The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-28 00:00:00

TIM MTN, LONDON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1641.

WEST INDIES.

Her Majesty's packet Pandora, Lieut. Innis, arrived
on Friday evening at. Falmouth from the West Indies.
The following• are her sailing dates:—From Barbadoes,
Nov. 1 ; St. Lucie and Martinique, 2d ;. Dominica, 3d;
Guadaloupe, 4th ; Antigua and Montserrat, sth; Nei
and St. Christopher's, 6th ; Tortola, 7th,; and St. Tho--
mas's, on the 27th, where the steamer Blazer brought up
the Jamaica mails of N0v.19, and the Spitfire the Islands'
bags. Passengers—Capt. St. John, R.A., and lady,
Messrs. Leake, Lewis, Guppy, St. Martin, and Seghens.
She had on freight 120,000 dollars.
The proceedings of the House of Assembly at Jamaica
do not afford much interest. The committee on his Ex-
cellency. the Governor's message of Oct. 29th reported
that a ilstinction is made in the pay of the officers of the
West India and European regiments, and recommending
that such distinction should be done away with, which
was ordered to lie on the table. A petition from W.
Lemonius, praying, to be paid bounty on immigrants
imported in 1838, was rejected. • An investigation was
being made as to the election and return for the parish
of St. Mary's.
The barque Sandwich, from London, last Portsmouth,
17 days, for St. Lucie, has put into Falmouth, having
been struck by a sea, which damaged her stern, injured
her rudder, and is supposed to have spoiled a part of her
mug°.

The Express packet, Lieut. Herrick, is under• sailing
orders to proceed to Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Cadiz, and
Gibraltar, shculd there not be a Peninsular steamer here
to take the mails on Monday. If there be a steam. vessel
provided, the Express will take hence the Madeira and
Brazils mail in January.
By this packet we have received Bogoto papers to the
10th of November, from which the following official do-
cuments are translated :

" British Legation, Bogota, Sept. 23, 1841.
" The undersigned, her -Britannic Majesty's Charge
d'Affaires. has the honour to inform his Excellency Senor
Mariano Ospina, Granadian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
that be has received authority from her Majesty's Govern-
ment to offer the mediation of said Government betwixt
the contending par ties in New Granada; and although such
mediation is now neither requisite nor convenient, by rea-
son of the happy results attendant upon the various mili-
tary operations which have taken place within the last eight
months, he is nevertheless inclined to believe the benevo-
lent intentions of her Majesty's Government may yet be
fulfilled, and contribute to the re-establishment of tran-
quillity, and to the cause of humanity. in general, in his
offering to forward the most positive instructions under
the responsibility of the undersigned, and in virtue of
the powers wherewith he is invested by her Majesty's
Government, to the British Consuls of the coast, and to
the commanders of her Majesty's vessels, in the ports of
Santa Martha and Carthagena, to resist, in the most de-
cided manner, by force, any attempts of the rebel au-
thorities of the coast to inflict death on any of the friends
or defenders of the Government who may chance to be
in their power, or who during the present conflict may
happen to fall into their hands; with the express condi-
tion, however, that the chief officer of the troops of the
coast, Senor Ramon Acevedo, who is actually under sen-
tence of death, be exempted from the execution thereof.
" Relying that the Granadian Government will find it
advantageous for itself to accede to the foregoing propo-
sition, the undersigned is quite disposed and anxious to
send a messenger to the coast with the strictest orders,
authorising the commanders of her Majesty's vessels to
prevent by force any proceedings which, in the light of
political reprisals, may be attempted there.
" The Granadian Government will understand that the
undersigned, in making such suggestion, is aware of
acting only in conformity with the instructions he has
received from her Majesty's Government, whose sincerest
sympathy is attracted towards the welfare and tranquil-
lity of this Republic.
"The undersigned seizes the present opportunity of
assuring his Excellency Senor Ospina of his deepest and
most distinguished consideration.
(Signed) " WILLIAM PITT ADAMS.
" To his Excellency Senor Mariano Ospina."
(REPLY.)
" REPUBLIC OF NEW GRANADA.

