The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-25 00:00:00

An Adventure in a Railway Carriage.

A reverend gentleman, living at Gloucester, hss commu-
nicated the following extraordinary narrative to our corre-
spondent in that city :—Travelling from London to Glou-
cester on Thursday by the express train which left Padding-
ton at 1145, a scene took place which shows (if additional
proof were required) the importance of establishing some
means of communication between the passengers and the
guard. I had a second class ticket, and anxious to avoid

the inconvenience of changing at Swindon, I took a seat in

the through carriage to Gloucester. My fellow travellers
were two ladies, who were going, I think, into
South Wales, and I had just settled snugly in a corner,
and prepared for a l'eve hours' quiet reading, when my
attention was attracted by the entrance of a num is
a sailor's dress, whoee bloodshot eyes and savage mien,
told of drunkenness. I was on the point of eech"..as the
guard, when the fellow suddenly left the carriage, end, the
guard coming up at the moment, I requested that he ',7ould
nut allow him to return. Batto my surprise, almost at the
instant of starting, the fellow burst into the carrinoe, fol-
lowed by the guard, who wacned him that if he did set be-
have properly ho would be left on the road. Now, this was
not as pleasant prospect. We were to run to Swindon with-
out stopping, and were to be all this time caged with a
drunken ruffian. But there was no help for it. In the course
of some ten or twelve minutes the fellow vehemently
proclaimed himself "a Southern privateer and an enemy
to the English." Rising from his seat he staggered
over the feet of the ladies, and, confronting me, demanded
what I had to say, threatening to " smash my sky-
lights" if I did not tell him my opinion, and
flourishing his huge fist in my face by way of warning.
I quieted him for a few minutes by getting him to tell us
something of his early life. He said ho was an English-
man, had run away from home when a boy, had gone to
South America, and that when the war broke out he had
taken service in a Southern privateer. Hie; tale was mixed
up with such oaths and blasphemies ;hat I was glad to
withdraw my attention, whereupon to my dismay ho pre-
duced a bottle of strong drink of some 11;11,', :,.lid swore he
would " treat the company." He put it his mouth by
way of showing us ho-.v to do it, and took a pull so hearty
and, so long that he swallowed ean,,ahalf the contents.
Declaring in words not to be repeated that the man or
woman who did not drink should "catch it," he pre-
sented the bottle to each of the lathes. Having spent about
ten minutes coaxing and threatening them, he turned
to me. I expected I wss "in for it," but upon my
refusal he only expressed contempt for "old Jinnies," and
took the remainder himself at one gulp. This over, he
prepared for smoking, and seeing it alarm us, he amused
himself for some time in throwing about half-burnt matches.
He had learnt the free and easy habits of American society,
and spat with an accuracy of aim that was undeniable, for
ho made my face the target on two or three occasions. When
he had satisfied himself upon this head he grew heavy, and,
stretching out his legs so as to take up one side of the
carriage, he fell, as we delightedly supposed, into a sleep
I settled down to read, and had been perhaps 10 minutes or
so employed, when I wee startled by a shriek and a spring
from one of the ladies, and on 'coking up 1 saw, to m,
terror, that the fellow had suddenly opened the v-' glow.
and had so far succeeded in getting out that but for tux ire.
Bence of mind and courage of the lady, who had seized him
by the hair, he would have been under the wheels in another
moment. By uniting our efforts we were able to drag him
in, but for full a quarter of an hour he fought and tore like
a savage, leaping at the window, and we restrained him, till
at last ho was compelled to desist through sheer exhaustion.
What a situation to be in! He then adopted a line of
retaliation which was so grossly indecent and outragious
that I dare not describe it. The poor ladies (whose condi.' ',-
exceeded all praise) huddled together into a corner, ay-oho
stood in front guarding them with a stout umbrella. I con
fees if at this moment the scoundrel had attempted to get
out of the window again I think I should have allow: him
his csare way. Providentially the engine-driver foand it
neceses-aa • e stop at Wantago-road, and I sucece, s 1 in
obte.he-og hl, and had him removed. If we had been com-
plle! r-n all the way to Swindon, Heaven, who pre-
'. -s, only knows what might have happened. The
—"Nuw, I think you will agree with me when

