The Sun.
London, England, 1837-09-26 00:00:00

•
lence, and would have succeeded in killing the man on the
spot had not the exclamation of the crowd on perceiving
the savage attack fortunately brought to the place con-
stable Fisher, A 88, and Sergeant Bell, who, after a des-
perate struggle, secured the prisoner.
Mr. Norman here exhibited the weapon used by the pri-
soner, than which a more formidable one could not be well
conceived. It was the blade of a razor put into a piece of
horn, of about six inches long, and corded in the centre, so
as to render the hold more secure ; and the blade part was
deeply stained with blood. This instrument, as well as a
sharp-pointed case•knife, the prisoner carried in scabbards
in his pockets, for some purpose or other of which he gave
no explanation. Norman stated that, when brought to the
station-house, the prisoner was so violent that he was obliged
to order his being handcuffed, to prevent him doing further
mischief ; and, in fact, it was with great difficulty that they
were enabled to controul him.
The prisoner, who offered nothing in his defence was re-
manded.

DIABOLICAL OPERATION ON A
FEMALE BY A QUACK DOCTOR.

On Wedneiday evening last a young woman, named
Mary Ann Rapson, was discovered in a state of insensi-
bility in Plumtree-street. It was at first considered that
she was in a state of intoxication, but on her being removed
to her lodgings, at No. 6, in the above street, symptoms
came on that convinced those present that she was suffer-
ing from the effects of poison. On the arrival of a sur-
geon, such was found to be the case. and two phials,
" Laudanum--poison," were found in her bosom.
She was conveyed to the University College Hospital,
in Gower Street, Bedford Square, where every means
were adopted to counteract the effects of the poison, but
without effect ; the unfortunate young creature expiring
about eleven o'clock the same night. Previous to her
dissolution, she came into full possession of her faculties
and speech, when she made to those about her disclo-
sures of a very heinous nature. She confessed having
purchased two phials of laudanum, for the purpose of de-
stroying herself and one of her illegitimate children, a fine
little girl, about six years old, but on her attempting to ad-
minister the poison to the poor child she rejected it, on ac-
count of its unpleasant taste. This part of the mother's
confession was borne out by the child, who states that
after her mother drank something out of a cup she gave
her some, but on tasting it she refused to drink it, as being
disagreeable and bitter. The child's statement, as to sinister
motives of the mother, is telly credited—the more particu-
larly as the front of her apparel exhibited dark stains, evi-
dently from the effects of some dark liquid being spilt over
them. The guilty and illfated young woman acknowledged
that she was driren to the double crime of infanticide and sui-
cide from her forlorn destitute condition and bitter remorse
of conscience, she having been prevailed upon by the man by
whom she became enceinte to ;so to a quack doctor resident
in Webber-row, St. George's-fields, by whom she was sub-
jecsed to an operation, which produced abortion—the quack
kceping possession of the male fsetns which lie had ex-
traitted. Subsequent to this abominable offence the father
et the infant thus sacrificed, and who is a married man and
a member of a religious elogregation, deserted her. The
consequence was, that the unhappy and guilty young crea-
ture, with her two illegitimate children, were reduced to
great distress, which, combined with severe remorse of con-
seience for the unnatural and atroci-ins act she had com-
mitted, drove her to a state of distraction, in which she
to the determination of destroying lic-rself and child ;
hot :a the latter her intentiaa was happily fr. strated in
the marn:er already stated. Tee miscreant quack, who, in
coniu.!ction with the unnatural father caused the destruction
of the unborn innocent, took a fee of fifteen shillings from the
young woman for his diabolical services. It has been ascer-
tained that by similar practices ho makes an ample compe-
. tence. The unfortunate girl, the subject of the present
tra”.ieal affair, has passed through all tile vieissiiu les of a
w,,man of pleasure, She is very re:Tectabiy connected,
al!hough, from her mode of life, she has been an alien to
her family. At the age of nineteen she became acquainted
with a sporting gentleman of celebrity at Bri,Aton,
who effected her ruin. They lived together in style for
sonvu years, but ultimately a separation took place, the te-
ther proeidiere for her son, who is a youth about eleven
years of ,12-,e, now at a respectable bosrdieg school. In af-
t-r veers she went by the name of Mrs. Pierpont, re-
pre.enting herself cc a widow, by which she attracted
the attentions of other men, by whom she became the
mother of the two children who =.vire under her protection
at tie' time of her death.
On Saturday an inquiry took place at tile University
Col'-ge Hospital. before Mr. Stirlines, when, after some of
the evidence had been gone into. and the :.;se assuming 50
ser'eus a complexion, the Coroner suggested an adjourn-
me t, that all the parties implicated in the :affair might be
bro .ght forward ; the venerable gentleman remarking that
the case required their serious c,:msnl.!ration. Tile Jury
concurred with the Coroner, and the inquest was accord-
ing y adjourned until Wedi;esday, the summoning officer
ree-ivimg orders to collect ail the evidence possible, not for-
ge ting to discover and sun= In the quack do for and the
platy who had recently lived with t,1,! deceased.

