The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-29 00:00:00

THAMES.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE BY A POOR NEEDLEWOMAN.—Ann
Andrews, a wretched and half-starved looking woman,
aged 23 years, and described as a needlewoman, of No. 6,
Limehouse-causeway, was brought before Mr. Partridge,
charged with attempting to commit suicide by throwing
herself into the City Canal at Millwall, Poplar, at one
o'clock this morning.
John Somers, a police-constable, No. 372 K, stated that
the prisoner walked over the bridge at Millwall, went down
the side of the lock, and before he could stop her, plunged
into the water. The lock was 25 feet in depth, and she
must have been drowned if a bargeman had not answered
his cries for help, and brought a barge and long staff with
a stout iron hook at the end of it, with which he got the
woman out of the water. She was quits unconscious, and
five minutes elapsed before she exhibited any signs of life.
She had been very ill all night.
The prisoner said she was very sorry for what she had
done. _ _ _

gr. Partridge remanded the prisoner to the Clerkenwell
House of Detention for a week, and said the chaplain would
give her good advice while she was there.
ATTEMPTED SUICIDE WITH OXALIC AClD.—Mary Ann
Thick, a woman of the town, who had been in custody a
week, was brought up on remand before Mr. Partridge,
charged with attempting to commit suicide by swallowing a
pennyworth of oxalic acid, which she purcha-ed at the shop
of Mr. George Croucher, a chemist and druggist, No. 220,
High-street, Shadwell.
Mr. Croucher said he had been in the practice of selling
the stuff known as sugar of lead to the prostitutes of Rat-
cliff.bighway and Shadwell. He had sold sugar of lead to
the prisoner before. A pennyworth would not destroy the
Hie of an adult. The women made lotions of the poison
for outward applications.
mr, partridge said he had received a letter, of which the
following is copy, from the chaplain of the House of Deten-
tion in relation to this case :
" House of Detention, October 29, 1863.
it Dear Sir,—Allow rue to suggest that it might be ad-
visable to recommend the poor girl, Mary Ann Duck, for
admission into the workhouse for a time, in the event of her
discharge. I had thought of a reformatory institution, but
she is not at present in a state of health to allow of her ad-
mittance. She seems to be in a rather better state of mind,
and promises to make no further attempt on her own lite.
__Believe me yours very truly,

" GEORGE JEPSON, Chaplain.
ic To William Partridge, Esq., Thames Police-court."
Mr. Partridge hoped the unfortunate: woman would make
no more attempts on her life, and directed Police-sergeant
Dillon, No. 19 K, to convey the prisoner to the workhouse
of St. George-in-the-East.

WE STA' IN STE R.
A RESPECTABLE MARRIED WOMAN.—Charles Baker, a
cab driver, was charged with robbery under the following
extraordinary circumstances :
Annie Homes, who described herself as a married woman,
and the wife of a pensioner, said that at 2 o'clock this morn-
ing she was coming home down South Audley-street, when
the prisoner accosted her and asked her if she wanted a cab.
She replied, "No, thank you, I have no money," when he
inquired whether she was going towards Chelsea, and on
in the affirmative, he said, " Never mind, I'll
her replying
take you for nothing—jump
which she did, but they
had not gone far before he asked her to have something to
drink, and she agreeing, they turned into Piccadilly from
Park-lane, and she had some gin and water. He then
drove on towards her home, when she missed her money,
and told him so, upon which he said if she did not get out
of the cab he'd kicx her out, when she alighted and hung on
behind the cab till she was exhausted and fell. She then
got up and ran after the cab, calling
" stop thief," till pri-
soner was apprehended, when she gave him into custody
for robbing her of Bs. 6d.
Mr. Arnold—Have you told me all the facts ?
Prosecutrix—Yes.
Mr. Arnold--I thought you said that you told the cab-
man you had no money.
Prosecutrix—l meant that I had no money to spend on
cabs.
Mr. Arnold—You say that he brought the gin and water
to you in the cab. I don't see how he could have robbed
you.
Prosecutrix—He stood close to me inside the cab.
Mr. Arnold—You did not say that before. Was the cab
a Hansom ?
Prosecutrix—Yes; and the flaps were open.
Mr. Arnold—You describe yourself as a respectable mar-
ried woman. Do you live with your husband ?
Frosecutrix—Yes, your worship.
Mr. Arnold—Then, may I ask whether you are in the
habit of riding with cabmen and not paying them ?
Frosecatrix—No, but I was tired and thought I would
like to ride home.
Mr. Arnold—What do you say to drinking with the
man?
Prosecutrix—Well, he asked me.
Mr. Arnold—And are you, being a respectable married
woman, in the habit of drinking with cabmen at 2 o'clock
in the morning.
generall
Prosecutrix—Not y. I believe never before.
Mr. Arnold here intimated that if the man did rob the
woman, which he very much doubted, the case ought not
to have been brought here, but taken to Marlborough-
street,
The police intimated that the woman said last night that
he was inside the cab with her and robbed her in Cadogan-
place, Chelsea.
Mr. Arnold (to prosecutrix) —Did you say that ?
Prosecutrix—l cannot remember, I might have said so.
Mr. Arnold—Oh. I can't place any reliance upon the
testimony of this woman. The prisoner is discharged.

