The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-06 00:00:00

LOSS OF THE BARQUE .TIMAND.RA.

Accounts from 'Sydney of Nov. 10 report the
total loss -of the barque Timandra. She left New-
castle on the 9th October with 10 passengers. On
the 23d, at 8 p.m., she struck on a reef about four
miles from Cape Keppel, and immediately went
down, her topmastheads alone being clear of the
water. To these spars part of her passengers
clung until daylight, and the remainder floated
about on such pieces of wreck as came within
reach. Next morning it blew very hard, when the
Monarch barque began drifting and got under
weigh, for the purpose of taking up a more secure
anchorage, when the wreck was 'observed, and
Captain Morrison, of the Monarch, bore down for
the scene of the disaster. He immediately got his
boats out, and succeeded in picking up all but four
of her passengers and crew, many of whom had
drifted a considerable distance to sea. In this he
was assisted by Captain Currie, of the Rialto, who
left his ship in a small boat to render all the aid in
his power. The following is an extract of a letter
received by Mr. E. M. Sayers from Captain Morri-
son, of the Monarch :—" On Saturday evening,
just before dark, a barque was in sight, off Cape
Keppel. The mate informed me that he fancied,
from the movements of the barque, she had grounded
on the bank, and let go her anchor. About 8 p.m.
he reported lights in the direction where we last
saw her. Several flashes were plainly visible, she
evidently requiring assistance, which, in the pre-
sent state of the weather, was impossible to render,
unless by a steamer, it blowing a gale at the time
with thick weather and strong tide. Knowing
that she would be full of passengers, I felt uneasy
for their safety, -as it was impossible to keep them
in any sort of order at such a time. I left orders
with the mate for the watch to call us at daybreak,
and if she appeared in distress informed him it was
my intention to proceed at once to their assistance,
unless some of the smaller vessels which had no
passengers on board (we having 130 at the time)
should be going down. No vessel appeared to be
moving, consequently I weighed and proceeded to
the wreck, taking with me Captain Currie, of the
Rialto, and two extra boats. On our way Captain
Currie picked the steward of the ship up on a life-
buoy, six miles from the wreck—it was a pitiable
sight ; nothing of her hull was visible, only the
foremast and bowsprit standing, they being covered
with human beings, as well as the wreck of the
mainmast ; two boats, the pilot's, and another
whale-boat, were already filled with people. I
anchored close to-leeward of the wreck, and got
the people on board, some in a very exhausted
state ; and I am happy to say that my crew and
passengers behaved remarkably well, rendering
every assistance in their power, furnishing the poor
people with dry clothes, &c., and offiring their
breakfast for the shipwrecked' people. In less than
half an hour all were on board, amongst them the
captain's wife, children, and servant, and the mate's
wife and child. It is astonishinc, how they. held
out, as they must have been 10 hours in the most
dangerous position, the ship breaking up fast, and
sea washing over their ; the children *ere some
times held in their teeth as their hands were tired

I took on board about 90, returning to the anchor-
age. The charts of this place are very erroneous,
therefore the ,greater caution is necessary. in navi-
gating these parts." fly the above it will be seen
that through the praiseworthy promptimle of Capt.
Morrison, the principal portion of the passengers
were rescued from almost certain death, he having
taken his ship to their assistance, although lying
among dangerous reefs, and with his ship already
crowded with people.

ROBBING PAUPER LUNATICS OF
THEIR FOOD.

A most heartless case of robbery, attended, it
would seem, with the most disastrous results to the
health, and even lives of a number of these poor un-
fortunates, pauper lunatics, came before the Re-
corder, D. Jardine, Esq., at the Bath Winter Ses-
sions, just held.
John Cave, the attendant in the male lunatics'
ward, at the Bath Union Workhouse, was indicted
for stealing 11b. 7oz. of beef, 21b. Goz. of mutton,
lib. 2oz. of butter, and lib. 6oz. of cheese, the pro-
perty of the guardians of the Bath Union ; and
Benjamin Skeates, of Combe Down, was indicted
for feloniously receiving the same, knowing it to
have been stolen.

