The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-14 00:00:00

nut SUN; LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER• 14,

would ruin a young and very thoughtless lad for ever. He
then called witnesses as to character.

Mr. Paget said he had not the power or the inclination
to act as Mr. Young desired. The prisoner had been
robbing his master a long time, and the punishment must
be a substantial one. He sentenced the prisoner to be
imprisoned and kept to hard labour for four calendar
months.

MARKETS—This Day.

COVENT GARDEN.

The show of fruit, as well as that of vegetables, was, for
the time of year, good. On the whole the trade was steady,
as follows :

Fiturr=-Pine apples, is to 8s; hot house grapes, 2s 6d to
Gs; foreign do, 9d to is 6d; filberts, is to is 3d per lb;
plums, 3s to 3s 6d ; damsons, 3s to 4s 6d; apples, is Gd
to 2s 6d ; pears, is Gd to 4s p3r half sieve; lemons, 3s
-6d to 8s ; oranges, 14s to 168 ; walnuts, 1s to 2s ad por
100.

VEGETABLES—Cauliflowers, is to 2s ; red cabbages, is
64 to 3s 6cl; white do., 94 to le 64 ; celery, 8d to le 94 ;
horseradish, 9d to .2s per-doz heads ' • greens, 3s to 3s Gd ;
cucumbers, 3d to is each ; French beans, le 6d to 2s per
half sieve.

HAY.

SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 ss; clover,
45 5s to £6 6s ; and straw, £1 6s to £1 13s per load.
Trade steady.

CUMBERLAND.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 10s; clover
£5 5s to £6 lOs ; and straw, £1 Gs to £1 14s per load.
An active demand

WurrzcaApEL.—Meadow hay, £4 4s to £5 ss; clover;
£5 5s to £6 63 ; and straw, £1 6s to £1 12s per load.
Trade slow.

POULTRY.

- - ------ -
Turkey poults, 48 to 8s ; Geese, 5s Gd to 8s Od each ;
ducks, 2s Od to 3s Od ; tame rabbits, is Od to is 9d ; wild
do., is to is 3d ; pigeons 6d to 9d each ; partridges, is
to is 9d ; "hares, 38 to 4s ; 'leverets, 3s to 4s; grouse, 2s 6d
to 3s Od ; Surrey fowls, lOs to 12s ; do. chicken; 6s to 9s ;
barn-door fowl; 4s Od to 6s per couple. English eggs,
lOs to Os ; French do., 7s 6d to 8s per 100 ; Ostend fresh
butter, is 2d to is 3d ; English, ii 2d to is 5d per lb.

Fatal Boat Accident in Demerara.

