The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-23 00:00:00

ATTEMPTED MURDER.

Fulwood Barracks, near Preston, have narrowly
escaped being the scene of another outrage similar in
character almost to that which was perpetrated there •
few year* air, when two officers of the garrison were
brutally an deliberately murdered by • private soldier
namedld`Kaffery. It seems that a few afternoons ago a
private of the 21st Regiment, the depot of which is
stationed at Fulwood Barracks, went into the canteen, got
drunk, and was afterwards placed in the guard-room by
direction of Sergeant Sweeney, of the 21st Regiment, who
was on canteen duty. This oirramstance came to the
knowledge of Private Hayes, of the 2nd battalion of the
21st Regiment, who was a companion of the man
taken to the guard-room for being drunk, and who feeling
vexed at the conduct of the sergeant, hit upon the diabo-
lical idea of shooting him for the exercise of his authority
in the manner indicated. Knowing that the non-commie
sioned officers would have staff parade in the large square
of the barracks at half-past 9 o'clock the same night,
Hayes appears to have made up his mind to then carry out
his wicked intention. At the time named the non-com-
missioned officers paraded in the square, and by the lights
from the different quarters of the garrison, which all shine
in the direction of the partial reflection of the moon, their
figures could be dammed with moderate distinctness,
but it was impossible at any distance to recognise the fea-
tures of any of them. As soon as they made their appearance
Hayes, with a loaded rifle in his hand, proceeded out of his
quarters on the western side of the square,walked down one
of the lobbies leading to the front, and then deliberately
took aim at one of the men in the square, whom he too
to be Sergeant Sweeney, but who was in reality Sergeant
Roden', of the 2nd battalion of the 25th. Rodgers was
standing alone, about 20 yards from Hayes, whilst the
general body of non-commissioned officers were about as
far again from him. When Hayes discharged the rifle he
was heard to say something to the effect that he had
" done it for the now." The bullet with which the
rifle was loaded passed just over Sergeant Rodgers' head,
and cleared the general body of non-commissioned officers
by about a foot and a half. It was picked up next
morning on the opposite side of the barracks yard,
having been completely flattened by coming in contact
with the wall there. The noise occasioned by the discharge
of the rifle at that time of night naturally created great
excitement in the garrison ; but there was no difficulty in
learning who had been the cause of it. Hayes after firing
the rifle stood still, and being at once seen was seized by
Sergeant Sloan, who with sasistance conveyed him to the
guard-room. Hayes, who appeared quite cool when ar-
rested, was taken before one of the captains next morning,
and on being questioned as to why he fired at the non-
commissioned officers in the square, he deliberately inti-
mated that his intention was to shoot Sergeant
Sweeney, and no one else. He is now under
close surveillance, and will be either brought
before a general court martial, or the county magistrates.
Hayes is known as a coarse blackguardly fellow. He has
been in the army about a dozen years. Once he was
drummed out of the Marines for some offence, and he has
also been guilty of desertion. After being arrested his
rifle was examined, and it was found to be " sighted " for
400 yards. This accounts for the fortunate miss he made
at yards. He appears to have aimed at the head of
Rodgers, but the wrong sight of the rifle necessarily
changed thelaltitude, and in accordance with the ratio of
distance caused the bullet just to pass over the heads of
the whole party in the square. If they more st a
greater distance the level would have beenrfect,
and there can be no doubt that several of them would have
shot.

THE FATALLONDON COLLISION
RAILWAY. ON THE NORTH

Yesterday Mr. John Huinphreys, Middlesex
coroner, held an investigation at the Green Man Tavern,
Hoxton Old Town, into the circumstances of a collision
between two trains at the Shoreditch station of the North
London Railway, by which John Ellis, an engine-driver,
was killed, and some of the passengers more or less in-
jured. The evidence with respect to the collision went to
prove what has been already reported, that on last Satur-
day evening, at half-past seven o'clock, a passenger train
from Bow to Broad-street was detained for some five or
six minutes at Shoreditch station, and that the driver,
John Ellis, got off the engine and stood in front of it to
oil the machinery. A Chalk-farm train, coming along on
the same metals, crashed into the Bow train behind, send-
ing it clear out of the station. The deceased was
then found dead on the metals. The question
then -arose as to the cause of the accident, and
the evidence upon that point was singularly conflicting,
and the examination of witnesses lasted nearly six hours.
Edward Montague, the guard of the train which was run
into, stated that the semaphore signal was at the danger
point when his train approached the station, but the de-
ceased came up slowly on that account. The anger signal
remained up the whole time the train remained in the
station, and was certainly up at the time the Chalk-farm
train came into the station. The danger signal, of course,
should have caused it to stop. On the other hand, John
Hines, driver of a train from Broad-street, deposed that as
he was approaching the Shoredita station the semaphore
stood at " danger" for up and down lines ; he whistled
and the semaphore arms were both lowered. He went on
to the station and saw the deceased's train there. The se-
maphore remained down. In a minute the Chalk-farm
train was seen coming along. Witness jumped upon his
engine and waved his arms for it to stop. It slackened
speed, but the collision was then inevitable.
Rolls, the driver of the Chalk-farm train, also
swore that the semaphore was down, or " all
right," and several witnesses corroborated his evidence.
Richard Long, the signalman, was then cautioned, and he
gave his evidence with great straightforwardness. He
said that there were three signals, the distance signal, the
semaphore, and the platform signal. He kept the plat-
form signal at " stop " to detain the deceased's train at the
station till he received a telegram from Broad-street that
that station was clear. He believed he then lowered the
platform signal, and he imagined the train went on, for he
heard the engine whistle. He knew it was that train
whistled, but he did not see it leave, for he could nut
always be looking out of his window, his duties were so
numerous. He was certain that the semaphore remained
until after the collision at "danger." He telegraphed to the
block signal box near 'Alston that the station was clear,
and that' allowed the Chalk-farm train to pass. Witness
was nine months a signalman, and his hours were from six
till six o'clock latterly in consequence of a man being
sick. The jury returned a verdict of " Manslaughter
against Richard Long. The coroner accepted bail for Long's
appearance.

