The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 11, 1853.

during the military encampment at Chobbam, he had a
refreshment booth there. Ou Tuesday evening, a little after
six o'clotk,ou the 21st ultimo, he was in • field at the back
of his booth, putting a bridle on his mare, and all at once
he heard a cry " Stop thief," and, on turning round,witness
saw the priton,r running from the booth, and throw •
cigar box, containing a quantity of silver, into • ditch.
Witness ran alter ham as fait as be could, and picked up
the box and some silver. The box produced was his pro-
perty, and a few minutes previous was safe behind the bar
in the booth, with from 19s. to 2.55. in it. He had seen the
prisoner near the place before, and he must have been very
active to have got at the box.
Corporal Seating, of the let Fusilier Guards, said, he was
on duty at Chobbam at the time in question, and was in
the held, looking at the prosecutor and his mare, when he
heard a cry of " Stop thief," and at the same time he Paw
the defendant running with a cigar box in kis hand.
Witness pursued him over a temporary bri,tge, when he
threw the box away. He saw him stopped by one of the
Coldstream Guards. Witness saw half•a-crown and other
silver lying about.
The Chairman briefly summed up the case, and the jury
found him Guilty.
The prisoner hero called upon the Court for mercy, as be
had two little children unprovided for.
The Chairman sentenced Lim to four =laths hard labour
in the Wandsworth House of Correction.

scoundrel, and I now give you fair notice that I will thrash
you soundly the flat moment I can meet with you, which
I dull immediately make tvert ttrot to do.—l am, ill',
your obedient *errant, FELIX. WAKEFIELD.
" J. R. God', y, E,q."
Defendant was ordered to find two sureties in 2001. each
to keep the peace for 12 month..
Bail was immediately put in and the defendant left the
anat.

EFFECTS OF THE THUNDERSTORM AT
GREENWICH.

A correspondent Writes from Greenwich :—The
evening of Ttiurstlay, the 7th inst., was oppressively hot;
the sky was densely clouded, with occasional showers, ac-
companied at intervals by sheet lightning. Tho wind was
light and variable, with all the usual indications of an
atmosphere surcharged by electricity. At 12 o'clock the
rain descended in torrents. At about 12.30 s.m. of Friday,
the Bth July inst , a thunderstorm of great seem ity being
at its height, a gray triangular cloud was perceived nearly
in the zenith, which suddenly emitted a bright globe, ap-
parently as large as a cricket ball, of a light straw colour
and intense brillian, y, which, descending in a
sli,:ht curve, leaving a train of scintillations be-
hind it, exploded with great violence, so as to
shake windows and produce a perceptible vibra-
tion in buildings; between the flash and report there
was only time to say one, in the ordinary method
of counting half seconds, consequently as the veto
city of electricity is 1,950 feet in one second of time, deduct
, 1142 feet per second for the slower movement of sound. and
I the interval being half a second, then 1,950 1,142 s= 808,
which divided for half seconds, gives only four hundred
and four feet height of meteor, at the time of explosion.
Innumerable starlike particles like those from an ex-
ploded rocket spread themselves through the air, after the
report, which was of the loudest and most terrific descrip-
tion, and a gleam of blue light appeared to rest fur an
instant on the houses in Burney-street, Greenwich. The
inh ibitants of those injured were terrified by a severe con-
cussion, that shook the buildings throughout, and filled
the bedrooms with a thick sulphureous dust. The
electric fluid, after damaging the chimneys of Mr. Riche's
house (No. 6), penetrated the roof and attic ceiling
immediately over the upper bell wire crank, making a
hole through, of about sufficient size (seen inside)
to admit a man's fist. Running down along the copper
wires of two bells, it descended by one, as far as the woollen
bell-pull into Mr. Riche's bed-room, and from the top to
the bottom of the house by the other bell-wire, fusing both
wires as it passed down, and throwing their particles red
hot, over the staircase in different directions, so as to burn
the paint and singe the carpets. The electric fluid has left
a smokey dark stain upon the ceilings and walls along the
track of its descent of • commingled black and yellow color
and strong sulphureous smell, which at first was slightly
glutinous, and rubbed off easily on the finger. In the
adjoining house (Mr. Irving's) the bellwires were likewise
melted, or left corroded, and the bed-rooms filled with a
suffocating sulphureous smoke.
It being desirable that the fire insurance officials should
see the premises precisely as they stood after the accident
the extent of damage to roof has not been ascertained, but
the chimneys are partly down, and the bricks thrown over
the adjacent gardens, among which several pieces of
meteoric matter of the description known as thunderbolts
have been found, and remain in the possession of Mr. Riche
and others.

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