The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-10 00:00:00

Extraordinary Suicide of a Young Woman

Yesterday forenoon Mr John Humphreys, Middlesex
coroner, held an inquiry at the Black Horse Tavern,
Kingsland-road, respecting the death of Ann Holliday,
aged 17, who committed suicide under very extraordinary
circumstances.
Richard Arnold, 6, Duncan-street, London-fields, said
that about 12 o'clock on Thursday morning he was on the
Haggerston-bridge, when he saw the deceased on the top of
the parapet. A girl named Louisa Francis had a hold of her,
and kept her up. Francis called out that she could not hold
her longer. Witness ran up and saved her. Two police •
men came up at the time, and ono of them took her into
custody, but the other said, " Oh, let her go ; she is afraid
to drown herself." He let her go, and she went away from
the canal. but witness saw her turn up another street. He
followed her, and saw her rushing up the street towards
the Queen's- road-bridge. He overtook her, and said, "You
are a very foolish young woman." She said, " You do not
know all." A crowd gathered, and she asked the way to
Cambridge-heath-bridge. After a short time had elapsed,
witness saw her getting over a paling next the towing path.
Louisa Francis caught hold of her dress, but she struck
Francis in the lace, and saying, " There is no use in your
trying to stop me," forced herself clear. Witness jumped
the palings, but fell, and deceased plunged into the water.
There was a dog present, and witness sent the animal in,
but it was not strong enough to pull her out. A crowd
gathered, and five policemen. The drags did not come for
a long time. A gentleman said that he would go in after
deceased; but he did not like the job, and he was ten
minutes taking off his shirt and trousers. He said that
some one in the crowd stole his shirt.pin, and when he went
into the water he kept his watch in his hand, He could not
swim very well, and he came out again.
Coroner—With five policemen standing by, did he think

it necessary to carry his watch in his hand ?
Witness said that the gentleman was very vexed about
his pin being stolen. The police said to him that he could
have taken twenty shirts off while he was taking off one ;
but they did not offer to go in themselves. Ultimately the
drags were brought, and deceased was got out, dead. Wit-
ness could not tell who the policeman was that let the de-
ceased out of his custody in the first instance. Deceased
appeared to be sober.
Louisa Francis, 6, Mildmay-avenue, Ball's-pond, said
that deceased lived with her. On the Wednesday night
she met Charles Nicholson, with whom she lived. There
was a quarrel, he struck her, and she said she would com-
mit suicide. She was not sober. She tried to commit suicide

peop.

two years ago.
Charles Nicholson, a seller of "canaries," or stained
sparrows, about the streets, a respectably dressed young
man, said that deceased lived with him as his wife He met
her on Wednesday in the street, and asked her for the key.
She refused it. and threw money and mud in his face. He
struck her with his open hand, not with his fist, and pushed
her down. He knew she walked the streets, but he gave
her money to live upon. She had taken poisoa once.
It
was said she poisoned her child, and she was arrested for
it, but it was a mistake. The child died. She lived with
another before she lived with witness.
The parents of the deceased said that she lodged three
doors from their house in Mildmay-avenue. She never had
a child, and she had only been given to loose ways for three
or four months. Other evidence, however, was to a very
different effect. One witness stated that the deceased, who
was a very fine girl, had been " gay" to the knowledge of
her parents ever since she was a child. She would not have
been 17 until May next.
The Coroner remarked upon the extraordinary nature of
the case. It was a preposterous act for the police to have let
the deceased go free when they had arrested her in the
very act of committing suicide. The state of profligacy
disclosed was a disgrace to all concerned.
The jury returned a verdict, " That the deceased com-
mitted suicide While in a state of unsound mind from drink
and debauchery."
The proceedings then terminated.

