The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-17 00:00:00

ATTEMPTED ESCAPE OF A CONVICT.

An exceedingly well-laid plan for escaping from Ports-
mouth convict prison has been frustrated by almost the
barest chance. One of tho warders of the prison noticed
that at the evening inspection of the convicts, one of them,
named Scott, was attempting furtively to get rid of
something, and his suspicions being excited, the man was
reported at once, and immediately seized and searched.
A. small quantity of mortar was all that was
found upon him, but this fact led to a minute
examination being made of his cell. At first there was
nothing found to account for the convict's possession
of the mortar, but at length, on the walls being carefully
sounded, one particular part appeared to sound more
hollow upon being struck than the rest. A closer examr
ination of this part of the wall followed, and there it was
discovered that the bricks could be taken out with the
greatest facility, and a good sized hole was found to have
been made from the man's cell to the outer wall of the
prison, with the exception of the outer layer of bricks,
which were evidently to be displaced only at the
moment of the convict's escape. The cell was on the
ground-floor of the prison, and the hole once passed
through, the prisoner would have stood in the outer court
of tho prison with nothing between him and such freedom
as could be found in the Island of Portsea but the boundary
wall of the prison, which in the present instance would
not have been much hindrance, owing to some building
operations going on, and which would have offered easy
facilities for scaling the wall. The hole made in the
prison wall must have been a work of some time. The
tools with which it had been made proved to be a knife
and a small piece of steel which Scott, who is a painter
and glazier by trade, and employed as such in the prison,
had managed to obtain possession of. All the bricks had
been taken from the wall whole, and replaced at the end of
each night's work, for by night only could the work have
been done, and the joints between the bricks and facing
made good with glazier's putty in the place of the mortar
extracted with the bricks. The great difficulty for the con-
vict must have been to get rid, unobserved, of the pow-
'dered mortar, and it was in the attempt to do so that
the man was detected, after giving evidently an extra-
ordinary amount of labour and anxiety of mind to the
execution of the work, and just upon the seeming moment
of success.

The editor of the Reporter at Commie, Utah
Territory, has been beaten nearly to death because of his
opposition to the " peculiar institution " of Mormonism.
The St. Louie Republican reports that several
prairies are on fire near the North Missouri railroad, the
fires having been caused by sparks from locomotives.
Great damage it was feared would be done to the crops, as
stacks of corn were surrounded by flames, and hay stacks
wore threatened by the advancing fire.

THE LATE ADMIRAL WARDEN.—A telegram from
Cork, dated Tuesday night, says tho remains of Admiral
Warden were placed in her Majesty's ship Argus to-day
for conveyance to England. There was an imposing funeral
procession, composed of the military, sailors, and marines,
and the gentry of Queenstown. The Argus sailed at two
o'clock.

THE LONG/M:IMM WHALE.—The whale which
was stranded near Longniddry about a fortnight ago was
on Monday towed across the Firth of Forth to Kirkcaldy,
by one of the North British Railway Company's steamers
and a tug from Leith. A rope was fastened to the tail of
the whale, and at full tide the carcase was got off without
much difficulty. The arrival of the whale at Kirkcaldy
caused a great deal of excitement. The quays were lined with
thousands of people, large numbers having come from
Dysart, Wemyss, Kinghorn, and other districts. The
whale was placed in the outer harbour, where it will
shortly be cut up at the instance of the purchaser, Mr.
Tait, oil merchant. In the meantime the North British
Railway Company have announced cheap trains from
various stations on the line to Kirkcaldy.

READINGS OF CIIADACTER.—It may interest the
disciples of Gall and Spiirzheim to learn that Tropmann,
the assassin h la mode, in Paris, has been subjected to
the scrutiny of M. Berger, a French professor of phreno-
logy. The results of his investigations are, at least,
startling, and to tho uninitiated might appear contradic-
tory. The most highly developed organ of Tropmann's
head is the love of children. With the memory of his
recent exploits fresh in one's min& this announcement is
calculated to take ono by surprise, but the learned professor
explains that an abnormal development of the bumps of
combativeness, secretiveness, and acquisitiveness enables an
otherwise benevolent person to overcome his philanthropic
tendencies. The well-known M. Desbarolles has also been
admitted to examine the hands of the Pantin murderer,
but his report is less favourable. In the lines of the palm
he reads Vie sign of many evil passions, and traces a gene-
ral resemblance between his fingers and those of the noto-
rious Dumollard, who was exeout a w 7040 agq fcx
kavlig mUMigatgum