The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-24 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PLYMOUTH, Matte"' 23.—The Marlborough packet
arrived at Falmouth on Friday, twelve days from Lisbon,
left in the Tagus his Majesty's ships Asia, Revenge, and
Childers, and the Sandwich packet the next to follow
with the mails. Nothing had occurred of imporrance in
the city ; the transport with the troops, for 111arlaira, had
sailed on the 3d instant. Don Miguel had left the city
for the interior, on an excursion to enjoy his favourite
sports, bull tights, &c.
His Majesty's packet sloop Reindeer, Lieutenant Hill-
arrived on Sunday at Falmouth, from Brazil, with the
mails, and 50,000 dollars on freight, on merchants' ac,
count—left Rio 17th Jan. All was quiet at the time of
her departure. The commercial affairs of the country
continued to assume a more favourable aspect, and the Ex-
change was on the rise.
His Majesty's packet sloop Opossum, Lieut. Peter, ar-
rived on Friday at Falmouth, from Halifax and Bermuda
—left Halifax 27th ult. ; and Bermuda, 14th inst.

The Imogene, which sailed from this port on the 26th
of November last, has arrived safe at Riu Janeiro, where
she found lying the Warspite, Dublin, Druid, and Pylade4,
The Stag, 46, arrived on Saturday from Cork, with a
detachment of the 77th regiment, to embark in the
Romney. for Jamaica.
The Harder, IS, Commander Vassal!, sailed yesterday
for the East Indies.

The Hermes steamer, havinz in tow the Jupiter troop
ship, sailed from Leith for this port on Monday last.
In Harnoaze—San Josef, Romney, Echo steamer, Dili
genre transport.

The Challenger arrived at Singapore from Madras,
30th Nov.

The Pickle arrived at Maranhatn from Bermuda,
13th Jan ; and Sapphire sailed thence same day on a
cruise.

The Undaunted arrived at the Cape of Good Hope from
Mauritius, 26-h Dec.

Mr. James Lambert, late Assistant Surgeon of the Wel-
lesley, is appoitred-tn the Pigeon packet, vice J. Morrison,
who is appoinredto the Conway. fit!ing out ❑t C.,“them.

Lieutenant Jo•iah Thompson, R.N. of Plymouth, is ap.
pointed to command the Brisk brig of wl.r, on the coast of
Africa, vice Lieutenant Bottetfield, vromoted.
Messsrs. John William T. Newii!gllam and William
Greet passed their examination for Lieutenants, at the
Royal Naval College, on Monday week.
The ?Etna and Raven arrived at Bathurst from Ports-
mouth, Slat Jan.

An American named Sill has presented to
Congress a petition, by which he solicits a grant of land
and a sum of money, for the purpose of executing a plan
conceived by him of a Geographical Garden. The space
for this establishment would not exceed ten acres, which
would suffice to 'delineate exact!y all the parts of the
known world on the principle of Mercator's Chart. The
bed of oce ars, seas, gulfs, bays, and lake•, would he hol-
lowed out, and the ground removed thence would serve
to the formation of continents, peninsulas, isthmuses,
mountains and islands. The parallels of latitude, the meri-
dians, equatirs, and all the other circ!es would he cor-
rectly traced, the beds of rivers described as in their natu-
ral course, and lowered accordinu to their respective
banks. Tae bosom of the seas would be covered with,
gravel, the plains adorned with verdure, and the !noun-,
tams formed with their proper geological strata. The
seas might at any tim- be filled with water, so that the
whole would be a representation in miniature of the world,
in its own elements.

A lady recently died at Chatellerault, aged 88,
When 37 years old she experienced all the symptoms of
pregnancy, and even at length muff red what the conceived
to be labour pains. But th-se suddenly ceased, an.' the:
enlargement of her size disappeared. She nevertheless,
remained fully persu ided th.it she had been pregnant, and
directed that her body should be opened after her death.
This has taken place, and proved that she was nut de—
ceived. A Icsitus was found, the size and weight of which
showed that it hail proceeded to the full term. It had
become almost entirely ossified. M.dical men wishing to
have a more minute account of this phenomenon, may oh.
tain it on applying to M. Lauray, physician, at Chatel.
lerault.