The prosecution was conducted by Mr. T. W.
Saunders; and Mr. March defended Skeates; Cave
pleaded guilty.
The prisoner Cave, as the principal attendant of
the lunatics, had daily to serve out to them their
rations, but, instead of faithfully performing that
duty, he appears to have stinted them of their food
for a considerable period, and to, a great extent.
The master of the workhouse, Mr. Eaton, suspect-
ing something of the kind from the altered appear-
ance of the unfortunate lunatics, set a watch upon
the prisoner Cave, and on the sth and 6th of
December he was observed to secrete meat which
ought to have been distributed to the lunatics in a
drawer in his room. The rations of the inmates, by
the prisoner's heartless conduct, were reduced to
less than half the workhouse diet. On the 7th, two
detective officers of the Bath police, Barnett and
Baker, were sent for and placed, the former in a
pump house inside the boundary wall, and the
latter outside. They had not been long con-
cealed when Barnett saw Cave come from the
lunatics' ward with. a ladder, which he placed
against the boundary wall and ascended, and
continued on the top smoking for some time.
Whilst so engaged, the other prisoner was seen by
detective Baker to come up to the wall, and having
looked each way to see that no one was coming,
Cave handed him down a bundle, and then returned
to the lunatics' ward. Skeates went in the direc-
tion of Combe Down, but was followed by Baker,
taken into custody, and brought back to the office
of the master of the workhouse, where he stated in
answer to a question, that Cave had given him the
victuals found upon him, and which constituted the
subject of the present indictment, and that he had
frequently done so before. Cave was then taken
into custody. On their way to the police-station
Skeates said, " This is a pretty mess we are got
into, Mr. Cave ;" the latter replied, " It's only my
giving you a little meat ;" to which Skeates re-
joined, "It's too much for us, I'm afraid.'.'
Witnesses were called to speak to Skeates' good
character, including the Rev. G. H. Newnham,
ineumbent of Combe Down, and Mr. Grant, of
Midford, both members of the board of guardians.
The Recorder, iu summing up, however, cautioned
the jury not to be misled by evidence as to previous
character. Unless the case were left in doubt, the
character would form no point for their considera-
tion. It was often found that men claimed to be
honest, and bore a character for honesty, whilst they
were carrying on their nefarious transactions, and
until their dishonesty was brought home to them
by the verdict of a jury.
A verdict of guilty having been returned,
Mr. Eaton, the master of the workhouse, was
recalled, and

The Recorder inquired if he had any reason to
believe that the proceedings of the prisoners had
been going on for any length of time.
Mr. Eaton said he had, for after the prisoner Cave
was given into custody, other pieces of meat and
cheese, which had been issued the same day, were
found in his drawer. His suspicion was excited
that the food served out for the lunatics was mis-
appropriated by observing a falling off in their
conditisn. He referred to his dead book and
found that no fewer than 5 lunatics had died in the
month of October, and that in the 11 months of
1858, 17 had died, whereas in the corresponding
period of 1857 only 6 had died. It was the beginning
of December before his attention was called to the
matter, and he did not feel justified in communi-
cating his suspicions to the medical officer until he
had ascertained something definite.
The Recorder, in passing sentence, said this was
by far the most important case that had been tried
during these sessions, or at any sessions, for many
years. Though the offence might be looked on as
one of theft only, yet when all the circumstances
were considered, it was a more serious case than any
which had come before him. These unfortunate
people—about whom one could hardly speak with-
out emotion—were placed under the care of the
prisoner Cave, and he had taken advantage of the
trust reposed in him to rob them of their food. He
(the Recorder) hoped he (Cave) had not pressing
on his mind the consciousness of having by his
conduct been the cause of the death of any of them,
he would have enough to bear without that. He
should not perform his duty if he did not pass a
heavy sentence on him. He must be imprisoned in
the Bath gaol, and kept to hard labour, for 18
months. Addressing Skeates, the Recorder said,
though the receiver was in general worse than the
thief, there was something in this case to notice in
his favour. He was outside the .workhouse, and
might not have known the effect of the theft. But
he must have known, from the nature of the food,
that he was robbing the poor of the provision made
by the public for their subsistence. The sentence
on him would be that he be imprisoned and kept to
hard labour in the Bath gaol for 12 calendar
months,