The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-21 00:00:00

48 . -

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE IN
DUBLIN.

Sunday evening a dreadful occurrence took place in a
house of ill fame in French-street. A gentleman at-
tempted the life of a girl living in No. 24 in the above
street, and immediately after committed suicide by
shooting himself. It appears that shortly before 4
o'clock, some boys, playing near the house, which is
kept by a person calling herself Fanny Stuart, were
startled by the sharp report of a pistol-shot, immediately
succeeded by the screams of a woman, and in a few
minutes after by a second shot. They gave the alarm
to the constable on the beat, who immediately pro-
ceeded to the house, and, having been admitted, was
told that both shots had been fired by a gentleman who
was then in the two pair back bedroom. The constable
went upstairs, and, on entering the room, was horrified
at seeing the body of a man stretched at full length on
the floor, and bleeding slightly from a bullet wound in
the left breast. Although five minutes had scarcely
elapsed from the time the second shot was heard until
the arrival of the policeman life was quite extinct. A
portion of the shirt around the wound, and the left collar
of the waistcoat, which was unbuttoned, were on fire,
so it would appear the muzzle of the pistol must have
been close to the breast when the fatal shot was fired.
The girl, Emma Fawcit, a native of England, whom
the unfortunate deceased had attempted to destroy be-
fore terminating his own existence, was found lying
on a sofa, in the drawing-room, bleeding from several
wounds inflicted by small shot, scattered over the right
side of her person from the temple to the knee; the light
morning dress which she wore was all stained with blood.
When assistance was procured she was placed on a car
and conveyed to Mercer's Hospital, where she was re-
ceived by the resident surgeon, by whom she was treated
in the kindest and most skilful manner. Having made
a careful examination of the wounds, which are nume-
rous, he declared that none of them were likely to prove
dangerous. As soon as she had recovered conscious-
ness she made a statement which, if correct, shows
her escape from death to have been almost mi-
raculous. She states that she left deceased sitting
in the bedroom to go down to the drawing-room,
and had been absent but a short time when she heard
him calling her on the stairs. She went out and saw
him on the landing beside the lobby window looking
towards the drawing-room door. She was going up to
him, and had ascended some three or four steps, when
he stepped forward with a pistol in his right hand and
instantly fired at her ; the charge, which appears to have
been of small shot, striking her in a slanting direction
downwards. She immediately turned and rushed back
into the drawing-room exclaiming, " Oh, lam shot !"
and then became unconscious. In the course of 15 or
20 minutes after the tragical occurrence the street in
front of the house in which it took place was literally
blocked up with crowds of persons anxiously inquiring
into the circumstances, or listening attentively to the
various and conflicting rumours that were being circu-
lated on the subject.
The proprietress of the establishment, Fanny Stuart,
gave the inspector the following account of the deceased :
—He came to her house late on the night of the 30th of
August, the day after the arrival of the Queen. He
was shabbily dressed, and seemed to have been some
time in the rain which fell during the • ht. He asked
for something to eat, and went down to the kitchen,
where he saw a gentleman sitting at the fire, to whom'
have 100
he said, " I suppose you are on the spree to-night. If
you want money
I can give you some,
sovereigns." Miss Stuart did not thinkas I
this state-
ment was correct, as she only saw eight or nine Bove
•
reigns in his purse when he drew it out. He attached
himself to Emma Fawcitt, and remained until 5 o'clock
in the morning, when he went out, but returned in
about five or ten minutes, and said he would not go,
as he thought he was late for the train ; he lived with the
• :Arne girl ever since, seldom going out at first, and lat-
terly not at all, and whenever he did it was in a covered
car. On the 31st of August he went to the King's-
bridge terminus for some portmanteaus he had left

there, and in two or three days alter he brought in more
luggage, including a large trunk, which he never opened
in the house, and whic is still corded, and so great
is its weight that two men can scarcely carry it ; he ap-
peared to have a considerable sum of money—all in gold
--which be spent in the most lavish manlier, purchasing
for the women in the house, and particularly fur Emma
Fawcitt, various and costly,articies of dress ; notwith-
standing his great extravagance, he has left after him a
bag filled with sovereigns, which was found in a closet off
his bed-room by the police ; he was frequently ques-
tioned as to where he came from, and who he was, but his
replies were often evasive, always unsatisfactory and
contradictory. The night of his arrival, he said he was a
veterinary surgeon, attached to the Queen's establish-
ment, and subsequently he stated that he had been some
time in Australia ; the name he gave was Webster,
which, if not his real name, was one he appears to have
travelled under, for on the railway labels pasted on his
luggage is " Daniel H. Webster, passenger to Dublin."
Miss Stuart stated, in reply to the inspector, that
she never saw the deceased drunk, nor did she ever
knew him to have any quarrel with Emma Faw-
citt ; that, on the contrary, he seemed very much
attached to her. He bought her several dresses,
and, among other articles, an accordion, upon which
he was teaching her to play. About an hour before
he perpetrated the dreadful act which so suddenly
hurried him into eternity, he was giving her instruction in
the air of "There's nae luck about the house." Emma
Fawcitt's statement at the hospital differs from Miss
Stuart's in one respect. The latter says she never saw the
deceased drunk, while the former alleges that he was
seldom sober, and that during the last two days he was
constantly intoxicated, and was becoming quite insane
in his conduct and manner. In the account given by
Miss Stuart, she stated that when the first shot was
fired, all the women were in the drawing-room excepting
Miss Fawcitt, who instantly rushed in exclaiming, " Oh,
lam shot ! lam shot !" and then fainted. She (Miss
Stuart) thought he had gone mad, and fearing he would
murder them all she locked and barricaded the door, and
called for help. This had been scarcely done when the
second shot was heard, and she thought it had been
fired at some of the servants.

