The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-04 00:00:00

DIRECTORS.

CiIArrimAN—JAMES THOMSON, Esq. (Messrs. Line
and Co., Madras), Deputy Governor of-the Agra Bank,
and late Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Madras,
and President of the Madras Bank.
Colonel Philip Anstruther, C. 8., Madras Artillery.
The Hon. Philip Pleydeil Bouverie, M.P. (Messrs. Ran-
som, Bouverie, and Co.)
Lieutenant-Colonel Grimes, Madras Army, Chairman of the
Oriental Inland Steam Company.
Colonel Atwell Lake, C. 8., late Superintending Eng:neer
of the Kistnab Irrigation Works.
Lieutenant-Colonel Onslaw, late of the Commission for
governing Mysore.
Lieutenant-General Sir George Pollock, G.C.8., F.R.G.S.,
&c.
Major-General Westrow Watkins, Madras Army. •

CONSULTING ENGINEER. •
Col. J. T. Smith, Madras Engineers, F.R.S„ &c.
AUDITORS —James Bonar' Esq. (Messrs. Small and Co.
• Old Jewry).
.BANKERS.—Messrs. Ransom, Bouverie; and Co.,
1, Pall-Mall East.

SOLICITOR.--John. Mackrell, Esq., 34, Cannon-street Wes'
SECUETAILY.—John "Westwood, Esq.
Offices-27, Cannon-street, London, E.C.

Full Prospectuses and. Forms of implications for shares
may now be had on applicatiox at the Company's Offices,
27, Cannon-street, London, E.C. ; of the bankers, Messrs.
Ransom, Bouverie, and Co., 1, Pall-Mall East; and of the
solicitor, John Mackrell, Esq., 34, Cannon-street West,
E.C., London ; but no application will be considered unless
a deposit of £1 on each sharp applied for is previously
made to Messrs. Ransom, Bouverie, •and Co., bankers of
the company. The deposit will be returned if the applica-
tion is not acceded to.

Extract from. Minutes of Consultation transmitted by the
Government of 31adras, on the loth May, 1858, to the
late Court of Directors of the East India Company :
The Government express their unanimous, strong, and
earnest advocacy that all irrigation works which, on a com-
prehensive view of the wants of the country, may be deemed
necessary to deveop Its undoubtedly great resources, be
commenced at once boldly and on a large scale, be pressed
forward throughout all times and under all circumstances,
and be looked on, and be praCtically treated, as in fact they
really are, as the most economical, because- tiro most pro-
fitable, undertakings in which the,Government could pos-
sibly engage. It is needless now again to bring forward
the innumerable instances in which money has in the Pre-
sidency been most advantageously invested- in irrigation
works. The proceedings of Government have, in this re-
spect, been only ,too desultory and vacillating, and it is
confidently asserted that India could be placed in
position to pay all her own expenses, and gradually dis-
charge her debt far more readily and speedily by a judicious
expenditure than by any scheme of retrenchment or reduc-
tion.

THE MADRAS IRRIGATION and CANAL
COMPANY.
Office-27, Cannon-street, E.C.
NOTICE.—No further application for Shares in this Com-
pany will be received after •Wednesday; the sth day of
January, 1859.

Byorder.
JOHN WESTWOOD, Secretary.

Dec. 31, 1858.

