The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-27 00:00:00

szw-orrs CASE'OF ABDUCTION,

At the last Carlow potty sessions, three men were brought
up and charged with having carried off a young woman named
Catherine Hurihan, from her parents, under extraordinary
circumstances. The case excited the greatest interest in the
town and neighbourhood, as during the investigation the court
was crowded to excess by persons of both sexes ; as usual, the
fair sex preponderated. Indeed the bench appeared to take no
less deep interest in the proceeding, as no less than twelve
magistrates ware present. Since the attempted abduction of
Miss Arbuthnot by Mr. Carden, the people of this country
have not heard so systematic and well arranged a plan for
carrying off a female, although in the present case the parties
move in the humbler walks of life. Mr. Butler, sessional
prosecutor, attended on the part of the crown. The parties
accused, who were undefended, were Thomas Dunne,
James Seeffe, and John Burn. Mr. Butler having stated
the facts of the case,, which will be found detailed in
;the evidence, and referred to the statute which bore on
the case, proceeded to call the witnesses. Catherine
Hurihan, an interesting young girl
summers, was the first witness examined

She stated that on

Saturday morning last, about six o'clock, she was proceeding
to Carlow in a donkey cart, accompanied by her mother and
grandmother. When a short distance from this town her
attention was arrested by observing a covered car secreted
under a railway bridge, near which were three men. On
coming near to the vehicle, the prisoner Dunne, who was a
servant in her father's employment, approached and dragged
.her off the car. I❑ his efforts to do so, she pulled her grand-
mother along with her. She screamed for help, but her
parents being overpowered by the other men, they were unable
to give any assistance. Dunne being unable to force her into
the car, was assisted by a person whose name she did not know.
When flung into the car, Dunne followed her, closing the
door behind him, whereupon Keefe drove off as fast as he
could, the third person holding back her mother and
grandmother. Sho remained insensible until they arrived
in Athy, a distance of ten miles. ller clothes were much
torn and injured in the struggle. When they drove into
Stradbally, three miles from Athy, Dunne and the car
driver, Keefe, partook of some breakfast, but she_ refused;
Dunne, on her recovering her self-possession, frequently asking
her to marry him,- but she declined indignantly to comply with
his request. In answer to the bench, the witness said it was
against her will and desire that she was then dragged away from
her friends and home, The prisoner Dunne here remarked
that the witness had agreed on Friday night to elope with him.
The prosecutrix repudiated the statement. Mary Hurihan,
mother of the last witness, corroborated the testimony of her
daughter ; in her information, she swore that John Burn was
the third person engaged in the attack, but she believed that
she was mistaken as to his identity ; with reference to Keefe,
the car driver, she positively swore that he aided and assisted
Dunne in forcing her daughter into the covered car. Mr.
Butler said that, of course, the prosecution against Burn
should be abandoned. The magistrates ordered informations
to be taken against Dunne and Keefe to stand their trial
at the March assizes, and refused to accept bail for their
appearance.

SUPPOSED GUILD MURDER-MYSTERIOUS

CASE,

The police of Newport are making the moat searching
enquiries into a case of supposed child murder, under
the following singular circumstances:—Some two or
three months ago a woman, nanied Sarah Thomas, aged
45, the widow of a seaman, excited great sympathy in
the lower part of Newport, at Pillgwenlly, among the
congregation of Trinity Church and other persons, on
account of her almost helpless condition, and being
afflicted with "dropsy." The clerzyman at Trinity and
other benevo!ent persons interested themselves in her
case, and greatly assisted her, so that by aid of liCr
mangle and the money paid by a young man aged 22,
named Muttah, she was proceeding pretty comfortably
but for her unfortunate " dropsy," which increased more
and more. It was at length considered advisable to get
her into the Bristol Hospital, and it is said funds were
obtained, and an order to gain her admittance there.
She went to Bristol accordingly ; but while it
was supposed she was in the hospital, getting rid of the
" dropsy," she appears to have been in private lodgings,
where she gave birth to au illegitimate female child,
now alleged to have been the result of her illicit inter-
course -with her lodger. A boat a fortnight since, she
returner to Newport, and it was discovered what had
taken place. The child, however, was not to be found.
On inquiry in Bristol, it was ascertained that when the
infant was a fortnight old, the nurse carried it to the
packet, when the mother took it and proceeded to New-
port, where, however, the child has never been seen.
The woman's account of the affair is, that shortly after
arriving here, the infant was seized with convulsions,
and died suddenly ; that she gave the body to its father
(Muttah), and she had neither seen Muttah nor the body
afterwards. The mother has been arrested on suspicion.

•

AN AUSTRALIAN CELEBRITY.

