The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-04 00:00:00

'THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1867.

It without hesitation, sanctioned by Lord Abinger's
proffered approval to the jury. In the meantime,
says Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, Mr. Wainewright,
I,3aving his wife and child in London, had acquired
;he confidence and enjoyed the hospitality of the
members of an English family residing in Bou-
logne. While he was thus associated, a proposal
was made to the Pelican office to insure the life of
his host for five thousand pounds ; which, as the
medical inquiries were satisfactorily answered, was
accepted. The office, however, received only one
premium, for the life survived the completion of the
insurance only a few months ; falling after a very
short illness, and singularly enough,with symptoms
not unlike those of Dr. Griffith; Mrs. Abercrombie
and poor Phcebe. The world is full of coincidences.
And here we feel compelled to throw off our
mask, to turn suddenly on the delight of the bou-
doirs and salons of May Fair, and, shaking him by
the throat, proclaim him a poisoner—one of the
most cruel, subtle, and successful secret murderers
since the time of the Borgias. It is now well known
that he wore a ring in which he always carried
strychnine, crystals of the Indian nux vomica, half
a grain of which blown into the throat of a rabbit
kills it dead in two minutes ; a poison almost taste-
less, difficult of discovery, and capable of almost
infinite dilution. On the night the Norfolk gen-
tleman in difficulties at Boulogne died,Wainewright
had insisted on making his friend's coffee, and
passed the poison into the sugar. The poisoner
had succeeded before this in winning the affections
of his friend's daughter, and gaining a supreme
influence in the house.
Wainewright, obtaining the insurance, left Bou-
logne, and became a needy wanderer in France, but
being brought under the notice of the correctional
police for passing under a feigned name, was ar-
rested. In his possession was found the vegetable
poison called strychnine—a fact which, though un-
connected with any specific charge, increased his
liability to temporary restraint, and led to a six
months' incarceration in Paris. After his release
he ventured to visit London, when, in June, 1837,
soon after his arrival, he was met in the street by
Forester, the police-officer, who had identified him
in France, and was committed for trial for forgery.
July 5, 1837 (seven years after the death of Miss
Abercrombie), Wainewright, then forty-two years
old, " a man of gentlemanly appearance, wearing
moustachios," was tried at the Central Criminal
Court for forging certain powers of attorney to sell
out two thousand two hundred and fifty-nine pounds'
worth of bank stock, which had been settled on him
and his wife at their marriage. This was a capital
offence at that time, but the bank not wishing to
shed blood, Wainewright at first declared himself
not guilty, but eventually pleaded guilty, by advice
of his lawyer, to two of the minor indictments out
of the live, and was therefore only transported for
life.

The moment the chief insurance offices found
that Wainewright was under sentence of transpor-
tation for forgery, they determined to open nego-
tiations with the villain, and get from him certain
confessions necessary to their interests; little doubt-
ing that he would make them " for a considera-
tion." He made them readily enough when he had
struck his bargain. At this time, he was confined
in Newgate (modern prison discipline had not then
found its way into that gaol) in a cell with a brick-
layer and a sweep : in which polite company he
was actually recognised, through a strange chance,
by Mr. Procter and Mr. Macready, visiting the pri-
son with the Conductor of this Journal. When the
agent of the insurance offices had extracted from the
ruffian all that he wanted to know, that gentleman
said, in conclusion :—" It would be quite useless,
Mr. Wainewright, to speak to you of humanity, or
tenderness, or laws human or Divine ; but does it
not occur to you,' after all, that, merely
regarded as a speculation, Crime is a bad
one ? See where it ends. I talk to you in a shame-
ful prison, and I talk to :a degraded convict."
Wainewright returned, twirling his moustache :
" Sir, you City men enter on your speculations, and
take the chances of them. Some of your specula-
tions succeed, some fail. Mine happen to have
failed; yours happen to have succeeded; that is the
difference, sir, between my visitor and me. But
I'll tell you one thing in which I have succeeded to
the last. I have been determined through life to
hold the position of a gentleman. I have always
done so. Ido so, still. It is the custom of this
place that each of the inmates of a cell shall take
his morning turn of sweeping it out. I occupy a
cell with a bricklayer and a sweep. But by G—
they never offer me the broom !"

