The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-15 00:00:00

CANADA.

LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY, Atk. 14

The Quebec and Montreal Royal mail screw
steamer Canadian, Capt. Ballantine, has arrived
with advices from Quebec to the 2d inst. She had
on board 95 passengers, among whom was the Rev.
Thomas Marsh, 8.A., of Trinity College, Toronto,
who was accidentally poisoned during the voyage
under circumstances detailed below.
On the sth inst. the Canadian, off the Straits of
Belleisle, passed several icebergs, and on the Gth,
in lat. 53, long. 61, passed the Royal mail steamer
Anglo-Saxon, hence for Quebec. The British and
North American Royal mail steamship Arabia,
hence, was at Boston on the 30th ult.
Capt. Mayo, of the schooner Pomp, at Plaister
Cove, Strait of Canso, on Monday, the 28th of
July, reports that during a terrific gale on the Ist
ult. 31 fishing vessels, British and American, were
wrecked within a distance of about half-a-mile on
the coast of Labrador. The crews, numbering 360
men, were all saved.
We see it stated that the Secretary of the United
States' Navy has recently imposed fines upon the
Collins line to the extent of $30,000 for failures of
time, under their contract, owing to the employ-
ment of the Ericsson as a substitute for the Arctic.
The exaction of this penalty has led to some sharp
correspondence.
There is nothing new in connection with com-
mercial affairs.
The Rev. Thomas Marsh, 8.A., one of the pas-
sengers, died on Tuesday, and on the arrival of the
steamer to-day an inquest was held upon the body
before the borough coroner. It appears from a state-
ment made by the deceased before he died that on
Saturday last, a little before eight o'clock in the
morning, he asked George Harrison, the bedroom
steward, if there was any Plantagenet water on
board, Plantagenet water being a mineral water
generally drunk in Canada. A negative reply was
given, when the deceased inquired if there was any
mineral water on board. The steward answered,
" Oh, yes, I will go and get some." He went
away and returned with a bowl containing about
a quart of fluid, which he handed to the Rev. Mr.
Marsh, and immediately withdrew. Mr. Marsh
swallowed a mouthful of the liquid. He found that
it burnt his throat very much, and went upstairs.
He presently became very ill, and the surgeon, Mr.
Whittenbury, was called to him. Inquiries were
instituted, and it was ascertained that the liquid of
which he had drunk was chloride of zinc, used for
disinfecting purposes. The usual remedies were
administered, but the deceased gradually sank,
and after enduring the greatest agony, died on
Tuesday night. Before his death the deceased ex-
pressed a belief that Harrison did not know the
deadly nature of the liquid. The steward's state-
ment is that Mr. Marsh first asked for Plantagenet
water, and that he told him there was none on
board. He then inquired for some mineral water,
and the steward informed him that there was some
disinfecting fluid called chloride of lime, or chloride
of zinc, and that the deceased told him to bring it
to him. The deceased's widow, who was on board,
corroborates, however, the evidence as to the state-
ment made by the deceased, and further observes
that chloride of lime could not have been men-
tioned, as he was in the habit of using it in Canada
for disinfecting purposes.
A verdict was returned " that the deceased died
from the effects of a certain poisonous fluid taken
by mistake."