The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-28 00:00:00

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SUICIDE BY A CORONER.

(From Woolnzer's Exeter Gazette of this day.)
On Tu es day afternoon Mr. James Partridge, a solicitor,
residing in Tiverton, and who was one of the coroners of the
county of Devon, committed suicide by throwing himself
into the Tiverton Canal, near Tidcombe bridge. Just before
five o'clock the deceased was observed walking through
Gold-street, in the direction of the canal, and was accosted
by several persons, to whom he replied with affability, and
even with blandness, nor was anything unusual observed in
his manner. About half-past five o'clock Mr. William
Hepper, of Tiverton, gardener, who was engaged at Tid-
combe, the seat of the Rev. W. Rayer, on looking out of
the window of the garden-house, saw the deceased walking
on the banks of the canal towards Halberton. Near Tid-
combe-bridge he stopped and looked about him fur a minute
or two, and then walked towards an opening in the bank,
and there went down to the water. He then took his hat
from his head and placed it upon the surface of the water,
and immediately walked into the middle of the canal.
His head, however, was n6t entirely under water, but his
bald crown appeared above the surface and remained dry.
Mr. Hepper immediately came out of the garden-house, and
with a person named Stephen Boobier, whom he called to
his assistance, proceeded to the canal. Here they found
they could do nothing, as neither of them could swim ; and
Mr. Ilepper then ran back to the house to get better assist-
ance. About twenty minutes after the deceased had walked
into the water, William Carew Rayer, Esq., son of the Rev.
W. Bayer, arrived, and immediately swam in and brought
the deceased to the canal bank. Under the direction, and
with the assistance of Mr. Rayer, the body was conveyed to
Tidcombe House, and a messenger dispatched for medical
assistance. About twenty minutes afterwards, F. Mackenzie,
Esq., surgeon, of Tiverton, arrived and applied every means
for restoring animation, but without success. J. E. Coward,
Esq., surgeon, of Tiverton, also attended in a few minutes
afterwards. The body was subsequently brought home to
the late residence of the deceased in Bampton-street, Ti-
verton.
On Wednesday afternoon the inquest on the body took
place, before F. Mackenzie, Esq., coroner for the borough.
The jury returned a verdict of Temporary Insanity.
The immediate causes which worked on the mind of the
deceased, and induced him to commit the rash act, have been
variously stated. But it is certain that for some time past
his affairs have been embarrassed, and his failure in some
legal proceedings with reference to valuable landed property
in the vicinity of Tiverton, it is said, would have involved
him in ruin. He has been recently disposing of various por-
tions of his property ; and on issuing the hand-bill for the
sale of some houses or land at Taunton, he is said to have
dated the bill three weeks after the day of sale, and to have
refused to alter it when informed that it was an error. The
determination to commit suicide has, no doubt, been present
in his mind for some time ; as about a month ago he applied
to Mr. Frost, of Tiverton, druggist, for half a phial of prussic
acid.

MELANCHOLY SHIPWRECK OF
THE SCHOONER BALIUS.
LIVERPOOL, MARCH 26.—The late severe gales have been
very destructive to the shipping from the port of Liverpool,
and many vessels have not been heard of since their em-
barkation. Among many others, there has been for the last
three weeks great solicitude for the fate of the schooner
called the Baling, the property of Messrs. Stockdale and Sons.
It was known that she left Kingston, Jamaica, in January,
and twenty-three days having elapsed beyond the time in
which she had commonly made the voyage' she was given
over for lost. The appearance of the master, Captain Pendle-
bury, who has just arrived in the ship Clyde, from Fayal, one
of the Azores, has revealed her melancholy fate.
It appears that the Balins left Kingston on the 20th of
January, deeply laden with rice, spices, hides, and dye-woods.
She had a full crew, consisting of fourteen persons, and one
passenger, a young female, named Hazleden, daughter of
Mr. Hazleden, the manager of the Woodside Ferry across
the Mersey, from Liverpool to Birkenhead.
Almost immediately after leaving port they experienced
an unceasing succession of strong westerly gales, with heavy
rains. On the sth the wind blew more southerly, and, with
such violence, that at times it was a complete hurricane,
with rain, and thunder and lightning of the most tremend-
ous description. The continual rush of water on deck, the
labouring of the vessel, and the violence of the gale,
kept the crew constantly at work. On the 13th,
they shipped a heavy sea while lying to, which
carried away part of the bulwarks, three stancheons,
and the house'used for steering. They lost at the same
time the bowsprit, shrouds, spritsail-yard, fore-staysail, and
the foresail was split. On the 14th the weather moderated,
and temporary bulwarks were fitted; and the vessel bare up
under the fore-topsail, close reefed. It continued blowing
very hard, and in the evening the tempest returned with the
most fearful fury, accompanied by thunder and flashes of
lightning, awfully vivid ; the topsail and main-staysail were
blown out of the belt-ropes, and the sea carried away the
temporary bulwarks, and made a complete breach over her.
