The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-10 00:00:00

SCOTCH SEQUESTRATIONS.

A. Gair, Tain, agent for the British Linen Company,
to meet within Ellison's Hotel, Tain, July 10 and 31, ut

A. Gordon, Paisley, dyer, to meet within the Saracen's
Head Inn, Paisley, July 13 and Aug. 10, at one.
R. M. Walker, Edinburgh, printer, to meet within the
Ship Hotel, Edinburgh, July 10 and 31, atone.
T. Hamilton and A. Adams, Glasgow, manufacturers,
to meet within the Black Bull Hotel, Glasgow, July 11
and Aug. 2, at one.
A Thompson, Edinburgh, horse dealer, to meet within
Ferguson's Ship Hotel, Edinburgh, July 14 and Aug. 7,
at two.

Sir William and Lady Molesworth entertained at
dinner, on Saturday, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the
Dowager Countess of Sandwich, Mr. Tbackeray, Lord
and Lady Milford, Mr. Charles Dickens, Earl and Coun •
teas of Lovelace, the Rev. Hugh Millman, Hon. C. P.
Villiers, Sir A. slid Lady Duff Gordon, if 0.

ALLEGED POISONING FOR
BURIAL FEES.

COLCHESTER, SATURDAY MORNING.—The discovery
of a horrible murder by secret poisoning, and the general
belief that as many as fourteen or fifteen human beings
have fallen victims under a similar diabolical systems
has during the week created the greatest excitement
throughout the eastern division of this county (Essex).
For several days past, Mr. Codd, the coroner, has been
pursuing a most searching investigation into the whole
of the facts, and at ten o'clock last night (Friday) th•
inquiry terminated in a verdict of " Wilful Murder
°
against Mary May, for feloniously administering arsenic
to her brother, the deceased, and thereby causing his
death. The subjoined facts, as collected from the coro-
ner's report, briefly detail the whole particulars con'
netted with the dreadful affair. In the parish 01
Wickes, a small village on the high road to Harwich,
about six miles from the Manningtree static)*
of the Eastern Unio Railway, lived the deceased,
William Constable, edias Watts. He had not been
married. He maintained himself by hawking triflini
things about the country, and for comfort sake lodge
in the house of his sister, Mary May, a married
woman. He appeared to have prepared his own meals,
with the exception of tea, which he was in the habit of
taking with his sister. On the Bth ult. ho returned to
his lodgings in good health and spirits, and had tea with
his sister. Shortly afterwards he was attacked with,
violent retching and burning pains in his throat and
stomach. These symptoms continued till the following
Sunday, when he died. The moment he was attacked
the sister called in several neighbours to see him. Sh°,
assured them that it was almost certain that ko would
die, but, strange to remark, no suspicion was excited
that anything had been administered to him. On the
declaration of the sister that death had resulted from
natural decline, the body was interred in the Parish
churchyard, she officiating as chief mourner. In the
coarse of a few days she called on the Rev. G. Wilkie.,
the incumbent, for the purpose, as she explained, of ob-
taining a certificate from the reverend gentleman that
the deceased was in good health a fortnight before
his death, and that he was in his thirty-eighth year
(forty-eight was his real age). This he declined doing, and
inquired of her what she wanted it for. She replied that
she had entered him in a burial club at Harwich
fortnight before his death, and that the society would not
pav the money allowed for the interment of the deceased
unless they had a certificate of his good health at the
time he was entered. He told her that the money did
not belong to her. She said that no one else was ell'
titled to it, as she had done it all herself; and nobody el.e
knew anything about it. These and some other suer
cious circumstances, particularly the number of children
she had buried, coupled with the suspicious death of her
former husband, and the hasty and earnest solicitation.
she made in this instance to obtain the fees from 00
burial society, induced the coroner of the district t°
direct the exhumation of the body. This being done,
the stomach and contents were forwarded to Mr. Taylor.
the eminent professor of chemistry at Guy's Hospital'
for analysation. The inquest was opened at the Waggon
public-house at Wickes, and very conclusive evidence wee
adduced.
The secretary of the burial society in question, John
Pratt, of Harwich, said it was designated the " Ne 4
Mourner's Society," and paid 91. or 101. on the death o,
a member, the sum depending on the number of met°.
hers in the club. On the 13th of last May the female'
Mary May, accompanied by the schoolmistress of Wickes
school, called at the office and inquired if the club NV
full. Being told that it had some vacancies, she said she
wished to enter her brother in the club. He was II
healthy man, and she had never knows him to have
day's illness in her life, and that he was only thirty-fif,e
,
years of age. The secretary then entered the deceased;
name, and she paid the fees, Is. 3d. for entering, en'
4d. in advance. On the 6th of June the schoolmistrelt,
brought 2s. for the payments due, and he (the secretall)
heard no more of the party till the 11th of June (S 1111;
day), when a man brought a note, signed " Mrs. Mel'
stating that Constable hadj ust died from strong infiany
!nation, and that the schoolmistress had seen him a WO
time previous. It was shown that the deceased waslll
good health up to the moment of partaking of the pot'
soned victuals on the evening of the Bth, and in coat'."l
diction, of course, to the instructions the sister br,
given to the registrar relative to the came of death, Su]
having stated it to be " decline;" duration of sickner
" three months."

