Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-27 00:00:00

TO THE ZDITOR OP THE NORTHERN TIYIS.

Sir,—As landsmervere not suppose.d to...know the
use of the line, I beg leave to offer a few remarks
on that very important article. In the first plane,
few of our seamen at the present day can take a
cast of the lead, owing to the general use of steam
tugs; in the second place, in strong breezes the
ship has to be shortened of sail, and hove to, with
maintopsail to the mast—course is altered, ship
drifting to leeward, and subject, of course, to col-
lision, having no command of helm: At that time,
we are bound by law to put our helm to port, to
avoid collision. I would ask that gentleman who
styles himself " R " what he would do if he saw a
large steamer running into him during the procuiss
of heaving the lead in channel in thick weather?
I am sure no seaman will condemn the use of the
lead, nor will he purposely run his ship asheie ;
but accidents will occur to the most careful I
should like to know the history of that gentleman
who signs himself " R." lam happy to say tha, in
the present enlightened aae such men are divested
of the power of transporting a man for not tironing
the lead What would " R." do to the captain of
H. B. M.'s steam line-of-battle ship Exmouth,
which went on shore at the Land's End ? That
gentleman went on shore under the same circum-
stances as those vessels recently wrecked—namely,
thick weather. I believe no lead was used. He was
slightly reprimanded, but " It" would transport the
unfortunate merchant master with few hands and
not, perhaps, a leadsman on board. " R.," I am
afraid, would be a severe judge.—Yours,

A LEADSMAN.

BIRKENHEAD GAS AND WATER COMPANY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES.
Sir,—lt was not until Sunday last, that my atten-
tion was directed to a report of the evidence of
Mr. Jackson, taken before a Committee of the
House of Commons, on the Birkenhead and
Claughton Gas Bill, making it appear as though
Mr. Jackson had cast an imputation of laxity on
my late father, in the discharge of his professional
duties. The words I allude,to are reported to be,
" Mr. Mallaby was very lax," Scc. On Monday last,
I took an opportunity of pointing them out to Mr.
Jackson, and he at once stated that what he had
said had been misreported, and that it was never
his intention to, nor did he, say anything so eon-
trary to fact. Several gentlemen who were present
when the evidence was given, distinctly deny that
the obnoxious words were either expressed or
implied. I have therefore thought it well, for the
satisfaction of Mr. Jackson, and also of the family
of my late father, to correct a mistake, which,
doubtless, has been inadvertently made in the
reporter's notes.—Believe me, sir, yours faithfully
ROBERT MALLABT.
Ramsgate, 18th June, 1857.

