The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-07 00:00:00

THE FATAL FIRE IN HOITON.

INQUEST.—(THIS DAY.)
Mr. Humphreys, coroner, held an inquest this
forenoon at the Duke of Oloueester Tavern, St. John's-
road, Roston, on view of the body of Sarah Jane Agnes
Poulton, a child 2 years and 9 months old, who was burnt
to death in her be&

Mr. John Field, No. 8, Gloucester-street, Horton, said
that the do:leased lodged at his house. She was the illegiti-
mate child of • young woman, namedOaroline Poulton. The
deceased's mother gave directions that the child should
not be left in the dark at night, and • rushlight was
always left burning in the child's room. On Wednes-
day night, a little after 12 o'clock, witness re-
turned home and perceived • smellof smoke. Upon going to
the deceased's room he saw the fire, and be instantly cried
out, " Oh, God, the room is on fire and the child is
burned." Re called for assistance, and the fire engines
arrived. The deceased had resided with witness off and on
since her birth.

Emily Field a little girl, said that she put the deceased
to bed, and lighted the ruehlight. She did not know
whether the draught caused by her shutting the door had
set the bed-clothes on fire. There were no screams beard.
Dr. Warley said that he was called to see the body on
Thursday morning. She was quite dead. Her body was
dreadfully burned, and her death had arisen from
suffocation and burns.

Mr. Field said that the candle bad been left on a shelf
by the deceased's bed. He always made it a role to go into
the deceased's room the last thing at night to see that all
was right.
The Coroner said that the extra care that had been taken
by themother to secure the safety of her child had unfortu-
nately been the cause of the deceased's death. The draught
caused b the little • l shutting the deceased's room door
had evidently caused the curtains of the deceased's bed to
awing against the rushlight.
The jury returned a verdict " That the decease lost her
life accidentally by fire."

FRIGHTFUL DEATH OF A NEGRO MELODIST.

An inquiry was held by Mr. Langham, the
deputy coroner, last evening, at the King's College Hos-
pital, touching the death of Henry Chappel, aged 52 years,
a negro serenader.
Julia Chap 1, 59, Clement's-lane, Strand, widow
of the deceased,said that her husband was a painter.
On Tuesday last he went out at 5 o'clock in
the evening, and he remained out until 2 o'clock
on Wednesday morning. He was then under the influence
of drink. Witness was sitting up the whole night doing
needle work. He came up to their room, which was at the
top of the house on the fourth floor. When he entered
the room he took his boots off and lit a pipe. He then
walked over to the window and sat down on the
ledge of it. As he was going to sleep witness
begged of him to come away from the open window.
He suddenly " swayed out" of the window and witness saw
his feet whirl round and round in the air as he was falling
to the ground. Witness did not know what to do, and
she ran to the window for the purpose of throwing herself
out after him. She then screamed and rushed to the
lodgers. Deceased was seated with his arms folded when
he fell.

James Newington, a lodger living in the same house as
the deceased, said that on the morning of the occurrence
witness heard some words between the deceased
and his wife. There were no blows struck. In ten
minutes after Mrs. Chappel came screaming to witness
and said, "Come, come, quick, my husband has fallen out
of the window !" Witness went at once and found deceased
lying apparently dead in a corner of the yard. Upon the
arrival of the police he was removed. The deceased's wife
was a very quiet industrious person, but her husband had
taken to negro singing.
Archibald. Duff, Clement's-lane, Strand, said that he
was a serenader and negro singer in the street. Witness
was the guitar player. Deceased was one of the company
of which witness was a member. On Tuesday witness, de-
ceased, and several other negro melodists, went singing
about the City. The deceased was one of the comic
singers. He had given up his trade as • painter. The
company divided their receipts at 1 o'clock rn tho morn-
ing, a.dd the deceased went home.
Sergeant Henry Hamond, 3 F, said that on Wednesday
morning he was on duty near Clement's-lane, when ho
heard loud cries of " Police," and upon going to No. 59,
Clement's-lane, he saw a large crowd of persons assembled
round the deceased, who was lying on the stones. A
stretcher was procured, and he was taken to the hospital.
The deceased was lying in a large pool of blood. He was
not then dead, but he died while on his way to the hospital.
Mr. Harris Bradshaw, house-surgeon, said that the
deceased was quite dead when he was brought to the
hospital. There was a severe wound on the back of the
deceased's head, and the skull was fractured.
A. Duff said that when the deceased left to go home he
was " sober enough for business," but all the singers had a
great deal of drink given to them during the day.
The Coroner having summed up, the jury returned a
verdict, "That the deceased was killed by accidentally
falling from a certain window."

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY IN IRELAND.—We
learn, from Mr. Fortescue's statement in the House of
Commons yesterday evening, with an amount of regret
that is ineasured by our respect for the late Ministry, that
a serious blow has been given to the cause of united
education in Ireland. The great seal has actually
been put to • supplementary charter for the
Queen's University in Ireland, opening its degrees
to all comers, whether educated at the Queen's
Colleges and other mixed educational institutions,
or at the most exclusive and sectarian seminaries or col-
leges. The cause of united non-sectarian education in
Ireland has thus sustained from liberal hands the moat
severe injury it has ever had to endure. By adopting the
expedient of a supplemental charter, and through the pro-
visions of the proposed bill, the vital point of the consent
and authority of the existing members of the university
being required before any alteration can be made in its
cohstitution is apparently evaded.—Northern Whig.
THE BREECH-LOADERS IN THE ENGLISH ARMY. '
—Now that there is such • rage for breech-loaders, it
is but justice to recollect that we owe to Lord de
Grey the fact that we are so forward in our arrange-
ments for introducing them into our own army.
After the Dano-German war Lord de Grey resolved
to take steps for arming the whole of the infantry
with this vastly-improved weapon, and, in spite of
very formidable opposition, he succeeded in having a com-
mittee appointed to receive tenders for the conversion of
the Enfield into a breech-loader. As we know, there were
several competitors and a great deal of imperfection, even
in the plan which was mostapproved of. But these imperfec-
tions have, we believe, disappeared, and we have every rea-
eon to think that we have got a really efficient breech-loader
in the Enfield converted on Mr. Snider's plan. It is but
right to say that Lord Harlington has not been slow in
following up the initiative taken by Lord de Grey; and
one of his last official acts was to provide for a large supply
of the converted weapons. We have no fear that General
Peel will dissent from the course adopted by his prede-
cessor, and we are confident that the British army will be
the second in possession of this weapon, which II 11101 r to
the Enfield as the latter was to Brown Bms.—Arsty and
Navy Gazette.
PAPER COLLARS.—A Boston (American) paper
has a report that a clerk in one of the wholesale stores of
that city has lately been afflicted with a painful breaking
out on the neck, which he at first attributed to boils, but a
physician being called, the patient was informed that he
was suffering from the polemmai properties of articles
used in the ppaararation of his enamelled paper cellars,
which bad been iheorbed into his system.