The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LQNDON, S.ATURDAY- EVENT., JULY 10, 1858.

IYIARXET

1i? )

THE FETE AT CREMORNE.

Leasing
Companies

Closing Prices
tkis thy

Business
tills day.

COVENT GARDEN.
The supplies of fruit and vegetables were extensive,
and the demand ruled steady, at our quotations :

TRAIN STRUCK BY LIGETTNING.

Consequenc3s of a most serious nature were
nearly arising on Thursday afternoon out of the
thunderstorm which passed over Birmingham and
South Staffordshire at that time. The 4 o'clock
train left Birmingham for Wolverhampton on the
Stour Valley line amidst a lit avy shower of lain
and hail, After about 20 minutes the train out-
stripped the shower, but when at Deepfield, it wat,
again overtaken, and struck by the lightning. The
flash wAs followed by a report of a most unusual
sound, not that of a sudden explosion which often
accompanies very near thunder clap, but rPsem-
blitz more the crack of a • hundred rifles, exploded
close to the train.

THE AIGEIVrIAM 'CU' EDER.

The weather is no respecter of persons. The
leaders of the fashionable world may organise a fete Yesterday morning, Inspectors Whither and Ro-
bi
the ladies patronesses ma distribute their nson, of the detective force, were busily engaged
—y
vouchers with all due liberality and discrimination in making inquiry at Dagenham respecting the
murder of George Clarke, the police
—and the fair and the brave may anticipate the
'mysteriousnovelties of the Cremorne fairyland ; but, alas ! theconstable of the K division, and, from importantinformation they have received during the last few
pitiless rain comes down, anti both literally and days in the village and its outskirts, they fully ex-
figuratively damps all these brilliant expectations. pect to bring forward two witnesses who ( art give
It is probalde they© never was a fete more elabo- , corroborative evidence in connexion. with this tra-
rately or expensively arranged than that which came . gical affair.
off under such watery auspices yesterday evening. I It is the inter:aka of the Police Commissioners of
The high position of the patrons and patronessss ; the, nit ttopolitan force to instruct counsel to attend
gave such a preliminary stamp of fashion to the ar- this (Saturday) morning for the prosecution. (If the
rangements that every one waeanxions to be present, accused, • Geo. Bleveitt, at the Court fictive, adjoin-
and, as a consequence, all the tickets were disposed ing Ilford Gaol, where the prisoner will be !brought
of before the fete. But the rain spoiled all. It was up for re-examination at 10 o'clock.
to no purpose that Mr. Simpson had divided his Chinese platform into thirty-two compartments The following is a copy of the placard iseued by
each emblazoned with the hetaldic achievement of ,
murder :
e Government shortly after the discover of the
a patroness or patron, and had exhausted the illu- "
One Hundred Pounds Reward.—W'hereas on
minative art in giving brilliancy to the scene. The
the rain washed m
away the coats °farsrain ut out night of the 29th of June, or the ti naming of
, the p the 30th, George Clarke, a constable of the K divi-
the variegated lamps, the rain gave the rare .
exotics a bitter lesson on the variability of our sion of the metropolitan police, was bru‘taily mate
I. dered while on duty by some pereon or persons un-
climate. Pools of water occupied the floor over known, in a corn-field in the parish of Dagen-
which the waltzers should have whirled, and soli-
ham, in the county of Essex, a reward of 100/.
tary men, armed with saturated umbrellas stood will be paid by her Majesty's Government to
around at long intervals, and meditated ,on the any person who shall give such information as
mutability of all sublunary affairs. Eighteen shall lead to the apprehension and conviction of
hundred square yards of dancing surface was a desert, and the costly mirrors w the offender or offenders, and the Right lion.
form was profusely decorated, reflected nothing but will advise the grant of her Majesty's pardon to any
a moist and vapoury sell; ude. Tho proprietor had I accomplice (not being the person who actually corn-
anticipated far different results, and there is no mitted the murder) who wiil give such information
doubt that had the weather been at all favourable as eliall lead to the same result.
"
he would not have been disappointed. As it was, ,
Metropolitan Police-office, July, 1846."
upwards of 1,500 members of the hut ton mus- There was also a reward of 10/. offeree for the
tered in gay defiance of Vie rain, and groups of discover_, .
fair ladies, in opera cleeks and satin shuts , might quest to the murder, which yof the body of Ciarke
has a few days sub e-
not been paid,
be seen !rudgiug valiantly, mei wholly regardless although the money is due to the oung
of coughs and celds, from one indoor amusementman Page,
wh it ili by e remembered, first found the body
to another. And here we would mo, w
ention a deft- of the ceased in the corn field on the morning of
ciency in the arrangements which may easily be the 3d of July, 1846.
remedied in case a seeond fete should take place Yesterday forenoon Mr, Superintendent Howie
under happier auspices. The company, the majo- proceeded to Dagenham and other places in Esiex,
rity of whom were evidently new to the locality, to trace, if possible, persons connected with the
had the greatest difficulty in finding their way, and murder, and to obtain some testimony relative to a
g. oups of ladies might be seen stsnding heipl;essly female who, it is alleged, washed the clothes of the
under the rain, while their cavaliers ran hither
and thither anxiously inquiring where was the man Chalk after the perpetration of the fearful
cir- tragedy.
cus, or the ball-room, or the hotel, as the ease might A. plan of the spot where the murder was com-
bo. A few attendants placed at the corners, or mitted has been taken, showing the farm of Mr.
