The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-04-14 00:00:00

ALLEGED FATAL EFFECTS OF PRACTICAL

JOKING.

At the Guildhall, on Saturday, Thomas Willis and Thomas
James, two steady, resncetahle looking men, in the employ of
Mr. Lavington, of 59, Old Bailey, were charged with causing
the death of Thomas llinkston, under the following circum-
stances :—James Hinkston, the father of the deceased, said :
live at 3, Oxford market. My son was 16 years of age
When he came home on Thursday week last he complained
of pains in his stottiach. He went to work on the following
morning, and came home hi the evening very ill, and took to
his bed, where he continued, and on Monday upon seeing his
handkerchief saturated with blood, I went to the doctor,
who asked the boy if he had met with any injury, and my
son denied that he had. He was better on Tuesday, but when
the doctor came on Wednesday be found my boy
.in great
pain in his bowels. When the doctor was gone the lad called
me to his bedside, and said he had something to tell me, I sat
down by the bed, and he then said that about ten days
or a fortnight previous, when he wall at work at Living-
ton's, the the two men, Willis and James, laid him on the
platform, or stage, used for the delivery of goods, and loading
the carts, and rolled a firkin of butter Upon him, from his
stomach up to his chest, until he tried oat with pain, when
they desisted. I asked him if they did it for the purpose of
injuring him, and he said he thought not, that they did it
for a lark. I asked him *here his mate, the carman, was
all this time, and he replied fi6 was at breakfast, and
that there were no others there at the time but Willis and
James. One of the neighbours afterwards came in,
and asked him why he had not spoken of this matter
before, and his answer was that he thought he :should
get better and return to his work, and say no more about
it. He also said he felt he was gone, and that he could
not die happy unless be had made the statement
he had. On Thursday morning he died. Police
constable Statham, 347 N, said he was called in
on Wednesday evening by the the last witness's wife, and
heard the same statement repeated by the deceased.
Sergeant Collard, 53 N, said he also heard the boy repeat
the same story about an hour after the last witness.
Alderman Hale enquired if the coroner's inquest had been
held. Sergeant Collard said it had, and the verdict was
that the deceased died from acute inflammation of the
bowels and lungs, but there was no evidence to show
that the inflammation arose from other than natural causes,
Alderman Hale said the police bad acted with propriety
in (he mat'er. Sergeant Collard said the divisional surgeon
said he never saw so much inflammation in the stomach
before, but he was of opinion it might arise from natural
causes. The prisoners had not been before the coroner.
Alderman Hale sail it was an extraordinary case, and at
present it was impossible to state which was the truth, the
boys dying statement or the prisoners' asseverations that
they knew nothing of the matter. He, therefore, remanded
them till Wednesday next, taking bail for their appearance,
their master having given them excellent characters for
sobriety, steadiness, and pacific dispositions.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE

NEWMARKET RACES.-YESTERDAY.
CR k VEN STAKES.

Flacrow • I I Ifuningdon....2 I Flyaway ....3

. Three ran.
BENNINGTON STAKIVI.

hurdle 1 I Fleece, fi11y..2 I Queen of the East.. 3
SWEEPSTAKES OF 15 sovs.

..1 I Tam O'Shanter 2
Three ran.
10 SOVS. HANDICAP STAKES.
Sunrise

17zella

Seven ran.

£5O PLATE.
Woodinite

2 I Lady Nelson ..3

KTDDLESWOs. TR STAKES.
Gulliver and Vanity divided.

-COVENTRY RACES.—YESTERDAY.
COVENTRY HANDICAP.
pi!.l. forfeit. Tame Deer.
grEEpi,7", CHASE.
Paid forfeit, Mind.
TRIAL STAKES.
Odd Trick 1 Mary Lovell 2 I Perfume:. •• .3
COVENTRY HANDICAP.
Van Danck 1 I Whalebone ....2 Lady Florence.. 3
Three ran.
AREDRY STAI£E9.
Filley, by Turners ..1 I Tr0t........ Archibald 3
MEMBERS' PLATE.
Salmon . . 1 I Ada.. 2 I Challow Bob
Four ran.

