The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-31 00:00:00

nig SUN, LOINDoN, TUESDAY EVENUNG, JULY 31, 1866.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.---This Day.

- -~

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

A £2O FINE FOR AN ASSAULT.—Wm. Johnston, gentle-
man, of No. 29, Arlington-street, Islington, was charged
before Mr. Knox with assaulting Margaret Taylor, of 107,
Winchester-street, Pimlico.
The complainant, who had a black eye (after being dis
charged for being drunk and incapable) said—l went to
supper at Clarke's, near Leicester-square, shortly before
one in the morning, and a lady coming out struck me, and
then the defendant struck me.

Mr. Knox—You have a black eye ; is that the effect
of the defendant's blow ?

Complainant—lt is, sir.
M. Knox—Had you any quarrel with either the female
or the defendant ?

Complainant —Not at all, sir. They are both strangers
to me ?

Defendant—l deny striking her altogether.
Henry Hill, a clerk, residing at 36, Old Compton-street
—I saw the complainant and another female fighting, and
afterwards the defendant struck the complainant three
times.
➢lr. Knox—Was the defendant sober ?
Witness —I do not think he was. I should not think a
sober man would do such a thing. The defendant after-
wards tried to get away in a cab, but I had him brought
back.

The defendant— She knocked my hat off.
Mr. Knox—But you don't mean to say that that is suffi-
cient provocation to strike the complainant three times.
Dickenson, 165 U—On being told by the last witness
that the defendant was trying to get away, I stopped the
cab, and the complainant, who had a fearful black eye,
gave the defendant in charge for assaulting her, and I took
him into custody.
Kr. Knox—Was the defendant drunk or sober ?
Constable—Drunk.
The Defendant—She took my hat off and trod on it, and
assaulted the female with me without any cause.
Mr. Knox—What are you ?
The Defendant—A gentleman.

Mr. Knox —I do not wish by my decision to do that
which may ruin you for life, although your conduct has
been brutal. Be the complainant what she may she is en-
titled to protection. I will not send you to prison under
the Common Assault Act, but I will deal with you under
the Aggravated Assaults Act, under which the penalty may
be £2O, and will give you the option of eithor paying that
sum or going to prison for a month with hard labour.

The Pearl Fishery.

After a fishery has been determined upon, and
the boats have been engaged, licensed—for which a
small fee is charged—and numbered, the commence-
ment of active operations is often delayed on account
of unsuitable weather, generally because of a north-
east wind blowing from the shore, whilst the proper
wind for the fishery is a breeze blowing from the
sea, sufficiently powerful to carry the boats to the
shore. This is ascertained by the experiment of
making a boat go out once or twice. When the
wind is strong enough to blow her right inshore,
then the fishery begins, a lucky day being selected
by the natives for the commencement. The start of
the fishery is usually the beginning of March.
Before the time the bank which is to be fished is
marked with flags. At the commencement of the
fishery a sign al gun is fired at midnight, when the
fleet immediately sets sail—the ardapanars, or head-
men, of the fisher caste leading the way with a light
shining, as a guide to those who follow ; a light is
also shown at intervals by the Government guard-
ship. Starting at so early an hour, the boats reach
the vessel long before daylight, and they are re-
quired to anchor till they can see to fish. Soon
after sunrise a signal gun directs the fleet to proceed
to the fishing grounds, and at half-past 6 the hoist-
ing of a flag permits the divers to begin
their labours. Immediately 500 or 600 naked
swarthy figures plunge into the tranquil
water. Active operations are usually car-
ried on for six hours, the divers descend-
ing into and rising from the water with great regu-
larity. Each boat is furnished with five diving
stones, with a complement of two divers to each
stone. The divers belonging go down time about ;
while one is down the other is breathing and resting.
. . . . The shark-charmer, a cunning person, who
is considered so indispensable to the fishery that he
is paid by Government, is constantly in attendance
at the. fishing-bank. At one time the charmer used
to be allowed a percentage of one oyster per day
from each diver, but this has been commuted into a
money payment. Accidents have never been known
to occur on the pearl-banks from sharks, which is
of course attributed by the superstitious natives to
the wise charming of the charmer; but it is quite
easy to suppose that the noise made by so many
divers frightens away these ferocious monsters.
Exaggerated stories have been told of the time that
a pearl-diver can remain under water, two minutes
and even three having been mentioned as the com-
mon time, but 50 seconds is the usual period when
the men are regularly at work ; instances have,
however, been frequent of an immersion lasting for
80 and even 87 secs. The divers enter strenuously
into their work, and a good hand will, when the
mussels axe plentiful, send up as many as 3,000 in
the course of the six hours he is on the pearl-ground.
At a given signal the fishery ceases for the day :
then the crews which have been lucky shout for joy,
others who have obtained but a scant supply linger
on the bank till driven away by the guards. If the
breeze be not strong enough to carry the boats to the
shore, the men have to take the oars and row them
home. Meantime the boat-owner has been in utter
anxiety to know what luck his boat has had, and
the moment the little vessel reaches the shore
he springs forward to ascertain the result of the
day's diving, and to look over and fondle the wealth-
giving shells. Others, all who are speculating in the
fishery, are quite as anxious about the day's take ;
and the fact is, that the thousands of people who
gather on the coast—and they are so numerous that
it looks as if a large town had suddenly been set
down by the sea-side—are more or less speculators
in the fishery : it is one great lottery. All kinds of
people are assembled, and they are from all coun-
tries, and are of all colours, of many castes and of
very different occupations ; they erect with great
rapidity tents, huts, bazaars, and shops ; there are
sutlers, jewellers, and merchants of all kinds on the
scene, the grand idea being there, as everywhere
else, to make money. Everybody speculates, from
the wealthy Ilindoo merchant, who buys the right
of fishing down to the humblest outcast—for there
are questionable characters of all kinds to be seen
around, monks, fakirs, beggars, and the like.
Strokes of luck are constantly being announced ; a
poor man may buy a fanam's worth of shells, and
find himself in consequence of his purchase in pos-
session of a little fortune. One person at a recent
fishery bought three shells for a sum which could be
represented by t\' opence of our money, and in one
of the shells he found the largest pearl of that year's
fishing.—Cornhill Magazine for August.

