The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-19 00:00:00

PROVINCIAL.

WARI

RAILWAY LABOURERS' STRIII.—A strike has taken place
amongst the lab Airers and bricklayers employed in the con-
struction of the new lines of railway now progressing through
the town of Birmingham. The circumstances under which
this has occurred are somewhat peculiar in their character.
It seems that in the course of laying the foundation fur the
abutments of a great bridge on the Birmingham and Oxford
line, and which will extend to a third of a mile in length,
through the streets of the town, it was found that it would
materially expedite the work, and prevent the destruction
of bricks, if, instead of having them carried down in hods by
men, they were, by means of sunken roads, wheeled down
in barrows. Accordingly, on Tuesday morning, Mr. Bran.
non, one of th, contractors for the works, gave directions to
some of the men employed, that this plan should be adopted:
the consequence was that every had came up, and every Irish
labourer employed not only upon the Oxford Junction, but
the London and North Western Extension lines, at once
' refused to continue Latour unless the old system was
resumed. It seems that all these men were re-
ceiving Is. Bd. per day, and that although this
more expeditious mode of removing the bricks was
sought to be resorted to, there was no intention on the part I
of the contractcrs to discharge any of them, but simply to
remove them to other parts of the works. This strike of the
labourers (who are for the most part Irish) has been followed
by a cessation of work amongst the bricklayers, who, on
Wednesday morning, gave notice to Messrs. Brandon and
Owyther that until the hodmen were taken back they should
not return to their employ. The contractors (supported by
the engineers) at once declared their resolution not to give
way, and, ae a consequence, the whole of the vast works pro-
gressing through the centre of a'great manufacturing town,
have been stopped, and many hundreds of men are loitering
about the streets. This movement has met with no sym-
pathy, the misguided conduct of the men being so completely
manifest, end the contractors are endeavouring to procure
labourers from other parts of the country.
Ton VALUE Or Lantz.—The sale of the Halton estate
took place last week at Birmingham. A highly respectable
company attended, and after the usual preliminaries had
been gone through, the principal part of the estate, contain-
ing 2,083 acres, including the mansion, garden, grounds,
&c., was disposed of—(after a spirited contest, the biddings
offered to Mr. Tisdale, who officiated on the occasion, com-
mencing at 50,0001.)—to Mr. Wright, of Manchester, for
9-5,0001. being upwards of thirty years' purchase. The tim-
ber, valued at 10,0001. and 213 acres of detached land, valued
at 9,6221. are to be paid fur in addition to the purchase
money. The estate thus, with other detached land, will rea-
lise nearly 120,0001.
-- --

THE EDUCATION MOVEMENT IN BIRMTNOTIAM.—From
almost every public body in Birmingham petitions and me-
morials continue to pour forth in favour of the government
plan it is now admitted on all hands (says our correspon-
dent) that there never was, since the days of the reform agi-
tation, ouch an enthusiastic and unanimous feeling in favour
of any particular measure. Amongst other meetings which
have been held in that town on this subject, a very signifi-
cant one tiok place on Saturday. It was" Fathering of the
masters and mistresses of the daily schools to the tows; and
neighbourhood, for the purpose of taking this impatient
subject into consideration. The meeting was mavens& is
the requisition of parties of various denominations, !Meng
different opinions as to the propriety of the government mee-
sure ; and there were present the masters and mamma of
schools con lucted under the auspices of the char* dint-
land, of the baptists, of the independents (including tie
teachers in the school under the immediate supervision and
control of the Rev. John A. lames, one of the delegates
to the conference just held for the purpose of opposing the
meeenre), and of other sectarian bodies. The sna=alrek
pima in the school-room in connexion with St.
eimreb
Li and Mr. W. Edwards, of the Asylum School,
The discussion occupied no lees than five
in the course of which speeches were de-
livered in favour of the government scheme by Mr.
Measingbam, of St. George's Church school, and by Mr.
Tslbot, of the school established by Messrs. Chance; and
Company, at their plate-glow works, Smethwick, in Staf-
fordshire, chiefly for the education of the children of
the many hundreds of persons in their employ. These
firmenidvmeovedrse .oatimmitor,iraen L;
moanved amendment
en4aitotim-
Inclegar. dent), and supported by Mr. Waiters. Eheneeee
School. The two speakers first referred to, in the course of
some practical observations derived from experience, set
forth the necessities for the present measure; and the
lamentable deficiency of education amongst the children of
the poorer classes in the town • the two last, with much
binomial of feeling in their allusions, declared that all state
interference was not only nonessensery, but that it would
inevitably retard, rather than prestos. education. Their
main objections seemed, however, to be to the more
efficient carrying out of the system of inspection; and to the '
proposal to pension the schoolmasters, which was desig-
nated as a " mere bribe." Tke Rev. G. 8. Bull, who was
present, frequently set the opponents of the measure right
upon such matters of fact in connexion with the council
minutes upon which they were manifestly ignorant ;he
pointed out the benefit' that would result from as efisient
inspection of the school., of the fact of which irrefragable
evidence had fallen, he mid, within his own observation.
At the conclusion of the discussion a memorial in favour of
the government plan was agreed to.