" Bogota, Sept. 24, 1841.
"The undersigned has received and submitted for the in-
formation of his Government the esteemed despatch of the
Hon. William Pitt Adams. her Britannic Majesty's Charge
d'Affaires, dated 23d inst., in which he communicates the
undersigned of his having been authorised to offer the
mediation of her Britannic:Majesty's Government between
the conflicting parties in New Granada, and that al-
though he neither jupges requisite or convenient such
mediation, still, in order to comply with the benevolent
intentions of her Majesty, as also to contribute to the
restoration of tranquillity, and to the cause of humanity
in general, he offers to remit positive instructions to the
British Consuls of the coast, and to the commanders of
her Majesty's vessels in the ports of Santa Martha and
Carthagena, to resist by force, and in the most decisive
manner, any attempt on the part of the insurgent autho-
rities to punish with death any of the friends or defenders
of the Government who may be actually in their power,
or may hereafter fall into it ; with the express condition
that Ramon Acevedo, chief officer of the rebel troops,
and at pvesent condemned to death, be exempted from
the execution of his sentence.

" Although the nature of the war which has afflicted
the Republic, and which happily approaches to an end,
would not have allowed to the Government of the un-
dersigned the acceptance of the respectable mediation
her Majesty's Government proposes, and which the
Hon. Mr. Adams justly estimates as neither necessary
nor convenient ; nevertheless, this act of her Majesty
has been received by the Government of the undersigned
with the profoundest esteem, as a testimonial of the
benevolent intentions of her Majesty as regards New
Granada, and the interest she manifests in the peace and
tranquillity of this country.
" The offer the Hon. Mr. Adams has been pleased to
maker to the'Granadian Government, to forward in-
structions to the British Consuls, and to the comman-
ders of her Majesty's vessels in the ports of Santa
Martha-and Carthagena, with the view of their hinder-
ing the rebels from inflicting death on the friends and
defenders of the Government, has been gratefully re-
ceived • and consequently the executive power has
granted the decree of commutation in favour of Ramon
Acevedo, an authentic copy of which the undersignedhas
the honour to address to her Britannic Majesty's Charge
d'Affaires.

" The undersigned informs the Hon. Mr. Adams he is
at liberty to dispose of the corresponding passports, so
that the messenger carrying the above-mentioned in-
structions may be enabled to proceed to the provinces of
the coast by the route he judges most agreeable.—With
sentiments of the sincerest respect, &c.
(Signed) " MARIANO OSPINA.
" To the lion. W. P. Adams,

Her Britannic Majesty's Charge d'Affaires."
Here follows the decree relative to the commutation of
the sentence pronounced on Ramon Acevedo. He has
been expelled the Republic for ever. The tardiness of
the disclosure of the opinion of the British Government
towards New Granada (the blame of which must rest on
the late Secretary of State) was much reprobated.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOU EINALS.