On the same occasion, or on another similar oc-
casion iu the same place, being asked how he could
find it in his heart to murder the trusting girl who
had so confided in him (Miss Abercrombie), he re-
flected for a moment, and then returned, with a cool
laugh ; " Upon my soul I don't know—unless it
was that her legs were too thick."
In Newgate the gay-hearted creature was
sublime. He asserted himself as a poet, a philo-
sopher, and a martyr. Ile claimed for himself "a
soul whose nutriment is love, and its offspring art,
music, divine song, and still holier philosophy."
When writing even from the bold of the convict-
ship to complain of his being placed in irons, he
said : " They think me a desperado. Mel the com-
panion of poets, philosophers, artists, and musicians
a desperado You will smile at this. No—l
think you will feel for the man, educated and
reared as a gentleman, now the mate of vulgar
ruffians and country bumpkins."
In 1842 the dandy convict was admitted as in-
patient of the General Hospital in Hobart Town,
where he remained some years.
Discharged from the hospital, the elegant-
mannered poisoner, his dress with no style at all
about it now, his spelling rather wandering, and
his bearing less refined than it used to be, set up as
an artist at Hobart Town, where *sketches by him
still exist. His conversation to lady-sitters was
often indelicate. A writer in a Melbourne paper,
6th July, 1841, says of this dangerous and
abandoned wretch (we must use plain words for
him now): "He rarely looked you in the face. His
conversation and manners were winning in the
extreme ; he was never intemperate, but neverthe-
less of grossly sensual habit, and an opium-eater.
As to moral character, he was a man of the very
lowest stamp. He seemed to be possessed by an
ingrained malignity of disposition, which kept him
constantly on the very confines of murder, and he
took a perverse pleasure in traducing persons who
had befriended him. There is a terrible story told
of his savage malignity towards a fellow-patient in
the hospital, a convict, against whom he bore a
grude. The man was in a state of collapse—his
extremities were already growing cold. Death had
him by the throat. Wainwright's snakish eyes
kindled with unearthly fire. He saw at once tho
fatal sign. He stole softly as a cat to the man's
pallet, and hissed his exultation into his dying ear :
" You are a dead man, you In four-
and-twenty hours your soul will be in hell, and my
arms will be up to that (touching his elbow) in
your body, dissecting you.'"
Such was the ingrained and satanic wickedness
of this triple murderer. Twice this delight of
society attempted to poison people who had become
obnoxious to him. Even in that polluted corner of
the world the man was dreaded, hated, and
shunned. No chance homicide had imbrued his
hands, but a subtle series of cowardly and atrocious
crimes. His sole friend and companion was a cat,
for which he evinced an extraordinary and senti-
mental affection. He had always been fond of
In 1852 this gentlemanly and specious
monster was struck down in a moment, as with a
thunderbolt, by apoplexy. Ho bad survived his
victims sixteen years.
Perhaps no blacker soul ever passed from a body
than passed the day that Wainewright the
poisoner went to Lin account. Well says Mr.
Sergeant Talfourd
" Surely no contrast presented in the wildest
romance between a gay cavalier, fascinating Naples
or Palermo, and the same hero detected as the
bandit or demon of the forest, equals that which
time has unveiled between what Mr. Wainewright
seemed and what he was.
It iq this monster whom Lord Lytton has im-
mortalised in his powerful novel of Lucretia.

cats.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

CAMBRIAN.

