The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-03-25 00:00:00

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FRIGHTFUL CRUELTY.—At Bow-street Police Office, on
Saturday, Mary Becket, a dirt)", ragged woman, of about
45 years of-age, was charged with skinning cats alive. It
appears that this horrible practice is Very Much on the
increase, as is iihoWn by the number of sldoned cats found
every morning in the areas and cellars. The pri,oner, who
had long been suspected, was watched on Saturday morning
last; about five o'clocls by a costermonger earned William
Payne, who se w her steep down and thrust two shinned oats
Under the flap of a cellar. Ile then Went to a-polleetitan and
gave her into custody. At first she denied What she had
been doing but afterwards adriaitted it, tlpon the bodies
of the "cats being taken up, they were found to be quite warm
and quivering. • On 'examining the *carcases a mark of a
st.,ke was found at the.baek at the head of each cat; the
usual mode of performing this hOrrible operation being to
fit the head.olthe animal' to a spike, by which it is half
stunned, when .the skin is rein'av ed.. In answer to yestions•
put by the magistrate, it was stated that the value of a cat's
skin, When taken froth the living animal, is 2s 2d, otherwise
they are not so valuable, as the fur loses its gloss, Mr_
Henry said it'-was a most barbarous and atrocious act, and
he should inflict the highest penally he could, which was"
three months' imprisonment, with hard labour.
DasTaucTlVE FIRE.--On Friday evening, about nine
o'clock, a destructive fire broke oat on the premises
occupied' by Mr. Thomas Mills, cabinet maker and
upholsterer, Market Street, Bradford, which totally
deltroyed the greater portion of the workshops. Everything
appeared as nsitaliwberi the workmen left the prerniSes. In
a very'few' minutes, Mr. Graham, superintendent of the
fire brigade, Ind a number of the men were there, followed
,by the firemen of the Leeds and Yorkshire and the Unity
offices, and; by dint of great exertions, the piece rooms
were broken into and the goods immediately :removed.,
The fire, it was then seen, 'had originated, from some as
yet unknown cauee, in the cabinet makers' workshop,
whence it struck upwards with marvellous swiftness, rush-
ing into the upholstery workers' room, and in a short time
the whole of the three upper storeys were one blazing mass,
the combustible—nature of some of the materials leading
to increase the rapidity of the work of destruction. Uri,
fortunately, the water had been turned off the trunk pipes,
and a full quarter of an hour elapsed before' the Bremen
could pour a-current upon the tames, but'eventually five or
six jets were brought to bear upon it, but not before it bad
made suck.headway as to show that the destruction of that
portion of the premiseswas inevitable. The passag' con
nesting the' workshops. on both sides of the • yard was
blazing, and to this point the superintendent directed his
attention, and the fire was eventually extinguished, and
hence the steam engine,and machinery of the saw mill and
turning lathes were left unscathed. But on the ottnr side,
the whole building was gutted in two hours, and only a few
fragments of the workmen's tools were saved, each set
being valued at from £3O to £4O. The actual amount of
damage cannot yet be ascertained, but it exceeds £4,000.
The whole will, however, be covered by the! policies on
the sock to the amount of £3,650, and on the buildings
£2,909:

ATROCIOUS CRUELTY AT SIA..—At the Western Circuit,
Exeter, on Friday, Hugh Orr, the captain of a ship named
the Hannah Jane, sees tried on the charge of wilfully
murdering Edward D. vue, on the high seas, on the 3rd July
last. .Theeees e has been p ,vi, usly noticed 'LI the papers.
The deceased was a,black man, a native et' B Sion, in the
United States, about 32 years a age, and was engaged as
cook in thesShip., The crew of the ship consisted of the
captain, six men, and a boy: In Feb., 1856, the ressel .ailed
from London to Newcastle for a cargo of coals, and then pro.
seeded to Senegal, then to Cape Verde Islands, to Rio Grande,
and then back to-England. While they were in the Senegal
river the captain commenced a most extraordinary series
of crueltiesilseating and flogging the cook day by day for
four weeksenntil, becoming weaker and weaker 'from these
cruelties, death, more merciful than his persecutor, relieved
him from his eafferings on • the 3rd of. July. He was
beaten by the, captain ,and the mate with ropes, with broom
.handles,-and with a "cat," and, when his back was raw,
he was scruhbe,l with., a brush. The poor tello.w used. to
cry for, mercy, and_ called -upon the crew to come and help
but the crew dared not interfere. When. the
vessel reached - Rio Grande, the crew informed
the consul there of the treatment the cook had
received;and• of his death, but he said he could not do
anything in the matter. The ship arrived in Plymouth
in December, and then an inquiry was instituted, which
ended in the captain being sent to prison for trial. The
evidence was lengthy, and perfectly horrifying in its details.
'Several of the witnesses said that, on one occasion, the
deceased received from. the mate 366 lashes, and that the
same ruffian kicked and.beat the cook when he' was lying
near dead on the (leak. The mate ran away from the ship
after the refusal of the consul at Rio to interfere. The jury
found the prisoner guilty of manslaughter, and he was
sentenced to transportation for licit