Z',' • -

1 ~ ~

it was a shameful outrage to put such a ruffian

t arriage, or into any carriage, with civilised people.
7:7 e it. 77 wo were only second-class passengers, but that is
E 74 lent reason—at least to us—why we should have
been t- ified almost cut of our lives, and disgusted to
loathit77 by the conduct of this drunken scoundrel. Never
did I fool so utterly helpless. It put my head out of the
window, and I called till I became hoarse, and although the
gnard was within a few yards we might have been mur-
dered for any help he could have rendered ; and all this in
ore= :lay, and on the Great Western Railway I Perhaps
if so: .3 of the wives and daughters of some of the directors
had be...-. the carriage something might come of it, but
of C0L1:53 es t.:ey travel in the first class such a thing is not
likely to t.• c-= to them ; and yet poor Briggs's ease shows
us that c:c ' era people are not always safe. How long
vill tha 1-ear this kind of thing ? Surely it is our
daty cell 112 on Covernment to compel the directors to
• ~ -,t.

I C T ITOT QUITE A T TIIOU.
S ;3 lous part graph has bzen
go'rrr of tie , Atating that Mr Te myson
;'-e4.. "I an. tb:r. -,, )00 by the sale of his last voi-,ie

a..': . do not pretend to be acquaLited
with O.- T .4-eate's ...uncial affairs, nor to know how
much • his publishers have paid him ; but this we do
know—and from the best authority—that up to the present
time al. - .t 32,000 copies of the work in question have been
sold. On no other business matter is there usually dis-
played so much popular misconception and ignorance as
when the profits arising from the publications of eminent
authors are concerned. The habits, dress, and incomes of
great men will always be matter of lively interest to curious
readers and to " worshippers;" but a little common sense
should at least guide those who construct ana, and concoct
literary statistics. " Enoch Arden" is a six-shilling book ;
a part of this amount—say something less than two shillings
—will have to be deducted as the trade percentage or book-
sellers' allowance, the printer will take:another portion, the
binder another, and the paper merchant and advertising
agent will also expect to be paid. Assuming that two
shillings per copy, or even three shillings, may be the
author's royalty, it is tolerably clear that the £lO,OOO said
to be Mr Tennyson's recent gaiu is simply one of those
pleasant fictions started and circulated for popular amuse-
ment. So few poetical publications ever pay for paper and
print that a great metrical success is not unlikely to mag-
nify itself—and this, we suppose, must bo the excuse for
the paragraph in error recently circulated.
:MANNING THE NAVY.—The continuous-service
men who entered the navy in considerable numbers in the
year 1854 aro now rapidly claiming their discharge; and
although various ways aro attempted by which they may be
attracted to remain in the service, yet few, if any, consent
to prolong their term. We deeply regret that such is the
fact, as we are all interested in maintaining the efficiency of
the navy; but it would not only be fruitless, buy
yens to disguise the truth. We have been informed that
only lately 70 seamen claimed their discharge from the
Marlborough at Malta. This, of course, could not be re-
fused to them ; but when the question of a passage to Eng-
land was mooted, no one would come to their assistance
and the men had to find their way home as best they could.
This is not the best method to pursue if we desire to induce
sailors "to love their country and honour their Queen."—
_dm?, and Navy Gaz,tle.

TILE STONE RECORD.--Colonel Greenwood writes
as follows to the Atheneeum :—" A creator without
a c-Pation is scarcely more contradictory than a creation
wi:t.Tut creatures. And reason and analogy teach us that
before the first strata were formed on this globe, its land,
air, and waters must have teemed with life. As errata re-
sult frclr. slow aqueous erosion and denudation, thousands
of years, or thousands of ages must have passed during the
formatie of the first strata ; and it is as contrary to the
Mosaics account as it is to all reason and analogy, to suppose
that the Almighty Creator should have kft his magnificent
work, this glorious globe, to swing through apace tenantless
for ages. What evidence have we that land animals of
the highest order did not exist from the first ? Wby, that
that we do not find fossils of land animals in sea strata.
This argument is, as I have said, as childishly absurd as if
Columbus had told us that America had no land animals on
it, because he had dredged the sea, and had found no re-
mains of them. Tarde magna proveniunt, but it is satisfac-
tory, at last, to find Sir Charles Lyell at Bath saying that
he agrees with Mr Darwin that the stone record is frag-
mentary and incomplete, But, on this fact, and on the rea-
sons of this fact, is founded a main argument, which runs
through the whole of Rain and Rivers,' in which a chap-
ter is headed, Man may have existed in the Silurian
Period.' This was published in 1867, long before The
Origin of Species,' or the French river-terraces,, or the
Danish shell-mounds, or the Swiss lake villages, or' The
Antiquity of Man' were heard of. The two great men,
however, have taken one step in the right direction. But
they will have to take a great many more. initiates nos
credimus—in vestibule hccremus, And, I may add, venitt
tempus quo posteri nostri tans apertz nos nescisse rnirentur,
and that time is at hand.

