The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-08 00:00:00

METBOPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.

A special meeting of this Board was held yester-
day at the Council Chamber, Guildhall ; the Presi-
dent, J. Thsvaites, Esq., took the chair at 12 o'clock.
NEW OFFICERS OF THE BOARD.
The board received deputations from the vestries
of the Strand, Wandsworth, Mile-end, St. Pancras,
Shoreditch, Greenwich, and St. Saviour's, South-
wark, with memorials against the proposed removal
of the offices of the board from Greek-street to
Berkeley House. The gentlemen who headed the
several deputations stigmatised the course adopted
by the board in reference to the large expenditure
contemplatd in the proposed removal as most unfair
to the ratepayers of the metropolis. These depu-
tations represented ratepayers to the amount of
X 3,260,289, and some of the remarks made by the
spokesmen were somewhat severe, and called for
remonstrance from the president.
A report was brought up from the General Pur-

poses Committee, stating that they have considered
the requirements of the board and its officers, and
find that the several rooms and offices described in
the schedule accompanying the report, of the com-
mittee, are required for the purposes of the board ;
that the superintending architect has prepared the
preliminary plans and elevations in accordance
with such schedule, and with the terms of the
agreement entered into between her Majesty's
Commissioners of Woods, &c., and the board, which
the committee have examined and approved, and
submit for the approval of the board.
Mr. LESLIE then brought forward a series of re-
solutions referring to this subject, which caused
considerable excitement and discussion. The pro-
posed resolution pledged the board to rescind the
contract entered into with the Government for the
purchase of Berkeley House.
The PRESIDENT ruled that it was not competent
for Mr. Leslie to put forward the first four resolu-
tions contained in his notice.
Upon the last resolution,
Mr. LESLIE made a very lengthy statement,
tending to show that the board had acted most
improvidently in taking Berkeley House for new
offices, when they had a good freehold property at
Greek-street, Soho, capable of being improved and
enlarged.
The board, after a long discussion, which occupied
the -whole afternoon, adhered to the previous deci-
sions arrived at upon this subject.

MELANCHOLY OCCURRENCE.

