The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-08 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

ICEIGITI3OURS' QUARRELS.—George Cotton appeared to
a summons before Mr. Arnold, charged with making usa
of abusive bingusge towards a female named Ogilvie, who
was subsequently charged with throwing a pail of water
over an infant. Mr. Drew, solicitor, of New Basin gliall-
street, was engaged for the complainant.
It appeared that the complainant and the defendant were
neighbours, living in Gaorge-sireet, Chelsea, and that they
were not on friendly terms. On the 27th of May, com-
plainant was at her door, when the defendant, who hap-
pened to see her, made use of some filthy expressions, and
called her an old washerwoman, complainant not being of
that occupation. ' Upon this summons being issued, a
counter•summons was taken out against the complainant,
who was accused of throwing a pail of water over an infant
belonging to the defendant,

Numerous witnesses were examined:on each side, and it
was stated by one of them that the infant was nearly
drowned.

Complainant denied that she flung the water as alleged,
and said that she intended the water for the defendant's
sou, who was annoying her, and that accidentally some of
the water went over the child. She was sorry that any of
it went over the infant.
Mr Arnold observed that such was most likely to be the
case, and that he thought the best course to take was to
hold each to bail to keep
the peace towards the other for
six months.
This was done, and the parties left the court.
THAMES.
DANGEROUS SPORT.—A raechanic named Hemming,
of Glanen's-street, Bow-common, came before Mr Partridge,
and complained of the dangerous nature of the pigeon
shooting, practised in the grounds of the Prince of Wales
tavern, on Bow-common. The shot from a rifle aimed at
a tamed pigeon struck his back window, broke five panes
of glass, and were scattered about the room. Two shots
entered
nce. his breast and put
him to great pain and incon-
venie
Mr Partridge—How far is the shooting ground from your
house ?

Applicant—About 50 yards.
Mr Partridge—How far is the house from any public
thoroughfare ?

- -
Applicant-1 can't say, / believe it is close to a public
thoroughfare.

Mr Partridge said the police of the district ought to take
action in this matter directlY, and summon the owner of
the ground. He recommended the
applicant, and a man
who accompanied him, to proceed to the Poplar Station-
house,the
and consult the police on
subject.
BATTLING IN THE REGENT's CANAL. TWO young men,
named James Wilson and Patrick Connelly, were brought
before Mr. Partridge charged with bathing in the Regent's
Canal at Stepney last night, „
,
~ iison was taken out of the
water. Connelly, a rough blackguard, after going into the
Canal, a state of nudity. He was
drunk.
Smith, 345 K. said there Were many in the canal last
night and this morning, and the inhabitants of the houses
atial, stood on the bank ill
in Stepney on each bank complained of the nuisance.
The district of Stepney and Limehouse intersected by the
canal was densely populated—in fact,
bathing there was as
pe have were posted on the banks
strict orders to take into
public and open as it would be if a canal passed through
Ludgate-hill and Piccadilly. Largo
printed broadsides
of containingthec
custody all persons bathing in the Regent's Canal. Penalty,
40s or one month in the House of Correction with hard
labour, Regent's Canal-office, y ce, ci,_.
road-basin, June,
1864." ana
ltlie following
:—"rho
Police words
An officer of the Regents Can al Company swill, that a
place was set apart for bathers in the Victoria Dock, and
the Regent's Canal Company had provided a large piece of
water with half an acre of ground in Canabridge-heath,
Bethnal-green, The admission to the place was one half-
penny only.
Mr Partridge said there was no excuse whatever for
public bathing and indecent exhibititns in pepulous
districts bordering on the canal. He fined Wilson os, and
ordered that Conolly should find one surety to keep the
peace for a month.
[EnuATA—In our report yesterday the substitution of
the word "smashed" for "insinuated" altered the meaning
of the magistrate's observations. It should have been
thus :—Most likely the complainant Mrs Lawrence in-
sinuate:: something against the defendants after the attack
upon her. The rest of the sentence was correctly given,]

Additional Particulars of the Accident on
the South-Western Railway.

