The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-01 00:00:00

T 'LAMES.

FIRE AT A PAWNEROREICS.—ININIENSE DISTRESS.—
Mr French, of the firm of French and Ogilvie, pawn
brokers, in High-street, Poplar, who have been frequently
summoned to this court for irregularities in the conduct of
their business, and have been frequently censured by the
magistrates, appeared before Mr Paget to answer a charge
of detaining a bed which had been pawned, and after the
principal sum thereon and the interest had been tendered.
The premisee Jr the dereutlauts were destroyed by fire on
the night of Saturday the 23d of April last, 'lron after the
termination of business, and the greater portion of their
stock in trade and an immense quantity of articles in pawn
of every description destroyed. A good deal of misery,
loss, and inconvenience to the poor of the district was
the result of this conflagration. Numerous applications for
summonses to enforce compensation or restitution of goods
have been made to the magistrates. A fiw summonses
have been granted, and in these cases where French and
Ogilvie stated that the goods claimed were destroyed by fire,
the summonses were dismissed. In other cases, where
goods were proved to be in existence after the fire,
orders were made to compensate the owners. Elizabeth
Baker, the wife of a labourer, said she pawned the bad for
13s. on the 11th of March. She went to the defendant's
shop for her bed about three weeks or a month after the
fire. Mr Ogilvie assured her the bed was net burnt—it
was safe—and asked her if she would redeem it, She was
not prepared to do so then. A second time she was assured
the bed was in existence, She went a few days ago to the
defendants' shop to redeem the bed, and tendered the
principal and interest. She was then informed the bed
was destroyed in the fire.

Mr French said pawnbrokers were not liable to make
compensation for losses by fire on their premises.
Mr Paget said ho knew that, and had already decided so
in another case, but here the bed was 'saved. It was in
existence after the fire.

Mr French said that was not so. A few beds were par-
tially saved and kept as long as possible. They were so
decomposed, and became such a nuisance that the Poplar
Board of Works ordered their removal.
The complainant said the bed cost her £3los. They had
it three years before distress compelled them to part with it.
Mr Paget said all the conversations about the bed were
with Mr Ogilvie, who ought to have been present, and
not his partner. Ho should value the bed at V, 10s, from
which he should deduct 14s 6d for principal and interest.
He ordered the defendants to restore the bed or pay £1 5s
63, and 2s costs to the complainant.

LONGEVITY IN SOUTH EssEx..—During the six
months from October, 1863, to April, 1864, 22
adults died in the union house of Orsett, whose united ages
amounted 3'eaersa,chg.ivinOgf the 22, 13 were males, 9
an average life of 78 years
and h
dying at 90 from a broken thigh. We
ftahcst to'
to be almost unprecedented. The may
and
alieatvi
eesr three
females—one
oci to
7he
aon
man
1,721
other death was one infant. Orsett lies on the table land
facing Gravesend. The soil is in general gravel Ad chalk,
with a portion of clay land.
A DUEL AT PESTIL—The TVanderer of Vienna
says:--" A duel has just taken place at Pesth between M.
when the former received his adversary's ball in
Seveleßevieski, principal editor of the Rai .A'aplo, and a
Di. Nagy,
the forehead and died instantaneously.
.The deceased was
only 26 years of age. The quarrel, VI Jamb. has terminated
so fatally, commenced three years ago from the most trifling

an inquest was held I
cause."
SUICIDE OF A YOUNG
.GIRL IN THE To
ntght.
on the body of a girl named Maria Titrner, aged 15 years
CANAL.—On Thursday
who committed suicide in the Regents Canal. Benjamin'
Creagh, 353 N, said that on Saturday morning he found a
crinoline, cloak, bonnet, and hair pin on the bank of the
Regent's Canal. near Kingsland-road. He caused the canal
to be dragged, and the deceased was brought up quite dead.
There was no evidence as to when or why the deceased
committed suicide, and the jury returned a verdict of found
dead in the Regent's Canal.
MR. JACOB BELL'S BEQUEST TO TUE NATION.
Sir,—Mr. Jacob 8011, who died five or six years ago,
bequeathed a few fine pictures to the National Gallery,
among which were .t The Maid and the Magpie," by Sir
Ed win Landseer, R.A. ; The Derby Day,,, by W. P.
Frith, R.A. ; "The Horse Fair, by Mad lle. Rosa Bonheur.
It was understood that the above were retained for the pur-
pose of engraving. The engravings from them have long
since been published, so that thore appears no valid reason
why they should not now appear in the national collection.
The original " Horse Fair" was said to have been sold in
the United States, and that the late Mr Beira picture was
a reduction by the fair artist. But such a reduction has
been exhibited at the Canterbury Hall and in the City.
Recently I heard in Paris that Isladlle. Bonheur was now
painting this subject for the National Gallery. Perhaps I
was misinformed.— Correspondent of the Builder.
ALLEGED BRUTAL MURDER OF A BOY.-0a
Thursday afternoon, shortly after three o'clock, a
brutal murder was perpetrated at Alveston, near Stratford-
on-Avon. It eppears, from such information as we have
been able to collect, that a boy named Bayliss, about 10
years of ago, was stabbed through the neck with a stable-
fork by a man named John Wagataff, a groom in the em •
ploy of Mr J. Townsend, of Alveston House. After com-
mitting the deed, the accused, who is only about 18 years
of age, absconded, and was traced in the company of some
women at Warwick. It is rumoured that the boy refused
to have some gin, which Wagstaff wished to give him, and
that ho stabbed him without receiving any provocation.—
Gazcide.