LOSS OF ENGLISH OFFICERS AND OTHER
GENTLEMEN.
•

The West Indian mail brings the news of a de-
plorable accident in Demerara. The following
account of the disaster appears in the Creole of
Georgetown (Sept 20) :—" The amusements and
gaieties which have prevailed in town since the com-
mencement of last week in connection with the visit
of the Barbadoes cricketers have been brought to a
sudden and calamitous termination. It will be remem-
bered that an announcement had been made of a trip
in the steamer to the penal settlement, in order to
afford thcgentlemen from Barbadoes an opportunity
of viewing the fine scenery of the Essequibo river dis-
trict. The steamer Berbice left this river on Mon-
day morning, with a party of 39, composed of the
Barbadoes Eleven, several gentlemen of this city,
and some 17 officers of the Aurora and Steady, on
board, reaching the settlement on the afternoon
of the same day. Yesterday the party, after
visiting Mr. Fausett's wood-cutting establishment,
prepared to shoot the rapid (Castabuk). The
arrangements were made under the directions of
Mr. Comptroller Bagot. But it appears that his
prudent instructions were not obeyed, and one of
the most lamentable accidents that it has ever been
our sad task to record has followed. There were
two boats used for the purpose of shooting the rapid.
One of them was the Lady Wodehouse, belonging
to the penal settlement, and capable, as Mr. Bagot
knew, of carrying with safety only 14 persons ; but,
we understand, while attention was turned away
parties crowded into her to the number of 19. The
first boat succeeded in shooting the rapid without
any accident, but the Lady Wodehouse, which fol-
lowed, was observed in her descent to broach to, it
is supposed from the paddle of the steersman catch-
ing into a crevice of the rock, and in an instant sha
was capsized and the 21 persons were strug-
gling for their lives. In a stream like that, the
water dashing over a precipice at the rate of some
ten miles an hour, it may well be supposed that
even an expert and powerful swimmer has but a
poor chance for life, especially as when the accident
occurred they were under the tent of the boat.
Nevertheless, some of the parties struck out man-
fully, while their friends in the other boat were com-
pelled to witness their struggles without being able
to rescue them. Five of the gentlemen and two of
the boatmen were drowned. The names of the
gentlemen are—Captain Beresford, the son-in-law
of his excellency the governor ; Mr. R. D. Stewart,
partner in the firm of Messrs. S. A. Harvey and
Co. ; Mr. Rowley, second engineer of her Majesty's
ship Steady; Mr. Lionel Parks, of the Post-office,
Barbadoes Eleven; and Mr. Christie, of the George-
town Post-office. The others were saved either by
swimming or by being dashed on the rock. Mr.
Frederick Smith, the captain of the Barbadoes
Eleven, swam boldly for some time, and was after-
wards picked up, apparently dead, but has since
been revived. Mr. Stewart, also, who was a good
swimmer, struck out manfully for some time, but
unfortunately exhausted himself swimming against
the current.

ALL ENGLAND PLOUGHING MATCHES.—The rain
which has fallen has put the ground into a much more
suitable state for these contests. Three matches have
come off this week—viz., at Evercreech, Somerset ; Long
Sutton, Lincolnshire ; and Tenbury, Worcestershire. The
two former were attended by both the Howards and the
Raneomes, but the latter did not compete at Tenbury.
The three prizes were all carried off by the Bedford firm.
At Tenbury, for the first time this season, the dynamome-
ter was applied, when the draught of the competing
ploughs was found to vary as much as 70 per cent., the
prize implement of Messrs. Howard being the lightest in
draught by upwards of 20 per cent.
THE AMERICAN SPIRITUALISTS IN TROUBLE.—
The New York papers print the decision of Judge Hall,
of the United States District Court at Buffalo, in the
appeal in the Colchester case. Colchester, as previously
stated, 'SSTs fined forty dollars and the costs of suit for
practising the profession of spiritualist, or juggler, with-
out having taken out a licence under the Internal
Revenue Laws, and this was now confirmed. The
Judge, in the course of his judgment, said The per-
formances of the defendant were claimed by him to be
the exercise of the alleged powers and capacities of the
so-called spiritual mediums—a numerous class of persons,
many of whom were within the reach of a subpcena, and
could be easily found. If the defendant and those spiritual
mediums are not impostors who practise upon the credu-
lity of those who patronise them, the most obvious and
direct mode of proving the defence set up was to put these
so-called mediums upon the stand to. attest under the
solemnity and responsibilities of an oath, the fact that they
do receive communications from some spiritual and other
supernatural or unknown source in answer to questions of
whose contents they are themselves ignorant ; that they do
what the defendant did without any sleight of hand per-
formance, and do not willingly deceive and delude those
who consult them. It might well be supposed that this
class of persons, who it was said by the de-
fendant's counsel were as conscientious and confi-
dent in their belief of the truth of their professions as
were thoso martyrs who have suffered at the stake, in at-
testation of the sincerity, of their religious belief, would
gladly embrace an opportunity to prove, upon a judicial
trial, the sincerity and truth of the pretensions, if such
proof could be made. That no ono of this class of persons
was called upon the stand, or volunteered his testimony
upon this trial, probably the first widely advertised oppor-
tunity of removing this vexed question of the truth of their
pretensions from the regions of dreamy speculation and
dogmatic assertion, and bringing it to a legal and public
trial in the mode and upon the evidence to which, after all,
the world's experience we are still obliged to resort for the
determination of all questions of fact in which the liberties
and lives of our people depend—is a circumstance of much
significance and weight, upon the question of the guilt or
innocence of the defendant. Not only the pecuniary in-
terests, and perhaps the personal liberty of the defendant,
but the interest and reputation of all the so-called spiritual
mediums, were involved in this question ; and yet not one
of those persons who, upon their own knowledge, could
have given direct and important testimony, was placed
upon the stand, and the defendant's defence was suffered
to rest mainly upon the efforts of his able counsel and the
proof by those who had consulted him that he had re-
turned pertinent answers to their questions, and showing
their writing upon his arm without their being able to dis-
cover the manner in which he learned the nature of tho
questions, or that there was any sleight of hand used in his
performances. To deceive the eye, to perform tricks with
such surprising skill and rapidity as to prevent his manner
of proceeding from being discovered, is the ordinary skill
of a juggler; and the proof given was not sufficient to
shake the confidence of the jury in the case made by the
prosecution. In short, the affirmation proof of the defend-
ant's guilt was very strong, if not absolutely conclusive;
the defence set up required the jury to disregard the nason
and experience upon which we are accustomed to rely as
citizens and as jurors; and the unsatisfactory character of
the defendant's proof, and the failure to resort to the most