THE REPRIEVED CONVICT WILHELM

The Liverpool Mercury gives the following par-
ticulars respecting the respite and past history of
Wilhelm, who was recently condemned to suffer
capital punishment for causing the death of a
young woman at Manchester.
On Thursday, Mr. Walpole, the Home Secre-
tary, would receive two memorials, bearing the sig-
natures of some of the leading foreign commercial
firms of Manchester and Liverpool. The most im-
portant memorial was that from Manchester, to
which 40 signatures were attached. The principal
points urged in favour of Wilhelm in both memo-
rials were the facts that he-did net design or in-
tend to take the deceased's life, and that it was the
young woman who came to him, and not he who
went to her. These memorials were despatched
from Manchester and Liverpool on Wednesday
evening, and would be received by the Home Se-
cretary during Thursday. The most sanguine
hopefulness must have despaired if nothing
had been heard yesterday morning, and it may
therefore be supposed that Wilhelm's anxiety
verged on despair. When the fact that he was
respited was communicated to • him he was over-
whelmed with gratitude, and fell upon his knees,
earnestly reiterating his thanks, not for man's in-
tercession only, but first and chiefly for the merci-
ful interposition of the Supreme Being to save him
from his impending fate. Afterwards he was con-
siderably revived in spirits, and he was cheerful,
compared with what he had been for some days,
when. he was again visited by his wife, who had
been permitted to see him every other day.
In the fact of the acquittal of Stadtmuller as an
approver, in order that he might give evidence,
without which a conviction might have been im-
possible, there is sufficient to account for a change
of feeling on the part of Wilhelm towards his once
fellow-prisoner, and this must be remembered in
considering what Wilhelm has said since the trial.
He has given a narrative of the circumstances of
the fatal operation at variance with the evidence
and denying his own presence in the rooms until
all the injury had been done, and particularly that
he used his hand violently in the manner described.
Wilhelm, who is 29 years of age, is a native of
the Duchy of Bernberg, in Germany. A memo-
randum before us—in his own handwriting, which
is distinct, egible, bold, and very good for a Ger-
man—informs us that he was born on the sth of
April 1829, and that he was married on the 23rd
September 1853, at the parish church of Halifax,
in Yorkshire. One capable of judging, and quali-
fied to speak, considers he is not a man of at all
penetrating abilities, and that he is dull of intellect
rather than shrewd or sharp. Whilst he was very
young he lost his father, and his mother was very
unkind to him. It was intended to make a mer-
chant of him; then that intention was changed,
and he was apprenticed to an apothecary, with
whom he learned his business. In order to avoid
military service, he came to this country from Ham-
burg, about eight years ago, and he first settled in
Leeds, where he made a scanty livelihood by teach-
ing the German language. He next, moved to
Halifax, and commenced practice as a surgeon in
Northgate. His first trouble occurred in the sum-
mer of 1853, when he was committed to the assizes
at York,*on a charge somewhat similar to, but not
so serious as, the present, and on which he was ac-
quitted.
After the acquittal he returned to Halifax, and
resumed his surgical practice, his surgery being in
Northbridge ; and from the date already given it
will be seen that in about two months he married
a young woman with whom he had become inti-
mate in Halifax. She was the daughter of respec-
table parents, and Wilhelm's position and prospects,
were those of a rising surgeon. He also epened a
chemist's shop, and combined with his practice the
business of chemist and druggist.
In a little more than a year after his marriage a
second misfortune occurred to him. Two days before
Christmas-day there happened a fire, by which his
shop and premises were burned down. He suc-
ceeded, however, in re-establishing himself in busi-
ness, but soon afterwards he was again reduced to
ruin by the consequences of a disastrous flood, which
occurred in July of the year following the fire. He
struggled, but in vain, to retrieve himself from the
effects of the disaster produced by the inundation.
His professional status having perhaps been shaken
by the trial at the assizes, he found himself unable
to redeem his reputation and credit sufficiently to
conduce to success in business; and after being a
second time confined in York astle, as a debtor,
he removed to Manchester three years ago. By
economy and industry ho succeeded pretty well in
Manchester, and soon commenced business again as
a chemist. At the end of the first year he found
himself pretty well off, and still better at the end

of the second. His account of his introduction to
his assistant, the approver Carl Stadtmulle:, is that
Stadtmuller applied to him, as a fellow-countryman
without means, for assistance. Wilhelm was not
then in actual need of an assistant or partner; but
as Stadtmuller had received a medical education and
a degree in Germany, it occurred to Wilhelm that
it would be a.stioke of policy to secure the services
of Stadtmuller, and so combine, in business, the
practice of medicine and surgery with the sale of
drugs. Stadtmuller had been three days with
Wilhelm when the operation was performed which

