The Sun.
London, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

SHOCKING CASE OF STARVATIOY.

Yesterday Mr. William Carter, coroner for Surrey,
held a long inquify at the Duke of Suffolk, Brandon-
street, Wel worth, on the body of an infant named Eliza-
beth Ann Holwell, who died from starvation in copse-
quence of being neglected by its mother, who was
remanded from Lambeth Police court on Tbursday last
for threatening to destroy her own life by roiso.n. Mr.
Thomas Cooke, the coroner's officer, &posed, that 01:
Wednesday last he proceeded to No, 11, Thomas-street,
Lock's-fields. On entering the front room below he
found four children and a woman lying on the bare
boards asleep. He was unable to awaken the woman
at all. Two of the children were sitting on a board sup-
ported by blocks. of wood, another walkiog about the
room, and. the fourth lying by the side of the woman.
On a further examination he saw the dead body of a
fifth child lying on some cut straw, enclosed in a piece
of o'd sacking, which was intended for a bed. There were
no bedclothes, and all the room contained was an old
cbair. Tho body was cold about the feet, and in a very
emaciated condition. The room was in an extremely
filthy state from the accumulation of dirt, but the body
of the infant was clean. He then sr arched the room,
but discovered no food with the exception of some stale
sop, which smelt offensively. On the top of a cupboard
were some bottles, and one was labelled "I..,,,tion—
poison." Witness took charge of the body of deceased
and removed it from the house. On the mantelpiece
was a brown jug, which contained some kind of sedi-
ment.• After removing the body he returned to the
house, and the mother of the deceased bad then dis-
appeared, but soon afterwards she came back. She said
she had last seen the deceased alive about 2 o'clock in
the morning, and also that itdied at that hour. She re-
marked that she was quite sober at the time, and asked
for the bottle marked " Poieon,"as she wanted to t eke it,
being determined to destroy herself. Mr. E D. Howell,
surgeon, deposed that, by the order of the coroner, he
had made a post mortem examination of the body of the
deceased. h was totally free from disease of any kind.
He was positively of opinion that the child had died from
starvation alone. The body was nothing but skin and
bone, Martha Percy, a married woman, said she was the
sister of the m Alter of the children. She (•.he mother)
was parted from her husband in cowequeuce of her in-
temperate habits. The father of the children allowed
14s. per week for their maintenance, which sum witness
had paid her sister two weeks running, but she spent
the money in drink instead of buying food. On Satur-
day night last she was much intoxicated, and witness
only gave her ls., but on Sunday morning she sent her
lle. more. , Mr. Cooke, the officer, here brought in
another child, a girl about seven years of ago. Is pre-
sented a most dreadful appearance, the features being
sharpened by want, the bones of the chest alum t pro•
truding through the skin, and the arms and legs show-
ing the formation of the bone through the skin. Cooke
stated that there was another child even in a worse eon.
dition,than the one before the jury. This being the
whole of the evidence, the court was cleared of stranguet,
and on their being re-admitted, the jury returned a ver-
dict of " Manslaughter against Elizabeth Ann Hot well,
for feloniously killing and slaying Elizabeth Ann Hol-
well, her daughter." The witnesses were then bound
over to prosecute.

