The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-21 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF A CAPTAIN-WRECK OF
THE 'BARQUE HENRY PORCHER.

John Calder, late boatswain of the above vessel,
narrated, as follows, the suicide of his superior
officer (the master), and the subsequent wreck of the
barque, while on the voyage from Quebec for
Grangemouth, with a cargo of timber :
" I cannot remember the day the ship left Quebec,
but the ship brought up in the river 10 miles below
Quebec on the 27th August, where she remained
anchored five days, during which time the captain
went on shore every day, and returned the worse
for drink. One night he remained on shore, and on
coming on board the following morning he was ex-
cited and his face was cut. The pilot left the ship
on the Bth of September. I heard the captain say
to him either to mind the money or to get the money.
After the pilot left and we had got to sea, the cap-
tain shot himself. Hearing the report of firearms,
I and the mate ran to the cabin, but on trying the
door we found it locked, but after knocking some
time it was opened by the captain, whom we found
bleeding from a wound in the breast. He had shot
himself with a revolver. The mate asked him what
he had done it for. The only answer he made was
that he had done it, and would do it again, for
what he had done. He added, there was no
remedy for him, and he knew he must die. Two
men were placed in the cabin to watch him ; he
died about six o'clock the following morning.
Twelve hours afterwards we committed his body to
the deep. Nothing particular occurred till we came
off Cape Wrath, when one of the crew fell over-
board off the foreyard, but we succeeded in picking
him up. We bore down for Thurso Bay amidst
very thick weather, rain, and blowing hard. The
ship was brought up off Littlehead, where she had
not rode long before the chain snapped. We let
got the anchor and brought her up, the wind still
blowing hard. The weather at night moderated,
and we got the other anchor and shifted maintop-
sail and mainsail, on account of the other ones
being split. Next morning a gale from N.E. ; let
go the other anchor. While we were in the act
of sending down royal and topgallant.yards, the
starboard chain parted. All hands were called
down from aloft, when the other chain parted, and
the ship drove on shore. In the course. of an hour
afterwards a line was thrown from the 'shore, and
by means of a cradle we were (15 in number) all
landed safely." Respecting the state of mind the
captain was in at the time of his committing sui-
cide, the steward, James Carlaw, has made a depo-
sition to the following effect :—" One night the
captain, on coming on board in liquor, said one had
given him a glass, and another had, and he thought
he was fashed with the blues.' He several times
took me to the ship's lockers, where the bread was
kept, and asked whether I heard the noise. There
was none that I could hear. He answered there
was—that the sailmaker was fighting with the blues.
I thoroughly believe that the captain was mad
when he shot himself. He had declared he would
destroy himself. The act was done on Sunday
night, the 12th of September."

THE LATE DREADFUL ACCIDENT IN

NEWPORT.