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
HERALD.—The frightful accident which oc-
curred on the Great Western Railroad, between
Twyford and Reading, on Friday last, the early
details of which appeared in Saturday's, and
every particular as tar as they have transpired
.appears in to-day's Herald, has produced as
great sensation of horror as any public calamity
we can remember. Thirty-eight human beings,
chiefly, it le said, of the humbler classes, who
were travelling by the early luggage-train to
indulge in family communion on Christmas-
tide, were, in the midst of darkness, literally
overwhelmed and crushed by the trucks be-
hind the conveyances in which they were, and
by-masses of earth falling from a slip in the
passing through Sonning-hill Cutting. Eight
of these unfortunate persons were instanta-
neously %jammed to death ; their legs, arms,
ribs, pelves, chests, collar-bones, and skulls
being fractured in the most shocking manner;
twelve others, all seriously injured, sonic wound-
ed beyond the probability of recovery, were
conveyed to the Reading hospital, where they
now lie ; five with slight hurts were enabled to
proceed to their respective places of destination.;
and the remaining thirteen have to thank God
for a providential escape unblemished. This
fatal event occurred about seven o'clock on
Friday morning; within ten hours afterwards the
Coroner for Berkshire,--with what certainly ap-
pears to be a somewhat hasty zeal,—proceeded
to hold an inquest on the mangled remains of
the eight persons who were thus prematurely
thrown into the presence of their Maker. The
first day's proceedings. of that inquest will be
found elsewhere in to-day's paper; we await its
close before we offer one word of comment on
the evidence which has already been taken, or
on the cause of the accident; but we would
suggest that the presence of some gentle-
man from the Railway Department of the
Board of Trade—if of combined legal and
scientific attainments so much the better—
at the inquiry is most desirable. That inquiry
must be of the most careful and searching de-
scription. Were the carriages containing the
passengers placed in that division of the train
most likely to secure their safety in case of any
,unforeseen accident? Did any officer or servant
of the Railroad Company observe any indications,
however minute, of a tendency in the earth to
slip in Sonning-hill Cutting ? What was the
prevailing opinion as to the condition, in re-
ference to such an occurrence, of the cutting ?
Was it an object of due solicitude and obser-
vation on the part of the Company at all times,
and more particularly during and after the
late heavy rains? Were watchmen continually.
kept in the cutting to give notice and warning
of any possible accident? In short, has
the Great Western Railroad Company per-
formed those most responsible duties—in re-
ference to this portion of its line—to the pub-
lic which necessarily evolve from the posses-
sion of the enormous powers and privileges con-
ferred on it by the Legislature ? These are in-
quiries, the fulfilment of Which to their utmost
limit can alone render the Coroner's inquest sa-
tisfactory to the nation. If Railroad Companies
will not learn experience, except when it is
taught at the cost of human life, then are they,
instead of public improvements, public nuisances
as at present conducted. There is a very strong
and general impression abroad that every ar-
rangement for the accommodation, safety, and
conveyance of all persons who cannot afford, or
do not choose to travel by first-class carriages, is
inconvenient and incommodious, and in many
particulars most unnecessarily increases the risk
of human life when accidents occur. Second
and third class carriages seem in too many cases
to be built on the principle that all who have suf.
ficient money in their purses are to be driven
into the . first class, and that those who have
not are entitled to no consideration or com-
fort. Passengers in the former are not in any
manner protected from smoke, smell, hot and
flying cinders, cold, or rain. These carriages
appear to he rarely cleaned, and may be fitly
denominated conveyances for the propagation of
colds, sore throats, stiff necks, and head-aches.
The. liveried attendants on them treat any man
or woman whose apparel is not of the best or
newest description, stepping into them, as if
they were of the brute creation, and think that
once they have got them inside these filthy dens,
every obligation to attend to their comfort has
ceased. The security of the attendants is the
knowledge that the poor do not and will not com-
plain to their superiors. We ourselves once
witnessed a railroad servant break open a small
box carried by a passenger, on his own bare
suspicion that it might contain a puppy do,r;
when he had forced the lock, he found inside the
ill-used traveller's work ing tools ! Similar instances
of gross in-treatment are of hourly occurrence.
It is quite clear that something must be done
for the greater accommodation, safety, and con-
venience of ALL classes of railroad travellers.
The question is, can the voluntary exertions of
