The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-03 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
(From Punch.)
Louis Philippe Orleans, an old man, with a largo
head, and a ver;• confident expression, was charged be-
fore the bench, Public Opinion, with a most flagitious
act of child stealing. The case was very protracted,
and involved many statements and counter-statements,
but may be briefly summed up as follows :
It appeared that a Spaniard, named Ferdinand, who
had distinguished himself as a man- milliner—having
been specially appointed as petticoat-maker and em-
broiderer to the Holy Virgin—died some years ago at
Madrid, leaving behind him two little infant girls ; and
it was for the crafty abduction of the younger of these
children, by name Luisa—a young creature scarcely
marriageable—that the prisoner was brought to the bar.
Ile was an old offender, full of subtleties and tricks,
which he played off under the guise of the most en-
chanting benhonnnie, which, of course, only rendered him
the more dangerous. This, however, was the first time
he had appeared at the bar of public opinion as a child-
stealer.

It was shown in evidence that the petticoat-maker
died very rich ; and there was no doubt that the im-
mense wealth of the unfortunate Luisa was one reason
for drawing upon her the attention of the prisoner ; who
had also—there could be no doubt of it—considerable
hopes of obtaining futther advantages by meddling
in her family affairs ; and further of ultimately obtain-
ing the larger share of the property o❑ the death of her
sister, reputed not to be of the most vigorous constitu-
tion. It was shown that Orleans had had crafty accom-
plices in the business. He had introduced into the house
of the young ladies a French hairdresser, named Bres-
son, who had turned the head of the innocent Luisa with
the most glowing description of Orleans, surnamed
Montpensier, a youth with great precocity of mous-
tache. The hairdresser, Bresson, had also contrived to
give the young man's portrait (painted for the occasion)
to the hapless Luisa; and the effect of a portrait of a
handsome young man upon a girl of fourteen would be
obvious.

Finally, a contract of marriage had been brought
about by the craftiness of the hair-dresser; and the child
—however it might be attempted to palliate the circum-
stances by the forms of law—the child was, in a word,
stolen from herself, her country, and her relations, by
the guile and avarice of the prisoner at the bar.
The COURT regretted that it could not interfere in
even so flagitious a case. The prisoner must be dis-
charged ; though he must not for a moment suppose
that he left the Court with clean hands.
Hereupon the prisoner gave a knowing wink, chuckle,
and left the Court, humming "Ou pent on itre mieux,
qu'au sein de sa famille 1"

NARROW ESCAPE OF AN EMI-
GRANT SHIP.-AWFUL SUFFERINGS.
__

Recently considerable attention has existed regarding
the fate of the Elizabeth and Sarah emigrant ship, which
has been reported at Lloyd's as having been nearly
wrecked, twice or thrice, while on her outward passage
to North America, with three hundred Irish emi-
grants. Since the last notice published, announcing
the vessel being stranded on the island of St.
Peter's, south of Newfoundland, letters have been re-
ceived communicating the fact of her having been got
off, and her arrival at Basque Island, with a frightful
fever raging on board, to which the captaim of the Eli-
zabeth and Sarah, Mr. Simpson, and no fewer than
twenty-three passengers, had fallen a sacrifice.
The unfortunate commander was, we understand, the.
sole owner of the vessel, and in consequence of his death
there is little probability of an inquiry being instituted
into the alleged charges as to the condition of the ship
and the stores with which she was provided. From all
the accounts received we extract the following :
" The chip sailed from Killala on May 26, twenty-
four days after the day advertised, and the time the emi-
grants had come on board. The original number of
emigrants she was to carry eras fixed at 218, but the
number in her when she sailed proved far greater,
amounting to 280, besides the crew, and the accommo-
dation provided on board consisted only of thirty-two
berths. Owing to the great length of time before she
sailed, most of the emigrants had consumed a large
quantity of their stores, and by the time the vessel had
reached half way to her destination her position was
most deplorable, subsisting on short allowance, and
many with scarcely any. What was worse, the water
had from some cause become putrid. At the time of
the ship running ashore on St. Peter's Island, the captain
had an attack of fever, which soon carried him off, and
many of the passengers expired from the same disease.
The bodies of the passengers were immediately com-
mitted to the deep, but that of the captain was kept on
deck for thirteen days, until the ship arrived at Basque
Island. As may be supposed, it was in a shocking state
of decomposition. In the meanwhile twenty deaths had
occurred, and the illness that prevailed in the ship was
truly frightful. On the vessel reaching Basque island,
the unhappy creatures received every attention from Mr.
Webb, the mate of the Liverpool, wrecked on the island,
who took immediate steps to convey information of the
dreadful condition of the emigrants to the Government
emigrant agent at Quebec, where they arrived on the
seventy-second day after their departure from Killala.
Twelve more deaths took place ere the ship dropped
anchor, and a vast number of the emigrants continued
in a dangerous condition up to the time of these accounts
being sent off. The state of the ship when it arrived is
described to have been most disgusting. She was only
330 tons burthen, and was entitled to carry no more
than 155 adult passengers. She had Si beyond her
complement."