Haymaking has become pretty general in Holmfirth
district; the yield is abundant. All of the standing crops
are looking remarkably well, and promise a good yield.
WESLEYAN Itlrraoorsta.—The following return ex-
hibits the present position of the Wesleyan Society, with
the exception of the North Wales district, from which
no return has been received :—ln society, 263,661 ;
increase, 6,932 ; on trial, 17,415.
THE HARVEST.—We have received reports from v irinns
parts of the country, and the general condition of the crops
is highly satisfactory. The hay crop has in sone districts
proved lighter than was anticipated. The wheat is getting
into full ear, and looks healthy and strong. Barley, oats,
beans, and peas have the same promising aspect. The
late showers have been highly beneficial to turnips and
mangel wurzel, while they have done no injury to the cut
sanfoin, which, with clover, is of excellent quality, though
somewhat variable in quantity, according to the soil;
generally speaking, however, all green crops are abundant
MADRAS IRRIGATION AND CANAL COMPANY.—Memorials
from the Glasgow and the Liverpool Chambers of Com-
merce respectively have been presented to the hoard of
control and the court of directors cif the E ist India Com-
pany, stating that canals for transit and irregation form
an essential element in any plan for developing the na-
tural resources of India, many products being dependent
on irrigation, and all benefited by facility of transport to
the coast; and that such works may be more properly
left to private enterprise than undertaken by government ;
and praying that every facility may be given to com-
panies formed in England for effecting such objects,
either by guaranteeing a minimum rate of interest, or by
such other means as may appear most desirable.
CRINOLINE IN THE PEW.--On Sunday evening, the Rev.
W. M. Punshon, the popular Wesleyan minister, Leads,
preached at Oxford Place Chapel, the largest chapel in
Leeds. The chapel was crowded, as usual when he
preaches, with a highly respectable audience, the aisles
being all filled with ladies and gentlemen staeding. Mr.
Punshon, before reading the lesson, observed several
pews that would hold six or seven people comfortably,
each occupied by three or four ladies. He observed that
there were a great many ladies and gentlemen standing,
whilst he could see that many pews were not more than
half full. • This remark caused some smiling to those in
the gallery, while the ladies in crinoline were alarmed at
the prospect of an invasion from the passages.
DARING BURGLARY, WITH VIOLENCE, NEAR HUDDERS-
FIELD.—On Wednesday evening, a daring burglary,
accompanied with violence, was perpetrated at the E Eger-
ton toll-bar, on the Halifax Road, situated about thrae-
quarters of a mile from Hu Idersfiehl. .that twelve
o'clock at night, two men, dressed in white smocks, with
bands )ound the waist, and their faces masked, forced
their way into the bee house, and praceeded into the back
room, where the bar keeper and h's wife were sleeping.
They were ransicking the room when the bar keeper, an
old man, sprang from his had, and seized one of them.
The wife celled oat " murder," when one of the men slid
" shoot her," and a pistol was put to her heal, She
struck it down with her arm, and ran an i opened the door,
when both the burglars ran after her. Her hnilyind again
seized one of the men, when he was felled to the ground
by some instrument, and the burglars made their escape.
THE Aacric REGIONS.—For the first time in more than
a month we saw daylight, and I cannot describe how
cheering was the effect of those pure, white, brilliant
rays, in spite of the iron landscape they illumined. It
was no longer the setting light of the level Arctic sun ;
not the twilight gleams of shifting arm-, beautiful, but
dim ; not the faded, mock daylight, which sometimes
glitumerod for a half-hour at noon ; but the true white,
full, golden day, which we had almost forgotten-30 nearly,
indeed, that I did not for some time suspect the cause of
the unusual whiteness and brightness. Its effect upon the
trees was superb. The twigs of the birch and the needles
of the fir were coated wida crystal, and sparkled like jets
of jewels spouted up from the bosom of the immaculate
snow. The clumps of birches can be compared to
nothing but frozen fountains—frozen in full action, with
their showery sheaves of spray arrested before they fell.
It was a wonderful—a fairy world we beheld; too beautiful
to be lifeless, but every face we met reminded us the more
that this was the chill beauty of death—of dead nature.
Death was in the sparkling air, in the jewelled trees, in the
spotless snow. Take off your mitten, and his hand will
grasp yours like a vice ; ttneA,er our m,:trth, and your
frozen lips will soon acknowledge his kiss.—Barnard
Taylor in the Arctic Regions.
THE ESSEX MURDER,—CHILLNGFORD HATCH, THURSDAY:
--Mr. Small, although holding but a iew acres of land,
was considered by his neighbours to be a man of consider-
able meant, having, it is said, amassed some large sums
of money by dealing in the choicest descriptions of Alder-
ney and other fancy cattle for gentlemen's parks. Mr.
Small has held the farm ie question neva for about twenty
years, and from what has transpired there seems but little
doubt that the robbery of the place at least was premedi-
tated and planned by some one well knowing the place,
and who, being acquainted with Mr. Small, calculated
upon taking much more than has been missed. There can
be no doubt but that the murderer entered the house
almost immediately after Mr. and Mrs. Small had left for
church,las some things which. Mrs. Small wished her sister,
the deceased,
ceased, to do previous to ber return from church had
not been done ; and coupled with this was the fact that
when the medical gentleman arrived he found the body
nearly cold, and some of the blood in which it was lying
was congealed. Of course the utmost secrecy is maintained
by the police of the district, who have had the assistance
of some London detectives, and in these rural parts
where a prisoner can be taken at any hour before a
country magistra'e at his private residence, and there
committed, it becomes the mere difficult to arrive at
the real facts. Thus much, however, may be relied upon.
A paragraph has alreedv appeared stating that a man,
whose name it is not advisable now to give, is in the hands
of the police. This is said to be true, and if so, there is no
doubt but that he well knee, Mr. Small's house, and also
his habits,
CASs AND DEED Boxes.—The next important thing to the posses-
sion of cash is, how (when you have got it) to keep it safely, either in
the counting-house or at home. The same remarks apply to deeds
and other valuable documents. We have seen a large and varied
stock of both these desirable articles, manufactured expressly for Mr.
E. T. Hall, of South John-street, that challenge attention. Thee
boxes are male on new and admired principles, and possess patent
locks, which defy the ingenuity of any "pick-lock" in the world to
open, except with the legitimate key. To merchants, solicitors, and
others, these new safes, one small scale, must prove valuable indeed.
—Northern Daily Aram 2181 May, 1857.

