The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-22 00:00:00

C DRONE R'S COURT.

Yester,liy the Coroner held the fallowing inquests:
On -the body of Thomas ,ka, aged thirty-fonr•
ye,rs: who lived at Warriagtou. On ,the 11th of
~tie deceased was workir g on, a , about
wee m;',,s. fr .ou Warrington, and i!, •,,tiled he
was cro,,, Jog 71 -I, las thetea
and he was knock d down, his jawboa!e other
injuries He was taken to the Royal l..ll:ru:ry, where he
died on Wednesday, although tling was done for him.
The engine driver Wt 3 and, in rep'.y to 11r.
Bi.,nkin:.,od, the witness said the min came out at the !eft
side, which was the side he was going up on. The gate was a
private one, on private property, and the farmer had a lock
and key. The man did not look up or down the rail. It
was quite out of the question to stop the train,
as the man was not twenty yards from it. He
pulled up as soon as possible, and at a place where he
should not have stopped, in order to give notice of what
had happened. The Coroner said it was quite clear that
this was a pure accident, and no doubt caused by the
indiscretion of the poor man himself. The jury at once
found a verdict of " Accidental death."

Oa the body of a youth, fourteen years of age, named
Elijah Fairclough, the son of a carter. The deceased
went to the goods' station of the London and North
Western Railway for some goods, and was in one of the
warehouses in Stewart-street. He was standing in the
first story floor, where bale goods were being lowered
from ; he was warned not to remain there; but he did so,
and a bale that was being lowered canted over, and
knocked him into the street, and he received such injuries
that he died. Verdict, " Accidental death."

On the body of a child, namel George Farrell, fourteen
months old, the child of a shoemaker living in Rose-place.
On Friday last the child pulled a cup of hot porridge down
on it, and was so much scalded that death was the result.
Verdict, "Accidental death."
On the body of Samuel Wilmot, aged 68, who hanged
himself in the house of his son in Whitechapel. The
unfortunate man had been, far some time past, quite out
of his mind, and imagined that he held communications
with " spirits" and other hidden things. This, in addition
to what we have already published in regard to this case,
was given in evidence, and the jury found a verdict that
deceased hung himself whilst in a state of temporary
insanity.
FATAL ACCIDENT IN CHATIL-STREET.--011 the body of
John Tyson, aged 41, a labourer, who was killed yesterday
morning in Chapel street. The deceased was engaged
in taking d awn a warehouse in the street. There was a
winch so contrived as to lower full barrows of bricks and
take up the empty barrows, which went down through a
hole in one of the floors. There was a plank across the
opening. and the deceased stood on it, and his duty was to
keep the chain from touching the plank, so as to let the
barrows steer clear on each side of the plank; he failed
to do so, and the barrow caught the plank, turned it over,
and knocked the deceased down, and he was so injured
thait he died shortly after. Verdict—" Accidental death."
On the body of Richard Dutton who died in the work-
house. It appeared that deceased was hurt in the arm by,
a chain, on board a flat, and erysipelas having super-
♦ened, death followed. Verdict accordingly.
On the body of William Lyons, aged 65, who was
killed in Baffin-street. The deceased was engaged at a
timber lorry, the chain of the guiding pole of which broke,
and the deceased having clutched the pole, it shot him up,
and he died from the effects of the injuries he received.
Verdict—" Accidental death."

The death of Mr. Jas. Freshfi'ld, jun., the Solicitor to
the Bank of England, is announced, after a short illness.
A geutleman from the minty Limerick, who was re-
cently in Paris, frequently saw at Gati.g.riani's the well-
known James Sailier, who has allowed is beard to grow
to such an extent as to hide cornpletelrhis features.—
Limerick. Observer.
TIIE U.S. FRIGATE NIAGARA.—The Times devotes more
than a cilumn to a description of this magnificent ship,
and states that, in the course of a day or so, she will leave
the Thames for Liverpool, where her half of the Atlantic
cable is to be shipped.
AFTROACIIING MARRIAGES IN HIGH Lire.—We have
reasons to believe that the Right lion. Frederick Peel,
second son of the late Sir Robert Peel, and recently Under
Secretary of S ate _for War, is about to lead to the
hymeneal alter Miss Shelley, danghter of Mr. and Mrs.
Shelley, of Ovington. A marriage is on the tapir between
Captain the Hiss. James As'iley Ponsonby, second son of
the late, and brother of L ird D 3 Manley, and the Hun.
Louisa Garden, maid of honour to the-Queen, second
daughter of the late Lord Henry Gordon, and sister of
Lady Augustus Fitzelarcnce, widow of the youngest son of
the late King William the IV. We are led to understand
that Colonel the 800. George Cadogan, second son of the
Ehrl of Cadngan, is abou' to be married to Miss Ashworth,
daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Ashworth,
-Kt.— Advertiser. •

