The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-20 00:00:00

' )
•
,S.,
- _
11t,4
A r-01
•a" ~• ' 44,
"•• - • .1/ • , +iv +f•
6t# ft&
Zo• 1; • .21 -17 - Atit, . st, ,
/A- Txty v .4.47" at- Bigonv I/mu; Ce,

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUG:: TusT 20, 1859.

THE LONDON.—The attention of Gentlemen
is especially drawn to the advantages offered in these
elegant and spacious Saloons, which fulfil all the require-
ments of a West-end club of the most aristocratic and exclu-
sive character.
L'on trouve dans la Salle de Lecture non seulement les
meilleurs journeaux Anglais, male aussi Allemand, Francais,
et Beige.

ELECT

GENCE.

4 should not do so until the report was put to the
meeting.
An hon. PROPRIETOR complained of the arrange-
ments which had been made with the Birkenhead
Company, because it contained a guarantee. The
cause of the groat evils which befel them and re-
duced their dividend was this system of giving
guarantees.
The CHAIRMAN replied that with respect to the
complaint of Mr. Puncher, as to the accounts, he
would find the discrepancies complained of ex-
plained to him if he called at the accountant's office.
Mr. SEELEY asked for an explanation, why it
was that while their capital was increasing their
revenue was going on diminishing ? They now
asked £63,000 for additional works, but in his opi-
nion it would be much better to divide it, and add
to their 41 per cent., than to adopt such a course.
Why were they called on to make new railways all
over the country ? Their present concern was large
enough to manage, without going farther in con-
structing new lines. The pioprietors had n•
chance whatever in coping with the directors, be-
cause they rode over the country soliciting proxies,
and got thorn to sanction plans of which the share-
holders knew nothing.
The CHAIRMAN denied that the directors used
any undue influence. If any fault was to be found,
it was with the proprietors themselves, who scarcely
ever came to their meetings. With respect to the
expenditure of the company, he should not be
found to do anything inimical to their interests;
but it was necessary for him, in the situation he
held, to look not only to the interests of the present
but future proprietors of the company.
Mr. PUNCHER hero moved his amendment, but
it was negatived, and after some further discussion
the report was adopted.
For the half-year ending 30th June last, a divi-
dend of £2 2s. 6d. was next declared.
The business of the half-yearly meeting having
concluded,