The adjourned half-yearly meeting of this com-
pany was held yesterday at the Langharn Hotel ;
Mr. J. W. Johns in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN said that at the original meeting
they did little more than read the report of the di-
rectors and present their statement of accouats.
The board had had very long discussion as-to what
course should be recommended to the shareholders
on the present occasion. There was due on revenue
account for dividend £21,516, but he was sorry to
say that on going more fully into that item they
found it had been reduced in consequence of bad
debts of £2,900, which he believed were beyond re-
covery. In the £21,500 there was an item of £14,800
debited against Mr. Savin's inspectors, from which
deductions were made to the extent of £7,170, and
this reduced the £21,5C0 by that amount. Beyond
this there was £4,760 advanced by Mr. Savin's in-
spectors, so that in fact they had to deduct £12,300.
In addition to that there were disputed items as to
waggon and engine hire, which, he feared, would
reduce the balance to £2,900. The board had,
therefore, decided that he should ask the meeting
simply to adopt the report and accounts, with the
exception of all parts relating to the distribution and
declaration of a dividend. The comphny had had a
sequestration issued against their funds on an ex parte
statement by a gentleman who had a slate quarry on
a portion of the railway. A great deal had heen made
of this, although it did not relate to any debt of the
company or any claim upon them, but simply to an
engineering question as to the height of a bridge
passing over a tramway, the complaint being that
the bridge was six inches lower than it ought to be
according to the Act of Parliament. That
sequestration was at once removed upon proper re-
prezentatione being made to the Court. however,
parties in the country did not know it was removed;
they became alarmed and prayed for the payment
of their accounts, and one gentleman, who had
given the company time to settle his account, at
once put in the bailiff for £9OO. Within 24 hours
after the sequestration was removed the claims were
paid, and the company were now free from any
such matters. The interest on all debentures of the
Cambrian line proper had been paid with the ut-
most regularity until the peeseut month. There
was now due about £4,294, which would be paid
about the 15th inst., and it was a great hardship
that this had not been paid with the usual regularity,
owing to proceedings taken by the banker and en-
gineer in consequence of the sequestration. The
traffic was ample to pay every possible claim for de-
benture interest; the total debenture interest was
£10,600 for the half-year on the Cambrian capital,
and the Coast capital £10,270 for the half-year,
making for the year £20,900. Their traffic account
for the past six months showed, after paying the
working expenses, a balance of £34,000, and when
the Welsh Coast was opened, and it would be
opened very shortly, they would have an additional
£lO,OOO for the six months, giving the company
£44,000 with which to meet a payment of £29,000.
There would be a bill in Parliament, which, how-
ever, had not received the sanction of the Board,
for the purpose of giving a preference upon a cer-
tain amount which they required to raise. The
amount required was not to be expended upon new
works, but for
paying off their debt on capitaf ac-
count, and must be paid to preserve the credit of
the company. The question would, of course, be
submitted to a special meeting of the company at
themprr.ollpelar
otte.proposed the appointment of a com-
mitteespuobwseeciruteontcmalleeftoirugall;
information, of i tdi g
ra
et ip
00
wrttoitah
but, after a long discussion, the amendment was not
pressed, and the meeting was adjourned to the 21st
of February.

WELSH LINES.
A report has been issued by the committee of de-
brnture and shareholders formed to promote the
amalgamation of Welsh railways, from which it
appears that the scheme is not so well supported as
anticipated. Of the 19 lines of railway included in
the original project, two (the Pembroke and Tenby,
and Manchester and Milford) have been withdrawn
at the request of the contractors. The Swansea
Vale, Llanelly, and Neath and Brecon are promot-
ing separate sherries of amalgamation, and the same
objection applies to the Nantile, Carnarvonshire,
Denbigh, Ruthin, and Cor‘ven, and the Mold and
Denbigh, situate in the northern portion of the
Principality. The consequence is that by these and
other defections there only remain the
Cambrian,
the Brecon and Merthyr, the Mid-Wales, and the
Potteries, Shrewsbuey and North Wales Railways,
which can under the existing standing orders of Par-
liament be amalgamated. The directors of the Cam-
brian, in reply to the application sent to them by
the Amalgamation Committee, stated that the time
has not yet arrived for them to enter upon the consi-
deration of the question of an union with other
companies, and the Brecon and Merthyr Board stated
that they were unable to give a reply until they
were better acquainted with the terms upon Which
it was proposed to include their line in the
union. Notwithstanding these objections the pro-
moters of the amalgamation have lodged a bill for
the union of the four companies last named ; but the
committee state in their report that they consider
their duties will, for the present at all events, end
with the deposit of the bill, and it will remain for
i
the directors and shareholders of the companies
inta
orm end
otto
nconsiderface the propriety
hostile
movementsn a like
direction on the part of other Companies.

