The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 1, 18b5

death of Michael Leary, a labourer, by inducing him to
drink chloride of zinc for ale.
It appeared that the deceased had been some time suf-
fering from the effects of the pernicious dose. In the
course of the last week his condition became much
worse, and his death being evidently near at hand,
the magistrate went and took his dying statement.
The following was his deposition :—" To the best
of my knowledge, about feur months ago, I was
at work with the prisoner, and was his labourer.
We were at work in the back yard of Mr. Brain, the
leather cutter in Powis•street, Woolwich. The man had
been at work at the closet. We were going to another
job, and the prisoner says to me—' I have had some
gin this morning, and there's some ale in the bottle
that stands by the fence.' The bottle was standing
by the fence. No other bottle was there. I went back
to the bottle. When he told me there was ale in it, I
said, Is there ?' and he said I might as well go and
have some. I went and found the bottle, and put it to
my mouth. It kept burning me. I think I took
about a mouthful. It slipped down in spite of me. I
went back to where he was, and said to him, There is
oil or something in the bottle that has poisoned rne.'
He said, What ! walk along, that will work off.' He
said, It's a had job ; why didn't you smell it ?' He
didn't say that there was another bottle, or that it was
a mistake. I have been suffering from it ever since."
The officer, 67 It, who was in charge of the case, in-
formed the magistrate that Leary died on Friday. The
chloride of zinc was kept on the premises for deodorising
purposes.

A workman was called, who stated that there "rat. no
ale in a bottle about the place.
Mr. Train said he should remand the prisoner until
the result of the coroner's inquest was known. A
post-mortem examination of the body would be made.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOL.

On Saturday evening the annual dinner in aid of the
Commercial Travellers' School took place at the London
Tavern. About two hundred gentlemen were present.
Mr. Charles Dickens was in the chair ; and amongst the
other guests were Messrs. Albert S:nith, P. Cunning-
ham, and Horace Mayhew. After the usual loyal toasts
had been duly honoured,
The CHAIRMAN proposed the toast of the evening,
" Success to the Commercial Travellers' School." He
said that he thought it might be assumed that most of
those present knew something about travelling—he did
not mean travelling in distant regions and foreign coun-
tries, though he dared say some of them had associations
connected with that—but about travelling within the
limits of the United Kingdom. He dared say most of
them had had their experience of extinct fast coaches—
Quicksilvere, Taglienis, Tally-hoe, Telegraphs, and what
not ; that they had "heard the chimes at midnight" in
postchaises, and driven gigs along interminable roads,
through slush and darkness, into little country towns
with no visible population except half-a-dozen smock
, frocks smoking pipes under the lee of the Town-hall,
half-a-dozen shining umbrellas, as many pairs of wet
I legs, and a washed out dog or two. (Laughter.) They
could all, be had no doubt, if so minded, discourse about
their recollections of the Talbot, the King's Head, the
Royal, or the Lion of those days. They had all been to
that room on the ground floor, on one side of that inn-
yard, not quite free from a certain fragrance of tobacco,
where the cruets on the sideboard were obscured by a
collection of great coats hanging from the wall ; where
driving seats waylaid them at every turn like humane
mantraps ; where that county member, framed and
ghteed, was continually presenting that petition which
had somehow made him glorious in the county, though
nothing else had ever come of it ; where the book of
roads always wanted the first and last dozen pages ; and
where some man who had arrived alone at some unholy
hour of the night, known only to the nearest turnpike-
man and the porter, was eternally having breakfast by
himself at any period of the day. (Applause.) He had
no doubt they could all, if they would, be very eloquent
upon the charms of their favourite hotel—its bar, its
stables, its vast amount of posting, its enormous cheeses,
its head waiter, its capital idea of pigeon-pie, its 1820
port, their chaste and innocent admiration of its land-
lady, and possibly their fraternal regard for its chamber-
maid. (A pplause and laughter.) A celebrated drama-
tic critic once wrote of a famous actress, renowned for
her virtue and beauty, that she "gave one the idea of
being elegantly gatberable to one's arms." Perhaps some
of those present in their time might, in a perfectly ho-
nourable and irreproachable way, have a similar mental
tribute to the ladies associated with the administration
of their favourite inns. (Laughter.) With the travel-
ling characteristics of later times they were equally
familiar. They knew all about that station to which
they had taken their ticket, although they had never
been there. They knew that if they arrived at it after
dark they should find it a mile and a half from the town
—the old road abolished, and the new road only go-
ing to be made—half the neighbourhood pulled down,
and the other half act yet built up. They knew all
about that porter on the platform, who, with the
best intention fn the world, could do nothing parti-
cularly efficacious in regard to their luggage, except
look at it with a bell in his hand—about that particularly
short omnibus out in the dark which brought one vio-
lently up by the crown of one's head, and about that "fly"
which was never there. They knew how instantly the
whole station world disappear when the •train had
gone away. They knew all about that long bewilder-
ing grope in the lark to the "New Railway Hotel,"
which would be a capital hotel when the custom came,
but which at present had nothing particular to offer in
place of refreshment except a liberal smell of damp mor-
tar and new lime. (Laughter.) He recalled these little
incidents of home travel as an introduction to the main
object of their assembling. Every traveller who had a
home of his seen learned from his wanderings to prize it
the more in the intervals of his return to it ; if he had
ne home, he learned the same lesson unselfishly in re-
gard to the hernes of other people. Therefore, one
might be prepared to learn that commercial travellers as
a body knew how to prize the domestic relations from
which their pursuits so frequently severed them ; but
nothing could be more delightful, more generous, or more
convincing testimony of this than their founding and
maintaining tho school for the children of deceased and
necessitous members of their body which now appealed
t* the assembly in mute but eloquent language from
the gallery. [The children of the school had been sta-
tioned in the gallery at the lower end of the room,] It
was to support that school that they were met that night.
It was to roof in the building which was to shelter and
comfort the children of deceased aid decayed friends
that their active sympathy and exertions were now soli-
cited. They knew how to put their hands to the
plough, for he was informed that they last year raised
for these schools no less a sum than 8,0001., and that
while one-half of that sum consisted of new donations,
the annual subscriptions for the support of the school
were only diminished by the nominal sum of 30/. He
would not urge upon them the casualties of life and
travel, the ♦icissitudes of business, the claims of friend-
ship, and the bond of brotherhood which there ought
always to be among men united in one common pursuit.
They had already recognised these considerations so
nobly that he would not presume to lay them before
them. Suffice it to say that he did not believe it was
in their nature to do things by halves ; he did not think
they could do so if they tried, and he had a moral cer-
tainty that they would never try. To those who were
not members of the commercial travellers' body, he
would whi.per the adage, "Heaven kelps those who help
themselves," The commercial travellers having been true
to themselves, it was clear to him that their visitors and
supporters came there as a sort of accredited celestial re-
pre,entatives—no doubt with that aid in their pockets
which the precept taught them to expect. (Applause.)
The toast was drunk with much enthusiasm, after
which the children of the school, who were in the
gallery, sang a vocal piece, and then walked through
the room.

