The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-19 00:00:00

THAMES.

HORRIBLE CHILD MURDER.—A young woman Darned
Sarah Spratt, aged 24 years, was taken into custody yes-
terday evening by a police constable named Edward
Kiddie, 483 K, .on the charge of wilfully murdering her
male illegitimate child on the 17th of April last. She was
to be brought before Mr. Partridge this afternoon, after the
hearing of the night charges. On the day above named
the body of a male child, nine days old, was discovered in
the drill ground of the Stepney Grammar School, Trede-
gar-square, Mile-end, by Mr. Thomas Valiance, the drill
instructor. The skull was fractured, and there were
other marks of violence on the child. A coroner's in-
quest was held before Mr. Richards, deputy coroner,
and a jury, on the 20th of April, and a verdict of
wilful murder against some person or persons
unknown was returned. The case was put into the hands
of Inspector Kenessey of the K division for inquiry, and
he ascertained that the prisoner had given birth to a male
child at No. 111, Half Paved-court, Salisbury-square, Fleet-
street, on the 7th of April. She was attended in her ac--
couchement by Mr. Reed, a respectable surgeon of Fleet-
street. She was seen with the child in Bow and in the
neighbourhood of Tredegar-square on the 16th of April.
The infant was murdered the same night and thrown over
the wall of the drill ground. She afterwards told a Mrs
Goodyear, of Angel-road, Bow, who is nursing another
illegimate child of the prisoner's, that the deceased expired
in her arms between Old Ford, Bow, and the Globe
public-house in the Mile-end-road, and that she
left the body in the street. A black shawl, and
a white calico night-gown, in which the body was
wrapped, have been traced by Inspector Kenessey to the
prisoner, and there will be an overwhelming mass of evi-
dence against her, including the evidence of Mr. Cornelius
Edwin Garman, surgeon, of Carlisle-terrace, Fairfield-road,
Bow, who made the post mortem examination of the body,
and who will clearly prove that death was caused by foul
means.

The prisoner was in the service of a respectable family
at No. 14, Surrey-grove, Newington, last night when she
was taken into custody. The father of her illegitimate
children is a Custom-house clerk.

METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS.—The ordinary
weekly meeting of this board was held yesterdarat the
offices, Spring-gardens, Sir John T hwaites in the chair. The
cash statement showed the following balances in the hands
of the treasurer :—Current accounts, £335,207 15s. 3d. ;
deposit accounts, £157,557 13s. 5d.; total, £492,745 Bs. Bd.
The board was engaged in private for two hours upon the
matter of advances to be made to the Thames Embankment
contractors. Upon the admission of the-public the clerk
(Mr. John Pollard) stated that a committee of the whole
board had agreed with the report of the finance committee,
which recommended "that Mr. Ritson be paid the sum of
£8,020, being one-half of the retentions on the works ac-
tually executed and materials upon the ground, under his
contract for the Thames Embankment North (No. 2);
that Mr. Furness be paid the sum of £12,575, being one-
half of the retentions on the works actually executed and
materials upon the ground, under his contract for the
Thames Embankment North (No. 1)." The recommen-
dation was put in the form of a motion, and upon a divi-
sion was carried by a majority of seven—the numbers
being, for the motion, 20 ; against it, 13. In reference
to the bills now before Parliament for improvements
in the metropolis—including the Thames Embank-
ment (North) Approaches, which are to extend to the
Thames Embankment from Charing-cross, the Chelsea
Embankment, and the Park-lane improvement—a notice
was on the paper that the board would consider the sub-
ject, and also the report of the Select Committee of the
he
House of Commons on Metropolitan Local Government,
&c., recommending the continuance of the coal and wine
nd uaens
informedan dth e levying
the that
boardofan improvementhadbeen In•aetes.etiaTthineschwaiitrh-
the Government, 'through Mr. Goschen, upon the
subject, and had received a letter from that gen-
tleman informing him that the Government had agreed
to assist the board in obtaining the coal and wine
dues for five years to enable them to carry out these
improvements. After several long addresses it was ulti-
mately resolved " that this Board agree to the proposal
that the coal and wine dues should be continued for five
additional years, and to the principle of an improvement
rate, half thereof to be charged on the owners, and to be
raised in the like manner as the property-tax, and on these
conditions is prepared to proceed with the three improve-
ment bills now before I'arliament." Mr. Shaw, pursuant
to notice; presented a memorial from the vestry of
St. Marylebone, with respect to the inequality of the
assessment of the city of London, upon which the ex-
penses of the Board are estimated, as compared with the
assessment of the rest of the metropolis, and praying for
inquiry whether the assessment 'et the city of London is
made upon a like. estimate or basis as the county rate, and
fn conformity with the Acts of Parliament, which matter
was referred to a committee for consideration. Mr. Brush-
field thought it would be desirable that measures should be
adopted for the purpose of inquiring searchingly into tho
origin of fires which take place in the metropolis. This
matter was referred to the Fire Brigade Qommittee, and,
the ordinary routine business having been disposed of, the
Board adjourned.
M. Du CHAILLU VINDICATED.—Captain RaChon
of the good ship Antoine, which sailed on Friday into
od news for M. du Chaillu and utter con-
Havre, brings go
fusion to his enemies. He arrives direct from Lagos, and
declares that during his stay in Gaboon he took part in the
capture and. destruction of a huge gorilla. The gigantic
brute measured two metres 70 centimetres from the crown
of the head to the heel. He had been pursued by the na-
tives for carrying off a native woman from a plantation.
Therefore the savans themselves are defeated, for it was
only at the sceance lately held at the Acad6mie, to deter-
mine the fact of the animal's existence, that the story re-
lated by Been and other naturalists of its fondness for
the refined society of the black ladies was pronounced to
be utterly untrue and incompatible with every reasonable
supposition admitted in natural history.
LORD LYON AND HIS JOCKEY.—That Lord Lyon's
victory was jeopardised by the unconquerable habit
he has got of refuseing to quit his horses there is no deny-
ing, for when he had beaten Rustic he hung so to Saver-
nuke that it required all Custance's efforts, with his arm
weakened by his recent accident, to get his horse's head in
front. He rode, I should say, with a figure of eight ban-
dage round his arm, which had not been a little tried by
the may Hermit kicked and plungedwith him tho previous
day, and he now feels the effect of the strain upon his arm so
much that he will not ride again until Ascot. Bold as was
his undertaking to ride Lord Lyon, it afforded him a fine
opportunity for showing his good jockeyship, and it was a
pleasure to witness the steadiness and patience with which
he rode, and which those coming on in the same profes-
sion would do well to imitate, as well as his manners and
customs.—Morning Post,