SANITARY ACT OF 1866.—The regulations under
this act relating to lodging-houses are now coming into
operation. Rules approved by the dome Secretary have
been issued by several of the districts in the metropolis.
Those issued by the Board of Works for the St. Giles's dis-.
trict are very stringent. Among the most important it is
specifiedouse,in lodgings, thatn o p
oror to b person shall
occupiedl
in
let any ouse or part of a
house, lodgings
by
mem-
bers of more than one family, and in which more than two
persons shall sleep in one room, until such house, and the
person proposing to lot the same, are registered in the office
of the Board of Works. In no case will an accommodation
of less than four hundred cubic feet of space be alloWed
to each person. Persons letting such house, or part of a
house, must have the walls and ceilings of every room,
&c., thoroughly cleansed and liniewashed at least four
times every year. Cellars are to be cleaned out once a
week, and limewasbed as often as needed. Th'e rooms aro
to be ventilated, &c., to the satisfaction of the medical
health officer. Proper accommodation must also be pro-
vided for washing, and such a supply of water for the use
of lodgers, with proper covered cisterns, as shall be satis-
factory to the health officer. The cistern to afford at least
fifteen gallons a day to each inmate. The dustbin must
be emptied once a week, and for every twenty persons a
separate water-closet is to be provided. Every house
not resident in or near the registered house must
appoint, as agent, sonic person who is resident in or
near to the house to see that the regulations are carried
out. Every house and room shall bo, open to the medical
health officer for inspection between the hours of 8 o'clock
a.m. and 10 p.m. Any persons violating the regulations will
be liable to a penalty not exceeding 40s. for any one offence,
with an additional penalty
not exceeding 20s. for every day
during a default in obeying such regulations shall continue.
The regulations issued by tho Poplar district, also approved
by tho Home Secretary, are of a somewhat similar doscrip-
tiun ; but there are additional clauses to the effect that no
room the ceiling of which is on a level with or below the
level of the footpath or roadway adjoining, and no room used
as a kitchen or scullery, and no room not lighted and venti-
lated directly from the exterior, and no room on the roof of
the house not furnished with an open fireplace or flue shall
be permitted to be occupied as a sleeping-room, nor shall
any undergound room be permitted to be occupied unless
specially certified by the medical health officer as fit to bo
so occupied. The number of persons in each sleeping room
is to be determined by the cubical contents of the room;
for instance, if the room is used only as a bedroom there is
not to be more than one person to every 300 cubic feet of
air ; if used as a sleeping room and also as a day room,
then there is not to be more than one person to every 400
cubic feet of air. Persons of different sexes are not to oc-
cupy the same sleeping room, except ono married couple,
or parents with children under 10 years of age. When a
person is attacked with fever, smallpox, or other infectious
disease, immediate notice must b 3 given to the medical
health officer.

AMORE FENIAN SEIZURES AND ARRESTS IN IRE-
LAND.—We learn by telegraph that seventeen stands of
new arms and a lot of bayonets and swords have been
found in a barn belonging to Mr. John Scanlon, near
Bridgetown, county Clare. Scanlon, who disclaims all
knowledge of the matter, and two of his sons, have been
committed fcr trial.

THE WEATHER.

