The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-15 00:00:00

A SCENC.E IN THE NOR IVICII row

COUNCIL.

Bribery has at length reached its acme.
for a vote—for a vote to turn the scale for Conser-
vatism, by creating at once eight Conservative
aldermen. The scene, as sketched by our contempo-
rary, the Noi:folk News, is indeed a graphic one'
The Council waiting in two ranks exactly balanced
to elect their Mayor—one Liberal voter, a Mr.
Fox, a Jew, however, is absent. Where can he
be ? While he is absent the Tories are masters of
the field ; if he comes eight Liberal aldermen will
be elected. At the last moment he comes, and the
Conservatives in a body leave the room and their
hopeless cause. The Mayor is chosen, and the first
duty he had to perform is recorded in the following
extract :
The MAYOR elect, having taken the oaths a
dnd
been invested with the chains of office, sai--
Gentlemen, before I proceed to return thanks to
you for the distinguished honour which youhalei
make conferred upon me, I have both to m°i_
n",t
announcement and to ask a question of the rei;
this
serious character that has ever come before first
Council. I extremely regret that the very „f
business that should come before me as Marr
this city is of so serious a nature. lam inferree•'
—and if it be true it ought to be known,
it be not true it ought to be contradicted—l,T,
been informed, I say, that an offer of a most
graceful and corrupt character has been luatieb.o
a member of this Council in order to influence toldLi
with regard to his vote here to-day. I have ve
you this as soon as I had the opportunity, and have have r
ethen
Now to ask that member—Mr. Joel Fox—wil
there is any foundation in the report which has bee
communicated to me.
Mr. Fox—Mr. Mayor and gentlemen, r
while lie
mF'
taken great pride in being able to represell
brethren of the Jewish persuasion in this Cane',
and certainly lam in politics a Whig. (Cheers.)
would never desert my party on any pretence whao'f
ever, but I suppose that because on the comraitteenn
the corporation I have sometimes given a vote
the other side in order to help my fellow-tradesmen
and to give them a lift when I could, they
thought that Joel Fox might be got over one hay
or another. (Cries of " Who are they ?”) I shall I
give their names at present. Well, upon this
thought I would play the card to prove them. .. 0,
had played a card at the last general elee'l°-r
through which my friend Mr. Wilde someheivrt's..
other got blamed ; but I think he has done his aeil.a.
Well, I thought that I would play them their
d me,
back again, and I do not deny that they offere,icco
and that I have got £3oo—and hero are Obw 'toe
of the notes ! (Great sensation.) (The halves were
handed to the Mayor, and three hearty cheers wee,
given by the populace for " Joel Fox.") genhave
men, all I can say is this, that I consider 1 find
done my duty towards my party. I wanted 4.-iltea
.r
them out. They talked about purity, and Wanted
to find out how far their purity went. They
me to vote for eight aldermen for them-
The MAYOR—Eight Tory aldermen ? That
Mr. Fox—Yes, for eight Tory aldermen• nut
is what they wished ; but from the comment h
of their coming after me, I resolved to public nee,
whole affair, and so I went to Mr.
and from the very beginning I have done nothing
and
without consulting him. I hope I have done
wrong towards the public. (Great aPPlauee') the
A committee was appointed to investigate
the
circumstances; and the result has been tha.ttutea
Wilde
Town-clerk, acting under instructions, has instlt gr•
proceedings before the city magistrates, agaillAs with
Albert J. Collins, a solicitor, who is chargu- ford
°
unlawfully conspiring with Mr. Henry Cr Zing
and other persons to corrupt Mr. Fox, by .-tiors
him money to vote for certain aldermen. It aP.' 0 of
from the evidence adduced that on the nested by
the 9th of November Mr. Fox was reques'cieni
Croxford to meet him at the Hop P _ ole-gfider.
with reference to the approaching election 01 a
int that
men. Mr. Croxford had previously told have
if he would vote for Tory aldermen he sheuiu arid
£5OO, observing, " You ccme to my 11°Ilsep'after
there it is. I will go on and do you °ln- tisfi
sa,, bc
me. Come in at the back door and I
you." Mr. Fox went to Mr. Croxford 's
the back door, first proceeding to gr. Wil,urenet),
the firm of Wilde and Son, 23, Parliament's:each'
and tellinhim what had taken place. tha "%tairs,
ing Mr. Crroxford's Mr. Fox wasp invite uPs s5O
and shown the halves of three £lOO and fekill'ed ati
Bank of England notes. Mr. Croxford 1,0%-
first to keep the whole of the notes in his e\grirson'S
session, or to place them in some other Pi,' said
bonds till the voting had taken place, When that
Mr. Fox should have them. He also
Col
cluran
the other halves of the notes lay at INlr•hous; (0.1
Mr. Fox, however, said, " No • you must givraer%
the halves of the three hundreds, and the 01)-
of the four fifties." Mr. Croxforduplnetnilt-hesirboatod
served that he could not give them
gone to Mr. Collins ; and, after being ahselitA Old
the room about seven minutes, he return e' gr.
gave the halves of the three £lOO notes to annr
Fox, permitting him also to take down tiro the
bers of the four fifties. Mr. Fox then wellerinea
Council-chamber, where the election. of
was about to take place, and, after publiclY eight
biting the half-notes, voted, after all, for tcheexfora
Liberal aldermen who were elected. 1N'11%.,1 rto
had, in the course of the interview, sal"' if you.
" A list of aldermen will be handed to you ;ventit
will do that, they will stick to you in the. sA ' yott
ward, and if you are turned out never rumr, Mr•
shall be an alderman or anything you like' e `vas
Fox having been examined, other evil Collins
given to show that Mr. Croxford and Albre'r`in the
had been in communication with each ot bet gr.
course of the morning of the 9th, and als tlocalCon-
Collinsban Collins had met a leading member of the jr.
of
servative party the same morning at thegar-
Messrs. Harvey and Hudson. Mr. B. /* witness)
vey, a member of this firm, was called as
transpired”
but said he should decline to state what 004
at the bank until he had taken legal advice ad-
journed the inquiry, adlitting Mr.
the subject. The maoistrates according/10 bail
Collins 'OOO.
in two sureties of £250 each, and hiniself,ill
Mr, Croxford is stated to have left Norwieu

