The Express.
London, England, 1853-09-14 00:00:00

ASIATIC CHOLERA IN SOUTHWARK.

Yesterday Mr. W. Payne held an inquest at the
request of the beard of guardians of the parish of St.
George the Martyr, Southwark, at the workhouse, Mint-
street, on the body of John Hickie, age 55, who, it was be-
lieved had died of Asiatic cholera, under very shocking
circumstances.
The greatest interest wag attached to the proceedings, in
consequence of this being the first case of Asiatic cholera,
that kas appeared in this district this year, precisely in the
same locality where the disease made such frightful ravages
on its appearance in 1849. The place whrre the man died
is surrounded by kneelers' yards, bone boilers, and cat-gut
makers.

One of the witnesses, Mr. J. W. Waklem, sorgeoa
to St. George's, Southwark, and also to the Queen's
Prison, said he received a communication from the re-
lieving officer to attend • person suffering from alto•
fern on Saturday. Not being at home at the time,
his assistant attended, but witness followed him a
few minutes after six o'clock. lie found him suffering from
Asiatic cholera, with all the peculiar characteristics of that
disease, such as purging and severe cramps. The purging
subsided between 8 and 9 in the evening, after which he
sank Into a state of collapse. He continued in that state
until the following day at live o'clock in the evening, when
he died. No reaction whatever took pleat. It was his opi-
nion that nothing was wanting, and everything was done
for him that was possible. There had been another case of
the same description in the same house that morning. A
child of the deceased had been attacked with cholera, to
which be had administered. Another child had also been
►ttacked at a house two or three doors from the house of the
deceased.

Mr. Walkem here read a report which he bad framed
from inspection of the house and its neighbourhood, and
which fully supported the statements of the other witnesses
respecting their horrible condition. Questioned by a juror,
the witness said, these spartments are totally unlit for hu-
man habitations They were never without fever, if not
attended by cholera. A great number of families had been
destroyed in that very place. There was no ventilation,
for they could get no free current of air, as there were no
windows at the back. _

The Coroner summed up, instructing the jury that unless
it appeared that the death of John Hichie could be dis-
tinctly referred to some particular nuisance no verdict
suited to become the groundwork of criminal proceedings
could be returned. He then animadverted upon the unsa-
tisfactory state of unitary jurisdiction, complaining that
between the parochial officers, the Board of Health, and
the Privy Council the neighbourhood wu left in a dreadful
state.

The jury then returned the following special verdict:
" That the deceased died from Asiatic cholera, induced
from the unwholesome trades carried on in the neighbour-
hood ; that it is the opinion of the jury that the board of
guardians ought to be invested with the authority they for-
merly held under the Board of Health in such matters, and
that that power should be continuous."
A guardian said that on the previous evening a spe-
cial meeting of the board of guardians had been held, when
it was determined to use all mean in their power to obtain
a remedy for these evils. The following resolution, oa the
motion of Mr. George W. Cross, wu then proposed, and
was unanimously adopted, " That the relieving oaken
shall get all the Information they can by house to hours vi-
sitation, that the board may make • strong appeal to the
Board of Health kW powers to sup these nuisances."
is Tr
inquisition was then and the proceedings
minated.

DETUXIIIED SUICIDE.—On Sunday evening last,
as Mr. Harris, landlord of the Nag's Head Ins, Borough,
was passing from Beckenham to Lewisham, he discovered •
man suspended by • handkerchief round his neck from a
gate in Beckenham-lane. He immediately cut the man
down, but life was then extinct. The assistance of police
constable Happerton, 305 R, was obtained, and the body
was removed to the Green Man public-house, Southend,
where an inquest was held by Mr.Carttar, when the de-
ceased was identified by hie mother, Mrs. Sedgely, of the
Coburg-reed, Old Kentroad, and who stated that the
deceased, when she lest saw him alive, on the previous
Thursday, appeared very low and strange in his manner.
On being searched, an empty bottle was found on his per-
son marked " Poison." The jury returned a verdict of
Temporary insanity." The height of the gate to which
he had suspended himself was not more than three feet
from the ground.—KentisA Mercury.
THE FUGITIVE BANKRUPT.—The detective officer
who followed Todd, the fraudulent bankrupt distiller of
Newcastle, to America on behalf of his creditors has, it is
stated, written to his employers to arty that he traced Dim
all the way to the state of Wisconsin, where ho has pur-
chased • large farm. The officer found the delinquent in
the field busy at work, but the latter, with some other hoe-
tile parties, resisted the efforts of the officer to arrest him;
and, finding his warrants not sufficiently legal to all for
the interference of the local authorities, the officer has
written home for fresh instructions.
DEATH OF MR. O'CONNELL, OF GRENAIL—A
French country paper, the impartial cis Bretagne, an-
nounces the sudden death in the small town of Dinan, of
Mr. John O'Connell, late of Orensh, county Kerry, a bro-
ther of the Irish liberator. The deceased was, during his
long career as a resident landlord on the margin of Killar-
ney'
s romantic waten, a model of old Irish hospitality and
public spirit, conciliatory and truly liberal, of genuine inde-
pendence, and universally popular. On many national
questions he took views at variance with those of his late
brother ' • and not only thought, but acted in politics, for
what he deemed the real interests of Ireland.
STEALING SEES.—A rather amusing case of theft
was tried before Sheriff Arkley on Saturday. A man
named Robert Robertson, was brought up charged with
stealing a swarm of bees from a place near West Calder ;
and so dexterous bad he become in this peculiar species of
depredation, that it appeared he had acquired the soubri-
quet in the district of " Bee Robbie." His plan it seemed
was to secure the Queen, and the rest of the swarm in-
stantly followed him—leaving hive, honey, and all behind.
As he had been only a fortnight liberates', the Sheriff sent
him back for sixty days to prison.—Caledortian Mercury.
NEW ACT ON COMMON LODGING-UOUSEB.—The
new act on common lodging-houses will shortly take effect.
Three months after the passing of the same on the 4th ult.
all common lodging-houses are to be registered before being
kept, and to be kept only by registered keepers. Power is
now given to remove sick persons from common lodging
houses, and to destroy clothes, &c., to prevent contagion.
Report' may be required from the keepers of common
lodging houses for beggars and vagrants. A third convic-
tion is to disqualify a person from keeping a common lodg-
ing-house.