The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-16 00:00:00

THE U
LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 16, 1867.
SN,

'his day.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—This Day.

THE TERRIBLE ACCIDENT AT THE
REGENT'S PARK.

COURT OP QUEEN'S BENCH.
(Sittings in Banco, before the Lord Chief Justice, and
Justices Blackburn, Mellor, and Lush.)
HORNSBY V. CLOSE.

.4.- - - - - -

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS THIS DAY.
Thousands of persons thronged the Regent's-
park this morning, and, despite the precautions
taken to prevent the admission of other than those
provided with keys and those engaged in the melan-
choly duty of recovering the bodies of those unfor-
tunate persons who have perished by the lamentable
accident, au immense number of persons climbed
over the park railings and proceeded at once to the
mound in the cow-park to the north-east. The
appearance presented was extraordinary—the rising
ground was literally covered with human beings, who
watched with the greatest anxiety the efforts of those
engaged in the boats. The operation of dragging for
the bodies was resumed at daylight this morning,
but the work was of the greatest danger and diffi-
culty, as the frost during the night had refrozen the
broken ice into one complete sheet, and before the
drags could be put into operation the ice bad again
to be broken up. The men of the Humane Society,
the park keepers, and a number of other persons
manned the ice boats, and commenced their work in
right good earnest, but the means at their command
were of the most primitive description. There seemed
to have been little or no preparation for the work they
engaged in, and beyond one or two men being pro-
vided with a pickaxe, and another or so with a
mallet, no other means appeared to be at hand to
make channels through the ice for the seven boats
engaged in the work. Even this morning there was
a deficient supply of rope, and, in some cases, work
on board one or two of the boats was suspended for
a time in consequence of the want of such a very
common article. The result of the opera-
tions being carried on on so small a scale was
that nearly as fast as the small space around the
boats was cleared of the ice the water again froze,
and the work had to a certain extent to be per-
formed over again. To many persons it did not
appear to have been an impossibility to have con-
veyed a couple of empty barges from the Regent's
Canal, and by means of boards being laid from
one to the other some more powerful and effectual
means could have been called into requisition to
break up the frozen surface and allow the drags to
be used with greater freedom. However such
was not the mode of operation, and taking into
consideration the nature of the work in which
the men were engaged, and the hearty and will-
ing manner in which they performed their labo-
rious task, they each deserve commendation and
praise. In a short time after the drags were in
operation the bodies of two young men were
brought to the surface, and when the fact became
known to the thousands of persons who, by this
time, had thronged the banks, a scene of the
wildest excitement ensued; hundreds rushed from the
different sides to the spot the boat containing the
bodies was making for, with the desire of catching
a glimpse of the unfortunate deceased. The police,
however, the instant the bodies were landed, threw a
blanket over each, and then, laying them on
stretchers, carried them to the dead-house of St.
Marylebone workhouse. In a short time after an-
other body—that of a lad about 16 years—was re-
covered; and, later on, five other bodies were found,
making in all eight more, in addition to eight
already identified.
The names of two of those recovered this morn-
ing are William Parkinson, of Pheonix-place,
Somers-town, and James Griffin, a vendor of
oranges, Lincoln-court, Drury-lane. The others
had not, at the time our reporter left the work.
house, been identified.
That the calamity is no worse than has been de-
scribed is more than doubtful, and it is to be hoped
that the deaths will not amount to more than has
been estimated, but we very much fear such will
not be the case. At one spot, where it is known,
for certainty, that five or six people went
down not one has yet been recovered, the search
being entirely confined to the broader portions of
the water. A gentleman, an eye-witness of the
dreadful scene, this morning said that the estimate
of those who have perished must be very far be-
low the actual number. The moment after the ice
broke the water seemed to him to be full of people,
the heads of nearly all of whom he saw gradually
disappear. Those in the middle of the ice had no
means of getting off alive, and therefore until
the ice is cleared away it will not be
possible to tell whether the bodies of all those
who have perished have been recovered.
Of course there was no skating on any portion of
the Ornamental Water to-day, yet a number of
persons, amongst them being many ladies, attended
evidently for that purpose, from the fact that they
each carried a pair of skates.
The scene at St. Marylebone Workhouse this
morning was heartrending. Mothers and fathers
were constantly arriving at the gate, begging for
leave to see the bodies of those now lying in the dead
house; and although Mr. Douglas, the master,
whose conduct throughout has been above all praise,
informed them that all the bodies had been identi-
fied, such was their anxiety—as some of their rela-
tives had been from home during the night, that
refusal would have been unkindness ; and
he, therefore, in the most humane manner,
not only granted what they required, but
did all that was possible to quiet their
alarm. These inquiries were not confined to the
humbler class, but in a variety of cases carriages,
with rich armorial bearings emblazoned thereon,
brought anxious inquirers after missing relatives.
The scene within the dead-house is melancholy in
the extreme. The bodies lie side by side, and as
identification takes place, a blanket is thrown over
the frozen corpse, and his name and address is
pinned thereon. All the bodies present the same
appearance—the features fixed in a most determined
aspect, the lips compressed, and the hands firmly
clenched. Around some of the unfortunates
the parents stand in a desparing way, weeping in
the most pitiable manner, As an addition to the
number of the dead is made, hundreds pass through
the place to identify, and when the body is recognised
a piercing shriek is generally the only thing that for
some time announces the fact that the body has
been owned.

