The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-16 00:00:00

He had then to watch her, and had great trouble to pre.
vent her strangling herself. She was before Mr. Paget
last week, after she mime out of prison, and complained of
neglect and ill-usage, and the magistrate ordered an
juquu7 to be made concerning her. Mr. Charles Young,
the solicitor, then stated that Mr. Partridge carefully in-
vestigated the cue, and upon the evidence of the surgeon
of the Stepney union that she was not insane, and was
capable of doing the work assigned to her, he committed
her for 21days.
Mr. Knox said the unfortunate prisoner wee no doubt
insane and very ill, and she must be taken care of and
tested with the greatest humanity. The best course
would be to send her to the Stepney Union at Bromley.
Mr. Parker, the master of the Stepney Union at Brom-
ley, mid he should be most happy to attend to the Ames-
time of the magistrate. The case was a peculiar one. The
surgeon of the Stepney Union said she was not insane, and
other surgeons said she was a lunatic.
Mr. Knox—lt is an absurdity to say she is not insane.
You bear what the gaoler says, and you have heard the
statement of the police-constable. She made an attempt to
'beagle herself. She has taken poison, and you can see
the state she is in now. To the credit of the board of
guardians of the Stepney Union see to her, and treat her
tenderly.
The prisoner—Hang me, sir.
Mr. Parker would take care that every attention should
be paid to the woman.
loche—She is very weak, your worship. The poor
woman cannot walk.
Mr. Knox directed that a cab should be hired, and the
woman taken at once to the Stepney Union.
The poor creature was then discharged, and led out of
the court.

TWO SHOCKING DEATHS BY FIRE.

INQIJESTS.T(THIS DAY.)

Thin afternoon, Mr. W. Payne, the City coroner,
held two inquests at St. Bartholomew's Hospital on the
deaths of John Tinkler, aged 86 years, and James Gar-
dener, aged 15 poen, who lost their lives by fire.
In the case of John Tinkles,
Eleanor Sweet, daughter of the deceseed, said that her
father was a dyer by trade. He lived at No. 6, Helmet-
court, Blackfriars. For some years past be had lived
skim Witness knew nothing of the occurrence which
awed his death.
John Reid, 6, Helmet-court, said that the deceased
rented a room on the third Boor of his house. On Thurs-
day, the sth instant, witness heard loud screams of
" Fire, help, help !" preceding from the deceased's room.
Hp= entering he saw the deceased standing in the middle
of the room. His clothes were all on fire. Witness tore the
burning clothes off his back, and the police came and
removed him to the hospital. The deceased said to
witness—" I was seated opposite the fire and went to sleep
and fell into the fireplace.
The second case taken was that of James Gardener, and
Falco-constable Edwin Bent 28 6, said' that at
half-part 10 o'clock on Thunday morning last,
he was on duty in Golden-lane, when he heard
several people calling out, " A boy is on fire." He then
saw the deceased standing in the middle of the pavement
of Hartshorn-court. His clothes were all alight, and a
woman brought a bucket of water, and threw it over the
burning lad, but it only seemed to increase the flames.
Witness then got a shawl and wrapped it round the de-
ceased's body. When the fire had been put out witness
removed him to the hospital. A piece of an iron naptha
lamp was hung out of deceased's ragged cost pocket when
witness first saw him on fire.
Elizabeth Meadows deposed that the deceased had spilt
the contents of a small lamp filled with naphtha in his
coat pocket while he was carrying it through the street.
He ran into her house at No. 2, Hartahorn-court, and
stood before the fire for the purpose of drying his oiled
clothes. He caught fire at the grate, and rushed out into
the street.
Charles Acroft, 2, Hartshorn-court, keeper of a street
stall, said that the deceased had met him in the street.
He asked for employment, and witness asked him for his
history before he gave him present work. He said, " I
have no history ; I have no father or mother. I found
myself in Bradford, and I walked up to London."
Mr. Orton, surgeon, proved that both the deceased
persons died on Friday last from effects of dreadful
inpines by fire.
- •

The coroner having Rimmed up, the jury returned s
verdict of " Accidental death."

It appears from a parliamentary return leaned to-
day that, between the 26th of August and the 23rd of
November last year, 5,629 cattle were slaughtered in Eng-
land on account of the cattle plague, either in obedience
to the directions of cattle inspectors, or by direction of
the owners ; 79 were so killed in Wales, and 1,704 in
Scotland, making a total of 7,412.

