The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-02 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDER.

An atroclons child murder was committed on Wednes-
day morning at the quiet little village of .Allesley, situated
about two miles from Coventry. The murderess is a
married woman, named Jane Elizabeth Holmes, and the
victim is her youngest child, Ellen Jane Holmes, only
nine months old. It appears that at about half-past ten
o'clock on Wednesday morning a woman named Sim.
monds, who resides at Allesley, was alarmed by
Mrs. Holmes shouting, in front of her house, that she
had murdered her child. On going out of her house to
see what was the matter, Holmes said to her, "I've done
it, and the knife is under the body." Mrs. Simmonds
at once entered the house, and found the child lying upon
the floor in a pool of blood, its throat being cut almost
from ear to ear. The woman questioned Holmes as to her
motive for committing the murder, but the latter gave no
satisfactory reply. The prisoner is the wife of a wheel-
wright at Allesley, and both parties have been much
respected by the people of the village. It seems that she
is the mother of three children, hut the other two were at
the village school at the time the murder was committed.
No reason has at present been assigned for the wicked
deed.

THE LAST COLLIERY EXPLOSTOY AT

WIGAN.

The following are additional particulars of the explosion
at the collieries of Messrs. Richard Evans and Co., at
Haydock, on Wednesday. For a colliery village, Hay-
dock has an unusually neat appearance ; the coal dust
does not appear to have begrimed the trim colliery
buildings which are to be seen in all directions ;
while the land around is excellently tilled, and at
the county ploughing matches the firm are always
able to send formidable competitors into the field. At
the eight or nine pits which are worked by
Messrs. Evans in this township fully 1,500 men are
employed, most of whom reside in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the collieries, in long rows of clean-loooking
and well-built cottages, or in the adjacent parish of
Ashton in Mackerfield. At one of these pits, the Pew-
fall, the water has recently broken in, in consequence of
excavations made in the course of constructing the Lan-
cashire Union Railways, and by this occurrence 300
men were thrown out of employment. Several of these
went to work at the Queen Pit for the first time on
Wednesday, and three of them are numbered among
the dead. The last body has been recovered. A
cart-house at the colliery offices was found to be the
best place in which to lay the bodies for identification,
and in an hour and a half this was converted by the car-
penters into a large, airy room, containing a couple of
platforms, upon which the last sad offices could be per-
formed for the dead. A large proportion of the number
were very severely burned— more, in fact, than is gene-
rally the case, and some of the faces were fearfully
mutilated by the action of the fire. In the course of the
night after the accident another death took place,
making the total of those who have lost their lives
twenty - four. This was the lad John Flannigan,
who was brought out of the mine early, but
who suffered severely from the effects of choke
damp, and was unable to throw off the effects of the gas.
At the large carpenters' shop close to the offices the
construction of the coffins was commenced as early as
possible. The firm have shewn a commendable care for
the feelings of the bereaved families in this matter, for
they have directed that the coffins shall be made of oak,
and that the fittings shall he of the best description. One
of the saddest cases arising out of the accident is that
of Henry Ilindley, a school-lad home for the holidays,
who had gone down the pit with his father to
watch him at work. Both father and son are dead.
Among the killed are three firemen, said to be among
the best and steadiest employed by the firm. The
man Joseph Mercer was employed in Yates's Level;
a different district to that in which the explosion
occurred. The men working in the same district all
escaped, but Mercer refused to believe that the noise of
the explosion was anything more than the firing of a shot,
and he refused to accompany the others to the pit eye,
but stayed behind till the deadly choke damp overpowered
him. The manager and underlooker, together with the
Government inspector, Mr. Peter Higson, and his son,
have descended the workings to make a fuU examination.

GREEK RAILWAYS.—An Athens letter says :
M. Bulgaria, the Premier and Minister of the Interior,
has interfered to atop the work on the Piraeus Railway.
He is preventing the contractors from laying down the
rails they brought from England, on the ground that the
lives of the subjects of his Hellenic Majesty cannot be
trusted to such weak materials. These rails are not
so solid as the rails of the Great Western. It seems
they only correspon I with those of the London and
Brighton."