A man named Simpson, who lived in the same hoe!!
as the deceased, said that two days before his dear,
Mrs. May told him that she had entered her brother
a burial club, and counted on getting his burial moriol
(100, which would set her up in business. She ill'
tended to buy a horse and cart and go about the coati'
try higgling.
Professor Taylor, F.R.S., lecturer on medical jurirj
prudence sad chemistry at Guy's, in an elaborate Ati,
interesting report on the analysis, stated that arseolc
was present in the contents of the stomach ; that tb,
quantity was sufficient to destroy two grown-up Pef
sons; that it was taken during life in the form of po^'
der, and that it caused death.
Other circumstantial evidence being adduced, abowil
an attempt on the part of Mrs. May to tamper with tbo
principal witnesses, and urging them not to disclose

. .✓
.._
they knew, ..,
The Jury returned a verdict of Wilful Murder agliil32l
the sister, Mary May, and she was accordingly eciLi
mitted to the county gaol at Chelmsford, for trial at ‘""
next assizes.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
LIVERPOOL, JULY 8.
e' STOCK EXCHA.NOK.—We have to report an inactive Ina rit
Ad
at prices scarcely so high as those of Yesterday. The 57
ii,
are— Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction,
Shares, 73/4 dis.—Ditto (late C. and B. ), 271. 10s. Shares,
—Lancashire and Yorkshire (late M. and B.), Fifth SOS:
1,4 die.—Ditto, 10/. Preference, 6 per cent., p.—Difrj
Fifths ( late West Riding Union), 765. 3d. dis.—London 1133
North-Western, 125—Ditto. New Quarters, 1.1,,i
Stock, 104 c.—Ditto, New Halves, 5% dis. ex int.—Nortl
(A), 202—South-Eastern and Dover. No. 2,10 A
—Ditto, No. 4, Thirds. 2% dis. ex int.—York, Newcal''
and Berwick (G. N. E. Purchase), 1.211 p. ex int.
MANCHESTER, JULY 8.
STOCK Excluwax.—The sales are—Birkenhead, LAO;
shire, and Cheshire Junction, 31/. Shares, 7% dia
East Lancashire, Preference, 314 p.—Huddersfield and 24"3
cheater (unpaid up), ni dis.—Manchester, Sheffield, en
Lincolnshire (Grimsby), 201. Shares, 8% dis.—Ditto, Qu
ters,
53 dis.—Ditto (Grimsby Duck), 103/4 dis.—N°
Staffordshire, 2% dis.—Whitehaven and I,'urness, 10 c.
South-Eastern and Dover, No. 4, 2 13-16 dis.
BIRMINGHAM, JULY 8. 1:11'
STOCK EXCHANGE.—Business was limited to-day,
fat
prices in favourite lines remained firm. There has beer, do
the last few days a decided improvement in the tone of
Share Market. The sales are—Noah Staffordshire,
—Shrewsbury and Birmingham (A), 5 dis.—Ditto (B),'
dis.- South Staffordshire. 3 dis.
YORK, JULY 7.
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The business transacted to-day,a,
as follows : Great Northern, 61. 2s. ex int.—North Bri
Quarters, 514—Ditto, Extension, 4s. 6d.—York, Newes94
and Berwick, 32A—Ditto, No. 2 (late New Berwicks), ,
—York and North Midland (East and West Riding E%I-
sion),

