The Sun.
London, England, 1840-10-31 00:00:00

CORONER'S INQUEST.

An inquest was held at Croydon a few days ago,
before Mr. Carter, the Coroner for the eastern division
of Surrey, on the body of Charles Wells, a labourer,
employed on the London and Brighton Itiilwny, who
.died in the Croydon Union workhouse, in consequence of
injuries he received while working upon the line. Some
other peculiar circumstances were connected with the
inquiry. It appears that the deceased was at work
with a number of other labourers at a cutting, and it
was usual with them to send the earth waggons nasndfutlillconf
gravel for a certain distance, drawn by horses,
they were placed upon an inclined rail, which conveyed
them to the spot where they were to be emptied by
their own impetus. The deceased was attending upon
the waggons, and while they were upon the inclined
plane and going with great velocity, his foot unfortu-
nately slipped, and before he could recover himself, the
waggons ran over one of his legs, and crushed it in a
most frightful manner. He was immediately taken to
the Croydon workhouse, and Mr. Bottomley, the sur-
geon, attended upon him, and he discovered that the
injuries the deceased had received were of so dreadful a
character, that immediate amputation of the limb was
absolutely necessary, and he accordingly performed
that operation, and the patient was left in the
charge of two of the paupers, with instructions to keep
him quiet, and prevent him meddling with his ban-
dages. It would appear that during the night, the
poor man, being in dreadful agony, was very restless,
and would not be still, and persisted in sitting upright
in the bed ; and one of the men, after repeatedly tell-
ing him to lie down, either pushed or struck him, and
forced him back upon the pillow ; and the cir-umstances
coming to the knowledge of the parish authorities, they
had the men taken before a Magistrate at Croydon,
when a man, who had also sat up with the patient,
swore that Gant, the person referred to, struck him a
violent blow on the breast, and knocked him back on
his pillow. The man himself admitted that he had
pushed the deceased, but said he only did so because
the doctor told him that the man must be kept quiet,
and not be suffered to sit up, after his leg was ampu-
tated, and the Magistrate ultimately dismissed the
charge of assault.
When the inquest took place, the facts relative. to the
manner in which the accident occurred having been
deposed to, the Coroner took occasion to inquire whe-
ther there was any truth in the rumour that the de-
ceased had been assaulted by some one previous to his
death, and while he was lying in the workhouse. He
was informed that it was certainly true that alter the
deceased's leg had been amputated, one of the persors
who sat up with him had pushed him back on the pil-
low, but not with any unnecessary violence. The Co-
roner then inquired of Mr. Bottomley, the surgeon,
whether he had any reason to believe that this push in
any way accelerated the death of the deceased. The
surgeon replied certainly not ; he considered the Ca%)
hopeless from the first, and immediate amputation was
the only chance. The man's constitution' however,
'
could not beat the shock ; he sank rapidly, and never
rallied. The Jury then returned a verdict of acciden-
tal death

Earl Spencer is paFsing the season at Althorpe
Hall, Northamptonshire.
F oit ciT .
ECCLESIASTICS.—The LESIA ST ics.—The new Archbi-
shop Paris has issued an ordinance, requiring the most
strict adhesion to regular ecclesiastical c ,stume on the
part of every clerical person submitted to his Government.
clergyman Any . is ipso facto suspended who, even in a
single instance, shall lay aside the ecclesiastical dress;
and tonsure, soutane, and petit collet, must be strictly ad-
hered to.
The Voice Conductors invented bandr. E.
Theyor pa
public
iec
Solomons, Optician, No. 1, Old Jewry, City, No. 36,
Old Bond-street, have proved eminently 'efficacious in
some of the most distressing cases of deafness.
not as large as a fourpenny-piece, and notwithstandingarefar
their very small construction, no instruments extant have
proved of such advantage to the deaf. From their metallic
vibrating quality, table talk is rendered perfectly audible,
and the wearer is enabled to distinguish the faintest icfiec-
tions
assembly.of a
m distantr. E. speakersoiomo n
si
,n
Pe
alitnuernecntht,:tpheeeintahttaernerl,ebs
• to all these in modern use ; they extend imreedi
superior
ate and continued relief in all cases vision,oftodevflee.esteirvveo
enabling persons to engage their sight for any length of
unimpaired to extreme old age. No other improvement
has time, at the most minute employ
eon
candle-light, and are thus calculated
has been effected in spectacle lenses for the last twenty
vision -
years, and as Mr. S. has secured,,thße exclusive disposal of
name
le
ei s hm e
guardednntasm by
Letters
various
attemptsP at en t , "
therefore themth eputboli
chissbneusltdabbl
i;lairt
is to counterfeit the above
se
assistants; i sat asnitms
ionfvapilratbiel
titular attention should be paid necessary that par.
namely, 1, Old Jewry, to the Proprietor's address,
Piccadilly. City, and 36, Old Bond-street,

EVENING EDITION.

