The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-24 00:00:00

CRYSTAL PALACE.

Yesterday afternoon the prizes gained by the sub-
scribers to the " Crystal Palace Art Unien," which
has just reached the close of its second sea-
son, were drawn in the concert room. On the plat-
form appropriated to the Council two wheels were
placed, from one of which were extracted the num-
bers assigned to the competitors, from the other the
❑ames of the several objects with which fortune
had favoured them.

Sir Francis E. Scott, who officiated as chairman
on the occasion, dilated on the prosperity of the
Union, which was shown more in detail when the
official report of the Council was read by the secre-
tary. Nearly 4,500 members have been added to
the list.

The principles of the society were likewise ex-
plained in the report. The return to the subscribers
for money paid is through two distinct sources. In
the first place they have to make a selection from
a number of " presentation works," according to the
amount of their subscription ; in the second place,
for every guinea they have each one chance in the
prize distribution. On the present occasion the
presentation works arc 44 in number, all executed
expressly and exclusively for the Crystal Palace
Art Union. These, in the opinion of the committee,
adequately represent the full commercial value of
the amount of the subscription.
The prize works for the past season comprise
paintings, sculptures in marble, plaster casts, wood-
carving, drawings, works in metal, porcelain,
enamels, ceramic statuary, modern majolica, terra
cotta, glass, and photography.
Blanks there are none, but with respect to the
principal prizes, which were exhibited in the
Palace, the result of yesterday's drawing was as
follows :

Oil painting, "-High Life Below Stairs," by Selessinger.
Size, 4 ft. 2 in. by 3 it. 3 in.—Mr. George Davis.
Oil Painting, a The Revenge," by P. Morris. Size, 5 ft.
by 3 ft. 6 in.—Mr. G. Grant.
Oil painting, "The Letter," by Chavet—Mr. John Duns-
MUTT. _ -

Oil painting, " The Souvenir," by Roche—Mr. G. Grant.
Oil painting, " River Scene," by G. Stanfield—Mr. W.
Dadson.
Oil painting, " The Wreck," by Nibbs—Mrs. A. Soares.
Oil painting, " Fruit Piece," by Gronland—Mr. W. A.
Buffery.
Oil painting, " Fruit and Flowers," by Stuart—Mrs. H.
G. Adams.
Marble group, " Maternal Affection," by W. C. Marshall,
R.A.—Mrs. Harrison.
Marble statuette, " Sunshine," by Joseph Durham—Mr.
John Hart.
Grand vase majolica, angel-handles, with allegorical sub-
jects, by Minton, 26in. high, by 27in. diameter—Miss Mary
Helliwell.
Grand vase porcelain, " Blue de Roi," groups of Cupids
and flowers, rich chased, gold festoons in relief, by Minton
—Mr. J. Smith.
Porcelain vase, Worcester enamels, serpent-handles, with
gold enrichment, by Kerr and Binns—Mr. F. Warren.
Large Tazza majolica—subject from Raphael's " Sibyls,"
by Minton—Mr. W. Potts.
Casket in electro silver and gilt, by Elkington—Mr. .7.
Wilkinson.
The " Bedford Tankard," in electro silver and gilt, by
Elkington—Mr. R. Procter.
Carved tazza, electro silver and gilt, jewelled, by Elk -
ington—Mr. T. Barber.
Grand vase, porcelain and parlan, with chased gold en-
richments—Mr. H. Mayor.
Coast Scene. Sehuyders—Mr. W. B. Stephens.
Among other members of the committee who at-
tended on the platform were Messrs. H. I. Bicknell,
T. Creswiek, R.A., F. W. Fairholt, J. H. Foley,
R.A., A. C. lonides, D. Price, S. Leigh Sotheby,
and H. J. Bohn.

