The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-08 00:00:00

A VALIANT POLICEMAN.

The Liverpool police force, as a body, is, perhaps, as
well conducted and as efficient a force as any in the king-
dom : and with regard to the fire department, we have had
frequent occasions of noticing the promptitude and almost
indomitable courage that have been displayed in cases of
emergencey, and when property, to a vast amount, have
been in danger. But in all rules there are exceptions, and,
perhaps, one of the greatest acts of cowardice, impudence,
and a total want of knowledge as to his duty, was exhibited
by a member of the force on Saturday evening. About
nine o'clock it was discovered by the inmates of No. 10,
Gildart street, London road, that a fire had broken out in
the top bed room of that house. Immediately the aid of
the police was sought, and No. 530 was promptly on the
spot. He went up stairs for the purpose, as was expected,
of endeavouring to extinguish it ; but he no sooner smelt
the smoke than he rushed down stairs, and, seeing a person
on the stairs, who told him that he had better give the alarm to
the fire office, this policeman, with the coolest Effrontery,
pushed the person on one side, saying, " Sir, you are drunk
—mind your own business," and left the house ; not, how-
ever, before he was told that he was -in error. Directly
after this policeman had made his retreat, the tenant of the
housP, with the person alluded to, got into the room, after
several attempts, and discovered that the fire had originated
by wearing apparel catching fire, and was then rapidly
burning. They instantly, with the ail of a few buckets of
water, extinguished the flames, and all danger was over.
No sooner had this been done than other members of the
force made tbkir appearance, and was told that the fire was
all out ; but, very properly, they expressed a wish to see
that everything was safe, and were shown into the room.
Soon after they were joined by 530, wh a big with import-
ance, commenced to question the parties as to the damage
that had been done, wad being told that it was impossible
for 'persons, in the moment of such an excitement, to be able
to tell exactly what was destroyed, he again repeated the
offensive remark that the person was drunk, and a member
of the fire brigade csming in at the time, he was asked if
such was not the tact. The last mentioned officer, after
some little hesitation, said, " Perhaps the gentleman has
had a gloss," which might appear to be the case from the
part he had taken in extinguishing the fire. They all left
the house together; but before doing so, were requesred to
.walk into the parlour, to see in what occupation the person
was engaged at the time the fire was discovered, with a
view cf proving that the assertion of 530 was wrong,. as to
the person being drunk ; but this invitation 530 refus ad to
accept, and left the house. The person alluded to having
some little experience in police matters, and having frequently
shuddered to hear how they will swear in police coup, for
the purpose of carrying out any objects they have in view,
immediately reported the case to Mr. Clough, at the Dale
street police office, and satisfied that gentleman that the
assertion of 530 was utterly false. Surely, instructions
should Le given to the police that when their assistance is
required, they sho ald exercise some little discretion, and not
insult persons who endeavour to render them aid. If such
a courss is pursued—and we fear it too frequently occurs—
the police cannot expect the assistance of private individuals
when it is most required.
DOUBLE MURDER IN YORKSHIRE.

