The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-27 00:00:00

THAMES.

WITCH STEALING AND WINDOW BREAKING.—Mary
Jane Webb, a young woman, the wife of a mechanic, was
brought before Mr Partridge charged with wilfully and
maliciously breaking five panes of glass in the house, Nc.
6, Randall-street, Poplar.
Anne Harris, a single woman, stated that she lived with
her sister at No 6, Randall-street. Yesterday at 12 o'clock
she went ta a drawer and wound up her gold watch. Two
hours afterwards she wanted to use her watch, in fact, she
intended to wear it. On going to the drawer where she had
left the watch it was g,ne. She charged how sister and the
prisoner with stealing, and threatened to give both into
custody if it was not forthcoming. The prisoner said she
had never taken the watch. In the course of the day
the prisoner went out, and her husband followed her and
said, "My dear, allow me to put a pin in your shawl, it is
open, and you will catch cold." The ruse succeeded, and
while the prisoner's husband was pretending to adjust her
shawl, he took from her bosom the missing geld watch and
chain.

Mr Partridge—She is oharged on the police-sheet with
breaking windows.
Witness—Yes, she broke my sister's windows last night.
We forgave her the robbery. We don't prosecute her for
that.

Several witnesses deposed that the prisoner was drunk,
and smashed five panes of glass.
The prisoner—l did break the glass.
Mr Partridge ordered the prisoner to pay for tha damase
she had done, and a small fine, or be committed to prison
for a month.

THE SPIRIT OF NELSON.—A letter has fallen in
our way in which a very young officer of the Royal navy,
writing from Malta, describes to his father the circum-
stances of a recent melancholy accident which cost the
country the lives of 12 brave officers and seamen belonging
to her Majesty's ship Orlando. The circumstances strike
us as so very interesting, simply related, and we have been
so moved by the heroic spirit of one " little midshipman."
whose name we preserve, in tho hope that this record may
one day be perused with pride by relatives of the, gallant
boy, that we publish the account :—" I have heard the par-
ticulars of that most deplorable accident, and, as I dare say
you would like to hear them too, I will tell you all that are
known. In the first place I should tell you that the Bay
of Tunis is an awful place for squalls. The party started one
morning (it was the 3d of November), at about 8 o'clock, for
a shooting and pleasure excursion about 20 miles down the
coast. Lieut. S. was the senior officer there, and he to a
certain extent took charge of, or was responsible for, the boat
in which they went. It was remarked that they were very
gloomy on leaving the ship, and also that when they left
the band was playing some selection which was a little sad ;
upon which Lieutenant S. remarked,' I wish they wouldn't
play a Dead March for us 1' And again, going ashore, one
of the men sang ' The Sailor's Grave,' and other songs of
that kind. They got ashore all right, had lunch ashore, and
started for the ship at about half-past 3 o'clock. When they
had made about 800 or 1.000 yards (according to the cox-
swain of tho boat, who was saved), a violent squall struck
her, and capsized her. They all managed to cling to the
beat, except the captain of marines, who couldn't swim. He
was seen some way off, when a little midshipman—the
youngest in the ship, and who could swim very well indeed—
struck out and brought him to the boat. It is worthy of men-
tion that the only members of the party who could swim
were the coxswain, an old quastermaster, Kemble. the little
midshipman I have mentioned, and a master's assistant.
The coxswain, seeing that the boat was drifting out to sea,
said they had better do something, and suggested several
things, but they would not adopt any of them, except en-
deavour to right the boat—This they could uof do. lie
then proposed lashing the oars together, and those who
could swim, towing those who could not. This being also
rejected, he then made up his mind to swim ashore, and
started in his clothes. Lieutenant S. called him back ;
upon which he came back, and received orders to stick to
the boat. He then said, Well, sir, it's no use of my stop,
ping here. I am very sorry to have to disobey your orders,
and I trust I shall be forgiven.' He then turned round to
the little midshipman and said, Mr Kemble, will you come
with me ? I will assist you if you find you can't
manage it.' Kemble said (though, as I have
told you, he could swim splendidly), have orders to re-
main here, and it is my duty to set an example,' and he re-
peated the orders. The coxswain then asked all those who
could swim if they would come, and they all answered in
the same way. Was not that a gallant thing, to stay be-
hind when they were otherwise sure of saving their
own lives, and all for the sake of being true to the
orders they had received particularly, remembering
that the example was set by the smallest midshipman
in the ship ? The coxswain then wished them good-by,
and succeeded in getting ashore, but of course he must
have had a frightful night, as it came on to blow very
hard, and he had not a single thing on; in fact, when he was
picked up next morning he was in a sort of delirious state.
He said afterwards that he heard them, or fancied he heard
them, all night, shouting for help; but he could not assist
them, as the place he landed at was uninhabited. A long
search was made for the bodies, without effect ; but a steamer
coming in afterwards, without having heard of the accident,
reported having seen a body floating, at a distance of, I
should imagine, about 40 miles from where the accident took
place.—Dickens's "All the Year Round."