In this case a question was raised as to whether the
justices of the peace at Bradford were justified in refusing
to convict a party who had been charged before them with
fraud.

Mr. Mellish, Q. 0., appeared in support of the appli-
cation calling on the magistrates to show cause why
they had so refused to convict iu the case in question.
It appeared that a society of iron shipbuilders vi as
established at Bradford, and registered under thto
Friendly Societies Act, according to the provisions 18 and
19 Vie., c. 43, sees. 9 and 44. That act permitted parties
to orm friendly societies, if their objects included the en-
dowment of members, burial of deceased, and other pur-
poses common to such institutions. The secretary of the
society was charged before the magistrates with fraud,
and, though the facts wore proved, they refused to convict
on the ground that the society was not a legal ono.
The court refused to make any order in the case.

NEW QUEEN'S COUNSEL.
Messrs. Schumberg, Prendergast, Harvey, Liddell,
Pearson, Roberts, Clarke, Cochrane, Karslake (brother of
the Solicitor-General), Drew, and Kay were called within
the bar this morning, having been recently appointed
Queen's counsel.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
(Sittings in 13anco, before the Lord Chief Baron and Barons

Channell an Pigott.)
MATTHEWS Y. DOLBY.

Mr. Pearce moved for tt-rnia to set aside a verdict for
428 15s. obtained by the plaintiff, or that the amount
should be reduced 415. The case was tried before the
Lord Chief Baron on the 22d December last. The plaintiff
was a last and shoe manufacturer at Nottingham, and the
defendant was a dealer in the same articles in Oxford-
street. The plaintiff alleged that ho had sold
goods to the amount claimed to the defendant,
but the latter pleaded that these wine merely
forwarded to his place for a person named Marriott, who
had previous dealings with and was indebted to the plain-
tiff. It appeared that Marriott had shut up his premises
and gone away, and be stated that he lost the sale of the
goods to a person named Sexton, by the plaintiff's delay in
forwarding them. Only goods to the amount of .£5 had
been disposed of by Marriott, but the defendant agreed to
take the remainder from him, for which he gave him
a cheque, which was forwarded to the plaintiff. When the
latter found that Marriott had shut up his place of business,
he demanded the whole amount from the defendant, and
in his examination he swore positively that the goods had
been forwarded direct to the defendant without any state-
ment as to their being for Marriott. On the other side,
Marriott swore that he had given the order for the goods
to the plaintiff.