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,„, ,AVE..4.A:SSIiES MAR 23
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ItICIpisiLDS V. COHEN.
This action of libel brought by the plaintiff
againstitii4roprietet of the Brighton Guardian.
On the 28th of December last, a statement appeared in
the Brighton Guardian, reflecting on the character of
the plaintiff. of which the following is the substance:—
" That on the 20th of December, when the Regulator
coach arrived at Lewes, the public were attracted to it by
the coachman accusing, and pointlpg out to persons as-
semblsd in the street, a Mr. Richards, (the plaintiff), who
is the land-agent of Lord Gage, and a venerable man of
65 years of age, and accusing him of having conducted
himself in a ruffianly manner towards the wife and
daughter of a respectable tradesman in the town ; that his
conduct was so gross as to compel his removal from the
inside to the outside of the coach ; and that upon this
statement of the coachman, the people of Lewes had very
properly expressed their detestation. That Mr. Richards
was an old m in, and, as an agent of Lord Gage, ought to
have exerted the influence which be possessed as such,
to pr tect morala anti female virtue, and not to destroy
them." The alledged libel concluded by expressing a wish,
that if the charge made against Mr. Richards were false,
those who made it would be punished. .

The defendant pleaded a justification, and the jury, after
a abort deliberation, returned a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages one farthiaz.

CROWN COURT.

Ann Kennet. aged 23, was indicted as an accessory
after the fact in the murder of Celia Holloway. It is well
know to the public that John Holloway, the husband, was
executed I Alt winter for the murder of his wife, which he
'perpetrated under circumstances of great barbarity at
Brighton. Ann Kennet is the woman with whom he co-
hahited at the time. She was tried with him for the
murder last winter assizes, and aquitted. She was now
charged as an accessory after the fact. She has since
borne a child by Holloway, and appeared with it at the
bar. She was allowed a chair during her trial.

After a patient investigation of the case, the Jury ac-
quitted the prisoner, apparently to the satisfaction of the
spectators.

MURDER NEAR WARRINGTON.

APPREHENSION AND COMMITTAL OF
THE MURDERED MAN'S WIFE.

Since the trial and execution of William Heaton at
Lancaster for the diabolical murder of Thomas Ratcliffe at
Barton Wood, near Warrington, some extraordinary dis-
claques relating to the barbarous crime have been made
by several of the friends and relatives of the murderer,
from which it appeared that there was every ground for
supposing that Ratcliffe's wife was implicated with Heaton
as an accessary to the murder of her own husband. It
appears that immediately after the condemnation of
Heaton, a man named Joseph Lawson, Heaton's brother-
in-law, who had given evidence favourable to the convict
at the trial, intimated to Mr. Foulkes, of Manchester, the
Attorney for the defence, that the wife of Ratcliffe was
equally criminal in the affair with Heaton, for be (Lawson)
bad himself heard her urge the unfortunate man to put
her husband out of the way. Mr. Foulkes, on hearing this
statement, recommended Lawson to go to the proper au-
thorities and disclose all he knew on the subject. Lawoon
took the advice of Mr. Foulkes and communicated informs-
tion, touching the guilt of Ratcliffe's wife, to Davis, an
officer from Lambeth-street (now deputy constable of
Warrington), who apprehended Heaton in the first in-
stance, and he, under the directions of the Magistrates of
Warrington, proceeded to Barton Wood for the purpose of
making further inquiries, in order to ascertain whether
there were any substantial prounds to found a charge
against the unfortunate Ratcliffe's wife. Upon arriving at
Barton Wood, Davis received such information, both of a
new character and in corroboration of Lawson'estatement,
as warranted him in apprehending the woman, who was
still living in the house occupied by herself and her mur-
dered husband. The disclosures made to Davis went also
to shew that an illicit intercouse had for a considerable
time existed between Ratcliffe's wife and the murderer,
and that her dislike for her husband, and partiality for the
latter, had prompted her to conspire with Heaton, to take
the life of her husband. From the evidence adduced
against Heaton at his trial it appeared that the deceased
Ratcliffe was an infirm cripple, but the murderer Heaton
seemed a hale athletic countryman. Heaton, subsequent
to his condemnation, confessed his guilt to Mr. Row'ey,
the Reverend Chaplain of the gaol of Lancaster, but
did not in any way implicate the wife of Ratcliffe.
It will be recollected that, at the trial, a potato fork,
spotted with blood, was produced by Davis in evidence
against Heaton. The fork was not found is Heaton's
dwelling, but in that of an acquaintance of his, who said
at the trial that the spots of blood were not upon the fork
the day previous to the murder, when he put it away, and
that it had not I ern used by the witness, or any of his fa-
mily, since his so placing it by. This witness, about the
time of the murder, was not in his own house, but had
gone to fetch his wife from somewhere, leaving the door
on the latch. Heaton having been seen in the neighbour-
hood of the witness's house alluded to during the time the
witness was out, the circumstances led to the supposition,
bat the murderer had taken the fork from the house, with
which he went and perpetrated the murder, and then re•
placed it. Such, however, it has turned out, was not the
case, which shows that implicit confidence should not be
placed in circumstantial evidence, be the links ever so
strong. Those who read the confession of Heaton, as
given to Mr. Rowley, will remember that he strenuously
denied having murdered his victim with the potato fork,
but said that lie had committed the deed with a hedge hook
and afterwards threw that instrument into a pond, or pit,
of water, the situation of which he described. The pond
alluded to has since been dragged, and the hedge-hook
Beaton described was found. The woman Ratcliffe, im-
mediately after her apprehensi was placed in a post-
chaise, and conveyed by Davis to the gaol at Warrington.
On Wednesday, she was taken before the Warrington ma-
gistrates, when she underwent a long examination, the re-
sult of which was, that she was fully committed to Lan-
,easter Castle for trial, from which her guilty paramour
bas just been released, by the forfeiture of his life.