Mr. ROBERTS proposed "The health of the Chairman,"
which was duly honoured.
The CHAIRMAN briefly acknowledged the toast, and
proposed the health of Mr. eo. More, the treasurer of
the school fund."

Mr. MOOl IP,', in respondicg, stated that he had on the
previous day obtaimd 150 annual subscriptions in Man-
chester. He hoped the institution would be opened,
free from debt, in June next. •

A list of subscriptions was then read, amounting to
about 800 d.

The CHAIRMAN proposed " The healths of Messrs.
Albert Smith, Peter Cunningham, and Horace Mayhew."
Si many travellers had recently gone up Mont Blane,
either in fact or is fiction, so that he had had pro-
posals for the formation of a company to employ Sir
Joseph Paxton to take it down— (laughter)—but only
one traveller had been able to bring Mont Blanc into
Piccadilly, and to make the ascent so easy that the most
timid lady might undertake it without dagger or fatigue.
Mr. Albert Smith was undoubtedly a traveller ; and
though he (the chairman) did not know that he took
many orders, yet he could testify, on behalf of the chil-
dren of his friends, that he vva-i most liberal in giving
them. Mr. Peter Cunningham was a traveller, not
Only in right of having edited Goldsmith's " Traveller,"
and of ether works, bat also in right of that admirable
handbook which proved to have been a traveller in the
right spirit through the labyrinths of London. They had
also among them his friend Mr. Horace Mayhew, well
known for his books of lively social adventure, and he
therefore proposed that they should drink the healths of
these three gentlemen.

The teat having been duly honoured, Mr. Smith sang
"G-alignani's Messenger," and Messrs. Cunningham
and Mayhew briefly returned thanks.

Several other toasts were drunk, the list cericluding, as
usual, with " The Ladies ;" and the proceedings did not
terminate until a late hour.

EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF FORGERY.

The magistrates of Hertford were engaged on Friday
in investigating a charge against Mrs. Emily Harriet
Geraldine Morris, described in the Hertford Mercury
(out authority for the present report) as tie wife of Mr.
Win. Morris, of the Stock Exchange, and ofllen-
hall, East Barnet, of haying forged the acceptance of
her husband to a bill of exchange for 1,5001.