WORK OF COUNTY COURT JUDGES.--A Parlia-
mentary return shows that the County Court judges in
England aro occupied from 105 to 175 days in the year in
disposing of the business before them. Halt of them are
thus occupied not less than 140 days in the year. The salary
is generally £1,200 a year, but there are 11 judges receiv-
ing £1,500. The whole number is 59.
CAPTAIN SEMMES.—Yesterday the following was
received at. Lloyd's from an agent attached to the
Salvage .A,sociation, who had just arrived from Bremer-
haven :—" Friday, Sept. 9.—A large steamer is reported to
have put into Nieudiep on Saturday, with French colours
flying, for a pilot. A boat put out, and put ono on board.
The steamer then came out under Prussian colours, and on
reaching Bremerhaven again changed colours and hoisted
the Confederate flag. The pilot who took her to Bremer-
haven believes she still remains there. She steamed 10
knots at half speed, and is reported to be under the com-
mand of Captain Semmes (late of the Alabama), with 300
men on board, and is pierced for 40 guns. She is said to
have been built at Bordeaux, where there are three similar
iu the course of building." The agent of Lloyd's Associa-
tion adds that the above information was volunteered by the

PR1CE..........4d.
STAMPEDi....Sd.

Railways in the Highlands of Scotland

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are now
within 21 hours' distance of London, and there is
every prospect that before the close of another year
there will be an iron road from the Land's End to
John o'Groat's. By the extension of the Aberdeen
and Inverness Junction and the Inverness end Perth
Railway from Perth, where they both converge,
there is direct communication with Dingwall and
Tain, the two principal towns in Roesshire, and it
is now proposed to carry forward the coast line on
the one hand to Wick, and to make a new line from
Dingwall direct on through the western district to
the Isle of Skye. The eastern line will bring the
great fisheries of the Caithness coast into proximity
with all the southern markets, while the western

line will open up the whole of the West Highlands,
and enable the sheep farmers and graziers to send
their stock to London, and intermediate towns. The
fisheries of Skye and the West Highland lochs will
also be developed by this new means of conveyance.
The principal portion of the required capital has
already been raised, and chiefly by the landlords
through whose property the line will pass. The
estimated cost of the railway is under £6OO a mile.
All the railways in the north of Scotland are single
lines, bat well worked, and have hitherto been en-
tirely free of accident.
Since the opening of the Strathspey line in con-
nection with the Great Northern of Scotland Rail•
way, which has its entropot at Aberdeen, ironstone
has been discovered on the estate of Arndilly, and
the mines are already being worked. A sample of
the ore was forwarded to England for analysis,
and the results being satisfactory, nearly 500 have
been blasted and quarried, with every probability
that the mountains around will afford an unlimited
supply. Manganete has been found on the
Duke of Richmond's property, and is now
being worked. On the opposite coast at Brora
coals were found many years ago, but for
some reason or other it was never mined.
Should these mines turn out well, the smelting far•
nace will no doubt soon appear, and there will be
a `• black country" in the Highlands of Scotland as
well as in Staffordshire.
The introduction of railways in these parts is
likely to bring into general repute the mineral
waters of Strathpeffer, in Ross-shire, which are
dim ilar to those of Harrogate, and have been long
locally used. They are on the property of the
Duchess of Sutherland, and at present attended by
an average of some 200 people. The duchess has
had the place beautified, and the prices of the water
are all bat nominal, the rental of the wells being all
laid out in keeping the grounds in repair. There
are mineral baths now fitted up and two hotels,
where there is most comfortable accommodation on
very reasonable terms. Mineral springs of a similar
character have been opened in Ballendalloch, not
far from the manganese mines already noticed.

In view of these facts it will not be surprising to
hear that Highland property is increasing in value.
The shootings have greatly advanced in rental, and
the sheep farms are on the rise. The population of
the Highlands is at present in comfortable circum.
stances, and it is to be hoped we have seen the end
of that periodical distress which had become chronic,
and could never have been relieved by the old sys-
tem of the cottage and croft, with the squatter un-
improveable being in his native glen, while the no-

mads were good for nothing but to go a•fishing in
summer and lie at home in idleness in winter. All
classes will benefit by the progress of science in
the north, and fixed habits of industry and useful-
n2ss will ultimately become characteristic of the

The;Colliery Explosion in Northumberland.

