The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-24 00:00:00

CONTINENTAL TRAVELLkING.
IMPORTANT TO PASSENGERS FROM. IHE
CONTINENT.
A complaint having been made to the Board of
Customs, by a passenger arriving from the a intinent,
that when e was about to land an officer of the re-
venue laid his hands on the pockets of his grey t coat,
which was on his person, for the purpose of asces
tam-
ing whether he had any articles in his pocket lit, kbl;
to duty ; the Commissioners have directed the pd, q-
cipals of departments at the various packet ports,
having passenger traffic with the Continental States,
to be acquainted. for the information and guidance:
of themselves, and the officers under their survey,
that it is illegal to sear,h the clothes of passengers
when on their person, or to feel the outside of their
pockets at the time they are landing from any ship or
vessel, although the officers may suspect that goods,
liable to duty, are concealed therein ; and hive further
directed them to caution the officers stationed on
board vessels with passengers, or superintending the
landing of such persons, to be careful not to give
offence by so doing. They have farther been in-
structed that the course which officers of Customs
ought to pursue in this matter is as foams :—lu
case they observe any package in the packets of a
passenger, or have any reason to suspect that he
has any articles concealed about his person, the
,rse ss u,hjei
informed
edd
that, ue, he
in
usual question is to be'put as to the party hay-
bilelganayt gtiadssatehtisimPs
e
,shpt,e j iraving goods liable to duty
the event of 111- cl-e-nyirag
in his possession, and of suet, goods being subse-
quently found . the officer w.:O isb y law authorised
to ascertain the -truth of the- statErnent, the goods;
would become forfeited, and the party be liable to a
penalty of treble the value thereof; and should the
answer of the passenger be in the affirmative, be
should be requested by the officer to produce the
goods. If, however, the passenger insists on denying
that he has such goods on his person, and the officer
still have good ground for suspicion, the party is then
to be informed that the officer deems it necessary
that his person should be searched, under the provi-
sions of the law' but that he (the party) previously to
blng searched, is at liberty to require to be taken
before a magistrate, or a superior officer of customs,
who will deteimine whether there is reasonable
grounds of suspicion or otherwise ; and should the
party not claim to be taken before a magistrate or
superior officer of customs, but still refuse to be
searched, the officer is authorised by law to make such
search, and to detain the party for that purpose, at all
times giving bim the option of being taken before a
magistrate,* Should a party who has el/doled to be
taken tasekr;i4 magistrate afterwards refuse to go, is -
may be detained by the officer and taken before a
magistrate. The 56th section of the Act 8 and ti
Vic., cap. 87, makes a person liable to a penalty of
100/. for obstructing an officer of the revenue in the
execution of that portion of his duty.

NARROW ESCAPE or LABOURERS IN THE CITY.—
Yesterday morning, as several men were employed in
making alterations in the warehouses lately in the pos-
session of Messrs. John Lart and Son, hosiers, 116,

stwerte, City, an
or
leacssciidnejnotreocd,coutrrehedrs bwyerewhpiacrhtifeelttr
ly
oWf °th°dem.ree
buried, and all of them narrowly escaped being crushed
to death. From inquiries instituted on the spot shortly
after the occurrence, it appears that about ten o'clock in
the morning a labourer, named John Sheridan, with
others, were employed in the lower part of the building,
a portion of ,which had been removed, in clearing away
the rubbish in the cellar. Sheridan was especially en-
gaged in excavating near to a part of the foundation in
the centre of the building, upon which rested two iron
pillars, which upheld a cross beam of fir of great thick-
ness and considerable weight, which had been intended
by the builders to sustain the upper floors when filled
with merchandise. It is supposed that by clearing away
the rubbish the foundation had received a shock which

rendered the position of the pillars insecure, for suddenly,
indeed it appears without a moment's warning, the iron
supporters slipped away, and the beam and all the super-
incumbent materials in the two floors fell with a tre.

mendous crash. For some little time it was thought
that the men in the cellar were crushed to death, but
upon the dust having cleared off it was discovered that
though partially buried, none of them had suffered more
than a few slight contusions, except Sheridan, who was
considerably injured about the face and head; happily
he, however, had no bones broken. As soon as the men

were taken out their bruises were bound up, and their
contusions dressed by a neighbouring surgeon, and for-
tunately, in no case, though the men are much shaken, is

any further danger apprehended.
HORRIBLE ATTEMPT TO MURDER TWO MEN, AND
SELF-MUTILATION BY A MADMAN.-00 Thuralay after-
noon the following appalling occurrence took place in
the Holbeck workhouse:—lt appears that an inmate of

the house, named Joseph Robinson, bad lately shown
,imptoms of menu,' aberration, but be was never consi-

deresd a dangerous person until last Monday, when his
conduct became so strange that he was placed under the
core of the medical man belonging to the workhouse.
Alter the lapse of a few days his symptoms improved,
and he was again con,idered to be perfectly harmless,
bat during yesterday afternoon, whilst sitt►ng in one of
tte wards with four men—ooe iusan?, another an idiot,

the third old and tihnd, and the finrth rr v infirm
person--ht suddrnty s...,ized a largo Beal shov.el, with
Altich he made a mist desperate attempt to murder the

two eldest men, by strilsing them with his might upon
tht-ir beads. The ideitie p.aup-r, on seeing this, ran out
of the ward, and, as well as. tits wu, ahle, gave an alarm,
but before any assistance arrit-el liotioison Lad inflicted
some severe scalp wounds 671 the poor hi blind man,
whose maim is Thom -s Cooper, aed who is 77 years of
One of the po'r foil.,w's fingers wiis al=t, completely
sup.shed, this having appar,ritly b,--eit the ri stilt of his
at!empthig to protect his head from tho blows. The
other man, Samuel Gibson, who is 54 years t.,t- age, was
a!so most severely injured, his face being laid bare with
he edge of the shovel. As soon as the loaf m was given
Robinson threw down the shovel and secreted himself in

