The Sun.
London, England, 1835-09-23 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—In order to constitute and make the objections of
Overseers sufficiently valid, to call upon parties to prove
their claims, it is considered that the list signed by the
Overseers should be signed by a majority of persons who
are authorized to execute the duties of Overseers of the
poor. (See 2 W. IV., c. 45, s. 79.) It is not sufficie•at
that it be signed by the Overseers chosen in Vestry,.
excepting they form a majority without the Church-
wardens ; sortie have attempted to quibble on the ward
" execute," and say if the Churchwardens do not execute
the duties of Overseers, there is no necessity for their
signing the list. I beg to refer you to the 43 Eliz.,
c. 2, s. 1, where it is enacted, that the Churchwardens,
together with four, three, or two substantial householders
to be chosen, &c., &c., &c., shall be Overseers of the poor;
it has been decided over and over again, that when only
two Overseers are chosen by Vestry, that one Church-
warden at least must join to render any Act valid done
by those nominated in Vestry. No rate can be valid if
not signed by the Churchwardens so as to form a majority ;
the same as regards all notices, whether of appeal or other-
wise ; therefore it is useless to quibble on the word " exe-
cute," when it is obvious the other Overseers cannot act
without a Churchwarden. Churchwardens must execute
the duties of Overseers ; they have no alternative. It is
not necessary that they should perform every Act, such as
collecting the Poor-rates, distributing the money, &c., &c.,
to be deemed executing the office of Overseer. In
fact, so strong is the point, that Overseers appointed tin-
der 43 Eliz., c. 2, in townships and places where there were
no Churchwardens in cases of appeal, were put out of
Court because they were not associated in the appeal to-
gether with the Churchwardens, the Courts would not al-
low proof of there 'geino• no Churchwardens ; and to remedy
such cases in future, the l 7 G. 11., c. 38, s. 15, provides
that " the Overseers of the poor within any township or
place where there are no Churchwardens, shall from time to
time do, perform, and execute all and any the acts, powers,
and authorities as Churchwardens and Overseers of the
poor may do," &c., &c. Common sense implies the inten-
tion and meaning of the Acts, to be those whose duty
it is to superintend the affairs of the poor, and not that by
neglecting duties imposed by Acts of Parliament, parties
should be relieved from taking part in making out the list
of voters.

There is also a question whether sidesmen, or sworn
men, (7 sec. 1,.c. 5, s. 3,) executing the duties of over-
seers of the poor, ought not to sign the list.
Also, visitors and guardians appointed under 22 Geo.
111., c. 83.
_ .

And members of a Select Vestry appointed under 59
Geo. 111., c. 12.
See cases—R. v. Beeston, l Bott., 420.

Doe d. Grundy, v. Clark, 14 East, 488.
It has also been contended that if the words " objected
to,' have been appended to the list (by a single
overseer) after having been signed by the overseers, and
without the concurrence of those who have previously signed
the list, that such objection has not been legally made ; and
that, under the 42d section, it is imperative on the whole
of the overseers who have signed the list, to attend the re-
vising barrister to support the objection. That one cannot
attend on the part of the rest, the words of the Act being,
" the overseers of every parish and township, who shall
have made out the list of voters, shall attend at the place of
revising the list."
Should the above opinions be urged, and found to be valid,
the labours of the revising barristers will be considerably
eased.—l am, Sir, Yours, &c.
Ilfracombe, Sept. 19, 1835.

R. W. D.

EXTRAORDINARY OCCURRENCE

AT BRENTEORD.

