The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-28 00:00:00

I: MIDDLE COLLIERY EXPLOSION !TRIAL OF IL PERRICHARD FOR MAAS-
Tu. •
NEAR WIGAN. BINATING THE ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS.

We regret to say that the account of the dreadful
Napof life at the lace Nall Colliery, near Wigan, by an •
implame of casharetted hydrngen gas on Wednesday last,
• dm,,bo the ell of Thai sday, was by no minus
sss,raerabd. Up to Saturday morning more than 4u dead
amine had been brought nut of the mine, and 10 or Li more,
Is was feared, We., yet to be recovered, making the total
km winds di) and 60 killed. The tander•grotin•l work-
.
igs are so 'Attests,e in this mine, and the repairs necessary
tu dons and .toppings, en ventilation enough could be
owed w suppat tile in the searchers for the dead, are
es mar, that the loss of much time before the recovery
at the belie. sons unavoidable. The depth of the pa
shafts IA great, being 414 yards from the surface;
and then the extent of the uaderground workings and
• p. i. :rating I,loa yards to the north and nearly as
Au to the south, with extensive sections east and wait,
mem, au immense field for ezploretion, in which it is
rsay t , cenerive that many difficulties would present them- i
aims after an occurrence like this. Mr. Darlington, the
istel:ieent sal eneraetic tenoning portner of the firm, Olt
ea. immediately alter the accident, descending the •
to
vitii a large body of colliers, and working with them,
ladoatietab.y, night and day, is the arduous untlntakiag;
but aft. r the removal of between twenty and thirty dead I
bodies. and of some few living miners, found near the
bottom ut the shafts, not leas than eighteen hours had to he
spent in unremitting labour at the air peasiges, in re-
huddled stone walls (the material of a large portion of
which had to hi braylit from the surface above), and re-
pi,;" a,,,,re which had been destroyed by the end°.
nen, bil••re the search could be carried further. And
when tha was done, it sufficed only for an ex-
swam,* of the east, west, south, and a portion
of the n irth Fictions of the levels. The larger
potion et the north section of the workings, would require
as amount of labour and care before they could be pene-
trated, 11. soy to occupy some days. This portion of the
mine is the cost dangerous and difficult to work. The
roofs of tlis workings, after the coal hail been removed,
consistel of loose strata, and was full of fluke and
s' trouble.," to use the expensive phrases familiar among
colliers fir such things. Faulty roofs of this kind, gene.
ratty hashiur • good deal of the light, carburetted hydro-
gen go on latal to colliers,and the explosion on this occasion
baying towed .ut the horizontal timben supporting these
theta the loose strata has fallen in, so chokiug up
the parsers, and interrupting the currents of air,
as to furnish a great deal of heavy labour, be-
fore the exploration can be completed. The att.
fel catastrophe has naturally created a large amount
of ezeitentent in the neighbourhood ; and the pit brews,
the banks of the canal, ar.d the other approaches to the
works (thin Wigan, are crowded daily from morning till
might with thousands of people, of both sties and all ages.
The bodies of the unfortunate sufferers, as recovered, are
generally raetil to the surface in a basket, two at a time,
wrapped in black cloths, so as to conceal the mutilated fee-
tares of the corpses from ebservation. Mist of them appear
to have died from burns and suffocation, but many also bear
the marks of great violence. The bodies of several of the
learren were blown into fragments. The work of identi-
fying the h I has gone on rather slowly, for many of the
unfortunate men were strangers, recently from Wales, and
the perms.. with whom they had resided here, in lodgings,
imperfectly sequsinted with them, have had a dill culty in
recoteising their disfigured sepses.