even an illuminated finger-post here and there, Collier, the musion of Mrs. Sarah Stone,
would have remedied all this inconvenience, and Mr. Britton 's farm, the cottaee of the ac-
we trust it will not b® forgotten next time. A cased !George Blewitt, the high-road from
considerable number of the company came early, Romford, the eleven-acre field, pond, and the corn
and dined at the hotel, where arrangements. had field which the murderers must have crossed in
been made on a scale of the greatest abundance,
and the pursuit of the deceased Clarke from the barn wLere
of course were in time for the balloon, in it is alleged the prisoner (Blewitt) and his cotn-
which Lis ut. Chambers made his solitary ascent panions were burglariously engaged ou the night
they would have been also in time for the Morris of the murder.
and Maypole dances, only that it would have been
thereadding insult to injury to have introduced such fine It has been stated in one of the morning journals
weai herthat the throat of the deceased was not cut. On
amusements on an evening when was the contrary, the neck exhibited two mort-d.
nothing but "water, water, everywhere." Later wounds, which the medical gentleman (who was
in the evening, the carriages of the beau monde
exained on Monday week, and ave testimony at
thronged the King's-road entrance, and the occu- them coroner's inquest in July, 184g6) stated on oath
pants soon filled the ballet theatre with au audience nearly separated the head from tire trunk. The
Which looked more suited to the imperial theatre stock which the deceased wore was completely cut
at Versailles, than so democratic a place of amuse- through, as the surgeon said, by a double-edged
ment as Cremorne. Ihe clueing, which would knife or dirk.
have probably been fastidiously criticised at her
Majesty's Theatre, was vociferously applauded, and
the company, unsated, at once rushed off to the
Marionette Theatre, wading ankle-deep all the way
in the new gravel which had been most carefully
laid down in anticipation of moonlight and dry
weather. Mr. Hugo Vamp was in great strength,
and commenced business with an occasional address
in which the names of the patrons and patronesses
were poetically introduced, and which, being de-
livered with that impressive although slightly
spasmodic gesticulation for whicu tins welt-known
stage manager is remarkable, elicited several dis-
tinct rounds of applause. The members of his com-
pany were then successively introduced, and each
gave a specimen of his or her quality. Lady Mac-
beth tore a passion to tatters with a refreshing
amount of vehemence ' • the tenor sang a song, and
the dancers pirouetted with a perseverance which
performers of a higher order of vitality would have
found it difficult to imitate. This last portion of
the introductory performance was loudly cheered,
but the classic burlesque which followed a propos
of the love affairs of Paris and Helen was not at- 1
tractive enough to keep the company. Juno me t
wits an untoward accident in being suddenly
drawn up to the roof in the midst of an iusinueting
address to the Judge of Beauty, and consequently
escaped the pain of seeing the apple given to her
rival. There was then a rush to the circus, with
plenty of rain as before the whole of the distance,
and even when the company thought themselves
seated out of harm's way, a succession of heavy
drops from the roof warned them that their har-
bour of -refuge had not been constructed for that
special occasion. But they had come to be amused,
and they were resolved to be so. They cheered
with astonishing resolution, threw bouquets to the
tight-rope dancer, and waited patiently until the
last cavalier bad retired from the sawdust, and
the last master of the ring had made his last
bow a la Widdicornb to his distinguished ad-
mirer.g. The dancing came next, for fireworks
would have been an impossibility, and as the
Chinese pla'form was under - water, the ballet
theatre was cleared for the dance, and was soon
filled with dancers who whirled abut with a vigour
which could not have been surpassed by the regu-
lar habitues of Cremorne. , The gentlemen wore
their hats and the ladies their bonnets, and altoge-
ther it was difficult to realise that this was a select
fete to which only the creme de la creme were ad-
mitted on production of voucher and payment of
half-a-guinea, and not the ordinary gathering of
Smith, Brown, Jones, and Robinson, which makes
Cremorne the jolliest place in town on the regular
nights. It is fortunate that, however weather may
have interfered with the enjoyment of the guests,
it did not prevent the receipt of a large sum of
Money applicable to the charities on whose behalf
the fete was originated. Neither, it is to be hoped,
will Mr. Simpson be much the loser. We were in-
formed
that after all expenses there would be up-
wails of 1,0001. applicable to charitable purposes.
Amongst the visitors were the Duchess of Cam-
bridge and the Princess Mary, and the following
distinguished personages, who however include but
a very small portion of the company :—Earl and
Countess Hardwicke, Lady Elizabeth York, Lady
Agnes York, Viscount Ingestre, Viscountess
Ingestre, Viscount Canterbury, Lord Ravens-
worth, Viscount Ranelagh, Lady Charlotte Eger-
ton, Lord Hervey, Earl St. Germans, Sir Ralph
and Lady Howard, Earl and COuntess of Shrews-
bury, Marquis and Marchioness of Lothian, Hon.
William and Mrs. North, Lord Ernest Bruce,
Lord Brougham, Hon. Arthur Russell, Right
lion. W. Beresford, Count Palffy, Mr. Tubbs, Mr.
Byng, M.P., Lord and Lady Villiers, Colonel and
Mrs. Darner, Capt. Bathurst, Hon. Edward Leigh,
Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Ashley, the Master of
Lovett, sic.
It is almost needless to add that admirable order
was preserved throughout, and that the police did
their duty with their usual tact and efficiency,