ALLEGED MURDER AT HULL.—Considerable
excitement was created in Hull yesterday morning, in
consequence of the death of a prostitute, named Lucy Gray,
under somewhat mysterious and suspicious circumstances.
From inquiries made by the police, the following facts have
been elicited :—About half-past ono o'clock yesterday
morning a tidewaiter, named Richard Harrison, on duty on
the south side of the Queen's Dock at Hull, observed two
foreign seamen and a female pass him. They halted a short
distance from him, and then walked to the edge of the
quay, the female having hold of one of the men's arm. The
tidewaiter alluded to then passed them, and they appeared
to be in conversation ; but directly he had got about a score
of yards from them ho heard a splash in the water and a
shriek. He immediately ran to the spot, and perceiving
that a woman was in the water, he asked them what they
had been doing, but got no reply. He then raised an
alarm, and another customs officer and a seaman came up
with a hook, and the woman was got out of the dock, but
died immediately. The two men who were in company
with her, instead of lending assistance, ran away, though
the vessel of which one of them is captain lay close to the
spot. The body was conveyed to the police station, and
identified as that of Lucy Gray, an unfortunate about 22•
years of age, and the two men, who are captains, and had
been at a brothel with her in Osborne-street, were appre-
hended during the morning, and taken before. the stipendiary
magistrate, Mr. T. H. Travis, charged withcausing th
death of the deceased, a nd were remanded until Saturday©
Their names are Captain Argelander, of the schooner
and Captain Mutchreich, of the brig Diana, both Finlanders.
The only motive that can be assigned for the pushing the
deceased into the water, if they did do so, is that shewanted
to accompany them on board Mutchreich's vessel ; and the
fact of the men running away strengthens the suspicion
that deceased was pusked into the dock by them, they being
averse to her accompanying them on board either of their
vessels. The inquest was being held on view of the body
when our parcel left.

TAYLOR V. POOLE.
The trial of this important cause was resumed
this morning.
Shadrach Russell—l am a police officer. I went
to the fire and took charge of the stuff in the back
yard. I remained there until everything was
brought there. Not a bit of anything was removed
until taken away by the police.
Charles Mills, another policeman, arrived at the
fire a quarter before 10, and went to the back yard,
and assisted in taking charge of the property.
James Mercer, a manufacturer—l was employed
by the Sim Fire. office to go over the stock ; there was
nothing destroyed of any value. I valued what I
saw at cost price, £648 15s. Bd. I was to give Tay-
lor every advantage. I weighed every ounce. It is
next to impossible .to totally consume silk. I did
not find any silk burnt at all. I saw some manu-
factured silk burnt and damaged. The original value
of which was £4B. When I say nothing was burnt I
don't mean that nothing was damaged, because I
found about a dozen pounds of silk damaged by dirt
and water. The value of damaged goods was about
£B5. The plaintiff's claim contains articles which
were not on the premises when I went over them ;
but they might easily be carried away in a person's
'pocket.
John Ward—l am the agent at Coventry for the
Sun Fire-office. I was on the spot as soon as the
alarm was given. The door was not open. I stood
at the end of the entry to prevent people going in.
'9 persons came out with silk. Ir, aere
ellthe time, except when the drawer'ivas brought
down. I went on the premises the next morning
with Mr. Pratt, who had the keys. About a week
after the fire I gave Mercer instructions to put a
value on the stock. I heard a conversation between
Taylor and Smith on the Thursday after the fire.
Taylor said to Smith, " Had I known I should have
had such a bother as this I would have placed my-
self in the hands of my creditors."
Cross-examined—l was close to the door of the
room at the time. There were not many people
there when the door was opened. There were not
more than five or six persons in the entry. I sent
for the engines.
Thomas Hodsell was called, but no questions
were put to him by either side.
Thomas Pratt—l am an agent for the office. Re-
ceived the keys of the premises on the morning
after the fire, and kept them till the 3d August. I
always accompanied persons who went into the
premises. I went there from time to time, and
always found policemen there in the entry keeping
guard. The things remained in the same state
until I gave up the keys on the 3d August.
Cross-exarein-d —I had access to everything.
Skurmer—l received the keys of the doors on the
night of the fire. I gave them all to Pratt the next
morning. The police guarded the entry.
C. Smith recalled by the Judge—There were
three keys to open the door, as there were three
locks. I had three and Taylor had three. I gave
up my three keys to a policeman whose name I
don't know, on the night of the fire, and Mr. Tay-
lor also gave up his three keys.
Skurmer—l know only which were given me by
Taylor of these keys, and those I gave up to Mr.
Ward.