The fuzee of the explosion carried a quantity of materials
upwards the whole altitude of the shaft., 414 yard., and
hurled than into the ale, some being men to tall in the
racial, which rues at a short distance from the mouths of
the two shafts. The explosion was PO violent as to be heard
ea the surface at a cessidenble distance ; and the coneus-
Pee of the air even shook the furniture in two inns at the
Caaal-badge, the Britannia and the Navigation Inn, at
, lOW MO yards from the mouth of the await shaft. As a
eingstar contrast to the force manifested on the surface of
the earth, we may mention that the explosion sod cosme-
tics were so little beard or felt within the mine, beyond
the 111101444110 district where they occurred, that some of
the coders, subsequently rescued alive, state that although
the) heard a noise, it was not louder than the slamming
to of a door, and they actually condoned at
work ter a short time after the explosion, without
hiving the slightest suspicion of the real natant of the
catastrophe. These facts show that the explosion was
very local; and it is probable that had the men, instead
of being many of them collected at the spot when it
marred, been scattered about the several workings in this
wry extensive pit (the length of which below extends to
nearly a mile from the pits mouth), in all proabability the
calumny would have been very much lees extensive in its
fatality. We learned from Serjeant France, of the count)
constabulary force, that when he arrived at the pit, MVO
after two o'clock on Wednesday afternocn, he found there
a large crowd of persons, most of whom had come to lacer-
Ilia the fate of friends mad relations. Many of them watt
women, who were ansiens as to the fate of husbands, hea-
then, or fathers, whom they knew to be in the pit, and
their lamentations are described as having been most heart-
nnding. Of coarse, among a large number of persons No
situated, it was very difficult to preserve order, and to pre-
Mt their interference with the exertions of those who were
sped is the recowny of the living and the dead from
the pit. There were, however, in attendance eight men of
the county constabulary, and three of the Wigan boriregb
police force, and by their assistants a tolerable cleansed
seder was preserved.
The hairiest was opened en Friday Ammon, at the Na-
vigation las, before Mr. C. Dridistd, coroner for the West
Derby Hundred of the county of Leneestar. Mr. Dickin-
son, government inspector of the mines in the district, was
pressat ; and Mr. Superintendent Fowler, of the musty
esastalmiary. Jones, the undertooker of the colliery, on
whom some blame is supposed to mat for his conduct in
allowieg the flee in the furnace at the bottom of the mine
W e low, and lessen the ventilation, before the explosion,
was en custody.
The inquiry was adjourned to eleven o'clock in the fore-
noon of Thursday nest.

Axons Is FitANVE.—The town of Angers, the
aapital of the ancient province of Anjou, says Mr. Pieties,
hes been a place of great importance, and is 'tin a flourish-
bag ity. Its appearance and style of architecture die; r
much from thee* we have bees examining. This arises
priasipally from the nature ante building materials. The
rieheoloared white stone of the centre and north is not met
with hare. The buildings of ancient date ere built
with a dark-coloured slaty done, which gives them
a very sombre cast. The old dwellings are principally
timber framed. The upset of assay of the streets
strongly resembles Chester, but the enrichments of
the barge boards and window framing are on the
whole richer and more elaborate, and the buildings of '
earlier data and purer style. One house at the corner of
en opus square scar the ostbedral is especially worthy of '
mods& It is la the usual style of wood framing ; but at the
rejecting eerier is an eagle turret, supported on a corbel,
lades mike is earned a trim with_ sp s foliage, which
handy shaded the figures of Ada& and in. The twiateJ
Plums which form the &slags of the assist timbers are
Bernd with agents in high relief, cortmareLmen in armour,
limes playing musical imetenmeats, ha. The cathedral of
lk. Maurice is similar is elm/aster internally to that of
!Mien, and about the name data—theashldle or latter part
*ldle twelfth century. In this style, which is very peculiar,
side aloha seam sot to lave bum mash affected, the object
apparently having hems to cover as wide a space am pos-
sible A. a slash spa. The Cathedral of Augers omelets of
meet choir, and transepts without aisles. At the time of
my visit It was snde ag aurora repair and restoration.
Tse Msio, a heath, fs the latest pointed style, was
ale eader repair. It has a carless cloister sad wicding
shimass. Ti. oast* a massive strisetam of early date,
with Os seven towers sad sartala walls, ea an isolated
sock,resseables mach the Edwardian stades in Wales
mgeoelly Conway. It appears to have been less interferes;
with than most of the b reach " chafe ism forts," in any
moa at madoiatios.-7ha Builder.
