The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-07 00:00:00

LAW AND POLICE.

t DESPERATE ATTEMPTS AT SUICIDE.—Henry Highfield,
a labourer, was charged on remand,- at the Westminster
Police-court, with attempting to commit suicide by taking
laudanum at York-street, Westminster, and again by
cutting his throat at Westminster Hospital. Mr. May,
the house physician, proved that the prisoner was brought
to the hospital suffering from the effects of some narcotic
which by the odour turned out to be laudanum;
it had become thoroughly absorbed in the system,
and there was a tendency to sleep ; by exercises
galvanism, and other restoratives the effects were
entirely worked off, and then the prisoner lapsed into
a state of temporary insanity of a violent kind, declared
he was the Saviour, and was in communication with the
angels ; this again passed off, and he then attempted to
cut his throat, severing the tissues, but not inflicting any
serious injury. Prisoner expressed his deep regret, and
the chaplain at the gaol gave him a (rood character, and
thought he would repent of the rash act. His son, who,
was a teetotaller, offered to take him home and let him`
share the savings of his sobriety. Mr. Woolrych dis-
charged him with a suitable admonition.
DRUNKENNESS ON RAILWAYS.—Henry Lichfield, aged
46 years, of No. 3, Spencer-street, St, George-in-the-
East, was charged before Mr. Paget, at the Thames
Police-court, with being drunk and disorderly and
tearing the uniform coat of a ticket collector named
Wainwright, at the Limehouse Station of the Great
Eastern Railway Company on their Blackwall line. The
case was fully made out. Mr. Paget said this was a very
P' proper proceeding on the part of the Great Eastern Railway
Company. Every one must have observed in travelling on
all railways in the kingdom, and particularly those in and
near London, the great proportion of drunkenness in rail-
way carriages, and the annoyance and trouble they gave
sober ancryespectable people. No drunken man or woman
should he allowed to enter a railway carriage on any pre-
tence whatever. The prisoner was very properly pre-
vented travelling on the line and removed, and for the
assault on the officer in the proper execution of his duty
he fined him 10s. The penalty was paid.
ENGLISH NEUTRALITY.—A SERIOUS CHARGE.- -Mr.
Francis Davis, manager to Messrs. Edward Reilly and
Co., gunmakers, of 502, New Oxford-street, appeared at
Bow-street to answer five summonses which charged the
firm with having unlawfully sent 2,000 gunpowder cart-
ridges by the London and South-Western Railway
Company to Paris, by way of Southampton and Havre,
without distinctly mentioning their nature on the outside
of the five packages containing them or giving a written
notice to that effect to the servants of the company. The
packages contained potatoes, and the cartridges were
concealed under the vegetables. The discovery of the
real nature of thepackages was made at Southampton, and
the company informed Mr. Reilly that the cases would
not be forwarded for Havre, and that proceedings would
be taken against him for the deception. Mr. Davis
then called at the company's office, and said
that the goods were sent as provisions simply
because they would not pass the Customs
it declared. The. French Government, he said,
had taken all the guns from Mr. Reilly's Paris
depot and required the cartridges, which request he dare
not refuse. He further said if it was a matter of a fine
only he would willingly pay it, and also subscribe to the
Company's Widows and Orphan Fund, but there must be
no exposure. On behalf of the defendant, it was asserted
that he never intended to defraud the company in any
way. In summing up, Mr. Vaughan said the railway com-
pany would greatly have neglected their duty if they had
not instituted the present proceedings. It was impossible
not to see that the result of sending cartridges without a
declaration as to their nature might have been productive
of the most fearful consequences to the lives of persons
travelling by that train, as well as to the company's pro-
perty. The defendant had not only practised a fraud on
the company for the purpose of enabling him to get muni-
tions of war conveyed to France, but he had acted in direct
contravention of the Queen's Proclamation of Neutrality.
The defendant's conduct was greatly to be condemned.;
therefore, he (Mr. Vaughan) would impose the full penalty
of £2O in each of the five summonses. The company's
solicitor said they were not desirous of pressing the charge
to the utmost, but wished to set an example, and he should
not therefore ask for penalties on more than one summons.
Mr. Vaughan said if that were so he would fine the defen-
dant £2O on one summons alone.
SERIOUS CHARGE OF FRAUD.—Thomas Woolf, a rag
merchant, was brought up at the Mansion House, charged
with being concerned with a young man named Jeavons,
in committing a fraud to the extent of £930, under the
following extraordinary circumstances. The prisoner had,
it was alleged, inveigled Jeavons, who was a clerk in the
employ of Mr. Bacon, general merchant, of Blackfriars,
Into certain monetary transactions, the precise nature of
which was not stated. Having done this it was alleged
that he incited the prisoner to rob his master. It
was now shewn in evidence that the process of
robbery was as follows :—A delivery note was made out
by Jeavons on Mr. Bacon's contractors, Messrs. Hyman,
for a large quantity of rags which the prisoner, it was
stated, received and conveyed to his own stores. These
goods were not entered by Jeavons as they should have
been, in Mr. Bacon's books, so that the robbery was
carried on for a considerable time without his knowledge.
The demands of Woolf at length became so pressing that
Jeavons became frightened, and having communi
cated the circumstances, got away, and had not
since been heard of. Letters were produced
in which the prisoner had promised small sums, and
urged Jeavons to do various acts which it was alleged
were the offences in question, goods in some instances
having been obtained above £lOO. Prisoner was remanded
without bail.

