The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-07 00:00:00

THE PATRIOTIC _FUND.

SEAFORD (SUSSEX).
A. meeting of the bailiff, jurats, and freemen of the
corporation of this ancient town and port was held on
the 2d inst.
Mr. Henry Simmons (bailiff of Seaford) presid
and introduced the subject of the Patriotic Fund for
relief of the widows and orphans of the soldiers, sailors,
and marines slain in the present war, and invited the
co-operation of a local committee to carry out the be-
nevolent object agreebly to the Royal Commission.
Mr. J. S. Turner (magistrate) proposed a vote of 51.
from the corporation funds in behalf of the Patriotic
Fund.

Mr. James Booker seconded the motion, which was
put to a show of hands by the chairman, and agreed to
unanimously.
A local committee has since been formed, consisting
of the bailiff of the town and corporation, the resident
magistrates, the vicar, tradesmen, &c., for collecting
subscriptions, and the readiness with which persons of
all classes contribute is a gratifyilag proof that we ,are
engaged in a necessary and popular war.
Meetings have also been held in Liverpool, Ports-
mouth, Leamington, Warwick, Monmouth, Derby,
Arundel, Hythe, Penzance, Falmouth, Terquay,North-
umberland, Ballinasloe, Waterford, Neuagh, King's
(Jounty, and Tullamore, at all of which places handsome
sums were collected.

FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE WEST

LONDON _RAILWAY.

at Yesterday
lavne
nqguteosnt, was
ivheerlsdityb-esftorreeet,MT nro. Ve
aY
court-road, on the body of Charles Turner, aged 26, a
breakstuan in the employ of the London and North-
Western Railway Company.
James Turner, brother of the deceased, having iden-
tified the body,
Frederick Laker was sworn. lie deposed that he was
under-breaksman, and had been employed for some time
under deceased. Os Friday last, ein arriving between
Kilburn and Sudbury, on the junction of the London
and North-Western Railway, deceased got over the top
of some coal waggons for the purpose of unhooking a
portion of the train which was to remain at the Kilburn
station ; while doing so, the coal gave way, and de-
ceased fell upon the rail, some of the waggons passing
over both his legs.
Coroner—Then he attempted to unhook the carriages
before the train came to a stand. Was there any occa-
sion for him to have done so ?—Wittress—His object was
to save time, as the Aylesbury passenger train was due,
and he was anxious to proceed, so as to leave the line
clear for it.

Examination continued—Had seen deceased do the
same upon one other occasion. He was not directed by
any rule of the company to do so. He had been in the
company's service three years, and was upoa the point
of being married. He was quite sober at the time. The
train was behind time at starting, and they had bad luck
on -‘4-.13e road, a coupling-iron having broken. Imme-
diately after the occurrence of the accident the train was
shunted into the siding, and, the passenger train coming
up, deceased was conveyed in it to the Euston station,
and thence to the University College Hospital.
By the Jury—There was n• medical man called at the
.

time of the accident, nor were the wounds bandaged. A
handkerchief was tied round one leg, which bled a great
deal. He could not state the exact distance from the
Euston station, but they were about three-quarters of an
hour doing the distance, including a stoppage at Camden.
The Coroner considered that the place where the acci-
dent occurred was rather remote, and that the very best
thing that could be done had been done.
Henry Kialimark, house-surgeon at the University
College Hospital, described the injuries sustained by the
deceased.
The jury consulted for a short time, and returned a
verdict of accidental death.

SUSPECTED MURDER AT. ROCHESTER.

ROCHESTER, MONDAY.—i most painful degree of ex-
citement was experienced in this city and neighbourhood
the whole of yesterday, in consequence of the discovery
early that morning of the body of an exceedingly fine
young woman, with her throat cut, and lying in the
ditch adjoining the land-wall, just above Rochester-
bridge, in a place known as Mr. Wickenden's meadow,
quite dead. The discovery mks made by two men,
named Tidey and Walker, who, on proceeding round
the land-wall, about half-past six that morning, had
their attention arrested by seeing a bonnet and shawl
lying on the top of the wall. It was scarcely light at
the time, but after looking about for some little distance
they discovered the body of a female lying across the
ditch, partly out of the water, the head and face being
in the slimy water, of which there was 'about a foot in
the ditch at the time. Having procured the assistance
of a police-constable, the body was taken out, when it
was perceived that deceased had received a severe cut
across the throat, but although every search was made
by the constable and others, no razor, knife, nor instru-
ment of any kind, with which the wound could have
been inflicted, wrs discovered.