A inn SP tat PUTIWIIBI.—The Courrier du
Per-droasea earn—O da Nemsel. whet of thh de-
Iselessat, Yakut head ads
watbsatia weepy la parchment of
a shathe
Ise. , amosadagham Chadds Bdsserd, the Pretender,
art seieg its Ma La of Nkomo. Ind, esta
la Anal a samasiga Omaha sad iniMmpolitell
sesieracisa kerstasseas. The mast has prassated the
meat to Ss the archives dais daparimaat It &dares
that ' Edward, ILlarpreenadar
PM.% endsadoisd helmet' widths( M teetifyitilt
binds ta the Artesian mamas of Arras far the aumeroas
aids endgames whisk they. la majorette@ with the
Moss whim gouda= Of Anse. bad shown him daring a
valises, arms maths whisk is nada in that town, bee
thfil lit to create the said Maga, d Oreemasons, under
malfiooliee title of Is be governed by
to dela laws, and Walccapkwa,
_advocates ; Huard
INA amosowo, ; Lawl.lgiettmer, and Caller,
essomuher, glviag them arstbadly art only to make
kolifilmeshist even to create a darter la whatever towns
they nay think It. The dlialalmall Is dined • Clout's
Item Stewart,' sad amatimalpsul Lord Deberkley,
Nenfur.' The lieholglieehe montismed in the charter
vat greadfather of the lafhens.s member of the Committee
of Public Safety denim the Bata
_elf Terror."
_.
FIRE AT A Cnutat.-13a Ulna Fri morning,
shoot ten o'clock, when a great award of persona filled :he
Aurelia St. Gervais, and jest se the card wee carrying
,Ill* Had in prom Won t
the &own the aisle, the hangings caught
an, mw the case tat church of the Invalid's at the
faxes! of /Ireshal Setastiani. In • moment everything was
la ceafosion, and a terrible panic seising on the persons
!twist, each endeavoeirei to rash out without any regard
to the mischief which might arise hem such violence. For-
tmtaly. scarcely any one visa hart, a few slight bruises
anti the exteat of the Warns received by the Persons
Ppm. A °teenager having been sent to toe fire-brigade
of tie Hotel de Ville which was close by, aid arrived almost
hsediately, and ins few minutes the Are was extinguished.
Oae Chapel at the side was entirely destroyed, and the wood
Si the grand entrance was slightly inj and. The organ,
winch at one nrintent append enveloped in smoke, escaped
tempterd, so that the whole extent of the damage done is
"pea,
PRIVATE O.iLLECIIONS FROM ABEtOAD.—The Lords
of the Treasury baviog received an applierti so from •
foreign gentleman requesting the delivery of his hbtary
dam) free, and also some stitched hooks of engraving', in-
cluded in his collection, and intended for his private pro-
1tY4012.1 use in this country, their lordship have been
Pleated to copider that as they were stated to actually form
I Ptrt of his library, arida° have been used for a length of
tine, and tens intruded entirely for private use, and not for
the purpose of sale in this country, they should have the
Privilege of exemption from duty, and directions have been
t
II"10 by their lordship to the proper authorities to that
din

It has already been stated (in the letter of our oor-
respoedeat) that, in consequence of the denuncintion of a
female on her deathbed, a publici-honse keeper, named
Pcrrichard, of the Faubourg St. Antoine, was amsted some
time ago on suspicion of having maaesinated the Archbishop
of Paris,at • barricade in that Faubourg, in the insurrection
of June, 1848. On Wedneelay,this person was brought
to trial before a court-martial. Tie court was crowded
with penoes of distinction, and the trial exed'ed extraordi-
nary interest. A @brine containing some of the vertebrm of
the archbishop, together with the ball extracted from them,
was placed on a table. The ball appears to have been east
in a common sewing thimble, as it is of that shape and is
rough. This proves that the archbishop could not, as was at
first thought not unlikely, have been killed by a 'petit
ball from the troops. The accused is 38 Tears Giese ; he.
wears a long beard, and was dressed In black.
The President of the court commenced the proceedings
by informing him that he was accused of having assassi-
nated Mgr. Afire, Archbishop of Paris, and of having taken
wt in the insurrection of *ruse. He then asked him if
he were not &reeved in June, and if so fur what cause ?