On Monday, the town of Brentford was thrown into a
state of the greatest excitement by an occurrence the most
marvellous heard of for many years, of phieh the following
arc the particulars .
Mr. Wilson, the master of the New Brentford National
School, on his arrival at the school-house (which is situated
in the haw at the rear of the church), on Monday morning,
was informed by some of his neighbours that on the previous
evening (Sunday), lights had been observed moving about
in the school-room. On entering the building he was much
astonisbed to find the boys' slates (about 80 in number),
spread all over the floor, the whole of which were, on the
Saturday evening previous, left hanging up in the school-
room. Mr. Wilson, however, attached little importance to
the circumstance, but about nit e o'clock, shortly after pray-
ers had been read, two of the boys, who had been into the
yard at the back of the school-house, came running into the
room; their countenances depicting the extreme of fright,
exclaiming they had seen a ghost. Mr. Wilson at first
refused to listen to their tale, but finding them persist in
their statement, he questioned them very closely on the
subject, when they stated that, as they were crossing the
yard towards the school-room door, they observed a very
tall object, atired in a white robe, moving towards them
from the further end of the yard. When they got to the
school-room door, they ventured to look back, when one of
them saw the object enter a small building on the left side
of the yard, used as a coal-shed, but the other declared
it must have vanished, as upon looking round he could see
nothing of it. Both agreed it had neither shoes nor stockings
on, nor any covering on its head.
Mr. Wilson, for some time, treated the affair as a chi-
mera of the boys' own imagination, but about an hour after-
wards he was much alarmed by a loud shrieking at the end
of the school-room, nearest the door leading into the yard,
close to which is a trap-door leading to a cellar about four
feet in height, which has been excavated under the school-
room flooring for the purposes of ventilation. On reaching
the spot, he found the boys much terrified, and was informed
by them that the trap-door had been lifted up by the same
being the two boys had stated they had seen in the yard.
Mr. Wilson, considering the circumstances, if true, most
extraordinary, took 10 of boys who had asserted their ob-
servance of the fact, and placing them in different parts of
the school-room, desired them to describe, in writing, what
they had seen, at the same time placing three other boys to
watch the trap-door. When the boys had completed their
description, Mr. Wilson compared their statements together,
when, to his great surprise, he found eight of them agreed in
every particular, and in a few minutes afterwards the bOys
placed on watch shouted out, " Here, here, master I " and
at the same moment, the whole of the boys, uttering a si-
multaneous scream, rushed out of the school-room into the
street, followed, it is reported, by the master.
The report of a ghost having taken possession of the
school-house spread like wildfire through the town, and
in a short time the building was surrounded by hundreds
of persons.
The boys having informed Mr. Wilson the reason of
their screaming, was their again seeing the trap-door raised
and a wet stick shook at them by the same mysterious
being, that gentleman proceeded to the Savings Bank, where

he narrated the whole circumrtances to 'Colonel Clitlicrow,

the Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates, who imme-
diately. accompanied Mr. Wilson to the school house, when
on examination the trap-door was found fastened down.
Mr. Winekworth, a carpenter, was then sent for, on
whose arrival a large portion of the flooring was taken up,
and several boys and men descended with candles into the
cellar beneath, which extends the whole length of tin!
building. After groping about for some time they found a
cap (which is reported to have contained a quantity of
hair), and a pocket handkerchief marked C. T., but they
could not find any trace of the being stated by the boys to
have been seen by them. The bottom of the cellar was co-
vered by wet mud, at least six inches deep, but too soft to
have retained footmarks. Search was afterwards made
throughout the yard, which is surrounded by .a wall up-
wards of 10 feet high, tie coalshed, &c., but nothing was
. . _

found to elucidate the mystery in which the whole affair Is
at present involved. The cellar has no communication with
the outside, but by the trap-door in the school-room.
Throughout yesterday the excitement was, if any thing,
increased, crowds from the adjacent villages coming to view
the place, and but • few of the boys ventured to enter the
school-room, those few being compelled to go by their
parents. The township authorities and the Magistrate
have adopted every means in their power to unravel the
mystery and to find out who the mysterious stranger is, and,
should they succeed, we trust whoever it may be they will
meet the reward due to their ingenuity.

EXECUTIONS IN FRANCE.—MC man and his wife
named Henri, condemned to death at the last Chartres
Assizes for parracide, were recently executed in that town.
It will be remembered that they in one night killed the
father, mother, and brother of the female prisoner. Their
execution took place at nine o'clock, and they were only
informed about two hours before that they were to suffer
death that day. The information did not appear to cage
a great degree of excited feeling in the prisoners, but whet
the executioner was preparing the female prisoner to quit
her cell to proceed to the scaffold, she exclaimed, " Oh, my
poor head ! Oh, my poor children ; How could I have
married such a monster as that ?" The two prisoners had
not seen each other since their condemnation, and his wife
could not forgive Henri for having accused her of a partici-
pation in the murders. Previously to their being placed in
the vehicle which conveyed them to the place of execution,
their heads were covered with black cowls and their bodies
enveloped in white wrappers. Just as Henri was ascend-
ing the carriage his cowl slipped off his head, and seeing
his wife near him he exclaimed with a deep sigh, " My poor
little wife 1" Previously to execution they embraced each
other with great affection, and died with much firmness..