The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-31 00:00:00

MORNING SU

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICAARO
EDINBURGH, JrLiAl3: ~.
ARSON.—Beatrice M'Barnet, or D4vlds-inlirn '
at the bar, accused of wilful fire-raisi4g; filasir' (4. •
-g
-; '"
the 17th of April, 1841, she set fire kciithb
North St. Andrew-street, in which she`kk,:asZd.
business as a milliner. The crime w4f.yerx
brought home to the prisoner by cireurnslittitht“Mitlß:l4`
alone, of which the following are the leading features :
She had been occupying the premises in St. Andrew--
street, consisting- of a room and a small closet, for some
months before the fire took place. When she left her
shop on Friday evening, the 16th of April, she, with
the assistance of a Mrs. Walker, whom she had en-
gaged for the purpose, removed every thing into the
closet, and when they left the premises that night
about eleven o'clock, the furniture was placed in a
certain order. Under and along the window was
placed a sofa, which was covered with a number of
bonnets ; there was a table in the middle of the room
covered with a table-cloth, and the chairs were placed
all around. Next morning, about five o'clock, fire was
discovered in the premises, and when the closet was en-
tered, the arrangement of the furniture was completely
altered. The sofa was not under the window, but at
the other end of the room altogether, and, instead of it,
there was under the window a mattress, placed upon
chairs. The bonnets were no longer on the sofa, nor
under the window, nor were any traces of them to be
found. There was now no cover on the table, and the
chairs were placed, not round the room, but partly on
the sofa, and partly on the mattress. There was also
beside the window a chest with coals, which the wit-
ness Walker had not observed when
,she left the room
with the prisoner the night before. These circum-
stances proved that there must have -been some party
in the premises between the time when they were left
by' the prisoner and Mrs. Walker, the night before, and
the time when the fire was discovered next morning.
That the fire was also wilfully raised—that it was not
the result of accident, was clearly proved by the fact
that, when the firemen entered the room, it was on
fire in three different places, without any connexion
between them. That it must have been the prisoner
who had altered the arrangement of the furniture, and
set fire to the premises in these different places,
appeared from the facts that the keys, even on her
own showing, were in her possession the whole time—
that when the policemen went to the house he found
the door locked and had to force it open, so that
no person could have entered by it—and that when the
closet was entered, the window shutters were shut, so that
no person could have entered by the window. Besides
these facts, it appeared that the prisoner a few days be-
fore had insured her property with the Scottish In-
surance Company to the amount of 1001., and that after
the fire took place she had sent in a claim on the Com-
pany for 911., while the evidence of the appraiser went
to show that the whole value of the furniture and goods
in her premises was somewhere about 251. The object of
the prisoner thus appeared to be to get hold of the insu-
rance money. She is married, and has three children.
The Jury after a short consultation, returned a una-
nimous verdict, finding the prisoner Guilty upon the
circumstantial evidence adduced, and Lord Mackenzie
sentenced her to be transported for life.

AN UNLUCKY WIFE HUNTER.

A few weeks ago an advertisement for a wife ap
peared in the Birmingham Herald, headed " Matti
monial Proposal," and setting forth that the adver-
tiser was a gentleman who wished to marry a lady
from 21 to 30 ; that she must have a genteel appear-
ance, liberal education, and respectable connections,
and be possessed of property to the value of 500/. at least;
that the advertiser was in his 29th year, of gentlemanly
appearance and address ; of respectable connections ; pos-
sessed of 3,0001. in a respectable and well-established
business ; and that he had a house furnished with every
worldly comfort.
A young gentleman of this town, noticing the adver-
tisement, wrote him under the style of a female, stat-
ing her qualifications, and that she was possessed of
1,000/, entirely at her own disposal; in consequence of
which a general correspondence ensued, and an inter-
view between them was decided on as being the most
proper mode of arranging matters, and ascertaining how
each party would suit the other. Accordingly, Wednes-
day evening, at half-past seven, was fixed fir the time,
and the Cemetery the place of meeting.
Long before the time appointed, the gentleman in
search of love was seen with an engraving of the Ceme-
tery, sent him by the should-be lady, wherein she had
pointed out the spot at which he was to meet her, com-
paring it with the place. and affecting •an air of digni-
fied importance, from which he was doomed to be
lowered.

