The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-17 00:00:00

S BT, FEBRIJARY 17, 1848.

assume 1,600 houses to be drained in the foregoing
manner. The total number of houses, therefore,
which may be stated as being drained is 9,762, leaving
6,238 undrained !—I have the honour to be, &c.,
" WILLIAM HAYWOOD, Surveyor."
The Court then adjourned.

INQUEST ON MRS. SHUTTLE-

WORTH.
Yesterday, Mr. Wakley, M.P., and a jury, assem-
bled at the Manchester Arms, Adam-street East,
Manchester-square, for the purpose of further prose-
cuting an inquiry commenced on the 20th ult., as to
the death of Mrs. Martha Elizabeth Rhodes, alias
Shuttleworth, who died on the 6th ult., while an in-
mate of the York• house Lunatic Asylum, Battersea.
The room in which the inquest was held was densely
crowded long before the proceedings commenced.
Among those present were the Rev. J. C. Rowlett,
vicar of St. Peter's, Pimlico, one of the gentlemen
who signed the order for deceased's confinement, Dr.
Millingen and Mr. Parkin, joint proprietors of York
House Asylum, and Dr. Quain, the medical gentle-
man appointed to make the post mortem examination.
The Misses Rhodes, sisters of the deceased, and a Dr.
Quail, were also present. One corner of the room
was occupied by a knot of gentlemen, members of the
Alleged Lunatics' Friends' Society.
Sarah Young was the first witness called. She
entered upon her duties as nurse at York House, on
the 21st of December last. The deceased had a large
place on her back from which the skin was just
rubbed off. Dr. Millingen ordered the application of
linseed meal poultices. Deceased continued to get
worse, and in the course of a few days was compelled
to keep her bed. The deceased's mind was all this
time in a very bad state. She would frequently call
out " Murder !" and "Fire !"
Miss Sarah Rhodes said deceased was her sister.
Witness saw her last alive at York-house, on the 9th
of November. The deceased was a single woman,
and her real name was Rhodes, but she had taken the
name of Shuttleworth from a gentleman with whom
she had lived for nine years, and who on his marriage
settled an annuity of 300/. upon her. That gentle.
man had been dead 28 years. Dr. Kay Shuttleworth
was the trustee through whom the deceased's annuity
was paid, and at her death the property on which it
was charged fell to him. The deceased was placed in
York -house Asylum without witness's knowledge,
and she was not aware of the fact until some months
afterwards, when she read in a newspaper the account
of her sister having been brought up before the judge
on a motion to obtain her release, taken out by Dr.
Quail. On discovering the fact witness went to
York-house and endeavoured to obtain an interview
with her sister. Witness was, at first, refused ad-
mission, but ultimately obtained an order from the
commissioners of lunacy and saw deceased. Witness
had not seen her for two years and a half previously,
and, finding her perfectly sane, as she considered,
witness went before the commissioners and sought to
obtain her release. Witness saw Dr. Turner, one of
the commissioners, and Mr. Lutwidge, the secretary,
both of whom told her that it was of no use making
application to them, for they could do nothing in the
matter.
Mrs. Mary Anne Gosden, another sister of the de-
ceased, corroborated the last witness's testimony, and
said she never considered her sister to have been
insane.
At this point of the proceedings the summoning
officer who had been sent for Dr. Turner, returned
with a note from him, describing that his state of
health would not allow him to attend the inquiry that
day as requested by the coroner.
The Rev. J. Clarke Rowlett, vicar of St. Peter's,
Pimlico, said he was called in to see deceased by a
person describing himself as Dr. Quail, early in July,
11146. He found her in a miserable apartment on the
second floor of the house, No. 10, Lower Eaton-
street. No other persons lived in the house. The
deceased occupied one room, and Dr. Quail the other,
on the second floor. There was scarcely any furniture
in the room where deceased was, and she was lying on
the bed, in a state mostrevolting to witness. Mr. Wil-
mot, a medical man, was with her at this time. Witness
spoke to deceased, but she seemed quite incapable of
carrying on a rational conversation. In answer to
witness's inquiries the man Quail described himself
as the resident medical attendant of deceased ; he
said he had been originally engaged at a stipend of
3001. a year, but that the deceased was so well satis-
fied with his services that she had subsequently
increased that sum to 5001. per annum ; that her
present income, however, was only 1001. a year, and
that not being enough for both of them was the oc-
casion of their having so few comforts about them.
Witness asked him why he did not give up the charge
of the deceased as he could obtain no money, but this
he said he would not do. Witness conferred with
Mr. Wilmot on the case, and ultimately took steps
which led to the removal of the deceased to York-
house. Before she was sent there witness discovered
that Dr. Kay Shuttleworth was in some way inter-
ested in the unfortunate woman, and on writing to
him on the subject he replied that he could be no
party to placing her in any asylum himself, but he
hoped witness would be good enough to take any
steps he might think most likely to conduce to the
comfort of the deceased. The Rev. Gentleman here
described the steps he had taken by request of Dr.
Shuttleworth, in reference to the funeral of the un-
fortunate woman.
Mr. Thomas Wilmot, surgeon, said he was called
in to see deceased in July, 1846, by the man Quail.
He found her lying in a wet bed in a most filthy
state. Her left leg was very oedematous. The skin
was broken in some places. Her face was pale, and
her body emaciated. Her answers to questions pro-
posed by witness exhibited great imbecility, and
feeling convinced that she was not properly attended
to, witness felt bound to interfere, and on being ap-
plied to he signed a certificate, authorising her
removal to York-house.
CORONER.—Have you ever been asked to sign a
certificate as to the state of mind of Dr. Quail ?
The witness, who at first declined to answer the
question, on being pressed by Mr. WALLET, admitted
that he had.
CORONER.—By whom? Witness—By the Com-
missioners of Lunacy.
CORONER.—Did you sign a certificate as to his
state of mind ? Witness—No•
Miss Rhodes—For a very good reason; because he
had not got 1001. a year.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Wilmot here described the steps he had taken
by direction of the Commissioners of Lunacy to re-
move the deceased to York-house. His endeavours
to effect her removal were thwarted for some time by
Dr. Quail, but possession of deceased's person was at
length obtained, just as she was on the point of em-
barking for the continent with that individual. The
witness added, that he had acted throughout the
affair from motives of humanity alone.
Mr. Perceval here rose, and begged he might be
allowed to say, in justice to Dr Quail, against whom
very painful allusions had been made, that evidence
of his kind treatment of the deceased would be forth-
coming if the inquiry were adjourned.
'l'he CORONER again said that, in a case of this
kind:, affecting so seriously the liberty of the subject,
and disclosing such an extraordinary state of things
as regarded the law of lunacy, it was highly neces-
sary that every circumstance opened during the in-
vestigation should be properly cleared up, and that
no person whose name had been in any way impli-
cated ought to be prevented from bringing forward
witreesses in his defence. Dr. Turner -would pro-
babl y not be able to attend for a few- days, and
they efore they had, perhaps, better adjourn for a
week.
The jury having consulted together, the inquiry
was adjourned for a week.