(The other three keys, which were duplicates of
those given to Skurmer, could not be accounted for
or traced.)
Joseph Hay wood—l am a manufacturer at Coven-
try. I saw plaintiff a few days after the fire. He
called on me at my house about 9 o'clock in the
morning. He told me that the inspector was
coming to his warehouse at 11 o'clock. He said
there was silk missing, and he asked if I would
take some up and say that it was left at my house
on the night of the fire. I said I had none, and he
said he would go and fetch some. I said I should
refuse to take it, and he went away. I saw him
some time afterwards. He came and asked me
what I had said. That was after a talk of a trial.

said I had accidentally named it to a friend, and
I had been drawn into it. He said, "If you say
that, for God's sake, you will be the ruis of me'
Cross-examined—Nothing: more nor less took
place between us. He did not inquire if any silk
had been brought to my place on the night of the
fire. I have been a bankrupt lately. My certifi-
cate has been suspended twice. I have been insol-
vent before. I entered an account with Mr. Chap-
pell in a different name to my own. I have put
my name to some bills. The police, Wood and
Thompson, have called upon me about this matter.
It was through Taylor that Chappell found out I
had been dealing in a wreng name. Taylor asked
me to send him some money, and I signed a cheque
" Joseph," and that was how he discovered it. I
did not owe Taylor money.
Re-examined—l have protection. It was an ad-
journment. The bills were accommodation bills.
They were for my agent. The amount was about
£BOO. I turned my business over to my brother,
and traded in his name.
This closed the defendant's case.
Sir F. Slade having summed up his evidence,
Mr. M. Smith addressed the jury upon the whole
case.

----The learned Judge commenced his summing
up at 10 minutes past 4 o'clock, and dwelt much
upon the great importance of the case, not only
to the individual who was now, as it were, upon
his trial for arson, not only to the Sun office, but to
the public interests generally. He animadverted
most strongly on the fact of the defendants not
having called Hodsell ; he thought they were bound
to have examined their agent, under whose advice
they had most properly acted in defending the
action, and not merely have contented themselves
with putting him in the witness-box for cross-exa-
mination. The learned counsel for the defendant
had not shrunk from saying that the charge was
that the plaintiff had been guilty of arson, and had
set his own premises on fire. The defendants had
also put forward another defence, that the plaintiff,
atter the fire, had sent in a (fraudulent claim. If
the jury should be of opinion that the plaintiff was
guiltless of the charge of arson, then, if they con-
cluded he had been guilty of sending in a false and
fraudulent claim, the defendants would be dis-
charged from paying anything under the policy.
The two questions would be whether the plaintiff
had wilfully set fire to the premises, and then whe-
ther the plaintiff had sent in a fraudulent claim. If
they thought the premises had been willfully set on
fire, he imagined that there could be Little doubt
but that the plaintiff was the person who had set
them on fire. His lordship then called the atten-
tion of the jury to the previous history of the plain-
tiff, as detailed by him in evidence. The defendants
alleged that the plaintiff was so " done •up" that he
had a motive for endeavouring to alter h is position',
and that he was induced to go beyond all rules of
honour, honesty, and integrity, and, having but a
small stock on hand and a policy for a considerable
sum, he had determined to set his premises on fire
and to obtain a large amount from the insurance-
office. As he had referred to the company not hav-
ing called Hodsell, so he must say he should have
been more satisfied if the plaintiff had called his
town agent, although he might not have been able
to prove anything. The learned Judge then gave
the jury a summary of the whole case.
The jury had not returned a verdict, when our
parcel was despatched.

A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.—
Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Wat. BATTY.
Immense Success of "Mazeppa."
A Grand MID-DAY PERFORMANCE will take place on
SATURDAY next, Aug 25, commencing at Two o'clock.
This Evening, Lord Byron's splendid Hippo-drama of
MAZEPPA AND THE WILD HORSE, with entirely new
and beautiful scenery, costly costumes, and appointments,
introducing the largest stud of highly-trained Horses, Po-
nies, Buffaloes, and Camels in the World.
To be followed by Scenes in the Arena by the Star Riders
of the day.
Doors open at half-past 6, performance commence at 7.
Box-office open daily from 11 till 4.
Stage Manager—Mr. W. WEST.
Director of the Arena—M. Felix REsolti.