obvious and direct mode of disposing of the case made by
the prosecution, left the jury no alternative, for they could

not resist their conviction of the defendant's guilt. In
conclusion, the judgment of the court is that the indict-
ment in this case is sufficient ; that the defendant was
legally tried and properly convicted ; and that sentence
must follow the conviction."

MOVING PIIOTOGRAPHS.—Many years ago M.
Plateau invented a curious apparatus, called the

phenakistoscope, in which, on viewing through a slit the
figures drawn in a circle on the revolving disk, we see them
moving, playing at leap-frog, and performing all kinds of
antics: a phenomenon owing to that peculiarproperty of the
retina which consists in retaining fora short time the fin-

aseffsteructcskoift.
tMhe.
Claudeti in
pression or
endeavouringsensationofthetoimcaogme
bwinheichthhe
phenaikistoscope with those of the stereoscope, has
found the means of obtaining the illusion of moving
figu es so as to make each figure complete a certain ac-
tion, but without stereoscopic effect; being indeed only
half the desired solution, but still highly remarkable.
Suppose two boxers, one represented in the act of preparing
to hit his opponent, and the other in the act of striking
the blow. These are only the extreme positions of the act
of pugilism, but if the eye perceives the first, and imme-
diately afterwards the second, the mind completes the
action and we see the pugilist actually hit the blow. To
attain this result M. Claudet has arranged a stereoscope
in such a manner that by means of a slide with one
hole, he can, by moving it rapidly in a reciprocating hori-
zontal direction, shut one lens while the other remains
open ; and in continuing that notion, while one eye sees
one of the two pictures, the second eye cannot see the
other picture. Now, if before the sensation of one eye is
exhausted the slide shuts the lens and opens the other, a
new impression is produced on the retina, and we have
an interrupted sensation of vision, as if the object had
moved before us; and if a sufficient number of pic-
tures rei resent that object in the various consecutive

positions it has assumed during several stages of its
motion, we experience on the retina the same sensation we
have when we see the object itsself while moving. More-

over we see the object without difference or interruption,
whether by the right or the left eye ; and we cannot even
distinguish which is the eye that has had the perception.
M. Claudet can employ eight different photographs repre-
senting as many different stages of the action, by arrang-
ing them on the four faces of two cubes reyeking together
on a common axis parallel to those faces, and that way
the illusion is complete.