The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-21 00:00:00

THE FPREOS OF THE TRANSIT.

The folloxtring extracts from a letter of one of the
officers of the Transit have been sent to us :

" Transit Camp, Cape Osclar, Banca, July 17.

, , - . We got through the Straits of Sunda
all right, without stopping, on the night of the 7th, and
steamed all day along the shoal water to the eastward of
Sumatra, anchoring for the night off the island of Luci-
para, at the entrance of the passage of the same name,
which is narrow, shoal, and bob ♦ery indifferently
buoyed, or marked. However, weighing at daylight, we
had succeeded by noon in getting through the most diffi-
cult part, and steaming on faster anchored for the night
on the Sumatra shore near Cape Verde, from which place
we started at half-past six the following morning (10th.)
We were keeping well over on this shore to avoid the
Hendrick reefs, thinking it unlikely that we should find
the buoy on them, which should be th-re according to
the chart, as in the Lucipara passage we had not found
any f the marks existing. By our cross-bearings we were
passing well clear of the shoal, which extends to a dis-
tance of from three miles and a-half to four miles off this
point, going at a speed of between 8 ai:d 9 knotßt when,
at about 20 minutes past nine, the ship etruek so heavily
as to make all the masts shake again, and oblige
people to steady themselves by hand to prevent fall-
ing. Taking a bound as it were, she struck again and
again, quivering at each bump, and then'• remained mo-
tionless with her bows several feet out of water .

As she began to settle fast by the stern, and the fires of
course bad sown been extinguished by the rising :cater,
the common pumps being useless to keep under such an
enormous flow, . . . the colonel and master were
called into consultation, and an immediate landing of all
but a few of the troops decided on. Meantime we had
not been idle. Provisions had been got up, particularly
from the afterpart, and put out of reach of the fast rising
water. All the boats had been got out and down.
Downes, the Second-Lieutenant, had gone away in one
to Minto, a town distant by sea some 14 or 15 miles, Off
which we had seen re Dutch man-of-war steamer at an-
chor when passing in the morning. He was to bring
her to oar assistance. Between us and tkie beach of the
island of Banca there was a reef appearing above water,
the 'centre of which rose to a height that would evidently
leave it uncovered at the highest tide. Ou this the 5.,1•
diers were landed, with nothing but their dinners and
some fresh water. By the time the bulk of the troops
bad been disembarked it became apparent that even
those told off as working parties, to remain and look
after the baggage, &c., could not be kept without consi-
derable risk. The water pouring in in volumes was
qoietly but steadily finding its way aft, and the ship was
in the same manner sinking by the stern. The cracking
of plates of iron, snapping of beams, and tearing of
depks led us to suppose that if she did not fall oft the
rocki on which she was hanging, and fall into the deep
water astern of her she would probably break in two'
pieces, the stern falling into deep water, and the fore part
falling over on its side on the rocks. By noon only a few
soldiers, officers, servants, and such like remained to be
landed. We gave our men 10 minutes to eat their (inasr
and then lauded on this beach, afterwards using all boats
to bring the soldiers off the reef, where many_ weree.fcaid
of being drowned. All were 14nded and under canvas
by dark. I was the first to land here, having come
on ahead to look for a good spot for our encampment,
and luckily hit upon an excellent stream of
fresh water, rather a rarity in these parts. It was late
the next day before we got any provisions from the
wreck. At the time we left her (shortly before 1 o'clock)
the stern was completely under water, leaving ouly a
small portion of the fore part of the poop above water,
which may give you some idea of the height to which
leer bows are cocked out of the water. As I said before,
by our chart, we ought to be more than a mile clear of
the reef, in about 26 fathoms ; but by the charts which
we have since obtained from the Dutch gunboats we
have picked up exactly the outside rock of the whole
reef, which is, together with the coast, channels, and
dangers in this part, incorrect to a considerable degree.
Had we weighed half an hour earlier, or an hour later,
had we been a hundred yards to the right or left, we
should no doubt have cleared it. . . . Downes

brought the steamer to us early next morning, but she
proved too small to take any of our troops, so we sent
Downes on in her to Singapore with despatches.
"duly 18.
" One of our gunboats, the Dove, arrived during the
night. Two ships are coming to us from Singapore."