HERTFORD.
Yciterday evening the election for Her3,:ford,
after a spirited contest, in which an extraf,rdinary
amount of party feeling was enlisted or both sides,
fell upon Mr. Cowper, the new Vi..'oe-President of
the Board of Trade. From thP first the right hon.
gentleman took the leaf at the pall, and main-
tained it throughout the day. At 10 o'clock he
was 61 ahead of his opponent, the Conservative
candidate ; at 11 o'clock, 80 ; at 12, 82 ; at 1, 89;
at 2, 101 ; and at four o'clock, when the poll closed,
the numbers were :
For Cowper
For Dimsdale 204
Majority for Cowper— —77
Both yesterday and on the nomination day the
place presented an appearance so picturesque, and
all classes of the inhabitants ranged themselves on
one side or the other with a feeling of partisanship
so genuine and undisguised, as to - carry the mind
30 years, back, before an utilitarian spirit had
sought by degrees to divest the election of members
of Parliament of almost all that was characteristic
of the national manners. Party banners floated '
from tne windows of almost every house in the
principal streets of this pretty country town, the
occasion was made the pretext for a general holi-
day, the whole population were in full dress, and
one could scarcely meet a young woman who did
not display on her bosom the colours of one or
other of the candidates, arranged in a jaunty rosette.
Ladies of distinguished rank, besides, all wearing
party emblems, came from the surrounding neigh-
bourhood to wilivss the ceremony. There was so
liberal a run throughout the day among great num-
bers of the humbler orders upon many of the beer-
houses as to forbid the notion that the score was in
all cases paid by themselves, and every now and
then the public decorum was interrupted by a fac-
tion fight in the streets. Nearly 40 special con-
stables had been sworn to assist in maintaining the
peace, but the most of them kept herding together
at one spot in front of the Town-hall, and were
seldom at hand when wanted in other parts of the
town.
At five o'clock, Mr. Henry Squire, the Mayor,
accompanied by the two candidates and their
friends, repaired to the hustings and made the offi-
cial declaration of the poll, as stated above. Mr.
Cowper stood forward to express his thanks, but
the partisans of Mr. Dimsdale, ranged in a compact
mass in front of the hustings, refused him a hear-
ing, and he simply bowed his acknowledgments and
retired. Mr. Dimsdale subsequently addressed the
crowd from a window of the Salisbury Arms. He
said he had waged an arduous contest, and he
ascribed his rejection to the unfair influences from
various quarters with which lie had had to contend.
He added that it was his determination to contest
the representation whenever an opportunity again
presented itself; and to the Conservatives for the
support they had given him, and to the Liberal
electors, for the courtesy with which they had re-
ceived him during his canvass, he expressed his
obligations.
It remains to be stated that on the night preced-
ing the poll Ben Caunt, the pugilist, and five other
men connected with " the ring," one of whom was
a coloured man with the appropriate sobriquet of
" the Black Diamond," arrived in Hertford. Their
advent soon became noised about the town, and the
circumstance was deemed sufficiently alarming to
attract the notice of the Mayor. To one of the
police authorities, who asked an explanation of
their visit, Caunt said he had received from a man
named Raw, who keeps a beerhouse in the town,
an invitation for him and some of his " pals," as he
called his companions, to come to Hertford. Raw
is said to have identified himself with the Conser-
vatives during the contest, but it is but due to Mr.
V.msdale's committee to state that they were in no
way whatever concerned in the transaction, the
merit of which belongs to Raw alone, and that they
were the first to denounce it. At the instance of
the Mayor, Caunt was induced to leave the town
yesterday morning, but his five comrades remained
behind throughout the day.

F. SAWYER, Proprietor,l9l, Fleet-street.

THE LONDON.—S AW Y E R'S famous
LONDON DINNER, consisting of two soups, two
fish, two entrees, joints, two sweets, cheese, and salad, at a
fixed charge of 2s. 6d. (attendance, 3d.), is served from Two
till Eight in the spacious Saloon.
In the Coffee-room, Dinners from the joint, with vegetables,
cheese, and salad, ls. 6d. (attendance 3d.), and soup, fish, en-
trées, &c., a la carte, are served from One till Nine o'clock.
Ladies' Private Rooms and Dining Saloons. Spacious and
well-ventilated Wine, Coffee, and Smoking Saloon.
An extensive and carefully selected stock of Rhenish, Mo-
selle, and other Wines, imported expressly for the London
Dinner, Open on Sundays from Four till Nine,
F. SAWYER, Proprietor, 191, Fleet-street.

The CHAIRMAN informed the proprietors that as
the agreement between the Birkenhead Company,
the Great Western, and themselves, was as yet in
the hands of the lawyers, he should be compelled
to postpone the special meeting until Saturday, the
10th of December next.
The proceedings then terminated.

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE INEEK.