NEW REGULATION AT RAILWAY STATIONS.—
The following provision in the New Railway Act (31 and
32 Viet., c. 119) has now come into operation :—Section
1.5. "On and after the Ist January, 1869, every company
cause to be exhibited in a conspicuous place in the
booking-office of each station on their line, a list or lists—
painted, printed, or written in legible characters—of the
fares of passengers by the trains included in the time-
tables of the company from that station to every place for
which passenger tickets are there hazed."

The Gaiety Theatre, recently opened on the site
of the Strand Music Hall, has a very cathedral-like style
about its main entrance, situated on the crowded thorough-
fare. On Christmas Eve the doors were thrown wide, and
a blaze of light burst upon the passers-by. A clergyman
who happened to be in the neighbourhood, attracted by
the ecclesiastical appearance of the balcony approaches,
quietly sauntered in, under the impression that an evening
service was going on ; but abruptly fled in dismay on
finding that quite a different entertainment was provided
for visitors.—Echoes from the Clubs

Tuz SOLDIER'S KNAPSACK.—The Pack Com-
mittee, consisting of Generals Eyre, Rumsey, and Ilorsford,
and Drs. Logan and Parkes, have now made their fourth
report to the Secretary for War. During the last five years
they have been unremitting in their endeavours to determine
upon a form of accoutrement which should do the least pos-
sible damage to the heart and lungs of the infantry soldier,
and should also meet the necessary military requirements.
After persevering, extensive, and lengthened trials of every
conceivable form, they now once more report that the
principle of the "brace system " will entirely remove the
evils now complained of. They therefore express the
hope that it will be considered the time has now arrived
for coming to a final decision on this important question,
more especially as it appears that several regiments
require to be supplied with the least possible delay with
fresh equipment. The military authorities have shewn
great interest in this matter, and it may be hoped that the
foot soldier will soon be relieved.—British Medical Journal.

FORESTERS AND THEIR DINNERS.—A case of
some interest to members of friendly societies has just been
decided by Sir E. J. Wilmot, Bart., at the Marylebone
County Court. It appeared that in October last the
members of court " Lord Dudley Stuart," of the Ancient
Order of Foresters (who hold their fortnightly meetings at
the Queen Hotel, Paddington, celebrated their anniver-
sary with a dinner, which plaintiff agreed to supply at 3s.
per head. No stipulation (according to the plaintiff) was
made as to the character of the repast, which com-
prised three legs of mutton, a piece of beef weighing
301 b., vegetables, cheese, celery, and eight gallons
of stout and ale. For the defence it was
urged that when a former dinner took place at the
same house, for which a like price was paid, poultry and
pastry were provided. This was also promised again, but
nothing of the kind was placed before the guests. Some
of the meat was declared tobe only half-cooked, and many
of the "brothers" had to content themselves with dirty
celery. The plantiff, when remonstrated with, said, "If
I had known you were all coining so hungry, I would have
provided some sheeps' heads." The defendant (Mr. Vincent,
secretary), had offered to pay 2s. per head, which was
refused, and that amount had been paid into court. His
Honour considered the sum paid into court ample, and
gave a verdict for defendant with costs.

A SCOTCH CONSERVATIVE M.P. AND THE NEW
MlNlSTRT.—Speaking at a public dinner in the county of
Dumbartonthire, Mr. Orr Ewing, who was recently re-
turned as the Conservative member for that county, thus
referred to the new Government :—" We have recently
had a new Cabinet called together, under the superinten-
dence of that talented and brilliant man, Mr. Gladstone ;
and I am satisfied • that whatever difference of politics
there may be here, one and all of us will admit that
it is a Cabinet of enormous talent. Some people
seem to think that there are discordant elements
within it, and that the great intellect of Mr.
Lowe—the logical mind that sees through every-
thing faster than almost any other person=will not
wish to continue under the dominion even of Mr. Glad-
stone. But all I can say is, that if the different members
of that Cabinet are actuated by the self-denying principle
which was enunciated by the great Mr. Bright at Bir-
mingham when he was re-elected, it may last for many
years to come. Mr. Fright said that if his constituents
found him.goinginto a different lobby from what they had ex-
pected from the principles he had hitherto announced when
unattached to office, they must not think he had deserted
his principles, but that he had gone there for the sake of
harmony. These are noble sentiments. I trust they are
the sentiments which actuate every member of the present
Cabinet, and that we shall have a powerful Government,
able to bring in measures whiCh will strengthen and reform
and improve the institutions of our country."