The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-15 00:00:00

SECOND DAY.

James Downing sworn—Was sent for to go to pri-
soner's soon after he had shot his wife. I found him
in the store walking about, much excited, sweating
freely, but in other respects much as usual. He held
out his hand to me, and said, " Oh, Mr. Downing, I
have shot my wife He then said that he bad
taken his gun that morning to shoot Joe Osborne,
but missed him ; that Rollins or some one gave
Osborne notice by a gun ; that he returned, put away
his gun, took a pistol and bowie-knife, intending to
kill his wile with the bowie-knife ; that he went up in
the garret where his wife was weaving, and said to her,
"Nancy, you are going to die, your time is short."
he said, "Yes, Captain Windsor, we are all to die, and
our time is short " He said he then went down stairs
and got his best pistol, the one which was surest of
fire, and went up again and said to his wife, "Nancy,
I have often told you that you would tremble at my
appearance;" that she ran out of the room and hal-
looed "murder ;" that as she ran there was a line
hanging across the room with some bags hanging on
it, and as she raised her arm to fend the bags from
her head, he fired, and she fell; that he walked down
stairs, went into the store, and took from half a gill to
a gill of laudanum. He said be should not live twenty
minutes, he was certain, from the effect of the Janda •
num. He then said he went with the intention of kill-
ing Osborne that morning ; that then he intended to
kill his wire, and then destroy himselt with laudanum.
He sail there were five or six he should like to kill,
and he would then be slti ,fied—viz., Milford Saunders,
Aleck Elligond, Aleck's daughter, Joseph Osborne,
his wife, and himself. He then showed rue where his
key was ; said Le should be here hut a very little
time, as the medicine was operating. Told rue to
take care of that key and his p ipers until John Windsor
came. By this time be became very sick, and, making
an attempt to sit down, be fell upon the floor. I went
to hint and raised him in the chair; persuaded him
to go in and lie down on the bed. He said, No ;"
would not lie down on the bed; that they had too
much poison stuff there for him ; that he would go in
the parlour and lie down on the sofa. I went along-
side of him, and James Stewart on the other side of
him. He got to where his writing •desk was on the
counter, opened it, an took out a pocket pistol.
Stewart took bold of it, and said he could not have that.
lie said, " You might let me have it ; Ido not want
to hurt you, nor any one else; but he gave it up to
Stewart,and went in with me and laid down on the sofa;
be then became very sick and vomited, from
lnu-
danum; and after that he said, "Mr. Downing, I am
afraid there is not enough remaining in me to kill

18, tam.

. . „
me," and asked me to give him more. I told him he
could not have any more. He said, " Oh, give me
more, I want to die, and I will die—l never intended
to be a public example." He then became cairn and
still, and I left him and went up stairs to see Mrs.
Windsor. She said Captain Windsor had shot her.
I returned to Windsor, and stayed with him nearly
all day until the officers came. During the time
Mrs. Windsor sent word she wished to see him. He
wait up, took a seat by her side, and 1 want into the
next room, leaving several with them. He did not
stay more than a minute or two, but went down stairs
and I with him. He lay down on the sofa again. In
about an hour his wife sent for him to go up again.
He refused to go, saying he felt too weak. I ad-
vised him to go, and led him upstairs again. He
sat down by her bedside, and took hold of her
hand. She said, "Captain Windsor, you have often
said these children were not yours ; but before God
and all these peop!e they are yours, and you ought to
do something for them." " Ah," said he, "Nancy,
you need not talk about these things now." Still
holding her hand, and rising, he said "God bless
you," and left her. She called him back to leek at
the wound ; he said no, he was not prepared to see it
then, and he went down to the sofa again.
The above is all the testimony in the case which
has come to band ; but the trial has been concluded,
the prisoner has been convicted, and sentenced to be
hinged. He is about CO years of age, while the vic-
tim of his jealousy was only 24.