THE ACCIDENT ON THE LONDON AND NORTH
WESTERN RAILWAY.

Although a large number of persons were injured
by the accident on the London and North Western Rail-
way, near the Watford tunnel, on Monday morning,
no fatal consequences have as yet ensued. Most of
the injured persons have been removed to their own
homes, but there are two gentlemen who were so se-
riously hurt that they could not be brought up to London,
and they are now at the Railway Hotel, opposite the sta-
tion, at Watford. They are attended by Dr. Brett, of
that place, and are expected to recover. The bridge
against which the train ran is named Hunton-bridge,
and is about two miles from the Watford station. On the
embankments by the bridge there were yesterday still ample
evidences of the accident.

SINGULAR AND FATAL ACCIDENT. —An extra-
ordinary accident occurred to a little girl, named Bowyer,
living at Sonthsea, on Tuesday afternoon. It appears that
she had been sent out to a neighbouring public-house with
a glass bottle for some stout, and on her return she fell
and broke the neck off the bottle. In falling, however,
her neck came upon the jagged ends of the broken glass,
which penetrated one of the main arteries, and the flow
of blood was so profuse that death ensued almost imme-
diately afterwards.
THE CATTLE PLAGUE IN IRELAND. —Salt uders'
News of yesterday says :—" No further case of rinderpest
has occurred in the north of Ireland, and the stringency of
the regulations which have been adopted to prevent the
infection from spreading, and which our Belfast corres-
pondent informs us are strictly carried out, will, we trust,
have the desired effect. Very strong doubts have been
expressed, and are still entertained in some quarters, that
the disease which has made its appearance in the north of
Ireland is really rinderpest ; but the opinion of the expe-
rienced veterinary surgeons who have made post =orient
examinations of some of the animals affected ought to be
accepted as conclusive on this point. They are of opinion,
also, that the disease in Ireland is of a milder type than
that which caused such ravages among the cattle in Eng-
land." The Waterford Chronicle of Monday says :—" The
disease has appeared in this vicinity. A cow, the property
of Vilr. Thomas Fitzgerald, of Ballynakinsella, about three
miles from Waterford, died this morning. Some of the
symptoms correspond with those of rinderpest. The go-
vernment inspector has been telegraphed for, and will hold
an examination on the carcase to-morrow."
THE RI/CDERPEST IN NORTOLIL.—The Privy
Council has consented that the cattle attacked with rinder-
pest in the herd of Mr. Hugh Aylmer, of West Dereham,
Norfolk, shall be exempted front slaughter, in order that
the effects of chloroform may be tried upon them. Pro-
fessor Symonds is ordered by the Privy Council to proceed
to West Dereham to conduct the experiments. It appears
that 22 beasts have been under treatment at Mr. Aylmer's,.
two have died, three have been declared perfectly cured, and
the others are considered to be in a fair way of recovery.
STRANGE PHENOMENON. —A very CUTIOUE and
strange phenomenon has appeared in the parish of Kil-
matey, five miles from this town, in the shape of a very
large collection of caterpillars which " came up" suddenly
on a field and across a road, being so thickly spread as to
present the appearance of soot scattered from a cart pass-
ing over the place in a zigzag line. They are gathered
usually in small heaps along the land, as if emptied out
from bowls or breakfast cups. They are now beginning to
decrease in number, but there must have been originally
more than a couple of millions of them congregated there.
Their colour is speckled black and white ; but to what
9enss of the moth they belong it is impossible to say. The
Rev. Mr. Breakey, the incumbent of the parish, has se-
cured specimens of them, some of which he has forwarded to
scientific authorities for information regarding them.
Linder the microscope they present a very remarkable ap-
pearance, having branchy hairs of a most peculiar deacrip-
tion.—C7art Journal.