Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-06-04 00:00:00

THE NORTHERN TIMES, SATURDAY, JUNE 4 185%

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT_

• HOUSE OF LORDS —YEBTEILDAY.
Their lortlShips met this afternoon for the purpose ©f
s wearing in- peers.

II01)-SE OF COMMONS_YESTERDAY.
The Speaker took the chair this afternoon at two o'clock,
and the swearing-in of members, was continued.
Amongst the members sworn to-day. were Mr. Roebuck,
Mr. Bright, Mr, Milner Gibson, and Mr. C. Gilpin.

•
MURDER .A T EDBURE
LEDBURY, Thursday- Afternoon.-- To-day -John Isaac
Jones, the clerk in Mr. Masefield'S office, who has been
arrested on:the charge of the murder of Harriet Baker, Mr.
Mase.field's office-keeper, and whose body was set on fire by
her murderer, .was again brought up for examination. The
same 'six magistrates by whom' the investigation was.
opened presided to-day, assisted by. Mr. William Money
Kyrle and Colonel Grey, also magistrates. Mr. Piper;
solicitor, conducted the prosecution.; and Messrs. Gregg
mid Sons defended the prisoner. Mr. G. Masefield was the
first witness. He denied that the bailiff Freeman was
at the office, and should not think' it possible that
he knew where the- money was kept. It was ". a
fabrication as: diabolical as the murder that he (witness)
had a brother, of bad character, in indigent cir-
cumstances who, had lately been about Ledbury.
He' had relative who was not independent of
him and the world."' In reply to Mr. Gregg, Mr. Piper
said that there were now some eight or ten mote witnesses
to-be examined. Joseph Playstead, a neighbour,' who was
one of the:earliest in the house after the discovery of the
murder, deposed, amongst other evidence, that Jones was
the first person who, during the confusion incident to' the
discovery, approached Mr. Masefield's drawer, and said,
" There has been a robbery here." Jones made a circuit to
approach the drawer. William Griffin, surgeon, deposed
that when he was called in to the murdered woman, he saw,
near the chips that had been broken off the drawer from
which the money had been taken, two postage stamps. He
picked them up, and placed. theM on the desk. They were
penny stamps. William Masefield, son and articled clerk
to Mr.- G. Masefield, deposed that he had about £2O in
a drawer in a desk, situated near to his brother's
desk, a drawer in which was forcibly opened. His money
was not disturbed. John Palmer, clerk to Mr. Smith,
solicitor, of Ledbury, deposed that on the night of the day
on which ithe first inquest was held, he was, at about ten
o'clock, in, the Plough Inn, when Jones came in and said
that if the house had been broken into the day before it was,
there would have been a much larger booty Prisoner had
two glasses of brandy at the Plough. John Brown; a tailor,
of Ledbury; depOsed that the'prisoner.had been a customer
of his, and owed £4 ss. It was. on or. about the let of last
April that the prisoner paid him £1 17s. That was the
full amount that was owing to him by Jones. By
arrangeMent with Jones, the latter was to pay him quarterly.
To afford- time for the arrival of the coach, due about this
time, by which several witnesses were expected from a dis-
tance, the inquiry was here, at about one o'clock, adjourned
for an hour. On the return of the court at two o'clock,
Albert Todby deposed that he was a grocer, of Ledbury,
and the prisoner was one of his customers. On the 14th of
April he (prisoner) paid him £1 63 3d, due to the end of
March. Prisoner now owed him £1 Os 3d. William
Hampton, the manager of a boot and shoe shop kept by
Mr. Chandler, deposed that the prisoner owed his master
£1 is 3d. At Christmas, Jones paid all the money then
due—viz., is Bd. Charles- Cooper, master of the union
workhouse at Birmingham, and who had been so since July
10, 1855, recognised the prisoner as John Isaac Jones, who
was first adthitted into the workhouse on the 10th of Nov.,
1855,-as a destitute person. The order of admission stated
that he was destitute, belonged to America, and was an
attorney's clerk. 'Prisoner remained a pauper in the work-
house until the 22nd of August;. 1856. After some other
witnesses had been examined the case was adjourned:

DREADFUL EXPLOSION

BOARD A TRANSPORT SIIIP.

THIRTY LIVES LOST.