DREADFUL EXPLOSION AND LOSS OF

LIFE AT MANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, MARcm 23.

Last evening about six o'clock, the neighbourhood of
St. Ann's-square, the Market-place, and the principal
streets adjacent, were thrown into the utmost state of con-
sternation and alarm, in consequence of a shocking ex-
plosion which aheok the buildings in the streets alluded
to, to the very foundation, similar in its effect to a severe
'shock of an earthquake. The shock was instantaneously
followed by large volumes of smoke or steam, which com-
pletely darkened the atmosphere. The inhabitants of the
warehouses and shops contiguous, rushed out of their
workplaces petrified with astonishment and fright, when
it was ascertained that the steam-engines of Messrs.
Goodier and Crow, the calenderers, of Pool-fold, New-
Marbet-buildings, had suddenly burst, destroying the
whole of their extensive calendering premises, consisting of
an immense quantity of machinery and property of other
descriptions, and burying in the ruins a number of the
operatives in their employ. Upon proceeding to the scene
of devastation, the whole of the calender works—build-
ings four stories high—were literally guttted, as though the
mischief had been the effect of a dreadful fire ; the beams and
machinery were seen hanging upon fragile materials,
threatening destruction to any persons venturing into the
ruins; and the shocking catastrophe was merely the work
of one single moment. Workmen were immediately em-
ployed to clear away the timbers and bricks, for the pur-
ascertaining the extent of the loss of life; in doing
pose of
which one of the workmen perceived the hand of a boy
amongst the ruins, which he laid hold of for the purpose of
pulling him up, when shocking to relate the band came
from the body from the effects of scalding. Opon further
search the body of the boy was found quite dead ; four
other youths were picked out of the wreck also quite dead.
Their names are John Hurst, John Ogden, Thomas
Hinehcliffe, Joseph Smith ; and several others who are
missing, who were seen at their remit a short time before,
are supposed to have perished anti are still beneath the
ruins. Mr. Goodier, one of the partners, was much in-
jured, and conveyed to the Infirmary, as were a consider-
able number of workmen more or less injured. The
bodies of most of the unfortunate youths who have thus
come to a premature grave were shockingly mutilated and
scalded.

It appears that the engine was not at work at the time,
but the engineer was making prepartions to commence
working. There were two boilers, and a 60. horse power
of steam was on at the time. A Bond deal of neglect is
attributed to the engineer, which, however, is not yet ascer-
tained, in consequence of his now lying in the Infirmary
in a precarious state. Amongst the property destroyed
are four cafender machines, of an expensive description ;
and the estimate of damage sustained it is expected will
exceed 2,0001. One of the sufferers, Ogden, was sadly
crushed about the head; and the eyes of Smith hung in a
shocking manner from their sockets, and the hair was
completely taken off his head by the steam.
Several causes are assigned for the accident. Mr.
Cross, one of the principles of the firm, thinks that the
engines had either been overloaded with steam, or that
something had sot between the weights of the valve, which

prevented it from rising, and giving the steam ita required
vent. The last is the most probable ; but either way
there appears to have been some mismanagement. There
were two boilers attached to the engine, both of which
burst, one after the other. Considerable damage was done
to the windows of warehouses in the neighbourhood from
the shock.

An investigation, touching the deaths of the deceased,
will be held before John Milne, Esq., the Coroner, either
to-day or Monday, by which time it is probable that other
bodies may he found in the ruins, Ai the workmen have
been busily employed in searching the whole morning.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

ARMY ESTIMATES.

ABSTRACT of the ESTIMATES of NON.EFFECTIVE
ARMY SERVICES, from the Ist of April, 1832, to the 31st
of March, 1833.