The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-31 00:00:00

of their being gross impostors, whose impudent attempt
at fraud had been frustrated by the sharpness of the
gentleman they had attempted to deceive. He (Mr.
Broderip) felt that it was but little use to talk to the
prisoners, but he wished persons of their description to
know that the magistrates were determined to protect
the public against the machinations of thOse who di-
verted the course of true and laudable charity into the
pockets of the unworthy.
They were committed for three months to hard labour.
101. has been received from the Mercers' Company,
for the poor-box.
THAMES.—John Wilson and Margaret Thompson were
charged, before Mr. Yardley, with uttering a forged £5
note to Mr. Thomas, the proprtetor of the Britannia
Tavern, opposite LimehOuse Church.
The barman stated that the prisoners, in company
with three or four other persons, had been drinking at•
the house from about seven till nine o'clock, and after
calling for various quantities of spirits and noyeau, the
prisoner Wilson asked how much he charged for a quart
of the best Irish whiskey, and ordered him to serve a
pint of the whiskey. He then handed him a£s note in
payment. On looking at it he thought there was some-
thing peculiar in its appearance, and sent for Mr.
Thomas, who on examining it was convinced it was a
forgery, and sent for a policeman.
Sylvester, 441 A, stated that when he took the
prisoner into custody, • the woman followed them, and
said, "John, if they are going to take you, I'll go along
with you." He answered; "D the whole of you.
If it had not been for yOu I would not have been in this
mess." After proceeding some distance, prisoner put
his foot behind him'' and knocked him down, and,
placing his foot on his stomach, disabled him, and then
ran off.

Mordaunt, 441 K, stated that as the prisoner ran he
seized him, and took him into custody.
Wilson, in his defence, stated that about three months
ago he came home from New Orleans, when he had about
561. with him. He had been drinking all day with the
female prisoner and some friends, had spent all the
change he had and then gave the note which he had got
in exchange for a larger one. When taken by the police-
man, as soon as he got into a retired place he struck
him with his staff, punched him in the back, and nearly
choked him by twisting his handkerchief round his neck.
He then broke away and ran, as he thought he had a
right to do, to save his life.

The female prisoner said she had been out to see some
friends, aird knew nothing of the note.
Mr. Wyburd, inspector at the Bank of England, proved
that the note was a forgery.
Mr. Yardley remanded the prisoners till Saturday.

MORTALITY FROM DEFECTIVE DRAINAGE
AT BET.HN.AL-GREEN.

Yestertlay an investigation took place, before Mr.
William Baker, the Coroner for East Middlesex, at the
Fountain public-house, Virginia-row, Bethnal-gree n,
respecting the death of Matilda Church; aged two
months, the daughter of a shoemaker, who, with two
other children, have perished during the last three weeks,
in one house from malignant fever, arising through the
defective drainage and filthy condition of the wretched
place where the family were residing.
Mr. George West, the parochial surgeon ; Mr. C. A.
Christie, the relieving officer ' • and several gentlemen
connected with the parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal-green,
were present to watch the inquiry.
The jury having been sworn, accompanied the coroner
to view the body, which was lying in a wretched hovel
situated at No. 1, Hepsworth-place, Fountain-alley,
Virginia-row. The place was in a filthy state, the walls
exceedingly damp, and the effluvia from the back part of
the premises was most obnoxious.
The first witness called was
Charles Church, of Hepsworth-place, who stated that
he was a shoemaker. The deceased was his daughter,
and died on Wednesday the 22d inst. He had lost two
other children about three weeks since from the same
complaint, namely, measles and typhus fever. They.
had -been attended by Mr. West, the surgeon. A cess-
pool had been pulled down some months back, when a
quantity of wood, saturated with night-soil, had been
placed against the back wall of witness's dwelling, which
remained during the severe wet weather, when the rain
washed the filth from the wood into the house. A quan-
tity of soil also oozed through . the walls. Mr. West,
the surgeon, asked what the obnoxious smell arose from,
when witness pointed out the condition of the walls to
him, and the state of the yard. A quantity of gravel,
which had been dug out of the hole where the wood
came from, had likewise been scattered about the yard
Witness complained of the filthy condition of the yard,
and subsequently the wood was taken away. Mr. West,
after inspecting the house, directed witness to pull the
bedstead from the wall. The houses were the property
of Mr. Wilson, of Friar's-mount ; but the rents were
collected by a Mr. Busher, who told witness one day,
that if any person interfered with the property, Mr.
Wilson, his employer, had a hundred pounds or two he
could'spare to punish them.
By the Coroner—Witness had buried two children—
one was then lying dead, and a fourth was not expected
to live many hours. There was not so much cause for
complaint since the wood had been removed. The Com-
missioners of Sewers last summer laid down an eighteen-
inch drain, which passed into the main sewer from
Fountain-alley.
Mr. Geo. West, of No. 5, Northampton-place, Hackney-
road, surgeon, said he had been attending the deceased,
children for typhus fever of a very malignant character,
which he was of opinion had been prodticed by the
filthy and obnoxious state of the premises wherein
they had resided. Witness examined the place, and
found the house and back premises in a wretched state.
There was a quantity of wood which had formed a cess-
pool placed against the back wall. The wood had been
many years in the ground, and was saturated with soil,
which had been washed by the recent heavy rains about
the yard and into the premises where the children were
lying ill. The walls of the room were completely satu-
rated at the back part with soil. Witness had no doubt,
from the fact of three children dying in that house, and
another in the opposite dwelling, that their deaths were
caused by the unhealty and dreadful condition of the
back premises, which produced malignant fever and
swelling of the glands of the throat. Witness had re-
ported the condition of the house to Mr. Christie, the
relieving officer, in the beginning of December, when he
found that two of the children had died. Witness had
been reporting to the officers of the parish for a con-
siderable time the shocking state of the cesspools, which
were overflowing with soil, which in some places found
its way into the sleeping rooms. The soil in many back
yards could occasionally be seen in that district of
Bethnal-green three and four inches deep.
Mr. Charles Alexander Christie, the relieving officer,
was next called, and stated that his attention was
directed to the house in question by the last witness.
He proceeded to No. 1, Hepsworth-place, and found two
children lying ill with fever. He gave the father an
order for nutritious food, as the children were in a dan-
gerous condition. The room, which was on the ground
floor was most horribly offensive, and situated several
inches below the level of the earth. The walls were very
damp, and a mass of filth Was then upon them.
The foreman of the jury here rose, and said that he
was of opinion 'that the parochial officers ought imme-
diately to get the poor persons out of such a wretched
place, as it might be the means of saving the life of the
remaining child, and probably the lives of the mother
and father.

