The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-09 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY SUPERSTITION.

On Wednesday last, at the Newark Police-Court, an
elderly woman, who gave her name as Ann Williamson,
Freeman, a hawker, of the same place, with
living at Nonwell, near Newark, charged a man named
Thomas
cutting and maiming her with intent to commit bodily
harm. It appeared in evidence that Freeman came to
her house in the night a short time before, and grasped
her arm, making several cuts with some sharp instru-
ment, which caused the blood to flow freely; he then
went away. The defendant, being called on to answer
the charge, made the following extraordinary statement :
Some time ago one of his daughters was taken ill; she
was reduced to a complete skeleton, and suffered such
pain, during which s.he frequently called out complain-
ant's name. Recently another of
his daughters was
attacked in a similar manner, which induced him to
commit the outrage, being encouraged so to do by some
of his neighbours, who told him that if he could by any
means draw blood from the complainant, who was
supposed to have bewitched his daughter, it would
dissolve the charm, and both his daughters would get
better. Accordingly he repaired to the house on the
night in question, and requested the complainant to
come down and see his daughters. She, however,
refused, in consequence of the scandal he had raised
about her. He admitted having drawn a darning
needle across her arm, and upon being reprimanded by
the magistrates, aud asked if he believed in such super-
stition, answered that he did, and if the bench has seen
as much of. such charms as he had, they would believe in
witchcraft too. Ho was fined 14s. 6d. and costs.

MURDER at GREENOCK by a LUNATIC.
The town of Greenock was most painfully agitated
on Thursday afternoon by an occurrence which is one
of the most dreadful in its annals. The perpetrator of
the deed is a half-insane young fellow, named James
Scott, a shoemaker, who lived with his father, a re-
spectable man, named Matthew Scott, who followed the
same trade, and resided in Cross-shore-street. So far as
we have learned, the elder Scott and his wife, who is
stepmother to the young man, had gone out, leaving
their infant daughter in the cradle in charge of a girl,
about 18 years of age, and who is a relation of the
family. James, the son, was also left in the house, and
he by-and-by got a razor, and made such threatening
remarks and flourishes with it that the girl fled, leaving
the infant in the cradle behind her. She immediately
returned, however, along with some other people, and
found that in the meantime a bloody deed had been per-
petrated. So effectually had this lunatic committed the
act of murder upon his helpless little stepsister that the
head of the infant was found lying on the fluor, while
the body remained in the cradle. The fellow had im-
mediately effected his escape, but officers were sent in
pursuit in all directions, and in the course of the evening
Scott was apprehended on the Inverkip-road. This
fellow has repeatedly shown insane tendencies, and has
suffered imprisonment for acts of violence. It is not
much to the credit of the authorities of Greenock,l
therefore, that he should have been allowed to remain at
large till ho had an opportunity of committing a deed so
truly diabolical.

STABBING BY FOREIGN SAILORS AT

BRISTOL.

On Thursday a very ferocious assault with large
knives was committed by some Danish sailors in the
neighbourhood of Broad-street, Bristol. The men,
who formed part of the crew of an American vessel,
lying on the quay, were in the habit, as is nut un-
common with foreign sailors, of wearing large knives
appended in leather cases to their sides. On the
evening in question the Danes came ashore in a party,
for the purpose of amusing themselves in the city,
and in the course of their peregrinations they picked
up with three or four girls, with whom they went
drinking. During the time they went to a tavern in
the neighbourhood of the centre of the city, at which
there was singing going on. After amusing them-
selves for some time they left, and when in a public
passage communicating with the house they com-
menced a qnarrel with the females, and between each
other. I❑ the course of the disturbance they drew
their knives out of their cases, and flourished them i❑
a way which created considerahle alarm among the
byshnders. One of the persona looking on was a
working man named Robert Jones, who had been
through the passage to the house of a fellow-workman,
and who on his road stopped for a few minutes to
ascertain what was the cause of the tumult. He had
not interfered in any way, and he was standing quietly
with his cap in his hand when one of the sailors,
named Hans Kresshnar, made a rush at him with his
knife and inflicted a wound on the back part of his
head. Upon finding himself wounded and bleeding
Jones cried out that he had been stabbed, and a
female named Ann Rogers, who resided close by, and
who had come from her house to see what was the
cause of the disturbance, seized Kresshnar by the
arm, in the hope of averting further mischief. The
fellow, disregarding her, aimed a second blow at
Jones with the knife, which, in consequence of her
pulling, glanced off, and the point of it entered the
woman's neck. He then at once broke away from
her and escaped into one of the houses, but he was
watched, followed, and ultimately apprehended by
the police. He had contrived to rid himself of the
knife, but the case in which he carried it was still
strapped round his waist.
RACING FIXTURES FOR 1852.

OCTO
Newmarket S. 0.

IBER.
I Holywell Hunt
_. .

Perth
18
18
IP3LntteYfrCti

Richmond
Lanark .. 22
Newmarket Houghton.. 25