the Companies be relied on ? or ought Govern-
tnent to undertake the duty—hitherto neglected
by those who have the high merit of accomplish-
ing, great public works—of public protection ?
Inquiries into railroad accidents have hitherto
terminated in the general but most unsatisfactory
statement—"nobody is to blame." We utterly
.reject this conclusion; somebody is to blame in
almost every accident that does occur; and until
public inquiries as to the cause of such fatal
occurrences as that of Friday last are conducted
with a view to inculpation and not to exculpation,
they are what we denominated a late Coroner's
inquest on a railroad accident—solemn mockeries.
GLOBE.—In the case which has just occurred in
Paris, there has been a most disgraceful perversion of
every recognised rule of law, and every principle of
equity, for the purpose of punishing M. Dupoty, not so
much on account of any enormity in his alleged offence,
but almost avowedly with the design of warning the Edi-
tors of other Papers against the consequences of express-
ing their sentiments with what those who are the subjects
of censure may consider au unpalatable degree of lati-
tude. In order to effect this object, Dupoty is accused
of writing certain articles with the view of bringing
about a certain event, which never was accomplished ;
but some other circumstances of an unlawful nature
having occurred at another time, the intentions of the
writer are dovetailed to the illegal acts of others, which
it is confessed be did not in any way prompt ; but he
is nevertheless condemned, because he is said to
have, some' time back, penned seditious articles, and
because seditious doings afterwards occurred, though
the latter were in no way connected with the for.
mer, and did not arise out of them. The case of
Dupoty may be illustrated thus ; and its enormity
is not less than would attach to one we are about to
compare it to t—A man tells a party of well disposed
persons to do an illegal act ; they refuse to proceed on
his advice, and the deed is not performed—but some
individuals, without instigation, go and commit a
crime of totally a different kind to that wh:eh the
others bad been advised to perpetrate, and the man
who gave his counsel, tvbich was not followed in either
instance, is declared to have prompted the second
offence, and is punished accordingly. We are not
surprised that the French Press should have takeo
up a determined position against a principle so dan-
gerous to its freedom, and to the personal liberty of
its members, as that involved in the sentence we have
alluded to. Articles written long since may be
brought against them whenever a political offence is
perpetrated, no matter bow remote the writer may have
been, either in fact or intention, from having prompted
it, or desired to instigate its commission. If Dupoty's
writings were amenable to law, they should have been
prosecuted, at least if the' Government thought fit to
take measures for punishment ; but it is a disgrace to
the Court of Peers to have pronounced a man guilty of
an alleged offence long gone by, and whol'y without re-
sult, under a prosecution for another crime, of which he
is avowedly entirely innocent.
STANDARD.—We understand is document has
received the sanction of some few influential names, by
which it is proposed to the two Committees of Mr.
Garbett, and Mr. Williams that these two gentlemen
should be withdrawn, with a view to the substitution of
some third candidate, who might be elected without op-
position. The reason assigned is, a desire to avoid un-
seemly contests in the University, and an apparent
difference of opinion in the Church. This is all very
specious and fair-spoken, and is likely to meet the
wishes of many very excellent men, who possess in a
high degree
"That drivelling virtue of this moral age,
Candour, that softens party's headlong rage ;"
and it will be very convenient besides to those who
may have private reasons of their own for not wish-
ing to displease either party in Convocation, and who
know that to abstain from voting, if it go to a
poll, would be to displease both. But surely those
gentlemen. if they reflect a little, must see that such a
course is exceedingly unjust towards the stronger can-
didate ; and since his Committee cannot, as men of
sense, listen for a moment to any such pro-
position, the only effect of it must be to embar-
rass him and them, and expose Coen), in the opinion
of those who have more candour than acuteness and
discrimination, to the reflection, which they have not
deserved, of protrectiag a religious controversy. This
may be a very good reasou why the proposal should
meet with favour from friends of the weaker candidate,
who would thus conveit into a drawn battle what is
now a certain defeat ; it is of course an equally good
reason why the staunch friends of the good cause
should very carefully avoid all contact with it.
Party feeling has had no doubt a good deal to do
with this question on both sides. But' Mr. Garbett's
Committee have very properly disclaimed its first in-
troduction, and we call upon them now to say whether
they are prepared to withdraw their candidate in cool-