THE `NEAT HER AND VIE CROPS.—The weather
has altogether changed during the past ten days—
rain has been very plentiful. The hopes that we al-
luded to last week and the week previous, of the sup-
plementary crop of potatoes, continue to be indulged
in even here, where the disease was soonest observed,
and where its ravages have been the most extensive
In the neighbourhood of Huntley, and in other dis-
tricts to the north of it, it is calculated that about
one-third will be saved. The threatened disease in the
turnip crop is fast disappearing. There are, in general,
not more turnips found irremediably injured than in
ordinary years. The disease is said to have been
nothing more than a mildew or rust, that covered and
discoloured the leaves, preventing them from exercising
their functions, and thus stopping the growth of the
plants. The same disease was apparent in 1826. Al
most all traces of it are said to have vanished after
the late rains, and it is expected that the crop will yet
recover. The grain is very high at present. The millers
have none in their possession, as the farmers have pas-
ture in great plenty, even as much as in the month of
June, and, of course, standing in no need of fodder, are
not inclined to thrash out any portion of their crop. It
is, however, hardly expected that the present prices will
be long maintained.—Aberdeen Herald.
DREADFUL COAL-PIT ACCIDENT.—SIX LIVES
LOST.—On Monday morning a dreadful accident from
explosion of fire damp, whereby six lives have been lost,
occurred at a pit connected with the Clyde Iron Works,
the property of Messrs. Dunlop, situated near Toll Cross,
a few miles up the Clyde from Glasgow. The casualty
had becomo but very partially known in this city at a
late hour on Monday, and the subjoined particulars have
been hastily- collected from inquiries made in the neigh-
bourhood in question. The pit in which the accident
occurred is called Bogle's Hole Pit, and is situated
within a stone-throw of the river side. We understand
it is a working which has been daily open of late,
and no premonition of danger had taken place in con-
nexion with it. About four o'clock yesterday morning
five men and a boy went down in the course of their
ordinary occupations, and immediately on the lights
which they carried coming in contact with the foul air,
the explosion took place by which the whole have been
deprived of life. We have not yet ascertained the names
of the sufferers, but we understand the majority, if not
the whole, of the men were married, and have left
widows and families. The consternation which
the occurrence excited in the neighbourhood can
be imagined only by those who have been wit-
nesses to similar scenes of distress. Steps were
promptly taken by the persons connected with the
management for recovering the bodies, and in the
course of the morning those of one man and the boy
were got out. The remains of the other four men were
not recovered until about five o'clock on Monday even-
ing. The explosion cannot, under the circumstances,
be easily accounted for; but without desiring heedlessly
to impute blame in any quarter, or to anticipate the re-
sult of the inquiry which we understand has been insti-
tuted under judicial authority, we may state that the
common impression amongst the mining population of
Rutherglen and the neighbourhood was, that the disaster
had been CIIIIEOI by a trap-door, connected with the
ventilation, having been left open when it ought to have
been shut, in consequence of which the gas had been
concentrated, and rendered peculiarly liable to ignition
on the contact of flame.—Glasgow Chronicle.
AGRICULTURAL WAGES IN OXFORDSHIRE.—Mr.
W. Collingridge, farmer at Goding, was summoned to
appear at the petty sessions, at Bicester, on Friday last,
to show cause why he refused to pay John Freeman, a
lad of thirteen, wages amounting to 6s. 6d. It was for
three weeks' wages all but one day. The defence was,
that the lad had misconducted himself by leaving on a
Saturday morning. It appeared the complainant had
worked for the defendant for some time ; that he
left home at about five in the morning, and that he
had not done his work till late at night; that until May
he had had threepence per day, and twopence for Sun-
days, but that his wages were then
day ; that on the day IT left his place Mr. Collingridge
told him he had " a whip in pickle " for him, and that
the boy left is consequence. The magistrates ordered
the defendant to pay the boy his wages for two weeks,
4s. 6d., and to pay the clerk's costs, 9s. Gd. The farmer
appeared very angry at the decision, and said he should
appeal against the conviction.
MEETING or MASONS —On Thursday night a public
meeting of the stone-masons was held at the Temper-
ance-hall, Waterloo-road, which was completely filled.
Mr: John Shaw (a mason) was called to the chair, and
congratulated the meeting on the prospects before them.
from
the report of the subscriptiens received in aid of
the late struggle at Liverpool, it appeared that the total.
was, in voluntary contributions, 611.15;,. 6d., and from a
benefit at the Liverpool Theatre, 741, ss. 10d. ' • a profit
of 221. 19s. 6d.—Robert M'llonald proposed the first re-
soluti " That Trades' Unions are highly conducive
to the social, moral, and intellectual improvement of the
working classes, and that it is the imperative duty of
every mason, in particular, to unite in forwarding the
objects of the Masons' Association."—The resolution
was carried unanimously amidst loud cheers.—Joseph
Wood proposed the second resolution :—" That this
meeting pledges itself, individually and collectively, to
use every legitimate and constitutional effort to forward
the objects of this meeting, believing that Trades' Unions
are the only lever that will ultimately elevate the work-
ing classes to that pre-eminent position that they ought
to occupy
.among the producers of the wealth of this
great empire. This and the other resolutions wen 030
carried unanimously.