t- Miles Opened. Receipts.
Railways. ..._____.."._____. „....____......____,
... 1859. 1858. 1859. 1858.
- -
e Ballymena and Portrush... 35 35 £ £
-
D
Bedale and Leyburn lO 10 - -
Belfast and Ballymena 65 65 1,223 1,362
e Belfast and County Down 2O 17 573 412
a Birkd., Lane., & Ches. Junc 32 32 2,969 2,735
13lyth and Tyne 2O 13 1,658 1,405
• Bristol and Exeter llB 117 7,813 7,688
t Caledonian l9l 198 14,961 14,129
Ches.&Holyhead(witliMold) 94 91 - -
1
Cockermouth & Workington 8 8. - -
1 Cork and Bandon 2O 20 272 281
1 Cork, Blackrock, & Passage 6} 61 1283 404
Deeside l7 17 465 407
• Dublin & Belfast Junction 56 56 1,342 1,302
1 Dublin and Drogheda 63 63 1,972 1,962
Dub. & Wicklow (in. Kingst.) 404 40} 2,3 t 3 2,476
Dundalk and Enniskillen
• Dundee and Arbroath l7} 174 706 659
Dundee, Perth, & Aber. Jun 3l 31 1,195 1,208
East Anglian 674 671 873 894
E.Counties,Nrik.,&E.Union 489 489 25,494 25,212 East Rent 194 - 360
E.Lancashire(in. Blackburn) 111 106 - - Edinburgh and Glasgow... 142 142 8,116 6
Edinburgh, Pert h,SE Dundee 78 78 4,184 4,056
E'orth & Clyde Junction
... 294 294 396 ,456
Furness
22 22 1,297 1,244
Glasgow & South-Western 1834 1834 7,717 7,305
Great Northern 283 283 26,723 23,709
Great North of Scotland
treat Western 466 466 36,547 35,449 full and Holderness
Inverness & Aberdeen Junc 57 15 1,055 555
Irish South-Eastern 2s} 254 267 309
Killarney Junction
Lancaster and Carlisle (in
Kendal and Windermere) 100 100 8,966 ,
8,181
Lane. & Yrks.(in.Blackburn) 289 289 37,910 35,855
Limerick and Foynes 2 20 228 213
Llanelly 46 35, 522 610
London & North-Western
London and Blackwall 5 5) 1,764 1,759
London & South-Western
Loud. Brighton, &S. Coast 202 1834 20,445 91,904
L'derry and Enniskillen
Lond., Tilbury, & Southend 42 40 2,751 2,714
Man.,Sheffield,& Lincolnsh 173 1731 10,660 10,395
Manch. S.Jun.&Altrincham 9 0 1,084 007
Maryport and Carlisle
Midland
Midland G t.Westn. of' Irind 177 177 4,256 4,228
Monkland
Monrnouthsh. Rail. & Canal 44 44 2,487 2,383
Newcastle and Carlisle 7B 78 - -
Newport,Abcrg.,& Hereford 50 43 1,408 1,308
North British (in. Dalkeith) 149 149 6,808 6,647
North Devon
North-Eastern 7364 720 39,426 38,676
North London 9 9 2,664 2,645
North Staffordshire 233 233 7,989 8,779
North-Western 464 464 -
N. Yorkshire and Cleveland 101 - -
Oxford, Wore., & Wolver 94 94 4,921 4,799
Peebles lB 18 428 -
St. Helen's Canal & Railway 30 30 2,053 1,901
Scottish Central
Scottish North-Eastern ll5 115 5,020 4,750
Shrewsbury & Birmingham 294 294 2,200 1,810
Shrewsbury and Chester 4B 48 3,521 3,389
Shrewsbury & Hereford
Shropshire Union 291 29 942 970
South Devon
South-Eastern 3Ol 301 26,796 25,431
South Wales l7l 171 7,673 7,420
S. Yorkshire and River Dun 108 108 2,759 2,481
Stockton and Darlington
Taff Vale 54 54 4,414 3,806
Ulster
52 36 1,726 1,723
Ulverstone and Lancaster
Vale of Neath 254 25} 1,898 1,897
Warrington and Stockport l2 12 -
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31 339 444
Waterford and Limerick
West Cornwall 274 274 650 703
W.Hartlepool H arbr. & R ail 39 39 3,835 3,626
Whitehaven Junction l2 12 600 540
Whitehaven & Furness Jun 35 35 621 554
W'haven,Cleator,&Egrmnt 7 7 344 327
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL
Antwerp and Rotterdam 52 52 1,191 1,080 •
Austrian B2B 673 36,017 29,718
Belgian Eastern Junction 264 264 255 282
Buffalo and Lake Huron
Detroit and Milwaukie lBs} 140 2,033 1,054 Dutch Rhenish
Grand Trunk of Canada 879 849 9,116 8,102 1
Great Indian Peninsula l3O 884 3,394 1,546
Great Luxembourg- 122 38 2,361 1,667
Great Western of Canada 345 283 5,473 5,823
Lombardo-Venetian 285 285 - -
Lyons and Geneva 142 107 "8,082 4,425
Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant 284 224 9,338 8,891
Maria Antonia' 2l 21 232 286 Northern of France 574 574 43,853 44,935 ,
Norwegian Trunk 44 44 1,229 984 ,
Paris, Lyons, & Mediterrn B4l 781 83,216 58,625 Paris and Orleans 922 857 44,833 42,784 J
Paris and Strasburg
Royal Danish 69 69 590 670
Sambre and Meuse 6B 68 1,165 1,183
Southern of France 777 773 116,801 13,622
West Flanders
W. and N.W. of France._