Since the snow storm of Wednesday a keen frost
has set in, and the snow which then fell remains on
the ground. On Wednesday night the thermometer
fell in London to 17 deg., and at noon yesterday it
stood at 26 deg., and nearly all day it remained be-
low freezing point. The roads in consequence were
crisp and slippery ; so dangerous were they to horses
that the London General Omnibus Company ceased
to ply their conveyances. The other omnibuses
which continued to run did so with the greatest dif-
ficulty, and, in steep places, to the manifest risk of
the horses. The authorised fares for hackney car-
riages were totally disregarded by cab-drivers, who
fixed their own charges on taking up a fare. The
conductors of omnibuses had in a similar manner
doubled or even tripled their usual charges. At the
railway stations yesterday the trains were again late,
but not so much behind time as they were on Wed-
nesday.

The very bad condition of the streets gave rise to
many complaints among tradesmen, and some efforts
made to remedy the evil. At a meeting of the vestry
of St. James, at Westminster, the subject was dis-
cussed, and ral explanation was offered of the reason
why so little had been done. Some time since the
vestry outhorised Mr. Howell, their surveyor, to
engage men in case of a fall of snow, and make ar-
rangements to have it carted away. Mr. Howell
reported that he had been unable to carry out these
instructions, notwithstanding the efforts that had
been made to engage men and carts. He had
offered to engage almost any number, but not one
appeared. A rough calculation be had made would
he said, show that any number of men, horses, and
carts would have produced no effect on the great
accumulation of snow. In Sackville-street alone
there were fully 80 loads of snow to be removed,
and each load would have required three horses ;
thus 80 carts would require 240 horses, and at the
lowest computation 100 men, to fill in anything like
time. In Great Marlborough-street there would
have been 500 loads at least to be removed. Then
the question arose, where it ;was to be removed to.
The distance it would have to be taken would render
it almost impossible to come back for another load
the same day. They would require to give high wages.
A man earning ss. per day could now easily earn 10s.
a day or more in the suburbs, and from private in-
dividuals he would receive hospitable treatment in
the shape of meat and drink. He regretted they
could not make the attempt to clear the streets, but
with such men as they had (and their own contrac-
tors, he had reason to believe, were deserted by their
men, or nearly so) what could be done was done, in
clearing such portions of the footways as were not
before private houses, and in clearing crossings,
channels, &c. That morning they were spreading
ballast, the contractors having no small difficulty in
supplying it.

On many parts of the London, Chatham, and
Dover and the North Kent section of the South-
Eastern Railways the lines throughout nearly the
whole of Wednesday, and occasionally yesterday,
were partially .bloeked, notwithstanding the exer-
tions used by the officials. All the trains running
were out of time, while in the early part of the day
some of the trains were as much as three hours late
at the several stations, consequent on the difficulty
experienced by the engines in ploughing their way
through the accumulated drifts. Between Roches-
ter and Farningham the snow on some parts of the
line had drifted to a depth of six feet, completely
stopping the traffic of the trains until the lines had
been partially cleared. On the Sevenoaks branch
the snow in many places completely barred the
passage of engines and carriages, and, as a con
sequence, all the trains in the early part of Wednes-
day were some hours late. On South-Eastern Rail-
way large gangs of labourers were employed up to
last night in clearing the line of the snow where the
accumulations were deepest. On both the Lou-
don, Chatham, and Dover and South-Eastern
Railways the continental traffic was partially inter-
rupted ; but yesterday, under the energetic exertions
used by the officials, it was carried on with but com-
paratively little delay. Every precaution was adopted
by the officers of both companies to have the tires of
the wheels of the carriages carefully examined, in
order to prevent any accident arising on account of
the frost. During the whole of yesterday, owing
to the streets at Chatham and Rochester being par-
tially blocked with the snow, locomotion was at-
tended with great difficulty, and several accidents,
fortunately none of them very serious, occurred. In
the country districts around the snow is described
as having fallen to a considerable depth, with deep
drifts. In one instance, a flock of about 100 sheep
was discovered to have been buried beneath a snow-
drift, but with some trouble they were all rescued.
Yesterday the frOst was very severe, the thermo-
meter in the afternoon marking 24 deg. From the
appearance of the clouds a further fall of snow yes-
terday evening appeared imminent.

