The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-04 00:00:00

ATROCIOUS 0 :)TRAGE -I) UNINGF RUIVI '.,%.11Y AT
YARDLEY VICARAGE.

One of the most daring and violent tan Oat lee perpe*rate -
for some time past in this neiga:-teurho al, wag cowrrrel
on Wednesday night, or rather early on Thursday morning,
at the Vicarage, Yardl y. About two o'clock, the Rev.
Mr. Gwyther was awakened by a loud noise, subsequently
ascertained to have been caused by the bursting open of
the hall door. The burglars were shortly afterwards heard
ascending the stairs, and on reaching the landing pro-
ceeded immediately to the reverend gentieman's bedroom
door. Mr. and Mrs. Gwyther rushed to the door of
their apartment, in hopes of preventing the entrance of
the ruffians. All the resistance they were able to offer
was entirely unavailiae. The burglars broke open the door
by furious kicks. and two of their number entered the room,
the one armed with an iron bar. with which he struck Mr.
Gwyther aeross the neck, fortunately without inflicting any
serious injury, and the other with a pistol, which he
presented at that gentleman's head. Both the ruffians
uttered the most outrageous threats, one of them in
particular, calling upon his comrade to beat his brains out.
A third burglar below stairs now called to his
associates. inquiring if " More should conic up,"
to which, evidently confident in their ability to
overpower any resistance, the robbers replied " No, they
were enough for them." Mr. Gwyther entreated his
assailants to spare his life, and they should have all he
could give them. They at length desisted from their
violence, having extorted from him a promise not to pro-
secute them. Mr. Gwyther then delivered up to them two
valuable watches, some jewellery, and other property to
the value of i3O. They next demanded the communion
plate, but on being told that it was not in the house,
departed after some further searching. Mrs. Gwyther
then proceeded to call up her brother and the servant man,
who slept in the back part of the house, and had tot been
disturbed by the noise made by the burglars. They were,
however, toe late in appearing on th.) scene to render any
assistance, and the ruffians effected their retreat without
molestation, carrying with them their illgotten plunder. Mr.
Gwyther is unable to give any description of the thieves.
excepting that one of them was taller than the other, and
dressed in fustian clothes, while his c mnpanions wore dark
ones. Their faces were disguised by crape masks. To
show the evident deliberation and coolness with which the
robbers acted, it may be mentioned that it was discovered
upon exam nation of the premises that the back door had
been fastened by them on the outside, thus preventing
the egress of any of the inmates to give an alarm. A hell
had also been carried out of the house and placed in an
arbour of the garden, lest any one should ring it. A
short- ladder was also found in the garden, which had,
no doubt, been brought to facilitate entrance through
the bedroom window, had the fastenings of the doors been
too strong for the thieves easily to force. On the day
preceding the outrage a tall man, somewhat resembling
one of the burglars, called at the Vicarage, and made some
frivolous enquiries ab .ut glazing the front of the chu ch
clock. Several footmarks were traceable across the gar-
den, but not sufficiently defined to indicate the precise
strength of the gang. The occurrence has excited no small
consternation in the vicinity. We trust, should the perpe-
trators of the outrage be discovered, Mr. Gwyther will not
consider his extorted promise so binding as to prevent his
giving that evidence which may lead to the infliction upon
them of 'he punishment they deserve.—Biiminghant Daily
Mercury.

A Roman Catholic chapel, to accommodate a congrega•
tion of 4,000, is about being erected in the middle parirsb
Cork.

TII C NAVAL COMMANDANT OF DEVONPOR r.—There appears
to be little doubt that Vice-admiral Sir B. Reynolds will
succeed Sir W. Parker.

Dr. Kern has returned to Paris, and it is fully expoeted
that the treaty io the settlement (,f the Neufchatel quo -
tion will be settled forthwith.

CANADA —I li,ar a run our that Sir E. Head is likely ti
go horre on leave shortly; in which ca,e the gallant Sir
William Eyre will administer the gov,roment, and, I dare
say, prove almost as good a business man,
.if that were
possible, as our present ppular and able Governor-General.
—Correspondent of ilforn'ng Pos.
H LIDAY AT THE BANKS ON TUESDAY.—The various
banks in ths city, finding ihat the ceremonial on next
sday will to a large extent interfere with the usual
bu-iness of the market, and that therefore, their customers
will not be inconvenienced, have 'agreed to close their
places of business at twelve o'clock.—Manchester _Exa-
miner.