The inquest on the bodies of the father and three
children, suffocated by gas in a cellar last week, an
account of which appeared in The Sun, was resumed
on Tuesday, before Mr. W. H. Brewer, deputy-
coroner.
MarylA. Dunsten was the first witness examined.
She safd—l live in Church-street. On Friday,
about ten o'clock, I went down to the house of Chas.
Webb, and found that he and the family were not
up. He and the children are always very early
risers, and I wondered they were not up. I tried
the door but it was locked, and I then looked
through ;the window. I went back again after
breakfast, and saw Webb, his wife, and children,
in bed. Webb looked very black, and I thought
he had been out at work the previous day, and had
not washed himself. The child looked dirty, and
Mrs. Webb was all in a sweat. Thechild's head was
partly raised against the head of the bed, as if it
had been trying to get up. I went to Mrs. Flinn's,
next door, and told her, and she said, " Let them
alone." About half-past 12 my daughter went
down and broke open the window. She came back
and said the family were all dead. I rubbed them
with brandy. Dr. James was sent for, and he did
all he thought necessary. The priest was there, and
tried to restore the woman. About six months ago I
wrote to the gas company about a smell of gas, and
gave the note to the man who lit the lamps. He said
it should be remedied, but it continued up to the time
of the accident. When the opening for the drain-
age was made, the gasfitter came by and said there
was an escape of gas. I was ill all one day from
the effects of the smell, and when the men dug
about the pipe one of them took up some earth and
said he would take it to the Town-hall ; the smell
of gas in it was strong. This was some weeks
before the accident, and we suffered dreadfully
from it. Last Thursday night (when the accident
occurred) we could not open the door for it, it was
so bad. A sewer has recently been opened.
Alfred Williams said—l am engineer of the
Newport General Drainage Work, and town sur-
veyor. I produce a plan and other drawings of
the late lamentable accident in the court near
Church-street. A sewer has recently been con-
structed, under the general drainage contract in the
portion of Church-street near which the accident
occurred, as shown on the drawings.. It was a very
difficult work to execute on account of the tides,
the land-water, the soil, the narrowness of the
street, which is only thirteen feet wide, the close
proximity of railways, houses, pipes, inefficient
drains, &c. I consider it probable that the fracture
in the gas pipe found in Church-street occurred in
consequence of the unequal settlement of the
ground, portions of the pipe being in solid ground,
and other portions in newly-made ground over the
sewer. The floor of the dwelling lately occupied
by Charles Webb is below the level of high water
extraordinary springs. It is the duty of the con-
tractor for the drainage works to protect all pipes
and other works, properties, &e., that may be
affected by the drainage works, and to cause any
damage to be repaired, but I do not know of any
measures which would render the breaking or dis-
location of a pipe improbable under such circum-
stances. It had come to my knowledge that there
was an escape of gas in Church-street, and I spoke
to the engineer of the Gas Company (I think about
a day or two before the accident) and directed his at-
tention to it on the ground. I had, however, no antici-
pation of an accident such as that which has occurred,
nor had I any knowledge that the gas affected the
dwellings in the court where this house is situated.
The sewer was finished and the surplus earth re-
moved before the accident for a distance of about
12 yards beyond the break in the pipe. The
dwelling in which the accident happened is unfit
for human habitation. The rooms have the fol-
lowing cubical contents :—Kitchen, or living room,
950 feet ; front sleeping room, 280 feet ; back
sleeping room, 205. It was built before the Public
Health Act was passed. The dwellings in this
court are entirely shut in from light and air on
every side, excepting that in which a door and two
small windows • for each dwelling open on a con-
fined court. They are 41 ft. below the level of,
and have no communication with, or opening to,
Church-street, where the gas main is situated. I
believe that if the room had been ventilated no life
would have been lost, as, in my judgment, only a
small portion of the gas which escaped could have
got into it, the fracture in the gas pipe being
9 ft. 3 in. from the outside of the wall of the dwell-
ing on the Church-street side, where there is no
apparent opening. There is, however, a crack in
the wall. Breakage of gas pipes is not uncommon,
even where no works are in progress, as the pipes
are of thin cast iron, and not laid deep. About
two months ago I was annoyed for some time by
an escape of gas from a fracture in the main pipe
in front of my house. I have discovered this
morning a crack in the wall of the house, through
which the gas doubtless passed. I have also dis
covered a drain under the flag stones, and although
that is dry in itself, yet it communicates with sewers
which have gases in them. I think it very de-
sirable for the gas company to have a man to look
after the pipes, and see that they sustain no
damage.
James Ellis said—l am Inspector of the Drainage
Works. On Friday morning Mrs. Dunsten told
me that there was a man and two children bad
in bed. I asked her if it was the gas, and she
said, " Yes, but we think there is a little fever in
the house as well." She said people who live in the
cellars can't be as clean as they would be. She
asked me to attend to it, and I said I would. As I
was going into my house some one came up and said
to me, " Master, you must come back directly—
there be three on 'em dead in the house." I went
to the place and found three persons dead and two
living. I found a division in the gas pipe of an inch
and a quarter. Perhaps the pipe had been broken
about thirty hours. I cannot account for the frac-
ture of the pipe. During the progress of the drain-
age works I have called Mr. Bryan's-attention to
the escape of gas in several parts of the town: They
generally attended to the complaints, and Mr. Bryan
said he should at all times be very glad of my
speaking to him about escapes. •
Mr. Wm. James, surgeon, Commercial-road, said
—On Friday, between 12 and one o'clock, I was
called to Chas. Webb's house. I went down imme-

diately, and found Webb in the yard dead. I went
into the house and found two children there dead.
Outside were Mrs. Webb and another child in an
insensible state. I applied remedies to these two
to restore them to animation, and partly succeeded
in about WI hour or au hour and a half. I asked