i

. 'e,' _
~~

deration that his opponent shall also be withdrawn ? If
they arc, they falsify all their professions, and show the
world plainly that they fought not at all for their can-
didate—but altogether for or against a party. They
will betray their candidate and stultify themselves.
The President and Fellows of Trinity had the
game in their own hands. The only name which would
be at all likely to succeed is that of Mr. Claughton.
Why did not they put forward Mr. Claughton at first ?
He is a member, the most distinguished member, of their
own Col:cp. By whose instigation, and to serve what
purely academical purpose they were induced to bring
forward Mr. Williams, let them now answer. They
hare only themselves to blame ; the consequences they
must take.

COURIER.—We, on Friday, in reference to Mr.
Christopher's speech at Lincoln, adverted to the grati-
fying proof it afforded of the readiness of British land-
owners to meet the wishes of those who' have assumed
an attitude of hostility and antagonism towards them,
hoping, rather than expecting, that the manifestation of
such a feeling on their parts would have allayed some-
what of the bitterness that had4been exhibited towards
them ; but it seems only to have inflamed it the more,
augmenting its intensity by the insolence of anticipated
triumph. Mr. Christopher's well-meant and generous
offer, for peace-sake, has been treated as " a signaltof dis-
tress " by the organs of that party which affects so much
anxiety for a settlement of the Corn-law question. Surely
it may be permitted to us to doubt the sincerity of
advocates, who bewaiiingly adniit the superiority of the
agricultural interest in both branches of the Legislature,
and then pretend to deride and strive to misrepresent
the liberal and extensive concessions which the guar-
dians of that interest are willing to make, in order to se-
cure an equitable adjustment of the much-vexed ques-
tion. This is surely neither politic nor just ;it evinces
more of hostility against opponents than of anxiety for
the successful issue of the cause' of which it has as-
sumed the advocacy, and aims rather at the prostra-
tion of one great interest in the State, than at
the maintenance and salvation of all. It may
serve the purpose of those who live upon dis-
sension and glory in party strife to vituperate
and menace " the squires "—to misrepresent their
actions, and malign their motives —to excite feel-
ings of hatred against them and then boast of the deed ;
but sure we are that no beneficial result can follow either
to the capitalist or the operative, and that whatever
effect such a line of advocacy may be attended with, it
tends to she obstruction rather than the advancement of
the so earnestly-desired settlement.

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.

FIVE .PERSONS KILLED,

AND TEN SERI-

OUSLY HURT.

