The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-18 00:00:00

Shocking Murder at Sunderland.

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One of the quiet little streets which abound at
the west end of the Wearmouth borough has just
been the scene of a disgraceful row amongst Irish-
men, in which, unfortunately, one life was sacrificed.
A number of Irish were in the habit of resorting to
the Cottage Tavern, a small, one-storied edifice at
the foot of Hopper-street, and there talking over the
troubled state of their country. While some 15
or 20 of them were thus engaged on Saturday night
the general harmony was suddenly disturbed by
the appearance of a tall, rough-looking pitman from
the neighbourhood of Monkwearmouth, who, with-
out the slightest provocation, loudly asserted that
his name was Mickey Gorman, and that he was
open to fight any man on the north side of the
river, or any one in the company who disputed
his word. Among those assembled at this time was
James Quinn, a teaser, employed at Messrs. Hartley
and Co.'s glass works, and he, taking upon himself
the duty of peacemaker, suggested that as nobody
present desired to dispute Gorman's prowess he had
better sit down and make himself comfortable.
Failing to accept this advice, however, a somewhat
noisy altercation ensued, and for fear of more serious
disturbances the landlord, John Shea, wisely refused
to grant any further supplies of liquor, and even-
tually succeeded in sending the whole company to
the door a little before midnight. Unfortunately,
they were no sooner in the open street than others of
the party got excited,and the wordy strife became so
violent that a crowd speedily assembled. Gorman,
whose fighting propensities were apparently un-
abated, immediately proceeded to forcibly impress
his convictions on one of the " boys" by striking
him on the mouth, and this would undoubtedly have
resulted in a perfect riot between the- adherents of
the two combatants had not peace been once more
restored by Quinn's well-timed allusion to their
being " one faith and one country." A move was
then made in the direction of Silksworth-row, but
not many yards had been traversed before Gorman
again became uproarious, and, backed by a com-
panion, vowed he would fight any man in the com-
pany for the championship of the north side of the
water. This bombast not being heeded, he took
offence at Quinn's oft-repeated words, " Go home,
Mickey," and replying that he would go, ran down
the street in the direction of the railway leading to
the river side, followed by the companion above re-
ferred to. Returning almost immediately, thecouple
elbowed their way through the crowd in the direc-
tion of Quinn, whom Gorman struck on the back
of the head with a brick, which knocked him insen.-
sible to the ground. The cowardly assailants no
sooner perceived the mischief they hail perpetrated
than they escaped amid the disorder that prevailed,
while the blood-stained missile—which Gorman
had evidently pulled from the ashes on the railway
side—was picked up as evidence again“ him. Quinn
was at once conveyed to his house in Mater-street,
wheTe, without having uttered a single word, he died
in about ten minutes. The police proceeded to
Monkwearmouth in search of prisoner, whom they
found stripped in a house in Brook-street. On being
charged with the murder, he denied all knowledge
of the occurrence. He was conveyed to the station-
house, and subsequently, Quinn's wife, who was with
her husband at the time of the occurrence—picked
him out from a batch of prisoners amongst whom
he had been placed, and charged him with being the
murderer, while some five or six other witnesses
bore the same testimony. Prisoner—a single man
—is well known to the police in consequence of
previous acts of violence, and when brought from
the house in which he lodged one of his brothers re-
marked, " The hare runs a long time, but she's
caught at last."

Deceased is said to have been a respectable,
honest, and humane man, and leaves a wife and five
children to mourn his loss. He had adopted a poor
orphan girl who was left destitute, and clothed and
educated her with his own family.—Northern Daily
Express.

Arrivals at the Zoolo3ical Gardens.

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A pretty little African monkey, known as the talapoin
(Cercopithecus talapoin), from the banks of the Congo,
where it is considered a rare species, and is designated the
" mangrove monkey" by Europeans. It is seldom brought
alive to Europe. Also a kinkajou (Cercoleptes caudivol-
vulus), a peregrine falcon, and some small African doves.
The kinkajou is a sub-ursine quadruped of South Ame-
rica, about the size of a large domestic cat, with a short
coat of a fulvous hue, and a long tail, which is consider-
ably prehensile. It has a short visage, and a long, soft
tongue (as usual in the Ursidas); being a great devourer of
honey ; but it is likewise carnivorous to some extent, and
has erroneously been stated to be the only carnivorous
anima; (i. e., member of the zoological order Carnivora)
that has a prehensile tail. In the same house for small
quadrupeds will be seen a fine example of the binturong
(Arctietts binturong), a very remarkable nocturnal quad-
ruped which inhabits the Indo-Chinese countries and
Malayan peninsula (not Sumatra, as has been asserted), in
which the tail is very long and highly prehensile. This
creature is as large as a fox, with somewhat fox-like head,