RETURN OF CAPTAIN BACK•

CAPTAIN BACK'S OWN NARRATIVE OF TIIC VOYAGE.

Iler Majesty's ship Terror, strengthcoed and prepared
in every way for encountering the ice, sailed from England
in June, I 536, with the intention of proceeding to Repulse
Pay, or Wager Inlet, on the north-western shore of Had-
so Bay; thence an exploring party was to cross over the
a pposed isthmus to the Arctic Sea, with the hope of
oasting along and determining the outline of the northern
bores of America. The following letter will show that
!be physical obstacles which opposed themselves to this
undertaking were utterly insurmountable :

"TO THE SECRETARY OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL

SOCIETY.

" Sir,—As the expedition from whist' I have just re-
turned originated with the Geographical Society, and, at
its recommendation, was most liberally carried into effect
be his Majesty's Government, I feel it incumbent on me to
offer to the Society an outline of the principal events which
occurred from the time of my quitting England, in June,
18:36, till my return to Lough Swilly, on the night of Sun-
day, the 3d instant.
In a statement of this description it would be impos-
sible to enter into the detail of all the extraordinary, and I
may say unparralleled circumstances, which have marked
the course of the whole of our proceedings. Sech details
I trust I may shortly be enabled to offer to the society and
to the public in a more complete form ; but, in the mean
tone, it is due to those who took so warm an interest in the
expedition, to furnish them with an authentic narrative of
the voyage, which must, however, necessarily be very
brief, and will consist of extracts selected from my daily
Journal, as better calculated to convey a correct impres-
sion of the singular occurrences, to which we were wit-

" June 23.—We took our departure from Papa Westra,
and steered across the Atlantic ; the weather stormy.

" July 29.—We fell in with the ice, and on the follow-
ing day we first saw the coast of Labrador, near Cape
Chudleigh.
" Aug. I.—Passed through Hudson's Straits, and on
the sth saw some of the Company's ships, apparently beset
with ice, off the North Bluff. By keeping close in with
the land we got ahead and lost sight of them, and on the
following day we were ourselves hampered. The ice was
compact, and covered the horizon towards Hudson's Bay,
as far as could be seen from the mast-head, while to the
north-west it presented a favourable appearance. I had,
therefore, no hesitation in proceeding in that direction.
" Aug. 16.—We got a run of 40 miles from Trinity
Isles, yet did not get sight of Baffin Island till the 23d,
when we also saw Southampton Island to the south-west.
_ _

" Two days of westerly wind at this crisis would have
enabled us to reach Repulse Bay ; but easterly winds pre-
vailed, and packed the whole body of ice in such a man-
ner, that all hope of retracing our steps, to pass to the
southward of Southampton Island, and up Sir Thomas
Roe's Welcome, was out of the question.
On the 29th we were drifted by the ice to lat. 65 deg.
50 min. N, long. 82 deg. 7 min. W. This was our ex-
treme north point, and here we were within 40 miles of
Winter Island, where the Hecla and Fury passed the
winter of 1821-2. By dint of boring, the ship was worked
to the southward towards Southampton Island, whither we
were attracted by the flattering appearance of lanes of open
water.

" Sept. 4.—We were only 136 miles from Repulse Bay,
and two days of strong breeze would have led through
Frozen Strait to our destination. During the next fort-
night we continued drifting slowly to the westward, passed
within three miles of Cape Comfort—a bluff headland, ris-
ing about 1,000 feet above the sea.
" Sept. 20.—We were s,riously nipped by the ice, so
much so as to start some of the ship's fastenings.
On the 22d, being within 25 miles of the Duke of
ye; k's Bay, we tried to cut through the ice, but found it
impracticable, as it closed immediately. From this date,
the ship was no longer under our own guidance, but, being
closely beset, was carried to and fro according to the wind
and tide.
sopt..ati_We were drifted into lat. 65 deg. 48m.,
long. S 3 doz. our extreme western point, and 90
wiles from Repulse Bay.
• Sept. 57.—A rush of ice from the eastward lifted the
ship's stern seven feet and a halt cut of the water ; con_
stint easterly vllnds.
" Oct. 9.—A clear channel in-shorn as far as Cape By-
lot, for the Apace of 12 hours, and cgain on the 27th ;
but we were so completely frcz'n up, ive could not take
advantage of it, although to effect so important an object
the ice-saws, axes, and every other implement so liberally
supplied by Government, were put in requisition, and ail