Aii the particulars connected with the pugilistic
content between Lane and Walker will !appear in Bell's
Life in London of Saturday and Sunday. Price of
Bell's- _Life sixpence. Bell's Life is regularly published
in tic So for all the Saturday afternoon railways. The
avers ge sale of Bell's Life is twenty-seven thou
CHI sand.
REN.
SUICIDE OF THE AIOTHER OF SEVEN LD
—On Tuesday an inquest was held by Mr. G. J.
Mills,
the deputy•coroner, at the Elephant and Castle, King's-
road, Camden-town, on the body of Eleanor Dove, aged
44, the,:particulars Of whose death havo befe sppeared.
The hitsband of the deceased is a plasterers riesiding at
35, Cambridge-street, Agar-town, and all the witnesses
coneui red in representing him as a most sober, indus-
trious,. and well-conducted man. For some months past,
howcv er ,he had been unable to obtain employment, and
his wi to and family of seven children had consequently
been r educed to extreme distress. The deceased had ap-
plied f:o St. Pancras workhouse, and obtained some
bread as relief, but was told not to come again unless
she se, it her husband. Mr. Pitt, the agent of the Board
of GI/ cardians of St. Pancras, explained that in the
statem,ent made that deceased was to send her husband,
there war, no intention whatever to stop relief, which
would Imre been given had a second application been
made. The coroner's jury deeply commiserated the con-
dition of the unfortunate father, and his distressed and
bereavei,t family, and ultimately returned a verdict—
" That ti he deceased drowned herself in an unsound state
of mind, "
PANE ,s AND PENALTIES.—Captain Pechell says
that he has tried in vain to get from the Chancellor of
the Ex chequer what his notion of a window was. What
the Ch ancellor refuses, we will give. The following is
our de Rnition of a window according to Act of Parlia-
ment ; —Anything, however small, which keeps out the
light, and lets in the tax.—Punch.

[PRIC.E SD.

