The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-25 00:00:00

THE MURDER AT SHADIVI'LL.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Humphreys, coroner of
Middlesex, opened an inquiry at the Crown Tavern,
High-street, Shadwell, respecting the deaths of Francis
Andrew Brown, aged 21 years, and Elizabeth Sophia
Pickford, aged 34 years, whose bodies were found in the
waters of the London Ducks on Sunday morning. It will
be remembered that a Mr. Wag-staff, on coming up Gravel-
lane , Shadwell, a little after one o'clock on Sunday morning,
heard a man shouting for help. immeTately afterwards
he heard a splash in the water. Going on the bridge
he saw two Irish labourers there looking at the man in
the water. There was no way of reaching the drowning
man. Mr. Wagstaff came to the conclusion that the men
had thrown the drowning man over the parapet of the
bridge, and he asked them " Who threw him overboard ?"
The men answered to the effect that he had done so him-
self, and the result was that, the police coming up, all
three were taken to the station-house, and the two labourers,
Jeremiah Duggan and Timothy Donovan, were charged
with the wilful murder of the deceased. They were taken
before the magistrate on the charge, and the circum-
stances being full of suspicion against them, they were
remanded for a week, and are now in prison under the
charge. At the inquest, however, a chance question
put to a witness, Catherine Laye, brought out the fact
that the deceased man had threatened to commit suicide ;
other witnesses were sent for, and the whole complexion
of the case was changed. It was in searching for the body
of the young man Brown that that of Sophia Pickford was
discovered. After hearing evidence, the jury returned a
verdict in the case of the woman, " That the deceased,
Elizabeth Sophia Pickford, was found drowned, but how
she became drowned there was no evidence to skew;''
leaving the case of the young man undecided until Duggan
and Donovan could be brought before the court under a
warrant from the Home Secretary.

LOCAL MUSEUMS IN INDIA—The demand for
local museums of industry and fine arts which is now so
active throughout Europe has extended to India. The
Gcvernor-General has appointed a commission to report
on the conservation of the ancient architecture of India,
and the best means of obtaining casts of the finest sam-
ples. The Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western
Provinces has also organised a committee of action for his
district, and has laid down the principle that a museum
should be established at the headquarters of each revenue
division, and that the chief mus cuss' for the North•
Western Provinces should be at the seat of government.
Collections of diagrams and drawings illustrating. pro-
cesses and works on decorative art have been ordered
to be sent from England. The main objects of local
museums are :defined to be —first, the improvement of
manufactures; and, second the preservation of ancient and
improvement of modern art. An official memorandurr
states that in order to prevent natives from thinking that
European designs were desirable as copies for ornamenta
tion, it would be necessary to procure many modes of
illustration from different parts of India and the East
generally, and that " it is not, however, in the modern
art manfactures of India that the means can be found to
give new life to the native designer. It is in the architec
ture of the country that power and more original ideas car
be formed."

The Countess (Maria) of Harrington is suffering
from a very severe attack of bronchitis, and is still in a
very precarious condition. Dr. Cross, of New-street,
Spring-gardens, has been in attendance on the countess
since WedneSday last, on which day her ladyship was
taken ill. The Countess of Mountcharles has constantly
waited on her invalid mother during her serious illness.
SEIZURE OF GUNPOWDER AT SUNDERLAND.—A
large seizure of gunpowder was made at Sunderland on
Monday by inspector Elliott and Detective Milne, of the
Sunderland police force. On Sunday night the officers re-
ceived information that an Irishman named Joseph Spear,
resiling at Cumberland-terrace, had a qitantity of gun-
powder stored about his premises. Spear works at
Messrs. Scott and Horn's bottle works, and the officers
fell in with him on Monday morning as he was going to
his work. Spear at first denied that he had any gunpow-
der in his possession. But upon the officers telling, him
that they bad a warrant to search his house he took them
to a yard adjoining his own, where they found 4001 b con-
tained in three large bags in a coal-house. Spear said
that he had the gunpowder for blasting purposes. The
magistrates ordered it to be destroyed, and it was taken
out to sea in a eoble, and the bags were emptied into the
water.

THE LATE EXPLOSION IN NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE
—On Monday afternoon the town of Newcastle presented
a singularly gloomy appearance. Nearly all the shops and
places of business were either wholly or partially closed
the bells of the parish churches tolled muffled peals, and
between 1 and 2 o'clock a funeral procession fully a mile
long followed the remains of the late Sheriff, Mr. John
Mawson, killed by the explosion a week ago, to Jesmond
Cemetery, where they were interred by Archdeacon Prest.
Newcastle has enjoyed municipal privileges over 400 years,
and Mr. Mawson is the first sheriff who has died during
his term of office. It seems that according to the Munici-
pal Act the Town Council cannot elect a successor until
the 9th of November, 1868, and the Under-Sheriff will
have to perform the duties of the office in the meantime.
THE BOILER EXPLOSION AT MANCHESTER.—In
our report of the boiler explosion at the dyeworks of
Messrs. Chapman and Holland, Manchester, forwarded
on Monday evening, it was stated that at the time the
report was despatched the bodies of three persons killed
and five injured had been recovered from the
ruins. Subsequently three other dead bodies were dis-
covered, making the total number of killed by
this fatality six. A boy six years old, named Arthur
Holland, son of ono of the partners, was among the
killed. He had come home from school for the Christmas
holidays the day before, and had gone upon the premises
to play. Half his head was crushed away, and the poor
little follow's body was much disfigured. Twenty-six of
the workmen were fortunately away from the premises
when the explosion occurred, or the loss of life might have
been much greater.

SOUTII KENSINGTON MUSEUM.—A portion of the
objects obtained from Paris, either by loan or by purchase,
will be exhibited during the Christmas holydays. Among
the loans may be specified the extraordinary crystals lent
by his Majesty the Emperor of Austria, and the goldsmith
work of the fourth century lent by the -Roumanian Go-
vernment. Among the purchases are the cabinet by Four-
diuiois, which was the capo d'opera of furniture ; the beau-
tiful sphiette made at Milan in 1577, and Castellani's col
lection of peasant jewellery.

SAVINGS-BANKS.—The accounts of the old trustee

savings-banks on the eastern side of the kingdom show a
gradual decline in the deposits. At Lynn, in the year end-
ing Nov. 20, 1867, the sums received from depositors in
money were £9,532 ; and the sums actually paid to deposi-
tors in money, including interest, within the year were
£13,483. The total balance due to depositors Nov. 20,
1867, was £69,428, as compared with £71,995. Nov. 20,
1866. The sums received from depositors at the Cam-
bridge Savings-bank during the year ending November
20, 1867, amounted to £22,104, while the sums paid to de-
positors, including interest, amounted in the same period
to £26,210. The balance duo to depositors November 20,
1867, was £186,874, while the balance due November 20,
1860 was £188,705.