The father stated that he owed Mr. Wilson 10s. for
rent, and that person would not let him go without pay-
ing the money.
Mr. Christie said that he would give an order at once
for their removal to the workhouse, if it was necessary,
but the father did not wish to go into the workhouse.
Mr. Christie then proceeded to the residence of Mr.
Wilson, the landlord, and upon his return he informed
the coroner and jury that Mr. Wilson had agreed to
allow the man to leave the house whenever he pleased.
He (Mr. Wilson) had not prevented his going away, but
probably the collector of the rents had.
The Coroner said there was no doubt that they should
immediately quit the house, and also means ought to be
adopted for properly cleansing and whitewashing the
premises after such a fearful malady. He was very glad
that the inquiry had been held, for it would lead to the
adoption of means for the protection of the public
health.

The jury returned a verdict that the deceased died
from typhus fever, arising from a nuisance near a dwell-
ing-house, and the jurors also recommend the removal of
the other members of the family to a place free of such
danger.

• MUSIC A STIMULANT TO MENTAL EXERTION.—AIfieri
; often, before he wrote, prepared his mind by listening to
; music. "Almost all my tragedies were sketched in my
mind, either in the act of hearing music or a few hours
after," a circumstance which has been recorded of many
others. Lord Bacon had music often played in the room
adjoininghis study. Milton listened to his organ for solemn
inspirations ; and music was even necessary to Warbur-
ton. The symphonies which awoke in the poet sublime
emotions, might have composed the inventive mind
of the great critic in the visions of his theoretical mys-
teries. A celebaated French preacher, Bourdaioue or
Massillon, was once found playing on the violin, to
screw his mind up to the pitch, preparatory to his ser-
mon, which, within a short interval, he was to preach
before the court. Curran's favourite mode of meditation
was with his violin in his hand ; for hours together
would he forget himself, running voluntaries over the
strings, while his imagination, collecting its tones, was
opening all his faculties for the coming emergency at the
bar.—D'lsraeli on the Literary Character.
RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION.—Cross the Pyrenees, and
descend with us into France. See her fair fields soaked
with the blood of St. Bartholomew's massacre. See
them reeking with the blood of the Jew and of the
Huguenot, and of the Catholic as well. See civil war
fomented, and that land which was as rich and as produc-
tive, if not more so, than any other in Europe, instead of
being a home of peace to its inhabitants, converted into a
huge lazar-house' and all because of differences in reli-
gion. Traverse Germania's blooming countries, where
all should be harmony and brotherly love. See the
stake erected, the fire lighted, which consumed the mor-
tal bodies (but not the immortal souls) of John Huss
and Jerome of Prague, besides myriads of others. Why
were such inhuman scenes enacted ? Because religious
bigotry and persecution were abroad. Descend the Alps
with us, and enter Italy, the garden of Europe, with
her soft blue sky, her golden waters, her smiling groves,
and her velvet fields. What has made her the home of
the enemy of the human race—her patriots dying on the
scaffold, or lingering out a miserable existence in loath-
some dungeons or in wretched exile, and her people igno-
rant and beggared ? Again religious persecution has done
its handiwork, and turned that which should have been
a paradise into a land of desolation, of hatred, and of
horror.—Jewish, 04ronicee. ,