The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-31 00:00:00

BOROUGH SESSIONS.-YESTERDAY.

His Worship the Recorder, Gilbert Henderson, Esq.,
sat in the Crown Court, St. Geores-hall, yesterday, for
the purpose of hearing appeals.
EFFECT or POLITICAL AGITATION ON INDIVIDUAL PROS*
FERITY,—THE PARISH OF TOT TINGTON V. THE PARISH of
EVERTON. —Thii was an appal by the Parish of. Tottington,
near Bury, against a magistrate's order charging it with
the support of Mary Anne M`Dowell, and her four
children. Mr. Blair appeared for the appella4ts and Mr.
Aspinall for the respondents.
t The person whose chargeability was the subject of
dispute was the wife ,of Dr. P. M. M'Dowell, the well-
known Chartist leader and agitator. In 1839 he was
imprisoned in Chester gaol for twelve months, and while
there formed an attachment for the daughter of one of the
turnkeys. Shortly after his liberation, in August, 1840,
he proceeded with her to Glasgow, and they there in the
presence of two witnesses consented to take each other as
husband and wife, a ceremony constituting a valid mar.
riage according to the civil law of Scotland. They then
j urneyed about from place to place, spending two years
in France in the course of their wanderings, until atrer a
life of vicissitude in this country he proceeded to Aus-
tralia in 1854, where he died shortly after his arrival.
His wife and family thereupon became chargeable to the
Parish of Everton, by the overseer of which they were
removed to Tottington, near Bury, on the ground that
through her husband she derived a settlement on that
parish. Against that order the parishoners of Tottington
now appealed. The appeal was sustained, and the order
quashed.

EXPLOSION OF A POWDE.R MILL NEAR

BARNSLEY,

On Monday evening, an explosion occurred at the Wars-
brough gunpowder mills, belonging to Messrs. Shortridge
and Wright, which are situated in a very secluded part of
the Dove, in Worsbrough Dale, about two miles from
Ihrnsley. . The explosion was of a most terrific character,
and was heard within a circuit of several miles ; and, being
situated in the-centre of an extensive coal district, the first
impression was that one of the collieries had fired. One of
the mills, charged with a composition for the manufacture
of fine sporting powder, bad exploded, and the roof and
sides of the mill had been blown to atoms, while the floor
and foundati m had been also dislodged. Fortunately, none
of the workmen were in or near the mill at the time.

CRUEL TREATMENT Or PARISH
APPRENTICES.

John Charles Gorman, a horse-hair weaver and sieve
manufacturer, formerly of Old Ford, but at present carrying
on business in York-street, Bethnal Green, London, appeared
on Monday to answer a summons, in which he was charged
with having grossly neglected and otherwise ill-treated five
young girls, his apprentices, whose ages trailed from
fourteen to seventeen years. Mr. James, clerk to the
board of guardians of the Holborn union, attended to watch
the case on behalf of the complainants, who had been ap-
prenticed to the defendant by the authorities of that union.
Mr. Charles Christie, the relieving officer of the Bethnal
Green union, stated that, pursuant to instructions he had
received throagh Rowland, the warrant officer, from the
magistrates of that court, he proceeded about ten days since
to ,the defendant's premises, which consisted of only
three wretchedly-furnished rooms, for the general accom-
modation of himself and his wife, a female lodger, and
the five apprentices. Tho defendant and bis wife were
both intoxicated at the time of his arrival; but having
ascertained that he would find the apprentices'at the top of
the house, he made his way to a small attic, which they
used in common as their workshop and sleeping and sitting
apartment. There were two beds in the room, the cover-
ings of which were begtimmed with dirt, but scarcely any
other furniture, and the whole place presented an appear-
ance of squalid destitution. On questioning the poor girls
with regard to their miserable personal appearance, they
informed him that they had nothing else to wear but the
scanty garments they had on, as they had been compelled
to part with the rest of their clothing to procure food,
which their master had refused to provide them. Having
elicited from them, after some conversation, that they had
been shamefully neglected and ill-treated in other particu-
lars, he felt it his duty to undertake their temporary
charge, and sent them to the workhouse. The ill-usage
stated above was fully proved by the apprentices, and the
magistrate ordered the defendant to restore £2 of the £5
which he had received with each of the girls from the
union, and ordered the indentures to be cancelled.

THE POISONING CASE AT BOLTON BY

ANTIMONY.

