Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-27 00:00:00

cipled jobbers will it—they will rather rise up in
their might and majesty, and with one voice, and
it will be a voice of thunder, demand that their
dearest rights be no longer trifled with by such
agents and for such purposes. Everything con-
nected with the job, from the first day when the
abortion saw the light of day, to the present, has
been redolent of rottenness. Falsehood, fraud, and
deception, have marked every step of its progress,
and the same characterise it at the present hour.
It has proved an upas tree, which has indeed had
the power of striking with moral death all who
have had the misfortune to come within the
sphere of its blighting influence.
There is but one feeling throughout the town,
and that is one of unmitigated hatred and dis-
gust at the filth itself, and all connected with it.
Complaints pour in upon us from all quarters,
and from all classes ; and, notwithstanding the
filtering, the doctoring, limeing and mixing, the
stuff is still so discoloured as to be abominable
and totally unfit for drinking, and many other
purposes. If the 'Water Committee wish to play
the part of honesty then they will at once deter-
mine to restore to the town the dearly beloved
well water in its pristine purity, regardless of the
specious reports and misrepresentations of jobbing
or unprincipled officials. We need no Pike—
never did—if the well supply is only honestly
and fairly distributed, what it never has been
hitherto since the Corporation got the works—
how should such things be ?

WE have received several communications
from highly respectable parties in Birkenhead,
commenting on the mysterious death of a young
female, which took place a few weeks ago in
the Birkenhead Hospital, under what are des-
cribed as very suspicious circumstances. On in-
stituting a careful investigation into the matter,
we find that there is a mystery about the case
which should be promptly cleared up, and it
is to be regretted that the conduct of some of the
Birkenhead officials should be open to a suspicion
of culpable neglect, and demands the fullest
explanations which can be given.. The facts of
the case, in so far as we have been able to learn,
appear to be these :—About the time named a
young female took lodgings in the house of a
person named DEAR. The house is an
eating and lodging establishment close to the
Woodside ferry. The girl informed Mrs. DEAR
that she had come from Birmingham, that she
was to be followed by her brother GEORGE,
—she calling herself MARGARET GARDNER .
She engaged two bedrooms, one for herself and
one for her pretended brother. As she
complained of a severe headache she requested
Mrs. DEAR to make her a cup of strong tea,
which she took, and again had another. As
her friend did not arrive at the time promised,
she exhibited the greatest uneasiness, and still
Icomplaining of illness she went to bed. Next
morning she was much worse, and as her
brother did not arrive she expressed the utmost
anxiety in consequence ; she gradually grew
worse, and a medical man was called in to see
her, who treated her complaint as English
Cholera. Her symptoms became alarming, and
Mrs. DEAR applied to the relieving officer—
MNERNEY —to have her removed to the Infirm-
ary. Two medical men were then called in to
examine her, and they gave it as their opinion
that there would be great danger in removing
her, and refused to give a certificate for that
purpose : a third however was called in, said
to be the "family doctor," who granted the re-
quired certificate, and hence McN ERNEY was
compelled to have her forthwith removed.

This was on Monday. In hospital she was
seen by Mr. M'DOUGAL, one of the acting house
surgeons, who was much struck by her lady-like
appearance and the quality of her apparel ;
he prescribed for her although he was at a
loss to determine the cause of her complaint.
On the Tuesday he again visited her and found
her no better. On the Wednesday she was
visited by Dr. GODDEN, who again called on
the Thursday when he found her dead. Drs.
GODDEN and APDOUGAL were then applied to
by the relieving officer for a certificate of her
death, with a view to her interment. This they
refused to give until a post mortem examination
had taken place, as they could not satisfactorily
account for the cause of death. This was not
complied with by the releiving officer until de-
composition had taken place to such an extent
that the smell became unbearable, when the re-
quired examination was ordered, and accordingly
the body was opened by Drs. GODDEN and
M`DOUGAL on the Sunday, who saw
certain appearances which they thought
would account for death, and gave a
certificate accordingly, when the body

was at once interred.
In about a week afterwards the coroner
received a communication from a highly
respectable party in Birmingham informing
him that the deceased had been poisoned
by a doze of cantharides administered
by other hands than her own. The
coroner at once proceeded to have the body
exhumed, and so far he appears to have acted
with due diligence, but decomposition had made
rapid progress, the body presenting a black-
ened mass of corruption. The jury who were
impannelled to investigate the mystery com-
plained of the paucity of information laid before
them, and adjourned the inquest for more
evidence.

Under such circumstances any one would
suppose • that every means would have been
taken to elucidatc, the mystery by the tothor;,-