- - -

Five persons wero killed by this accident last night.
Mr. Edwin Hall, corn merchant, Duke-street, Manchester
equare, had his legs cut clean off above the knees, and his
body was fearfully mangled. A man named Corbett, but
known in racing circlet, as " Padwick's Mouse," and who
lived in the same house as Mr. Hall, died fron concussion
and fractures. Mr. Willey, landlord of the Globe Inn,
King's-road, Chelsea, died from concussion. Mr. Clegg
landlord of the Harp publichouse, Jermyn-street, was also
killed; and Mr. William Winfield, farm bailiff and gar-
dener to C. Bracebridge, Etcp, of Sherborne, died from
concussion. An apprentice to the chief cook of the Prince
of Wales was so severely injured that both his feet had to
be amputated; and Mr. Esau Trigg, publican, Brighten,
was taken to the Charing-cross Hospital, having sustained
a fractured lag and two broken ribs. The inquest will pro•
bably be held to-morrow,

The " Situation,"
(Ftona the Realm of To-day.)

There is every reason to anticipate that the
Danish Government will persist in its prudent oppo-
sition to the indefinite prolongation of the armistice
The German Powers for strategical, the English
Cabinet for perliamentary, purposes, are equally
desirous of gaining time. In a few months the sea-
son, which is advantageous to the Dines, will have
passed away; in a few weeks Parliament will be
disbanded ; and when the summer is over Dinmarle
will once more be at the mercy of Germany, and
the guardianship of English interests and English
honour be entrusted to an uncontrolled and vir-
tually irresponsible executive. We frankly con-
fess that the prospect of further disaster to Den•
mark is not the apprehension which we have
principally i❑ view when we express the
anxicus hope that the design which the German
and English plenipotentiaries are pursuing
together may be speedily and finally frus-
trated. We are more concerned to perceive
that the peace of Europe cannot be considered secure
as long as a question so fertile in discord is allowed
to remain unsettled. But what touches us most
nearly is the reflection that,if the Ministerial tactics
attain their object, we may again be subjected to
the humiliation under which the country is still
smarting, and be condemned to witness another
aeries of threatening despatches, followed by vacil-
lating conduct, and resulting in concession and
surrender. If the peace of Europe requires that the
Danish questio❑ should no longer be left in suspense,
it is no less indispensable to the honour and dignity
of England, that the opportunity should immediately
be given to Parliament, undisturbed by current
negotiations, to review the foreign policy of Her
Majesty's Government, and to determine whether
we are still to be represented before the world by
men whose acts and language are so little in corres-
pondence with the generous spirit of our country.
It is because we believe that it will have
the effect of hastening a solution, that we
congratulate the country upon the animated
debate which unexpectedly arose in the House
of Commons on Monday night, No one can
reproach the Opposition with a want of forbearance,
and Mr. Disraeli's demand for information is as
little open to the charge of being excessive as it is
to that of being premature. Mr. Kinglake,
though too anxious to serve the German cause to
subject the Government to inconvenient interpella-
tions, fully acknowledged the force of Mr. Disraeli's
position, that the reserve of the House of Commons
was dependent upon the fidelity of Ministers to the
basis of their negotiations. Even according to Mr.
Kinglake, a change in that basis ought to be com-
municated to Parliament in order that it may have
the opportunity of expressing its unaltered confi

denee i❑ the Government, or its disapprobation o

their new policy.

If we be rightly informod, the Danish pleni9
pot( ritiaries hE.ve adroitly availed themselves
of the opening afforded by the English proposi-
tion to place the Government in an embarrass-
ing dilemma. They have, it appears, agreed
to accept the propofel boundary of the Schlei, on
the condition that England should make its accept-
ance by Germany an ultimatum. Although in our
own opinion the Government should have adhered
to a system of non-intervention, which would have
made such a demand impossible, it cannot be denied
that, after all that has been written and said by her
Majesty's Ministry on the Schleswig-Holstein
question, Denmark has a right to expect that the
arbitration of so great a country as England should,
if necessary, be bapked by efficient action. Unless
this demand be complied with, and unless the Ger-

man plenipotentiaries show themselves on Thurs.

day next more yielding than they appeared on
Monday, it is probable that the labours of the Con-
ference will be brought to an abrupt conclusion.
It is satisfactory to rcflect that the interval in
the negotiations will be usefully occupiNi by de-
bates in Parliament, which can now no longer be
postponed, By a variety of expedients, the Govern-
ment succeeded in suppressing discussion before
Easter, and since then the Conference has COI= to
their assistance ; but the country is impatient of
delay, and unless the regular organs of opposition
in Parliament be found ready, as we have every
reason to anticipate that they will, to perform their
constitutional duties, the indignation of the people
will find vent through other and unsuspected chan-
nels. Nothing could be more fatal to the influence

of Parliament than the neglect, at such a crisis as

he pr6sent, of its supreme functions as the autho-

rised interpreter of public opinion.