EXPLOSION AND LOSS Or LIFE.
_ _.,ne%ca

The Sli,,,,opapersn Saturday bring the wiili bi
account of a terrible explosion in a tlear-111
0.4, , and
which five persons were killed on the op
several others more or less injured by buras,", gr.
RobTerhtecvaaiblueratbslaen,mailtlsßarriciseandtlayre,erected u•Y red
on Thursday evening, involving theiv erlecgd:stts: )'trlioe-
present, of five lives, and a large amount °I Prate
perty. The mills wore provided with separate
water-wheels and machinery for grinding as,-
an the material known as ' shudes,' or fire seeds
the latter being a very inflammable article, ustleso
ground only in fire-proof buildings, Which „lieea
hasmills not been positively ascertained, but it
eitheris gene'
of
rally believed-to have been an explosion urso
foul air or the dangerous materials then in.,eie and
of manufacture. Attached to the shude mill, an
,copimuneiolctnsathitasioincpugkre with it by doors on its° dal,
itss
1111 ass
eut iedbaeded sjt .
adjoining
i n i n g
in. t e mill, whic:dhba
wl•htt.s,hwas a store, not of fireproof construe ace
,anlbbd'alereigfnotegbrcaeoqt
forced
abitnmeht
the
Ili txeiepexnsipso
immense
oin:fdtaresdnoeottgu,irebpaitecios,
and weaker building, whereit wreak
up,
fury. The floors and roof of the store virere '4 to
plan d fell in shattered masses to the bottonlovise of
building and into the adjoining yard. The rove,
the explosion was heard at a considerable disci of a
andis described as resembling the heal,' buttthli he
mine. The mill immediately took fire, 1., of
crowdsr that speedily assembled thoughts of
escuing the workmen involved in the ruins
„co
f store. It was appaling to see them mio and
and oiatest_ tio
fragments of beams, and flooring,
and
it, edt
heeoin:
named elanbt soßuorrfoswt, hbneulto fnt o w A_____
mill hummed merrily, and the workmen- werenglea
Three ril-other
1-
corpses were taken from the piles of wood al' poor fel-
laowenls, and four men seriously injured. A rier/
. fell on the rocks, died on his way to the '-'139111'
so
Infirmary at Sligo. The police stationed at dared,
dare were promptly. in attendance, and renticiug
, who was blown into thepooett
theminutes beforebvor
invaluable assistance, skilful and CD ergetic,
millias was
completely
survivors. B this time the shod e s the
1 tsiaafie
safety
n ftb
ao ninflerne
in andit.
Georgeattention
mith, a con ;as direetea to
clerk, who had entered the mill about door'tt!T 0,
0 the.. explosion, was found dead near a lfilecl
portion of which, broken by the explosion, "01a,
foreb. hal}le has left a wife and tbarslveral
wereehmilaren to deplore his untimely on AO°
foundf.past severe) burned. two fire".le'd
the property
uilding during
_l3 to
considerable amount of property was saveci.:d it it
the greater portion has been destroyed. avow ol
g pihme.,eanntidreconnigtinnrdbutot,pcltiatyhoublbfi
feared the mill is so injured agate be incaPs ofthe
being repaired. The followin e the nair,eb vcreo•
killed and injured :--Icilled.---bGeorgo Sa''''''' WO'
Boyd, sen., Win. Boyd, jun. (father laid B°T)asfala
Taylor, and Mark Brown. Injured': 4 sae3e,,,'
Drummie,R severely burnt ; James Brainal itco..
()bed Rockford, injured by fall; Edw,ar Carte'
ford, burnt ; John Conaghton, burnt; Jas, Jolla
much injured ; James Tighe, burst; an
Brother, injured by fall."