Some days back, a labouring man was drinking and
singing at a public house near Reading. The song was
" Annie Lturie," and when he c into to the words " I'll
lay me doun and dee," he threw his head back. The
persons present thought he did it for eff-et ; after waiting
a short time they endeavoured to rouse him, but found him
quite dead.
A few days ago, a fox was discovered to have tubbed the
fxtrEordinary number of thirteen voting cubs, in a hedge
bottom, on the farm of Mrs. Miler, of Cresswell, near
Worksop, under his Gqtae the Duke of Portland. Twelve
of them are living and doing well, and promise to afford
many a good ran to the houwls ui,a iteaCcmen of the tiw.t
during next season.—Nottingham Journal.
George and Mary Johnson, husband an I wife, are now
in custnly ar, St. Ilel -ns, on a charge of cruelty towards
Elizabeth Johnson, a little girl, the daughter of the male
prisoner. Before and after the examination before the
magistrates on Thursday, the crowd in the street was so
exasperated at the con.luct of ihe accused that it was with
difficulty the police protected them from violence. They
are out on bail to appear again in answer to the charge.
The female is stepmother of the girl.
A CHI➢INEY SWEETER CON VICTED.-.. Before George
Green, itoger Hurst, and Thomas Routledge, Ergs., at the
Pontefract Borough Court, yesterday week, William Dytch,
chimney sweeper, was charged by Mr. Ft.rnside, under the
chimney sweper's act, with knowingly all }wing his soo,
John Dytch, aged thirteen years, to ascend the chimney of
Thomas G-lagan, between three and four o'clocx on the
morning of th- 24th ult., and was convicted in the penalty
of £5 and 12s 6d costs, or in default to be committed to
the house of correction at Wakefield for two mouths. He
paid the amount imposed.

CURIOUS TRANSPOSMON. A B'istol paper recently-
contained two paragraphs, in which, by the transposition of
the first lines of both, the most ridiculous effects are pro-
duced. They were as follows:

" Lieut. Perry (of Windsor c3urt-martial celebrity),
has been translated into German, with a preface by Che•
valier Bunsen, and 10,000 copies of it sold."

" Mr.Caird of Errol's sermon, preached before the Queen,
has adopted the stage as his profession. He appeared in
Melbourne as Dazzle, in "London Assuranc 4."

A gentleman died very recently in Bristol, worth
£30,000. H s will was found to be a very curious one,
and excited some interest as to the circumstances under
which it was drawn up, when, on inquiry, it was ascer-
tained that the testator, not wishing to .xpend more than
he could help in the matter, paid a lawyer's writing clerk
a shilling for executing the instrument. He gave many
solicitor, hints that he did not employ them in the prepa-
ration of this important document, as they were 1 kely t,
have a beneficial interest in it. Their names, however,
were inadvertently overlooked in the twe vepenny testa-
ment, which disposed of £3o.ooo.—Bristol G ,zette.
GAROTTIC ROBBERY AT IVADBLEY, NEAR HALIFAX.—On
Wednesdv night, Mr, Edmund Lees, farmer of Wadsley,
was garrotted ,atid robbed of £7. lie was proceeli, g home,
abut eleven o'clock, and when within about 200 yards of
his home, was attacked by a man, who seiz-d him round
the neck? gat him down, and took all the money there was
in his pocket, to the above amount. There was a woman
standing by, who seemed to he a confederate f the robber,
and to be keeping watch ; but she did not take part in the
robbery . Mr. Lees was p rtly intoxicated, which accounts
for his being overpowered by one man. William Foster,
a cutler, living at Walkley, has been apprehended on sus-
picion of being the robb"r.

- FEARFUL oCCURRtNCE —A. mr+st affecting tragedy is
reporied'to have been lately enacted in private life, but
which happily has not been attended with the serious con-
sequences that were at one time apprehended. Toe
hospitable owner of a handsome establishment, situated
not one hundred miles from Blackrock, and ee'ebrated for
the superior vintage with which he on all occasions
regales his guests, about a week since gave a princely
entertainment. B-auty, rank, and fashion thronged his
saloons, and " all went merry as a marriage bell." Amongst
the company present was a gc•ntleman well known in all
the fashionable circles in the city ; witty, accomplished,
and of wonderful histrionic tal'nt, he had, as a matter of
coarse, become a universal favourite. On the present
oclasion he, with his usual gold nature, volunteered to
enact his favourite part of Elgardo, in the " Lucia Di
Lammermoor" of Donizetti, in which he has, on so many
previous occasions, created a furore by the pathos and
feeling with which he interprets the agony of the despairing
lover. Some diffilulty occurred in providing a cloak
sufficiently ample for the purpose, but was happily
obviated, and, in a few moments, the au'ience became
entranced by Mr. I, 's rendering of the "Fra Poco ;"
but, alas ! the nature of their excitement soon became
changed, when the learned and gallant Edgardo plun;;ed
the fatal weapon in his despairing bosom ; ho became so
identified with the character as to lose all consciousness,
and inflicted upon himself a wound of a most serious
character. The consternation that ensued can be more
easily imagined than described. The accident is said to
have been caused by reason of the instrument of death
being mach longer than that generally used by Mr.
L --, being, in fact, a carvingknife instead of astiletto.
—Dublin Correspondent of the Belfast News-Letter.