In Thursday's impression we announced the fact that a
Man named Spollen, a coach-painter, had been arrested in
Dublin on the charge of murdering Mr. Little. We are
now in possession of full particulars of the arrest, and the
means by which it was accomplished, which we proceed to
give.

On Wednesday morning, about half-pest nine o'clock, a
man named James Spollen, a painter, in the employment of
the Midland Great Western Railway Company, was arrested
at the Broadstone terminus by Mr Superintendent Gay and
Ihipector Ryan, of the G division of the detective police,
charged on suspicion with being implicated in the murder
of Mr. Geeorge Samuel Little at the Broadstone terminus
on the evening of the 13th of November, 1856. The
prisoner was conveyed to the Frederick-lane police
station-house, where he was placed in the custody of
Sergeant Hughes. Mr Superintendent Gay then pro-
eeeded to Capel-street police-office, and requested the
Sitting magistrate (Mr. O'Donnell) to receive informa-
tions made by the wife of the prisoner, who accused
him with having committed the murder. In the
Statement, made to Mr. Superintendent Guy, she asserts
that on the night of the 13th of November, her husband
teturned to his residence about eig o'clock, bringing with
him a buckle, full of gold and silver, which he told her was
Little's money ; stating, at the same time, that he had
killed him, and that she saw him burn a p icket-book, and
take off his cravat and throw it into the fire. She also
says that his clothes were dabbled over with blood-stains,
'which he covered with paint, and that he fully related to
her the manner in which he effected the murder and robbery,
and how he made his escape along the roof of the terminus.
She further stated that she waisted her husband in conceal-
ing the money, and that she would point out the two places
which it had been deposited. With reference to the ham-
ster and razor found in the canal by the police, she says
that the hammer belonged to Spollen, but she had not
then seen the razor found. She says that her husband was
greatly excited on the day the razor was found, and adds
that Idler the murder he pur, it into a case prior to his
throwing it into the canal. The reasons assigned by Mrs.
Spollen for giving this information to the police were a
Strange feeling of fear and dread she had of her husband,
and also from intense anxiety of mind and from conscien-
tious motives. Mrs. Spollen is about forty years of age,
Well-looking, and the mother of four children, and it is
Stated that she lived on good terms with her husband. The
magistrate refused to comply with the request of Mr. Guy
to receive informations against the prisoner on the evi-
dence of his wife only. At a subsequent period in the day,
James Spollen, son to the erisoner, and a fittter's appren-
tice in the workshops at the Broadtone terminus, was
arrested and conveyed to Chancery-lane station-house, and
placed in clurgc of Sergeant Kavanagh, of the G division,
Where he is still detained, for the purpose of being
brought up as a witness against the father. The two
Places pointed out by Mrs. Spollen where her husband
and herself deposited the money, without light, on the
bight of the 13 h of last November, must have been
toadied, under the circumstances, with much peril and
difficulty. They are situate at the western side of the cattle
Platform adjoining the boundary wall of the North
Dublin Union Workhouse grounds ; and were it
not for the information which had been given by
Mrs. Spollen, the person who placed his booty there
heed have little fear that it would ever have been dis-
covered. One of the hiding places selected is an open space
between the workhouse boundary wall and that of the
tattle platform. This space is about six feet wide and
about twenty feet deep, covered with large stones and
gravel at the bottom. The other hiding place is the bottom
of a privy, through which the stream known as the "Bra-
dope," runs at a depth of twenty-five feet. Access to this
Place was effected by the persons hidingthe money through
It small aperture by which the stream passed out. A grown
Person must have found considerable difficulty in forcing his
way on hands and knees when getting into this frightful
Place. Active search after he missing money was commenced
Y Sergeants Craven and Meyers, assisted by Constable
Donnelly (119 C) at about ten o'clock, and long and
Weary were their efforts. It was found necessary to
remove the flooring of the privy, and in the centre of the
Sham beneath the stream referred to could scarcely be
seen, as it rushed through its channel leading under the
,‘culcsay. A ladder having been procured, Constable
Donnelly descended, when it was found that the statement
Slade by Mrs. Spollen was perfectly correct. In a small
Paint tub containing about four pounds weight of red lead
a canvas bag was discovered, which, on being lifted by the
constable, burst, as it was quite rotten from the damp.
This bag, which contained £67 5s in silver and copper,
Was at once identified as one of those which had been