A REMARKABLE FRENCHMAN.

A letter from Monte Video, of May 29, brings in-
telligence of the death of a remarkable FrenchmanM. Rime ,
Bonpland, the naturalist, who died a few
days previously at San Borja, at the age of 85. M.
Bonpland was born at Rochelle in 1773. Ile wiLs
the son of a phriic;rn, and wi.s &nought up to his
father's peeiession, but the political events of the
early republic compelled him to enter the navy.
He made a long cruise as a naval surgeon, but took
the earliest opportunity of returning to Paris to
pursue his studies. There, at the house of M.
Corvisart, be made the acquaintance of a young,
German of about his own age, who afterwards be-
came known to the world as the celebrated Alex-
ander de Humboldt. These young men became in-
timate friends, and when M. de Humboldt under-
took his expedition to the equinoctial regions of
the new world, M. Bonpland accompanied him.
During this journey M. Bonpland collected and
classed upwards of six thousand plants, which were
then unknown to botanical writers. On his re-
turn to Fiance he presented his collection to
the Museum of Natural Hisery, and received
the thanks of Napoleon who granted him a
pen,ion. The Empress Josephine was very fond
of Bonpland ; she made him her factor at Mal-
maison, and often sowed in her gard-n there
flower seeds which'he had brought from the tropics.
After the abdication at Fontainebleau, M. Bon-
pland urged the Emperor to mire to Mexico te.
observe events. A few weeks after tendering this
fruitless advice he sat by the death-bed of Josephine
and heard her last words. Her death and the de-
finitive fall. of the empire leaving him nothing to
desire in France, he returned to South America,
and became a professor of natural history. az
Bueuos Ayres.. Subsequently he travelled
across the Pampas, the provinces of Santa Fe,
Chaco, and Bc.livia, and penetrated to the foot
of the Andes. Being there taken fora spy, he was
arrested by the Governor of Paraguay, and was de-
tallied a prisoner for eight years till 1829.. On his
release he directed his steps towards the Braz,ls,
and settled at San Bo! ja, where in a charming but
humble retreat, surrounded by orange groves and
European shrubs, he remained to the day of his
death, receiving with pleasure all French travellers
who visited him. lie was the author of (among
other works) " Les Plantes Equinexales" (1805),
" La Monographie de Melastones' (1806), " D
scription des Plantes rares et de la Malmaisoß"
(1813), " Vire des Cordilleras et Monuments Indi-
genie de l'Araerque" (1819), and (jointly with M.
de Humboldt) " Voyage aux Regions Equinoxales
du Nouveau Con tin ent."