THE YELTERTON MARRIAGE CASE.—Our readers
will remember that, a few weeks ago, the indomit.
able Mrs (Longworth) Yelverton attempted to re-open the
whole question of her marriage before the Scotch courts,
on the strength of some affidavits, which certified that a
woman named Sarah Mullins or Mullins, who attended the
major's brother in his last illness had heard this brother
declare that the major confessed to him his Scotch marriage
with Mrs Longworth was a genuine and valid marriage.
The Courts refused the application, but the friends of the
major have now produced counter-affidavits, signed by
the Hon. Mrs Yelverton's coachman, Lord Avonmore's
butler, Lady Avonmore's maid, and the medical attendant
of the family—all deposing that they were in daily attend•
ance on Mr Yelverton during his last illness, and that, to
their certain knowledge, there was no woman of the name
of Mullins in attendance on him, nor any female whatever,
except his mother, wife, and sister.

A MISSING VESSEL.—We are very much afraid
that all hopes must now be abandoned of the good
ship ever arriving. She left Melbourne on the 16th
of July, and has, therefore, now been at sea more than 160
days, and has never been spoken with since she left port.
There have been some terrible hurricanes in southern lati-
tudes, but the other vessels from the Australian colonies
appear to have experienced nothing beyond ordinary
casualties• Fire or collision with an iceberg may probably
have befallen the J.E.H., which had on board the follow,-
ine passengers :—Miss Lever, Miss Bartrop, Mrs Carter,
tso children and servant, Dr Starling, Mr H. 0. Walker,
Mr Boase, and Mr Motherwell in the cabin, besides two
passengers in the steerage. She had a valuable cargo, in-
cluding 10,9200 z of gold, 740 bales wool, 629 casks tallow,
13,263 hides, 134 bales leather, 751 packages skins, 28,870
horns, 28 tons bones, 126 bales rags, 69 bags bark, 50 bales
pelts, quantity of hoofs, 4 packages private effects, 2 cases
glassware, 2 cases slate, 3 cases and 40 bundles .tell, and 3
cases hardware.—Australian and New Zealand Gazette.

Lord and Lady Tredegar are entertaining a select
party at Tredegar House, Monmouthshire, during the fes-
tive season.

Lord Seaton left Shrubland Hall, Ipswich, the
seat of Sir G. B. Middleton, last week, for Devonshire.

The Sultan has conferred on Signor Fagnani the
commandership of the Order of the Medjidieb, as
token of his satisfaction for the portrait of his High-
ness, executed by that excellent artist, who is about
to leave Paris on a professional excursion to the
United States.
PLANTING OF A TREE BY LADY PENNEFATTIER
AT ALDERSUOT.—On Thursday forenoon Lady Pennefather
performed the interesting ceremony of planting a young
tree of the conifer species, known as the " Welliugtonia
gigantea," in the grounds of All Saints Military Church,
Aldershot. Her ladyship was accompanied by Lieut.-Gen.
Sir J. L. Pennefather. Major-Gen. Bates, and several
officers of ihe staff. After the ceremony had been duly per-
formed, Sir John thanked Mr Waterer, of Bagahot ours
sery. the donor of the tree, and the proceedings were cc n-
eluded.