The Sun.
London, England, 1834-07-12 00:00:00

FALSE ACCUSATION OF POISONING.

An inquisition which had beer ► adjourned from the pre-
ceding Monday, was yesterday brought to a conclusion,
before Mr. PAYNE and a highly-respectable Jury, at No.
7, Billiter-square, Fenchurch-street, the residence of the
deceased, Mr. W. Thompson; who, it had been falsely re-
ported, had died of poison, administered by a boy he had
taken into his service.
The deceased was a remarkably fine man, standing full
six feet two inches high, and stout in proportion, with a
floridness of complexion which continued long after death.
He was a single man, and about 28 years old. About a
year back, from feelings of hunu inky, he took into his ser-
vice, a friendless boy, whom he casually met with in the
streets, and with whose intelligence and apparent ingenu-
ousness he was pleased. He educated him, so far as to
have him taught reading and writing, and had continued
him ever since in his service. On Saturday last the boy
gave offence to Mr. Thompson's housekeeper, by refusing
or neglecting to perform a household service to which
she set him, which being reported to his master, he chas-
tised him, and threatened to discharge him on the Mon-
day. On Saturday morning Mr. Thompson was rather in-
disposed, and had his breakfast in bed, a thing very unusual
with him. On the following morning he went to Graves-
end, and returned in the evening in good spirits, and appa-
rently quite well. He was perfectly sober, and went to bed
about half-past ten o'clock. At seven o'clock on Monday
morning, the boy, whose name is Peter M'Mnnomy, went
into his room to call him, when deceased answered, and
having looked at his watch, said it was all right, and told
the boy to bring him up a mug of milk and water, for he
was thirsty, and had been so all night. The boy obeyed
him, and it was out of this simple act the cruel rumour
took its rise. About eight o'clock the boy again entered
the room, to take him a towel, and the deceased spoke to
him, and was apparently quite well. At a little before nine
o'clock he entered for the fourth time, to tell his master
breakfast was ready, but receiving no answer to several
repetitions of the call, he approached nearer to the bed,
and on withdrawing the curtains, found that his master
was a corpse. The boy instantly gave an alarm, and the
housekeeper, Ann Blake, came up, but was so overpowered
that she went into strong hysterics. Medical aid was ob-
tained almost immediately, but proved unavailing. The
girl, Ann Blake, had repeated fits of an hysterical kind,
and it was in the intervals of these fits that she made state-
ments imputing to the boy that he must have put poison
of some kind into the milk and water, out of revenge, be-
cause he had been chastised on the Saturday, and threa-
tened with being sent about his business. On her exami-
nation yesterday, the girl, when challenged by the Jury,
admitted that she had no ground for imputing so horrible a
crime to the boy, and declared that at thp time she made
the statements reflecting on him, she was in such a state
that she hardly knew what she said.
Mr. Little, of Billiter-street ; Mr. Rees, of Fenchurch-
street ; and Mr. Davis, of the Minories, surgeons, severally
deposed that they had opened the body and subjected the
contents of the stomach-to every possible test for the detec-
tion of poison ; but could not find the slightest trace of any.
On opening the head they found all the vessels remarkably
full of blood, and there was an indication on the brain of an
old disease. Upon the whole, although the appearances
were not so decisive as in some cases, it was their united
opinion, looking to' all the facts of the case, that the deceased
died from an attack of apoplexy.
The surgeon who saw Ann Blake while labouring under
the hysterical fits, gave it as his opinion that her nerves were
then in so excited a state, that it was very likely she would
be affected with delusions.

Mr. George Mitchell, clerk to the deceased, spoke to an
apoplectic fit which the deceased had about two years back,
The boy Monomy was examined on the first day of the
inquest, and gave his evidence in a clear, artless, and satis-
flctory manner.
The Jury declared themselves perfectly satisfied that
there was not the slightest ground for the rumours that
had been propagated, and returned a verdict, finding that
the death of the deceased was occasioned by a fit of apolexy

BIRMINGHAM CORN MARKET, July 10.

,
Wheat, 621 b. . ' . 55.. 4d. to 6s. 4d.
Barley, imperial quarter
Do. Grinding, 49 lb.
Oats, 391 b
Old Beans, 661 A lb l5 6 17 0
New ditto

New White Boiling Pease, 3 imp. bush.
Ditto Grey ditto - 20 0

We mentioned a few days ago, says the Norfolk
Herald, as a singular freak of nature, that. a female mule, be-
longing to a gentleman in Suffolk, had proved with foal, and
had had actually brought forth. The fact being doubted by
several gentlemen here, we have thought it worth the trouble
to inquire more particularly about it, and we have now before
us a letter from the proprietor of the mule (John T. Kilby,
Esq.) fully confirming our statement.—American Paper.
DOCILITY OF SHEEP.—A flock of sheep, on
Friday last, passed through Taunton, following the shepherd,
not being driven by him ; and which, notwithstanding all the
intervening obstacles of carts and carriages, kept closely to
the heels of their conductor. No dog was present ; so it ap-
pears certain, unless on widely-extended pastures, that the
worrying and injudicious practice of beating and hunting these
useful creatures is not necessary for their due management ;
and it is consequently gratifying to find that the policy of the
farmer, and the interests of humanity thus happily coincide.—
Western Luminary.

