Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-24 00:00:00

ATTEMPTED MURDER IN MILLBANK PRISON.

One of the subwarders of this prison narrowly escaped
assassination on Friday, at the hands of a penal class con-
vict named Jas. Gorman, who has already, in other prisons,
made two attempts to murder officers under whose charge
he has been placed. The convicts at Millbank attend
Divine service in classes at the prison chapel every morn-
ing. Only a limited number of penal class prisoners are
permitted to be present at one time, owing to the known
desperate character of these criminals. On Friday four
men of this class—out of a total of some 20 prisoners
—were conducted to the chapel in charge of Warder
Wilkie and Assistant Warder ifivington. On leaving
the chapel, and while passing down an angle of the
pentagon staircase, one of their number, James Gorman,
made a desperate attack on Bevington with an open
metal weapon, felling him to the ground, and inflicting
injuries which, in all probability, if they do not prove
fatal, will seriously injure the unfortunate man for life.
Gorman was third in the rank, and just as he was turning
the angle of the staircase leading from the chapel he
rushed forward and dealt a desperate blow at the upper
part of Bevington'a person. The miscreant had a sharp
weapon in his hand, which entered the warder's face
over the cheek bone, and; traversing the fl,shy part of
the face, came out through the mouth under the upper lip.
The convict was seized by Wilkie and other officers, while
the weapon was still in his hand, and having been secured,
was presently placed in a strong cell. The resident surgeon
of the prison, Mr. Savory, was immediately summoned
to the wounded man, and the most app-oved means
adopted to stanch the bleeding. The poor fellow suffered
agonising pain from the severity of his wound, and is still
lying in a precarious state. There stems to have been an
absence of all reasonable motive for the attack, inasmuch
as Bevington had only taken charge of the penal class
since Tuesday last. It is generally supposed the attack
was intended far his co-warder, *Wilkie, who, although
an excellent, officer, has obtained the ill- will of the con-
victs by a determination to carry out the discipline
of the prison. The weapon _used by the assassin
was a piece of iron hoop, worked into something
like the • blade of a knife, and strongly bound by
waxen thread into a woo len handle. The circumstance
was immediately reported to the Home Secretary, and
in the course of the morning Captain O'Brien, one of the
Inspectors of Prisons, attended at Millbank and insti•
tuted an investigation into the affair. Capt. O'Brien's
report will be forwarded to Sir George Grey, who, under
the provisions of the new Act of Parliament, has the
pa wer to commit the convict to Newgate without the
intervention of any magisterial inquiry. The penal
class convicts are the worst description of prisoners, and
are received at IWllbank as incorrigibles from all parts of
this country. Gorman is one of the worst of this de-
graded body. He was originally convicted in a midland
county, and sentenced to some light punishment, while
undergoing which he attempted to stab an officer of the
prison, and on trial for this offence was sentenced to 14
years' transportation. In due course he came to the Model
Prison at Pentonville, where he again attacked and bru-
tally assaulted one of the officers. For this offence he
was transferred to the penal class of prisoners, and sent
to Millbank about four months ago. His conduct has been
desperately bad since his admission, and it is undersCood
that his latest crime has not excited much surprise among
the authorities of the prison, the wretched man having
only a few days since assured the rev. chaplin that "he
would do for some of them before long."

ACCIDENT TO A STEAMER.—On Thursday arming, the
steamer Duke of Cambridge, Captain Roberts, on her past-
s rge from Dublin to 13e!fast, struck on a low rock off Bal-
l) waiter, in a heavy fog. Owing to the pratieworthy
exertions of the captain and crew, she was got off Imme-
diately, without having sustained any damage. 'i he cabin
passengers on board signed a document, and presented is
to Captain Roberts, expressing their entire cotifi fence in
him, and their thanks for his coadact under the &ream.
stances.
CONVICTION OF 'MEI LATE GRAND MASTER OF ODD-
FELL')W4. —SOUTHAMPTON, FRlDAT.—Charles James Cox,
late Grand Master of the Order of Odd-Fellows, (Manshes-
ter Unit 3) was charged on remand with not giving up the
funds committed to his charge as corresponding secretary of
the order. Evi levee having been taken, the Magistrate
declared the comOaint to he proved, and ordered the defen.
dant to pay the amount of £l2l 14i 10d to the socicty,or
in default to be impris. nod for two calendar months, with
bard labour, The defendant WAS Committed to prison'