The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-01 00:00:00

ALBERT ASSUPANCE COMPANY.

In Vice-Chancellor James's Chambers, before Mr.
Bloxam, Chief Clerk, an application was made fort
leave to make the Albert Assurance Company a party to
the suit of a policy-holder against the Medical, Invalid, and
General Assurance Society. Mr. Musgrave stated that the
business of the Medical Invalid Society was amalgamated
with the Albert in 1861, being trensferred by deed;
the latter company giving its indemnity, taking over
the assets and becoming liable to all claims. The granting
of the order was opposed. The Chief Clerk thought it proper
that the Albert should be heard, and if it turned out
that the applicants were not justified in making the
claim, they would lose their costs. Order accordingly.

THE LATEST ASSASSINATION IN
IRELAND.

The attempt to assassin :to Mr. Brett, county surveyor
of Limerick, cannot be designated an agrarian crime. The
faeman, of Dublin, fully describes the occurrence :
"When Mr. Brett returned home, he found a man named
John Bourke, who had been a road contractor under him,
waiting for an interview which he was not, it is said, very
willing to grant ; but Bourke in some manner forced
himself into Mr. Brett's sitting-room after his arrival,
and there had rather an angry argument on the subject of
some money stoppages which Mr. Brett had felt it his
duty to make from this man on account of failure
of contract. Bourke remonstrated in very strong terms
about those stoppages, urging upon Mr Brett to do him
what he alleged was only justice, and reminding him that
life was short, &c. Mr. Brett, who had been before impor-
tuned on the same point by this man, ordered him
frequently to leave the parlour, whereupon Bourke
asked him to give him some whisky, which,
after refusing him several times, he at length ordered
his servant to give him in the kitchen, in which
Bourke was not well seated when Mr. Brett, who was
standing with his back to the fire, was fired upon through
the parlour window, and seven small shots or pellets
struck him in the breast, very near the reg,icn of the
heart ; but, fortunately, he has not been dangerously
wounded, five of the slugs having enly caused flesh wounds,
two only having to be extracted, and they, it is supposed,
have not inflicted wounds of a nature from which to appre-
hend danger. Mr. Brett, when he was shot, went into the
hall, and called to his servants in the kitchen, where
Bourke still was, that he was wounded. It was remarked
by the servants that the latter listened to the announce-
ment with the greatest calmness and unconcern, and with-
out displaying the slightest emotion, which leads to the
suspicion that he was privy to the attack on this gentle-
man's life. One of Mr. Brett's servants ran with all haste
for the police, who were on the spot very soon after the
occurrence, having arrested Bourke on their way."

TEE MYSTERIOUS DEATH AT PENCE.

Mr. N. Carter, the Coroner for East Surrey, ha 3 con-

chided, at the Mitre Tavern, Mitre-lane, South Penge-park,
the inquiry into the circumstances attending the death of
Mrs. Emily Fowler, aged 33, who was found dead on a
balcony outside the top window of her residence, 30, Weigh-
ton-road, South Penge, on the previous Sunday morning,
under circumstances which left no doubt that she had lost
her life by the administration of poison either by her own
hand or by that of some other person. Mr. Fowler was
not present on this occasion, but was re presented by Mr.
Serjeant Sleigh, who intimated that his client was at home
in the greatest prostration of mind. The proceedings
commenced by an argument between the jury and the
coroner as to how far Mr. Fowler was culpable, and what
construction could be placed upon certain statements made
upon the first hearing, and in order that all those engaged
might be perfectly certain upon various matters, the
coroner recalled Sarah Aske, the cook. She was
subjected to a severe examination, and stated
that on the day of her death Mrs. Fowler was
hiding from Mr. Fowler's violence in the smoking-
room. She had previously fainted in the kitchen, and wit-
ness, the housemaid, and Mr. Fowler carried her up into the
smoking-room, where water was thrown over her, and on
her recovery she pushed Mr. Fowler and the house-maid
out of the room. Then it was she said that on theprevious
night while putting off her chignon in the dark, she felt
something strange, and dizcsve red, on striking a light that
it was a bottle of poison (produced), which she said she
believed Mr. Fowler had placed there that she might
see it and be induced to take it. She was very much dis-

tressed in mind, and said that she was tired of her life, and
daring the hour witness was with her was crying, and sent a
message by witness to her mother with a request that Fisher
a ',ate servant, might be the last to see to her. All this
occurred between one and two. No one was present, and
the door of the smoking-room being closed, Mr. Fowlor
could not possibly have heard anything that passed. She
left Mrs. Fowler alone for a few minutes during this hour
Ind she then had the poison in her possession.
The Coroner at this star obs erved that as Mr. Fowler

vas not pre,:ent while the statement affecting him `ties

made he must strike that part cf the depositions out as
affecting him, as in law one of the jury might just as well
have made a similar statement.