HULL.
The nomination took place yesterday (Friday).
The show of hands was slightly in favour of Mr.
Lewis, the Liberal candidate. A poll was demanded
on the part of Mr. Somes, the Conservative candi-
date, and fixed to take place to-day (Saturday).
The contest promises to be a very severe one, each
party being sanguine of success.

(

PAPER

/ ~L

Bankes that the old lady above save* was--- not
real wife, and this conjecture is confirm'eLFby theitti*
that the ceremony of marriage between SAwthurl
and Miss Bankes was performed at Hatersea
church at the beginning of last December.
However that might be, they left Miss Smith's,
and, after staying a short time at a Mrs. Grabow-
ski's, t4y finally took up their abode at the house
of Mrs. Wheatley, at Alma Villas, Richmond, for
which they paid 15s. a week. According to
Smethurst, he had settled the whole matter with
his legitimate wife, and she had agreed to accept a
certain sum for her lodgings, and to ask no ques-
tions as to where or how he lived. Smethurst and
Miss Bankes lived on at Mrs. Wheatley's until the
end of last March, when the lady became very ill.
For some time previously she had suffered from
sickness and diarrhoea, but the disease was now se-
rious ; moreover it appeared that the lady had be-
come pregnant. In fact it was necessary to call in
a doctor, and after some deliberation it was decided
to summon Dr. Julius, the leading practitioner in
Richmond. 11l as the poor woman was, Smethurst
himself was the only attendant. A nurse bad been
suggested by the landlady, but Smethurst objected,
saying that he was too poor ; though at the very
time he had a balance of some £2OO at the Bank.
On this affectionate quasi-husband, therefore, de-
volved all the disagreeable duties of the sick-room.
The food was mixed and administered by his own
hand ; the chamber utensils were placed outside
the bedroom door by his own hand. During the
day no human being entered that room but
Smethurst ; during the night no human being sat
by the bedside but Smethurst. The complaint under
which the poor woman suffered required, above all
things, cleanliness and pure air, and this Smethurst
as a medical man must have well known, and yet
during the many weeks of illness " the bedroom
was never thoroughly cleaned out," though, indeed,
the bed was made by the landlady every day. It
was surely a strange fancy for a man with more
than £2OO at his banker's to insist upon acting the
nurse to a sick woman, and performing all the
most tender and disgusting offices. It was perhaps
stranger still that, of all the varieties of rice, beef
tea, blancmange, meal, coffee, and jelly, that en-
tered that bedroom, not one sorap—except some
sour rico—ever came out again. If anything
was mixed with the poor woman's food, no human
being ever had an oppoatunity of tasting it. Ac-
cording to Smethurst, indeed, his tender regard for
Miss Bankes and his parsimony made him consume
all the remnants. Nor is it surprising to find that
living upon th's diet, with such fatigue, and under
such anxiety, the afflicted husband, as he told the
jury in his parting address, should have lost in
weight some sixteen pounds.
It was on the sth of April that Dr. Julius first
saw the poor lady, whom he took for the wife of
Smethurst. Having learnt the symptoms of the
case from him, he prescribed certain remedies. They
gave no relief. They neither stopped the vomiting
nor the diarrhoea. From the sth to the 18th he
went on trying all sorts of prescriptions, but with-
out the slightest effect. At length, completely
puzzled, he handed over the patient to his partner,
Dr. Bird. His remedies equally failed. 'The dis-
ease relaxed not for a moment. Cases were ran-
sacked by various witnesses from the annals of
medicine, but amidst all the anomalies of disease
they searched in vain for a case in which no single
symptom was abated a jot. At length Dr. Julius
came to the conclusion that some drug was being
administered to counteract the effect of the medi-
cines. Now that drug was, in his opinion, some
irritant poison. Dr. Bird, after vainly attempting
to stay the disease, came to the same conclusion.
And upon comparing notes it was found that both
agreed. True, neither Dr. Julius nor Dr. Bird had
ever seen the poor lady alone. Smethurst was him-
