The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-25 00:00:00

MARYLEBONE.

THE BILLETING NUISANCE.—VIOLENT ASSAULTS BY A
MILITIAMAN.—WiIIiam Kelly, a member of the corps of the
Hampstead Militia, was charged with being drink anti dis-
orderly, and committing several assaults.
James Harley, potman at the Oxford Arms, corner of
James-street, High-street, Camden-town, said—Last night
just as we were closing the house, the prisoner, who is
billeted upon the landlord (Mr. Newport), came in very
drunk. He was asked to go up to bed, which, after
knocking me about, he did. Hearing a noise in his room,
master went up with me, and we saw him with the win-
dow open, throwing things out. Master wished him to
shut the window and go to bed. Prisoner took up a chair,
and striking my master on the head knocked him down.
William Peatrey, barman at the same house—He has
been billeted upon us for three weeks, and has been a
nuisance to the whole neighbourhood, always coming
home drunk and riotous. Whe he returned last night he
was told to be quiet and go to bed. He took hold of the
potman and nearly strangled him and struck him three
times. After that we got him to his bedroom. A noise
was afterwards heard, and on going into the room where
prisoner was he was seen throwing water and other things
upon a crowd of about 50 people who had collected about
the house through his conduct. When remonstrated with
by Mr. Newport he took up a chair and knocked him down,
He was exceedingly violent.
Charles Barber, 147 S, was called to take the prisoner
into Custody. He was very drunk. Mr. Newport seemed
to be much injured about the head.
In default of payment of a fine of 20s. he was sentenced
to 21 days' hard labour in the House of Correction.

THE KEY AND THE BIBLE.—On Thursday. a
strange application was made to the sitting magistrates at
North Shields. A middle-aged woman, living in Milburn-
place, North Shields, applied for a summons against a per-
son for defaming her daughter's character. She said that a
short time ago some person in the neighbourhood had lost a
brooch and it could not be found, and some person abmit the
place was thought to have stolen it, but the culprit could
not be traced. However, after considerable consultation, it
was decided that the neighbours should assemble and solve
the mystery by having recourse to the antiquated test of the
"key and the Bible." This " holy and infallible" method
of discovering the perpetrator of guilt is as follows :—A
piece of string is tied round the Bible, the book is then laid
on a table, and a key is spun round on the top of the Bible,
and while the key is " going its rounds" some one in the
company completes the charm by repeating a verse of Holy
Writ by way of guiding the movements of the revolving key.
The party to whom the end of the key points when it has
stopped is considered to be the guilty one. In the experi-
ment referred to the applicant's daughter. was the indivi-
dual who was taken notice of by the " knowing" key, and
as the mother considered the character of her daughter
slandered by the conduct of the key she sought redress at
the hands of the Bench. The magistrates said they could
do nothing to assist the old woman beyond advising her to
cease putting the Bible and the key to such silly uses.—
Netecastle Chronicle.

,ENGLISH NEWS IN FRANCE. —The London corre-
spondent of the solemn Memorial Diplomatique has
discovered that the English are becoming more pleasure-
loving than formerly—beginning to frequent theatres, balls
and concerts, in place of concentrating all their attention,
as before, on politics and le sport. In the same letter the
correspondent reveals another wonderful discovery he has
made. After speaking of the numerous literary circles, lec-
ture rooms, Polytechnic, and other institutions in London,
he informs us that among the institutions established here
with a view of elevating the taste and forming the mind,
the "Peckham Debating Society" deserves particular men-
tion. Our readers will be glad to learn that this notable
institution, thus dragged from its obscurity and brought
under their notice, is simply "a gathering of honest citi-
zens, who meet from time to time to discuss either a histo-
rical point or one of the great questions of the day." The
other day, it seems, the subject of discussion was the equity
of fines imposed by courts of justice, when an " hon. gen-
tleman, M. E. Ballantine," opposed such fines, because en-
abling the rich to escape- punishment, while the poor got
punished ; and a " Mr. Hanley" defended the propriety of
inflicting fines in some cases, adducing the case of Captain
Colborne, who, we are told, had been arrested after a duel,
provoked by an attack upon his honour. After other
speeches pro and con., a majority of four declared that the
administration of justice, iu respect of fines, is often at fault.
See, says the wise Memorial, what amusements are prac-
tised at Peckham, one of the most charming suburbs of
Londan, under the prestilenoY of George Barton, Esq.