COURT-MARTIAL ON JOHN
HENTY.

SHEERNESS, FRIDAY, OCT. 30.—The Court was
opened at nine o'clock.
Mr. James Thomas Duff, an inspector of shipwrights,
was examined as to the position of the ladders which
were open for passage on the 14th of October.
Isaac Townsend, a postman and messenger at the
Dockyard, Sheerness, related part of a conversation
with Henty after the occurrence, but it was not of im-
portance. He was a neighbour of Henty's. Henty's
character was very good, and he did not know a better
warrant officer.
James Hider, a leading man of shipwrights in her
Majesty's yard at Sheerness, was acting as inspector
on the 2d October. Related some conversation that
Lad taken place on the night in question between him
and others in the Dockyard, but it wes destitute of
evidence or interest. He gave the prisoner a good
character.
Pearce, the inspector, was recalled, and desired to
produce the resin which he had found in the house of
the prisoner.
The resin having been produced, Isaac Townsend was
ordered to be recalled.
He then stated that having now seen the resin, he
was of opinion that it was of a duller and lighter de-
scription than that which be was in the habit of sell-
in:. He did not recollect to h Ive seen any other resin
of the same kind.

Could you distinguish the difference between two
qualities of white resin, when either of them was pro-
duced ?—I doubt that.

Is the resin of the same quality as that used inthe dock-
yard ?—No ; I have never seen anythere but black resin.
Joseph Monday---I am an inspector of shipwrights in
Sheerness Dockyard. About twenty minutes past five
en the evening of the 2d October, I went on board the
Csmperdown, for the purr 03C of finding Mr. Henty. I
required him to go with me to the Amazon, to see all
safe on board there. Mr. Henty went with me. I
went to Mr. Henty by the order of Mr. Banes, my
f ueman, who sent me to look for Mr. Henty at ten
minutes past five.
Did y( u inquire for him of tbe labourers on beard ?
I did. I called aloud for him on the middle deck,
m quarter-deck, repeating it as I came down
and c‘tme out of the entering port. I had got as far
as the lamp post, about thirty feet from the Camper-
down, when Mr. Henty came and stood at the enter-
ing part, and said, " Mr. Monday, do you want to sec
me ?" " I have directions." I said, " from Mr. Banes,
for you to go with me to the Amazon, to see that all
is safe on board." He immediately came on shore
and went with tee, and we went on board, and went
round that ship and found all safe. I parted from him
at the starboard quarter of the Achille. He then asked
me who was to go with him on board the Achille, and I

slid that rownes, an inspector, would go, and I would
set)] him to him. He said that he would wait there for
hm, ,1:1(1 I went away. When we separated it wanted
twenty-five minuts to six.
Cross-ex,:rniiied—Did you descend the Carnperdown
lower than the middle deck ?—No.

Were there not workmen employed below whom
was Henty's duty, in some respects, to watch and ob•
scree ?—Yes.

May not your calls have escaped the hearing of the
prisoner, he being below ?—Yes.
Htd not the prisoner to visit the Achille after you
1,4 t him ?—Yes.

HaA the prisoner borne a good character for the dis-
charge of Lis duties ?—Yes, during the time I have
known him.

Jitn:.s Thomas Duff examined—Did you communi-
cate any orders to Mr. Henty which you had received
Irom Mr. Ba.es?—No, I did not. My orders were
only to see tha lights out.
D:d you go on board the Camperdown on the 2d
October ?—Yes. _ _

-
At what time ?—As nearly as I can judge, at thrco-
quarters pat five.
Ho'w soon did you see Mr. Henty after you got on
board ?—Within one minute, I should think.

Whom did you see there at first ?—The labourers,
who had been employed in getting out the ballast.
Did you and Mr. Henry search the Camperdown ?
We saw that the lights were out.
State to the Court what passed during your perambu-
leion of that ship ?—As soon as I entered the ship I
asked the labourers if they had seen the carpenter or
w arrant-officer ? I was told he was gone aft. I saw
Greening, the man who superintends the shifting of
ballast, come to the top of the fore-hatchway, up the
ladder way, from the fore cockpit, with his light, which
lie turned down in the lantern. I had now reached that
spot, and while speaking to a labourer who came up,
and asking Lim whether he was the last, Henty joined
me. I de,ired the men to come up, and said that we
would go down. We accordingly went into the fore
cockpit, from thesice down on the platform leading
to the main hold. I observed to ,Mr. Henty that
all was dark enough there. We descended again
to the fore cockpit, and I said that we would
not cross the cable tiers, it being generally a rough
road, and we proceeded up the same ladder way
which we had before descended, and went along
the lower gun deck, descending the after cockpit
ladder. Mr. Ilenty was behind me, and I proceeded
four paces forward, when he called out, " Hofloa!
hol)oa! who is there ?" and asked me if I had heard