We stated last week that on the morning of the
11th inst. a French brig, La Henriette, of Bayonne,
had been run down by the bark Clontarf, of London,
off the Northumberland coast, and sunk with six of
her crew. The subject has since been inquired into
by the mayor and magistrates of Sunderland, acting
under the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act of
1854. The French Consul was in attendance. M.
Vincent Devillie, the master of La Henriette, was ex-
amined upon oath, He stated that his vessel left Havre
for Blyth in ballast on the Ist of August, and on the
morning of the 11th, while off Tynemouth, he was upoa
the deck keeping watch ; the wind was south-east, the
night dark and hazy, when be saw a light on the lar-
board side of the vessel by the mainmast. This was
between one and two o'clock. He had then a light
hanging at the bowsprit. At the same time he saw the
light he had his main topsail and fore and aft main-
sail set, and he was steering east-north-east. Immes
diately atter seeing the light 1e altered his course.
He lulled a little, so as to pass ahead of the vessel
from which he saw the light. Nothing occurred on
board his vessel—no alteration, or anything, until he
saw a vessel looming through the darkness, about a cable's
length from his owu vessel. He called out to the men
on board the approaching vessel, which was then oa the
larboard side of his mainmast, "Port helm." He called
out in I'i-cloth "Laissez arriver." He beard no reply.
Me lofted as much as he could to clear his vessel, but. in
five minutes the vessels came together. The vessel,
which proved to be the Clontarf, came stem on, and his
ship was cut down to the water's edge, and in about ten
minutes went down. His crew, of six persons, were
drowned, His vessel went down under the bows of the
barque. None of her crew offered to render assistance.
The barque was a great height out of the water, which
rendered it difficult for him and the mate to save them-
selves. He get hold of the bowsprit rigging of the barque,
and about ten minutes elapsed before his mate, who had
got on board the bargee, tare er him a rope and he was
hauled on board. The master of the barque spoke in
English to him, but no efforts were made to get out the
brats to attempt to save any of his crew. He never saw
the barque on his weather bow. If the barque had ported
her helm when he first shouted she would have cleared his
vessel. W hen he first saw the barque and ported his helm
the ship came to the wired and his sails shook. The
same rule bclda in France and England, that ships on
the starboard, tack hold on their course. The mate,
Pierre Chanjour, corr,,borated the master's evidence.
He raid had a boat been lowered from the Clontarf
among the broken wreck some or those that were
drowned might have been saved. There would have
been no danger in lowering a boat. He spoke to Mr.
Aubin, a midshipman, immediately after he got on
board the barque, about putting out a boat to save the
GREECE MERCANTILE NAVY.—According to the drowning men, but he said that there would be dan•.
Annales du Commerce Exterieur, the mercantile marine ger in doing so. The barque carried away the brig's
of Greece amounted on the let January, 1856, to 5,052 mainmast, and cut her down to the water's edge.
vessels, measuring together 295,001 tons. Of this ton. Mr. John Allen, master of the Clontarf, gave his
nage, 121,352 belonged to Syra alone, which is the version of the unfortunate occurrence. He said they
principal port for shipbuilding in the kingdom. Next were off Blyth on the morningofthe 11 h and be
tbe
' his
to Syra comes Spezzia, Galaxidi, Hydra, the Piraeus, wa9 on deck,
.standing near mainmast, when
and Santorin, chief officer told him a lht had been seen. The wind
THE INKERMAN MONUMENT TO OFFICERS OF THEwere lying variable. They
aboutss a) about south-east, but _
COLDSTREAM GUARDS.—A. c9notaph has jut been erect- south-west-by-svuth, and he went forward, but
ght. Within about two or three
ed in St. Paul's (in the aisle on the right hand of the could not see a lt
great western entrance) to the memory of the following seconds some one.' called out that there Rasa ship
eight officers of the Coldstream Guards who fell as the ahead, and he immediately ordered the helm to be put
h d-a- wit. He heard a cry of " Ahoy I" from the battle of lelterman :—LieuteCol. the Hon. Vesey Dew-
sou, Lieut.-Cel, J. C. Murray Cowell, Captain L. D. ot the ininast, and she went down in about three
arher vessel. The stem of the barque struck the vessel
Mackinnon, Captain the Hon. G. C. C. Elliott, Captain abreast
Ainsacoim
as.
the vessels f truck be ordered the
H. M. Bouvelie, Captain F. H. Ramsden, Lieutenant
fo T. minutes.e
brCt o be let go. He let g ) the mainbrace himself,
E. Adisbrowe, and Lieutenant C. H. Greville. The
monument consists of an entablature on which the
and their ship ,
came dead to. He hove to for about 16
17
names are inscribed, and above it a small representation
or
minutes, after for vessel ves,el had gone down. Directly
of the tomb, with its simple tablet, which covers the after the collision be ordered the boat to be got ready,
bodies on Cathcart's-hill, in the Crimea. On each ride but it was not lowered, and none of his crew were sent
off. He saw n,thing to save. Teere were volunteers
of these is the effigy of a soldier of the regiment, leaning i
-- ng i on board, but their lives would have been endangered.
mournfully over them ; above are the words "and the' The Rind was blowing fresh. Jones, the North Sea
victory that day was turned into mourning." The in- rilot, raid, "If you allow those men to go in the boat
scription is from the pen of the Dean of St. Paul's. you will sacrifice their lives." It was a dark eight—
' more dark than hazy. Robert Richard Frost, an ap-
PERAMBULATORS.—ConsiderabIe excitement and even
I prentice, Stormy Thompson, a Sunderland pilot, and
consternation amongst a few in the town has been occa-
John Valentine Jones, a North Sea pilot, gave similar
sioned by a recent resolution passed by the town coil/.
The causeways in some parts of Grant6m are unu lla. y i evidence to Air. Allen,
A report from the inagistraters
with such evidence as they may de. in necessary. will be
narrow ; the lounging of it;le men on thew is a continual
i sent to the B trd of Trade for tick decision on the case.
complaint •; and since the introduction of peraniifus.
been
grumblers ray that additional inconveuience Tne proceedings were taken at the instance of Captain
experienced. A bye-law of the borough forbids trunks, I Heard, R.N. the inspecting officer of the Coast Guard
harrows, and carriages on wheels to run on pave-, lin the district,
ment, and the town council (that is to say the sour and 1
choleric majority) have altered the bye-law so as to make
it apply to perambulators. There is extreme selfishness in
Vile movement against perambulators. To people with
young families they have been found exceedingly useful,
and no doubt have proved a great relief to nursemaide i
but because a few crusty old teaide and croategrained old
bachelors (who base no sympathy with children) have
been occasionally made to turn aside in their walks to
let the perambulators pass, they are all at once to be put
down as a nuisance.—Lineohl Mercury,

SUBmAItINE TELEGRAPH TO A DIERICA. —PLYMOUTH,
Allglnt 22 —The Propontis, Captain Goodwin, belong.
ing to the General Screw Sttam CJinpany, put in here
this morning, from Newfoundland, having succesfully
latd submarine cables between Capo Breton and New.
foundland, and between New Brunswick and Prince
Edward's Island. The stealthr will be immediately em-
ployed in laying a cable from Ireland aoroas the
• Atlantic.