The body having been removed to the Queen's Arms
public-house, inquiries were set on foot for the purpose
of discovering who the deceased was, and in the course
of Sunday it was ascertained that her name was Mary
Ann Saunders, aged about 27, the daughter of Mr.
Saunders, who keeps an Alton ale-house called the
G,lden-cross, High-street, Chatham, and that she was
last seen alive on the preceding (Saturday) evening,
when she left her father's house in a rather harried
manner. The place in which the body lay is a very
lonely one, and far removed from any house, the land-
wall, as it is called, sweeping out to a bend in the river,
and was built for the purpose of preventing the tide
flowing over the adjacent marshes. The bonnet and
shawl belonging to the deceased were found lying at
some distance from each other, and the latter was
covered with blood on certain parts, as if used, by what-
ever individual it was who inflicted the wound, to stop
the flow of blood. A piece of rag, completely saturated
with blood, was also found pushed tightly into deceased's
bosom. There were no marks of struggling apparent
near the place where the body was lying, the supposition
being that deceased must have had her throat cut first,
and then placed in the situation as described. On the
pockets of deceased being searched, only a few trifling
articles were found, but no money. This is in itself
fraught with suspicion, as deceased was well known to
be always with a supply Of money in her possession,
being in the habit of assisting her father at the bar.
During the whole of Sunday the body was viewed by
several magistrates and medical men, the latter of whom.
gave it as their opinion that the cut in the throat of de-
ceased was not sufficient to cause death, and that she
must have been placed in the ditch at that retired spot,
where she was suffocated by reason of her head and lace
being under the water.

This morning a highly respectable jury was summoned
by the coroner, Mr. J. Lewis, and assembled at the
Guildhall, for the purpose of investigating the circum-
stances by which deceased met with her death ; and the
above facts having been adduced in evidence, the inquiry
was adjourned until Friday next.
The Coroner ordered that the keys found on the de-
ceased should be retained in the hands of the police till
the conclusion of the inquest, and gave directions for
the boxes belonging to the deceased to be searched.

DEPARTURES PROM THE PORT OE LONDON.—The de-
partures from this port for the Australian colonies during
the week have comprised 17 vessels—four to Sydney,
with an aggregate burden of 2,698 tons ; four to Hobart
Town, with an aggregate burden of 2,085 tons ; three
to Port Philip, with an aggregate burden of 1,240 tons ;
two to Adelaide, with an aggregate burden of 1,202
tons ; two to Launceston, with an aggregate burden of
790 tons - one to Pert Wakefield, New Zealand, of 849
tons ; and tine to Newcastle, New South Wales, of
592 tons. Their total capacity was consequently 9,456
tons. The rates of freight exhibit no material variation .
Several rifles taken from the Russians are found to be
of the kind known as the needle gun, and bear the mark
of being manufactured at Liege.
HORRIBLE SUIOIDE.—On Monday morning last Mr.
Blackburn, coroner for the borough of Leeds, held an
inquest upon what were believed to be the remains
of a man named George Towler, of Farnley-wood,
unmarried, and 22 years of age. Towlot had been
for some time labouring under insanity. Late on
Saturday night two men employed in watching the
furnace of the Farnley forge heard a noise near the
entrance of the furnace, and on looking out of their
cabin discovered the deceased standing near the
furnace mouth in a state of nudity, and his clothes lying
near. Before they could reach him he flung, himself
head foremost into the furnace, which was at that mo-
ment filled with fifty tons of molten iron and glowing
coke. Every effort was made to draw him out, but
I though they succeeded in two or three minutes, all that
thenk
skull,
remainedul ,
and
theseof the
wereunhappyso
blackened suicidee
anda wgas engaged twisted b
the
remov-
ingvertebrae
and y
in
the action of the fire that it was next to impossible to
say that they bad ever formed part
eoefntarnayttehodinbgy htuhme
fi
anre.
A verdict of temporary insanity was returned.
THE LATE FIBRES IN NEWCASTLE.—During the past
On
the Quay.
weeksbiudte t
thehthe
e the
re workmenpnuabo
srbsmiaspassage
houefrom
tohmi
nib
mass
shge
eohbf
setreehueneinnbe lanesucos
of
late devastation,
busily
and charea has been
concentrated
ythe ng
still leodokosuat,s ifanitdhasudcshcaorfcetlhyebbeuenildtoinugcs ashed
.are at all fitted
for the reception of goods are now used as warehouses.
quantity of grain
floor of the building exposed to the air of
grass,
vlhnearsod nsapenrtpolauantceded,
finioneutarori
sathhirene
seat. One of the wharfs has. eenaipruits
natleeblias the lawn of a country
teoovaerveedryanwdusithethfulue
purpose— not certainly anticipated at its construction.
By the erection of wooden boarding. half-a-dozen excel-
lentniore aenndthcuosmiamstiocd
t Theted
few days after the fire.
shops have been made, and one
tioranclser,
shed fitted
has the "receiving-house"
gmfoaaortnkloaafble
share, a
were yesterday dug from on the quayside, had a shew
very
Harbottle ooff
3ithre.
s
building, and the smoke arising from the injuried mate-
:lL atfphoeerr yhrruins
goodsi receptions,n s
rials, even after 21 days' interment, showed how requi-
site it was yet to bestow some watchfulness on the ruins.
—Newcastle Chronicle.
THE FISHERIES.—The pilchard "harvest," as it is
usually called in Cornwall, has, we regret to state, been
a complete failure. We fear the poorer inhabitants along
the coast will feel the scarcity most acutely during the
coming winter, and more particularly so, seeing that
corn has advanced considerably within a very short_yme,e
with a probability that it will rise still higher.
Ther
has not, we understand, been such a scarcity of pilchards
_ocality
locality
has many years. The mackerel season in this
which have been.
has gone by with similar results. Those
brought into our port have been either sent to the Lou.
don markets, or sold here at an exorbitant prices—Ply.
mout4 Journal.