TWO MEN POISONED BY NITROUS ACID GAS
(From the Plymouth Journal.)
It rarely happens that we have to record an oc-
currence of so fatal a character, in connection with
the manufactures of the South-west, as that which
occurred at Torpoint Sulphuric Acid Manure Works,
on Monday, and by which two men lost their lives,
and two others continue in a most precarious con-
dition. One of the deceased, named Winnicott, re-
sided in Stonehouse ; he was a strong, muscular
man, aged about 50, and leaves a wife and eight
children to deplore his loss. The other, named
Bellamy, was in his 32d year, and leaves a sorrow-
ing family consisting of a wife and two children.
The two deceased were in the employment of the
Torpoint Manure Works Company, Limited, and
received directions on Saturday to empty one of
the sulphuric acid chambers, in which there was a
leak. They, with others, set about the work on
the Monday morning, two entering the chamber,
and working spells of 10 minutes, baling the fluid
into the chambers adjoining. About two o'clock
two of them, named Bellamy and Pomeroy, felt ill
and left the work. The foreman, John Oskyn, who
has had 16 years' experience in the manufacture,
communicated with the manager, Mr. Joseph Shep
heard, who immediately gave orders that the men
should desist till Wednesday; but, on the orders
being conveyed to Winnicott and his companion,
King, the former expressed a desire to get on with
the work, and told the foreman if he provided
two other men, they should get through the job
that evening. Two men, named Fursden and Collins,
consented to take their turn in the chamber, and
entered it, and baled out the liquid for some
minutes, when they were hailed from the outside
by Winnicott and King, and came out. The others
entered, but Winnicott coughed very much, and, in
a few minutes, was seen creeping through the aper-
ture by which entrance and exit are effected. He
was so disabled that his head and the upper part
of his body bent down, and he was unable to get
through till raised up by the foreman and Fursden,
who stood near. Winnicott coughed fearfully, and
threw up large quantities of watery fluid, mixed
with blood ; but the poor fellow kept saying he
was " all right," and seemed to think it would pass
off and he might be able to resume work. He was
ultimately induced to enter the room allotted to
the men for changing their clothes, where he grew
worse, and he then was directed to go to the mana-
ger's office, where he was seen by Surgeon Budd,
and treated as his case required, but he expired at
six o'clock. Bellamy was in the mean time suffer-
ing in precisely the same way at his own house.
Surgeon Budd also visited him, but though the
ill-fated man revived for a brief interval he subse-
quently sank, and at six o'clock on Tuesday morn-
ing he was a corpse. Pomeroy and King were less
affected, but whether it is to be attributed to the
shock of hearing of the deaths of their fellow work-
men, or to the influence of the poisonous gases they
had inhaled, their cases assumed a most serious
aspect on Tuesday, and it was only yesterday Sur-
geon Budd expressed hopes of the ultimate reco-
very of one of them.
An inquest was held yesterday at the New Inn,
Torpoint, before Dr. Jagoe, when a respectable jury
was empanneled, of which Mr. R. IL Down was
foreman. The jury went from the inn to view the
manure works and the body of poor Winnicott,
which still remained in the manager's office, and
returned at eleven o'clock, when the coroner pro-
ceeded to examine witnesses.
Mr. John William Chubb, member of the Royal
College of Surgeons, stated that he had seen the
deceased on Monday evening, and he was bent
nearly double. His breathing was very much
oppressed, and he was almost in a state of asphyxia.
Ile had great difficulty in clearing off water stained
with blood from the stomoch, bronchial tubes, and
lungs ; he was generally in a state of prostration,
his pulse quickened slightly, and remarkably
bounding. Made inquiries, and from what he
heard and the man's condition, feels satisfied that
death was caused by the inhaling of nitrous acid
gas. He prescribed a mustard poultice to his chest,
and had him placed near the fire. Visited him an
hour afterwards, when his heart was merely stir-
ring, and the man was dead. The fumes of nitrous
acid taken into the body produces great stimula-
tion of action in the mucous surfaces, the bronchia,
and stomach, and ultimately brings on asphyxia
and death. Saw Bellamy immediately after Win-
nicott's death. He was labouring under the same
symptoms as the other, but more aggravated, and
he threw up much larger quantities of blood mixed
with water. Both men were perfectly collected,
and neither appeared to labour under the effects of
having taken drink. Two other men were at pre-
sent under his charge suffering from indisposition,
brought on by the same causes.
Mr. Joseph Shepheard, manager of the works,
stated that, at one'clock, when he heard the men
were ill, he issued orders that the -work should be
discontinued. He detailed the other circumstances
already stated, and added that, at his instance or
" order," Winnicott walked first from some bags
against which he was leaning, to the house for the
men, where he sat
h t dohen wn ;d a. nd that being close,
with a fire in it, e
.irected him to go to his
(the manager's) office, whither he walked. The
surgeon saw him there. Mr. Shepheard stated, in
the course of his evidence, that the kilns had been
let out on Thursday last, and the caps had been
taken off, and everything openable opened. The
men were to bale the acid out with scoops, having
long handles attached. On a former occasion they
entered the acid with bare feet, but on this occa-
sion they erected a platform over it.
Mr.
,R. Oxland here said that the agitation of
the liquid on this occasion must have been less than
previously.
Mr. Shepheard further added, in reply to the
Coroner, that the strength of the acid on the former
occasion was over 99 degs., and on this occasion
about 110 degs. The commercial strength was 175
degs.
Mr. Oxland, at the request of the Coroner, stated
that he believed ozone was present in the chamber.
Mr. Shepheard said he had ordered the men to
get a quart of rum.
Surgeon Chubb did not think that the drinking
of the spirits would have caused or aggravated the
symptoms, and in this opinion Mr. Oxland con-
curred, stating that men, on similar Occasions, took
spirits, and found it work well:
The other witnesses examined were John Oskyn,
the foreman, and Wm. Fursden, one of the two men
who undertook the task after the first two menhad
given up. The foreman exhibited a little irritabi-
lity at the questions of one of the jurors ; but
neither his, nor the evidence of Fursden, added any
material facts to those already stated.
The Coroner charged the jury, who returned a
verdict that the deceased came to their death acci-
dentally, from inhaling the, fumes arising from a
quantity of sulphuric acid, and there appeared to be
no want of care on the part of the manager of the

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT—Jan. 7.

OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin.'
Frederick Goodey, 33, was indicted for felo-
niously cutting and wounding Sarah Goodey, with
intent to murder her.

There was the usual common counts in the '
indictment charging the prisoner with intending
to do grievous bodily harm, &c.
Mr. Poland prosecuted. The prisoner was
defended by Mr. Metcalfe.
The learned counsel for the prosecution, in open-
ing the case to the jury, described it as one of a
melancholy and painful character. The prisoner
and the prosecutrix, who was his wife, had only
been married three years, and they had unhappily
separated two or three times during that period,
and it was while they were thus separated upon
one occasion that the offence imputed to the pri-
soner was committed. He then gave a brief nar-
rative of the facts, and the following evidence was
adduced :
Sarah Goodey said—l am the wife of the pri-
soner. We have been married three years and a
half. I left him on the 13th of Sept. and was
living at 4, Rope-place, Stepney, and the prisoner
found me out there, and I removed to Wellington-
street, Stepney, where I remained till the 14th of
Dec. I occupied a room on the ground floor, and
a little boy, the son of the prisoner, lived with me.
On the morning of that day I and the little boy
were in bed, and the prisoner came into the room.
I said to him, " Well, Fred., what do you want
here ?" He replied, " I have come to see you, but
shall not stay long." He then came to the bed
side, and I told him I wanted to get up to get some
tea. He told me to be still, there was plenty of
time for that, and forced me down on the bed. I
said to him, " None of your nonsense, or I shall
cry murder." The prisoner then asked where the
boy was, and I pulled the bedclothes down, and
showed him to him. He then went out, locked
the door, and went towards the window, and I
got out of bed and I saw him pull something out
of his pocket which I thought was a cigar-case,
and I said, " What a fine cigar-case you have
got." He said, " Yes, it is," and replaced it in his
pocket. He then came up to me, and as I was
putting on my clothes he came behind me, and I
felt a cut across my throat, and I saw the prisoner
had a razor in his hand. I fell down, and he kept
one hand on my chest and one knee on my legs,
and tried to cut my throat, and I received three
wounds. I saw the razor in his hand quite plainly,
and I at length succeeded in laying hold of it, and,
in doing so, my hands were both cut, and I received
eight wounds upon them. When I had hold of the
razor the prisoner struggled to get the razor from
me, and the blade broke from the handle, and the
former remained in my hand. All this time I was
screaming " Murder." When the prisoner found I
had got the blade of the razor he called out, " Oh,"
and ran to the table and tried to lay hold of a ,inner-
knife that was upon it, but he over-balanced himself,
and I was thus enabled to get up. I unlocked the
door and went into an adjoining room, and threw
away the razor, and do not remember anything
more that happened until I found myself in bed,
and on the same morning I was taken to the hos-
pital. There was no razor in the room when the
prisoner came into the room. I have since seen a
razor-case, which is the same thing that I took for
a cigar-case.
Cross-examined—l was married to the prisoner
in May 1855, and the child was born in July, 1856.
I never heard that the prisoner had fractured his
skull, or that he had a silver plate in his head. We
separated three times. I knew a man named Cook.
I swear that he never slept in the same room with
me. Cook is a shipwright. He comes from my
own neighbourhood, Somersetshire. I have known
him about four months. I used to visit a person
named Davis, at Stepney. Cook lodged with Mrs.
Davis. I swear that I was never discovered on the
bed in Cook's room. I receive some money from a
1 gentleman, but this is entirely owing to the pri-
soner's brutality.
Baron Martin (to the witness)—You receive this
money from some gentleman with whom you have
been intimate ?

