The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-18 00:00:00

ANOTHER MURDER AT BIRMINGHAM.

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Birmingham is becoming famous for deeds of
violence. At a late hour on Tuesday night an
affray took place in a publichouse in Dale-end in
that town, the result of which is that a man named
Nl‘Nallay, a striker, was shot dead. The occurrence
is taus described in the Daily Post :—" About ten
o'clock at night, the deceased, in company with two
other men, entere 1 the gin shop of one Morris
Roberts, in which there was a number of persons
drinking. These persons asked to be supplied with
two pennyworth of whieky, but Roberts being under
the impression, as he said, that they had had enough
to drink, refused to supply them with any more
liquor. They pressed him, however, to give them
more drink, but Roberts firmly refused, and as he
was turning away from the counter to go to another
part of the shop the deceased picked up a plate which
lay upon the counter and threw it at him. Roberts,
observing the man's movements, stooped and avoided
the missile. The deceased and his companions fol-
lowed up this act by throwing the glasses on the
counter at Roberts, but ho escaped without being
struck. Going to a drawer, then, Roberts took
out a loaded six-barrelled revolver, and presented it
at the men, saying he would shoot them. The de-
ceased, retreating a few yards, said, Shoot, you
, shoot !' The other men—deceased's compa-
nions —cried out, " We'll settle the --,' and more
glasses were then thrown at Roberts, who fired upon
the party, the deceased immediately dropping to the
ground, but his fall was
.not noticed by the other
men, who continued their demonstrations of violence
towards the proprietor, whereuponone of the waiters
rushed to the door to prevent the escape of -his mas-
ter's assailants. Oneof the men, however, prevented
him shutting the door, and, after a struggle, got
into the street. At the request of Roberts the waiter
went up stairs to the front window aid sprung a
rattle for the purpose of obtaining the assistance of
the police. A crowd speedily collected, and a number
of persons rushed into the house to see what was the
matter ; but before this the two men who had ac-
companied the deceased, and who, like himself, ap-
peared to be Irishmen, had escaped. The people in
the house at the time took no part in the affray, but
when the police came in a gentleman who witnessed
what took place informed the officers of the facts,
and gave Roberts into custody. The prisoner, ex-
pressing his willingness to go with the police, put on
his jacket, and was then taken to the lock-up. The
deceased at this time was lying upon the floor of his
shop in a pool of blood, which had issued from his
mouth. Upon examination it was found he was in a
dying state, and that being so he was without loss
of time removed to the General Hospital, but the
unfortunate man died on the way to that -institu-
tion. The bullet, it was found, had entered at a
point about two inches from the left breast. Roberts
on being charged at the police-station made, a state-
ment to the effect that the deceased and two other
men came into his vaults and requested him to
serve them with some liquor ; that he refused;
that they then made use of bad expressions, and
threw plates and glasses at him ; and that it
was then he took a pistol and fired at him. Ro-
berts, who was very nervous and dejected, and ap-
peared to be in a state of great excitement, ex-
pressed himself as very sorry for what had hap-
pened. The prisoner, when taken into custody, had
the revolver in his hand. Roberts was for some
time an active supporter of Mr. Murphy ; but it
would seem that for some cause, or other he had
withdrawn himself from any participation in the
lectures at the Tabernacle. At the time -of the
riots his windows were broken, among those of
other friends of the so-called Protestant move-
ment ; and, being threatened with personal
violence, he is said to have kept the revolver at
hand, in readiness to defend himself. It is said
that the deceased and his companions were Roman
Catholics, and that their visit was made with no
friendly intentions. A man who was present at the
time of the outrage informs us that while the men
were throwing glasses at Roberts one of them ex-
claimed Let's settle the Murphyite.' "
Yesterday morning Roberts was brought up before
the magistrates, and remanded till Friday. Ile is
a noted pugilist.

SALES BY AUCTION.—The new act by which the
law relating to sales by auction is amended has just been
issued, and will take effect at the beginning of the next
month. It relates to sales of land, and in the interpreta-
tion clause a "puffer" is stated to mean a person appointed
to bid on the part of an owner. Whore sales are invalid
in law they are also to be invalid in equity, where a puffer
had bid. In future all conditions of sales ara to state whe-
ther the land is to be sold without reserve, or whether
there is a reserved price, or whether the right to bid is re-
saved. The act is not to extend to Scotland.

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Registrar-Generare. Return.)
In the week that ended on Saturday, July 13,
the births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,215 ; the
deaths registered, 2,703. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 23 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,061 boys and 1,066
girls, in all 2,127 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of the ten years
1837-66 the average number, corrected for increase
of population, in 1,997.