A number of young gentlemen were there at the ap-
pointed time, and all anxiously made their way to the
unknown gentleman for the purpose of viewing his fea-
tures ; but he did all in his power to prevent his face
from being seen. At length a view of it was obtained,
which caused no small degree of merriment amongst
those who were in the secret, especially when they
discovered that he had lost one eye, and could with
difficulty see with the other ; having also several
other defects not at all calculated to give one the
idea of a man of genteel appearance. After allowing
him to wait twenty minutes past the appointed time,
he was accosted by the party, and told that the lady,
owing to the wetness of the evening, was unable to
meet him, and that they were deputed to meet him
in her stead. He immediately perceived the hoax,
and his fury was beyond all description. He left the
Cemetery with all speed, his hoaxers keeping at his
heels, jeering and laughing at his mortification. This
was kept up until they arrived at the top of Sheffield-
moor, when they lost sight of him. The party then sepa-
rated, but two of them afterwards saw him making the
best of his way along Union-street, for the town, and
again beset him with jokes, throwing in his teeth the
loving words contained in his letters to the lady. This
caused him to take to his heels with all speed, and
away lie went through any by-roads he could find, until
at length he reached the Market-place. There he was
again doomed to increased misfortune ; for, in addition
to the two who had followed him from Union-street, he
had again to encounter the whole party who had so
kindly met him at the Cemetery. Onward he sped, as
fast as his legs could carry him, until he got opposite
the Tontine, where a coach was standing, into whirih he
wished to get, but, unfortunately for him, and to the
amusement of his followers, who were now very numer-
ous, a lady. had just engaged the coach, and he was com-
pelled again to take to his heels. in about three minutes
he reached the railway station, where he took refuge, to
his great satisfaction, and to the delight of his pursuers,
who reached that place as soon as he. There was the
" luckless wight," heated, breathless, bespattered, and
in a perfect rage. His appearance may le bitter ima-
gined than described. The train was gone, and nothing
remained for him but to get back into the town as well
as he could. This he was allowed to do quietly, his tor-
mentors having left him to take his chance.
_ _ _

In the morning, however, by seven o'clock, he was
again met in the Wicker, by one of his attendants of the
previous evening, whose appearance threw him into in-
describable consternation, so that he seemed doubtful
whether to run back or venture forward."' lie did go
on, however, and was followed to the railway station,
whence he took his departure by the half-past seven
o'clock train, in a third class carriage, for West Brom-
wich, about five miles south of Birmingham, the place
from whence he had been trailed in search of a wife.

He spoke, in his advertisement, of having had a small
disappointment before ; but the result of this adventure
will probably deter him from another attempt to repair
his disasters by advertising his charms to ensnare the
lad ies.—Sheffield Independent.

CHELTENHAM ELECTION.—At the late elec-
tion for this borough, a poor letter-carrier, in igno-
rance of the law, recorded his vote for Mr. Craven Ber-
keley. No sooner was this fact known, than the mer-
ciful Tories made complaint against him to the Post-
office authorities, and he has been dismissed in conse-
quence. The unfortunate victim of Tory vengeance is
John Barrett, who, we believe, has filled the situation
for nearly eleven years. It has been determined by the
Liberal party to raise a small sum of money to assist
Barret in establishing himself in a way of getting his
living in trade, and we are happy to see that the list of
subscriptions is fast filling.—Cheltenharn E,.ratniner.
ohts
SCARES.—The Commissioners of the Northern
111.
s towards
are now proceeding with the preliminaryt
rocks lying one
heprotsection of the
thema r erectioniner
against of a
those
d lighthouseaeger for
e,s
rassiernouth. The Commis-
bours of Burghead and
_ re
nested the opinion of the
sinners have accolirdei:gly
don ongthis subject, as required by
mile off the shores of the 11Lioe y Frith, between aboutb-
Trinity House of
consisting of Captains Drew, Reece,
cient CorporaEt
and Herby, are now on the Moray Frith, in
Probyn.
the late Lighttltoonuse Act ; and a deputation of that an-
th powerful steamer, accompanied by Mr. Ste-
vensr for Northern Lights. in the course
ngitlee
• examination, they waited on Provost Nicol, of
of their
who is ex officio one of the Commissioners of
Inverness,
Northern Lights, and
to whose individual exertions
the d b d /
in this business the public are much in ete nverness
Courier.
the Colonial Coun-
eTrohnve,c rrench Government has adopted the strong
tsisaadrYalomu , and, consequently, the commission
of its delegate, M. Granier Cassagnac, the great enemy
peeas.ure of dissolving
of the blacks, is revoked. He has recently arrived in
Paris, after an unfortunate excursion to Hayti, and a
bcieltonfecGe
hasty touch at the British West India islandi. This is
the gentleman who stated, at a public dinner at Deme-
rara, his belief that the negroes were brutes and not
men. He now says he is a convert to the necessity of
abolishing slavery. It appears that the two councils of
Guadeloupe have sent home their respective opinions on
the question of emancipation. The Secret Council have
arrived at the conclusion that this measure may be ad-
vantageously effected ; the Colonial Council are abso-
lutely opposed to it. This just represents the difference
between the planters and the Government. The French
Minister has directed the favourable opinion of the Se-
cret Council to be published.—Anti-Slavery Report.
SUDDEN DEATH.—William Day was on Thurs-
day morning found dead at the warehouse of his em-
ployer, Mr. Abud, refiner, in Clerkenwell, where it was
his weekly turn to sleep, for the safety of the property.
On Monday evening three persons called upon him rela-
tive to the amount of a loan for which he Was security
to their loan society for a person of the name of Pack-
wood, who, it seems, had not made any weekly repay-
ments whatever since he obtained the money, and is not
now to be found. The shock of their claim being thus
demanded from him, which would be the total ruin of
his means of maintaining his family, after the long and
hard struggle he had had to get his little business toge-
ther, with the thought of having it destroyed in this
manner, and from such a cause, so affected' him before
leaving for the night, that he declared to his wife he felt
he should not survive it. In vain his wife endeavoured
to console him, with the hope of getting over it ; but
what washer horror to hear he was it corpse the follow.
log morning.