The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-25 00:00:00

Terrific Storm at Dalston.

Last night, the enormous masses of heavy thunder
clouds broke with terrific violence at Daliton, causing a
great destruction of property. The lightning was very
severe, and the flashes followed one after the other in
rapid succession. The church of St. Mark, Ridley-road,
sustained great injury in consequence of its being struck
by the electric fluid. A portion of the roof was destroyed,
and the interior of the church did not escape without
serious damage. The storm of thunder and lightning was
increased by the springing up of a strong wind,- which
damaged a number of large trees, and the tops of
many private dwellings had portions torn away
by the violence of the hurricane. it was at
one time rumoured that two or three lives had
been lost by lightning, but happily the report proved
without foundation. All Newington and the surrounding
neighbourhood did not escape the violence of the storm,
although the damage done was as nothing compared with
the ravages it committed at Dalston.

Lynch Law at Wandsworth.—Extraordi-

nary Scene•

Last evening it was my good or ill fortune to witness an
extraordinary scene on the borders of the Black Sea. On
the banks of this not very pellucid lake, the scene last
evening was of the quietest description. Gentle nursery-
maids led forth their interesting charges to enjoy the odour
of duckweed which arose from the lonely mere. Wands-
worth-conamon was beautiful under the placid influences of
sunset. But in midst of this general tranquillity there oc-
curred a strife of elements which reminded one of the
battles of the ancient megalotheria in their homes of mud.
As a peaceful preliminary to the strife I noticed a lady
descend from a cab, displaying in her right hand a
white handkercdief. She looked wonderingly about
for a few minutes. Presently a gentleman repeated the
signal of peace ; and then, having pocketed his handker-
chief, he walked forward to the lady, and shook her
warmly by the hand. It was a singular but not an extra-
ordinary meeting; and I was about once more to dwell
in mild contemplation on the beauties of wood and lake,
when I observed the gentleman lead the lady in a very
affectionate manner towards a seat which was separated
from the pond by only a very narrow bank. Nor

was them much unusual in this occurrence ; but no
sooner had they prepared to seat themselves than th
lady in a very wonderful way abruptly left her
companion and ran off, while the gentleman was
seized by two rough-looking men, who forthwith had the
assurance to lug him down to the banks of the lake and
chuck him into its waters. Suddenly the delightful
stillness of the Black Sea was broken by a series of the
most heartrending shrieks ; and the gentleman was
seen to wallow out on all fours from the plain of mud in
a very deplorable condition. When at last he emerged
he presented one of the most unhappy spectacles that
ever a gazer witnessed. He glistened from head to
foot with mud like an enormous boa-constrictor; his
coat was rent across ; his hat was smashed ; while
his face revealed the most hideous mass of mud
that ever made a human being look like a chimpanzee.
Immediately the scene of this extraordinary dip, which
boat all to pieces the " header" in the Colleen Bawn, was

the pole whither everybody on the common was attracted;
and it seemed as though the miserable experimenter on
this new sensation-scene was well known to most Wands-

worthians, for he underwent a singular amount of hooting
as he shuffled off. But these expressions of public disap-
proval were redoubled. They increased to groans, to wild
cries; they took visible form in sundry showers of inodo-
rous eggs ; and, finally, the uphappy gentleman made a
humbling appeal to his feet, and ran off as swiftly as they
could carry him. I was about to transfer to my pocket-book
the closing lines of a sonnet on "Solitude in Wandsworth"
when this untimely provocation occurred ; and I forthwith
found it imperative to run along with the crowd that was
now collecting in wake of the ducked one. Opposite a large
public house (which shall be mentioned in my sonnet) the
stranger turned upon his assailants, and singling out one
of them, knocked off his hat, and finally closed with him.
Several of the crowd were about to help their comrade
when the English love of justice intervened, and a loud cry
of "One to one" was raised. One to one it was, though I do
not consider that principle applies to cases in which the one
is covered with mud and the other is a decently dressed
Englishman. The gentleman attacked suffered more from
mud than blows, though his scarf and collar were torn open.
His clothes received a faint lithographic impression of the
Black Sea, and his face presented a faithful photograph
thereof. Finally the man who had been ducked backed off,
and took refuge in the tavern already mentioned, in front
of which assembled a crowd of natives to discuss the mat-
ter. From these people I received, in snatches, the follow-
ing details, which may or may not be true, and which, if
libellous, are to bo attributed solely to the Dogberries in
question.

A foreign nobleman, whom I shall call Count Caskowhisky,
and who is reputed to be descended from the Caskowhiskies
who invaded Bavaria in 1649, has for some time been in the
habit of inveigling into a correspondence young ladies
desirous of being wedded; and it is alleged that in not
a few instances these foolish girls have been made to pay
the penalty of their folly by being forced to contribute
to the count's yearly income under fear of an exposure.
Hitherto the count has been slippery, and eluded convic-
tion. But more recently a gentleman in Wandsworth
thought fit to reply to one of the advertisements put
forth by Count Caskowhisky, and succeeded in enticing
the count into a correspondence. The letters, lam told,
are sufficiently warm on both sides. Clorinda is gush-
ing ; Philander is recklessly pious. Clorinda talks of the
dreams of her youth ; Philander. displays his knowledge
of Scripture and swears by it. Philander, in fact,
ndulges in what is called by the ugly name of
blasphemy, and as Clorinda represents herself as being
possessed of £3OO a-year, Philander is more than ordi-
narily violent in demonstrations of his passion. Finally,
so the story runs, a meeting was arranged on Wands-
worth-common ; and a married lady, who volunteered to
become a weapon of punishment on behalf of her suf-
fering sisters, undertook to personate Clorinda. Hence
the scene which. disturbed my poetic reveries; and
which raised such commotion last evening in the peace-
ful neighbourhood of Wandsworth. I fear the pro-
ceedings were altogether very unjustifiable. Doubtless
revenge is a rude sort of justice; but it is a form of justice
which is not quite in accordance with the modern law of
Great Britain. While, therefore, I lift hands in horror at
the suilunary vengeance taken by the Wandsworthians, I
venture to lay before your readers such details as came
under the observation of an eye-witness.—Correspondent of I
Star.