The next morning the wind moderated a little, and the
crew succeeded in bending a new mainsail, which, however, .
they were obliged to keep close reefed, and repaired the top-
sail. From this date to the 25th they were compelled to
run almost helpless before the gale, and on' that day
the carpenter, cook, and Thomas Vale, a seaman, became
unable, from sickness, to perform any duty; and the rest of
the crew were nearly exhausted from constant labour and
watching. On the 26th, a tremendous sea struck her on the
starboard side, and swept the decks of all the bulwarks,
stancheons, boats, spars, provisions, water and galley, and
split the covering board on the larboard side, the wind at the
same time completely blowing the belly out of the mainsail.
Captain Pendlebury and four of his hands were washed over-
board. Two of the men succeeded in catching hold of some-
thing, and were hauled in by the mate and carpenter over the
quarter, a third was washed into the jollyboat, which was
towing astern, and was saved. The fourth, Thomas Vale, was
not seen again. Captain Pendlebury caught hold of the main
sheet, and he was hauled on board again at the moment his
strength was failing.
Five feet of water was new discovered in the hold, and
two men were kept constantly at the pumps. They rigged
a drag to keep the ship's head on to the sea, and tried to fill
the holes on deck occasioned by the carrying away of the
stancheons. Part of the cargo was also heaved overboard,
as it had shifted. The night was thick and foggy; but at
three A.M., on the 28th February, it cleared a little, and they
discovered a piece of land, which turned out to be Castello
Branco, a reef on the south side of the islaiZtl of Fayal, the
chief of the Azores.
At the distance of about a mile, the surf broke win; fear-
ful violence on the cliffs 300 -feet high ; and they were the;.ll
sailing straight for them. The vessel was in the midst of
sort of bight, one arm of which was formed by the Castello
Branco, and the other by a high ridge of rocks called Vara-
douro, a point which, if they could have weathered, they
would have driven safely into the port of Fayal. They had,
however, no sail to set except a foresail, every other rag of
canvass having been lost or carried away ; and each tack
brought them nearer their destruction. The energies of the
captain and his crew, however, did not desert them ; and they
tried to get up a flying jib for a mainstaysail, in order, if
possible, to keep off till daylight ; and they hove round
three times. The wind, however, with the exception of a
brief lull, which did them more harm than good, blew fast
and furious towards the dreadful cliffs, and the still more
fearful surf, and at about five o'clock the unfortunate vessel
struck with great violence stern foremost; she then tamed,
and her side came against the rock, beating so fearfully that
it was evident she must be broken up almost instantly.
The condition of Miss Hazleden during this violent and
long-continued hurricane was truly deplorable, but the un-
fortunate girl behaved with great fortitude and resignation.
She was very anxious to keep the deck, but as that was im-
possible in its unprotected state, she spent the dreadful hours
below. From the time the crew found they could not escape
she was frequently observed on her knees making her peace
with heaven. When the ship struck she rushed up to the
deck, but she had hardly set a foot upon it when a tremen-
dous sea washed her overboard. The sailors, with the ex-
ception of Samuel Scott, all reached the rocks in safety, but
in a most deplorable state, the waves having stripped every
particle of clothing from several, and half denuded the others.
They then had to scramble a nails over the most precipitous
and dangerous cliffs before they reached the country. The
body of Miss Hazleden was observed in the surf and rescued
at great risk by the captain and one of his seamen. The
poor girl's head was fractured in a dreadful manner, and every
particle of clothing had been torn off her by the fury of the
waves.

AMERICAN ICE.—A vessel called the America, arrived
in the St. Katherine's Dock, two or three days since, from Boston,
United States, having on board, with the exception of 28 boxes of
provisions, a cargo consisting entirely of ice, amounting to the im-
mense quantity of 460 tons weight.
SUPPOSED MURDER AT BIRMINGHAM, MARCH 27.—
At the public office this morning, three men, dSa
namen de rs, Freeth,
and Heeley, were brought before the sitting magistrates, on suspicion
of being connected with the death of a man named Charome les Edwards,
a lock-keeper, living in Caroline-street, supposed by s to have
been murdered. Mr. Stevens, superintendent of police, addressing
on Thursday morning last the body of a man
asaliotk in the Fazeley Canal, about a mile from Bir-
a deep gash across his face, and a number of bruises
ntN
„I:ate, magistratefioam,dr
eisahr,
on his body. In consequence of information which he received he
caused the above parties to be apprehended, they being seen in com-
pany with deceased, and quarrelling with him the night before. The
magistrates ordered the prisoners to be kept in custody until the
coroner's inquest, which, it is expected, will take place to-morrow
(Saturday). The deceased has left a widow and family to mourn
his loss.