THE RECENT FATAL COLLIERY AC.
CIDENT AT BEDMINSTER.
Yesterday the coroner, J. B. Crrendon, Esq., re-
sumed his inquest on the bodies of the five men who
were killed on Saturday list 14, the breaking of a
rope at the Malago-vale Colliery, Bedminster.
The proceedings seemed to produce great excite-
ment in the parish, especially among the mining po-
pulation, crowds of whom remained assembled in the
vicinity of the inquest-room througout the protracted
examination which took place.
Mr. Bevan watched for the proprietors of the pit;
Mr. Ayre appeared for the friends of the deceased
persons, Webster, Moffatt, Parsons, and Pike; and
Mr. Sabine attended for the friends of Pring and
Smith.

The CORONER, before the proceedings commenced,
mentioned that he had sent notice of the inquest to
Sir George Grey ; but as he had had no reply, he
sut.posed that no inspector would be sent down on
this occasion.

Francis Smith examined—l am a collier residing
in North-street. I have not been employed at all at
the Malago-gale Colliery. My brother, William
Smith, was employed there, and died in the pit on
Saturday. I attended an inquest here on that day,
and saw six dead bodies, amongst which were the
bodies of Richard Moffatt, Pailip Dring, Morose
Pike, 'William Smith (tny brother), and of a lad
named Widisin Webster. I knew them all. I saw
Mr. Roberts, the surgeon, also present. Ido not
know how they came by their deaths.
George Cooke, a boy, examined—l am employed
at the Malego pit. Last Friday night I went down
the pit, and got into the cart with the deceased men.
I was let out at the top vein ; the others went to the
bottom vein. I saw the cart descend from the top
vein. Just after they were gone, when I was in the
vein about thirty yards, and going down the "gug," I
heard the noise of the rope falling. I went to the swift
again with 15 men, who had heard the noire, with
we; when we got to the shaft the rope had fallen
to the bottom, and we - neither saw nor beard
anything then. Before we went down the
pit the engineer, George Parker, said, "Be I
right, or be I wrong; I can't see the witness' of the
rope." The " witness" is a piece of string tied round
the rope, for the engineer to see where to stop. Before
we went down, we asked Mr. Pillinger, the foreman
of the works, what was the cause of the rope turning
round. It was turning while we were speaking. We
were not then in the bucket; but while we were
going down, Mr. Pillinger told Arthur Britton, a col-
lier, to go and look at the rope, but we did not see
him do so. I never saw the rope twist round that way
before. I was not frightened at it. The rope need
not be taken off the drum to be spliced, but might be
lashed to the sides of the pit. Nothing was said about
the rope as we were going down.
Richard Brookman, of York-buildings, blacksmith
of the pit, deposed that he made the splicing of the
rope, and put it in himself. Witness bad frequently
been ordered by Mr. Pillinger to look after the rope
when he went to the pit. He thought this rope was
brought to the pit about twelve months ago, when he
was assisted in fitting it to the drum. The rope was
at first only in one piece, but an old piece of smaller
size was taken off the drum, towards the lower end of
the old rope, and they spliced the new one to the
upper end. The old rope was joined in several places
by iron splices. The part that was broken on Satur-
day morning was in the new rope. It never broke
before, but within the last fortnight a piece was cut
out, nearly four feet long, and the rope was spliced in
that place; the rope broke near the new splice, which
was put in by Mr. Stewart's directions. After it was
put in, the cart was employed in hauling up coal for
tour or five hours before any man was allowed by
Mr. Stewart to enter the cart. All the hands were
then in the pit.

The CORONER asked the witness whether, in his
opinion, the piece, at its ragged end, had been cat or
broken ?

The witness replied, that in his opinion, it must
have been broken ; and, comparing it with the piece
which hue been cut off the drum, he believed that the
parting of the rope had occurred at the splicing.
Arthur B;itton deposed that he came up the shaft
just before the deceased went down, and observed no.
thing of a suspicious character in the rope.
James Parker, the engine-driver, said he had never
seen anything wrong about the rope, neither had he
ever heard the woikenen complain of it.
Evidence of a similar character having been ad.
duced, the inquiry was adjourned until two o'clock
to-morrow.