proved fatal to the seduced young woman, who had
been a patient of Wilhelm's for some months pre-
viously.
Wilhelm's wife and child are reduced to .destitu-
tion. On coming to Liverpool, after the trial, in
order to visit her husband on alternate days, she
found a temporary home at the house of Mr.
Thomas Southern, the Black Bull Inn, Kirkdale,
whose charitable hospitality deserves commenda-
tion. He will consider himself rewarded if others
also bestow • some pity on the helpless woman,
who, we may state, denies the participation
in the fatal deed imputed to her, and declares
that she did not place her hand upon , the
young woman's mouth. Her marriage with Wilhelm
cause her to be discarded by her friends, and she is
now helpless, with a fine boy, aged 31 years, on
her hands, and the prospect of another child in a
few weeks. However, although disheartened
enough by her present position, she is very much
relieved by the respite of her husband, who, she
says, has always been a good and kind husband to
her, and in that respect quite undeserving of the
unrelenting-conduct of her friends. When we saw
her yesterday, she was busily employed with re-
footing a knitted stocking, and wore at her bosom
a large brooch 'containing a likeness of her husband,
who is spoken of by those who have had to deal.
with him at the gaol as a person of gentlemanly
deportment.
•

THE MYSTRRIO US TRAGEDY IN

EPPING FOREST.

Extraordinary to say, considering the publicity
that has already been given to the circumstances
attending the murder of the young-` emale- and
her child, and the disposal bf their lifeless bodies in
a pond in Epping Forest, the shocking affair still
remains enveloped in the most impenetrable
mystery. Since the inquest the police have been
unceasing in endeavouring to obtain the identity of
the deceased.
A number of parties have come forward in the
hope of recognising the bodies, but unsuccessfully.
The bodies having been kept above ground for
several weeks for the purpose of identification,have
at length had to be interred, but at the same time
a very exact description has been registered both
of the deceased's remains and their clothes. The
description which, by being made more public may
lead to identification, is as follows :
Found, on Sunday the sth inst. (December), in a
pond adjoining the New-road, Epping Forest, a
woman and male child. The woman about 23 or 25
years of age ; about 5 feet 1 inch high; dark com-
plexion, hair nearly black ; stout built, full breast ;
had on a dark striped lilac cotton gown, with frill
sleeves • white straw bonnet, trimmed with blue
and white ribbon ; dark wove stays ; slate-coloured
Coburg petticoat, with white satin striped flannel
petticoat, brown Derry ditto, pair of white cotton
stockings, kid boots, black scarf shawl, with deep
coloured border.

The child aged about four months ' • dressed in a
white print frock, with lilac spots ; white cashmere
hood, trimmed with gimp and white satin ribbon,
lawn cap and lace border; flannel petticoat with,
white stays, white petticoat, and white pinafore ,
red and white worsted shoes ; a small shawl, made
out of the border of a lama shawl ; girl's small silk
mantle, with silk braid and deep fringe. -
Near the pond was found a cotton bag, contain-
ing cotton stockings, hair-brwl alit.d comb, new
tooth-brush, piece of soap, and two crochet night-
caps.

There is a strong suspicion that the deceased
were murdered in London, and then taken down in
a cart, and thrown into the pond.

DESPERATE AFFRAY AT MAN.-
' CIIEST.E.R.