self always in the room, and himself explained the
symptoms. More medical advice was demanded,
and the eminent Dr. Todd, of King's College
Hospital, was sent for. He saw the patient, pre-
scribed for her; still the bad symptoms were un-
abated. Dr. Todd, therefore, came to the same
conclusion with Dr. Julius and Dr. Bird, that some-
thing was administered to counteract the effect of
the ordinary medicines, and that it must be some
irritant poison. In short, if those experienced
medical men were to be believed, this man alone
in that wretched room in Alma-villas was
daily and hourly with his own hands adminis-
tering to the lips of the lonely woman, whose
character he had destroyed, scientific doses of that
subtle poison which was stealthily sapping her
strength and drying up the sources of life and all
this under the very eyes of three medical men, one
of them at least of the highest reputation.
But the end was drawing near. Once only had
the sister of poor Isabella Bankes appeared. She
came to see her sister about the 19th of April. But
even then she was not permitted to do anything for
the sick woman—not even to make her some blanc-
manger or arrow-root. In spite of her desire to
come again, she was prevented by Smethurst ; and
in fact it was only just before her death, and when
she was speechless, that she was again permitted to
see her. But the same day on which Smethurst
wrote to Miss Bankes to say that her sister was too
weak to see her, he called on an attorney for the
purpose of getting a will prepared by which Miss
Isabella Bankes was to leave him all her property.
The poor woman, forsooth, could not see her sister,
but she could see a strange attorney. The attorney
came on the Sunday morning, and the will by which
Smethurst obtained the whole property was exe-
cuted. It is worthy of remark that in this will
Miss Bankes signs in her maiden name, and
Smethurst told the attorney he was only living
with her for a season. It was just in time, for on
Tuesday, the 3d of May, the helpless victim died.
In the meantime arsenic had been found in such
a way as to prove that it had been deposited in the
woman's body, and Smethurst was apprehended.
At first he was released on his own recognisances,
and, strangely enough, when his nursing care was
withdrawn from the patient, the distressing symp-
toms ceased—her exhausted strength however was
not to be revived. But the body was opened, and
in it was discovered a certain quantity of antimony.
Was it then a mixture of arsenic and antimony which
this affectionate husband had been administering
in that lonely bedroom in Richmond ? If it was
it is difficult to conceive anything more cruelly
heartless. Here was a married man inveigling
away a weak woman from her sister and her friends
going through the mockery of a marriage to quiet
her scruples, and analysing the weakness of her con-
stitution until he discoversthe best means of putting
her out of the way—and, then, in that solitary
f.bed-
room at Richmond administering day by day .he
poisonousdwruhfiset he escapedinsueh detection. proportionsdeteetan. T
as skourlode, en-
sureno death
doubt
the
tseo
incomelon
gas os7ooConsols o Isabellasol
s ; butßankesthen,so
was
as Mrs. Smethurst lived, there was the danger of
an indictment for bigamy, and, as it seemed, the
additional danger of the birth of a child. What
was to be done ? As Smethurst told the jury, his
best plan would have been to have poisoned the old
woman, but that was probably difficult and danger-
ous. Something must be done at once. Isabella
Bankes was entirely in his hands. He reasoned
with himself thus :—" Let her make a will, leaving
me £1,700. Then let her die of poison, which I
can administer—doses of arsenic and antimony—in
such minute quantities that traces will not be dis-
covered. In this there is some chance of escape.
But if I remain as I am, the sham marriage at Batter-
sea may be discovered, Isabella Bankes may become
a mother, and then I may be indicted for bigamy,
and be obliged to fly the country. It is better for
me to poison the woman in secret—though if the
crime be discovered I must stand the chance of an
indictment for murder." The stakes were fearful.
Smethurst played boldly and skilfully, but happily
his prize is Death.