The Court rose at a quarter to six o'clock.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.
EASTRRN COUNTIES AND NORFOLK RAILWAY.-That:
return for the week ending Aug. 10
Passengers, parcels, &c. ...£ 11,P 80 1 0
blerchaudise, cattle, and cartage 4,851 13 4

Total ... £16,731 14 4
Corresponding week of 1850 ... 16,014 13 5
BRISTOL AND EXITER RAILWAY. —Traffic for the week
ending Aug.. :
Passengers £1,987 19 10
Goods ... 1,081 15 0
Parcels ... 1 4 11
Mails ... 223 4 2

Total ... ... ... .£5,437 10 0
LONDON AND BLACKBALL RAILWAY.— Amount of revenue
for the week ending Aug. 10:
Passengers ... ... ... £1,623 3 1
Goods ... ... ... 37 0 0

Total „.. ... £1,660 8 1
Corresponding week last year ... 1,293 12 11

MaxcimszEn, BUXTON, MATLOCK, AND MIDLANDS JUNC-
TION RAILWAY.—Return of traffic for the week ending
Aug. 10 :
Passengers, &c. £l7l 3 1
Merchandise 46 16 9

Total ... £217 19 10
Corresponding week last year „, 279 4 6
SIIREWSBURY AND BIRIIINGDAM. RAILWAY....Traffie re-
ceipts for the week ending Aug. 10 :—.
Passengers £3BB 11 5
Can iages, horses, and parcels ... 10 5 6
Live stock ••• ••• ••• 210 10
Dierchandise and minerals ... 228 13 8

Total .. ... £630 1 5
Corresponding period last year.. 744 6 4
CALIDONIAN RAILWAY.... (160 miles opened.)....Ratarn of
traffic for the week ending Aug. 3 :
Passengers, &c. ... £3,816 15 9
Goods, &c. ... ... 3,577 11 8

Total*
.. ••• ... £7,424 7 5
Corresponding week last year ... 7.803 12 8}
• Including Wiahaw and Coltness, now in charge of a
factor.

TERRIFIC THUNDER STORM AT SHEFFIELD.—
SHEFFIELD, Auo. 13.—This afternoon this town was visited
by a tremendous thunder-storm, accompanied with heavy
rain and hail. Loud claps of thunder followed each other in
close succession, and, from the rapidity with which the re-
ports followed the flashes, it was evident that some destruc-
tion of property, if not of life, must result. The storm com-
menced about five o'clock, and continued about an hour and
a quarter. One of the met vivid flashes carried the de-
structive element into the Crookes Moor Workhouse, which
is at present occupied by bin Jonathan Dearden and his son,
the latter of whom is rate-collector for the township of
Nether Hallam, in the borough of Sheffield, in which the
workhouse is situate. Since the formation of Eccleshafl
union, the building has not been u,ed for paupers. The
electric fluid struck the upper part of the house, and made
its way downwards to the kitchen, demolishing the wallsc
in
and furniture in its course, overturning a cl,.ck which stood
in the kitchen, which Mr. and Mrs. Dearden were sitting
at the time; it tore off the ceiling and pisister from the
walls, and destroyed part of the furniture. The work house
is shaken to its foundation but fortunately,tti) inmates. who
had taken the prec.ution 'at ;he outbre.k of the storm, to
. dow
open tile windows, were not iojared. The n.in poin ad
in torrents, and the streets were flooded alino,st irnmedi,e nut
n
y.
With
the exception of the c-,se 4h(ive quoit-CI, ii e have
heard of any serious damage in Sheffield. The chief physician at the Royal Hospital in
. death, appa-
Vienna, Dr. Reyes, was conversit o7.oerudia3,
oflast week with
his colleague as to the hoist
painful
at the
rently in good health. and
iolom a corpse, having yet that
evening he was found in his
pse. h4viEg put an
end to his existence by fastening. abladder filled with chloro-
form a a band of
his mouth and nostrils by
form round
eliachylun plaster.
TDE POTATO DISEAcE--WO never saw the potato
haulm and blossom so luxuriant as in this locality, but we
are sorry to bear that in other neighbourb
oods the disease
has shown itse.f to some extent. We tr
prove unfounded, yet it would be well liq:)r t the re
all who ports may
now are
thankfully acknowledging the Divine
blessing
in the healthy
appearance of this useful vegetable, to watch carefully the
approach of blight or tendency to destroy'
present looks so hopeful. The dry that which at
preyentiye of disease,—Hervora.roTrsnoanee felt to be A great