In examination by Mr. Sleigh, witness said that since
the last inquest she had found under the cushion of the
sofa in the kitchen the parcel produced, containing £2 10s.,
directed in Mrs. Fowler's handwriting to her mother. She
recognised the torn photograph produced as a likeness of
her mistress, and had found it in the grate in Mr. Fowler's

bedroom since her mistress's death.
Jane Coote, the housemaid, deposed to the same acts of
violence and unkindness on Mr. Fowler's part, and to the
grief and distress of her mistress. Her master was very fond
of her mistress when sober. When he was drunk he was
quite mad. She did not know whether he had drunken
hysterics or delirium tremens. He would look in the glass
and talk to himself, saying, " Hah, Walter ! " and throw
his head back. She did not go to bed till 3, but found them
in their bedrooom in the morning. On going to bed Mr.

Fowler was in the habit of putting his money and the
contents of his pocket on the dressing-table, so that the
bottle he had in his hand when she saw him on Friday
would be placed there along with the other things. When
Mrs. Fowler waa missing he s aid he thought she had gone

Tway to her mother. She had done so before, and he
conducted the search anxiously, after which he went into
the dining-room and fell asleep, and slept there all night.

Dr. Arthur Newman Turner said he had made an analysis
of the contents of the stomach, assisted by the clinical
assistant of Guy's Hospital, and could swear to the presence
of strychnine in the stomach.
Another witness was called, who deposed to the general
conduct of Mr. Fowler, but knew nothing as to the occur-
rence of the day.

Frederick Bingley, chemist, of Plough-court, City, de-
posed that he was in th. 3 habit of supplying Mr. Fowler
with various articles, and on the 29th of last month he
called and had a prescription made up, after which he
asked for some strychnine to destroy cats with.
fie did not see it made up, but it was made
up under his direction ; it would be in the
form of crystal, like coarse salt. He supplied him with
five grains, and entered the sale in a book (produced),
according to law. It was not necessary to make any in-
quiries of the purchaser at the time.
fhe Coroner then summed up at considerable length,
and at the end of nearly an hour and a half the jury re-
turned the following verdict :—" That the deceased Emily
Fowler died from the effects of strychnine, but how or by
whom administered there is no sufficient or satisfactory
evidence."

The case of the Archbishop of York against the
fey. C. Voysey, of Ilealaugh, for doctrinal errors in his
sermons and writings, is to come on for hearing at the York
Ecclesiastical Court on the Ist of December next.

DEATH FI2OII A QUID OF TOBACCO.-Dr, Hard-
sick°, deputy coroner, held an inquest on Saturday, at
Afiddlesex Hospital, on the body of William Adlam, aged
50, a gun-maker, who died suddenly in the street. It
appeared that on Wednesday last, while the deceased was
passing through Bond-street, he was observed to fall and
roll into the gutter of the road. He appeared to be in a
convulsive fit, and at the suggestion of some of the
bystanders he was at once conveyed to the hospital, where
he was pronounced dead. The post mortem examination
shewed that some shreds of tobacco had been drawn into
the chink of the glottis, producing spasm and sudden
death. A quid of tobacco was found in the mouth of the
deceased, behind the epiglottis. It was believed that while
deceased was taking an inspiration ho had drawn up the
tobacco involuntarily. The cause of death was suffocation
by the spasmodic closing of the glottis or windpipe. The
deceased had only obtained employment on the day of his
death, after having been out of work for nine months. Ver-
diet, " Accidental death."

A CONTRIV4.NCE FOR CASES OF UNTRUSTWORTHY
COMPASSES The Academy of Science in Paris referred the
oth:r day to the loss cf the Glenorchy, which left the
Clyde in December last, and was lost off the coast of
Ireland. Tho Glenorchy was iron built and had a
cargo of iron on board, and the disaster was occa-
sioned by an error in magnetism, although the captain
had the usual apparatus for correcting the compass
on board. M. Faye reminded the academy of a plan
he bad proposed four years ago for ascertaining the true
bearings of ;the compass in the case of iron ships. It

simply consists in providing the usual log with a magnetic
needle. Before heaving it should be fixed by a spring, and
when at sufficient distance from the ship, a jerk of the
line would setlit at liberty again. Another contrivance
would fix it a.; second time before haulinz. it, and the true_
cading would thus bo obtained.