Mr. Cooper, the barrister, was for the prosecution,
and Mr. Huddlestone for the prisoner.
It appeared that tke prisoner married, in 1341, a lad
of seventeen, the son of an eminent printer in London,
but in consequence of the unhappy character of the
union, the parties were separated, and a divorce from
bed and board obtained in an ecclesiastical suit; the pro-
ceedings had, however, never been so far complete as to
enable her to marry again. Notwithstanding this,
she, in the year 1846, married Mr. William Morrie,
In 1853 that gentleman took Willen Hall, East
Barnet, and er,aged with Messrs. Duppa and Collins,
of Oxf.ird-street, to fit and decorate the place, and
the prosecutor in this case, Mr. Arthur David Owen,
their principal manager, went down to eupetintend the
work at Willen Hall, when an intimacy sprang up be-
tween him and the prisoner, she, to use his own words,
making love to him first. The work was completed in
December, 185, and after that prosecutor upon a good
many occasion* visited the prisoner during the absence
of Mr. Morris. In February, 1854, prosecutor received
a letter of whicli the following is a copy :—" You can do
nie a great service ; I believe you will. It is in a way
which bad better not be written about. lam here all
alone every day till four or five o'clock ; can you come
down, or, rather, will you come down l The best way
will be to take a cab. God blew you!—HaatßlET."
The prosecutor went down and saw the prisoner, who
asked him to lend her a large sum of money upon
property, which she said was settled upon her
at her marriage. This he declined ; and she then
asked if be would cash a note of hind, signed by her
lilisba.nd. Ho said he would, as he thought her husband
quite sate ; but, as he could not find the money him-
self, should like some collateral security. She raid she
would place in his hands her diamonds, which were
worth 3,000/. To this he assented, and took the ante
and jewels, which slia sealed up, and said were not to
be opened until the bill was taken up ; and, after de-
ducting 4001. as interest for the six months of its data,
handed her over 1,1001. From something that sub,e-
quently transpired he opened the jewel case, and found
the whole to be paste and imitation of the mest worth-
less description. He subsequently took proceedings
upon the bill against Mr. Morris, who repudiated the
claim, and swore that the signature was a forgery, and
not the least like his handwriting. Under these circum-
stances a warrant was placed in the hands of Forrester,
and the lady, who had absconded, was, during the
week, apprehended in Paris, and brought over here upon
the charge of forgery.
The bench, having heard the evidence, committed her
for trial, expressing their readiness to take bail—the
prisoner in 2,000/, and two sureties in 13000/, each.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN AND GREAT

WESTERN.

It appears that the agreement between these com•
panies for putting an end to competition on their lines
was signed by the chairmen of both companies on the
14th ult., and comes into operation to-day. The agree-
ment stipulates that the fares, rates, and charges
for every description of traffic shall be the same on both
lines, between the same places or towns to which both
companies are competitors for traffic, whether alone over
their own railway, or elsewhere in alliance, by through
booking or otherwise, with the other companie-, or per-
sons over any other lines of railway, or by any other
means, to or from places beyond their own railways. The
fares, rates, and charges between all such places shall
be fixed from time to-time by mutual agreement, or, in
case of difference, by a third person previously selected.
The rates of goods include collection and delivery by the
companies or their agents within specified districts, and
the deduction to be made for collection and delivery
shall be defined, and be the same for both companie..
No special rates or time bargains shall be made without
mutual consent. No reduction is to be made, directly
or inctrectly, from the fares and charges by way of dis-
count or allowance, nor by season return tickets, or ex-
cursion tickets available by regular trains, nor by re-
booking intermediately or otherwise. The third-class
trains shall be agreed on, and there shall be no increase
of third-class accommodation beyond that necessary
for the requirements of the several districts. In case of
difference the matter is to be subject to the decision of
the referee. The scale of excursion fares shall be fixed
by agreement, er by the referee in case of difference.
Each company is to be held responsible for all acts of
its respective agents in relation to its traffic arrange-
ments, rates, and conditions- of the agreement. glioild
either company desire to alter any rate or fare it is
to give five clear days' notice (Sundays excepted)
in writing to the other, at the London stations of
the companies, am& failing acceptance of the proposed
change after three clear days from the day of notice, it
may then give notice to refer the matter to the referee,
who shall forthwith decide the question, upon hearing
the views of both from one person on behalf of each com-
pany. Provision it also made for any violation of the
agreement, in which case, should the referee determine
that the violation of the agreement had been intention-
ally made by the company, its servants or agents, a
penalty of seven times the amount of the particular fare
or freight improperly charged, or, in other respects of
ViolittiOn, ilt penalty of such amount as the referee shall
determine shall be paid to the aggrieved company. The
agreement is for three months certain, and to continue'
until determined by notice in writing of one month on
either side.