the water...closet, acd, on his being discovered, it was
found that he had cut his throat and stabbed himself
several timis in the abdomen, besides dreadfully muti-
lating other portions of his person. The knife with
which he had inflicted these injuries on himself was one
which he had borrowed from the old man Cooper, to cut
his flesh with, as he termed eating his meat. He had
also cut his shoes and destroyed his trousers with the
same weapon. He was soured, and, with the two men
he had s frightfully ifjured, was taken to the genera!
dispensary at L:-eds. Whin this account was dispatched
to London, Robinson was expected to die hourly, and

the other two remained in a very precarious state.
THE CONVICT BARBER.—THE WILLS FORGERIES
CASE.—The triends of Ba.rher, who, it will be recol-
lected, was some time since tried and convicted at the

Old Bailey in the wills forgery case, and who ia...enow
undergoing his sentence of transportation
.for leleft.n7
Norfolk Island, intend convening a public
uTb
site
V 1 ith a view of laying before the public thieeev,siert t
Zed in ob•
tnents and documents that they
are of such a nature as tend to pro.
raining p, ssession of; aryl which l'th%v_yee.
now ledge of the for-
c,nce of Barber in any guilty k.
hare
already
been
:t.e‘hileficieenntitri)e. it' o stale-
plies. fiev, rid prel:minary weeping
held, wirhieinchas.haaNn,ed been numerously
neroiubfs
hvigashtte.srt.adneddinbgy hainsdptinr--
fVuneance in the legal profession, who have formed them•
selves into a committee for the purpose of endeavouring
to obtain a free pardon ; a sub-committee has also been
appointed for the purpose of preparing a memorial to
Sir George Grey, the Secretary of State for the Home
Departmt nt, embodying the whole of the evidence and
facts that the committee are in possession of. This
memorial is to be submitted to a general meeting for
their approval, aid in the meantime an application
rill be made to Sir George Grey to recive a deputa-
tion to present the memorial, and be heard in support
of the prayer. The must sanguine hopes are enter-
tained by the committee of not only succeeding in
ob-
taining an unconditional pardon for Barber, but in
satis-
factorily establishing his entire innocence.
about
DARING ROBBERY.—On Sunday morning,
No. 6,
three o'clock, the house of Mr.
was broken into, and
Anchor-terrace, Southwark-bridge.
f P3Ol. or 40/ carried off.
plate and jewels to the am
gpetatsistaggeovera
thieves had
Perkins, and Co.'s)
Brewery (Bare ay,
sepa-
rating the Anchor .
belongs to the firm, and by
the terrace, which
from
grahtee wtallyi.e,
t entered at the back window
climbing up a water p
hpardoeeeffeedcithegd u,:toliu,:nu.ngtrainew
then found their
siputp obi notuesde
,i nt findinghey
a narrbo)W
(lowa of No 6, which
to the front wit.• they entered,
way
to ransack a cheff,,neer of the property in
and proceeded
oprfoNp,oe;t7y, butn vablentneg,i.nd
question. Fortunately au alarm was given before the
robbers had time to arrive at property of greater value.
Ono of the thieves left his hat and shoes behind him in
Mr. Sandeman's drawii.g-room, at.d getting again
through the house No. 7, leaped into the back passage of
the terrace, where there was no place of exit; here, how-
ever, he dexterously succeeded in misleading the police
who were in search; for by scaling another water-spout
he effected an entrance through the window to No. 12,
the house of the Rev. Mr. Mungeam, where he contrived
to get hold of and equip himself in the hat and boots of
the Reverend Gentleman, and then quietly unlocked the
trout door, walked out, and effected his escape.
TII E WESTMINSTER REFORM SoCIETT.—Last
evening a numerous meeting of the Registration Coin-
' mittee of the Westminster Reform Society was held at
Strand. for
the York Hovel, Upper Wellington-street,
the purpose of entering into arrangements
.uarrister's
Reform interest at the castling Revising
miidiTo the chair.
Court. Mr. Bremner having been
meeting
of
Mr. Huggett (the secretary) observed that a
LoStroteft the
previously convened, in
the committee had not
canvass, and which had not
re-
ceived during the present iorul. It was intended
rinution which he had
cboeteinseueynecteloirerfacrt_hig.etlasuirgo; been(irli It o
reformer:% at the Revising
to support t
Prom moved the following... retro-
have been given. fir. . .
11-1 heretofore, to place and maintain on
Larybe . t-, 1
Tilat Court,tbw, -2 itLtrrte.regard to the votes that maw
ItlS—uetel, to use lilt
I rile register of voters for the c.t of Westudnater all
Reformers, without reference in the smallest degree to
lution:
their votes at the last el: ction."--- (Hear, hear.") Ho said
that he felt great pleasure in moving the resolution, as it
bßeatirtriste—r:s‘ endeavours
I would prove that the society was Lctuated by a liberal
spirit, and that its sole object was to maintain the elec-
nye franchise for the furtherance of Reform principles.
(I.le, r; hear.) Mr. G. Pouncy seconded the resolu-
tion, which was supported by other members, and agreed
to unanimously. Thanks-were" then voted to the chair-
wan, and the meeting separated.••
' THE I'OUSR Tateas.—Tte trial of the Polish pri•
' boners at Berlin is guitz ou rapitily-; some 01 th.e wooed
latwe 6004 40(44101