A return issued this morning shows that there
are in England 121 municipal boroughs, and market and
other towns possessing a population of 5,000 inhabitants
and upwards, which are not now represented in parliament.
Among the largest of them are Burnley, in Lancashire,
which has a population of 28,700 ; Staleybridge, which has
24,921 ; Croydon, 20,325 ; Gravesend, 18,722 ; St. Helen's,
Lancashire, 18,396 ; Middlesborough, 18,992 ; Leamington,
17,958 ; &c. Then there are 14 metropolitan parishes, or
parts of parishes, containing a population of upwards of
5,000, which are not within any represented borough ;
they are as follows :—Chelsea, 63,439 ; Fulham, 15,539 ;
Hammersmith, 24,519 ; Hampstead, 19,106 ; Kensington,
70,108 ; Battersea, 19,600 ; Clapham, 20,894; part of
Lambeth, 19,146; Putney, 6,481 ; Streatham, 8,027 ;
Wandsworth, 13,346 ; Leigh, 6,162 ; Lewisham, 22,808 ;
and part of Plurustead, 19,219.

The weekly meetings of the members of the
Royal Institution were resumed after the Easter recess on
Friday evening, when a lecture was delivered by Professor
Du Bois Raymond, " On the Time required for the Trans-
minion of Volition and Sensation through the Nerves."

M. Gustave Dord has finished thirty sketches
is illustration of Tennyson's " Idylls of the King," which
are to be engraved in London.

On Thursday Fagot is to be performed at Covent
Carden for the first appearance this season of Mdlle. Pau-
line Lucca.

At the next concert of the Sacred Harmonic
Society the programme is to include Rossini's Stabat
Mater and Mendelssohn's Athal ink.

Mr. Fechter will shortly produce the C,rsican
Brothers at the Lyceum, with new effects and mounting,
and will also shortly revive Hamlet.

This day week, the 23rd inst., is the anniversary
of Shakespeare's birthday. The banquet which, under
the will of the late Mr. T. P. Cooke, is provided at the
Dramatic College at Maybury, "at which the master,
wardens, and members of the council shall preside, and to
which the whole of the pensioners and any supporters and
patrons of the drama and well-wishers of the college shall
be invited," will have Mr. Webster for its president and
Mr. Creswick for its vice-president. Special dinners in
honour of the occasion will also be held at various social
and literary clubs.

The annual dinner of the Licensed Victuallers'
Asylum is appointed for the 9th of next month. Benjamin
Lee Guinness, Esq., M.P. for Dublin, has agreed to pre-
Nide.

The troops brought to England in the sailing
ships Tyburnia, Malabar, Albert Victor, and Cornwallis,
will all disembark from those ships at Portsmouth this
morning, and the four vessels will immediately afterwards
leave Portsmouth for the Thames. Never since the time
of the Crimean campaign until Saturday have eight pri-
vate ships been seen lying at Portsmouth at one time
freighted with troops returning home from foreign service.
There is a very large number of " time-expired " men
among them. It ia estimated that four-fifths of these men
will re-enlist in the army within three or four weeks of
their return home, the majority of them with the hope of
soon finding themselves again en route for India.
THE LATE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S HALF-
P tr.—For many years before his decease the late Duke of
Northumberland had refrained from drawing his half-pay
to which he was entitled by his rank as admiral in the
navy. His executors, Earl Groevenor, M.P., and
Lonl Redesdale, have, however, applied for, and
received from the Admiralty, about 7,400 i. Wi-
der this head. The present duke, considering,
with much generosity of feeling, that this sum could
not legitimately be reckoned amongst the six or seven mil-
lions of property which he had inherited from his cousin,
the late duke, has decided upon appropriating it for the
benefit of various naval charities. The Royal Naval Bene-
volent will receive about 5,200/., the Dreadnought Sea-
man's Hospital will have 2,0001., and the National Lifeboat
Association the remainder. It would have been difficult to
',elect more deserving charities, but the disproportion is
rather startling. The merchant seamen for whom the " Dread-
nought" is intended deserve well of their country, and
eoasidering that the Royal Naval Benevolent Fund is
already a wealthy charity it might have been thought that
the two would have shared equally. The sum to be handed
Over to the National Lifeboat Institution is, however,
even still more out of proportion, especially when it
is considered that the lifeboats which have been Placed
On the Northumberland coast have cost that society about
5, while the benefactions of the duke to the funds
of thatooo( institution during his long life were limited
bungle donation of a hundred guineas. The only ground
of consolation is that the public is the best patron, and
that in spite of the small donations of many of the
landed proprietors from whom much might be e the
smaller subscriptions of a vast numberof people e
epabled the Institution to do a great amount d good.—
Northers' Daily Express.