On Friday evening the site of the late fire at Man-
ehester was rendered the scene of a most appalling acci-
dent, by the fall of one of the walls of the building in
which the late fire occurred upon some workmen em-
ployed to take it down. The building alluded to was a
warehouse, in Piccadilly, Manchester, in the occupation
of the Union Carrying Company, being used by them as
a depot for goods consigned to their care, for carriage
by the Rochdale and Bridgewater canals, and had re-
cently become the property of Lord Francis Egerton,
who is said to have purchased it for 11,0001. The fire
occurred on Monday last, when two thousand bags of cot-
ton were destroyed, worth about 16,0001., and a quantity
of corn, flour, groceries, and tallow. The whole damage
was estimated at upwards of 30,0001. The building was
situated in Piccadilly, and the ruins, which have re-
mained nearly undisturbed since the fire, were about to
be removed on Friday evening, when the accident
occurred. Though the warehouse had been completely
gutted by the fire, two of the entire walls were left
standing ; and that at the back of the building, to the
south of Piccadilly, about ninety feet high, by one hun-
dred feet in length, was carried, by means of two stone
arches. over the Rochdale canal. This wall was about
to be removed, at four o'clock, on Friday afternoon, by
some men in the employ of Mr. Paulding, a railway
contractor, who were erecting some scaffolding against
it, when the stone of one of the arches, which had be-
come rotten, and nearly pulverised by the heat of the
fire, giving way, the arch collapsed, and the wall, divid-
ing into two portions, fell, a heap of ruins, upon the men
who were below.
The whole accident was the work of but a moment.
The men had no chance of escape ; they had barely
time to perceive their awful situation, and raise one
loud shriek of terror ere they were silenced and hid-
den from view beneath the falling mass. A more
painful scene can scarcely be conceived, and the
excitement created in the neighbourhood by the
accident cannot be described. The great thoroughfares
leading to the spot, and of which Piccadilly itself is one
of the principal, were almost immediately choked with
people, to the number of some thousands, and there was
reason to fear, from the eagerness with which they pres-
sed forward upon the ruins, that a still more frightful
accident might be the result, by the giving way of the
western wall of the building. Their presence, too, had
the effect of seriously retarding the necessary operations
for affording the most prompt relief to the unfortunate
men buried in the ruins. Fortunately, Sir Charles Shaw,
the Chief Commissioner of Police, having heard 'of the
accident within a few minutes of its occurrence, had'anti-
cipated this evil, and having given orders bodY of
police to be called to the spot, Seperktendent
,Lawley
and Inspector Irwin arrived in front of the building with
a body of about forty men, who were iintriViately order-
ed to clear the street. Sir Charles himself quyerintended
the execution of this ordei, and liarrtqfp_uwero then
thrown across Piccadilly to prevent the access of the
public ; and the evening being now far advanced, watch-
fires were lighted in the streets and upon the
ruins to guide the operations of -the men employed
to search fur the sufferers. The number of men
employed at the building when the accident I oc-
curred was 103, and had the wall come down in an
unbroken mass, instead of falling as described above,
the probability is, that the whole of them would
have been sacrificed. There was, of course, a difficulty
of ascertaining with any certainty for a length of time,
out of so many hands, most of whom had escaped injury,
the real number of the sufferers. hulling, the con-
tractor, had a list of the men employed, and, on a muster
being called, the following did not, answer to their names,
and were concluded to be in the ruins :—Jas. Perkins,
'Thos. Finnigan, Patrick Conlan, George Proudman,
Peter Radical, Michael. Mahon, Thos. Garland, John
Donally, Patrick rinnigan, Harrison, Michael
Dolan, Patrick Tully, Win. Hurly, J. Roche, and Thos.
Silcox, in all fifteen persons. Besides these, however,
a great number had received injuries from falling bricks
and other materials, but were not seriously hurt. The
poor men whose names are placed first in the list were
rescued from the ruins almost directly the search began
and though so much hurt that it was deemed necessary to
take them to the Infirmary, it is not supposed that their
lives are endangered by their wounds. The search for
the remainder of the sufferers was a work of greater
time, and they have suffered much more severely. Peter
Radical was discovered about six o'clock with his skull
fractured, and suffering from internal injuries ; he was
conveyed to the Infirmary, but there is slight hope of his
recovery. Michael Mahon was also taken out of the ruins
about the same time, and although not much bruised ex-
ternally, he had evidently received such internal injuries
as leave but faint hopes of his recovery. About half-
past six Thomas Garland, another of the sufferers,
was found, and though still alive, his body was fright.
fully mangled and crushed, whilst his head was com-
pletely scalped. Patrick Finnigan and William Har-
rison were taken from the ruins about this time, and
taken to the Infirmary. Both of them were much hurt,
the former having one shoulder dislocated and being
otherwise injured, and the other having two of his
ribs broken. Hurly was found with several of his
ribs broken. The left leg of one of the sufferers, sup-
posed to be Silcox's, was found about this time. John
Donally was next taken out, dead ; and two hours after-
wards Dolan, also dead. Near him, also dead, were
found the remains of Tully. The latter was found stand-
ing upright amongst a heap of bricks, in which his body
was so firmly itnbedded, that nearly an hour elapsed after
his head and shouldm had been bared, before it could
be extricated. A more painful and heart-rending scene
than was presented at the Infirmary about nine o'clock
last evening, was never witnessed. Upwards of 100
men were employed in the building at the time of the
accident ; and the most exaggerated reports as to the
extent of the fatality got abroad. The wives, chit.
dren, and friends of many of these men had been at
work during the day in the different factories, and
on returning home, and hearing the prevailing reports,
they naturally rushed to the scene of the accident, to
learn the fate of those near and dear to them. On reach-
ing Piccadilly, however, the police turned them back at the
barriers ; and, after a vain struggle to elude the vigi-
lance of the officers, or to obtain from them or the sur-
rounding crowd, information which it was not in their
power to give, the tide of inquiries gradually turned, as
the fact became known where the sufferers had been
sent towards the Infirmary. The poor creatures, ren-
dered more anxious and terrified by the difficulties they
had met with, arrived in a state of excitement little
short of distraction. Many arrived, alas ! to find their
worst fears verified ; but these were by no means the
most importunate to gain access to the sick and dead
rooms. Some of the inquirers, from the doubt ex-
pressed by the porters, as to the real names of several
of the sufferers, were unwilling to retire until they had
satisfied themselves by personal inspection, that their
fears were groundles.u. To the admission of those per-
sons into the dead room there was, of course, no objec-
tion ; but the impropriety of admitting. them to the pre-
sence of the wounded will be readily seen, and their im-
portunate entreaties were properly disregarded. Here
another difficulty arose. Some who had been refused ad-
mittance to the sick rooms, having obtained from the por-
ter the supposed name of some one of those as to whose
identity ho was in doubt, after retiring a short time, re-
turned, representing themselves us relatives to a man of
that name ; and more than one instance occurred in
which two or three fathers and Mothers claimed the
same patient as theie.l4* ''Thik ibete, extraordinary as
it may seem, is not`diaH6lsterand it lasted a consider-
able time. " tr.
Though the bodies of two of the men above-named,
Silcox and Roche, have not yet been found, there is
now no doubt as to their being amongst the killed. The
former was some years ago a master builder at Leeds ;
but had been reduced in circumstances, but of late em-
ployed on the works of the Manchester and Birmingham
Railway.
Though the ruins of the warehouse had been played
upon all the week by the fire-engines, they still smould-
ered, and during the time occupied in searching for the
bodies last night they again broke out into flames, a
great quantity of unconsumed •cotton being amongst the
ruins, and considerable exertions had to be used during
the night by the firemen to subdue them. A strict watch
has been kept upon the western wall of the building,
which is yet standing, since the accident, to see if it gave
any indications of danger, and as soon as the bodies of

