The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-15 00:00:00

SERIOUS CRAEGII.—At the Birkenhead Police-court,
the case of a lady of respectability, who was charged
with having cut her child a throat, was brought up on
Saturday. She is a married lady, of prepossessing
appearance, about 24 years of age. The evidence
adduced in support of this very painful case, was
as follows :—About half-past six on Friday morning,
she was lying in bed with her husband and her in-
fant, about five months old, when she got out of bed
and immediately returned. She then sat up in her
bed, and, with an open razor, deliberately cut the
little innocent's throat. She then proceeded from
her bed-room to that of the person in whose house
she lodged, rapped at the door, and upon his
coming out she handed bbss her child, which lie
perceived had received a severe cut in the throat. It
was bleeding very much. He thereupon sent for a
surgeon, and upon being aaa te describe how she
appeared when she brought the ehild to him, he replied
that she appeared to be like a person who had the horrors,
and was completely out of her senses ; then he after-
wards went into her bed-room, and found her husband
there, who had got out of bed, and, upon speaking to
him, he appeared perfectly bewildered, as if a man
beside himself—not knowing what to do. The sur-
geon proved that two gashes had been inflicted on
the infant's throat with some sharp instrument ;
that he had dressed the wounds, and he believed
with proper care that the child would live. And,
in addition, he said, that she had, on a pre-
vious occasion, attempted to take the life of the
child by administering laudanum, which he had ex-
tracted, and saved its life ; and that she had also, on a
previous occasion, inflicted serious injury upon her
own throat. Upon his being asked what he supposed
to be cause, he stated, that he had been the attendant
upon her family for some years, and that God only knew
what trouble she had gone through. She is of highly
respectable connections, and her husband formerly be-
longed to a very respectable firm in Liverpool, but from his
dissipated habits and other faults, he had brought her
to a very low state, so as to induce her friends to believe
that she is not now in a sound state of mind. The case
was ultimately remanded until Monday, for the attend-
ance of the surgeon who had been first called to see the
child. She appeared to feel keenly her situation, and
excited the sympathy of the whole court. Her husband
was present during the investigation, but appeared
somewhat cooler in the matter.—Liverpool Standard.
STATISTICS OF WRECKS.—The following is the awful
summary of 1850 :—The wrecks of Bric,ish and foreign
vessels on the coasts and in the seas of the United King-
dom were 681. Of these, 277 were total wrecks ; sunk
by leaks or collisions, 84 ; stranded and damaged so as
to require to discharge cargo, 304 ; abandoned, 16 ;
total wrecks, &c., 681 ; total lives lost, 784. In the
year 1851 the wrecks on our coast were 701. Of these,
353 were total wrecks, or sunk, or abandoned, and 348
stranded and damaged so as to require to discharge
cargo. The number of lives lost (so far as could be as-
certained) was 750. The most disastrous portion was
the month of September ; and in the heavy storm of the
25th and 26th of that month, 117 vessels were stranded,
while during the whole month the number amounted to
153, or more than five a day ; thus affording additional
proof of the necessity of making the utmost efforts to
avert so much calamity. But the past year, 1852, has
far exceeded in respect to shipwrecks the two former
periods in amount and fatality, no less than 1,100 ves-
sels having been wrecked on the shores of the British
isles, and the number of lives lost (as far as could be
ascertained) being about 900. The greatest havoc
took place about the latter end of last October and
beginning of November. In this interval no less than
600 ships sought refuge in the Humber. Many more,
however, could reach no shelter ; and thus, in the course
of a few days, the unprecedented number of 300 vessels
were lost or damaged, with the fearful loss of 217 lives.
The greater part of this terrible work of destruction
took place on the east coast of England, off Flamborough
Head.

DISTRESSING CASE OF MENTAL ABERRATION.—Much
anxiety has been felt among the English residents at
Madrid, for the fate of the Rev. A. P. Patterson, who
recently acted as minister of the Scotch Church at
Gibraltar. The
mail, for Bayonne,rev, gentleman left Madrid, by the
the 30th August, since which
time nothing has been
that he had not reacellal heard of him, further than
or 4th, when Mr. Otwaecis Bayonne till about the 3rd
findingeforts to discover his where-
abouts were successful irrhim. It would appear
that the unfortunate gentlema. decidedly out of his
mind, and that on arriving at Burgos, he refused to pro-
ceed further, and his strange l conduct there excited
taken
his intention to be
attention. He subsequently de
changed, and a place was for
him in the
escaped diligence for the north, but he es from the dili-
gence a league or two from Burgos, and
,ey
, they
in the fields. There are patrols of civil
about
*i
high roads, and on two of this force perceigng him,nards on the
went towards him to learn his business there
Patterson, on seeing them approach him, took off hanisunelclkr:
cloth, and cut his throat with a penknife. He was taken
back to Burgos, where his wounds, which it appearsaarenot
very serious, were dressed, and every attention w
him by Senor Gonzalez, the civil governor of thats paidpro-
vince, who, moreover, on Sept. 10, drew up an official
statement of the occurrence, which he sent to the Home.
Office at Madrid, requesting that it might be communi-
cated to the British Legation. No such communication
was, however, made for nearly three weeks; and, in the
meantime, Mr. Otway, who had been applied to by
Lis friends, and had written in all directions to inquire
about him, learned through a private source that
he was at Burgos, under the circumstances above
stated, and immediately communicated with Signor
Calderon de la Barc on the subject, complaining that
the despatch of the Governor of Burros, respecting our
unfortunate countryman, had not been partu ipated in
by him. On the following day the dispatch reached the
British Legation. Mr. Patterson is now under the care
of Dr. Mackintosh, of Glasgow, who came out to bring
him home, and who passed through Bayonne for Bur-
gos on the 3d inst.