Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-25 00:00:00

THE EXPLOSION AT MAYENCE,

The Postamt Gazette of Frankfort gives some further
details of the catastrophe at Mayence :—The powder
which exploded, and which amounted in quantity to
75,000 kilogrammes, was in a magazine situated in an
isolated tower, forming part of the entrenchments which
command the city on the west. The upper part of tha
city, the See.strich and Gautrasse, are completely in
ruins. The church of St Stephen, a fine old building,
has been destroyed, and tw ) others very materially
injured. Windows were broken in all the villages round,
and large fragments of masonry were hurled to an
enormous distance. A large stone, weighing upwards of
6001b5., was blown into the air, and falling on to the roof
of the Cafe de Paris, near the theatre, broke through,
and went down into the kitchen on the ground floor.
The shock was felt on the other side of the Rhine, not
only at Castel and at Bieberich, oppo4te Mayence, but
at Wiesbaden, which is from two to three leagues distant.
An educational establishment of young English Mies
has been destroyed, but the pupils and other residents
'of the house escaped. The greatest precautions are
necessary in approaching the ruins of the tower, as shells
are from time to time exploding. A letter from
Mayance dated the 18 h November, says, —The
telegraph will, doubtless, have informed you of the
catastrophe which this day has befallen this city. I live
in Gan street, in a solidly built mansion. I was writing in
my room, when I felt a terrible shock, accompanied by a
terrific noise ; at the same time all the windows were
smashed to atoms, the doors were thrown of their hieges, and
my books and papers scattered about the room ; bricks
fell out of the walls. A. dense smoke and dust
poured in through the windows, and prevented me seeing
what had taken place. When it cleared off I saw the roof
of St. Stephen's Church riddled like a sieve; most of the
hotres were in the same condition. All the inmates of my
house rushed into my room in a stile of alarm. Most of
them ware hurt and bleeding ; I only then perceived that
I had been hurt in the hand and was bleeding. We soon
heard that the powder magazine had exploded. I went to
the door and found that the other side of the street was in
ruins ; the streat was filled with groans and lamentations.
The military were taking away the dead on stretchers.
The gaspipes having been damaged the whole city was soon
in darkness. At the Carmelite Church a wall from save
to eight feet in thickness was rent asunder. Some heavy
guns were thrown into the air like sticks. Some of the
Federal troops were exercising at the time; two Austrians
and nine Prussians were killed on the spot ; 95 Austrians
and 34 Prussians were wounded; 18 dead bodies of
civilians have been taken bone the ruins and 300 are
dangerously wounded. The military authorities have
taken every measure to afford relief to the sufferers.

At LEWIS & OWANY'S, Itmelagh-street,
EOYS era CLOTHED from the Ages of Six Treaty Years.

Earl Spencer has resigned the office of Lord Steward of
the Household. The Earl of St. Germans has been
a?pointed his succe:sor.
THE TneeN or SUNDERLAND.—The Government has
been recently instituting inquiries for its private informa-
tion relative to the state of trade in this town and distric,
and the conclusion the Commissioner has arrived at is,
that the present commercial depression is less severely felt
in Sunderland than in many places he has visited. At the.
Castom-house he f4und that there was ()lily a decrease of
about £2,000 in the receipts compared with the correspon.
ding time of last year, and that the defficieney was not
created by diminished consumption of art cles chargeable
with duty, for there was in reality an increased amount of
those articles chiefly consumed by the working population,
but from a reduction in such articles as tea, sugar, c ,ffee,
&c. The shipments of coal at the dock, alone amounted
is October last to abut 86,000 chaldrons, or annually, to
upwards of 1,000,000 chaldrons, being double the average
quantity for twenty years previously, during which period
the trade was comparatively stationary. Tais favourable
report may, no doubt, in a great measure, be attributed to
the increased trade arising from the opening of the sea
outlet to the new dock, which has been an inducement to
large vessels to visit thie po t in greater numbers.
SINGULAR DEATH OF AN ESCAPED PR MYER —On
Friday, police constable Trnmp, Barks constabulary, saw
a sturdy looking man begging from house to house in the
vii age of Penghourne and ordered him to desist. The
man resisted and swore he would show him what an Irish-
man could do, and struck him violenly in the face. A
struggle ensued, in which both went to the ground, and
blows ware exchanged. At length the policeman found he
was getting exhausted, the Irishman seized him tightly by
the collar, and threaten'ng to use his knife. Trump here-
upon loosened his hold, and she man immediately slipped
away, from his grasp, and rushing down to the Thames,
which flows close by the road, plunged into the water. He
swam with all the ease of a water spaniel, and struck out
for the Oxfordshire side, looking back occasionally at his
bafflid captor, with a kind of defiant or scomful gestu-e.
Tramp shouted to two men at work on the Oxlordshire side
to secure the fugitive, and hastened away for a boat at hand,
He obtained assistance, and was proceeding across, when
the two man shouted that the man was drowned, and then
coolly walked off as if nothing had happened. Upon Trump
arriving at the bank he found that the poor wretch h.d
sunk within a very few yards of the shore, evidently f,mai a
sudden attack of cramp In a very brief time the body was
rescued from the water, but life was extinct. Upon the
dead man was found a pocket knife and a few coppers.
Berk•hire Chronicle.