cagrim,A; &a 34
UA ri0:447 31W

the two remaining sufferers have been Exhumed, it will
be immediately- taken down. Its situation affords ground
for believing that it may be accomplished without farther
accident.

ATROCIOUS MURDER NEAR
WEM, SHROPSHIRE.
(From the Second Edition of the Shrewsbury .News.)
Another murder has been perpetrated in this county,
during the present week, under circumstances of greater
atrocity even than the one at Bronygarth, near Oswes-
try. A wife, with the assistance of her husband, has
administered poison to both her parents, and the mother
has fallen a victim to the diabolical deed, the father
escaping by a miracle ; and an innocent person (accord-
ing to the last report) has since died in extreme agony,
from the effect of the deadly food.
The name of the old man is Arthur Williams, who
resides at Whixall, within three miles of Wem, in this
county, and the perpetrators of the horrid crime, Thomas
Harries and his wife Mary, lived in the same cottage with
the father and his deceased wife Eliza Williams. The
prisoner, Thomas Harries, had been previously married,
his former wife having died four years ago, leaving two
children, who resided in the same cottage with the pri-
soners. It appeared that the deceased victim had been
in the habit of correcting these children, and Harries
had said that he would remember her for it; and this is
the only motive that can at present be assigned for the
deed.

On Monday last the deceased partook of an apple-
dumpling at dinner, and was instantly taken ill, the
symptoms increasing in virulence so rapidly, that by
nine o'clock the same evening she was a corpse. Her
husband did not eat any of the dumpling, being too ill,
from having taken a small portion of the poisonous mi-
neral on the previous night : and the third party was
the son of a neighbour, to whom the female prisoner had
given the remainder of the poisoned food.
An inquest was held on the body of the deceased
Eliza Williams on Friday last, before Mr. Joseph
Dickens, Coroner (who had only returned home on Wed-
nesday from holding an inquest on the murdered woman
near Oswestry), when the following evidence was ad-
duced
Arthur Williams, husband of the deceased—Lives in
a cottage at Whixall, and the prisoners Thomas and Mary
Harries, with two children of the former, resided with
him. On Saturday last witness had a pig's fry for his
supper, which was cooked by the accused, who took
some flour from a bag hanging in the kitchen, to thicken
the gravy. Witness ate heartily, and felt very sick
afterwards, going to bed ill, and remaining so all night.
He got up the next morning very unwell, and sat in the
house till eleven o'clock, when he went out, leaving
the deceased, the prisoners, the children, and a
neighbour, named John Edwards, there. Witness
returned to dinner, but was too unwell to eat. The
first dish was an apple dumpling, of which the deceased
ate heartily, but witness was too poorly to taste it.
Within five minutes after eating the dumpling the de-
ceased ran towards the door, and, throwing it open, said,
"Oh dear, how ill lam I " and retched violently. The
deceased then went into the garden, supported by the
female prisoner, and, being a long time away; witness
went out, and finding her too ill to walk, carried her
into the house, and placed her in a chair. She continued
getting worse, till 5 o'clock, when witness carried her
up to bed, and went to bed himself, feeling very unwell.
He got up about 9 o'clock, as his wife became much
worse, and she died shortly after. Witness had occasion
to go into the garden afterwards, leaving the prisoners
together in the kitchen, and on returning heard Harries
say to his wife, " There's something in that flour." The
two prisoners lived in the same house with the witness,
but ate at a separate table, and found their own victuals.
They had their dinner at the same time as the deceased,
but not at the same table. The female prisoner made
a dumpling at the same -time as the deceased, but
did not take the flour from the same bag. The de-
ceased did not eat all the dumpling, and on the follow-
ing morning witness said to the female prisoner, "There's
some dumpling; give it to the children ; " and she an-
swered " No, I may not do that." He again requested
her to give it them, and she replied, " No, no, I munna
give it them." A neighbour, named Betty Minshall,
had been washing at the house on Monday morning, and
went on an errand the same day. On Wednesday wit-
ness asked the female prisoner where the remainder of
the dumpling was, and she replied, " I have given it to
the children, and they have eaten it. The male prisoner
had frequently words about the children with the de-
ceased, but nothing of any consequence. When the
female prisoner was taken into custody she said, " I am
innocent, and I believe I can swear for him." Witness
knew there was poison kept in the house, having some
sugar of lead in a paper, which he used for dressing
cows, but it was not kept near the bag which contained
the flour. The male prisoner had some powdered arsenic
in a bottle, which he used for poisoning rats, and kept it
in the pantry. The flour was bought from Mr. Povey,
of Whixall, in a large bag, and a small quantity was put
in another bag, and hung up in the kitchen ready to use
for trifling purposes ; but the bread was always made
from the large bag. After deceased was dead, witness
saw the male prisoner go into the pantry, and while he
was there his wife said, " What are you plundering there
at : is there anything I can reach you ?" to which he
answered, " No ; you know nothing about it."
John Edwards was at the house of Arthur Williams
-on Sunday last, and saw the deceased take some flour
out of a striped bag and make an apple-dumpling. The
female prisoner likewise made a dumpling, but took
the flour from another bag and made it at the same time
and at the same table as the deceased. The female pri-
soner put the dumpling she made into the pot first, and
they were both tied up in cloths.
Thomas Norway Arthur, surgeon, residing at Whit-
church, was in the neighbourhood of Whixall on
Wednesday last, and met with Arthur Williams. Wit-
ness asked him if it was true that his wife died suddenly
The old man said " Yes, and I fear there has been foul
play," and requested witness to go into the house, which
he did, and saw the female prisoner and another woman.
Witness asked the old man if, he suspected any one of
committing the foul play, and he said he was afraid that
it was his son-in-law, for he had been frequei. tly cross
with the old woman. Witness then went up stairs with
Mary Jones to look at the deceased, and at the same time
to ask Mary Jones some questions. The female prisoner
endeavoured to follow them up stairs, which witness pre-
vented. He examined the deceased, but found no out-
ward marks of violence. He had also made a post
mortem examination of the body in company with Mr.
Groom, surgeon, of Whitchurch. The internal, or
villous coat of the stomach was entirely destroyed, and
it was the positive opinion of witness that the deceased's
death was occasioned by some corrosive poison. Wit-
ness thought arsenic would produce the exact effect in
which he found deceased's stomach. 'Witness likewise
took some flour from the bag, and examined it with Mr.
Groom and a chemist, and was positive it contained