The police found on the dressing-table several pistols,
and beside them a bag of bullets, together with a quantity
of powder. The pistols are quite new, and of a very su-
perior description ; the maker's name is " Richardson,
Lord-street, Liverpool." A considerable quantity of
wearing apparel, of the best style and quality,
was lying about. The deceased is of the middle
size, slightly made, and of a sallow complexion ;
his face is much worn, and would indicate a
life of hardship or dissipation ; he might be about
35 years of age, but looked somewhat older, from having
lost some of his teeth, and wearing a wig ; for it is
worthy of remark that his hair, which is dark brown,
is slightly grown, having been recently shaved, which
he accounted for to Miss Fawcitt by stating that it had
been done in hospital, where he was treated for an attack
of glanders, which he took from contact with a diseased
horse. A miniature of himself, enclosed in a handsome
morocco leather case, which he presented to the girl
Fawcitt, is a faithful likeness. An inquest was to be
held on Monday on the body by Mr J. E. Hyndman."

THE INQUEST.
The inquest on the body of the wretched man was
held on Monday. The body was found laying on its
back, at the foot of the bed, which was in disorder. A
table beside the bed was covered with broken glasses and
lemonade bottles. In an inner dressing-room was strewn
a quantity of new wearing apparel. Five pistols were
found on the table. Some cards of a commercial house
were found in a pocket-book of the deceased.
After hearing evidence, the jury found "that the de-
ceased, while labouring under a temporary derangement
of mind, on the day previous, discharged a pistol at a
female named Emma Fawcitt, in the house, 24, French-
street, and that in a few minutes afterwards he fired a
pistol into his left lung, which caused his death."
The only important witnesses were the two females,
Stuart and Fawcitt, but they did not throw any ad-
ditional light on the melancholy catastrophe.

NARROW ESCAPE.-- -One of the most remarkable in-
stances on record of escape from fatal injury occurred on
Saturday last at Sheffield, at the building works in pro-
gress near the canal wharf. A series of large and
lofty arches is being constructed' there as foundation
of
the
of the intended new gdod's warehouses in connection
with the Victoria Railway station. Seven arches had
been completed, and the eigtbth and last arch on the
side next to the railway was about to be turned. The
whole fabric was of stone, and Was of a most substan-
tial character. On Saturday afternoon, shortly after
dinner, three maoons and four labourers were at work
on the seventh arch, which they had just keyed in and
completed, when they were obliged to retreat and seek
shelter from a thunder-storm, accompanied by heavy
rain. No sooner had they descended from the arch and
reached the ground adjacent, than the entire arch on
which they had been working fell in with a tremendous
crash. This circumstance is regarded by 'the workmen
a: one of the • most extraordinary instances of "hair-
breadth 'scape." they ever knew. Sometimes there
have been as many as 15 men working on the arch
at the same time. The only way of accounting for the
falling of the arch is the supposition that the perpendi-
cular timbers were forced out of their place by the light-
ning. •
[ADVERTISEMENT.]—THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND.—
(To the Editor of the Sun.)—Sir,---It would appear that
doctors and boards of health are as much at sixes and
sevens as ever, upon tie treatment to be pursued, either
as a preventative or cure, by parties attacked with
cholera. Now, the public should understand that diar-
rhoea, the precursor of cholera, should, like any other
disease, be treated by an efficient vegetable purgative,
such as Morison's Vegetable 'Universal Medicine. Here
lies the great secret of cure, at least, if the testimony of
Mr. Thomas Hudson, now residing at No. 46, Union-
street, Portsea, and, also that of Mr. Thomas Gardner,
of 18, Lawrence-street, Thshopwearmouth, is to be
received. It is unquestionable that in the year 1832
both these parties cured and saved thousands from
cholera solely by Morison's Pills, of the British
College of Health, New-road, London. The report
from these two parties„ can be seen in the second
volume of " Morisonia, page 636 and 397. What
the public require is some cheap remedy to which
the may have immediate recourse without the payment
of never-ending fees to doctors. We now think it
highly important to state that in a letter just received
from our agent at Madras, Mr. R. L. Pereira, dated the
6th of August last, he states that Mr. J. Thompson, of
the indigo works at Cuddapah,, mentions the cure from
the bite of a cobra de capello solely by Morison's Vege-
table Universal Medicine. We ourselves had no doubt
that such a cure might be affected, and we feel delighted
that the fact is now proved. It is a subject worthy of a
commission of inquiry by the Government.—Signed, The
Members of the British College of Health, New-road,
London, for and on behalf of the Society of Hygeists.—
Dated this 19th Sept., 1853.