The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-18 00:00:00

House with any indecent precipitation. But if it appear
to be the object of those who arrogate to themselves
the title of Irish patriots to impede the progress of pub-
lic business and thwart the operations of national com-
merce, then the sympathies of England will be against,
and not with, the opponents of a rigorous policy ; and
men who would otherwise have looked with a lenient eye
on the errors or omissions of Liberal politicians, will
begin to ask one another what is the value of that pa-
triotism which in England is so active in obstincting
legislation, but in Ireland was so cold and sluggish in
rebuking MURDER?

FATAL MINE ACCIDENT IN

STAFFORDSHIRE.

BILSTON, THURSDAY.—One of the most alarming
mine accidents which have taken place in this neighbour-
hood for a long time occurred yesterday morning, at
Messrs. Benton and Peal berton's coal and ironstone pit.
It appears that at six o'clock on Wednesday morning
the men who worked at the above place came to the shatt
for the purpose of going to work. A man named Wm.
Jones, with six others, got into the skip and descended;
but before doing so they were cautioned by the doggie,
or overlooker, not to go into a certain part of the pit
until he went down and saw that all was right. When
they reached the bottom they were again desired by
those at the top of the pit not to take the candle into a
certain part of the pit until the doggie went down with
the next lot. When at the bottom the above unfor-
tunate man would go, in spite of all remonstrance, com-
pelling a young man, named Cox, to accompany him
into the dangerous part of the pit, with a naked
candle in his hand. There being a great quantity of
damp air in the pit, the moment the candle was taken in
a terrific explosion took place, which killed Jones on the
spot, and, it was feared, fatally injured Cox. The other
five who we re at the bottom of the pit, seeing their ef-
forts unavailing in trying to restrain Jones, and dread-
ing the consequence of an explosion, went into a safer
part of the mine, and escaped with a very few slight
bruises. At the time the explosion took place, there
were six more men in the skip descending, when, such
was the violence of the explosion, that the whole six
were blown at least fifty yards into the air. Four of
them, Abraham Atkins, John Evans, Enoch Beverton,
and Jos. Vincent, were killed, arid the other two so se-
verely injured that their medical attendant gives little
hopes of their recovery.
The men had not been to work since Saturday last,
and during that time a great quantity of sulphur had
collected.

The deceased Jones and Atkin have each left a wife
and five children to mourn their untimely end. The in-
quest on the bodies will take place this evening, before.
Mr. Philips, coroner.

DEATH OF AN AMERICAN
CULPRIT.
(From the ./Vew York Journal.)

The Pittsburgh Commercial Journal mentions the death
of Dr. Braddee, the notorious mail robber, who died last
week in his cell in the Penitentiary of that city. The
journal adds :

He was convicted of robbing the mails, and imprisoned,
it will be remembered, in 1841, pursuant to sentenne by
Judge Baldwin, for ten years. Shortly after his incar-
ceration, he conceived the idea of procuring his
liberation by simulating a decline of health. For this
purpose he would prick his gums with the awls, which
were supplied to him in the vocation he had chosen,
that of a shoemaker, and having saturated his towel
with blood, was always prepared for the stated visit of
a physician or chaplain, with this evidence of a danger-
ous hemorrhage from the lungs, to which he was always
careful to add a difficult and painful respiration. His
physician was able, sometimes, to.engage the suffering
doctor in conversations, in which he would become
sufficiently animated to forget his painful breathing, hut
on the instant that he would recollect himself, the diffi-
culty would return. These practices, it is believed,
brought on the disease which terminated his life, and he
died at last of a pulmonary affection.
Until two weeks before his death his disease had not
assumed a formidable type, but then he began to sink
rapidly. Up to this period he had steadily and vehe-
mently asserted his innocence of the crimes imputed to
him, but so soon as he became convinced that his re-
covery was impossible, he confessed his guilt, and al-
though we are restrained by prudential considerations
from further allusion to this point, we may venture to
add, that in his confession he has implicated several
persons who had not been suspected of participating in
his crimes.

It is worthy of remark, also, that the df•ctor, who
had gained an astonishing reputation as a physician, de-
termining, or pretending to determine, the precise
symptoms in any case of disease by an examination of
the patient's urinary discharges, felt constrained by ap
proaching death to confess that his system was nothing
but a humbug. His success in this humbug is another
evidence of his remarable shrewdness of character. The
vast income he derived from his dupes is well known.
It is known that Braddee's wife, who clung to
him during his trial, and suggested by her pre-
sence and the signs of affliction that beautiful
apostrophe to love in anguish, with which Mr.
Biddle, in Braddee's defence, electrified the auditory,
had been unfaithful to her vows, and married another
during Braddee's imprisonment. He was not made
acquainted with the fact, and for the five years he was
in confinement, he was fond of an opportunity of talking
about `•his wife and children." He spoke of them in
terms of warm affection ; and undoubtedly his desire to
recover his liberty was stimulated by attachment to them.
Even after he became aware that he must soon' die, he
desired to be at liberty, even if it were to die in a barn,
to the end that he might not die a prisoner. But so
soon as he learned the conduct of his wife, he instantly
ceased to wish for freedom. It was the final blow to the
poor convict, the unexpected thrust, like that which ex-
torted the memorable et to Brute, commanding sur-
render ; and, poor fellow, he gave up at once. He never
after mentioned wire or child, or desired to move be-
yond the limits of his cell. The name of his wife was
avoided with an iron will, although for the previous
years of his confinement it had been a pleasant and hope-
ful theme.

