The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-05-22 00:00:00

trychnia must have been found in the prisoner's house
after the death of Cook if he perchased the quantity stated
by s ;veral of the w teesses. Was it possible that Palmer
would have consulted Newton on the effect of strychnine.
He did not think for a moment that the jury Gould entertain
the ilea. So improbable did it appear that he would not
trouble the jury further on the subject. Fisher's evidence
went to prove that Cook killed himself. The only thing ex-
traordinary in Fisher's evidence was that:Palmer said Cook
complained to him of putting something into his brandy and
water. Then with regard to the evidence of Mrs. Brooks
There was nothing extraordinary in it. She says that when
he held the glass up to the light she thought it bad not
the appearance of anything being mixed- with the brandy.
After the races at Shrewsbury, Co,,k and Palmer both
sive ruin staring them in the face, and provided for the
temporary difficulty by procuring a loan of £2OO ; and
considering that they were both joint owners of, the same
horses, there was nothing extraordinary in their conduct. It
is said that the very attentiveness of the prisoner is an
evidence of his guilt. He was a young men, an utter
strang( r, in the. room, and being a friend of Palmer'si
did not think it was anything but what one friend would
do to another. Cook had no other friend in the
room, and because Palmer laboriously devoted himself
to alleviate the sufferings of his frieni.3, he is accused of
the most insidious and wicked designs. The learned
Sergeant then implored the jury to dismiss all the preju-
dice which they may have pre,i,:nsly had from their
minds, and at some length contended that if Palmer had
intended to murder Cook he would not have chosen the
time ;:nd Place here death had ensue
kill
when Cook
ean was
W. medical map, and to Cook by ms
with his frierkl, w
most likely to creii!‘l suspicions and bring about an
exposure of those forgerie3 which so much stress had
been laid upon. The learned consl, after referring to
some fOrther evidence, commented wit ti some severity upon
the evidence of Newton and other witnesses for the pro-
secution, and areued from the general conduct of Palmer,
in relation io Cook, that the strongest presumption was
that he was not guilty of the atrocious crime laid to his
charge. He expressed his opinion that the jury could not
find the charge true—that they would be impeached belt r'
the whole world if they found it true—and added, " I
believe in my conscience it is false."
It being nearly seven o'clock when Mr. Sergeant Shea
closed his address, no evidence for the defence was called,
but it will be proceeded with to-morrow (this day).
The examination of witnesses for the defence will be
proceeded with at the sitting of the court in the morning,
enfl it is not supooscd that their testimony cto end before
Friday night. The Attorney-General will then have to reply.
which, ;€ is quite expected, will occupy the most part of
another day, Gad a day at least haein4 been given to the
Lord Chief Justia' to su-n up, it is generally understood
that this unparalleled cannot terminate before Tuesday
next.
We learn that Dr. Letheby ';'ecl Mr. Nunn9ly, of Leeds,
will be amongst the earliest witnes.:fz examined for the
prisoner.

TRIAL OF .THE GREAT IRON GUN

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS

The long talked-of, and anxiously looked-for, etperi,
ment, in the trial of the monster gun, constructed at the
Mersey Iron and Steel Works of Messrs. Horsfall, took
place (for the first time) yesterday, on the shore about
a mile and a-half from the Highton station, on the South-
port railway, and the results more than assured the most
sanguine expectations in reference to this, the largest
piece of ordnance in the world. We have so often re-
ferred to this gun, and described it so frequently, that in
that respect it would be superfluous to say more about
its weight, dimensions, &c. It was a task of no small
magnitude, to get the gun into its present position—a
position that has answered admirably, not only for the
trial itself, but also to prevent the possibility of accident.
The trial of yesterday, although semi-private, was attended
by a large number of highly resp;Ttable people, who
seemed to take more than a local interest in the proceed-
ings ; in fact, they looked upon it in a national point of
view, and felt proud that Liverpool had produced such
a machine. Among the gentlemen present, were George
Henry Horsfall, W. J. Horsfall, and Robert iorsfall,
Esqrs., Mr. Clay, the manager of the works, whose inde-
fatigable exertions have been duly appreciated, and uar•
Eastwood, the chief maker of the gun. Mr. Clay (as in-
deed all connected with the affair) deserves special notice
for his kind attention and gentlemanly bearing towards all
who sought information from him ; and we may say the
same of the artillery officers and men, the former taking
the utmost pains to point out to the humblest individual
anything worth knowing in reference to the trial. For
ourselves, we say that these gentlemen rendered us every
possible assistance, and in such a courteous manner as
to render their information the more valuable. The
gentlemen alluded to were Captain Adams, Lieutenants
Southern and Weldon, with twelve men of the artillery
from the fort. Admiral 0 renfel and Captain Middleton
were also present. The experiments consisted of six
shots or rounds, and were as follows : —The first was
a blank charge of 10 lbs of powder shot from the gun
on a dead level. This shot was fired by Mr. Clay, the
manager; the second was fired by Mr. Eastwood, the
maker of the gun, and consisted of a charge of 10
lbs of powder, and an empty shell of 194
lbs. The gun was elevated at this shot to
an angle of one degree, and recoiled only four
inches. The gun was then elevated to four degrees
and charged with 10 lbs of powder, and a like shot to
the last. The recoil in this experiment was also four
inches. The fourth shot consisted of 20 lbs powder and
a 284 lb ball ; the elevation being four degrees. This was
a splendid shot, and created great interest, and raised
loud applause from all present. The recoil was seventeen
inches. The fifth was the same, The sixth was the
most important shot of the day. The charge was 30 lbs
with a 281 ball, The gun was elevated to 71 degrees.
The ball dipped first at 2,000 yards distance, and then
it went dashing away through the land and water, and
stopped at about 21. miles. The recoil of the gun in
this instance was two feet eight inches. The last shoe
was with 20 lbs of powder, and a thirteen-inch
shell. The recoil in this case was eleven-and-a-
half inches. The experiments were considered by all
of the most satisfactory description, and the officers ex-
pressed their highest admiration of the whole trial.
There is one peculiarity about the gun deserving of
notice. It is, that the report is hardly louder than that
made by a small signal cannon. This day some officials
from Woolwich arsenal, will attend to try the gun. It
is said, the regular charge for this great cannon, is from
90 to 100 lbs of powder, but it is contemplated to
charge with nearly three times that quantity. Saturday
will be the great public day, when all Mr. Horsfalls
men, and no doubt hundreds of the townspeople, will
attend to witness the experiments, which are of a highly
interesting description.