'-i.'-

PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD.

railways in the United Kingdom has averaged
£24,243 per mile—viz., £38,779 in England,
£27,532 in Scotland, and £15,061 in Ireland—the
average cost of lines of railway for which Acts have
been obtained since 1848, and which are now opened
for traffic, has amounted to £10,500 per mile—viz.
£12,600 per mile in England, £B7OO per mile in
Scotland, and £6,600 per mile in Ireland. Of the
total amount of money raised, £81,683,179 has been
raised by loans, £61,854,547 by preference shares,
and the remainder—viz., £181,837,781—by ordi-
nary share capital.
The average rate of dividend on the whole of the
ordinary share capital in railways invested was
3.06 last:year against 3.60 in 1857, and 3.40 in 1856.
It has always been 3 and a decimal since 1852; in
that year it was 2.40; in 1851, 2.44 ; in 1850,1.83;
and in 1849, 1.88. The average interest on the pre-
ference capital and loan was 4.63 last year; it ranged
at 4 and a decimal from 1851 to 1858 ; in 1850 it
was 5.00, and in 1849, 4.94. The percentage of the
gross receipts (less working expenses) to the total
amount of capital and loan has ranged from 2.83 to
4.06. It was 3.75 last year. " It may be assumed,"
says Captain Galion, " that so long as the propor-
tion of the net receipts to the capital expended in-
creases in each year the property is in a sound con-
dition." Last year, however, the net recipts unfor-
tunately exhibited a decrease.
The proportion of passenger traffic to the whole
traffic was 43 per cent. in England, 36 in Scotland,
and 57 in Ireland. 139,193,699 persons were con-
veyed by railway last year, against 139,008,888 in
1857. The receipts from passengers amounted to
£10,376,309, against £10,592,798 in 1857. The re-
ceipts from goods, cattle, minerals, parcels, &c., in
1858 amounted to £13,580,440, against £13,581,812
in 1857, which represents £1,458 per mile in 1858,
compared with £1,524 per mile in 1857. The total
receipts from goods, cattle, minerals, parcels, &c.,
may be divided as follows, viz.:—£7,711,350 was
for the conveyance of 25,593,996 tons of mer-
chandise, £4,046,061 was for the conveyance of
48,396,501 tons of minerals, £501,398 for the con-
veyance of 11,206,110 heads of live stock, and
£1,321,631 for the conveyance of parcels, &c. Al-
though there has been on the whole an increase in
the receipts for goods, minerals, live stock, &c., in
1858 over 1857, the stagnation in trade caused by
the panic had a perceptible effect upon the receipts
of the year ended the 31st of December, 1858; in
this year there was a diminution of £70,393 in the
receipts on account of general merchandise as com-
pared with the receipts of the year ended the 31st
of December, 1857 ; this occurred entirely in Eng-
land and Scotland. The traffic in live stock also
showed a decrease of £22.350 in England and £1,097
in Scotland, which was reduced in the general total
to £15,960 by an increase of £7,487 in Ireland.
The total receipts from all sources of traffic have
amounted in England and Wales to £20,244,095, or
£2,939 per mile in 1858 against £20,527,748, or
£3,105 per mile in 1857; in Scotland to £2,536,933,
or £1,949 per mile in 1858, against £2,501,478, or
£2,040 per mile in 1857 ; and in Ireland to
£1,175,721, or £1,041 per mile in 1858 against
£1,145,384, or £1,076 per mile in 1857. The aggre-
gate receipts from all sources of traffic for the whole
kingdom having been £23,956,749, or £2,572 per
mile in £lB5B, against £24,176,610, or £2,715 per
mile in 1857. Of the 140,000,000 passengers (in
round numbers) conveyed last year 18,302,384 were
first class, 41,693,289 second class. 79,145,464 third
class and Parliamentary, and 52,562 holders of an-
nual or season tickets. The other " live stock" in-
cluded 2,323,305 head of cattle, 6,938,160 sheep,
and 2,048,619 pigs.
The general results of the traffic in 1858 exhi-
bited by these figures are undoubtedly unsatisfac-
tory, inasmuch as, while the length of railway in
the united kingdom has increased by above 400
miles, the receipts were actually less in 1858 than
in 1857 by £217,861, and the working expenses ave-
raged 49 per cent. of the receipts, instead of 47 per
cent., as was the case in 1857. On some of the
principal railway companies, however, the traffic
has materially improved.
We have already dealt with " accidents." From
the tables it appears that one passenger in 5,353,603
has been killed, and one in 332,204 been injured
from causes beyond their own control during the
year 1858. The proportion of killed and injured
from similar causes to the number who travelled
was one in 312,794.