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

TRAFFIC RETURNS FOR THE WEEK

Miles • Receipts.
ojened, 1 NAME OF RAILWAY.
1857. 1857. 1856
--- -- -- --
• BRITIaII. 4 £
-
65 Belfast and Ballymena ...... ..-• ...... 1,203 993
17 Belfast and County Down• ••••••• • • .. 350 305
33 Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire 2.925 2,619
26% Bolton, Biac'Thurn, and West York •• • • 1,009 924
117 Bristol and Exeter ••..••••- • • • • • • • • 7,277 7,413
198% Caledonian. "'•... ...• •••• • • • • 14,717 13,805
944 Chester and Holyhead.•• .. • • .... •• •• 7,,,5V
.... 7,!!J2‘
64 Cork, Blackrock, and Passage ••• • • • 4 .
306 224
20 Cork and Bandon .. •••••••• • • • • • • • • I, -69 1,227
56 Dublin and Belfast 1 unction ........
63 Dublin and Drogheda• •••••••• •• •• •• 1,972 2,196
1 929 1,890
4014 Dublin and Kingstown ••••••• • • • • • •• 690 • 64,
16% Dundee and Arbroath ••••••• • • • .. • • 1 036 1,148
31 Dundee, Perth, and Aberdeen Junctioi
'
36 Dundalk and Enniskillen.• ......... 464 371.
6711 East Anglian.... •••••••••• • • •• • • • • • • 7,24 1,0776
7,14 898
93 East Lancashire .• • • ...• • • .• •• • • • • ••
489 Eastern Counties aud Norfolk.. ••.. 1, 26,223 24,043
Eastern Union •...•••••• • • .. • • • • ••i 6 408 6,150
142 Edinburgh and Glasgow ••••••• • • • • • ' 3,501 3,6,8
128 Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee • • • • • • - -
6 Exeter and Crediton.. • ..... •••• •• • • 1,424 1,304
22 Furness Railway •••••••'• '' '' '' - 7,207 7,000
183% Glasgow, and South-Western.• ••• • • • 23,23, 22,937
283 Great Northern.•-•
203% Great Southern and Western (Ireland) 32,810 32 774
465 Great Western •••••••••• •• • • • • '• " 192 252
25% Irish South Eastern .• ••••••• • .• •• • • 7,553 7 297
90 Lancaster and Carlisle ••••••• • • • •• -. 27,258 25,085
286 4 Lancashire and Yorkshire ••••• • •• • - -
- Leeds Northern .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • - -
161 Liverpool, Crosby, and Southport....
68,136 66,375
637 London and North Western ..... ••••
.1:417731
191:669184
514 London and 81ackwa11..............
183% London, Brighton, and South Coast.. ''
16,772 18,643
289 London and South We5tern.........
805 619
60 Londonderry and Enniskillen .... - - -
- Manchester, Buxton, and Matlock, &c 11 77_
,6'12 10,556
173% Manchester, ShefilolCand Liucoinshir'
1,461 911
9% Manchester and South Junction ••• • • • i,r,„ ~n,,,
28 Maryport and Carlisle ••••••• • .. • • - 33:8'57- 33,307'•'"
667 Midland •• •••-•••••• • • • • • • •• '• ••' 4,248 4,407
177 Midland Great Western (Irish) ••• • • 1,503 1,317
52 Monklands • • • • - • • •• •• • • •• • • • • • • • ' 3,485 3,466
78% Newcastle and Carlisle...• ...• -• •• • ' 6,011 5,964
149 North British • • .• • • • • • • •• • • • • • • '• - 5,547 7,759
233 North Staffordshire •••••••• • • • • '' • 1,216 1,016
47 North-Western •••••••••• • • •• • "• • ' 3,445 3,260
50 Scottish Central • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • - • • -
82% Scottish Midland •••••••••• • • • • •. • • 1,853 1,967
29 'Shrewsbury and Birmingham •• •• • • 3,413 3,443
48% Shrewsbury and Chester •.••••• • •• ••
30 Shropshire Union .. ••••-•• • • - .. .• 3,806085
3.86;.1.ii1
24,508 25,024
57 ioutb Devon .• • •• .......... - ••••• ..
301% South Eastern ••••••••• • • • • • • •
171 • South Wales ...... .......... :: :: .. . ,
7,,i•i! 0 2,953
,211 7,64(1
10811 South York., Doncaster, and Goole .. '2
4,829 4,954
53 Taff Vale • • • • • • • • - • • • • - •••••••...
36 Inster .•••• • • - • • ....., „ .... .. 1,483 1,403
77 Waterford nnd Limerick ............ 1,436 1,199
27 West Cornwall • • .... •..... ....... 743 609
12% Whitehaven Junction ........, „ „, 433 460
682 York and Newcastle, and Berwick & _
_ , York and North Midland & Leeds.. ."-- -
i FOREIGN:
109 Dutch Rhenish . ................. 3,583 3,072
344 Lyons and Mediterranean .......-: 23,811 , 29,222
63 Montereau and Troyer, .............. - -
- Namur and Liege ............ - • • • • - -
4
445 Northern of France ••••••••• • • • • • • • 6,159 i 41,625
- Orleans and Central ..
- -
•• ••387 Paris and Lyons .................: 39,908 40,970
- Paris and Rouen. - ~.............. - •_
42,282 39,241
566' Paris and Strasburgh , .......• .. • •
• - Rouen and H -avre ••• • • •.
--
548 West and North-West of France •• .. 41,644 39,742

