The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-08 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The 2d battalion of the 22d Regiment, which has
been wholly raised at Preston, Lancashire, left the
Fulwood barracks for the camp at Aldershot last
Friday afternoon.
Yesterday afternoon the new breech-loading can-
non, which has been invented by Mr. Warry, of
the Royal Engineer barracks, Brompton, was again
experimented with at Chatham, for the purpose of
putting the gun to tests of a different character to
those tried on the occasion of the former experi-
ments. Since the description of this cannon ap-
peared, the inventor has effected another great
improvement in the method of firing it, by which
nearly 20 rounds per minute—or nearly double
those fired at former experiments—can now be dis-
charged from the gun. This improvement consists
of a lever, of an exceedingly simple contrivance,
placed on the left side of the breech, which by a
single movement cuts the cartridge, primes the
nipple, closes the breech, and fires the gun, the
whole of the operations enumerated being effected
instantaneously. The first of the experiments tried
yesterday with the gun was that of firing a shell at
a portion of canvass suspended at the end of the
range. For this purpose one of Captain Norton's
leaden shells was inserted in the gun and fired at
the canvas, against which it exploded on striking,
the object being to show that metal shells, charged
with Capt. Norton's " liquid fire," may be made to
fracture on striking canvas. Another shell of lead
was then fired from the same gun into a mass of
soft clay, the shell exploding striking and enter-
ing. In this shell of Capt. Norton's the percussion
appliance is placed below the mouth of the missile,
so that the ramrod cannot press on it in the act of
ramming it home. The result of this experiment
proved that such shells are sure to explode on strik-
ing and entering claymounds or earthworks, where
the Boxer fuze and the Moorsom percussion shell
fail to be effective. Mr. Worry's breech-loading
invention can be applied to any metal guns, of
whatever size, which can be rifled and rendered fit
for service at an estimated cost of one-fourth the
expense of turning out one of Sir W. Armstrong's
rifled cannon.

SUICIDE IN A FIT OF PASSION,—Yesterday an
inquest was held at the Lord Wellington, University-street,
on the body of Mr. Joseph Simmons, aged 38, who had
committed suicide by hanging. The deceased was in busi-
ness in the New Royal Arcade, Oxford-street, and after a
violent quarrel with his wife he threatened to hang himself,
and then went into the coal cellar, where his wife shortly
afterwards saw him suspended by the neck. She gave an
alarm, and the deceased was cut down before life was extinct,
but he died the next day at the hospital. The jury re-
turned a verdict of "suicide," leaving the state of deceased's
mind an open question.
ATTEMPTED SUlClDE.—Yesterday an attempt
at suicide was committed by Mrs. Elizabeth Shaw, aged 35,
who resided in Pitts-street, Camberwell. The unfortunate
woman has lately been in a very low desponding state of
mind, owing to her husband charging her with infidelity ;
and on Saturday night, owing to a quarrel with her hus-
band, sho left her home, and was found in the Borough by
the police in a state of insensibility. She was conveyed to
Guy's Hospital, where it was found she had taken nearly
two ounces of laudanum. The stomach pump was applied
and other antidotes were administered, but she remains in
a precarious state.