Another of those terrible crimes which, unhappily, have
Jecome so common since the adoption of the ticket-of-leave
system has been committed at the village of Bolton-upon-
Deem°, abut eight miles north of Rotherham. The victims
are Luke White, aged 61, and Elizabeth, his wife, aged 60.
The aged coup'e resided alone, "White acting as postmaster
of the place, and carrying on the business of a druggist and
grocer. The house is in the village street, and consists of a
shop with a parlour behind, and also a kitchen on the ground
floor. The connection between the shop and the house is by
an inner door in the right-hand corner of the shop, into a pass-
age, that passage runs along the back of the shop, and then
along the side of the parlour to the kitchen. Along one
side at the end of the shop is the counter, with an opening in
it at the angle opposite the door into the passage ; the kitchen
is the room in which White and his wife ordinarily lived.
White has for some years been a local preacher among the
Wesleyans, and of late has been in the habit of sitting up
reading until 11 or 12 o'clock at night. He usually closed he
shutters and his shop at dusk, leaving the door unfastened
till about ten. During the evening a lamp burned upon the
counter, and when any customer came in he would go from
the kitchen into the shop, carrying a candle. He was last
seen alive a little before ten o'clock on Thursday night, by
a girl named Swa-low, who called to purchase some candles.
On Friday morning the shop was not opened as usual, and
a woman named Downing, who wanted to purchase some
article, tried the door and found it unfastened. On walk-
ing into the shop she was horrified to find White lying
dead in a pool of blood at the opening of the counter,
which communicates with the inner door. A candlestick
stood upon the counter, with the candle burnt down to the
eeceee The old man's sp:ctacles lay among the blood on the
floor; the oit-lamp on the counter had burnt out. Mrs. Down-
ing rai,;el an alarm, and Mr. J. Davy and others came in. It
was head that White had been struck about the head and
face by some heavy instrument, which had inflicted some
severe cuts. He appeared to have been struck down just as
he reached the counter and set down the candle. Passing
into the house, tho body of Mrs. White was found in the
passage just outside the kitchen door. She lay with her head
towards the shop, and a candle and candlestick lay separated,
as if they had fallen from her hauds. Her death had also been
caused by frightful wounds on the head and face, which had
bled profusely. On examining-the shop, a cupboard was
found to have been broken open, but whether anything
had been taken from it was not apparent. White was in
the habit of keeping his money in a canvas bag in his shop
desk, which was found unlocked and the bag empty.
There were no marks of violence about it. On examining
the pockets of the old man, a sovereign in a leathern purse
was found in his right hand trouser's pocket, and
I6s 21 in the left hand pocket. There were no
appearances- in the upper rooms of the house, of the
drawers, &c., having been ransacked, but all were found
unlocked. White's brother is not aware whether there
was any considerable sum of money in the house.
The constable, whose name happens to be the same as
that of the deceased, though no relation, states that he
called upon the old man during Thursday evening and tenni
him sitting on the sofa with a rug about his shoulders reading
the Bible : he complained of the cold, When the murders
wore discovered the Bible was found opeu on the table and
the rug thrown back on the sofa, as if the old man had arisen
from the position in which the constable saw him to go into
the shop. The surmise is that,,on hearing some person enter
the shop, the old man went there and was struck down by
the asissin as soon as he had placed the candle on the
counter. His wife, alarmed by the noise, was no doubt going
with another candle to the shop, when the murderer met her
in the passage, and killed her with the same weapon which
had destroyed her hu•band. No instrument likely to have
been used by the murderer has been found about the
premises. So far as is yet known no strange person had
been seen about the place. Within three or four miles of
the scene of this tragedy a cattle dealer, named Whitaker,
was a few weeks ago waylaid, murdered, and robbed of
about £2OO, and as yet no clue has been obtained to the
perpetrator of the outrage.

SEIZURE OF A DUTCH GOVERNMENT PILOT
BOAT FOR SMUGGLING.
A little excitement has been caused at Portsmouth by
the capture or seizure of a Dutch pilot-vessel on the
charge of being most extensively engaged in smuggling
tobacco into this country. Dutch and Belgium pilot-boats
are in the habit of coming down channel to fall in with the
various merchant ships homeward bound from the Dutch
colonial possessions. Those pilot-boats are the property
of Government, and not of individual pilots as in this
country. On Friday morning, about eight o'clock, a
licensed waterman of Portsmouth, named Richard Jurd,
was seen with a large package in his possession in a back
street named East-street. His antecedents, if nothing else,
justified suspicions on the part of the Custom House offi-
cers, and Jurd was seized, when the package was found to
contain 3 cwt of tobacco. Becoming alarmed at being
placed in this position, he said that he had received the
tobacco from a Dutch pilot boat lying at Spithead. The
Custom House cutter was at once manned with upwards of
20 officers, and she proceeded out to Spithead, when Jurd,
who was with the officers, pointed out a fine pilot boat of
120 tons burden, the No. 3, pilot boat, of Flushing,
111`Schott master. The Custom-house officers at once
boarded and seized her, and took the master and crew,
six in all, into custody. The pilot vessel was unsus-
piciously lying at anchor off Hyde Sands, but the Customs
officers soon spread her canvas, and brought her into
harbour. We understand that about 4 cwt. of tobacco
was found en board the vessel, and that it is of a similar
description to that taken from Jnrd. The captain denies,
however, that Jurd had received any tobacco from his
ship, that he had been on board, or even alongside. L. A.
Vandenburgh, Esq., the Dutch vice-consul at this port,
has been on board the pilot vessel, and had an interview
with the captain.
NARROW ESCAPE OF 3,000 PERSONS FROM SUFFOCA-
TION.—On Sunday last an English equestrian company in
Bruges, Belgium, was performing in the presence of 2,500
spectators, under a large tent erected for the purpose in the
Grand Place. Suddenly the whole roofing of the tent, which
was thickly covered with snow, fell in, overwhelming the
company awl the spectators. The danger of suffocalion was
imminent, and a painful scene was presented. Fortunately.
some soldiers, who were scattered outside, drew their swords
and cut away at the tarpaulin, until they effected the rescue
of the sufferers. The occurence was caused by some mis
creants outside having willfully cut the cords from the poles
of the tent. The Government, in order to prevent the re-
currence of such an outrage, have permitted the company to
perform in future in the Government Riding school.
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