The Express.
London, England, 1848-02-09 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

YORKSHIRE.
DF:ATII FROM DRINKING ARDENT SPIRITS.-

—.....•
. - .
Early on . Sunday morning last, as one of the public watch-
men of Leeds was on his beat in the northern suburbs of the
town, he discovered three men lying in a state of intoxica-
tion near the footpath in a field about a mile and a quarter
from the centre of Leeds. Close by he found three bottles of
seine (Marsala) and four empty bottles, some of which had
contained whisky. He also found an iron implement called
a jemmy, commonly used by housebreakers, and he there-
fore deemed it his duty to convey the party to prison.
Having handcuffed two of them who were leas inebriated
than the other man, he procured assistance, and the third
man was removed in a wheelbarrow. The two men who
were most sober gave their names as William Harrison, aged
18, and Robert Farnms, aged 23; and the moat druoken man
was Mated to be George Greenwood, aged 23, who up to
about a fortnight previous bad been for some years in service
as groom to Mr. Simpson, tobacconist. During the re-
moval of Greenwood to the police-office, a change was
observed to take place in his condition, which led
the police to call up Mr. Clayton, • surgeon,
whose door they bad to pass, in order that he might examine
him. Mr. Clayton on seeing him pronounced the man dead.
His body was, however, carried forward to the police-office,
where a post mortem examination was made; and on open-
ing the head the vessels of the brain were found much
gorged, and smelt of whisky. Yesterday morning the other
two men (Harrison and Farneut) were brought up for exa-
minatton at the court house, when it was stated that in the
night of Saturday last the Leeds Public Fever Hospital had
been robbed of several bottles of Marsala wine and two hot
ties of whisky, by some thieves, who had entered through
a window grate, and had left behind them a mason's chisel
and a hat. An inquest wan held p aterday afternoon on the
body of Greenwood which had just terminated when our
despatch was sent off. Verdict, " Died by excessive drint-
ing. '
• WPM lir

AN ATTEMPT TO BURN DOWN A PRINTING-OFFICE
is thus reported in the Ipswich Express of yesterday : " We
noticed the calamity by fire which had occurred to Mr.
Piper's premises. As if the loss sustained on that occasion
was not sufficient, an attempt has sines been made to fire
the premises from end to end. On Monday morning,
at a little past seven o'clock, a lad belonging to the plate
went to the premises and found the back printing-office
doer wide open. On entering he dis.overed the office to be
filled with smoke, and in one portion of it flame' were burst-
ing forth. He inimedi.ntly carried away some burning
papers, and found the woodwork below them in a blaze,
which he succeeded in extinguishing by throwing water
up•in it. Other persons were then called, and on a search
being made it was found that some villain had endeavoured
to lire the premises in nine different places on the lower
floor. In three places wire files, full of papers, had been
hung under light wood-work and then fired, burning valua-
ble documents to ashes, and igniting the wood, which fortu-
nately in each case burnt out without doing serious damage,
in consequence of being saturated with wet, The front
counting-house (a small room filled with paper and shelv-
ing) was set on fire in four different places, and a mass of
burning papers falling on the floor burnt tt through over a
space exceeding a square foot : brickwork underneath and the
damp state of toe wood alone prevented a general eonflagration.
Two attempts had been mute in tke newspaper printing.
office; one was an attempt to fire a wooden-framed press, by
means of papers attached to it, but which did not succeed ;
the other was more successful, although the damp state of
the frame and the timely arrival of the lad prevented much
damage. Inquiries have been made as to the causes of the
first fire, but without success; the conclusion now arrived at
is, that it also was the act of an incendiary."