The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-31 00:00:00

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, HALF-PAST 4 O'CLOCK.

THE DERBY.

GLADIATEUR
CHRISTMAS CAROL
ELTHAM

'Thirty ran.

THIRD EDITION:I

SUN OFFICE, 7 O'CLOCK.

SPOBTING INTELLIGENCE—This Day,

EPSOM RACES—Tms DAY.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

BENTINCK PLATE.

Vixen .....
Ethelred .
Leoville ..

:;

Five ran.

The above are the only races received up to the time of
our going to press.

LADVERTISEmENTS.I
Just at the point of starting, and a few 'minutes prior to
dropping the flag, a tremendous rush was made and
CALLAGHAN'S Race Glasses had the call in every direction.
RACING TIMES OFFICE, 286, Strand, London, W.C.—Mr.
THOMAS TEMPLE, the Proprietor of the "Racing Times,"
begs to inform the Sporting Public that he has commenced
Business for the Season, and will execute Commissions
on all Races to any amount: Winnings guaranteed.
P. 0. Orders to be made payable at Strand Post-office, and.
cheques crossed London and Westminster Bank (Temple,
bar Branch).

RACING FIXT

-RES FOR 1865.

Blaydon-on-Tyne 5
Redditch
Uxbridge
Bradford Moor 5
Manchester
Chelmsford
Southwell
Maid tone
Ascot

Beverley, Hull, and East
Riding l4
Liverpool
Hampton 2l
Newton
Newcastle
Odiham , 27
Bibury , 28
Stockbridge

Newmarket July
Carlisle
Jersey 5
Worcester
Pontefract
Abingdon
Stamford l3
Hungerford l3

New Forest Hunt l4
Nottingham
Winchester lB
Southampton l9
Chesterfield
Cambridge
Aldershot Camp 2O, 21
Goodwood
UST.

Brighton 1
Brighton Club
Knutsford 3
Lewes 4
Huntingdon
Wolverhampton
Paisley
Reading
Radcliffe l4
Egham l5
Stockton l6

Oxford l7
York
Great Yarmouth 22
Plymouth
Lichfield 2B
Devon and Exeter 29
Tunbridge 3O
Derby Summer 3O
Ipswich
•111 80
Weymouth 3l

Englishmen in the Hands of Italian
Brigands.

Mr. T. C. Murray Aynsley and his wife were re-
turning with another lady and gentleman to Salerno
after a pleasant trip to Pcestum, on the 15th inst.
when they were surprised by brigands near Batti-
paglia. In a letter to the Z imes, Mr. Aynsley, who
writes from Naples, gives the following account of
the unpleasant adventure :
The carriage was stopped, and I and my friend were
told to come down. The brigands immediately hurried
off with us towards the sea, which is at no great distance
from the road, leaving the carriage with the ladies in it,
untouched. We moved about the woods and fields for an
hour or two, the brigands breaking down the hedges to
make it as easy as possible for us to gat through. About
sunset we sat down, and cloaks were given us to put qn,
and others to sit upon. When it was quite dark we moved

