The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-16 00:00:00

Henry Perry, medical officer of the workhouse, was
next sworn. He remembered the case of Eddy. He
was admitted to the house on the 6th of July, 1844, and
continued under medical treatment until the 24th of the
same month., when he required no further attendance.
January 2d, 1845, he was again brought in and treated
for paralysis. Ho was in a very weak state. On account
of his defective sight he thought picking oakum would
certainly have been improper work for him. Witness's
apprehension was that he was not so employed. Recol-
lected a person named Dodridge being in the house. Was
called to attend him on the 8d of October, 1844. His com-
plaint was asthma. He was placed on the half dietary list
till December, when having rallied, he was, accord-
ing to his own request, placed on the ordinary house
dietary, which he continued until the Bth of January,
1845, when he died. Believed he was in the male sick
ward. Did not recollect his working in the coal-cellar.
Cannot recollect seeing him in the boy's sleeping-room.
Believed Horswell was in the male sick ward, and the
garret was just over where he was. Did not remember
I)odridge's removal to that ward. Thomas Smith and
James Hodge (since deceased) attended to the sick
,in
that ward, and were occasionally assisted by Thomas
Hellier and Richard Wills, and in some instances he had
known the late porter, Thomas Hands, assist in the sick
wards. Rembered a person named Ashton being in the
house. He was decidedly insane, and very much
excited. Recommended his removal to the work-
house in consequence of finding him unprotected
at his own house. His insanity was of the
kind called mania, and was not furious. I
was informed it was produced by reverses in business.
Witness ordered a strait waistcoat to be put on him
when be was obstreperous. Observed marks at the
angle of his mouth. On inquiring into the cause he
found they had been produced by inserting the spoon in
his mouth with a view of giving him some nutriment.
He had no apprehension that there was any unnecessary
or improper force used on the part of the attendants. His
arms were secared to the sacking of the bed to prevent
his injuring himself.
A variety of additional evidence having been taken,
Mr. Evens proceeded to make his defence. He first
alluded at length to the charge of neglect brought by
Horswell, and then added that with respect to accelera-
ting the death of Eddy, Aishton, and Dodridge, he
could solemnly declare he never heard any complaint of
ill-usage towards either of them, until he received the
Assistant Poor-law Commissioner's letter of the 30th of
September, the day before the inquiry commenced at
the Royal Hotel.
After the conclusion of the inquiry,
The Learned Commissioner went to the workhouse,
and saw the rooms as they were described by the wit-
nesses.

The evidence will be placed before the Commissioners
at Somerset House, who will shortly give their decision.

- -
DESECRATION OF THE DEAD
ST. GILES'S WORKHOUSE.