---
Witness—Yes, my lord.
Cross-examination continued—l once lived in the
Old Kent-road, but I swear I was not visited by a
gentleman there.
Reexamined—The prisoner was aware, when he
married me, that I had lived with a gentleman

before, and that he sent me money.
Mrs. Powell, the landlady of the house in Wel-
lington-street, said that the prosecutrix had lodged
with her for about two months on the 14th of
December. She remembered the prisoner coming
to the house that morning and inquiring for the
prosecutrix and she showed him her room, and he
went in, and soon afterwards she heard Mrs. Goodey
say. "If you do, I'll shriek murder." Witness
tried the door, and found it was locked, and she
heard a great scuffle in the room, and witness tried
to force open the door but could not, and shortly
afterwards some one unlocked the door from the
inside, and Mrs. Goodey came out covered with
blood. The prisoner came after her, and he lifted
up his arms and said, "I am mad." Witness asked
him to have mercy upon her, and begged him to go
bit° the room, and she locked him in, and he got
out of the window into the street. The police were
then sent for, and Mrs. Goodey was taken to the
hospital.
Cross-examined—A man named Cook used to
come and see the child while Mrs. Goodey was in
the hospital.
_4p did not know whether he used
to come and isit Mrs. Goodey. He might have
come every day. She had seen him sometimes in
Mrs. Goodey's room ; but she could not say how
often. She did not know that Cook slept in the
room of Mrs. Goodey upon any occasion.
Mr. Hayes, an inspector of the K division, deposed
that he went to the house in Wellington-street on
the morning in question, and found Mrs. Goodey
bleeding from several wounds in the throat, and
he immediately had her conveyed to the hospital.
He searched the place, and found a razor blade in
the fire-place of the back room, and a portion of
the handle in the front room. He met the prisoner
about a quarter of a mile from Wellington-street,
and he appeared to be very drunk. He was taken
into custody the same afternoon. He was then
sober. Witness read the charge to him, and cau-
tioned him that what he said would be related to
the magistrate, and he replied—" I know nothing
of it, I have no recollection of it."
William Peller, police-constable, deposed that
about half-past ten in the morning of the day the
occurrence happened, he saw the prisoner near Wel-
lington-street very drunk, and throwing half-
crowns and shillings to some boys. Witness took
him into custody, and noticed that the back of his
right hand was covered with blood. Witness asked
him where the blood came from, and he made no
reply. As they were going to the police-station,
the prisoner stopped suddenly and said, " I have a
burden in my pocket," and pulled out the lower
part of a razor-case and threw it on the ground,
and witness picked it up. When he first saw the
prisoner throwing the money about he asked him if
he knew what he was doing, and he replied, "We
all have a propensity. I don't belong to this earth.
I am going to arise to another country, and I shall
not return to this earth again."
Mr. Hill, the house-surgeon at the London Hos-
pital, proved that. the injuries the prosecutrix had
received were of a dangerous description, and it
appeared she was still an out-patient.
Mr. Metcalfe made an able speech to the jury on
behalf of the prisoner, and he called witnesses who
proved that the prosecutrix was a drunken, violent
woman, and that she had left him after they had
been married two months.
Baron Martin summed up, and
The jury, after a short deliberation, found the
prisoner guilty of wounding, with intent to do
grievous bodily harm.
The learned judge, is passing sentence, said there
could be no doubt that the prisoner had made an
unfortunate marriage, and that he was very un-
happy ; but this was no excuse for his acting as he
had done ; and if the jury had convicted him upon
the capital charge, they would have been perfectly
justified, upon the evidence, in returning that
• verdict. He then sentenced the prisoner to be kept
• in penal servitude for four years.
This case concluded the sessions, and the Court
r adjourned to Monday, Jan 31.