The postponement of the Lord Mayor's entertainment
to her Majesty's Ministers, which we announced yesterday, arises
from the fact, that the Ministers have been commanded to attend at
.
Buckingham Palace, on the night of Wednesday, the Ist proximo
The Easter Ball at the Mansion-House is put off sine die, in con-
Sequenceof the death of the Lord Mayor's mother, which took place
yesterday morning.
A fraud was recently attempted on a Custom House
officer by a foreigner, who represented twenty fiddles he
hnpoortn-
the. to be inferior instruments, not worth more than t 1 each.
examination by a competent judge, the instruments were found to
be genuine cremouas, worth at least 251. each.
AN OVERSEER ABICONDED.—An assistant-overseer
absconded with a versiderable stun of money belonging to the
named John Bill, of the parish of Kingston-upon-Thames, has
parish, and yesterday acre ward of; 01. was offered for his appre-
hension.
Two MEN KILLED BY LIGHTNING.-011 Thursday
afternoon a severe thunderstorm visited the neighbourhood o.
Nottingham. Two men who had taken shelter in a barn at Rat-
cliffe were killed on the spot by the lightning; a cow in the ad-
joiniug field was also killed, but there were no other marks pf the
fluid.
It is understood that a trial of considerable itstereat
will take place at the ensuing Somerset Sessions, arising out of an
assault committed by certain gentlemen of Bath and the neighbour-
hood, at the match of cricket, on Lansdowne, last summer, upon a
sheriff's officer and his assistants, whilst endeavouring to arrest a
gentleman celebrated amongst cricketers as the strongest bowler of
the day. The indictment, it is said, will be for a riot.—Somerset-
shire Gazette.
FORCIBLE ENTRY INTO A HOUSE BY A CLERGYMAN.
—Considerable excitement prevailed at the Town-hall, Sheffield, on
Tuesday morning last, in consequence of the Rev. John George
Hounsfield, Mrs. Rosalie Honreine Hounsfield, his wife, together with
George Hall, John Hall, and Charles Hall, being brought before the
magistrates on a charge of having, on Monday last, riotously as-
' sembled, and forcibly entered and taken possession of Wadsley
House, the residence of George Calvert Holland, Esq., M.D. The rev.
prisoner had been upwards of eight years confined in York Castle
for debt, and had refused to petition for his liberation. In conse-
quence of his so doing, his petitioning creditor, air. Drury. had ap-
plied to the Insolvent Court and obtained a vesting order, under
which the property was sold to the father of Mr. Copeland, the pre-
sent owner. Mr. Hounsfield appears to have laboured under the im-
pression that as he did not take the benefit of the Insolvent Act, he
was entitled again to take possession of his property on his liberation
from York Castle. The case was heard before William Ovetend,
Esq., H. M. Grooves, Esq., and J. Athorpe, Esq. Mr. Hounsfield and
two other male defendants were held to bail to take their trial for
the offence, and Sirs. Hounsfield was discharged.
TUE ITALIAN SOClETY.—Yesterday a meeting of the
members of the above Society was held at the Hanover-square Rooms,
Lord Ashley in the chair, supported by the Hon. W. Cowper, M.P.,
Mr. Childers, M.P., Mr. Colquhoun, M.P., Signor Ciocci, &c. The
Hon. W. Cowper, in moving a resolution expressive of sympathy with
the distressed Italians, drew a frightful picture of their forlorn and
destitute position, secluded as they were from their native homes,
without any prospect of gaining a livelihood here equal to that af-
forded to the poorest of our own countrymen. They were sent out in
lions not to return until they collected two shillings,
Of offal. Signor Raffaelle
the morning, after eating a scanty breakfast, receiving strict injunc-
tionsannounceseegse and then they
had a miserable sapper, consisting chiefly
Ciocci seconded the resolution, which was carried, as ere others in
ra ftferrowmhiesheutii
ar
tahteed.death of the Caid
accAordalentctee
Ben Anani, one of the native chiefs most devoted to France. Like
Ahmed El Anna)* Caid of the Seltaouas, who was assassinated a
few months ago in the environs of Constantino, Ben Anani fell from
the fire of an ambuscade laid for him by some Kolas les who frequent
the market of Setif. Thus, in less than six months, three Colds ap-
pointed by the French, and entirely devoted to their interests, have
I;'W 445*101144.--40911494! •