" I never knew why I was arrested," said the man ; but
after sixty-nine days' confinement, I was set at liberty by a
judgment of the military commission." The public pro-
secutor stated that it was not in virtue of a judgment that
he was released, but in consequence of some respecmble
penis= having interfered on his behalf. " You distributed
arms to the insurgents," add the president; " here is a
musket which you give to a rain named Courtier. Where
did you get it from ?" " When I was a national guard, I
bought it after the revolution of February from a man who
was about to leave ft- Africa. I gave 10fr. for it." The
president remarked that from marks on it, it ap-
peared to have belonged to the 14th regiment, which
was in the insurrection in tho Faubourg St. Antoine;
but the man persisted in saying that he b.d purchased it
afte: February. " reline rumour," continued the presi-
dent, "accused you of having participated in the &sassing-
lion of Archbishop Afire. The movement the, occasioned
was so great that there was one day a sort of inteute before
your house. What have you to say to these rumours, and
especially to the accusation brought against you by the
woman thennevieres ?" " The rumours referred to," the
accused answered, " were spread by my enemies. The
woman Chenneviires lodged in my house ; she did not pay
her rent, nor her husband either, and they twin went
away unknown to me. The woman was certainly ill ; she
was very violent, and almost mad. I did not know what
had become of them, but their dog was accustomed to come
to my house because he always fuund food, and ore day I
full"wed him to their residence. I . demanded what
was due to me. No sooner bad I spoken than Chinne-
viires tried, What aro you doing here, scoundrel ?' and
seising a stool he attempted to strike me with it. I defended
myself as well as 1 could, and then resolved to go away.
Ac I was leaving the woman made an indecent gesture, and
used an imitating expression. This exasperated me greatly.
I seised both of tnem and threw them down. I then went
away, and the woman cried after me. ' Scoundrel
wretch ! It was you who killed the Archbishop ! You
shall remember it !' It was atter this that the rumour be-
came spread amongst the women of my neighbourhood, and
my enemies took it up to injure me. A worn :n named
Levi, who was in my debt fur rent, and with whom I had
had a dispute, was very active in spreading the report.
Another woman, named Vidal, with whom I had also had
dispute.,_ went to the woman ebenneviires, and mode her
repeat her accusation. At length I resolved to invoke the
authority of the commis-ary of police to put an end to this
defamation." "Were you not," asked the president, " with
the insurgents when Mgr. Afire the Archbishop presented
himself at the barricades of the Faubourg St. Antoine
with words of peace ?" " I was In the neighbourhood ; I
resided there."
—" Yon were one of those who assisted in
mixing the Archbishop when he fell mortally wounded ?"
"No sir—l was not present at that scene." " You con-
formed that yen were to Senn, persons, and even to a ma.
" This is the way things occurred. I had an
assistant who was taken by the insurgents. I 'remained in
my house. Three hours after, the tether of my assistant
came, and asked for his son ; and not finding him, he be-
came so violent that he demanded arms to march against
those who had earned him off. I told him to remain quiet,
and that 1 would go and seek him myself, as I knew the
men who had taken him. I went from barricade to band-
cads in the Faubourg, but did not find him. At last I
arrived at the great barricade. I was about to return home,
when at !Ivo or six steps behind me, I heard a cry, and at
the same time • discharge of muskets. I turned round,
and perceived the Archbishop, who had fallen to the
ground at about the second or third house at the entrance
to the Faubourg on the right. Several persons hastened
to assist the Archbishop, but I hastened home as quickly as
possible." "It results from the investigation made, that
you told several persons that you not only aided in raising
the Archbishop, but in conveying him to the Hospital of
the Guinea Vingta ?" " I deny that, as I have always de-
nied it. I belong to an honest family. I was brought up
with good principles, and I never bore arms against the
Mops. It was by chance alone that I was on the spot on
which the Archbishop was killed. It is my
,enemies who
accused me of having committed the crime. ' " Did you
not, after the crime, so'deit an asylum from the woman
Chennevieres and her husband, saying before them that
you had just killed the Archbishop, that if they refused to
receive you, you would bide yourself beneath eine of the
arches of the bridge of Berry, and that if you were sought
after there you would drown yourself?" " Tim:declarations
made by that woman end her, husband are entirely false,
fur after having visited all the barricades I re
turned to my house, where I slept, and I did not
leave it on the following dive." • According to the
woman Chenneeiires, you said, in the residence of a married
ample named Bailloit ' It was through • hole in • house
near the barricade that we fired on the Archbishop,' sad that
when you saw the prelate fall you quickly descended is
older to join the persons who removed him from the barri-