In the early part of last week a violent attack
was made upon several members of an Irish family,
chiefly by persons who were distantly related to
them. An old man, John Dirkin, upwards of 70
years of age, lived in a cellar in Brighton-street,
Red Bank; and in the same street, in different
dwellings, there live his son, M'Cormick Dirkin,
his son-in-law, and two married daughters, named
Sarah M'Donnough and Mary Casey. On Tues-
day last four persons, by marriage related to the
abOve, and named Nathaniel M'Donnough, Frank
M‘Donnough,JohnM‘Donnough,brothers,with their
sister, Sarah M'Donnough, living in Ashley-street,
off Angel-street, Manchester, were joined by three
or four-bthers whom they knew, from Liverpool,
and the party appear to have deliberately planned
an attack upon the old man Dirkin and his sons and
daughters. At three o'clock, p.m., of the day named
John M'Donnough went to old Dirkin's cellar,
to inquire where his sons and daughters were. Mrs.
Dirkin, an infirm old woman, who had no suspicion
of the object of the inquiry, told them they were at
their work, and would return at six or seven o'clock
in the evening. He repeated the inquiry several
times during the afternoon; then between six and
seven mustered with his associates in the street,
and began to make a disturbance. The old man,
Dirkin, left his cellar in order to go into the house
of his daughter Sarah, to make a fire, when he was
immediately set upon in the most brutal manner,
knocked down, beaten, and kicked to such an ex-
tent that on Saturday morning last, when the sub-
ject came before the magistrates (some of the
assailants being captured), he was not expected to
survive many hours. Besides other injuries he had
received, several ribs were broken. The screams of
the old man brought the people into the streets,
and as soon as his children came to his help they
also were attacked with life-preservers and other
weapons, and severely injured in various ways,
being both bruised and cut. The old,man was taken
into his cellar, and has been since attended by Mr.
Measham, surgeon. Sarah M'Donnough had to
have her wounds dressed at the Infirmary ; the
husband of Dirkin's daughter, Mary Casey, was so
much beaten on the head that his face was covered
with blood. The assailants escaped at the time,
some of them to Liverpool, and the rest otherwise
concealing themselves ; but on Friday night
Sergeant Charles Wilson apprehended Frank
M'Donnough, in St. Michael's-place ; and shortly
afterwards, in their house in Ashley-street, Nathan
and Sarah M'Donnough.
The prisoners were placed in the dock at the
City Police Court on Saturday.

Patrick Dirkin stated that he was a hawker. On
night, when coming home from hawking,
Tuesday
he was met in the street by a man who shook him
by the hand, and asked him if he would have a
glass of ale ? He replied that he would not ; upon
which the man asked him if he would fight. He
replied that he was not a fighting man, upon which
he was immediately struck on the head with some
weapon, and knocked down. While this was being
done he saw others of the party beating his father-
in-law.

M'Cormick Dirkin said he heard a disturbance,
and coming out of his house, saw the prisoners
(with others not then in custody) beating his father.
Witness went up and asked what they were doing
that for, when he was knocked down himself, and
ill-used.

Mary Casey said she was returning home from
her work, at nearly eight o'clock, when she was
met by a girl, who said, " Your father is killed by
a great party." Witness set off towards her father's
cellar, when the prisoner, Frank M'Donnough,
pulled a life-preserver out of pocket, and knocked
her down with it. Several of the party kicked her.
She saw them beating her father, and called out,
"Nathan, don't kill my father." After that they
jostled him away, and she could not see what they
did to him.

Sarah M'Donnough (married to a man of this
name, not in custody at the time) was coming from
her work, and went to her father's for her children.
She saw some of the party strike her father, whom
they had in the street, and immediately she was
struck on the head, and cut, with a candlestick, by
a woman named Ellen Higgins. She was then
struck several times by John 111‘Donnough, who
lives in Liverpool. He said to her, " I never will
leave you till I am your end." Her hands were
savagely bitten, and her face bruised.

On tliis evidence being given, Mr. Maude said
the prisoners had better reserve what they had to
say until Tuesday (this day), for should the man
most injured (John Dirkin) die, they might have
to answer to a charge of wilful murder.
The prisoners were accordingly remanded to
Tuesday.

After- thc examination, Mr. Superintendent Leary
despatched an officer with one of the witnesses to
Liverpool, and yesterday he returned with two
other of the assailants, namely, John M'Donnough,
living in Cavendish-street, Liverpool; and Dennis
Dailey, who lived in Edgar-street. On inquiry
between 8 and 9. o'clock last night, the old man
Dirkin was reported by the surgeon to be sinking
fast, and no hope was entertained of his recovery.
The two persons apprehended in Liverpool yester-
day will be brought before the magistrates this
morning, and probably be remanded to Tuesday,
when the others in custody are to be again placed
in the do3k.—Manchester .Examiner.