taken from the office of Mr. Little on the night of his
murder. The result of the search in the other hiding-
place woe, that after large quantities of stones had been
Shifted, £1,321 and some odd shillings were discovered in
!lOUs, gold, silver, and copper, made up in several
small parcels, apparently in the same amounts; and when
_,theY arrived ts, t Mr. Little's office from the several stations
s'eng the line, the moneys in each parcel, comprising notes,
rd, silver, and copper, were mixed up together.
2Te of the notes are partially defaced and rotten,
andsome them have been reduced to mere fragments.
nAmongst the money found in this place were several
'gees of paper, which were ieentified by Mr.
Chamberlain as having been taken from the cash-
°tee on the night of the murder. On one piece of this
riper he recognised Mr. Little's name in his own
.)abdwriting. After the £132 and the £67 5s thus
uiscovered and the £47 7s 6cl found at the top of the
°airway leading to the trimming loft adjoining the
carriage factory, some months since, together with £5O,
the disposition of r hich the police allege that they have
traced, £4O still remains undiscovered of the amount
Which had been carried off by the murderr from the office
?f Mr. aitole. The clothes which Mrs. Spollen states her
husband wore on the night of the murder were found in
his residence. They are composed of baragon, and are
Similar. to those wo:n by painters. The clothes are in the
bands of the police, and will be at once handed over to
I_l. chemist to analyse the stains for the purpose
discovering whether they were caused by human
blood. The key of Mr. Little's offices is stated to have
been thrown into the river Bradr,gue ; and, for the
Purpose of discovering the key, Sergeant Craven and a
Snniber of workmen we. e busily engaged in searching the
Portion ,cf the stream which runs through the garden of
the Noah Union Workhou.e, up to a late hour on the
!vening but without success. Mea ures have been taken
tO turn the course of the water, so that the key may be
found, if it were thrown in. The cottage in which the
Prisoner resided is exceedirg neat, well furnished, and is
situated, with three others, in the locality known as the
" Old Sheds." and from the doorway the windows of the
office in which Mr. Little was murdered can be -een. The
prisoner Spollen and his son James were both exF.mined
by the police and the crown solicitor at the time
Of the investigation at the Broadstone Terminus ;
Sad the police searched the house of Spollen
on three occasinus, as it was stated that he had been
employed painting Mr. Little's office two days before the
ur..ler, but the result of these searches did not afford
anyevidence to susoiin suspicion against the prisoner.
,y,u his examination he stated to Mr. Superintendent
`any that he went home in the evening of the murder at
about six o'clock; that after tea he went into town, ac-
companied by his wife and son, and that he purchased
Mme meat in Moore-street, and returned home about ten
w clock. The statement was corroborated by his wife
LElhad
ore she any anoorutunity of communicating with
slut, and their statements thus agreeing, satisfied the p-
tsci removed any suspiciens they might have entertained.
'teem the time the prisoner was placed in Frederick lane
Ila:ion-house up to the time he retired to rest at night, he
Observed strict ci ence, even to the policemen who were in
ChargeZ of him, and during the day he only spoke once or
the
charge
of his ife and children. Although he was aware of
his
which was brought against nim, up to the time
name was pl ref en the chargs sheet in the evening
msed b Superintendent Guy with wilful
se, Y aciv •
r and rot,l) -Ty, he was unconscious of his wife
eet"fg . given into' ma•ion against him, and was Ven
sart"are of the a-rest of his son. The prisoner is about
sailtthree year. of as e, about five feet eight inches hie, of
ex 3' complexion, and wears large whiskers. 11,s face hi
coeditgl
bre, pale, and he has lost his right eye. lie was
4at over troni England at the lime of the erection of
1441!hic fon r Broadstone Terminus, about the ye
0, `) end has rem,ined in the employment of the Railway
bgariP,any as a painter. Ultimately the prisoner was
predgtt down fam the room which he occupied in
the
With Acklae sham house, when he was placed on
•""ee sheet. ch reed by Mr. Superintendent Guy,
the wilful 'nturdeC• of George Samuel Little, on
the evening of he 13,h November last, by striking him
Several blows on the head with a blunt instrument, and
cuttingear thr at with a razor. The prisoner was also
gesl with sealing the sum of £350, the property of
the Midland Or, at Western Railway Company. While this
arge was being eterred, the wife of the prisoner was
Present and a e pa,e affected. She said, ad-
dressingPp dto be sadly
Clnfe:,s your guilt, you unfortunate man;
Vast I have dant Was to save your soul, and that you may
!Veit of your crime On the charge being read for
him he only said
cell. '"i deny it." He was then 11/4 134Ack to
Ine