DEATH BY LIGHTNING.—Dr Chretien, of Mont-
pellier, has sent an account to the French Aca-
demy of Sciences of a remarkable instance of the terrible
offtcts.of lightning. On the 2d inst. he was sent for to as-
certain the death of a youth of 16, killed instantaneously
by the electric fluid in his bed, he being ill at the time. His
mother and three young men who had come to see him were in
the room when the catastrophe occurred. One of the young
men was seated at the foot of the bed, another near the
bolster, and the third close to the door of the apartment,
which was on the first floor, contiguous to the roof of the
house; the mother was between the second and third
visitors. The lightning penetrated into the house through
the wall of a large room adjoining the sick room; it broke
all the window panett in the former before reaching the other
where the company were. The young man at the foot of
the bed had the legs of his trousers partially burnt off;
the second received a wound on one of his legs, and the
Mother had her left leg cruelly bruised, the stocking was
partially burnt, and deep burns were perceptible on the
flesh. Her son, as already stated, was killed, and the fluid
ultiniatc'y escaped throui-;12 the window,

COND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 o'CLocK,

ITALY.

TURIN, Oct. 25.—The sittings of the Italian
Parliament have been adjourned until further orders.
UDINE, Oct. 23,—A band of.about 100 insurgents,
among whom aro several deserters, have taken re,
fags in the forest of Consiglio. Several deserters
at Cadore and Benno are endeavouring to j Din.
them.

—_z
SPORTING lITTELLIGENP,E—This Day.

NEWMAIUiET RACES—THIS DAY.
(BY ELECTILIC TELEGIUML)
MATCH.
Fine se beat Olivia.
ALL. AGED STAKES.

Lord Burlezh
Excbegirr
0•• 2
Argonaut left at the post.
LA PLATE.

Troubadour..
Orloll
Six ran.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE.

Ackworth
Tomato
Thirty-eight ran.
Ran one hour and five minutes behind time.
LATEST BETTING.
CA MBRIDG
5 to 1 agst Stockinger (taken)
11 to 2 agst Gratitude (taken)
to 1 agst Brick (takcn)
9to 1 agst Columbia (taken)
100 to 8 agst Saccharometer (taken)
20 to 1 agst Prince Plausible (taken)

F. cr.t.A T C HIN GS ld—Historian—Made,sp—Blair
Athol Caller Oa Johnny Armstrong Stockowner—
Edvird the Co .fessor—Mountain Flower—Adventurer--
Morocco 0 rphelin Blackd o wn—Lawyer—Copenha gut
—Queen Crystal—Nocturne—Dormouse—Durham—The
Clown—Soumise—Filibuster—Carisbrook—Umpire—Toci
Tooi—Comme ca—Melrose—King George—Double X--
Charlemagne Castle Hill Suspicion— Danaus—Castle
Espie Ethelred—Marygold—Merry Hart—Armagnao—.
Tommy Jones—Baldwin—Peon—Charming Woman--
Crochet horse—Sigualman—Jessie—Raglan—ldler—Erin,
go Bragh—Peignoir—Physician—rarbonne—Antoinette
—Wandering Minstrel—Hersey filly—brother to Itubini—..
Charmian, Trap, and Giant.

HANDICAP SWEEPSTAKES OP 10 SOVS—Giant paid forfeit
HANDICAP SWEEPSTAKES OF 15 SOTS--Giant and CAM..
ball paid forfeit

CALCUTTA AND CHINA MAILS.

The following telegram hrs been received at
Mr, Reuter's office from the Peninsular and
Oriental Steam Navigation Company :
MARSEILLES, OCT. 24.
The Baroda, with the above mails, arrived at
;"arseilles at 6.30 a.m. this day.

