The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-20 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINA k Y PHENOMENON.

The following letter from the Hon. Charles
Murray, her Majesty's Envoy to Persia, has been
handed to us for publication by Sir Charles Lyell :
—" Bagdad, May 23, 1857. My dear Sir Charles,
—We have lately witnessed here a phenomenon so
strange that a brief description of it may not be
uninteresting to you. On the 30th inst., a few
minutes before 6 p.m. (which is here about an hour
before sunset), 1 wassitting with my Mirza reading
some Persian letters, when on a sudden I became
sensible of an unusual obscuration of the light on
the paper; I jumped up, and, going to the window,
saw a huge black cloud approaching from the north-
west, exactly as if a pall were being drawn over the
face of the heavens. It must have travelled with
considerable rapidity, for in less than three minutes
we were enveloped in total darkness—a darkness
more intense than an ordinary midnight when
neither stars nor moon are visible. Groping my
way amid chairs and tables, I succeeded in striking
a light, and then, feeling assured that a simoom of
some kind was coming on, I called to my servants.
to come up and shut the windows, which were all
open, the weather having been previously very sul-
try. While they were doing so the wind increased,
and bore with it such a dense volume of dust or
sand that before they could succeed in closing the
windows the room was entirely filled, so that the
tables and furniture were speedily covered. Mean-
while a panic seized the whole city; the Armenians
and other Christian sects rushed through the gloom
to confess and pray in the churches; womenyhrieked
and beat their breasts in the streets, and the men
of all classes prostrated themselves in prayer, be-
lieving that the end of the world had arrived. After
a short time the black darkness was succeeded by a
red lurid gloom, such as I never saw in any part of
the world, and which I can only liken in imagina-
tion to the effect that might be produced if all
London were in a conflagration in a heavy Novem-
ber fog • to me it was more striking (I may almost
say fearful) than the previous utter darkness, and
reminded me of that darkness visible' in which
the poetic genius of Milton placed the demons and
horrid shapes of the infernal regions. This lurid
fog was doubtless occasioned by the rays of the
western sun shining obliquely on the dense mass
of red sand or dust which had been raised from
some distant desert, and was borne along upon the
blase. I enclose you a specimen of the dust. The
Arabs here think that it came from the Nejd. The
storm seems to have travelled in a circular direc-
tion, having appeared first from the south, then
south-west, then west, then north-west. After
about two hours it had so far passed away that we
were able to open the windows again and breathe
the outer air. It cannot have been a simoom, for
during those which I have experienced in Arabia
arid Egypt the wind is hot and stifling. On the
20th the wind was high, but only oppressive from
the dense mass of dust that it carried with it ',—
Professor J. Onekett, of the Royal College of Sur-
geons, having kindly examined the specimen of R-d
d nstf, om Bagdad which accompanied Mr. Murray's
letter, has informed Sir Charles Lyell that he could
detect, under the microscope, only inorganic par-
ticles, such as quartz sand, in the dust. There are
no relics of Diatomacere apparent; and, though a
small portion of calcareous matter was present in
the sand, yet he could observe no microscopic shells
or other organic matter.—Literary Gazette.

THE CASE OF THOMAS FULLER BACON.

This prisoner, who was tried a few sessions back
at the Central Criminal Court, with his wife, for
the murder of their two children, under circum-
stances which at the time attracted a good deal of
public attention, will take his trial at the ensuing
assizes at Lincoln for the murder of his mother by
poisoning with arsenic, and from facts that have
transpired since the removal of the prisoner from
the gaol of Newgate, the trial will doubtless create
very great interest, as involving the question whe-
ther the prisoner be really guilty of the heinous
offenceaof which be has been accused, or whether
he has been the victim of unfortunate circumstances.
The circumstances under which the murder of his
mother was supposed to have been committed were
involved in a great deal of mystery, and there is
very little doubt that the decision of the coroner's
jury was a good deal influenced by the disci° at e 3 NORTH WALES ClRCUlT.—Nawrowx.
that took place upon the subsequent inquiry JULY 17.
relative to the death of the prisoner's child- (Before Lord Chief Justice Cockburn.)
ren, and the astounding fact has come to light ROBERTS v. EVANS.—BREACH OF PROMISE OF
within the last few days that Mrs. Bacon has MARRIAGE.
admitted that she herself administered the poison The only civil cause for trial at these assizes was
to her mother-in law. The details of the statement the above, in which the damages were laid ht 2001.
made by the unfortunate woman, have, of course, Mr. M'lntyre and Mr. Vaughan Williams were
not been permitted to appear ; ind-ed, there is a counsel for the plaintiff, and Mr. Morgan Lloyd for
good deal of reserve upon the subject, as it is hardly the defendant.
known at present what course the authorities in- The defendant was a small farmer and horse-
tend to take in the matter. It will be recollected dealer living at Cwmyrannel, near Carne. He
that the principal evidence against the husband courted the plaintiff for seven years, and even went
upon the charge of murdering his mother con.isted so far as to procure a marriage license. She was the
of proof of the purchase of arsenic, and that his ex- daughter of a small farmer, and her brother had
planation of the circumstance was that the poison married one of the defendant's sist era. In Nov. 1855,
was purchased with a view to destroy the rats with the defendant suggested that they should be married
which his h„use was infested. The female prisoner in the ensuing December, and he went to a mercer's
now states that this was the fact, and she says that shop in Newton to buy things for the wedding,
she herself administered the arsenic to the old which, however, did not take place. Unfortu-
woman, and that her husband knew nothing about nately the plaintiff had, in an unguarded moment,
it. It is understood that she has stated other cir- yielded to the solicitation of the defendant, and in
cumatances which tend very strongly to show that the February following she gave birth to a child.
she is speaking the truth, and there appears to be After this he did not marry her. It was now con-
very little doubt that the state of heir tended by his counsel that only a condition ,I pro-
mind, at times, is such that she may have, miss was made, and that a reasonable time had not
acted under a sort of uncontrollable impulse., elapsed. The promise was made upon the under-
and have been hardly aware of the consequences standing that they could agree as to the amount of
of her acts. Besides the coroner's inquisition, dowry, but the plaintiff's mother would give no-
a bill for murder would, in the ordinary course,
presented against the prisoner Thomas Bacon ;
er shown that that batla e
mthainrrgy,
haenrddawugohutlder. have forced the defendant to
the whole matter will be disposed of by one trial,
and if the inquiries still pending should tend to The judge said the defendant himself bad fixed
it is probable that no evidence will 1-Je offerecf
substantiate thestatement of the wife of the prisoner. to name another day. It was not a sufficient
ctohueiddl,taitandltt was his place, having broken it off,
againetthhaevpinrigsotnoer,andthattheheeVdielabie dischargedvt a,
no
that the plaintat...
rea4,z for breaking the promise to say that they
--. as to the dowry, unless it could be 1
without —4 of the original agreement.
trial.--Dispatch. undergo another
was-I one was to blame
It was alleged .1.1. -..