The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,262. It was the 28th week of the year, and
the average number of deaths for the week is, with
a correction for increase of population, 1,357. The
deaths in the present return arc less by 95 than
the estimated number.

One hundred and fifteen deaths from diarrhoea
were registered ; 12 iu the west, 35 in the north, 18
i❑ the central, 36 in the east, and 14 in the south
districts. Sixteen deaths from diarrhoea occurred
in Marylebone, four in the sub-district of All Souls,
two in the sub-district of the Rectory, seven in the
sub-district of Christchurch, and three in the sub-
district of St. John. In the two preceding weeks
the deaths in the metropolis from diarrhoea were 48
and 54 respectively. The deaths of ten children and
two adults from cholera or choleraic diarrhoea were
recorded last week. Thirteen persons died from
smallpox, 23 from scarlatina, and 44 from typhus.
Kensington (St. Mary, Paddington)—At 8, Wood-
field-road, on the 11th of July, the son of a police-
constable, aged two months, " cholera (nine hours)."
St. George's, (llanover-square)—At 21, Grosve-
nor-market, Davies-street, on the 12th of July,
the son of a wheelwright, aged 11 weeks, " choleraic
diarrhoea, collapse." Islington (West)—At 118,
Caledonian-road, on the 10th July, the daughter
of an office clerk, aged seven months, " cholera
(19 hours.") Islington (East).—At 1, Pickering-
street, on the 6th of July, the daughter of a shoe-
maker, aged 6 months, " infantile cholera (16
hours)." In the same sub-district, at 430, Essex-
road, on the 11th of July, the son of a compositor,
aged 10 weeks, " choleraic diarrhoea." Hackney
(West).)--At 10, Baines-buildings. on the 4th of
July, the son of a costermonger, aged 3 months,
" sudden, choleraic diarrhoea"—lnquest. Clerken-
well (St. James).—At 52, Little Sutton•street, on
the Bth of July, the son of a labourer, aged one
year, " choleraic diarrhoea." Shoreditch (llagger-
stone West.)—At 24, Ormesby-street, on the Bth
of July, the son of a butcher, aged 13 months,
" cholera." Whitecha,pel (Mile-end New-town.)--
At the Workhouse, from 12, Black Lion-yard, on
the sth of July, the widow of an engineer, aged 37
years, " choleraic diarrhoea (20 hours)." St.
George-in-the-East (St. Paul.)--At 27, Anthony-
street, on the 13th of July, a bandboxinaker, aged
46 years, "English cholera (21 hours)." Bermond-
sey St. Mary Magdalen.)—At 29, Brunswick-court,
on the 2d of July, the son of a general labourer,
aged 12 months, " choleraic diarrhoea (24 hours."
Lambeth (Church Ist.)—At 4, Dukes's Head-court,
on the 7th of July, the son of a labourer at gas-
works, aged nine months, " dentition, cholera in-
fantum (five days)."
Five persons were killed by horses or carriages in
the streets.

The annual rate of mortality last week was 21 per
1,000 in London, and 27 in Edinburgh, 21
in Bristol, 18 in Birmingham, 26 in Liverpool,
29 in Manchester, 29 in Salford, 22 in Sheffield,
23 in Leeds, 19 in Hull, 23 in Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, and 24 in Glasgow. The rate in Vienna was
28 per 1,000 during the week ending the 6th inst.,
when the mean temperature was 5.2 deg. Fahren-
heit higher than in the same week in London,
where the rate was 19.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.951 in.
The barometrical reading decreased from 30.16 in.
on Monday, July 8, to 29-57 in. on Saturday, July
13. The mean temperature of the air in the week
was 60.0 deg., which is 0-5 deg. above the average
of the same week in 50 years (as calculated by
nr. GLisher.) The highest day temperature was
75.3 deg. on Saturday, July 13. The lowest
night temperature was 45.0 deg., on Tuesday,
July 9. The entire range of temperature in the
week was therefore 30.3 deg. The mean of the
highest temperatures of the water of the Thames
was 65.4 deg. ; that of the lowest was 63.3 deg.
The difference between the mean-dew point tem-
perature and air temperature was 8.3 deg. The
mean degree of humidity of the air was 75, com-
plete saturation being represented by 100. Rain
fell to the amount of 0.031 in. on Saturday, July
13, on which day, after 3 p.m., distant thunder
was heard frequently in the S.W., and at 3.16 p.m.,
following a flash of lightning and heavy thunder,
rain began to fall, continuing to fall until 3.36 p.m.,
after this time rain fell at intervals until the even-
ing. According to a return furnished by the
engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, the
average daily quantity of sewage pumped into the
river Thames at the Southern Outfall Works, Cross-
ness, was 37,964,317 gallons, or 172,489 cubic
metres, quivalent to about as many tons by weight.