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, JULY 8. eir
STOCK EXCHANGL—The sales are—Newcastle and
lisle, Scrip (red), 4 p.—North British, Thirds, 11. 188. aw'
North Staffordshire, 21/a dis.

GLASGOW, JULY 7. STOCK ExcnANGic.—The sales are—Aberdeen, 19,40, ,
Dundee and Perth, t6—Edinburgh and Glasgow, 89---f,
burgh and Perth, 15—Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and
75—Ditto, Halves, No 1, 7,i—Ditto, No. 2, 71.
Glasgow and Greenock, 15—Great Northern, 6—North m
tish, Thirds, 535.

GUNPOWDER CONVEYED BT T
not be generally known that large quantities of g 1;,
powder are frequently and safely conveyed by reilvli
as much as 11 tons in one day, and in the course °
few months above 100 tons of gunpowder have been cef
ried on the London and North-Western line to LiY:e
pool, Manchester, Leeds, and other places. The
gons in which the gunpowder is conveyed are made °
pressly for the purpose. There are eight of these Al 0,
gons on the London and North• Western
constructed in accordance with the patent of Mr. Heettog
The body of the waggon is formed with sheet iron 0040
outside; the inside is lined with two-inch plank, betni
which and the iron outside a thickness of felt is carefeig
placed. These are screwed together from the outside,io
that there is nothing but wood inside; except
.on
floor, which is covered with sheet lead. The door 'II,
close with a double rabbit. so that it is almost air-tigby
and it is therefore impossible for any fire to get to
powder inside the waggon. The axles are cased tj
wood. The comparative absence of the usual noise ro
vibration in the movement of these powder-waggon'
very remarkable.—Herapatler Journal.
A Constantinople letter of the 2 Est ult., states till ;.
3,000 houses in the suburbs of Pera had been dove,'
by fire. The cholera continued to make progreas

PlairtlJ. n.
On the 4th inst., at Thicket Priory, Yorkshire,
Jefferson, of a daughter.
On the sth inst., Mrs. John Scriven, Sloane-street,
daughter.
SIS
On the sth inst., at Cambridge-street, Hyde-park,
Bainbridge Daniell, of a son.
On the 6th inst., at the Philanthropic, St. Georges-A
the lady of the Rev. S. Turner, of a son.
On the 6th inst., at Weybread Vicarage. the wife of JD°
Rev. T. K. Thomas, of a daughter.
On the 7th inst., in London, the wife of J. Wynne. 94',
late of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, of a son and heir.
On the 7th inst., at Hertford-street, Mayfair, the i"
Mr. H. Wilde, barrister, of a daughter.
At the Hyde Parsonage, Bedfordshire, the wife of the
E. B. Webster, of a daughter.

AKED.
.(11,
On the 6th inst., at Clifton Church, J. Drake
Esq., to Elizabeth, second daughter of tie late H. FL
Lieutenant R.N.
On the 6th inst., at West Hackney Church, F. A. D‘,„ ta
second son of the late J. Davies, Esq. of Upper HollowNoitst
Augusta Mary Frances, eldest dauglitar, of T. Washivt
Esq., of Prospect House, Stoke Newington.
On the 6th inst., at Cheddon Fitzpaine, sear Taunt°l3, tO
Rev. W. D. West, M.A., of St. John's College, oxforo/
‘,.
1
Isabella, only daughter of D. Roberts, Esq., of the
road, London.