LATEST BETTING.
2,000 GUINEAS STARES.
9 to 2 agst Ker,t (take ,)
DERBY.
100 to 6 agst Kent (taken)

Mr. Michel Levy, the Paris publisher, has bought the
" Memoires" of M. Guizot for a sum of 100,000 francs.
The work is to appear in four or five volumes, and will be
entitled, " Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire demon
Temps depuis 1814 jusqu'au 22 Fevrier, 1848."
The Commissioner of Patents has received a letter from
Austin county, Texas, in which it is stated that, on the
18th instant, a strong north wind prevailed in that region,
which extraordinarycaused damage to the crops, destroying
totally the cotton, corn, and garden plants These craps

will have to be replanted.
The Austin (Texas) Gazette contains an accoant of the
arrest of a desperate villain named Johnson, near Waco.
He had previously killed no less than seven men. He was
arrested after he had wounded several citizens, and not till
he himself was supposed to be mortally wounded. He had
fortified himself with six guns and several pistols. A
Committee of Vigilance has been raised to ferret out his

accomplices.
"Men of ingenuity," says the Builder, "lend us your
ears. There is no greater nuisance in modern houses than
that of the transmission of sound through party walls.
Any practical, inexpensive, and efficient means of deadening
sound will be a great boon. Solid walls and solid floors
transmit sound in the highest degree. The Metropolitan
Building Act provides that all party walls shall be solid, and
of a certain thickness and proportion to height and length.
How is the evil to be overcome ? Sound is governed by
laws very much as light is—if the wave theory be accep-
ted. We may, therefore, hope to retain our solid party
walls and our new fireproof floors, and yet get rid of the nui-
sance of transmission of sound. Some highly cellular
texture may be applied to walls, ceilings, and fl tors, which
shall resist fire and ordinary decay, allow of finish, and
yet deaden sound. Who is to invent and introduce such
materials ? They may patent the invention and make a
fortune, if they will only abate the existing nuisance, and
enable us to have solid party walls and fireproof floors
without being compelled to hear what is going on upstaies
and in the next house "
Tue BEECHER FAMILY.—Lyman Beecher, D.D., now
eighty three years old, is the father of eleven children,
ten of whom are living, and one is not. Taking them in
the order of their ages, the family consists of the following
persons : Miss Catherine E. Beecher, of Hartford,
Conn.; Rev. William Henry Beecher, Reading, Mass. ;
Rev. Edward Beecher, Galesburgh, 11l ; Mrs Mary F.
Perkins. of Hartford (now with Mrs. Stowe in Europe);
Rev. George Beecher, late of Chillicothe, Ohio, who died
in 1844 ; Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe (now in Paris,
France) ; Rev H. W. Beecher; Rev. Charles Beecher, of
Andover; Mrs. Isabella H. Hooker, of Hartford ; Rev.
Thomas K. Beecher, of Elmira N.Y.; and Rev. James C.
Beecher, Seaman's Chaplain, at Canton. China. Certainly
this its an extraordinary family. Where can another
be found to equal it—such a family of Levites—the
father a minister, six sons now in the ministry, and one
in heaven, who has been a minister? And in what other
family shall we find such an orator and writer as Henry
Ward, and such an authoress as Mrs. Stowe ?—Northern
Independent (US )
EXPLOSI ,N AT THE HOUNSLOW GUNPOWDER MILLS.—
On Saturday, about a quarter to one o'clock, an explo-
sion which was heard for several miles took place at one
of the Hounslow mills belonging to the Messrs. Curtis,
at Whiton, near Hounslow, which for some time greatly
alarmed the surrounding locality. At the time of the
occurrence the material was in that stage of manufacture
known as the " green charge," which is the one previous
to incorporation and coring, and was not so terrific in
its effects as -if the latter processes had been going on.
It fortunately happened that on account of the dinner
hour there were only two men in the building, which
is a' kind of lightly constructed shed with a very slender
roof. The men's names are John Warwick and William
Higlin ; and they were at work in the usual wav when
the mill " went off." As soon as the column of smoke
had cleared away sufficient to render assistance
available, the man Warwick was found in the dismantled
shed, severely burnt about the head and other parts of the
body, whilst Higlin escaped much more fortunately by
being only scorched about the hands and arms. A
messenger was at once sent to Hounslow for medical
assistance, and Mr. Frogley and Mr. Douglas immediatelyarrived, when the injured men were attended to, and
removed to their homes. Neither of the cases are what
is considered dangerous ; but Warwick will not be able
to work again for some time. The principal amount of
damage consists in the destruction of the gunpowder,
the premises in which the article is manufactured being
generally of an unexpensive description. No cause can at
present be assigned for the accident, which, if it had un-
fortunately happened during the period of incorporation,
it would have shook the country for miles round, and
have produced a most lamentable sacrifice of life.