A question was a long time existing whether Bracldec
could read or write. In his last illness it was satisfac-
torily ascertained that he could do neither, although
every effort in the earlier part of his imprisonment to
determine the question was unsuccessful.

EXECUTION FOR MURDER IN
FRANCE.
A striking defect in the French criminal law is the
regulation by which criminals sentenced to death are
not informed of the day on which they are to die until
about an hour before the time fixed on the day itself.
The criminal, lulled by a false hope of his appeal to the
superior court being successful, or of his petition to the
King for mercy being listened to, refuses to attend to the
pious exhortations of the chaplain, thinking that he will
have no necessity for repentance, and passes his time in
a state of brute carelessness, in which he is encouraged
by his fellow-prisoners, who flatter him with the idea
that at most he will get off with Iravaux foray, hard
labour for life. This continues till some morning he is
suddenly informed that in an hour (sometimes even less)
he is to ascend the steps of the guillotine. At first,
stunned by this information, he shows no exterior signs
of emotion ; the chaplain attempts to pour consolation
into ears yet deafened by the sounds of death, and ere
the miserable man can be made to understand that that
is his last opportunity for making his peace with an
offended Deity, he is given up to the executioner, the
axe falls, and his soul is in the presence of its Judge.
Even the English system, bad as it is, is better than
this. A lamentable instance of the effect produced
by this regulation lately occurred at Mezieres (Ar-
dennes). Jacques Loney had been condemned in
January last to death for assassination, against which
sentence he had appealed, and confidently expected
that it would be mitigated to hard labour for life. On
the .sth of March his appeal was rejected, a fact of which
he was left in ignorance until the 9th instant, the day
fixed for his execution, which was to take place in the
Place St. Julian, at nine o'clock. At half-past seven,
Lonay, who had been present at mass with the other
prisoners, was detained by the chaplain, the AbbiiGarot,
for the purpose of communicating to him the fatal news;
the Abbie however, overcome with emotion at the
thought that the man then standing before him, full of
life and vigour, would in a few minutes be a lifeless
corpse, he had not courage to announce to him the sad
truth. The clerk then read to him the decree of the
Court of Cassation rejecting his appeal; and, as he
seemed not to comprehend the purport of the decree, it
was at last explained to him that he must no longer
count on the mercy of man. Lonay then protested his
innocence, walked up and down the oratory, clasping his
hands and groaning piteously. He was then left to the
exhortations of the priest, to which he only replied by
groans and protestations of innocence. This scene lasted
till the arrival of the executioners. On their attempting
to bind his arms, he stiffened them against his say-
ing;sidei,oned:
the
He rheefucould
ewdarl
ikn
kwell
glassenough f
,without
exterior
on beholding the crowd, he
e rbeedi nhgimpinby
turned to the priest, who
dt uorenrkeefy ,t
haen dp
rwi
saolnk,e dw
hweirteh,o u t assistance to the
uttered a plaintive cry and
confessed his guilt, and in few minutes all was over.
was by his side. After he had ascended the scaffold he

GRAVESEND AND ROCHESTER RAILWAY. The fol-
lowing are the traffic returns for the week ending April 11,
1846 ;—Passengers, 11,4261 amount received, 2801. 2s. 4d.
TROTTING MATCH.—Thursday, Mr. Marsden's cob,
which was matched to trot two miles under seven minutes,
for a stake of 101., decided the issue at Streatham, and won
by twenty SeeoDd6.
PEDESTRIANISM.—The match between Sam East, of
Westtninster, and Robert Fuller, of London, will come off on
Monday neat at Caniiick,eorner, on the Barnet-road. The
distance is twenty miles, and the stakes 2001.
SERIOUS ACCIDENT TO THE Jurrith STEAMER.—
On Wednesday night, about ten o'clock, as the Jupiter
steam-packet, which is placed on the Bristol and Cork sta-
tion by the General Steam Navigation Company, in place of
tilt Sabrina; relittilig, Wits coming up the Bristol river from
Cork, with a valuable cargo of homes, cattle, pigs, and mer-
chandise, the night being very dark, she ran aground at a
little below Round Point, a projection in the river about one
mile from Bristol, and, the tide being on the ebb, as the
water left her she heeled over on her side, and a scene of in.
describable confusion instantly ensued. The horses, being
frightened, broke loose from the horse-boxes, and seven va.-
leable hunters, belonging to the stud of Mr. Mason, a gentle-
man resident in Oxfordshire, who has been hunting in Ire-
land this season, with seven or eight head of horned cattle,
and, as it is believed, upwards of 200 pigs, were drowned;
the vessel was also seriously injured, and the general cargo
much damaged. The scene at this moment, it is said, was
almost an indescribable one; the utmost confusion prevailed,
horses and cattle were floating up and down the river, and
this morning the shore was literally strewn with carcases.
The vessel was got off this morning, and is now lying at the
entrance of the Cumberland basin; it is found that she
makes water, and is otherwise injured, but the extent of the
damage is not yet known. The Jupiter is a fine vessel, and
of upwards of 200 horse-power.
ROYAL FAVOURS.
Lord Ell 'a campaigns an earldom get;
Sir Henry Smith'§—a baronet