Several of the departmental Journals of France con-
tain accounts of most distressing ravages made by the late
storms. At Bolancourt, in the department of the Oise, the
rain fell in such abundance that the river overflowed its banks,
and rose to the height of four feet in the streets, when it
cracked the wall of the parsonage, and injured several private
houses. At Flavacourt, the waters rose seven feet above the
surface of the soil, and the chief altar of the church, in which
there were 81 feet of water, was completely destroyed. At
Droittecourt a third of the crops was swept away. Twelve
communes of the department of La Chatre have been visited
by violent hail-storms, which have seriously injured, if not al-
together destroyed, the fruit-trees and corn-fields. Near
Clermont, Puy-de-Dome, on the 4th, a storm burst over the
communes of Cebazat and Blauzat, which did immense injury
to the crops. In the commune of Oldby, two men were killed
by the lightning. On the sth of July, Lons-le-Saulnier had
to suffer from a similar visitation.

LONGEVITY AND STRENGTH. —On the 19th
ultimo, a man named James Howie, a cobbler, in Kilwinning,
and who has attained the patriarchal age of eighty-seven years
and a half, walked from Kilwinning to Girvan, a distance of 35
miles (although during the afternoon rain fell heavily), without
seeming much distressed by his extraordinary performance.
On being asked by a friend if he did not consider such a feat
as something akin to a tempting of Providence, he replied,
" Na, na ; he gies me the strength ; an' I'm very thankfu'
sae muckle is vouchsafed t'me ;" and so confident was the old
man of his locomotive powers being still unimpaired, that he
added, c 4 Gin I had my supper and was rested a wee, I think
I could just rise an' step awa' back again."

THE PROPOSED CO

miNtsTAT4
- -
thtrift4=--the- -propos& t 1;1
4.;
which has enabled the-people of Rilland men
• to Parliament who will do duty to their country, and
stand by those who will protect its liberties and pro-
mote its interests—certain Peers of the realm found
their way by the back stairs to the closet of their
Sovereign, and there whispered in his ear that which,
had he given a favourable ear to it, might have produced
evils which nothing could have repaired. Have the
same parties found their way to St. James's or to
Windsor? We presume that they have, for we find that
Lord Melbourne has received the commands of his Ma-
jesty to see Mr. Stanley, the Duke of Wellington and
Sir Robert Peel, and to endeavour to ascertain whether
they, the bitter enemies of Reform—the eager vindicators
of the corruptions and misappropriation of the Irish
Church, and the English Corporation property—the
revilers (at least the two first) of that great man whose
course they have embarrassed to the utmost con-
ceivable extent by all manner of means, are willing-to
co-operate with other parties in forming a coalition
Ministry. It is understood that Lord Melbourne, in
making such an inquiry, simply obeys the commands
of his Sovereign. He must know too well the state
of this country—the feelings of the Parliament—the
honour and integrity of those with whom he has
so long and so honourably laboured, to conceive
that such an Administration could be formed,
or that if formed it could last. But he acts minis-
terially, and will, therefore, without doubt, com-
municate the King's wishes to the Tory leaders.
But suppose they should assent ; that for the sake of
the emoluments of office, and the enjoyment of power,
they should be willing to sit at the council board with
the men they have denounced as the enemies of their
country; will the authors of the Reform Bill, the pre-
servers of the peace of Europe, the allies of the repre-
sentative and reformed Governments of France, Spain.
and Portugal, unite with the most determined foes of the
first—the would-be disturbers of the second—and the
friends of the usurpers, who did all in their power to
prevent the establishment of the last ? Will the Spen-
cers, and the Russells, and the Foxes, join hands with
these men ? For what purpose ? To ruin themselves,
and to extinguish all the rising hopes of freemen,
not in their own country alone, but in all countries in
which their words and deeds have inspired mankindwith
the love of freedom ? Oh no. The back-door adviser of
the King is as ignorant as lie is weak and unprincipled.
We know not who he is, and we care not. Not one of
the members of Lord Grey's amended Cabinet will
be parties to any such 'arrangement, and without
them, there can be no coalition ; for we presume
that Mr. Stanley will not coalesce with O'Connell,
nor Sir Robert Peel with Mr. Hume. The
House of Commons is sound. Lord Althorp enjoys
their confidence. They will call on him to continue
as their leader, and we should like to know how any
Government, even though composed of firm Tories,
such as 'Wellington, Peel, and Wetherell (which would
be infinitely preferable to a Coalition Ministry), could
in spite of them continue in office for a single week.
The Parliament will be true to the people, and the
people to themselves ; and they will carry out the
principle of Reform as completely with respect to the
Church and the Corporations, as they did in regard to
that great measure, which will render them and its au-
thors famous in all coming times—the restoration of
Representative Parliaments without a bloody revolu-
tion.—Morning Advertiser.