The whole of the 11 men rescued on Thursday
from Seghill pit after the explosion were more or
less injured, and three or four of them were in a
somewhat critical state when the last advice came
from the pit. The men who are suffering the moat
are Thomas Hogg, Robert Wood, Henry Mills, and
William Richardson all advanced in life. It teems
that the pit was worked with the Davy lamp, and
the men had the strictest orders not to employ a
naked light or smoke in the workings: The place
where the explosion took place is known as the
" old fiat," beyond the Californian way. The men
who were in there were killed ; but the 11 men and
lads who were subsequently rescued alive were
some distance from the scene of the explosion, and
are suffering from the effects of " stythe," or choke-
damp. One of the men rescued states that the ex-
plosion "knocked him deaf." "The' pit putter lad,"
oar of the rescued men, Rutherford states, came
back and said "Rutherford, she's fired." We came
directly towards the shaft as fast as we could. We
got behind the door in the cress cut in the Cali-
fornian way which leads towards the Burrdon
workings. We got behind the door when we met
the stythe: Me and Wedderburn put some small
coal and clay in to stop the stythe coming in
through the door, and I believed this saved all our
lives. About 30 yards off the door we met a little
return air which supported us all the time we were
in. I did not become insensible until about half-
past 8 o'clock, nine hours and a half after the ex-
plosion." The working parties during Thuraday
morning laboured with great energy to reach the
men ; but some hours elapsed before the ventilation
was restored, and it is a perfect miracle that any
of the rescued men had retained life under the
circumstances in which they were confined in the
pit so many hours. Until tolerably well in the
forenoon there was no hope that any of them would
be brought to bank alive. In a stable in the
,s Californian way," not far from where the bodies
of the dead men were found, 18 ponies were
destroyed by the explosion, The ponies in a stable,
nearer the shaft were uninjured. The killed are—
Thomas Heaps, hewer, a married man—Henry
Whitehouse, hewer, a young man—William Taylor
a putter, a young man—Richard Robinson, shifter,
a married man—Sohn Hand, shifter, a young man
—John Miles, a boy, a timber leader—and George
Jackson, a married man, a timber leader. About
400 men were employed at the pit. The foreshaft
men go down to work about 2 o'clock in the morn•
in, and had they been below when the explosion
occurred the loss of life would probably have been
much greater• A fortnight ago Mr. T. E. Foster
and Mr. Sohn Taylor, the well-known mining
engineers, inspected the mine, and everything they
examined was to their satisfaction, both as regards
the ventilation and general arrangement of the
workings, and Campbell, the master-shifter, and
made a minute inspection of the workings only
three hours before the explosion. As is usual on
these occasions, there was a large and prompt at-
tendance of medical men at the colliery as soon as
it was known an explosion had occurred, and the
viewers, with the pitmen from the neighbouring
collieries, also flocked to be in readiness to proceed
to explore the mine in search of the lost men. Mr.
Carson, the under-viewer, and the other officials
were very active in making arrangements below
for the rescue of the men.

A SAD OCCURRENCE.—An inquest was held on
Monday evening at the Town-hall, Cardiff, on the
body of a boatman named Thomas Evans, 25 years of age,
who met his death under the following extraordinary.cir-
eumstances :—A little before 12 o'clock on Saturday night
deceased was in conversation with a young woman, W ‘T.hom
he would have bt,en merried in the course of fortii-1).7
and was sit tint on the parap, I-, of a bridge that crosses
the
canal. It is said that ho had been drinking, and his future
spouse had just previously induced him to leave a tavern.
Whilst in the act of kissing and bidding her " Good night,"
deceased's hoed suddenly fell back, and
his overposed body
fell into the canal, his head striking an abutment of the
bridge. Horrified at the sight of the body in the water, the
young woman roused the neighbourhood by her screams
as she ran round to the landing steps, and resolutely jumped
in to rescue her betrothed, but from the shock she had
sustaine X She was powerless to bring. the body ashore.
Assistance came, and medical testimony certified that death
had been occasioned by a fractured skull, causing contu-
sion of the brain 7 Verdict, " Accidental deaths':