The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-08-13 00:00:00

POLICE.

AWFUL DEATH OF A PRISONER'S WIFE!
GUILDHALL, Aro. 12.—Several frivolous cases occupied the
attention of the Alderman till past two o'clock, when just at the
moment that Proctor's case (for stealing several pairs of shoes,
the property of his master) was about to be called on, his wife, •
very decent looking young woman, in the last stage of pregnancy,
who had been salting, apparently in great anxiety, and in a state
of dreadful suspense during the whole of the morning, in the outer
room, suddenly fell hack from the seat where she was sitting, and
expired, without either a groan, or • struggle. Medical assistance
was lent for with all despatch, and two professional gentlemen
were procured, one of whom attempted to bleed her, but withoutsuccess, the vital spark being totally extinct. Immediately that it
was known who she was, Proctor was let out of the lock-up-room
to her, and his almost frantic agitation, joined to the shrieks and
cries of two female relations, who had attended with the deceased,
exhibited a scene too painful to describe. When the shock which
this awful circumstance had occasioned had somewhat subsided,
Mr. Arthur declared his unwillingness to proceed in the prosecu-
tion against Proctor, who was brought before the Alderman, and
told he was discharged, but his state of mind seemed to be such, as
to render him scarcely sensible of the circumstance.
Mr. Alderman Cox, on inquiring into the eitttation of the poor
fellow, and learning that he had a family of six small children to
maintain, and that distress had probably driven hint to the act of
which he was accused, very humanely gave him a sovereign from
his own pocket to relieve his present wants.

Bost-STREET, Aua. 11.—This evening, at eight o'clock, Mr.
IWflliuns Christmas, the late clerk of Messrs. Hoare, the bunkers,
in Fleet-street, who has been several weeks in custody on charges
of embezaling Exchequer bills to the amount of 1,0001. and up-
wards, the property of his employers, was brought front the House
of Correction, and underwent a final examination. The prisoner,
when first taken into custody, was privately examined before Sir
Richard Birnie, and remanded fora week. but when the appointed'
day arrived the order for his being brought up was countermanded,
and so it was, from time to time, until this evening.
Mr. Law attended for the prosecution, and Mr. HARMER ap-
peared as the prisoner's Solicitor.
It appeared from the evidence of Mr. William Watfield, a pay-
master of Exchequer bills, that it is the custom every year, upon a
new issue of those bills, to ca:l in the old ones ; and persons pre-
senting the latter have the option either ta take the new bills in
exchange or money. In September 1824 the bills paid in Septem.
her 1823 were called in, and new bills given in exchange. Thia
witness produced a list of Exchequer bills of 1823, to the amount
of 475,4001., brought into the Pay-office to be exchanged for the
same amount of bills of 1824, with interest, on account of Messrs.
Hoare. The witness next produced a receipt for the bills, signed
on the back, " William Christmas, for Messrs. Wm. Hoare and
C 0.," and a draft to the amount of the interest upon the bills.
Mr. Watfield further stated, in answer to a question from Mr.
Law, that there were never two Exchequer bills of the Same num-
ber sued in the same year. The issue of each year commenced at
No. 1, and went on.
Mr. Robert Cotton, of the house of Messrs. Hoare, deposed that
the memorandum and signature on the receipt produced by Mr.
Watfield, were his handwriting or the prisoner.
Mr. John T. Watts, stock-broker, stated, that on the 22d June
he receir from and sold for Mr. 1- ''''' --- (the pri-
_ _
loner) ' for