EXTRAORDIRARY CAM—At the Aylesbury County
Court, on Friday last, an important case was heard, and
• the facts involved the point whe her the owners of bulls
are pe:mitted to turn them out without taking proper
care that they c uld not break through the fences and
herd with other geazier's stock. The plaintiff was Mr.
Senior, of Brough'on-hall, near Aylesbury, a magistrate
for the county. and a well-known grazier ; the defendant
being Mr. Self, the manager of the London and County
Bank at Aylesbury. The action was brought to recover
the sum of £l9 195., for damages from the negligence of
the defendant. It was alleged that the plaint: if had, at
great trouble, secure ! a pure breed of Devons, which were
pastering in a field adjoining Mr Self's grounds in which
was a bull. which trespassed on the plaintiff a grounds, and
associated with his stock —in consequence of which the
plaintiff said a most va,luab'e heifer, the produce of the
bull which hal won the prize at Norwich, and had never
been beaten, and a cow which he had bought of •Lerd
Macclesfield, was in calf. He (plaintiff) said it was
important that his stock should remain pure. He said he
was offered 30 guineas for the proluce of the heifer
which was the cause of the action ; but, owing to Mr.
Self's bull having committed the trespass, he sold the
heifer and calf (which ought to have been worth £4B) for
10.4. The witnesses stated that Mr. Self's fences were
very bad. Mr. L Brown, barrister, for the defence,
contended that the case had nothing to do with the
breeding of cattle, but was merely a little bit of private
quarrelling. It was said that there was an assumed
likeness between the calf and the suspected sire ; but
there was no daguereotype, and of course no likeness
could be proved. He contended, therefore, that there was
no proof that the plaintiff had sustained damage at the
defendant's hands. Ha c died upon the jury to give the
plaintiff the smalles- conceivable coin in full satisfaction
for any conceivable injury he had sustained. Various
witnesses, including Mr. Gadsden, the extensive aucticneer
' and valuer, and Mr. H Phiilipe, the well-known dealer
of Theme, were called on the part of the defendant, and
they swore that there was nothing extraordinary in the
breed of the plaintiff's stock, and that the heifer and calf
were not worth more than £l7 or £lB o.her witnesses
swore (in opposition to what had been urged on the part
of the plairriff) that the defendant's fences were in good
condition. His Honour, Mr. C. Temple, summed up at
great length. The jury retired, and, after being absent for
about half-an-hour, found a verdict for the plaintiff,—
damages is. Immediately the verdict was announced
the court, which -was densely crowded throughout the
Whole five hours the case lasted; rang with a shout the
like of which has never, perhaps, been uttered there on
any such occasion. It was, however, of course, suppressed
by the officers and the Judge.

At LEWIS & G;IPANY'S, itanetagh-street.
ROYS sre CLOTHED froluitke Axes of S!z to TwantyYeaw•a.