MORE POISONING BY ARSENIC.
ANGLESEY, FEB 14.—For the last few days a most
painful degree of alarm has been evinced in this neigh-
bourhood by the startling fact of no fewer than seven
persons having been poisoned with arsenic. The facts
connected with the alarming occurrence, as detailed be
fore the coroner's jury, are of the following character.—
It would appear that a respectable married woman of
the name of Jones, living at Tycotch, in the parish of
Llangristiolus, invited several of her relatives to tea,
comprising her son and two daughters, two step-daugh-
ters, and a Mrs. Jones, residing sear Aberffraw. With
the meal they partook, more or less, of some light cakes.
But a short time elapsed ere they were seised with
symptoms generally produced by arsenic. For some
time, however, they were unconscious of what they had
really taken, and their symptoms becoming somewhat
more alarming, Mr. Lloyd, a medical man in the vicinity,
was sent for. It then transpired that some arsenic,which
was kept in a closet, for the purpose of destroying rats,
might have been mistaken for carbonic of soda, and
mired in the light cakes, the deceased generally
using carbonate of soda in making them up. So fatal a
mistake was found to have happened, and the usual
means were resorted to in order to counteract the deadly
effects of the poison. All suffered severely. Mrs. Jones,
the landlady of the house, died on the following day,
and the state of her relative, Mrs. Jones, of Aberffraw,
was so alarming, as to leave little hopes of her surviving.
On one of the stepdaughters partially recovering, she
recollected seeing the deceased on the day the cakes
were made, take a white powder from the cupboard,
called carbonate of soda, as she understood, The de-
ceased it seemed was in the habit of doing so, and the
circumstance was thought but little of
A labourer of the name of William Morris spoke to
having purchased a pennyworth of arsenic to kill rats,
and giving it to the deceased, who placed it somewhere
in the parlour. He could not say that the word " poison"
was written on the wrapper. This person was in the
habit of having his meals in the house, and he accounted
for being absent at the meal in question, en the ground
that he was employed in a neighbouring quarry until
five o'clock, the party having had tea at four.
The druggist, Mr. Parry, who sold the man Morris
the poison, stated that when he delivered it to him he cau-
tioned him about the use of it ; but on being pressed by
the Coroner as to whether he had written " poison" out-
side the wrapper, he confessed that he could not recol-
lect. He only served the poison because Morris said he
required it to kill rats, and that he had known him for
some time previously.
Medical testimony showed that quite sufficient arsenic
was discovered to cause death. Portions of the light
cakes were subjected to a careful analysis, and the pre-
sence of a similar poison was detected.
The jury returned as their verdict " That the deceased
died by accidental poisoning."

COUNT MORTIER.
THE PLEA OF INSANITY.
We mentioned, about a month ago, that the physi
cians charged to examine Count Mortier had reported
that, considering the state of his mind, he ought not
to be removed froni the ntazson de sante in which he
had been confined. On Saturday the physicians
presented a second report, in which they state, first,
that Count Mortier is affected with partial mental
alienation ; second, that this alienation consists
in believing himself the object of implaca-
ble hatred ; third, that this idea leads him
to adopt determinations of vengeance and
fatal resolutions ; and, fourth, that Count Mortier
must be considered as a dangerous lunatic, The re-
port enters at some length into a disquisition on the
Count's mental malady. It is stated, for example,
that his mental affliction does not prevent him from
understanding, and even discussing with great art, the
questions which concern him ; the disease is of a pecu-
liar nature, influencing what are called the sentiments,
and in consequence perverting the judgment, causing
false ideas to be conceived, and conducting to
desperate resolutions. Thus the Count imagines
that lie is the object of violent hatred, and that it is
desired to make him appear mad in order that his shin,
as he says, may be taken from him. He complains
of wanting everything, food and even air, whilst the
fact is that he is supplied with all that he can re-
quire. lie, however, rejects much of what is offered
to him, and will not indicate other objects which he
would prefer. "Ah I" he cries, "if I were one day
to write my memoirs, and tell my sufferings, the tor-
tures of Sylvio Pellico would be nothing compared
to what I suffer here I" He says that the Govern-
ment fears that he will divulge " state secrets," and
therefore wants to cause him to be considered mad;
that he has recognised an emissary of M. Guizot
among the physicians who had visited him ; that M.
Guizot has adopted the resolution of making him
pass for mad without examining him ; that
the Chancellor is influenced by hatred towards
him ; that in the scene of the Hotel Chatham
the Prefect of Police had pushed him for-
ward, and now felt that he had gone too
far to retreat. The physicians set forth in their report
that the accusations against the Chancellor and the
Prefect of Police are the result of a sort of mirage,
and effect of the mental alienation of the Count.
In entering into explanations respecting his wife,
he contradicts himself by admitting that circum-
stances, which he formerly described as positive,
are uncertain. He persists in declaring that the
letter to his wife threatening to kill his children and
himself was only written to cause her to come to the
hotel. He pretends that his wife flagrantly contradicts
herself when she says he was desirous of killing those
nearest him, and then himself. " I could not do both,"
he cries, " and therefore my wife contradicts herself.
Let her choose to which statement she will adhere."
IVhen told that there is really no contradiction, he
becomes more positive that there is. The report
concluies by stating that Count Mortier is verbose
and prolix in his explanations. He often, it says,
scratches his head violently, and then regards his
finger nails with great attention. His glance is de-
scribed to be terrible, and, to use the word of the
Ihysicians, sinistre.—Galignani.

