The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-14 00:00:00

GAS SUPPLY TO THE CITY.

Dr. LETHEBY reported that the illuminating power of the
gas supplied to the City during_the week lad-been.satisfa,.
tory. The average illuminating power of the City Compa-
nies' gas had been equal to that of 15.78 sperm candles, that
of the Central Gas to 13.70, and that of the Chartered to
13.08. The chemical quality of the gas had also been good,
except in the case of the Great Central Gas, which contained
an excess of sulphur to 21.1 grains per 100 cubic feet.
After the despatch of same other business the court ad-
journed.

Determined Attempt at Murder at Great
Barr, near Birmingham,

A shocking occurrence took place at Great Barr, on
Sunday evening last, under the following circumstances :
It appears that in the course of the evening two navvies
entered the house of Mr. Charles Newey, who keeps the
Maltshovel beerhouse, at Newton, in Great Barr, and called
for a quart of ale. The landlord refused to serve them with
the ale, as some months previously he had forbidden them
to enter his house, because they were continually creating
disturbances, much to the annoyance and inconvenience of
the regular customers. Upon the landlord's refusing to draw
the ale the men began to use the most obscene language, in
the presence of Mr. Newey, his wife, and family. Whilst
they were doing so two gentlemen walked into the house
from Birmingham and ordered some refreshment, but before
they could bo supplied, and without the slightest provoca-
tion on their part, ono of them was immediately knocked
down by the two navvies. A struggle then ensued between
the parties, and the landlord endeavoured to rescue the two
gentlemen from the grasp of the ruffians, and he succeeded
in getting himself and the two gentlemen into a private par-
lour and closed the door. The two navvies rushed from the
kitchen, but before doing so one of them seized a spittoon
and the other a fender, and with frightful oaths swore they
would kill everybody in the house. They then brought all
their force to bear against the parlour door, and succeeded in
effecting a partial entrance. One of them, through the par-
tially-open door, aimed a terrific blow at the landlord's
head, which he fortunately escaped. The villains, foiled in
this, rushed upon the landlady of the house, who happened
to be outside the parlour door, and hurled her violently
against the door. One of the men then ran out into the road
and told his companion to draw his knife. They then put
out the lights in the house and recommenced their attack
upon the persons in the parlour, trying to batter in the door
with a large piece of wood one of them had got out of the
hedge in the road. The two gentlemen within managed to
effect their escape through the parlour window, but making
some little noise in doing so, the attention of the men
was attracted to the spot, and they diverted their plan
of attack, and ran out in search of the runaways, but
not being able to find them, and the street door having been
fastened by the landlord, they commenced hurling large
stones at the windows, speedily demolishing a number
of them. Finally the men retired, only to return again in
a short time with an ally, in the shape of a tall, athletic,
herculean-looking ruffian, and recommenced the attack upon
the house, endeavouring to force open the street door.
Failing in this, they exhausted their fury by demolishing
the remaining windows. The landlord now became seri-
ously alarmed for the safety of himself and family, ima-
gining, with some degree of justice, that their lives wore in
danger. He took down an old-fashioned gun from the
ceiling, which happened to be loaded, and rushed out, de-
termined to face the ruffians. Tho night was dark, and he
was only just able to see the men. However he fired the
gun at them as they were retreating, more with the view of
frightening them Than doing them any serious bodily in-
jury. The gun was loaded with shot, and the greater por-
tion of the charge was lodged in the hinder part of ono of
the retiring men, the remainder of the charge scattering and
wounding another of them in the legs and neck. The men,
however, managed to effect their escape. Mr. Newey ob-
tained a warrant for the apprehension of the offenders.
Strange to say, the men themselves applied for a warrant
for the arrest of Newey for assaulting them. On the re-
:urn of the reporter to Birmingham he found that two out
of the three men who had committed this outrage had been
admitted to the General Hospital. One of them has given
his name as Daniel Powell, and stated that he had come
from Stratford-upon-Avon in search of employment as a
navvy. The other gave his name as George Barker, and
professed to come from Wednesbury for the same purpose.
They are both badly wounded, although their lives are not
endangered. The police officers are aware of the where-
abouts of the two men, and as soon as the nature of their
injuries will permit they will be conveyed to the police-
, station, when the matter will doubtless be thoroughly inves-
tigated by the magistrates.