The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-15 00:00:00

THAMES.

ATROCIOUS ASSAULT ON A POLICE CONSTABLE.—John
Ford and John Wheeler, two powerful men, were brought
before Mr. Page; charged with violently assaulting police
constable Marks, No. 349 K.

This morning, at half-past one o'clock, the prisoner Ford
and another man were fighting in High-street, Poplar
Both were stripped, and a number of low blackguards sur-
rounded them. The constable Marks interfered, and com-
pelled the combatants to desist. Ford immediately struck
him and knocked him down. Ho got up and seized the
prisoner, but was prevented taking him away by Wheeler,
who made an attempt to take the constable's belt away.
A severe conflict ensued, and the policeman was brutally
maltreated. He used his truncheon and rattle on Ford's
head, and inflicted severe wounds. His head was ban-
daged, and he had lost a good deal of blood. Mr. Wicker,
the landlord of the Green Dragon, hastened to the police-
station near the parish church, procured assistance, and
the prisoners, after a desperate resistance, were secured.
Mr. Paget said he had observed, and he would repeat it
now, that police-constables had difficult and dangerous
duties to perform, and that when they performed their
duties in a proper and moderate manner he would purish
with severity any assault upon them. A brutal attack
was made on the constable, and he was quite justified in
using his truncheon and rattle as he had done. The
natural consequence was a broken head If it had not

A terrible catastrophe occurred in the Channel
on Wednesday night. The Samphire, one of the
fine fleet of mail steamers of the London, Chatham,
and Dover Railway Company, on the arrival of the
continental express train at Dover from London,
embarked about 70 passengers and the mails, and
at eleven o'clock at night steamed away for Calais.
The sea was comparatively calm, but the atmo-
sphere was thick and heavy. When the steamer
had performed four miles and a half of her passage,
twelve minutes having elapsed from the time she
left Dover, an American barque struck her violently
on the port-bow, and cut her well nigh asunder.
The barque turned out to be the Fanny Buck, cf
Boston, bound from Rotterdam to Cardiff. She is
of about 500 tons burden, and was in ballast. The
violence of the collision was such that the total
wreck of the steamer appeared inevitable, and a rush
was made to the small boats, the barque not having
stopped to save the lives on board the steamer ;
and it was at this juncture that a most melancholy
and fatal accident ensued. A Russian count, in
his eager effort to get into a small boat, fell
overboard. As he rose to the surface a
life line was thrown to him for his rescue ;
he grasped it, but through exhaustion, as he wore
a large heavy cloak, he lost his hold and sank.
On rising again Captain Bennett, the commander
of the mail steamer jumped overboard, and secured
a line round the body of the drowning count, but
unhappily just as he was being raised into the boat
the line slipped from his waist and the count sank
to rise no more. When the shock of the collision
was felt the passengers rushed from the cabins to
the deck. The fore cabins immediately filled with
water, but by the peculiar construction of the
steamer the forepart can be rendered incommunic-
able with the compartment aft of the engines,
otherwise the steamer would have immediately
sunk. As it was, however , the vessel was able to
keep afloat, though her bulkheads had filled and her
bow was under water. On communication being
made with the shore the Belgain mail boat, just
arrived at Dover, for Ostend, was sent out, and it
towed the Samphire to the mouth of Dover harbour
by seven o'clock yesterday morning, the passengers
having been landed in small boats. The cause of
the collision will, of course, be a matter for official
investigation. The steamer had her lights burning
brilliantly, and those on board deny that the
barque exhibited any lights ; on the other hand,
two of the crew of the barque, who scram-
bled on board the steamer, and were lauded,
and received at the Dover Sailors' Home, de-
clare that the barque had her proper lights up,
and that they saw the steamer crossing her bows.
From the effects produced upon, both vessels the
violence of the collision must have been terrific.
The steamer, which is ironplated, was stove in right
down to the keel, every timber in her appearing to
have been loosened. The barque, which was ob-
liged to enter Dover Harbour yesterday morning,
is also much damaged. The iron plates of the
steamer pierced to a depth of nearly a foot into the
barque's solid timber at the bow ; her stem and
cutwater were broken away, and she was stove in
several places, both below and above water. But
the worst part of the affair is that it was attended
with other fatal consequences. On counting up the
passengers two ladies were missed, and as the last
that was seen of them was that they were seated in
the fore cabin shortly before the collision, it was
supposed that they must have been drowned in that
compartment of the vessel. This could not, how-
ever, be ascertained until the tide went down and
the water was ejected from the cabins. But in the
meantime the mails were removed from the vessel,
and preparations made for their despatch to their
destination. As the water left the vessel two ladies
were seen floating about in the fore cabin, and a
gentleman sitting upon the bunk. The bodies were
late yesterday arvernoon removed to the dead-house
by the police. The ladies were identified, and the
three bodies await a coroner's inquiry, which will be
held to-day.