The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-18 00:00:00

On the evening of the 28th of February a boat
containieg almost the whole complement of non-
commissioned officers belonging to a detachment of
the 2d battalion, 9th Foot, stationed in this island,
was accidentally capsized within scarcely a mile
from shore, in the outer harbour of Vathy (the
capital of the island). Being all more or less good
swimmers, they were able to regain their holding
of the overturned boat ; and made repeated, though
ineffectual attempts (owing to the counteracting
weight and position of the mast and sail), to
" right her." As night was coming on, and there
appeared no extraneous aid of any nature to look ,
forward to, three out of the number having mia-
riged to divest themselves of their clothing, re-
solved to swim for it ; the rest stuck to the boat,
and have not since been heard of. Though all
three swimmers separated shortly after leaving the
boat, one never to meet again, the other two reached
shore in a most exhausted condition, and lacerated
by the sharp, needle-formed nature of the rocks
up which they had to climb to regain their
footing. But this was only to be the commence-
ment of their hardships. The night was dark and
bitterly cold, and thus situated, without a stitch of
clothing to cover their shivering frames, at the foot
of a pathless and rugged mountain, which inter-
vened between them and the nearest road " home,"
they both wandered about in contrary directions,
hearing nought but an occasional shout or cry from
their more unfortunate comrades, who still appeared
to cling on, hoping against hope. These grew
fainter and fainter as the night wore on, till no-
thing more was heard. Eventually they came upon
some shepherds' huts, but no sooner had the latter
caught a glimpse of them than they " banged to"
their doors, invoking the whole calendar of saints
to exorcise these ghosts or evil spirits. Taus rudely
and inhospitably repulsed from their own fellow-
creatures, they wandered forth alone again, till one
sunk down from sheer fatigue, and passed the re-
mainder of the night in a sort of swoon. On re-
covering his senses it was daylight, and being
partly restored, though suffering agonies from
thirst, he managed to direct his steps towards
a flock of goats browsing on the mountain side,
but at his first appearance the shepherds fled
in terror. Necessity, our great mother of
invention, then suggested to him the happy
idea of seizing one of the goats and milk-
ing it, which considerably relieved him, and after
two or three more hours, thus refreshed, he was
eventually picked up, in a most pitiable condition,
by the Commandant (Captain Roberts) and his
crew, which had gone out in search of the missing.
The other unfortunate (Colour Sergeant Stevens),
after repeated attempts to obtain shelter or admit-
tance, bravely struggled up the mountain to the
monastery of San Gathers, which is situated close
to the summit. On reaching it, about dawn, the
Agoumenos or Abbot at once took him in, and hav-
ing clothed and treated him i❑ every respect with
truly good Samaritan kindness, he mounted him the
following day on his own mule and brought him
back to town. Such are the brief outlines of this
sad occurrence, and, though every attempt has since
been made to recover the bodies, or otherwise obtain
any kind of intelligence respecting the others mis-
sing or the boat, nothing has hitherto transpired to
relieve the minds or anxieties of this community.
The following is the list of the boat's crew :
Found—Colour Sergeant W. Stevens, Private D.
Adams. Missing—Sergeant Thomas Brogden,
Corporal David Stanyard, Corporal Henry Hale,
Corporal John Crowther.

Horrible Cases of Burning Infants.---Sus-
pected Murder in Essex.

A married woman, named Devenish, the wife of a gar-
dener at Broomfield, Essex, is in custody on the charge of
having murdered her newly-born child. The Essex Herald
says it was thought by the neighbours that she was about
to be confined, but she had engaged no nurse or doctor, and
at about seven o'clock on Friday evening one of the neigh-
bours suspected something might be wrong with her, and
tried the back door, but found it fastened, and knocked
several times without receiving any answer from within.
She then went away and returned with one or two other
women, when their attention was attracted by a shocking
stench, as of something burning, and looking over the top
of the kitchen shutters, which were up, they saw Mrs.
Devenish stooping over a very large fire, apparently watch-
ing something burning; what it was they could not see.
They then spoke to Police-constable Barker, who started
off to Chelmsford, and gave information of the rumours he
had heard to Superintendent May and Inspector Simpson,
who went at once to the house. They found a large fire in
the kitchen, with the hearth cleanly swept, and a frying-
pan on the ire containing some large slices of fat pork.
Mrs. Devenish denied to them that she had been recently
confined. While Superintendent May drove back to Chelms-
ford to obtain the aid of Mr. Wheeler, a surgeon, Inspec-
tor Simpson searched the premises, and found what he
describes as a quantity of fatty matter on the bare
of the kitchen stove, as though flesh of some kind
had been burned there; end he supposes the pork
had been placed on the fire by way of accounting for this
appearance on the bars, should suspicion be excited, He
poked out the fire, and found at the bottom of the grate a
quantity of partially charred bones, which Mr. Wheeler
pronounced to be those of a newly-born child. Mr. Wheeler
also found, on examination, that the woman had been re-
cently delivered. The Western Times reports a somewhat
similar case. Elizabeth Hawkins, 20 years, was charged
at the Cullompton Petty Sessions, on Monday, with hav-
ing concealed the birth of her child, and her father, Robert
Hawkins, was charged with aiding her in committing the
offence. They lived in a small cottage on Whitedown,
about three miles from Cullompton. On being charged by
the constable on the 7th, she admitted that she had been
confined, and that the child had lived but five minutes, and
that her father took its body away. When her father was
charged, he said, " Cheel, sir, her hau't had no cheel,
her only miscarried, that's all." He further stated that he
had " put it away behind the fire." On the following day
the constable sifted the ashes and found some belies that
Mr. Potter, a surgeon, said were the bones of a fully-deve-
loped child. Some of the bones and a good deal of tho
vertebire wero perfect. The bones were the rib and par:
of the thigh, the shoulder, and vertebras. He could not
say whether the child was born alive or not. The father
maintained that the child was dead, but the Chairman re-
mindedha d aaid shehim heardhisthat
tyoungerhachi
ld e
rdya daughter,
his
arms when he tookr , eight years of age,
it from its mother, and when he put it on the fire, The
case was adjourned.

LORD VERNON. Daring the past week the
Right Hon. Lord Vernon has been a great sufferer from a
sudden and painful illness, which has, however, given way
to the treatment of his lordship's medical adviser. On Wed-
nesday, Lord Vernon WEIS able to take carriage exercise, and
his speedy convalescence is now looked forward to with
certainty.

-- -
A LOCAL DIANA,—At the hunt with Lord Fitz •
bardinge's hounds on Monday Mrs, Coates, of
Eastfield, the wife of J. Coates, Esq., solicitor, of Bristol,
carried off the brush, she being the first up with the hunts •
man and in at the death. Mrs. Coates has proved herself
to be not only a graceful but a plucky horsewoman, for this
is the third brush she has had accorded to her, or, we should
rather say, has won during the present season. She has
ridden at six meets, so that she has had what would be
termed commercially,." 50 per cent. of success."—./31 istol
Post,