The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-02 00:00:00

EVENING,

Hamburgh, &c., Tuesday and Friday evenings—due
Tuesdays and Saturdays.
Holland, &c., Wednesday and Saturday mornings—
duo Mondays and Thursdays, by the General Steam
Navigation Company's packwts, via the Thames.
Mails will be made up iu London on the evening of
the 4th inst. for Madeira, San Nicolas, Cape de Verde
Islands, Portendic, Sierra Leone, and the Island of As-
cension, to be forwarded by her Majesty's sloop Heroine,
appointed to sail from Devonport on the morning of the
sth inst. Letters to Madeira, &c., will be charged a
postage of Is. iod. per ball-ounce; newspapers, 2d. each,
which must be pre-paid. Sierra Leone and Ascension
letters, ls., newspapers free of postage.

ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SVICIDE.

Yesterday morning, at an early hour, some excite-
ment was occasioned in the neighbourhood of Lime-
house, in consequence of a coalwhipper named Daniel
George Holmsden, having attempted to murder a female,
named Martha Jane Bryden, by cutting her throat with
a razor, and afterwards attempting his own life in a simi-
lar manner.

It appears that Holmsden had been cohabiting with
Bryden during the last nine years as man and wife, and
she had two children by him. He had frequently pro-
mised her marriage, but when the day arrived he never
made his appearance. Some Sundays since the banns
were published in Limehouse church, and last Sun-
day was appointed for their marriage. They had
saved up a sufficient sum of money to defray the
expenses of the wedding, and it was placed in the
care of Holmsden. On Saturday last he was out all
the day. When ho returned home a quarrel ensued
between him and Bryden, who declared she would live
with him no longer. She separated from him, and
it was agreed that be should allow her a maintenance
for the support of herself and her children. She took
lodgings in Nightingale-lane, Limehouse, and yesterday
morning, about eight o'clock, during the half hour he
was allowed for his breakfast, he visited her, and par-
took of some coffee. He endeavoured to persuade her
to live with him again, and become his wife. She re-
plied that she would not, and he instantly rose from his
seat, and grasped her violently by the back of her neck,
and before she was aware of his intentions, he opened
a razor, which he took out of his pocket, and dashed it
across her neck. She screamed violently, and succeeded
in escaping from him, and ran into the street. She bled
most profusely, and ran upwards of 150 yards, with the
blood streaming down her clothes, when she fell sense-
less to the ground. She was removed into a house by a
neighbour, and means were applied to stop the bleeding.
Holmsden followed her, with the open razor in his hand,
and finding that she had escaped from him, ho drew the
razor across his own neck with such force as to divide
nearly all the principal arteries of his throat. He fell
to the ground in an insensible state, and the blood
flowed copiously from his wound. Both were imme-
diately conveyed to the hospital. Holmsden is not ex-
pected to recover, but the injuries sustained by the
woman are slight.

FIRES WITH LOSS OF LIFE.
During Saturday not fewer than seven fires broke
out in various parts of the metropolis. One was at
No. 77, Edgevvare-road, occupied conjointly by Mr.
J. Keene, a solicitor, and Mr. F. Bostock, a shoe-
maker. It was caused by a spark from a candle,
which set the contents of the back-room first-floor in
a general blaze. An immediate alarm was given, but
before assistance could be obtained, the flames made
great progress. The engines of the London brigade
promptly attended, and the firemen, having set their
engines to work, it was eventually extinguished, but
not until the whole range of premises was
considerably burnt or damaged by fire and water.
The sufferers are understood to be insured. The
second was at 6, Taylor's-yard, Borough, in
the occupation of Mr. Haney ; but, owing to the
timely aid afforded, the damage was not very serious.
The third outbreak was at No. 1, Hatfield street,
Goswell-street (belonging to Mrs Smith). The en-
gines of the London brigade and the Royal Society
lire-escape quickly attended, but the flames could not
he extinguished until great damage had been done
by fire and water. The fourth fire was at No. 35,
King-street, Snowhill, in the occupation of Mr.
Isaac Armstrong, saddlers' ironmonger, and was at-
tended with fatal consequences to one of the female
domestics. It appears that at ten o'clock at night
Mr. Armstrong's attention was directed to the lower
part of the premises by hearing violent screams pro-
ceeding therefrom. On going to that part of the
house to ascertain the cause, he found one of the
females who had been in his employ for a period
of 24. years, in a general blaze. The inmates tried
all they possibly could to extinguish the flames
about the unfortunate creature, and sent a messenger
for the fire-engines. The brigade engines from Far-
ringdon-street promptly attended, and when the fire
was put out the flesh of the poor creature hung in
shreds from her arms and other parts of the body.
Mr. Loder, of the brigade, and other parties, carried
her to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where everything
was done for her that the nature of the case would
permit of, but in spite of which death terminated her
sufferings at two o'clock yesterday morning. Another
fire broke out at Mr. G. Harcott's, wheelwright, in
Clarke's-orchard, Rotherhithe. The brigade engines
attended quickly from town, but fortunately their ser-
vices were not required, the inmates having during
the interim succeeded in getting the fire out. The
sixth fire was at 29, North Bank, St. John's-wood, in
the occupation of Mr. John Hill. It was caused
from some defect in the kitchen flue, which set the
back and front rooms on the ground floor in flames.
The whole of the residents at that time being in their
beds asleep, they narrowly escaped being burned
to death. The engines of the London and West of
England establishments attended, and the fire was
subdued, but not until the whole of the building and
the contents were damaged. The seventh fire was at
No. 13, Mill-place, Commercial-road East, in the
tenure of Mr. P. Hole. The flames began in the
basement, and when discovered they were mounting
up the staircase. The residents succeeded with great
difficulty in effecting a safe retreat, but the flames
could not be conquered until a great destruction of
property had taken place.