CORONER'S INQUEST.
mon DISTRVIIIING ACClDENT.—Yesterday ariC/ROOR, at
four o'clock, an iaquest 'was held before 'fuos. STIRLING, Esq.
Coroner, sod a highly respectable Jury. at the Delaware Arms,
Oxford:street, on the body of Samuel Whitehead, who was suf-
focated in a cesspeol.
It appeared that within a few days past the Delaware Arms pub-
lic-house has been undergoit g a repair, and the house sewer or
cesspool !was opened, but the opening was covered over with
boards. On Thursday forenoon, between eleven and twelve o'clock,
'the deceased, who was the watertnan at the coach stand, and much
respected for his demeanor, went down into the cellar, and had some
jesting and play with a dustman named Dean ; he was standing
upon some boards, which shook violently. Dean called out to the
deceased to take care, and had scarcely uttered the words of
caution, befote the unfortunate man cried out and disappeared.
Aa alarm was instantly given, and several persons assembled in
the cellar with lights, and an aperture (before undiscoved) ap-
peared, through which the deceased had sunk into the cesspool.
His ;groans and cries for assistance were distinctly heard. A
blanket )was procured and lowered down, but it could not be
reached by him. Several persons said nothing could save him,
unless a person would descend through the aperture, but of those
persons, none were found hardy enough to venture down ; until at
length, Robert Sharpness, a soldier of the Second Battalion of the
3d Regiment of Foot Guards, attracted by the confusion, went into
the cellar, and in a manly manner rebuking those who stood look-
ing on whjie the man was dying, caused a ladder to be lowered
into the cellar, and haring a rope tied round his body, descended
into the cesspool, and found the unfortunate man standing upright,
but covered with the soil ; he was moaning. The soldier endea-
voured to remove him, but could not ; and at length fastened a
rope around him, and had him pulled up, but quite insensible.
The soldier, himself, rearly lost his life by this humane and gal-
lant act, as on being drawn up he could not speak, and sustained
a temporary loss of sight, from the sulphureous and feted effluvium
arising from confined air ; but by the care and attention of Mr.
Roche, the landlord of the Delaware Arms, lie was soon restored—
not so with the deceased, although promptly attended by Dr. Mul-
ligan, of Portman-street. Nothing could save him, the deleterious
air, or gas, he had inhaled, could not be expelled, although every
effort was made to inflate the lungs.
The Jury observed it was a most distressing ease, and a verdict
of " Accidental Death" was returned.
The Jury expressed an unanimous hope that the Coroner would
make an application to the Humane Society in behalf of Sharpness,
the soldier, who had upon this occasion, by the act of daring and
distinguished humanity which he had accomplished, entitled him-
self to reward.
The Coroner said he believed the rewards of that Society only ex-
tended to rescuing persons from drowning; but, nevertheless, he
would certainly do all in his power to assist the soldier's appli.
cation.

THE LIVING SKELETON.

(From the Medical Adviser.)
YURTIIER INQUIRY.

It is clear that this case exhibits no deformity whatever,
nor any apparent derangement of the functions necessary
to life. The heart executes its actions properly ; respira-
tion is carried on unimpeded, except by the exhaustion
attendant upon all cases where general debility is present;
and the brain is in full power. Hence, the causes of this
extraordinary wasting must be looked for otherwise than
in derangement of these leading organs of life. If the
heart were the seat of the disease, the pulse would readily
lead us to that point. If the lungs were the cause of this
debility, the respiration would point it out; and the face,
instead of its present emaciated and tranquil appearance,
would exhibit some degree of lividity (unless it were an
ulcer in the lungs, which is, by the present symptoms, out
of the question) ; and if it were occasioned by a disease of
the brain (and the only disease the brain is capable of pro-
ducing in such a state of the body is Melancholia), the
accompanying symptoms would be sufficient to decide.
When the cause of Claude Ambroise Seurat is called a
fuses nature', I think it does not warrant such an appella-
tion ; for it would appear that he was born healthy and
well formed. It is, in my opinion, clearly a disease, and
the origin and nature of that disease is the object of my
present remarks.
It is said that Sir Astley Cooper has assigned as his rea-
son for this disease that the heart is misplaced, or some-
thing to that effect; now, as I did not hear that skilful
surgeon deliver such an opinion, I will not believe it, not-
withstanding that powerful authority has quoted it for
fact: if I did, I should be doing him an injustice. Let
the heart be placed where it may be (I am supposing a
while it continues to act as well as in the case of
ibroise Seurat, it will distribute its blood to the
the body, and supply the muscles with a
sufficient for their nutriment, provided that
of proper quality. To the quality of the
we are to look for the cause, and not to the
heart) which propels it. in its circulation.
may be altered by the air we
ty•not sufficiently oxygenated ; but when
symptoms of diseased or malformed longs
it, which is not the dose in the present in-
ilteration of the quality of the blood, then,
~aglit for elsewhere; and nowhere, I am of opi-
nion, with more propriety than in the fluid from which it
is formed. This fluid is called chyle—that is, the first
compound made in the process of digestion from the nu-
tritive matter which we draw from the food for our natural
subsistence. It is clear that if this subject could form
good and sufficient chyle, and that that chyle were taken
into the blood, through the thoracic duct, admitting that
the heart performed its action, even the action it does per-
form, that would be enough to furnish the muscles with
nourishment sufficient to support their natural size and
action. Hence, we come to the - ibable and proximate