cade." " I never went to Ballot's residence." " Your
assertion is contradicted by the documents collected in the
examination. You said, We were eighteen insurgents in
• chamber on the third story of a house which is at the
corner of the Rue de Charenton and the Faubourg St. An-
toine, looking on the Place do la Bastille, and we fired
through little, holes in the wall. After making • discharge
we went on to the place to ascertain the result.'" All
that is as false as the rest. I never entered any house, and
never made use. of such language." " Those revelations
were made by the woman Chennevieres on her death-bed
to an honourable priest." "That woman was my enemy,
and what she said was an set of vengeance." " It is not pos-
sible that a person about to appear Wore God, and in full
possession of her reason, could make such a declaration
with the sole object of injuring you!" "Oh, sir, she was
quite capable of doing that! She was very violent and
very mischievous. One day, when 1 went to her to de-
mand payment of my rent, she and her husband wanted to
assessinate me with a hatchet." " Several witnesses state
that when you reed in the newspaper that the Archbishop,
after being wounded, had said, A good shepherd should
give his life for his sheep' you remarked that these were the
words he bad attend as you wet e coamyiag him to the
Magpies des Outline Yingts ?" " I dewy that. The state-
ment has been made by • man sassed Collin, who is my
enemy." "It is sertain that you took Regan the insur-
rection alum, 1848. You were concerned in the pillage
of the barracks of the Rue de Acidly." "During the M-
umma= I went with my concierge and my little boy as
far as the &us de Mantreuil to leave the fatter with my
pueots. la Wanting I called on one of my friends named
Lisbon, who, lives opposite the barracks, and after
having remained some time I returned horn*. On
my way I picked up a cartridge box and belt
nom the barracks." "You were seen by several wit-
name casting balls in a thimble in your shop. You were
told that those balls would be mortal, because they were not
smooth ? " " A great number of insurgents entered my
house with baskets containing lead. They tamed me to
give them saucepans and fire to melt it. It was thus that
I was forced to take part in making the balls—lust as seve-
ral ether persons were oempelled by the lam:pats to make
gunpowder."
Witnesses were then called who were present whoa the
Archbishop was killed ; but they merely gave details which
am familiar to all. One of them, M. Albert, who went be-
fore the Archbishop carrying a bough of a tree, to imlican
his peaceable MISIIIOO, said that he remembered the features
of nearly all the persons who gathered round the prelate
when he fell, and that he did not think the accused was
one of them.

M. Dermal, chaplain at the hospital of La Salpetrierg,
stated that the woman Chennevie-es had sent for hid,
and had told him that she hail a great weight on her am-
science. Ile asked her what it was; and she answered:
" I know the assassin of the Archbishop of Paris ; he is a
man, named Perrichard, and he boasted of the act before
me." Bhe added that other persons knew the nine thiag,
but that they bad come to an understanding with Perri-
chard not to reveal it. The woman was in full possession of
her reason, and perfectly calm. Although she expressly au-
thorised him to make what use he pleased of her confession,
he did nut denounce the man to justice ; it being his duty, as
a priest, not to demand severity on an offender, but to grant
pardon.
The accused repeated that the woman's statement was
false, and that she bad made it from vengeance.
IL. Duasard, Commissary of Police, said that Perriehard,
in the month of December last, complained to him of the
reports that were spread of his being the assassin of the
Archbishop, and he recommended him, if his conscience was
clear, to disregard them. Some days after two women,
named Leve and Truchy, and • man named Collet, went
to him, and stated that what was said about Perrichard
was true. Ile then sent for Pertichard, and he ob-
served that, in presence of these persons, be did
not drily the accusation so energetically as might
have been imputed He made an investigation, and having
leaned from the Abbe Durand, the preceding witness, that
the woman Ch law had accused Perrichard on her
death bed, he arrested him. Witness knew the man was
of a violent character, hut, though he was arrested in June,
be knew nothing calculated to incriminate his conduct in
the insurrection.
A woman named Leve deposed that the woman Chenne-
viires had told her that Perrichard had confeued to her
that it was he who had killed tie archbishop, that he had
demanded protection from her, and had stated that if she
refused it he would hide himself under • bridge, and if
sought after, throw himself into the water. Tho woman had
also told her that Perrichard had statid that he had killed
the archbishop by firing at him through a bole in the wall
of • house. The witness added that the prisoner brought
gunpowder and other things from the sack of the bane. ks
of the Rue de Reedy, and had cast balls fur the insurgents
in his kitchen.
A woman named Truchy, and another named Vidal,
gave similar evidence.
A man named Collet deposed that on one occasion when
some one was reading in the newspaper the account of the