THE PARALLAX OF SHOOTING STARS.—A cor-
respondent of the Reader (A. S. Herschel) writing
to our contemporary, observes :—Father Secchi in August,
1861, aided by a base-line, 40 miles in length, between
Rome and Civita-Vecchia, and the electric telegraph, by
which observations of the same meteor at the two stations
were insured, gathered some moat valuable facts respecting
the elevation of the shooting stars of the 9th, 10th, and
11th of August in that year with a minimum of trouble and
of liability to error. The following extracts from the
Roman newspapers of Aug. 13, 1861, were from the pen of
Father Secchi, describing the immediate results of his expe-
riments :—" Near to the zenith no shooting star had a
parallax of less than 20 to 30 degrees, but occasionally a
somewhat greater parallax than this, which was ascer-
tained by the constellations intervening between the two
apparent places of the meteors. It was impossible even
for inexperienced observers to be mistaken in the meteors
doubly seen. These observations, therefore, establish the
moderate height of shooting stars, For, if we admit a
parallax of 35 degrees near the zenith to be not greater than
was actually observed, their height at nearest approach to
the earth will be 90 kilometers, or 50 geographical miles
(58f miles English), above ,its surface. On the other
hand, the least parallax observed, of 20 degrees,
implies
an elevation of 180 kilometers (117 English miles) at
their greatest height above the earth, On the 10th of
August last, observations were made at Hawkhurst, which
prove that the electric telegraph is not an indispensable aid
in these inquiries. The use of a well regulated timekeeper
was found to insure the identification of a meteor, without
the possibility of a mistake. A parallax of 35 deg. wasurs
t,
commonly observed between Cambridge an
and of 15 deg. between Greenwich, or London and
Hawk-
hurst, at disappearance of the meteors.
The and Hawk-
hurst, at disappearance of the meteors. fo
heights of appearance and disappearance observed on this
occasion approximate in their average very nearly to the
foregoing results obtained by Father Secol.
THE SCHILLER MONUMENT AT FRANKFORT.—
On the 15th inst. the first stone of the monument
about to be raised in Frankfort in memory of Schiller was
laid. In presence of a deputation of the senate, a number
of valuable documents, several pieces of money, some bot-
tles of wine, and three balls, containing wheat, barley, and
oats, were deposited in the hollow of the stone. Amongst
the documents are a copy of the album presented by the
town to the sovereigns who attended the banquet given at
the Kaisersaal, as well as a photograph of the royal per-
sonages who took part in the Congress of 1863.-2 he
Re
SHAM LIFE ASSURANCE SOClETY.—Yes-
terday
officersth Knowldeu, Oxford, and Dron, the
threeder.far H
Perseverance Life Assuranze and Sick
e threeef men,
the
were convicted
Fund Friendly Society,eat
the Old Bailey, and the Common Sergeantofsecontes
to 18 mouths' imprisonment.
m
UNJUST ASPERSION ON A VALIANT SOLDIER.—
Inquiring En i 7
g Is tmatt—" But I thought General Bragg
was a Yankee ?" _lndignant Southerno--" Oh I by no
weal-le—Only nominally