on again, passing through irrigated lands and over small

streams, the brigands being very careful of us, lest we
should wet our feet. At last we came to a stream, which
it was impossible to cross without wading, and one of
themicarried us over on his back. We soon afterwards
crossed the road from Salerno to Paestum, and about
one o'clock, a.m., arrived at the banks of a stream
some distance above the plain. The brigands told us to
be down among some bushes, but on our objecting that the
ground was damp, they let us lie down higher up, saying
we must conceal ourselves among the bushes when it was
day. They collected dry roots for us to sleep upon, gave us
an additional cloak to keep us warm, and one of them very
tenderly and gently raised up my head, put some more dry
stuff and a pocket-handkerchief under it, placed another
over my eyes to shade them from the moon, and I think I
should have slept soundly had not my friend whispered
" one of the men felt for my fifth rib," and I kept sometime
reflecting—Can they pet us now, and next minute murder
us ? Do these men indulge all feelings as they rise uppermost?
After a time I succeeded in getting rid of these thoughts,
and slept. At daybreak we moved down under a bank
nearer the stream, the two men who had the best places
giving them up to us. We had as much bread and sausages
as we liked; tobacco was also offered. We now asked the
brigands, as we had done before, what they could get by
carrying us off, told them we were not what they supposed,
"rich English milords," but poor men ; that the money
we had we would send them if they would let one of us go
to Salerno to get it. They considered our proposal, asked
what money we had with us ; we took three napoleons
and some silver. The captain of the band at once gave
back the silver, but kept the gold in his hand. I offered
him my watch and gold chain, but he would not touch
these. After a time he gave us back our napoleon. In
answer to our questions they told us they were soldiers of
Francesco Secondo. Many of them said they did not like
their mode of life; few, they said, did; once engaged in it
escape is next to impossible. We urged them to obtain a
general pardon on condition of leaving the country, they told
us they could not trust the Government. We told them that
Englishmen were not their enemies, but the friends of Italy,
and that it was not right to treat their friends as enemies,
and they seemed ashamed. When we told them that in Eng-
land there were no brigands, but that all were satisfied
with the laws, they repeated this to one another, and some
who had not themselves heard it came and asked if this
were so. About half-past nine on the morning of the 16th,
we started again, and walked a considerable distance
through an open and cultivated country in a long line,
with no attempt at concealment. For an hour or more
we saw on our left Monte Corvino, a town of 7,000 in-
habitants ; at last we came to the bottom of a high hill,
which we ascended, and about 1 30 p.m. came to a spring
of water near the summit, where we stopped. After we
had rested and eaten some bread and sausage the bri-
gands discussed what was to be done with us, and with
two peasants, owners or relations of owners of land
in the plain, whom they had carried off also. The captain
of the band began writing letters to the relations of one;
but he could not write easily, and my friend wrote two
letters at his dictation in the names of the two prisoners,
demanding a ransom, which the prisoners were made to
sign. One letter was worded, " Dear brother,—l have been
taken by the band. Send a ransom of 12,000 ducats, or I
shall be killed." And the other, "Dear father,—l have
been taken by the band. Send a ransom of 9,000 ducats, or
I shall be killed." Our case was then again discussed, and
the brigands agreed to send one of. us (and the lot decided
that I should go), and collectsome money among the Eng-
lish in Naples, and in a week's time I am to send a letter
to say how much we can collect. I had not left the bri-
gands more than a minute or two when, coming to the
brow of the hill, I saw troops and National Guards ap-
proaching. In a few seconds 1 was surrounded by soldiers
with I thought, North Italian countenances, calling out,
4, Are you an Englishman ? An Englishman, an English-
man I" They seized my hand, and one cried, suiting the
action to the word, " I must give you a kiss." The good fel-
lows thought I had escaped on their approach. In a few
seconds firing was commenced by the National Guard. I
hurried up some rising ground, and looking round when I
got to the top, the brigands called out, " On, on, or we will kill
your companion." I, of course, obeyed, and on reaching
Monte Corvino received an enthusiastic welcome. Had my
friend only escaped when the soldiers came up, I should
now look on the adventure with pleasure, but ho did not,
and my position is one of terrible responsibility, anxiety,
and doubt, for the cruelties committed by the brigands
upon their prisoners are sometimes horrible, and literally
indescribable. In Salerno a man was pointed out to us who
had lost ono ear in the following manner. After his cap-
ture by the brigands, his wife having sent a smaller sum
than they asked, the brigands sent her one of his ears,
with the message that if the rest of the money did not come
his head would follow. The ransom demanded in our case
is one impossible for us to collect.

LONDON BROKERS. ---Mr. Moffat has laid before
the House of Commons a bill for repealing the law which
requires that brokers iu the city must pay 40s. a year to the
Chamberlain. The bill states that the tax was imposed in
the reign of Queen Anne in order to provide, for a city
officer called the garbler of spices or fot the Corporation,
compensation for the loss of certain fees or profits received
by that officer for proceedings then abolished as useless or
mischievous ; but that the Corporation have long since
ceased to have any garbler, and have received from the tax
on brokers abundant compensation for the diminution in the
profits of that office.