Th's country is how honourel by the temporary residence of
one of the most distinguished ornaments of the commercial and
political circles of Australia. Mr. William Nicholson, a
native of Cumberland, 'emigrated some fifteen years ago to
Victoria, and became a resident at Melbourne, " Old colonists,
(qays the Melbourne Argus) will recollect Mr. Nicholson, the
owner of a small shop in Little Collins street, carrying on a
limited business, with a stock probably worth a couple of
hundred pounds. Little by little things improved around him,
and people seemed to think him a thriving and rising man.
In a year or two he shifted to more extensive premises,
in our principal thoroughfare ; extended his business ;
gradually attaining land and houses; ships and
shares; large stone stores and bonded warehouses ;
till now, when he is able to retire from active superintendence
of business, a very wealthy man, indeed. Between Mr.
Nicholson and those by whom he was surrounded there was
this great difference--that while most of them contented them-
selves with the increase of their wealth, and left public affairs
to take care of themselves, Mi. Nicholson never held his hand
when there was work to be done, and successfully blended the
' industrious pains-taking tradesman, with the patriot and
enlightened citizen. Mr. Nicholson was chairman of the anti-
transportation league, and rendered good service to his adopted
country in that capacity. In the mercantile world he
was well known as the chairman of one of the leading
b inking establishments in Melbourne. 'On the formation of
municipal institutions in that city, Mr. Nicholson became a
city councillor, and afterwards alderman, and filled the arduous
post of mayor in 1851, when the gold fields were first dis-
covered, having been elected by the South Bourke county a I
member of the Legislative Council. lie was one of the com-
mittee of that body who prepared the constitution for the colony
of Victoria, subsequently adopted and confirmed by the Crown
and Parliament of England. Purulent to that constitution
the Legislative Council, prior to its dissolution, had to
frame an electoral law for the colony. Mr. Nicholson,
foreseeing the necessary rise of bad influences at • elections
under open voting, proposed that vote by ballot should
form part of this law, and against the strenuous oppo-
sition of the Ministry, secured the adoption of secret
voting. In fact, the anti-ballot ministry resigned office, and
Mr. Nicholson was sent for and charged with the formation of
a ministry. Commercial engagements, made long prior to this
date, rendered it necessary for him to visit this country, and
prevented the formation of a Nicholson cabinet. Mr. Nichol-
son is a man whom the friends of purity and freedom of election
may delight to honour, bearing in mind the disastrous
results which have ensued from the neglect of the whige
in not making the ballot a part of the Reform Bill of 1832 ;
the name of Nicholson will ever have on Reformers a claim
for their veneration, superior even to those of Russell, Grey,
and A ltborpe.

INCREASE OF TEE CLERGY.---011 Sunday last there were
admitted into the ministry' of the Church of England, by
ordination, 293 additional clergymen, of whom 114 were
from Oxford, 100 from Cambridge; 21 from King's College,
London ; 15 from St. Bees, Divinity College, Cumberland ;
11 from the University of Durham ; 10 from Trinity Col-
lege, Dublin ; 10 literates, (that is to say, persons who have
not bees through any university or collegiate course) ; 6
from the Church Missionary College. at Islington ; 4 from
St. Aiden's Theological College, Birkenhead ; an 2 from
the Chichester Theological College. Of there 43 were or-
dained by the Bishop of Oxford, 39 by the Bishop of Lich-
field, 38 by the Bishop of. London, 26 by the Archbishop of
York, 25 by the Bishop of Winchester, 22 by the Bishop of
Bath and Wells, 18 by the Bishop of Salisbury, 17 by the
Bishop of Rochester, 17 by the Bishop of Lincoln, 15 by
the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, 12 by the Bishop of
Chichester. 11 by the Bishop of Hereford. and 10 by the
Bishop of Carlisle.

STEPS TO REPILESS CRIME IN TURKEY. --According to
adcices from Constantinople. we find that with the view of
putting a stop to the murders and robberies which have
now become so frequent, the Turkish government has
appointed military patrols to aid in strengthening the
hands of the police, not only in Pera and Galata, but also
in the surrounding districts, where robbery and murder
have got so common that nobody dires to go out in the
str, eta of an evening. The. French captain of gendarmerie
returns to France to•day since the Turkish gendarmerie,
projected by Omer Pacha, and settled in a quasi organisa-
tion six months ago, has not been called into actual
being. It is a pity that the government does not organise
a rural police system, since even if the military patrols do
keep order a little in the streets, it is unsafe to go for only
a mile distance out of town. To-day some of the thieves
at Arnautkir made their way into the palace of Mr. Wil-
denbruck, and stole whatever they could get.