A select committee of the house sat last year
upon the subject of railway accidents, and after a
careful consideration of the question they were of
opinion that the responsibility of the management
should be left with the railway companies, and
that interference by the Government is, as a gene-
ral rule, not desirable. As a contrast to the system
of leaving the responsibility of management on the
companies, Capt. Galton has appended a transla-
tion of the regulations imposed on the companies
by the Government, drawn up by a commission of
inquiry inta the safety of railway travelling in
France, from which it will be seen how close the
interference by the Government in railway manage-
ment is in that country. " A careful study of these
regulations appears to show that interference in
the details of railway management is scarcely pos-
sible, unless the interference be carried throughout
the whole system."
" There can be no doubt," adds the captain,
"that the true interests of railway companies are
nearly identical with those of the public, both in
respect of safety and convenience in railway tra-
velling, and it is to be hoped that each year the
rail way companies will be led more and more to
understand this, and, that while doing their utmost
to accommodate the public, they will increase their
dividends by improved management, and avoid that
reckless competition by which so large an amount
of money has hitherto been annually 'wasted."
,667 I /
5,823

71E TRIAL OF DR. SMETIIURST.

(From the Daily Hews.
Another cause celebre has be) en concluded.
Thomas Smethurst, the surgeon of Richmond, has,
after a trial of five days, been condemned to death.
Like the infamous Palmer, the prisoner was of the
medical profession, and like Palmer, too, the crime
with which he was charged was secret poisoning.
It was difficult to imagine a case more atrocious
than the murder of Cook, but it seems that the
crime of Smethurst is even more daring and more
heartless. Even now that the jury have pro-
nounced their verdict, it is difficult to believe that
any human being should be guilty of the charge;
although, after reading the evidence, it is well
nigh impossible to doubt that the verdict is tho-
roughly justified by the facts.
The story is full of mystery. This man was not
only a man of education, but he had retired from
his profession, and was living with his wife in fur-
nisheid lodgings. His wife was certainly an old
woman, above 70, he having married her some 30
years ago; but, as he himself told the jury after
the judge had assumed the black cap, " he had
taken her an excursion to Paris and Heidelberg
last year, had behaved to her with the utmost
kindness, and had brought her back safe to Eng-
land." And it must be admitted, that no single
word or act of unkindness appears ever to have
escaped from him. No account was given
of his previous life, except that he had kept a
water-cure establishment in the neighbourhood of
Farnham. It is singular that a man of independ-
ent means and of respectable connexions should
have been left alone in his difficulties. Not a sin-
gle friend came to support him in the dock, or
even to vouch for his former respectability.
Sometimes the appearance and manner of a man
furnish indications of his character. The murderer
shows it in his face. The innocent man accused
falsely has a calm dignity, which inspires respect.
Smethurst displayed neither of these characteris-
tics. A short, rather thickset man, with brown
hair, and somewhat bald, his expression betrayed
none of those repulsive features which sometimes
mark great criminals. In fact, even the sister of
the poor murdered woman described him as a " kind
and tender nurse, and with a countenance showing
amiability." It is true that in addressing the court
his voice somewhat trembled, but at the awful mo-
ment after the verdict; of " guilty" had been pro-
nounced, and the judge had assumed the black cap
the man spoke with an audacious self-possession
and a deliberate fluency of falsehood which con-
year, Mr. and Mrs.
f o urrnodwe
ad
rthoseh we hcol
ohs ee a rodf hl iams
t.
Smethurst went to reside at the house of a Miss
tSrnoi tlha,d
et s
Aaiyiss L water.oui s
aAt and this same house lived
w
Miss Isabella Bankes.
Their connexions were respectable, and their pecu-
niary means, amounting to something above £2OO
a year each, rendered theta
Neither of the sisters wass
young quit e; n
Missd e plesnadbeenl
lta.
had reached the age of 43, and did not enjoy the
best health. Although she was somewhat beyond
the age of
passion, for Dr. Smethurst,
, she seems to have conceived a
and in fact their conduct
so scandalised Miss Smith that she insisted upon
their leaving the house. It is not quite clear
whether Miss Bankes knew that Smethurst was a
married man, though having lived in the same
house with him and his wife, it is difficult to
understand her ignorance of the fact. The pro-
bability is that Smethurst had persuaded Miss