MURDER OF A BOY IN NOTTINGHAM'

FORE fIT.

NOTTINGHAM, SATURDAY.
On Thursday evening last the son of Mr. Atkin-
son, machine builder, Raleigh-street, Nottingham,
a boy eight years of age, was missing from his
home. A i-eanh was made, placards printed de-
scribing his person, and every means used to dis-
cover him. All that was known of the affair until
Friday evening was that on Thursday evening he
strayed with a playmate to the neighbourhood of
the Arboretum. About six o'clock a man, having
the appearance of a gip,,y, went up to them, and.
asked Atkinson's playfellow which was the road to
Basford, a village two miles distant, saying that if
he would show him the way he would give him 10s.
The boy answered that he did not know the war,
but Atkinson rtplied that he did, and that he would
accompany him. Atkinson then left his playfellow
and went with the man. Nothing was seen of the
boy until 6 o'clock on Friday evening. At this time
a number of children were playing in the forest,
wnen one of them got over the hedge of an adjoin'
ing field, and discovered the dead body of Atkin
son. The lad immediately gave an alarm, and the
discovery was communicated to police-constable
Hodgkinson, who was near the spot at the time.
Upon examination of the body it was found that
from marks of compression ,on the neck, and the
appearance of the mouth and nostrils, the boy had
been strangled. There were also marks of violence
on one side of the body, as though he had been
knelt upon. The lad's boots had been .taken off
his feet, and: it appears that for this paltry purpose
the murder had been committed ; that the fellow's
offering the boy 10s. was merely to decoy him to a
lonely spot for the purpose of committing a rob-
bery. The police are making every exertion fer
the apprehension of the murderer. An inquest
upon the body was held 'this afternoon, at the
Lumley Castle, Icon-green, before Mr. Coroner
1 Swann, and adjourned for a week. .

THE MURDER IN LEIGH WOODS,
BRISTOL.

VERDICT OF THE JURY.
On Saturday the adjourned inquest on the body'
of the female found murdered in Leigh Woods wao
resumed and concluded before Mr. Fry, the coroner
for Somerset. _ _

Mr. Rudd Lucas, surgeon, deposed to having
made a post mortem examination of the body, and
said, on removing the deceased's hair he found a
scar recently healed, about 2k inches in length, 011
the upper part of the right aide of • the head. On
taking off the scalp he found a wound in the bone
corresponding with the bullet mark, and afterward!
found a ballet of a small size in the left orbit ; it
was extracted, and weighed 384 grains. It wee
rather a slug than a bullet. the bullet had passed
into a small portion of the base of the brain. The
jugular vein on the right side was divided. Three
(.1 her teeth, extracted from the upper jaw, had
been stopped with some metallic substance. The
wounds in the throat caused death. The wounde
fLom the pistol would not necessarily have done e°.
There was no appearance of any ring on the finger°
having been forcibly torn off. She was apparently
about 25 years of age, and a married woman:
man named Powell desired to see the body, as he
had come many miles to do so, as his daughter
Charlotte had left home six weeks, and had never
since been heard of. He was'permitted to do 80)
but returned. saying it was not his child. The
coroner put it to the jury whether they would ea'
journ, but by a show of hands they decided to
finish the inquiry, and they ultimately returned gi
verdict, " That the unknown deceased was wilfu!li
murdered by some person or persons unknown%