The papers relating to the resignation of Mr. Wilde as
Registrar of the Bankruptcy Court at Leeds were issued on
Tuesday. On the 6th of April last year, Mr. Wilde's atten-
tion was called, by direction of the Lord Chancellor, to the
fact that the accounts of the official assignees and messen-
gers of his court wore said to be certified by Mr. Commis-
sioner Ayrton, when in point of fact Mr. Ayrton had not
seen them. This, Mr. Wilde was told, was " a very grave
offence," and he was asked to give immediate explanation.
Three days after Mr. Wilde writes :—" I am sorry to hear
the Lord Chancellor thinks that I have committed a very
grave offence in signing the document to which your letter
alludes. I signed it ; the gentleman (Mr. Carrick) present-
ing it to me, representing that it had been submitted to,
and approved of, by Mr. Commissioner Ayrton ; and a
statement now before me, dated the Bth of April, signed by
Mr. Commissioner Ayrton, shows that all the items in the
account signed by me were on that day approved and allowed
by the Commissioner, except the charge for petty disburse-
ments, which aro now under the bill audited by me." Mr.
Wilde was called upon to send up the document ho referred
to, which he did, and it bore at the foot of the accounts the
words, "I hereby allow the above account. W. S. Ayrton,
Commissioner, April, 1862." Mr. Wilde hereupon received
the following letter from the Court of Bankruptcy:—" Mr.
Carrick, one of the official assignees, asserts that you owe
him .£l3l, and Mr. Needell, one of the messengers, that you
owe him £25, all for money borrowed. I am directed by
the Lord Chancellor to ask you whether these statements
are true." Mr. Wilde returned the following answer—" In
1857 I met with a heavy loss through the fraud of two
friend. On going to Paris in great distress of mind, it
seems I had from Mr. Needell £25, for which I gave him
an I 0 U, which fact I had forgotten till I saw Mr. Needell
this morning. I have paid him the same sum this morning
by cheque. In the same year I was obliged to get my
bankers to make me a heavy advance, which, with the as-.
sistance of the advance of my friend Mr. Carrick, of £l3l,
enabled me to provide against the loss above alluded to ;
but, as I presume from your letter the Chancellor thinks
that I ought not to have sought for such friendly assist-
ance, being a registrar of the court of which Mr. Carsick
was one of the official assignees, I have repaid him also."
Four reports made to the Lord Chancellor by Mr. Commis-
sioner Ayrton and Mr. Harding were then forwarded to
Mr. Wilde, and he was asked to reply to the charges they
appeared to involve, which it was said wore these three :
—" 1. That accounts which ought to have been submitted
to and allowed by your Commissioners were certified by
you as having been submitted to and sanctioned by him,
without his having ever seen such accounts ; and that
thereby large sums had been improperly allowed to the
official assignees. 2. That you have been in the habit of
taxing the bills of the messengers, without calling for the
production of the vouchers for the sums alleged to have
been paid by them ; and 3. That you had borrowed
money both from the official assignees and messengers of
the court, and thereby destroyed your independence and
efficiency." On the 24th of May Mr. Wilde was called to
put in his answer within a week, under penalty of being
called on to show cause in open court why he should not
be dismissed. This he did on the 30th. In reply to the
first charge against him, he said, "I did not certify that
accounts were submitted to and approved of by Mr. Com-
missioner Ayrton. I certify only to the fact beyond dis-
pute, 'that the reasonable office expenses had been previ-
ously submitted to and sanctioned by Mr. Commissioner
Ayrton.' I certify as I did because the official assignee told
me that the Commissioner had sanctioned and approved
the items of ' reasonable office expenses,' whose honour
and integrity had been unimpeached for the eleven years
_ _

in
I had acted with him the same court ; and he placed
before me a document conclusively proving the fact of
'reasonable office expenses,' dated Bth April, 1862, signed
by Mr. Commissioner Ayrton, and a similar document
was made and signed by the senior Commissioner as a
scale to regulate future 'reasonable office expenses."
Knowing Mr. Ayrton's watchfulness, Mr. Wilde con-
cluded that as he had not objected to the procedure
adopted, he was satisfied with it. As to the second
charge, Mr. Wilde admitted that he placed great con-
fidence in the messenger, but " I did," he says,. " occa-
sionally ask for vouchers when I considered that they
could and should be produced." "As to the third charge,"
said Mr. Wilde, " that of borrowing money both of the offi-
cial assignee and the messenger, and thereby destroying my
independence and efficiency, I am exceedingly sorry in this
respect that I have done acts calling down upon me the
Chancellor's censure. The £25 I had of the messenger, it
seems, many years ago ; I had it when called in haste to
Paris. I purposed repaying it on my return ; I did not see
him for some time afterwards, and it escaped my memory,
otherwise I should not have allowed it to remain unpaid.
As for the loan from Mr. Carrick, I had it some years ago,
to enable me to meet the exigencies of a sudden loss, and
I did not know that our official connection necessarily de-
barred us from exercising the usual privileges of friendship.'
In July, Mr. Wilde petitioned that he might be allowed to
retire with a pension equal to two-thirds of his salary, put-
ting in a certificate that he was suffering from impaired
sight, and the Lord Chancellor made an order that the
petitioner should receive the retiring allowance prayed for