FATAL ATTACK OF APOPLEXY AT A TABLE
D'HoTE.—An English gentleman of advanced age, named
Sanford, was suddenly seized on Friday last, whilst at the
table d'hote at Meurice's, with an attack of paralysis and
apoplexy. He was previously in good health, and was en-
gaged in a cheerful conversation with an American gentle-
man, when he dropped his knife and fork, and fell on the
table in a state of insensibility. Dr. Shute, of the Rue
Castiglione, was immediately sent for; and afterwards Dr.
Forbes Winslow, of London, a physician of well-known re-
putation for the treatment of diseases of the brain, who
happened to be in Paris, was summoned to a consultation.
Dr. -Window considered the case to be a hopeless one, and
Mr. Sandford died early on Sunday morning, neverhavins•
rallied. Unfortunately he had no relations or friendsuwith
him at the hotel, as he was travelling alone with a courier.
Several telegTares were immediately
hours
sent to England
his family did not arrive in Paris until some
death.—Galignani's Messenger.
ELECTION EXPENSES. —Yesrday the election
°the
auditor for Essex made his return of t af
after, r bhui
expenses incurred his
candidates, Messrs. Bram •
£243 ; professional
504 . ,
ph Riqr
eso
by the successful Conservative
southern division of that
n ecohu
candidate
items,
1 The auditors
ston and Watlington, for
appears that every vote polled
ecl the good round sum of £4,374
bursements having
county. The hon. gentlemen
reached
sheriff's charges amounted to
2s. 10d. Of this sum
agents' e
cent nearly the expense,
xepaeenhe,ei the ddi si!
superintendents, inspectors,teeesananvdasdseisrbs,uresoemmnelnitttse,ef l,
checkoG l ;
and assistant clerks,.a messengers, £1,041; printing, and
advertising, --.-- ,
hire of carriages, &c., for conveying
committee rooms, £267; and miscella-
voters, - I
e auditors charges and "reasonable
the total disbursements to £4,433 188 Bd.
expenses "raised
and Mr. G. Ward Hunt were let off much
Lord Burghley
easily in Northamptonshire, their total expenses being
more
£2,652 14s. 9d. The conveyance of voters in this case cost
messengers, &c., 1745 each;
printing,ea £7B each; sheriff's expenses, £l3l each; and ex,
penses of committee-rooms, £34 each.
EAST INDIA (UNCOVENANTED SERVANTS.)--•
The following is a return of the number of native -an
ropean uncovenanted servants, respective)y, in ad Eu-
,e service of the Indian Government who are in the receipt of 250
rupees per month, and upwards, according to re/ ,urns made
up to the Ist of May, 1858:—viz., natives, 339 , and Euro-
peans (including Anglo-Indians), 849, makii ,g a total of
1,188,