Tte mails were to leave for London at 11 a.m.

A Family Scene at St. Cloud.

A writer in Bentley's Miscellany furnishes the following
interesting sketch.—(Charming reading for Mr Kinglake.)
The Empress was close before us on the upper terrace,
which is connected with her apartments by a light iron
bridge. This bridge was entirely concealed by a wild vine,
whose splendid dark red leaves were the sole thing which
reminded us of autumn. The terrace was still covered with
the gayest flowers, and orange and pomegranite flowers
stood in the open air. In the centre near a perfect mound
of flowers, the Empress was seated In one of those pretty
wire-work chairs, which are elegantly made in Paris. In
front of her lay, on a similar table, a book and some needle-
work in a plain basket. The face of the exalted lady was
sickly and pale—the noble profile, which appears so classical
in marble busts of the Empress, was still the same—and so
was the full hair, but in the features there was a sorrow,
and the pallor was almost painful to look on. A cheerful
contrast was afforded by the youthful Prince ; he was play-
ing with a snow white dog, which impudently leaped on the
lap of the Empress. What does a dog know of the etiquette
of court? The Prince is a remarkably handsome boy, tall
and well grown for his age, with curly hair, and round
fresh face, with clever eyes, and very like one of
Raphael's angels; at the same time his manner is admir-
able, and there is grace in all his rao7ements. He wore the
trousers of the corporal's uniform, and over them a blouse,
pale yellow with blue embroidery, which became him well,
In the background sat two ladies, in one of whom I recog-
nised Madame Bruat. " Gouvernante des Enfants de
France." At this moment the Emperor slowly crossed the
iron bridge ; an old white haired gentleman accompanied
him, Mocquard, the chief of hies cabinet. The Emperor said
a couple of words to him, and then dismissed him with a
kindly wave of the hand. Mocquard, after making a deep
bow, disappeared. The little Prince ran to meet his father
and the dog barked at the Emperor most improperly. The
latter raised his son from the ground, kissed him on the
forehead, then took his hand, and walked with him up to
his mother, the Empress rose and the couple walked along
the flower beds in conversation, with the Prince behind
them. The Emperor was in civilian dress, with hat and
gloves and the traditional lilac paletot—a fashion which the
King of Holland left him on his visit. The Emperor looked
remarkably stout ; his face was as usual dark and stern,
and the heavy moustache rendered it still sterner. Still he
seemed to be in good spirits ; he often laid his hand on the
Priace's curly head, and pointed to several of the
flower-pots, as if telling him the names of the plants.
The Empress soon seated herself again at her former
seat, the Emperor took a chair by her side, and took
a portfo!io, in which he wrote, though without inter-
rueting his conversation with the Empress. The
Prince was very busy with his mother's work-basket, and
listened the while to his parents' conversation. The little
Prince ruddenly addresses a question to his father, who
shakes his head in refusal ; but the boy leaps on his knee,
and begs and coaxes, and at last draws his mother into the
embrace, At length the Emperor appears to give way, and
consent, the Prince at last leaps about merrily, the lapdog
cornea to life again, too, and the old gentleman with the
white hair appears again in the allee and begins bowing
lung before their Majesties notice him. M. Mocquard an-
nounces that the Ministers are assembled, and awaiting the
Emperor. His Majesty rises, kisses his son, and seems to
repeat his promise; then he effers the Empress his arm,
and escorts her over the bridge to her apartments. The
Prince remains on the terrace with the two other ladies and
the lapdog, when M. Mocquard disappears again on the side
dim On the same day I read the following notice in an
evening paper :—" The Emperor came this afternoon from
St. Cloud to Paris, in order to inspect the new Boulevard
du Prince Eugene ; he was in a light open phaeton, and
drove himself. The Prince Imperial was seated by his side
—the first time he has accompanied his Majesty on such a
drive. The carriage was without escort—there was only
two footmen behind. Ills Majesty was received with loud
shouts on all the Boulevards, end the public were delighted
at the pleasant salutes which the little Prince offered cm all
sides." It was this, then, the little Prince had asked and
coaxed from his father—a trip with papa, and not, as usual,
in the large stupid four-horso state coach, surrounded by
&ettering dragoons and aides-de-camp.

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