LIVERPOOL FAILURES.-At the County Court, Liver-
pool, a meeting of creditors under the failure of Mr.
Patrick Hunter Dixon, who carried on business in Liver-
pool as a broker, with a partner, under the firm of
Browne, Hunter, and Co., was held before Mr. Registrar
Rime. Debts amounting to £8,495 were proved, and Mr.
Harmood W. Banner chosen trustee, without a committee
of inspection, at a remuneration of 5 per cent. on the gross
proceeds of the estate. The bankrupt did not appear.
The public examination was fixed for October 31. A

meeting of the creditors of Joseph Edwards, who carried
on business in Preeson's-row as a ship-broker under the
firm of Owens, Edwards and Co., was also held before
Mr. Registrar Hine, but there not being a quorum of
creditors present, an adjournment was taken to the
11th instant. Previously to the close of the meeting
Mr. Morris, applied that the proceedings under the
petition against Robert Owen and the present bankrupt
be amalgamated, and that Mr. Rolland, the trustee under
the petition against Owen, be the trustee of the property
of both the bankrupts. The learned Registrar declined to
order them to be amalgamated, leaving the parties on the
appointment of a trustee under the second petition to apply
to the court, under the inherent powers it possessed in the
interest of the creditors, to make the order for amalgama-
tion if it thought fit.

ALLEGED HOMICIDE.—Messrs. David Law, junior and
senior, proprietors of the building at Hillhead, Glasgew,
at which an accident recently happened, have been appre-
hended on a charge of culpable homicide. At the close

of a preliminary examination they were admitted to bai
in sums of £2OO each.

SIR MINTO W. T. FARQUHAR'S BANKRUPTCY.—The
hearing of petitions, in re Sir Minto Walter Townsend
Farquhar, Bart., which had been adjourned for the pur-
pose of adjudication, came on again for hearing. Appli-
cation was now made for a further adjournment, on the
ground that there was every chance of the bankrupt's
affairs being settled out of Court. It was stated that
there would. be a meeting of creditors shortly, and the
application was granted for a hearing after that time.

The Lord Lieutenant and the Countess Spencer
have arrived at the Viceregal Lodge, Dublin. A con-
siderable number of ladies and gentlemen met their
Excellencies on their arrival, and they were heartily
cheered.

Another extension of the Street Tramway system
in London was brought into operation on Wednesday, the
line from Brixton-rise to the Hercules Tavern in the
Westminster-bridge-road having been opened for traffic.
A further portion of the route will be completed by next
week.

THE LIVERPOOL MUNICIPAL PALACE.—It tran-
spired at the meeting of the Liverpool Town Council on
Wednesday, that the cost of the new municipal offices,
recently completed, including fittings and £33,000 for the
land, amounted to £162,637, and that the annual expendi-
ture upon the establishment, including repairs, might be
estimated at £3,000.

BEYOND THE LnuT.—ln the Manchester Times
the following advertisement has appeared :—" A young
widow who, to escape from the persecutions of the Con-
tagious Diseases Act police, has been obliged to leave her
former employers, is now doing well in a situation, but is
unable to earn enough for the support of her three
children, aged two, five, and nine years. Contributions
on behalf of these children will be thankfully received,"
&c. One of the references named is Mrs. Butler, of Liver-
pool

A private letter from Paris, dated the 28th ult., gives a
very favourable account of the state of the city. The
writer (a Frenchman) says that the health of the Parisians
is good, both morally and physically. Not the slightest
fear is entertained of provisions running short. Nothing
is wanted but milk and butter. The former is kept for
the babies and the sick ; the latter is seven francs per
pound, and will soon be unattainable at any price. The
weather was splendid.

The Lord Primate of all Ireland delivered his an-
nual charge to the clergy of the diocese of Armagh in
the Armagh Cathedral on Wednesday. He counselled
them as to the new marriage laws, condemned any hasty
interference with the Prayer Book, and said the principal
work before them was to attend to the future support of
the ministry. He stated his belief that it would be a
delusion to expect any great advantage to the Sustenta-
tion Fund from commutation or composition, and declared
that they need have no fear of ritualism in the Irish
Church. The attendance of clergy was large.

A SHOWER OF SAND AND SHELLS IN TH E
ATLANTIC.--The ship Universe, Captain Jones, which
arrived at Savannah on the 16th of September from
Liverpool, encountered a most extraordinary phenomenon
on the 4th ult., in the Atlantic. On that
day the ship experienced a terrific squall from
the MN.E., which blew for a time so furiously that
no canvass could stand against it. During the hurricane
a heavy shower of rain fell for about half an hour accom-
panied by quantities of sand and shells. After the storm
had abated a quantity of the sand and shells were gathered
from the deck.. Some of the shells were broken into small
fragments, whilst others remained whole. Captain Jones,
whilst at a loss to explain the real cause of this extra-
ordinary phenomenon, is of opinion that an enormous
waterspout must have burst, during the prevalence of the
storm, in the neighbourhood of the vessel, and that during'
its formationi it had sucked up the sand and shells from '
the bed of the ocean.