fully tufted ears, and very copious long white whiskers or
moustachial bristles. It is clad with long and shaggy
course black fur, like that of the common Indian bear
(Ursus labiatus), and its claws are somewhat retractile.
Though also a great devourer of honey, it is known to the
Burmese as the myouk kya, or " monkey tiger," having
the reputation (whsther or not 'deservedly) of attacking
monkeys when at roost and devouring them ; but both the
binturong and the kinkajou, as observed in captivity,
would seem to be mainly frugivorous. The binturong is
not only the sole carnivore, but the only. non-marsupial
animal of the Old World belonging to the class of mamma-
lia, the tail of which i:prehensile in a high degree.

In the New World this remarkable adaptation of the tail
to become an important prehensile organ occurs in gene-
ral of very different orders. In the spider-monkeys
(Ateles) it attains the maximum of efficiency in this mode
of application, and is scarcely of less utility to the numer-
ous other " sapajous" of Buffon (the species of Mycetes,
Lagothrix, and Cebus) ; but there is no gradation in this
respect to any other form of monkey. We again find the
prehensile tail in certain American genera of porcupine
and kindred rodents, and in those singular little adentate
animals, the sloth-anteaters (Diclodurus); among the mar-
supials, in the true opossums (Didephis), and again in a
remarkable genus of phalangers (Cuscas), inhabiting Odle-
bes and the Moluccas ; and there is considerable prehen-
sile power in the tail in the non-marsupial adentate genus
of pangolins or scaled anteaters (Mania,. In the reptile
class the chameleons are thus distinguished ; and also the
arboreal snakes ; and in the fish class there is the remark-
able genus Hippocampus, which thus holds on to a stem of
sea-weed, as represented in the vignette accompanying Mr.
Yarroll's account of the European species in his "History
of British Fishes," a figure which at once conveys the
proper notion of the ordinary habits of the creature.
Among the arrivals must not be omitted the presentation
of several species of the small British wading-birds, PS
go:den plover, turnstone, and several knots and dunlins,
which are placed along with the kingfisher; little grebes,
&c., in the aviary for small aquatic birds in the fish-house.
In that aviary there have long been ono turnstone, one
knot, and one common sandpiper (Tringoides hypoleucus);
and we remarked with interest how thoroughly the turn-
stone assumed its beautiful summer plumage or colouring
in the proper season. In the same " happy family" may
be seen a tiny curlew (Numenius minutus) from Austra-
lia, a most remarkable bird to be exhibited alive in Europe,
though scarcely more so than the wattled lapwing (Lobi-
vanellus lobatus) of that distant land, and one or two others
in the collection. Of European waders, we observe the
common British curlew, the black-tailed god wit, the pee-
wit, tone-plover, oyster-catcher, and ruff ; and any other
species appertaining to the snipe and plover families would
be acceptable.—Land and Water.

STARVATION IN THE WEALTHIEST CITY IN THE
WORLD.—On last Sunday there died, at 37, Bar-
nett-street, Bethnal-green, an old woman, aged 74, whose
bed was formed by two chairs, and whose only food each
week consisted of a little tea and sugar, and half a quartern
loaf of broad, allowed her by the guardians of the parish,
and as much more as Is. 6d. a week, granted by the same
authorities, could purchase. The daughters of the poor
old woman were represented to be the wives of mechanics:
but so far from assisting her one of them, with whom she
had lived for a little time, had compelled her to pay is. a
week for her lodgings. The only friend she found was
Eliza Greenhalgh, who shared her room with her, and
gave her the use of the two chairs, she herself and two
children sleeping on a bed on the floor, in the corner of
the room, and so near to starvation themselves that one of
the little ones had written in chalk upon the table, " Now'

it is all up, for one of us is dead." The coroner's jury
found that the old woman's death was accelerated by want
of the common necessaries of life; but one of the jurymen
took upon himself to say that no blame attached to the
parish. With the notions which poor-law guardians en-
tertain concerning humanity, the juror may be right.—
London Review.

NEWSPAPER PROPERTY. —The copyright and
plant of the Bucks Herald, a Conservative paper, estab-
lished 32 years, were sold yesterday, by Messrs. South
gate, for the sum of £457 13s. The purchaser was Mr.
Gurney, of Ayleubury.