Foote, A TOBACCO Pony.—" Vie," says the Poole Herold,
" are gratified in being enabled to state, for the information
of merchants, and others connected with the shipping in-
terest of this port, that application to the Lords of the Trea-
sury having been made by Mr. Samuel Morrison, commis-
sion and general merchant, with respect to bonding taboo
here, their lordship. have been pleased to send a favourable
answer. As there are netrly 14,000 tons of shipping TVs-
tered in the port of Poole, and which are continuomly trading
from hence, the privilege will, no doubt, be readily taken
advantage of by the consumer.."
Timm:so PasrsiAnoirs,—Poole is doing its duty in

the yachting cause, about a dozen yachts being already in
the full bustle of fitting out for the present season. Several
of the large craft belonging to the Cowes squadron are
already actually at sea, and not only at Poole but elsewhere
the smaller cralt are preparing to imitate their example.

St IFOLK.
THE ExEctrmost or CATHERINE Foarzm condemned to
death by Chief Bsrou Pollock at the late Suffolk assizes,
for poisoning her husband, took place at Bury St. Edmunds
on Saturday. Those per,ms who have perussql the es idence
adduced at the trial, hare doubtless been at a lass to coo.
ceive the motive that could have induced her to destroy her
husband, whom she had apparently loved from a child; and
now that her life has been forfeited to the law, and her con-
fession is published to the world, it will be found that it con-
tains nothing that can he construed ict3a motive. Although
she made a frank avosmil of her guilt, she studiously avoided
alluding to any circumstance which might explain why she
perpetrated the horrid deed. The following is a copy of her
confession:

Itary Gaol, April 12.—T0 the Governor: First of all I mast confess
foal 1 amty. and very guilty of this awful crime, and well de-
aerve the death I am condemned to die ; and us I am soon to stand
before toy lleavenly Judge, I wish to speak the truth. lam sorry to
my that 1 bought the poison at the shop of Mr. IL Ely, chemist, Sud-
bury, three days before I mlaed it in the dumpling which I gave to
my husband. It was sacred tome by a young CUM in the shop. Mr.
Ely was not present; had he been present he would have known me,
us I had bean trequently nt his shop on errands for my mistress
when I was at set rice. The act wits entirely my own. No pert in
pomaded me to it, and my mother had no knowledge or suspicion Of
it. 1 bid no cause for comp/mint ogainst my huatrand. Ile 1,421 :d-
-warf good and kind to me, but I newer had any affection for him, and
wislvAl to go back to service. I do not wish to tiv,,, for I never
could be happy in this world, sod I hope, through the menu
and blood of my S4TiOnf, and a sinevre repentance of tide
and all my kits, to obtain forgiveness of that, and ti
be received Imo Heaven. I die at peace with all, having
no comptaint to make of any wk.,* that appeared against me on my
trial, and full of remora for the crime which brings no to thin pre-
mature death. I ui-di to expie, my grateful thanks to the Rev. W.
Woo, the chaplain of the riot ; the Ker. Mr. (Alley, my phrich mug,.
ter; and the Rev. Mr. Eyre, for their great attention to my eternal
interest, nod fer the spiritual hope and consolation I have received
from their instructions and admonitionr. I should wish Mr. Eyre to
attend me in my lest momenta, and earnestly request that he will do
co.—(Signed) 42.41111.41 NS Fip.ren—Witneseed by J. M•lntyre ;
governor, Thomas W.st.

On Thursday she took her final leave of her aged mother,
and on Friday the condemned sin mon was preached by the
Rev. Mr. Eyre, from the 324 chap. of Numbers, 23.1 v. On
Saturday morning the crowd assembled to witness the exe-
cution, was very great; at nine o'clock the number of per-
sons could not have been less than 10,000, most of whom
were decently clad women, and mangy had children in their
arms. On the arrival of the sheriffs they were informed
that the convict had passed a restless night. A few minutes
II before nine the officials proceeded to the cell in which she
was confined. On being pinioned, she made a slight
shudder, but Boon recovered herself. The procession
was then formed to the drop, the unhappy female
walking with a firm step, and unsupported. On
reaching the atepa at the foot of the gallows, one of the turn-
keys made an attempt to assist her in ascending. She panned
him, however, unheeded, and walked up to toe drop with
the moat extraordinary deliberation. lier youthful appear-
ance created a great sensation among the multitude. The
sun shone brilliantly during this horrible period, and the
wretched woman stood unmoved. She scanned the mass of
human beings with a firinnessmost astonishing. The gover-
nor it quirt d of her if she had anything to say, she appearing
from her manner to be desirous of speaking, and in • choking
tone she replied, "No, I can't speak." The executioner hav-
ing completed the preliminary arrangements, the signal was
given, and the drop fell. Her struggles were painful in the
extreme, and a thrill of horror ran through the crowd, voices
being heard in many places to exclaim, " Shame, shame!
murder, murder!" It must have been • couple of minutes
ere life had ceased. The drop was not er.cted, as in other
county gaols, on the summits, but in a large meadow on the
London side of the prison, access being obtained by a door in
the boundary-wall of the gaol, which wan made on the last
execution for murder at that gaol—that of the notorious
Corder, for the murder of Maria Martin. The last execution
of a female in the town was 47 years ago, for setting lire to
her master's house.