NEW GRAVING DOCKS ON THE THAMES.—NeW graviia
decks on the Thames are in cnir,:e of construction in
connection with the Victoria D icks, and upoa an entirely
original principle. By an hydraulic lift and a contrivance
for subsequently fluting each vessel into s'a,illow water,
where all the necessary examinations and repairs can be
conducted from workshoas alongside, the enorna ,a, cost of
the deep excavations require] under the present system is
to be avoided, an extent of space bei ig at once rendered
available which, at a comparatively slight outlay, would
enable any number of ships to be accommodeed. A belief
is stated that " by this process our largest vessels—such
as the Himalaya—may be completely docked in two hours,
.while from eight to ten ordinary vessels may be raised,
examined, and launched again, per day." The patentee
is Mr. Edwin Clarke, and the capital for the. works now
in caurse of formAtion-070,000—has been chiefly sub-
scribel among the principal London engineers and their
-friends, Messrs. Stephenson, Locke, Hawkshaw, Fowler,
Hawksley, Berkley, and Bidder having expressed full
confidence in the undertaking.
MANUFACTURE OF OIL FROM COAL.—The manufacture of
oil from mineral substances, although still far from perfec-
tion, has occupied the attention of many bath practical and
scientific men in England and on the Continent, and has
been the subject of many patents, the earliest dating
nearly two centuries back, and the most recent bairn: ap-
p'ied for but two months since. In 1094, Messrs. Martin
Earle, Thomas Hancock, and William Portlock, obtained
a patent for " making oil from a certain kind of stone," and
nearly e'ghty years afterwards Christian Wilhem, Baron
Von Haacke, took out another for " extracting and
making oil from a certain mineral." It must be understood
that oil only is alluded to, as many other inventions for
utilising the products of coal, carbonaceous and mineral
substances, and similar matters, have been patented which
might interfere with an inventi,n at the present time for
obtaining the volatile products of oil in the shape of tar,
parr ffine, eupione, &c , or for purifying and obtaining oils
from these or similar substances. In 1820, John Grafton
proposed to distil off the products of coal and carbonising
coal in the process of making gas for illumination. In 1840,
David Walther invented a process for " purifying mineral
oil," and in the year following Theophile Anton Willhelme
Count de Hompesch took out a patent for " obtaining oil
from bituminous matters" (these substances being, not coal,
but schiste and asphalte). Here, again, it may be remarked,
that unless the oil is to be obtained from coal properly so-
callel--and the dispute as to the Torbanahill mineral
cannot be, forgotten-s-other difficulties may arise, as bitu-
minous matters might be held to cover a large number of
substances, and to render a future inventor's claim invalid,
waich might be unthought of by those uniniated into the
mysteries of patent law. In 1847, Charles Blachford Mans-
field proposed the manufacture and purification of spiritu-
ous substances, and also applying them to the purposes of
artificial light, &c.—this patent, notwithstanding its title,
would interfere with many propositions which might be
made for extracting oil from coal This is the last patent
directly bearing upon the subject under the old law.
Since the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852, came into
operation, a far larger amount of patents for improvements
in most branches of industry have been granted ; but those
for obtaining oil from coal do not appear to have increased
in proportion. In 1834, three patents were taken by
William Little, James de Wole Spurr, and William Brown
respectively. The object of William Little's invention was
to distil or obtain products from coal and bituminous sub-
stances, by bringing in contact therewith highly-heated
gases, resulting from the passage of air through fire. Spare's
invention was for distilling at a low temperature in vacuo.
William Brown dispensed with retorts, &c., by placing the
fire within a air-tight furnace, the coke, after the volatile
matters had been separated from it, serving as fuel to distil
a fresh supply, which was fed in through a hopper at the
top. In 1856, Hermann Brambach proposed an invention
for converting the whole products (which had previously
been extracted in the shape of water, essential oil, fixed
oil, and a tarry residue) into a light brown and perfectly
neutral essential oil. By applying to the product of die-
-tillation the known methods of ratification, he obtained an
essential oil of a light yellow colour, which did not absorb
the oxygen of the air. This essential oil burns in properly
constructed lamps without smell or soot, and could be
applied to dissolve resinous substances, caoutchoue, &c. ;
it evaporated and left these substances in possession of
their original prop'rties. This invention appears to be the
last of importance relating to coal oil which has been
specified, but on March 12 of the present year a petition
was filed for a patent for purifying schistose or bituminous
oils. This is of course not yet specified. The manufacture
of mineral oil will no doubt ere long assume a good posi-
tion amongst our industrial enterprises, notwithstanding
the comparatively small amount of labour that has been
spent in the endeavouring to perfect the process --Mining
Journal,