NEEDLE Gux.—Count Henry Krasinski, in his
Arce),
weapon in the world. He repeatedly
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tion of the needle gun, and pronounced it to be the most
terrible infantry ad
urged upon the war authorities its adoption for the British
army, and received a letter of thanks for some of his sug-
gestions, which were taken up and acted upon. The com-
mittee of Trinity officers, rather strangly, did not, how-
ever, give an equally favourable opinion.
A BALLOON ADVENTURE.--A Frenchman, named
Buislay, ascended in a balloon from New York on the 4th
inst., and in the course of his flight performed sundry
trapeze feats. By and by a heavy rainstorm came on, and
the balloon began to descend. It soon became apparent to
Monsieur Buislay that ho had lost all control of his appa-
ratus, and that ho must look to his individual safety when
nearing the earth again. Most fortunately for hi'n, the
storm was driving him over the surface of the Hudson
liver in a northerly direction. Fearing the balloon would
sti:ke the water and entangle him in its meshes, he, when
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Some of these hastened toward the place, but others, less
humane, proceeded on their way, apparently not caring
for the life of a human being. Young Buislay, on coming
to the surface, after his first plunge, being a flue swimmer
as well as gymnast,
struck out manfully for the New
York shore. The wind and tide proved almost too much
for him, however, and had not Mr. Kiator, of the Clare-
mont Garden, reached him as soon as he did, ho must have
been drowned. Mr. Kiator, on first seeing the difficulty
in which the balloonist was placed, had hastened to launch
his boat, and be ready to render such assistance as might
be required. When he reached young Buislay that gentle-
man was nearly exhausted, by his effo,:s at both flying
and swimming. He was taken to the shore, and a few
drops of stimulating beverage served to restore him to his
acrobatic self. Efforts were at once made to secure the
unruly balloon, which had meantime quietly descended
into the river, and the monster was finally landed, wet and
obstinate, but uninjured.—New York Times.
TERRIBLE AFFAIR IN ARKANSAS.—On Satur-
day, the 2nd inst., a man arrived in Fayetteville in the
stage, and informed the Sheriff and two other persons that
there were four men who world be in town shortly from
Missouri, who had killed an old man, robbed a store and
grocery, and that he had raised a company and pursued
them, but failing to overtake them, he had taken the
stage and come on ahead. Pretty soon the four men came
into town, got off their horses, hitched them, and one went
into the store of Mr. Stone, and the three others went into
a grocery to take a drink. Before they had time to take a
drink, the sheriff, clerk of the court, Mr. Reed, Mr. Wing,
and Colonel Gunter, went into the grocery to
arrest them.
Mr. Wing said to them, "Gentlemen, you
may consider
yourselves prisoners." With that one of
the men called out to the others to "shuck themselves,"
postmaster,
and with that each of them drew two revolvers, and com-
met cad firing. lin Wing, the postmaster, was shot dead,
and the man who came in pursuit was shot under the chin
in the throat, and he died in a few minutes ; and Colonel
Gunter was shot in the arm, shattering the bone. The
threewent
out;men raentdreabtyedthouist
toifmte the citizens the door,
had collected, , still firing as they
and an attempt was made to arrest the desperadoes, but
as they were armed, and most of the citizens were not,
they all made their escape. A posse of men immediately
started in pursuit of them. They found one of the men
sitting leaning against a tree, having been shot through
the abdomen. The party told him they would bring him
an ambulance and take him to town, but when they re-
turned they found him dead, he having cut his throat and
stabbed himself in several places. The other three men
were heard of in the neighbourhood of Elm Spring, ono
being badly wounded in the knee. Our informant did
not state who shot these desperadoes, but we presume
some of the party must have been armed, and fired on
r
them, or perhaps some of the citizens fired as they wereetreating. Colonel Guntei's arm is shattered below the
elbow, and it is thought will have to be amputated.—Fort
Smith Herald, June 12.
CONFESSION OF MURDER BY A FENIAN.—A man
named Kearney has given himself up to the police as the
murderer of Clarke, in February last, on the banks of the
Royal Canal, near Dublin. He alleges he was told off along
with some other Fenians to assassinate Clarke, who was
fired the fatal shot. Lie was to be brought before the suspected of being an informer. Kearney declares that he
magi-
strates to-day.