Since the dreadful disclosures of Enon Chapel down to
the recent desecration of certain City church-yards, and
the removal of cart loads of human remains to the
Eastern-end of the metropolis, nothing so humiliating or
in detail so revolting has occurred to equal in horrors the
proceedings which are now going on in the pauper
burial-ground attached to the St. Giles's workhouse. It
appears that in this parish it has been found necessary to
enlarge the workhouse, and to add an infirmary, a dis-
pensary, a casual ward, waiting-rooms, bath-rooms, and
other buildings for the accommodation of the inmates,
who for many years had suffered much. That in order
to effect these objects, a number of temporary offices,
covering in the whole a piece of ground at the rear of the
building containing about half an acre, have been re-
moved, and the whole area, extending from the back of
the workhouse to a lane called Short's-gardens, laid
bare. The plot of ground thus exposed is surrounded on
all sides by the dwellings of the poor, who inhabit this
locality in perhaps greater numbers than any other
part of the metropolis. Many of these miserable
tenements overlook the spot, and so dense is
the population that several thousand poor families
reside within the circle of one hundred yards round
it. After the materials of the old buildings had
been removed, the workmen in the employment of
the builder, Mr. Holland, of Duke-street, Blooms-
bury, commenced digging the foundations for the new
buildings, and while so engaged found at the depth of
about four feet from the surface some bones, which were
carted away with the rubbish, and deposited in the
vicinity of Battle-bridge. As soon as the circumstance
of finding the bones was represented to the clerk of the
works, he immediately waited upon the governor of the
workhouse, and also some members of the board of
guardians, but no directions were given to cease dis-
turbing the remains. The workmen, therefore, continued
to prosecute their labours, when it soon became apparent
the ground was filled with coffins, and the decomposed
bodies of human beings. A sight of this appalling cha-
racter had such an effect upon the workmen employed to
clear away the revolting substances, that some of them
exhibited the greatest reluctance to interfere, and only
complied at length from the fear of losing their employ-
ment. While the task of exhuming the remains was
proceeded with, the board of guardians held two or
three meetings, and after some deliberation, and an in-
spection of the ground, came to the determination to ex-
hume all the bodies, and have them removed to the St.
Cales's Cemetery, St. Pancras-road. These instructions
are now in the course of being complied with, and it is
calculated that within the last fortnight the remains of
twelve hundred persons have been removed. The coffins
appear to have been wedged together, and in many
cases fourteen have been found in one grave. A space
of ground, measuring about eighty square feet, has
been already excavated, with the intention of removing
all the coffins that may be found. The earth is found
to be in some parts hard and gravelly, but towards
Short's-gardens it becomes loose and damp, and in
those parts the progress of decomposition has been
more rapid and complete. To the north, and within a
few feet of the workhouse itself, the soil is compara-
tively firm, and here a most appalling sight was pre-
sented. Owing, it is supposed, to the peculiar proper-
ties of the soil in this place, the coffins were found to
be in a better state of preservation, and to have re-
sisted, to a greater extent, the mouldering effects of
time. They could not, however, be removed in any-
thing like a perfect shape, and parted asunder when
exposed to the air. The bodies they contained were
found to be still solid, the hair upon the eyebrows and
eyelashes clearly discernable, and every feature entire
and perfect as when first deposited. The flesh, however,
had turned into a white substance, resembling to the
touch, and not unlike in appearance, the common mush-
room or toad-stool. The coffins containing those bodies
were found at depths, varying from four to nine or ten
feet. In some instances, the mouldering flesh clung to
the head, about the jaw, and round the scalps, while
the teeth remained white and firm. The brain could
also be traced; and in some cases even the viscera
were clearly distinguishable. These bodies appeared to
have been swathed in coarse linen shrouds as several
fragments of the latter were found. The accumulation
of those ghastly remains in a few hours became so great,
that coffins or rather large boxes, hastily put together,
and formed of three quarter inch deal, painted black, were
got in readiness, into which the remains of about thirty
persons were packed indiscriminately and forwarded in
a hearse to the cemetry at St. Pancras road. The re-
mains of about twelve hundred persons were thus re-
moved, a much greater number however still remain,
and at this moment the loathsome place is strewn with
skulls, many of them in the state described, bones of all
kinds, and fragments of broken coffins. The pit exca-
vated has already yielded the remains of 1,200 persons,
including theskeletons of children, and judging from pre-
sent appearances the workmen employed have not more
than half finished, if so much, their frightful task. Por-
tions of several coffins, with fragments of their ghastly
occupants, can now be traced within thirteen or fourteen
inches of the surface, while in other places the piles of
coffins have been compressed by time, according as the
wood rotted, and now appear lying close to each other,
as if some external pressure had been applied. Some of
the able-bodied paupers from the workhouse were
employed collecting the fragments. It is evident from
the appearance of some of the coffins, that the occupants
did not in every case belong to the humbler classes, as
some of them have pieces of cloth attached to them,
and are richly studded with nails, and contain the marks
of having. been once decorated with plates. The dates,
however, are, unfortunately, erased by time,,with the ex-
ception of a few. In one portion of the ground the
workmen found as many as 30 or 40 skeletons, all thrown
indiscriminately together; none of them bore the appear-
ance of being recently deposited. Several copper coins,
pipes, and other things, were also found. The coins
were very much corroded, but one of them is in suffi-
ciently good preservation to exhibit the date 1200 in
legible characters. Independently of the outrage upon
decency and proper feeling which is involved in these
proceedings, it is to be apprehended that very fearful
results to the sanitory condition of so densely crowded
a neighbourhood will follow the opening of the:loathsome
pit now exposed to view. The indignation of the people
in the immediate district has been audibly expressed. A
great majority of them belong to the sister country, and,
with that respect for the dead which they are nationally
characterised for, have viewed with feelings of indigna-
tion the proceedings. It is calculated that an immense
number of coffins and their contents have still to be re-
moved.

UOACII ACCIDENT.—About eleven o'clock on Sun-
day night last an accident happened to the London mail
coach going north, on the most dreary part of Shap
Fells, in Westmoreland, which might have been attended
with the most serious and fatal consequences. It appears
that the road over Shap Fells, especially at the Hucks-
brow, is in a most dangerous and shocking bad state of
repair, there being large deep holes in it at several
places, and, indeed, it is so bad that the mail coaches
cannot get up the brow in due time, and consequently
two extra horses are put to, and a postillion, to assist
the coach up that long steep hill. William Abel, the
postillion, on arriving at the top of the steep, told the
driver, that, as the night was so very stormy, and the
roads so very heavy and bad, ho would go on with his
pair with the coach to Shap. However, the coach had
not gone far, when the horse on which Abel was riding
fell, the other four fell over him and them, and one of
his thighs was broken, and he was otherwise most dread-
fully mangled and crushed, but the coach was not thrown
over. It soon afterwards proceeded on, but before it
rived at Shap the pole broke, and some of the passengers
were much alarmed. The coach arrived at Carlisle
upwards of four hours behind her due time.
FATAL COLLISION ON TUE THAMES.--Wednesdy
afternoon, about four o'clock, a coal barge called the
Gertrude, was passing down the river, a short distance
from London-bridge, when she ran with a violent crash
foul of a sailing barge loaded with sand, known as the
Opponent, The jerk occasioned by the collision pitched
the steersman of the former into the water, and al-
though every possible exertion w poor fellow's lite, be floated as made to save the
appeared. away with the tide and dis-