On Monday afternoon, about five o'clock, the neighbour-
hood of Moor Lane. Bolton, was surprised by the arrival
of a cab containing Betsey M'Mullen, in custody of the
deputy-governor of Kirkdale gaol. The prisoner, it will
be remembered; was committed for trial from Bolton
on the 4th instant, on a coroner's warrant, for the wilful
murder of her husband, Daniel M'Mullen, by adminis-
tering to him repeated doses of tartarised antimony,
sold under the name of " quietness." On the inquest
Mary Ann Helton, the servant girl, stated that she
had on one occasion taken one of the powders out of the
prisoner's pocket when she was intoxicated, which she gave
to a woman named Elizabeth Hilton, and subsequently to
Mr. Dorrian, surzeon, and which on examinatian was found
to contain antimony. Mrs. Hilton is a widow woman
residing 'near the Britannia public-house, and was not
examined on the inquest, but it being necessary for the
prosecution to have the evidence of this woman at the trial,
and an affidavit having been made by Mr. Dorrian, surgeon,
who is attending Mrs. Hilton, that her state of health is
such as to make it cloubtfHl whether she will live many days,
but under any circumstances to render her unfit to be removed
to Liverpool to give evidence, a writ of habeas corpus had,
therefore, been obtained, ordering the prisoner's removal to
Bolton, to be present whilst the deposition of Mrs. Hilton was
taken ; and, accordingly, as befoie stated, she left Liverpool
by the three o'clock train on Monday a'ternoon, and on
arriving at Chequerbent station, about two miles and a half
from Bolton, she was placed in a cab'and conveyed to the
house of Mrs. Hilton. R. Walsh, Esq., J.P., Mr. Winder
magistrates' clerk, Mr. Briggs, solicitor, and Mr. Gaskell's
clerk were present while the woman gave her evidence,
which did not occupy more than a quarter of an hour, when
the prisoner was again conveyed in a cab to Lostock Junc-
tion, on the Lancashire and Yorkshire line of railway. She
was there met by several of her near relatives, and took tea
at the house of Mr. Wiggins, and was conveyed by the half-
oast six o'clock train from there back to Liverpool. Mr.
Briggs is entrusted with the defence, and he has retained
Mr. Monk and Mr. Wheeler to defend her at the assizes.

THE MILITIA MUTINY-CAPITAL
•• CONVICTION.

The man, Stephe❑ Byrnes, of the North Tipperary Light
Tnfantry Militia, was put on his trial on Monday, at the
Neuagh assizes, charged with the murder of Denis Curley, a
private of the 41st Regiment, on the 8:h of July instant. The
prisoner, who is a very young man, and of mild appearance,
wa.; dressed in the militia uniform.

The Attorney General, 'with Messrs. George, Q C., Lynch,
Q.C., Rollestone, Q.C., O'Hara, and Waller,. prosecuted ; and
Messrs. Johnston and Henrhill were assigned as counsel to
, •
the prisoner. General Sir W. Chatterton, commanding the
Limerick district, oecupied a seat on the bench where Judge
Moore presided. The court was crowded, and' the deepest
interest was excited' by the proceedings throughout the town.
The Attorney General having stated the facts of the' case,
witnesses were examined who proved that while, the soldiers
,were drawn up in the Sunimer Hill Barracks, Byrnes, who
,sion3l outside, tha gate with other militiamen, called out—
(' have a crack at the medal man" (Curley), and fired
at deceiased through die wicket-gate, which was partly open at
the time. Gulley stool near the gate, having been told off as
a sentry.

Mr. Johnston addressed the jury on behalf of, the prisoner,
and dwelt in strong terms upen the conduct of the government
towards the militia. After all their services, they had been
cast off like an old shoe when no longer wanted. Having
exonerated the officers of the regiment from: all blame, he
submitted that there was not sufficient proof of Byrnes having
fired the shot, and, finally, he urged that even if the jury were
to convict, the excitement that day, and the circumstances,
would reduce the offence to manslaughter:
The jury having retired for an hour returned with a verdict
of guilty.

The foreman, Mr. &Allier, then read a letter, in which the
jury begged leave to recommend the prisoner to mercy, on the
ground that the militia were, at the tithe, in a state of great
excitement, being.of opinion, whether well or ill grounded,
that the regiment were not receiving their just rights.
John Bannon, another of the Tipperary Militiaovas then
put on his trial, charged in the. first and second counts with
firing at Lieutenant,COlonel Hart and Lieutenant Young,
with intent to murder them, and in the third and finial'
counts with' firing at 200 of the'Queer's troops, with the
intent to murder some of them. The prisoner was acquitted
on the two former counts, and found guilty on tho two
latter.

Sentence Was not pronounced on either of the prisoners.

Her Majesty
has been pleased to appoint Lieut.-Colonel
S. D. Mackenzie, 92nd Highlanders, Assistant Master,
Master General, to the Ist Division of the Army about to be
assembled in Ireland. He will be stationed at Dublin.