with fearful intensity and rapidity, nod defied all
efforts to extinenish the fire. The warerooms and aaleroorna
of Mr. J. Naish, auctioneer, next caugh.. Mr. Neigh had
announced a sale to take place on Monday, and his rooms
were, therefore, unusually full of furniture. The fire was
not subdued until it had totally destroyed his premises and a
considerable portion of his stock. The Mechanics' Institu-
tion, adjoining Mr. Naiah's, as well as Messrs Bland's stables,
&c., were threatened with destruction, and only saved by
great exertion. It was found necessary to get out the whole
of the horses from the latter place. The amount of damage
Ins not as yet been ascertained; but it cannot be less than
from 2,000 tc 3,000/.
A VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER 11. AS BEEN RETURNED
AGAINST THE FOLICEXAN whose violence caused the
death of Ruben Busby at Barrington, as reported in this
paper o laturilay last.
T. W. BR VNISTON, ESQ., INTENDS TO RETIRE from the
representation of the county, whenever a dissolution of the
present Parliament may take place.—Ch•lmsford Chronicle.
CH ELTENTIAM IS LIKELY TO BE BENEFITED BY THE Nsw
Acr fur the Suppression of Nuisances. It appears that
"A Board of health Committee" hu been appointed, which
made its report to a special meeting of the Town Commis-
sioners on Friday ; and the result has been that such of the
nuisances complained of as are within the jurisdiction of
that body, are to be immediately removed, and such as occur
through the neglect of private individuals are to be abated
under cognisance of the Magistrates and the provisions of
the new act. Let othertowns follow the example.

ILTSH
REPRESENTATION OF SALISBUET.-Mr. Martin, of King.
don House, Dorchester, is still actively canvassing the
Salisbury- electors.—Slierborne Journal.

SUFFOLK.
AN ILLUSTRATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENTS. The
Bury Post states, on the authority of a correspondent, that
" there is a labourer now employed upon the railway works
at Ely, aho was once tried and convicted of highway rob-
bery, and was sentenced to be hanged. The morning arrived
for his execution; he was placed under the fatal beam ; and,
as the clergyman commenced his melancholy office, the poor
feUow protested his innocence. Just as the executioner was
about to ' launch him into eternity,' a man was perceived
at a distance galloping furiously, holding up a piece of paper
—it was a reprieve In ten minutes the horse died from
exhaustion. The sentence was commuted to transportation
for life. At the expiration of ten years and nine months the
prosecutor in the case, being upon his death-bed, sent for the
mayor of the town, and told the dreadful tale, that, at the
time he swoce he had beta robbed of a large sum by the
man in question, he had the money in his own pocket, hav-
ing been led to this atrocious crime by feelings of revenge !
Shortly after this acknowledgment he died. The accused
was sent for, a free pardon granted him, and 15/. given him
by government on his arrival at home. A person the other
day asked him how he felt when he was under the gallows ?
He replied, I didn't care so very much about it, because I
knew I was innocent.'" . .

. . ...... „....
Vagtous Fosstt. REMAINS have been dug up since the
labourers have resumed the work of excavating for the
south-eastern approach to the tunnel ; a great quantity of
bones and teeth of elephants and other animals have beta '
discovered. On Wednesday and Thursday last several teeth
of large size were found, which appear referable to no class
of animals now extant. Some of the fossil molar teeth of
the elephant or mammoth exceed six pounds in weight.—
Ipswich Journal.

SUSSEX.
THE INHAnErANTS OY SHOREitAM are stated to be in a
state of excitement in consequence *f the alleged Puseyite
predilections of the vicar and his curate, who are stated by
the Brighton Herald to preach and enforce "the practice of
auricular confession, from the text, ' Show thyself to the
priest."' The Fame paper states the following case :
" A pint, of the name of Merricks, lately lost aeon, a very respectable
yotutg sailor, who died in the County Hospital. Having erected a
tombstone in the churchyard, a few years ago, to the memory of a
briner deceased child, be wiked and obtained authority front the
churchwardens and curate to remove it, for the purpose of recording
on it the decease of his late son, with an appropriate epitaph. The
intolerant priest, however, has sent, by hat churchwarden, the fallow-
ing note to comfort the distressed minds of the mourning family :
Mr. Merricka—l hereby ewe you formal notice not to erect any
tombstone in the churchyard of New Shoreham. Year humble sa-
vant, W. WInYLER, Vicar of Old and New aborcham....

AN EXTENSIVE FIRE, MlprOgea to be the work of an in-
cendiary, occurred last week at Park Gate, Great Bardfield,
the property and residence of Mrs. Stebbins, a venerable
and highly esteemed lady, whose numerous acts of benevo-
sence among the poorer class it might have been supposed
would alone have shielded her from so cruel and absurd att
sot. Property to the amount of 1,5001. was destroyed.