arsenic.
Mr. Thomas Groom, surgeon, of Whitchurch, corro-
borated the testimony of Mr. Arthur, and was positive
that arsenic was the poison which occasioned deceased's
death.
Mary Jones, a neighbour, saw the deceased when she
was ill, and was with her when she died. Witness had
frequently heard the male prisoner say he would knock
the deceased's brains out if she interfered with his chil-
dren ; and about three weeks ago, on a Friday, there
was snow, and the deceased had walked to Whitchurch.
Witness said to him, " The poor old woman will be lust
in the snow," and he said " B—t her, I should like to
hear of her being found in the road stiff."
Elizabeth Minshall was washing at the house of
Arthur Williams on Monday, and afterwards went to
Whitchurch, to a sister of the deceased, to tell her of
her death and invite her to the funeral. When she
came back and delivered her message the female prisoner
gave her a piece of dumpling, which she took home.
Witness's son, John Haycock (by a former husband),
was in the house, and she gave it him for his supper.
He ate it, and went to his boat on the canal, and she saw
no more of him.
Thomas Minshall, captain of a canal boat, was in his
boat on the canal, near Whixall, and saw John Hay-
cock in another boat, very ill, and vomiting. Witness
accompanied the boat some distance, and Haycock told
him to tell his mother that the dumpling had nearly
killed him, and that she would never see him again.
Richard Jones, constable, searched the house, and,
when searching for the arsenic in the pantry, was told
by the female 'prisoner that she had thrown it away
three months'before. She afterwards said that she had
emptied the poison out, and washed the bottle clean.
Witness, however, found a bottle which had contained
arsenic in a basket among other bottles. He likewise
found the sugar of lead on a beam in the kitchen.
This concluded the evidence.
The male prisoner asked the Coroner if the examina-
tion would conclude that evening, and, being answered
,in the affirmative, said he might as well tell all. He
then made a statement to the effect that he had told his
wife on Saturday night that something was the matter
with the meat to make the old man so ill. He said he
had purchased the poison some months ago from Mr.
Gough,,.chemist, of Wem, for the purpose of destroying
rats, and hinted that his wife must have administered
the arsenic if the deceased really was poisoned. The
female prisoner said, if any one knew about it it was her
husband.
The Jtiry returned a verdict, " That the deceased's
death was occasioned by poison administered by Thomas
Harries, and that he was assisted by his wife ;" and they
were both fully committed for the next assizes.
The male prisoner is a briekmaker by trade, and has
borne but au indifferent character. The female is very
far advanced in pregnancy, and on Thursday feigned that
she was in labour ; but upon examination by a surgeon,
the attempt to postpone the investigation failed. John
Haycock was, taken into Cheshire by the boat, and a
report has reached town that he has expired—making
the second victim of this unparalleled atrocity.

NEWTON MARKET, DEC. 22.—The show of
beef at this Christmas market was very fine, in fact,
surpassed anything we have seen for years. Poultry was
never known so plentiful, consisting of geese, turkeys,
ducks, and fowls. Geese, 3s. 6d. to 55. each ; Turkeys,
ss. to 7s. 6d. each ; Ducks 3s. to 4s. per couple ; Fowls,
2s. 6d. to 3s. 3d. per couple ; and all tine and well fed.—
Western Times.

....
TRUE TORYISM.—The Tory "guardian" of
the poor of a village near Wakefield (who can write
i
his own name, if he keeps going, but, should he break
off, is unable to finish it, and cannot write or read any
other word), considers sixteen pence a day to
a certain poor man, within the limits of his guardian-
ship, with a family of seven children, and complained of
that extravagant sum having been paid by a brother
Tory, who, to the deep regret of the poor, is tyrannising
much fur
fnor
over them as surveyor of the highways. These village
tyrants, after laying their heads together, came to the
determination of reducing the wages of the poor men to
one shilling a day, in consequence of their fearing they
would have all the able bodied men in the township ap-
plying for work.—This surely shows the state of trade.—
Leeds Times. i