BURGLARY AT HILLSDEN.
So many burglaries have occurred during the pass
winter in the county of Bucks, and in the neigh.
bouring county of Oxford, as to have excited consi
derable anxiety to break up the gang engaged in
their perpetration. It is to be hoped that the cap-
ture and committals of four robbers will lead to that
result. On Saturday last William Green, John
Sheppard, andiWilliam Sheppard (father and son),
and William Warner were brought before the magis-
trates (the Rev. J. C.:CT'ray, and J. T. Senior, Esq.),
charged with breaking into the farmhouse-of Mr.
Hines, standing in a lonely situation, about two
o'clock on Friday morning. It appeared from the
evidence of Mr. Hines (a respectable elderly farmer
and grazier at Hillsden), that he and his wife were
awoke in the night by hearing a talking in the room
above them, where were sleeping two servants, a man
and a boy. Mrs. Hines called out" Richard, thinking
that it was the man stirring. There was, however, no an-
swer. Immediately after this a noise was heard at the
bed-room door, which was fastened. Mr. Hines got
out of bed, and demanded " Who was there ?" No
answer was returned, and soon after the door was
burst violently open, and two men entered. One was
armed with a gun and the other with a brace of
pistols, and two other men came in afterwards. It
seems they had already been up-stairs, and had
frightened the servants, and the man with the pistols
stood at the bed-room door, pointing them up the
stairs, further to intimidate them. The robbers
brought lights into the room, when one of them said
to Mr. and Mrs. Hines, that they wanted victuals and
money, and they would have them or their lives. They
took a purse out of Mr. Hines' breeches pocket, con-
taming only is. 6d. They then made Mrs. Hines get
out of bed, and then they searched the bed. After
this two remained with Mr. Hines, whilst the other
two obliged his wife to go down stairs with them
in her night clothes, to show them where she
had a little money, which she gave them. They
next searched for and found a dozen or two
of silver spoons, a silver cream- jug, and some
other small articles of plate. They then took a
bottle of rum, a bottle of wine, some cold meat, &c.,
and having collected together their booty made oft
As early as possible, however, when Mr. Hines and
his family had recovered from their panic, information
was conveyed to the local constables, who by actively
going in pursuit came upon the robbers at Stoken-
church-hill, where they were found comfortably taking
their ease on a bank by the road-side. After Mr.
Hines had given his evidence, and Mrs. Hines had
been called forward as a witness, the prisoner William
Green said, " He should not like the lady to be put
out of the way at all; there was enough evidence of
what had been done." The goods were, of course,
recovered and identified. The gun, with a kind of
old fashioned duelling pistol (neither of them loaded),
and a small pistol, which was loaded, were taken from
the prisoners, and were produced. These men evi-
dently form a portion of a regularly organized band
of professional burglars, whose head-quarters are in
London. They were committed for trial at the
a,sizes, none of them denying the facts proved against
them.

CHURCH MissioNewr SOCIETY.—The annual meet-
ing of this society was held yesterday, in Exeter Hall,
the Earl of Chichester in the chair. The report shows
the funds of the society to be in a satisfactory state, the
income amounting to upwards of 101,0001., and the ex-
penditure being 87,0001. The last year h
Ravi heg
ld and a
been the
50th anniversary of the society, a jubilee
jubilee fund formed, which amounts to 53,000/. It is
proposed to appropriate 20,0001. of this sum to the fund
already formed for the relief of sick and aged mis-
sionaries. The I3ishops ot Norwich ae
nd Winchester,
and several other speakers, addressed th meeting.
Mu. FORDES, M.P.—lt is with deep regret we
have to state that our much esteemed county member,
Mr. Forbes, of Caliendo'', met with a severe occident, in
consequence of being thrown from his horse on the 13th
instant. lie had been hunting with the Stirlingshiro
w
hounds, near Avon-bridge, when the animal came d
and Mr. Forbes being thrown, as stated, he reeeivoedri,
a
fracture in one of his legs. The latest account is, 6, Air.
Forbes is doing well.—Stir/ing Observer.