AMAN AND ANOTHER v. HOUGHTON AND

ANOTHER.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES

Sir,—We respectfully have to request, you will correct
an error made in your paper of this day, in reference to
the case in the county court, on which His Honour,
Mr. Pollock, gave judgment yesterday. In your report
we stand as the defendants, whereas, the parties were
Aman and another v. Bolderston and another, we were
merely the brokers in the purchase of the Leonor's
cargo on the part of the plaintiffs.—Yours, &c.,
May 21, 1858. HOUGHTON AND LEVY.

The visit of the Emperor Alexander to Warsaw is
expected to be celebrated by a general amnesty, the
re-establishment of the university, and by the formation
of a Polish guard of 8000 men.
LIVERPOOL BANKRUPTCY COURT—Yesterday: —(Before
Mr. Commissioner Perry.) —ln-re George Bytbrd.—The
bankrupt, a &ate merchant, of Liverpool, pissed his last
examination yesterday, and a day was fixed for the certificate
meeting.

The Euphrates arrived at Marseilles yesterday morning,
with advices from Constantinople of the 12th, and from
the Crimea to the 10th inst. The 17th, 62nd, and 63rd
regiments had left the Crimea.
A despatch from St. Petersburg announces that the
Emperor Alexander will arrive at Warsaw on the 22nd.
The Lord Mayor has been in communication with
some of the principal public companies, and the repre-
sentatives of the mercantile and manufacturing interests,
and there is every reason to believe that a general holi-
day will be arranged on the 29th inst., so far as it is
possible to effect that object without the aid of the
government.
THE FATAL EXPLOSION ON BOARD THE NIMROD
STEAMER.—We have already mentioned the fatal accident
which occurred on Wednesday last on board the Nimrod
steamer, on her arrival from this port at Cork, on Monday
last. The following are the names of the unfortunate indi •
„riduals who lost their lives by the catastrophe :—Hugh
Connolly, head engineer, who is stated to be from the North
of Ireland; Archibald Smith, second engineer, 30 years of
age, a Scotehman, who has left a wife who will shortly be-
come a mother ; Francis Kavanagh, fireman, 40 years of age.
from Dublin ; John Driscoll, 26 years of age, lives at
Leitrim, Deceased was married and had a family ; Charles
Logan, 35 years of age, from Liverpool, and Timothy
Meany, who has left a family. At the inquest held on the
bodies of Connolly and Heaney on Monday afternoon, it
was shown that it was the duty of the engineer (Hugh
Connolly) to ease the safety valves and allow the steam to
escap. It appears that, from whatever cause, this most
necessary duty was neglected; and neither the head engineer
or his assistant discovered the error which had been commit-
ted until it was too late to rectify it. The boiler, which, it
is stated, has not been long in use, is asserted to have been
in complete working order, so that no blame was attachable
to the company, on the ground of employing a boiler in
insufficient repair. The accident is attributable solely to
the neglect of the two engineers, both of whom unfortu-
nately paid the penalty of their inattention. The jury
agreed to the following verdict :—" That the said Hugh
Connolly and Timothy Meany, respectively, came to their
death by injuries received from a steam-hoihr explosion on
board the steamship Nimrod, and we further find that said
explosion was owing to the safety valves not having be' n
properly attended to by the engineer in charge of the engine
room, whose duty it was, and who has since died."