The Late Shocking Death of Steeple Jack,

An inquest was held in tho grand jury room, in Garrick-
street, Wolverhampton, before Mr. T. M. Phillips, borough
coroner, on tho body of John M'Cann, better known as
" Steeple Jack," aged 37 years, who resided in Dudley-
street, Bilston, and who died in the South Staffordshire
Hospital at half-past two on Monday morning.
Thomas Hacking stated that he was a repairer of chim-
neys, and lived in Bilston. He worked for the deceased, who
was a repairer of chimneys, like himself. On Wednesday
week they went to work at the Wednesbury Oak Iron
Works, belonging to Messrs. Williams, where the deceased
had engaged to repair the top of a chimney. It was an
engine stack they were repairing, about 100 feet high. Wit-

ness assisted the deceased to fly a kite and put the ropes
over the chimney. They fixed a piece of timber as a seat to
one end of the ropes for the purpose of the deceased being
drawn up to the top of the chimney. A 561 b. weight was
then attached to the other end of the rope at the bottom
Before the seat was drawn up a pulley was attached to the
top by a line. Everything was ready for deceased to go up
on Wednesday, but he did not because the chimney was
too hot. On Saturday witness went up to take the mea-
surement of the angle iron. The rope was securely tied ;
four men could not pull it away. The deceased helped to
pull witness up on the Saturday, and was also on the top
of the stack himself. On Sunday witness went up about
11 o'clock, and fixed a portion of the scaffolding. The de-
ceased went up in a state of intoxication before the scaffold
was finished. When the deceased was up witness came
down. The deceased remained up about an hour and then
came down. The deceased could come down himself, be-
cause he was heavier than the balance weight. When he
came down they went into a publichouse called the Mitre ;
this was about half-past 12 o'clock. The deceased called

for a glass of whisky, but was too drunk to drink it. They
remained in the house until half-past 2. The deceased had
his dinner while in the house. The deceased then went to

the top of the chimney again, and afterwards pulled wit-
ness
up. They remained at the top of the chimney till
about 4 o'clock doing the preliminary work. They then
came down, and deceased, when about nine yards from
the bottom, slipped down the rope. They then went again
to the publichouse where they had a gallon of ale be-
tween four of them, and the deceased had a glass of rum
and was smoking. They left the publichouse about half-
past 8, and went on to the roof of the mill. The deceased
wanted to go up, but witness and another man prevented
him for about an hour. After the other man had gone
deceased shoved witness on one side and pulled himself
up by the ropes. When he got to the top of the chimney he
lay down on the scaffolding with his legs partially hanging
down. Witness called to him several times, but ho would
not answer, and he thought he was asleep. The deceased
did not dance on the chimney. About half-past 10 the de-
ceased called to witness, and he then saw him stand upon
the stack. He walked forward on to the casting, which
projects over the top of the chimney about seven inches.
Whilst in this position he seemed to put his foot too for
ward and fell down through the roof of the mill, a distance o

about 80ft. from the top of the stack. An alarm was given
and Thos. Lovatt came to the assistance of witness, and
they found the deceased covered with slates from the broken

roof. They got him out as quickly as they could. The de-
ceased's leg was broken and he was badly hurt about the
body. Two surgeons were sent for, and they ordered the
deceased to be taken to the South Staffordshire Hospital,
where he arrived about half-past 12 o'clock.
Thomas Lovett said he was employed at the Messrs.
Williams's works, as a mill furnace man. On Sunday he
saw the deceased on the stack several times. He was told
a little before half-past 10 that the deceased was again on
the top, and witness said he would go and see. Ho went
and heard the last witness call to the deceased. The de-
ceased said he was coming, and immediately fell down
through the roof of the mill.
A nurse from the hospital stated that deceased was ad-
mitted there about half-past 12 o'clock on Monday morn-
ing. He was badly hurt. The bone was protruding from
one leg, and the other was cut. There were several cuts
and bruises about his head and body, and a cut in his
throat. He was very much intoxicated.
The jury, after hearing the evidence, returned a verdict
of " Accidental death." It seems that deceased was in the
habit of taking stimulants when employed at work of this
kind, as he alleged, to " give him nerve."

The Courrier de la Dronze gives some information
as to the progress of silkworm breeding in that depart-
ment and the Ardeche. Xinch anxiety prevails among
the silk breeders in those departments with respect to the
forthcoming crop. The silkworms bred from Japanese
seed give great hcfes, but the others produced from
foreign seed cause some uneasiness. Owing to the want
of sufficient seed the numbor of silkworms is much less
than usual, and there is a vast quantity of mulberry leaves,
for which it is feared there will be no demand.
RAMSGATE HARBOUR.—The annual accounts pre-
sented to Parliament in relation to this "Royal Harbour,"
under the Harbours Act of 1861, show for 1864 receipts
amounting to £8,267, and payments for cost of maintenance
amounting, with some small superannuation allowances, to
X 110531. The harbour dues produced 44,578,