The following telegraphic summary appeared
our extra edition yesterday
The troop-ship Eastern Monarch, from Kurrachee to
Gravesend, with 11 offfeers, 3 ladies, and 4.so.'men, women,
and children on board, anchored at Spithead; at 1.30 this
!miming (Friday). About 3.30, a terrific explosion top'
place in the after part of .the ship, which was i
enveloped ,in flames. Captain MorriS commenced re-
moving the people on board of a number of small craft
anchored near: Some men-of-war boats rendered speedyassis-
tance. In one hour froin the first alarm, every one who could
be found was got out of the ship, and; as the last boat was
leaving, she burst forth into a body of flame, and the masts
fell. over her side. The loss of life is believed to be: small,
chiefly. children. , Had the
.ship continued her course up
Channel, instead of Calling at Spithead for provisions, the
loss of life must have been. fearful. Spontaneous com-
bustion is believed to have taken place amongst alarge
quantity of saltpetre stowed'in the hold.

instantly

ANPTIIER ACCOUNT_
PORTSMOUTII, Friday.—The Eastern. Monarch_ belonged
to Messrs. So-ames, of Blackwall.., She was a first-class ship,
nearly 2,000 tons burthen. She was from Kurraeheehound
to London, and had about- 140 troops on board, . invalids,
besides several chief cabin passengers. She arrived-.at Spit-
head at one o'clock this morning, and anchored. - ---
an hour and a half afterwards .a fire was discovere
among the cargo, in the main hold, evidently. the
result of spontaneous combustion, and, notwithstand-
ing the vigorous efforts of , the crew and troops to
prevent it extending, the flames. spread throughout the
ship with astounding rapidity.. Captain Morris, the
master, had rockets fired, and other signals of distress to
attract the attention of the ships of war in the harbour,
which being seen, numbers of boats put off to. the burning
ship. With difficulty Captain Morris succeeded in getting
the invalid soldiers and the women. and chilpren, into the
p boats, and they were taken on board of the nearest ^c

lh,about
,d,raging

tee
At four a.m. all had left the ship, excepting five or sa
of the crew, and a Cowes pilot, whom it is -believed perished

. ,
in the hold in.an attemt to get at, some of t
that hour all hopes of saving-the vessel w,-

)01 dest

n fire in every part,

inevitable

At G. 30 t

Majesty's
ern of th

menced firing into the

She was then coif

and her masts hnAl fallen overboa

Her loss is cal

at nearly £BO,OOO

• , .
(From the Second-Edition of the Times.).
The troop-ship Eastern Monarch anchored at Spithead,
from Kurrachee, bound' to Gravesend, at half-past one
this morning, Captain Morris having put in to obtain
a supply of fresh provisions for the invalids and passengers
on hoard, consisting of 11 officers, a ladies, 450 men,
women, and children. About half-past three all on board
were awoke out of their sleep by a terrific explosion in the
atter part of the ship: Captain Morris states that the middy
deck was blown up, bulkheads &c., carried away, and the
caddy filled with a thick. sulphurous vapour. On making
his way on • deck he found the ship bursting out into
flame in the after-part. He instantly ordered the ships'
boats to be lowered, and commenced taking-Toople out of
the burning ship, and placing them on hoard a nnmber of
small craft anchored near, and others which bore down to
the scene of disaster. The boats of the- ship were in good
order, and Captain Morris felt confident of being able to
save the lives of all, if he could only keep the people calm.
He describes the, cries of the 'women and children at this
moment as heartrending. Men flung themselves madly into
the water, thus leugtkening the time• occupied in saving the
lives of all. The boats of the Falcon and Flying Fish,
men-of-war, at Spithead, were promptly on the spot, and
rendered every assistance in taking the people out of the
ship. In one hour from the- first alarm, every one who
could be found was got out of the ship, and as the last boat-
load left her, the masts fell over- her sides, and the ship
burst into a body of flame fore and aft.
It is impossible, at present, to state the number of lives
lost, but Captain Morris thinks it must be very small, and
chiefly children. Had the ship continued her course up
Channel, instead of calling-at Spithead, the loss of life must
have been fearful. The weather was fine, and the w
ater
smooth, so that the boats had every chance of gettiog the
people out of the ship. A lage quantity of saltpetre was
stowed in the after-hold, and spontaneous combustion must
have taken place, causing the explosion.

THE DEFALCATIONS' FRO3f THE'GRAYT)
UNITED ORDER OF ODD-FELLOW&
The proceedings hitherto taken for the apprehension of
Mr. Terry have not yet proved successful. meeting, of
the shareholders and depositors of the Odd-Fellows' J
Society, who are the principal sufferers by these defalc,
was held on Tuesday night, when it was, determines
continue the society for five years, under thojeint man

and tiien wind. it up
)00.

. The sum missing from this society is.
as far as can be ascertained, of which £2,000 belongs. to the
shareholders. There are many cases of- extreme hardship,
several persons having lost the earnings of a life-time. In
one case £6OO was dposited with Mr Terry by-a widow,
and it is alnost; in another a person. deposited' t4BO, but
only. £8 appears in the books ; in another a working man
handed to Mr. Terry £lOO, as a deposit, which has been
all embezzled,. and. there are, other cases of equal, if not
greater hardship. Some difficulty has been experienced in
tracing all the defalcations in consequence of- several leaves
haVing been torn from the ledger.. The- friends of the
we are informed, will not suffer:, for though a
I,,,nlirnptcy has been- filed by one of the
law, provides that the
•

if necessary

Ts in a

vt societ

first go to meet his. de

Lions from sue'

only being av

The estate of Terry., will be. quite sufficien
ims of the Order in full;, but it is doub

will do more than wor