The Lord Chiof Baron said that, as unfortunately was
too often the case, there was a great deal of hard swearing.
There was one point which deserved notice, and that was
that Marriott did not state in his letter to the plaintiff
that the chequo was on account of any portion of the goods
in question, and might have been put down to the credit
of a precious account. He thought the matter was ono
entirely for the jury, and he should Le sorry to disturb
their verdict.

The other learned judges concurred with his lordship,
although admitting the hardship of the defendant having
to pay twice.

The rule was accordingly refused.

POLICE INTELLIGERCE— This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.
_ _

A FORGIVING WIFE.—John Manchester, of 6, Green-
street, Leicester-square, bootmaker, was charged before
Mr. Tyrwhitt with assaulting his wife Augusta.
The complainant was not in attendance when the case
was called on, and Mr. Tyrwhitt, carrying out his invari-
able rule of never discharging a man charged with assault-
ing a female until he has learned what the female has to
say, ordered the complainant to be sent for.

The complainant, on attending, said she did not wish to
press the charge against her husband, taking into conside-
ration that she had children to provide for.

Mr. Tyrwhitt asked the complainant whether the black
eye she had got was given to her by her husband.
The complainant said it was, but that she did not wish
to injure her husband.

Mr. Tyrwhitt said he well knew by experience how it
was women begged their husbands off after they had
assaulted them, and the consequence was that they got ill-
used ten times worse. The complainant, no doubt, was
afraid to press the charge for the sake of her children, and
evidently only wished for peace. He (Mr. Tyrwhitt)
must protect the complainant's life even against herself,
and he should, therefore, order the defendant to find two
bails in .£lO each to keep the peace towards his wife, and
he thought if the defendant was locked up for a little time
it would do him good.

STEALING 31A1tKED MONEY.—"Mary Lerigan,s a milk
carrier, in the employ of Mr. Sims, of Jermyn-street,
dairyman, was charged with stealing marked money from
her employer's till.

Mr. Edward Lewis, of Groat Marlborough-street, ap•
peered for the prisoner.

The case having been proved by Mr. Sims, and Mr.
Lewis having stated that he believed it was the wish of
the prosecutor thlt the prisoner should be dealt sum-
marily with, and Mr. Sims not objecting, Mr. Tyrwhitl
committed the prisoner for 14 days' with hard labour.

The most distressing appeals have been made to
Mr. Douglas for permission to remove the bodies
from the workhouse, but of course such cannot be
done till the coroner, Dr. Lankester, has made his
inquiry, and on Mr. Douglas informing that gen-
tleman of the great desire that existed amongst the
relatives of those lying dead at the workhouse, he
at once consented to open the inquest this evening,
as far as the identification of the bodies, which will
enable the friends to remove them to their own
homes.

The inquiry will embrace the case of all those
who may be recovered from beneath the ice up to
five o'clock this evening.
We shall publish a full list of those identified up
to that hour, with as much as possible of the pre-
liminary proceedings in our late edition.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET.
(This Day.)

Market opens with a better demand Sales, pro
bably, 7,000 bales.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

(BY TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Arrived, Jan. 15.—Romulus, from Gothenburg ; Joseph
Somes, from Dantzic.
Arrived, Jan. IG.—St. Bode, from Gothenburgh ; Flocha
(steamer), from Ghent.

DEAL, Wednesday Morning.

Passed-- Sansparoil, for Brixham ; Rhoda, for St.
Michael's ; Orissa, for Greenock ; Midlothian, for St.
Helena all from London.

DEATH OF THE MARQUIS OF EXETER.-STAM-
Pony, Wednesday Morning.—After a lingering illness,
Lord Exeter died at Burghloy-house at 1 o'clock this
morning.

37TH MIDDLESEX RIFLE VOLUNTEERS.—No. 1
Company Challenge Cup was competed for at Willesden
on Saturday last during a snow storm, when it was won by
Quartermaster Sergeant Hays. The cup is to become the
property of the member who first wins it three times. It
has now been won twice by Quartermaster Sergeant
Hays, twice by Colour Sergeant Gatfield, and once by
Corporal Harvey.