The Gun-cotton Explosion at Stowmarket,

The inquest on the body of Elizabeth Barnard,
the second person whose death had been caused by
the explosion at Messrs. Prentice's guncotton
factory, was resumed on Monday morning at Stow-
market. Mr. F. B. Marriott, the coroner, stated
that the Secretary of State for War had instructed
a competent officer to inspect the works and give
evidence at the inquest. After several of the
workpeople had been re-examined Mr. Manning
Prentice stated that he had visited various scientific
gentlemen in London to endeavour to ascertain the
cause of the explosion. Professor Tyndal, to
whom the knife used in cutting the cotton, with
its notches, was shown, at once expressed his
opinion that it arose from this knife coining in
contact with the copper wire employed in the
cotton which is cut. Mr. Prentice also read a series of
new regulations for the factory, prepared with
the concurrence of Mr. Abel, the chemist to the
War Department. Dr. William Allen Miller, Pro-
fessor of Chemistry at King's College, London, the
first scientific witness examined, said, Dr. Frank-
land and myself came down from London on Satur.
day, and visited the Gun-cotton Factory, where we
saw the whole operation of the manufacture of the
cotton. We then proceeded to make experiments
on the ignition of gun-cotton by mechanical means,
particularly with the cutting machine. 'We made
a great number of experiments, our object being
to satisfy ourselves upon the conditions which I
were likely to arise, and to ascertain the cause of!
the explosion, We took pieces of copper wire
and placed them so that they should be cut
through, and endeavoured to ignite it in that way,
The copper was placed in various ways, sometimes
spirally and sometimes in the rope, and we also
tried to shave a piece off. We made 40 or 50 cuts
through the rope and the copper in various ways,
but did not succeed in firing the cotton in this way.
We put some small pieces of flint into the rope, and
cut it three or four times without any explosion,
but on the fourth or fifth cut the cotton exploded.
I think there can be very little doubt that the ex-
plosion was caused by the action of the knife either
upon copper or grit. lam not certain which, but I
think most probably copper. Dr. E. Frankland,
Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution,
London ; Dr. T. Richardson, technological chemist,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Professor of Chemistry at
Durham University; and Mr. J. Scott Russell,
C.E., were then examined, and gave evidence
confirming that of Dr. Miller. The coroner said
that the public reuit feel that everything possible
had been done to investigate the cause of the explo-
sion, and that Messrs Prentice had done all in their
power to throw light on the matter. The evidence
of the scientific men was that the explosion was
produced by the knife coming in contact with the
copper wire or with a piece of grit; but they all
inclined to the opinion that it was with the wire
and not wi li the grit. He did not know that they
were called upon to decide which of the two it was,
so long as they were satisfied it was accidental; and
it was clear that if the rules now arranged were
attended to there would be no danger of an explo-
sion in future. After a consultation of about three
quarters of an hour the jury found "That the said
Elizabeth Barnard died on the
29th day of May
last
last from injuries received by her clothes having
been accidentally set fire to by an explosion at
Messrs Prentice and Co.'s gun-cotton factory on the
24:h day of May last. The jury wish to state that
they are entirely satisfied with the manner in which
the recommendation for a scientific inquiry has been
carried out,"

SECOND EDITION.

bUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.—TIIis Day,
-0-
ASCOT RACES—This DAY.
(Br ELECTRIC TEL-EGRIPII.)
VISITORS' PLATE.

Jessie
OldmiLster
Privateer

Ten ran.,
CORONATION STAKES.

Brun

Auricula .
Rouge Crosse

Six ran.
ROYAL HUNT CUP.

Gem of the Sea ....

Crisis
Evelina
Thirty-four ran.
Gem of the Sea objected to for crossing Crisis at the side
of the course, preventing him getting up.
Objection overruled.
ASCOT DERBY STAKES.

Peon
Calista colt
Alpheus
......
Four ran.

HUNT CUP—Tajo scratched.

THIRD EDITION

SUN OFFICE, SEVEN O'CLOCK,