The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-11-02 00:00:00

CONVICTS AND CONVICT SHIPS.

It is surprising, that the frequent escapes of convicts
from the various depots have not long since produced some
investigation into the state of those prison-ships, and the
discipline observed therein. A few nights since, William
Harrison, a most desperate character, who was convicted of
a capital offence at Pontefract Assizes, in 1820, •and was
sentenced to seven years' transportation, effected his escape
from on board the Dolphin, at Chatham, and though strict
search has been made after him, no trace whatever has
been obtained likely to lead to his apprehension, any snore
than the many who have for the last twelve months been
effecting their liberation in the same way. The future
subsistence of those proscribed individuals can be derived
only from a system of daring plunder ; the very act of
proscription debars them from the prospect that opens to
all other men, because, bearing the brand of infamy, they
are scouted from society, and compelled to predatory pur-
suits. A person who, from his official knowledge, is well
qualified to give a correct opinion on the subject, stated not
many days ago, that the most prominent leaders in two
notorious gangs of highway robbers, that now husk about
the environs of the metropolis, were originally inmates
of the Islilhank Penitentiary, and subsequently trans-
mitted to the hulks, from whence they contrived means to
get away, and became rubbers by profession. Con-
nected with those two leading gangs, arc several minor
fraternities, aho take their several ranges, or bents (to use
a technical phrase) within the lights, and whose constantly
recurring depredations, have at length spurred up a some-
what sleepy police to snore active exertions. Within the
last three months upwards of sixty burglaries (we could
enumerate them) have taken place in London, followed by
almost as many robberies, of greater or lesser magnitude,
and as far as we recollect there were not during the two
last sessions, more than three convictions for offences of this
nature. The calendar is always burdened with petty lar-
ceny, illegal ',awning, and the various minor offinces,
which are, perhaps, more frequently to be attributed to
momentary distress than absolute inclination ; whilst those
offences which rank highest in the catalogue of crime, are
rarely to be found. But this circumstance is easily ac-
counted fur; the former arc apprehended without either
much trouble or much risk of person, but the latter are
well able to pay for their manumission, and when that is
declined, the very daringness of their character becomes
a protection. Otte thing, however, is certain, as regards
the escape of convicts—the pr:sonships are either shame-
fully insecure, or the discipline on board is grossly negligent.

SULPIII:11 A PiIEbrItVATI7E ACAINSTMEASLE6.-.• M. For
tual states, that all the children to whom he administered
sulphur were protected from measles at a time when this
disease was epidemic. The following is the formula which
he prescribed :—Take of sulphur, half an ounce; sugar, in
powder, a dram ; mix. 'fake, twice or thrice a day, half
a tea-spoonful of the powder • and continue it during the
prevalence of the epidemic.-2 Journal der Pratischat
lled-
kande, Ar.
The small-pox is raging with uncommon violence in
Santigate and the lower suburbs of Newcastle; children
are dying daily, and the misery and sufferings of the sick
and surviving are indescribably deplorable.
A writ of inquiry was held on Wednesday last, at the 1,
Guildhall, Plymouth, to assess damages for an assault
committed by Mr. George Fitzroy (a relative of the Duke
of Grafton), an Ensign of the Third Regiment of Foot-
Guards, lately stationed in that garrison, on Mr. R. O.
Backwell, ironmung'e, of Devonport, proprietor of the
baths under Mount Wise. The damages were laid at .500 f.
The proceedings excited great interest. The Jury, after
being locked up for three-quarters of an hour, assessed the
damages at 5150 f.
Fiae.—About eleven o'clock on Sunday night, the
neighbourhood of North-place, Gray's Inn-lane, was
alarmed by the cry of " Fire !" proceeding from the se-
cond floor at No. 61, in which a carpenter named Dennison
resided. The family were out ; there was a fire in the
stove, and a candle lighted on the table. The lower part
of the cupboard was crammed with shavings and bits of
wood, which the husband had brought home to light the
fire. A few of the shavings lay on the floor about the fen-
der, and it is supposed a spark from the fire communicated
to the shavings and set them in a blaze. The room was in
flames in a few seconds. A woman residing in the room
over, alarmed by the smell of fire, roused the neighbour-
hood, and before anyone came to her assistance, she exerted
herself in extinguishing the fire, emptying all the water
she could procure on the flames, in which laudable pursuit
she had her face, hands, and various parts of her body so
much burned, that she was obliged to be carried to the
hospital. Several of the neighbours exerted themselves to
che:k the progress of the flames till the arrival of the fire-
engines, when the devouring element was subdued • but
not before the fluor, the joists, and the whole of the furni-
ture, were destroyed. The preservation of the house and
property is entirely owing to the intrepidity of the female
who first discovered the fire. The woman who occupied
the room in which the fire broke out had only left it for an
instant on some errand. She has lost all she possessed.
Homily M cant R.—Saturtlee, an inquest was held on
the body of John Ryan, of liallyvorneen, before James I
Bennett, Esq. Coroner, Major Wilson, W. H. Burgh, and
T. M. Wilson, Emi!. Magistrates of this county, attended
with Surgeon Franklin, jun. awl Mr. Baliner, Chief ('on-
stable of the Barony. After the examination of five wit-
nesses, a verdict of " Wilful Murder" was returned against
the following persons :—Patrick Cusack, Edward Hall,
James Sheehan, Patrick Glennane, Eleanor Ryar, wife to
the deceased, and Mary Cramer, the servant maid, all of
whom Mr. Balmel, with a Featly of his police,lotiged in the
county gaol that night. So horrible a murder as this has
not disgraced this country for many years. After literally
beating his brains out with a hatchet, and cutting him on
sevtral parts of the body with the same deadly weapon,
they laid him upon an immense fire, and, we s'hii.loler to
relate it, netually roasted him! After which they buried
the mangled body in a bog-bole, cierying it sewed in a
bag about a quarter of a mile from the house. It is but
justice to Mr. Balmel to mention, that it is owing to hit
exertions that this mysterious murder has been detected.
He has succeeded in establishing a chain of evidence which
will certainly bring conviction home to the Tillty.-11 felt
Observer.