any thing ? Xly answer was " No," but perhaps

might be the men on deck, who were just over the
place. No farther remark was made relative to the
noise. We might have stopped there perhaps a minute,
but ad remained silent and dark. We then proceeded
up the ladder again, which we had before descended,
acd passed along the lower deck to the ballast shoot,
where the labourers were still standing inside the ship.
I inquired of them if they were all there, meaning all
th,i:ir men, who were employed in getting out the bal-
last. They said " Yes," and I said, " Now all of you
bundle out of the port, and if either of you are found
leaving the ship after me and the warrant officer, the
police will have orders to take charge of you." They fol-
lowed each other out of the port immediately. I was then
going out of the port myself, when Mr. Henty ob-
served, " There will be no need for both of us to report
the lights out." I answered, I did not know that there
was, but I should, and immediately proceeded to get
out at the port, when Mr. Henty said that he had
left his umbrella. I passed over the brow of the
rorth basin dock—found Mr. Banes and Mr Peake
standing by the side of the Monarch, to whom I re-
ported the lights to be out, and also named what I had
said to the labourers. We then—the two foremen and

myseif—walked towards the quadrangle or storehouse,
where stood the master shipwright. The two foremen
joined in conversation with him, and I had passed on to
the blacksmith,' forge, when the bell struck off ringing
--that is at ten minutes before six.
Did you hear any noise on the orlop deck, when Mr:
Henty pFrofessed to hear something ?—None whatever.
Did you see any light on the orlop deck, looking for-
ward or aft ?—None.
Did the ship appear to you safe below ?—Quite.
Witness then repeated the account Henty gave of
the fire, and the way in which he extinguished it. He
also underwent a long cross-examination, from which it
appeared that a person might have been concealed in
the ship without his knowledge, and that all the lights
were out when he made his round.

James Mitchell=4 am a constable of the dock-police
at Sheerness.
Did you, on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 3, hear
the prisoner tell any person how he put out the fire on

board the Camperdo;vn did; I listened to his

/statement, and I heard him state how many buckets of
wav he threw an the fire on his first going down to
the midshipmen's berth ; he raid six or seven ; and he
said that he, having done so, had extinguished the fire
sufficiently to give the alarm.
Did you hear him say that he afterwards returned
to the cockpit ?—He said he afterwards went down
below again ; and the fire had then burned up as fiercely
as ever. That then with six or seven more buckets he
extinguished the fire entirely.
Cross-examined—The prisoner was speaking to Mr.
'Bois at t# time..
Did only know that you were listening ?—Not
thst I know of.
How far off did you stand ?—Not above two yards.
Did you consider it to be your duty to listen to a
ennversatian which did not concern you, and then to
give information of what passed ?—I thought it was my
duty to leqrn all about the fire I could.
Jams Billing-_I am a labourer in the dock-yard, and
war. so on the 2d and 3d of October.
Did you fill up the fire-cask on the morning of the
dire in the after cockpit of the Camperdown ?—Yes.
How many buckets of water did it take to fill it up ')
Three.
Cross-examined—Do you know anything about the
casks in the time which intervened between the fire
40,1 your seeing the casks the next morning ?---NO,
The Court sat to a late hour.

L is the Ho!). Robert Campbell Scarlett, eldest
son of Lord Ahnner, who has purchased the Marquis of
Huntley's romantic scat of inverlochy Castle fur 75,1501. li
was originally bought by the Marquis, in 1834, for 56,0001.
A Sitip CAPSIZVD IN THE RIVER.—On
'Wednesday evening a Norwegian ship, called the Flora,
which had ditc•argcd a cargo of timber, was moored in a
tier nit T),:rtford dockyard, and between the hours of seven
14,a4 eight o'clock, and when there was scarcely any wind,
InYe Corned over, and, uwin, to her ballast-pert being left
,11? en soon filled and went down. The crew and Custom-
u,,apc,officer on board bed great difficulty in making their
picked them an'''
s°'"
uf them swam towards a boat, which
,
ens was p. On being mustered it was found that f
While end ginnd there is no doubt but he was drowned
eavi3g to get away from the sinking vessel. I T.yo steamers were,e engaged on Thursday in towing the I
Flora through ti
water further in shore,
ceeded in effecting, which they sue-
moil's chests and other pro yesterc.iay, at low water, the sea-
were gat out of her. is now lying on her b epa
ernt- ,
eel), i clr
that ts off the Victualling Office at
She
gilters. she
Deptford, and it is ex
day by means of chain liwill be got afloat this
her topheav
The accident was caused
L.), the want of bil;ast, which
rendered
the wash of the steamas passing flew her over. The
, and
5,,q is nearly new, veg.