The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-31 00:00:00

SUPPOSED CHILD MURDER NEAR CHELMS-
FORD.

Considerable excitement was caused in the county
town on Sunday as the congregations were leaving the
various places of worship by the report that the
body of an infant had just been found in the
horse-pond, Springfield-lane, in such • condition
as to leave little doubt that it had been mur-
dered under circumstances of great brutality. Upon
inquiry the report as to finding the body proved
to be too true ; and there can also, we think, be little
doubt that foul play has been practised, though it yet
remains to be seen whether the evidence to be adduced at
the inquest, which will take place at the Duke's Head, at
2 o'clock to-morrow (Wednesday), will be sufficient to
justify a charge of murder. It appears that at half-past
12 on Sunday noon a man living on the wharf, named
Benjamin Mead, in the employ of Mr. Samuel Turner,
basket soaker, observed something floating in the pond,
which, on closer inspection, he believed to be the dead
body of • child. He at once acquainted the police
with what be bad seen, and Sergeant Peagrain, with
other officers, was soon on the spot, and the body having
been got out was found to be that of a newly-born
female child quite naked, except for a piece of sacking
fastened by a cord round the waist, and in which were a
brick and a bait brick, evidently intended to sink the
body. The head was frightfully crushed, but the police
think that this may perhaps have been caused by
a cart or waggon wheel passing over it as it lay at
the bottom of the pond, it being the frequent custom
to drive through the pond in order to "water" horses.
In the presence of a crowd which had speedily congregated,
the body was removed to the Duke's Head inn, and Mr.
0. Copland was sent for, who, on attending, gave it as his
opinion that the body had been in the water three or four
days, and we understand he will snake • post mortem ex-
amination prior to the inquest to-morrow (Wednesday).—
latex Herald.

The Sport says that the sale of the Grand Hotel
and the Hotel du Louvre to an English company has not
been effected, owing to the conditions of payment failing
to be accepted. The English offered 21 millions of francs
in cash and the balance in shares of a French company.
The failure of the treaty is due to the rejection of the
latter stipulation.
The Paris committee of the Voltaire statue have
decided by a majority to have an enlarged reproduc-
tion of the one by Hoodoo, the chef d'reurre which is
placed at the entrance of the Comedie.Francaise.
Messrs. Money Wigram and Son's ship Lincoln-
shire, Captain Henry Skinner, from Melbourne October
that has passed through the Downs for London, brings
84,538 ounces of gold, 82 passengers, and a full general
cargo, principally wool, wheat, and tobacco. She rounded
Cape Horn November 8, and crossed the equator De-
oember 2.

A
----
THE WRECK OF THE COLOMBTAN.—Advioes from
St. Thomas up to the 14th instant report that the West
India and Pacific Company's steamship Colombian still lay
in deep water,but that 2000 packages of the cargo had
been raised. e steamship Darien haft arrived out, with
the necessary appliances for raising the hull, and elides,.
yours would at once be made to raise both the vessel and
the remainder of the cargo.
BLOWN OUT TO SEA.—On the 27th Nov. a
Maltese fishing-boat, with nine men in it was blown out to
sea in a gale which suddenly sprung up. Nothing having
been heard of them for a fortnight they were supposed to
have perished, and a fund is being raised for their widows
and orphans. A telegram received on Tuesday last, the
pith inst., states that a Maltese fishing-boat, with nine or
twelve bands on board (number uncertain), had been
driven ashore about 30 miles east of Tripoli, and that assist-
ance had been immediately sent to them from the town ;
but we regret to say some doubt has been thrown on the
truth of this assertion. We understand that the naval
commander.in.chief, with that kind and humane spirit
which is known to animate him, on hearing the report that
the missing Maltese fishermen had been cast on thecoastof
Tripoli, immediate'yoffeied to send H.M.S. Psyche to their
assistance. Subsequent enquiry, however, showed that
grave doubts existed as to the truth of the statement. The
Consul-General at Tripoli despatched two manoeuvre to
the place indicated, hut no tidings of the missing boat or
fishermen were obtained. -Malta Times, Dec. 19. .. .

. , •
RAILWAY ACCIDENT.—AII accident, which might
have been attended with considerable loss of life, occurret:
at the Norton•bridge railw.ty stain', late on Saturday
afternoon. It seems that on arriving at this place the
train which leaves Stoke for Stafford at 5.27 was—whether
by mistake or otherwise we cannot positively say—turned
upon the siding, instead of being kept upon the main line.
In consequence of this the engine ran with terrific violence
against the stops, and was thrown off the line and upset.
Happily the carriages remained on the rails; but
the shock was sufficiently heavy to jerk the passengers
from their sesta and against each other. For the moment
the greatest confusion prevailed, and this was increased by
the shouts of passengers anxious to be let out of the car-
riages, and by their attempts to get through the windows.
The doors were unlm ked as quickly se possible, and it was
found, though several persons had been somewhat severely
shaken and slightly bruised, no serious injuries had been
sustained. The engine-driver and fireman appear to have
escaped unhurt. Shortly after the accident the passengers
were taken forward by the 6'41 train from Stoke.—Bir.
minoham Daily Post.
DEFECTIVE LisraNeas.—The first of these
varieties fails occasionally, it is true, to laugh when your
crisis comes ; but even that is better than laughing before
it has arrived at some anticipated denouement, which pro-
bably
la not the real one. This is a very defective kind of
listener, and is unfortunately largely represented among
the ladies of creation. They are so anxious to prove their
quickness of perception, that they assume to know what
you are going to say before you have completed your collo-
quial arrangements in your own mind ; and will put an
interpretation upon a sentence which you have only just
begun, or furnish a crisis to a story when it is still in an
early stags, in a manner which is the more inconvenient
bemuse it commonly happens that, in both eases, the
termination thus gratuitously supplied is a wrong one. It
May generally be observed, by the way, that when • lady
has tid a story for you in this fashion, she never
seems to appreciate the real authentic conclusion of the
anecdote when at last rot' do succeed in publishing Hi.—
Cornhill Magazine for January.