SCOTCH STUDENTS' AFFRAY IN EDINBURGH.-Oil
Saturday the following students were placed at the bar
of the Edinburgh police court, charged with riot: 11.
Anderson, J. Jackson alias Goodsir. J. Balfour, R.
Tully, H. S. Edwards, W. Richards, C. Rutherford, F.
W. Clark, J. Sloan, J. Cathcart, J. C. Drayton, and J.
C. Bon. The prisoners pleaded guilty to the minor
charge of being present in the crowd concerned in a
breach of the peace, but not guilty to the charge of as-
sault. Mr. Moxey, the interim superintendent of police,
as procurator fiscal in this court, said, under all the cir-
cumstances, he felt justified in accepting the,plea of breach
of the peace. Bailie Tullis said they had made some
atonement for their offence by pleading guilty. They
might be assured that the magistrates had no interest in
bringing a number of gentlemen before that court, but
the peace and welfare of the city and university. He
then sentenced each to find security in 201. to keep the
peace for 12 months from this date, or to be imprisoned
10 days. Upon leaving the court to find the required
security the students were received with a loud cheer by
their compatriots, which they returned. During the
forenoon a large body of students, to the number of 200
and upwards, armed with formidable looking staves,
formed into a procession of three men (or boys) deep,
and marched through the principal streets of the city,
followed by an irregular army of urchins, apparently
escaped from the ragged schools, who now and again
set up a cheer or a laugh as the serious or ludicrous
nature of the braggadocis display struck them. A
good many idlers were gathered in front of the college,
for no other apparent object than to gaze upon a knot of
students who had taken up their station there: but no
collision took place, and the affair may be said to be

happily over.
FATAL EFFECT OF CHLOROFORM.— On Tuesday
forenoon, a melancholy and fatal occurrence happened to
Arthur Walker, a young man, an apprentice to Messrs.
Souter and Shepherd, druggists, Broad street, in conse-
quence of the incautious use of chloroform. It appears,
that for some considerable tune past, he had been in the
practice of inhaling this vapour to enjoy the pleasurable
i
sensations which it s known to excite; and on Tuesday,
when weighing an ounce of chloroform to order, he ap-
plied his pocket-handkerchief to his mouth, and soon
after appeared to be rather excited. There was only a
lad in the warehouse at the time, but having observed
Walker in a similar state before, and also that ho had
got violent when any attempt was made to take the
phial from him, he did not disturb him, and felt pleased
when he laid his head down on his arms on the
counter. In this state he was found by the other
clerk, who had been out for some time, and
whe being also afraid to waken him up, called his
father; but no sooner did his father raise the lad's head,
then ho fell back apparently in a lifeless state. Dr.
Jamieson and Dr. Nicol, with other medical gentlemen,
were sent for; when artificial respiration, venesection,
and other means were employed, but life was extinct.
This melancholy and distressing accident will surely act
as a warning to parties not to use chloroform without
the advice and under the eye of a physician, or other ex-
perienced party. It should also act as a caution to. ehe-
mists not to dispose of this article to any parties without
a written order under the hand of a person of. kn?wn
skill and experience. At the post mortern examination,
we understand that the lungs and brain were found
f
much loaded with darkened blood, which had the odour o
chloroform. There was also, it is but proper to state,
such disease about the heart and lungs as rendered the
individual an unfavourable subject for the emphl?yhmeanl!
of such agents as ether or chlorofor
; d
wmuicst, no
though insufficient to have cause death,an
doubt, have expedited that melancholy result.— Aberdeen
Herald.
Mr. Henry Ellis, formerly Ambassador to Persia,
and Mr. Pakenham, who negotiated the Oregon treaty,
are about. to be created Knights Commander of the
Bath. This rank of the order has bee hitherto con-
fined to the army and navy, but we understand twenty-
five Civil Knights-Commander are to be mado very
shortly.