The heavy fall of snow which took place yester-
day caused a very serious delay to the passenger
and goods trains on the Reading and Reigate branch
of the South-Eastern Railway. The 6 a.m. train
from Charing-cross, which calls at stations on the
Reigate branch, completed its journey in reasonable
time considering the weather which prevailed, but
the case was widely different with the 9 5 from
Charing-cross, which left Red-hill juncture for
Reading between 10 and 11, being due at the latter
town at 12 30. As:the morning advanced a brisk
wind arose and drifted the snow, which lay in huge
masses on the line, and completely biocked up seve-
ral of the cuttings. In the Dorking cutting, par-
ticularly, the snow was so deep that the second
down-train was brought to a stand, the engine
being literally imbedded in the snow. A large
number of men were set to work, engines were
sent off from Red-hill Junction, and the officials
used every exertion to clear the metals sufficiently
to allow of the progress of the train ; but such was
the unavoidable delay that it was about six hours
late, the journey from Charing-cross to Reading
having actually occupied more than nine hours.
The traffic on the main line and branches of the
South-Western Railway was also seriously inter-
rupted, and on the Great Western Railway most
of the trains throughout the day were delayed. In
the morning the traffic below Didcot was seriously
checked, the snow having drifted in such a manner
that considerable labour was necessary to clear the
line. The engiue-drivers and stokers not only had
to contend with the driving snow and the exposure
to cold, but were greatly perplexed by the difficult),
to keep their fires going, the snow having extin-
guished them in several instances.
In the district round Shields yesterday the snow-
storm had ceased, and a keen frost, with a clear
sky, had set in. The weather was intensely cold,
and more snow is lying in Northumberland than
there has been for some years. The weather was
extremely inclement yesterday, the snowstorm and
high wind being accompanied by thunder and light-
ning. The sea was very tempestuous, and the
vessels that are arriving in the Tyne, report having
encountered stormy weather. The bark British
Banner, belonging to this port, went ashore at
Hartlepool yesterday, and the brig Augusta, from
Stilton, was taken into Hartlepool dismasted.
Of the weather in Scotland the Scotsman of yes-
terday says :—" On Wednesday the severe weather
with which the New Year was ushered in continued.
The frost continued with unabated intensity through-
out the forenoon and greater part of the day. To-
wards eveniug showers of snow, drifted by a piercing
wind from the north-east, followed one another in
close succession, the whole sky presenting the appear-
ance of what weatherwise people called a feeding
stern.' Our skaters and curlers have not had an
opportunity of enjoying their favourite winter sports,
the ice on the lochs in the neighbourhood of the city
not being in a safe condition. A considerable portion
of St. Margaret's was bearing yesterday, and also
the southern parts of Dunsappie ; butDuddingston,
which was covered with a thin coating of ice, has
been so overlaid with drifted snow as to present but
unfavourable prospects of being fit for either curling
or skating purposes for a day or two at least. Both
on St. Margaret's and Dausapi,ie skaters were busily
enjoying the exhilarating sport. As indicating the
severity of the storm in the south, it may be men-
tioned that the train from Carlisle due here about
half-past 5 o'clock in the evening did not arrive until
about a quarter past 9, having by the way stuck fast
in some sft.• of snow near Fonntainhall. The train

due by the Caledonian Railway about 9 o'clock last
night was also detained by the snow, and did not ar-
rive until about half-past 1 this morning. Our
Galashiels correspondent writes :—" This district
has been visited by the heaviest fall of snow expe-
rienced for many years, and at 8 p.m. on Wednesday
the fall still continued. It was impossible to say
what depth of snow had fallen, as the wind was
blowing strong, and the snow is drifted in immense
wreaths. The country post-runners could not reach
their districts yesterday owing to the fury of the
storm. The main line of railway has been kept
open with great exertion, but some of the trains
have been late by one hour. On the line to Peebles
by Las;,wade matters are worse.' "