The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-08 00:00:00

THAMES.

Henry Candy, aged 30, late of 4, Great Tichfield-street,
Marylebone, was brought up on remand before Mr. Part-
ridge, charged with stealing two bottles of sherry, the
property of the London and St. Katherine Dock Company.
Mr. Warner Sleigh, barrister, defended the prisoner.
The prisoner had been employed for some time as a
labourer in the London Dock up to the 27th of lastmonth,
when he was directed to act as a watchman on ono of the
wine floors to prevent any pilfering or tampering with the
casks. On the same evening, a few minutes before five
o'clock, he was about to leave the dock, when he was
stopped by two of the gatekeepers, named Spencer and
Henderson, who asked him if he had anything in his
pockets. Ho replied in the negative, on which the officers
took him into a lobby and searched him. They found
two pint bottles of sherry in his coat pocket, and a wooden
spill in another pocket. The spill had been in a wine
cask. The prisoner said the wine was his own, and that
he brought it into the dock to be used as a gargle for his
throat. On the way to the station-house ho said to
Spencer and Anderson, " You can square it if you like:,
The prisoner's defence before Mr. Partridge on the 28th
of November was that the wino had been in his possession
four months, that he purchased it of Mr. Ford, in Man-
chester-street, Manchester-square, for the purpose of
making pipsine wine as a gargle for his throat, and that
if time were given him ho could produce Mr. Ford and
ether witnesses to substantiate his statement. A sample of
wine from a cask in the floor in w!iieli the prisoner was
stationed was produced, and the officers said it was
of the saino description as that taken from the prisoner,
but Mr. Partridge, who tasted both, said there was a
slight difference. He remanded the prisoner, who was
subsequently brought before Mr. Paget, who also tasted
the wines, and ho was of opinion the sample taken from a
cask and the wino taken from the prisoner were exactly
alike. It was the same wine. The prisoner repeated his
former defence, with the addition that he was a chemist
by profession, and had been at work in a laboratory—that
he had been accustomed to manufacture pipsine wine for
many years, and intended to convert the sherry he had
bought into pipsine wine for sore throats, foul stomachs,
and derangement of the gastric juice. He wanted another
remand to enable him to call Mr. Ford and others with re-
gard to the wooden spike—he used it as a tooth-pick. Mr.
Paget again remanded prisoner. The witnesses were ably
cross-examined by Mr. Warner Sleigh, a rising young
barrister, but their evidence was not materially shaken. The
learned counsel insisted that the sample bottle of wine pro-
duced was not the same as that taken from the prisoner.
Mr. Partridge was of the sane opinion, and a taster from
the dock, on being requested to compare the winos, said
there was a slight difference between them. It might
have arisen from there being a small quantity of liquor in
the bottles taken from the prisoner. Mr. Warner Sleigh
called no witnesses, and advised his client to reserve his
defence.

Mr. Partridge committed the prisoner for trial, with
Liberty to put iu bail for his appearance at the sessions.

Extraordinary Scene.

,p..-_._.___.

On Tuesday evening, what is locally known as a
" crowner-in," that is to say, a sudden subsidence of
the ground from the coal having been taken away
beneath, took place at Newton, four miles from
Stourbridge. Sometimes the ground subsides gra-
dually ever a considerable area; but in the case of a
crowner-in a rugged shaft is formed from the old
workings to the surface. The sides continue for
some time filling in till the shaft is filled to within a
greater or less distance from the surface. The
crowner-in in question took place about half-past 6
on Tuesday evening. The village of Newton is
built on the Earl of Dudley's land, and in the vici-
nity of an extensive colliery belonging to his lord-
ship. A person named Matthew Trowman, who
kept a public house, some time back had observed
that the ground on which his house was built was
subsiding, and he took the usual measures, cramp-
ing the house with iron rods and buttressing it with
trees to lessen the damage to the building. All this,
however, proved of no avail, for with startling sud-
denness onTuesday evening a great hole was formed
in his back yard. The alarming noise consequent on
the formation of the shaft was accompanied by an
outgush of a gas known among the colliers as " sul-
phur," and this having come into contact with fire it
at once ignited. The flame shot up from the hole to
the height of the house and set fire to the sashes of
the back windows. The wind was strong and the fire
made head rapidly. A fire engine was sent for to
Dudley, and after its arrival the flames were extin-
guished. Meantime the crowner-in was enlarging
itself in the most rapid and alarming manner, and
in less than an hour after it was first noticed the
back kitchen, a brewhouse, and a cart shed had all
disappeared in the ever-widening gulf. In the cel-
lar beneath the bask kitchen were several bar-
rels of beer and cider, and with them, of course,
descended the household utensils in the upper
part of the building. The alarming intelligence
soon spread in the populous neighbourhood)
around, and there were in a very short space of time I
many hundreds of people on the spot. With their
assistance Trowipan and his family managed to re-
move the greater part of their household furniture,
linen, &c., before the back part of the main b i
ner uld;
ing went. Afterithis took place the 4' ow-i
did not widen so rapidly, and scores of ready hands
commenced to pull down the remainder of the house
so as to save the bricks and timber. OnThursday
morning very little of the house was standing. In
little wore than 12 hours the crowner-in had
in-
creased to a hole 16 or 18 yards across one way, and
10 or 12 yards the other. The depth would be about
10 yards, and the bottom was covered with great
masses of rock rent from the rugged sides. The size
was then increasing, but only very gradually. It
was a fortunate circumstance that the first subsi-
dence took place in the back yard; as if it had oc-
curred within the house, several lives would proba-
bly have been lost. Trowman's family numbers ten
persons, and there were several in the house besides.

M MIKE TS. —This day.

COVENT GARDEN.

The market is seasonably well supplied with fruit and
vegetables. The trade is steady, at our quotations.
FRUIT—Pine apples, 3s to 6s; grapes, 2s Od to Gs ;
filberts, 9d to is per lb; apples, is 3d to 3s Od ; pears,
4s Od to 8s Od per half sieve; oranges, Gs to I`2s; lemons,
Cs to lOs ; walnuts, is to 3s per 100.
YEGETADLES—Cauliflowers, 2s to Gs Od ; cabbages, 1s to
2s Od; horseradish, 2s Gd to 4s Od; celery, Os 9d to is Gd
per doz ,heads; turnips, 38 Od to 4s Od; carrots, 4s Od to
Gs Od per' dozen bunches; cucumbers, 9d to is each ;
onions, 3s to Ps Gd; spinach, 2s to 3s per bushel.