The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-05 00:00:00

eitentillt 21tit

C-'s. '
LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1850.

A coroner's inquest has recently been held on the
body of a person whose death sv:ls said to have been
occasioned, or at least accelerated, by the violence of
public officers, and a verdict of manslaughter was re•
turned against the accused, without entering into the
merits of the question which must hereafter be in-
vestigated before a competent tribunal. It was
clearly and distinctly proved that great and un-
necessary cruelty was exercised by parties
whose business it was to afford protection to
the public, and there is but too much reason
to suppose that such conduct is habitually pursued by,
many persons holding similar situations, who are en-
couraged by the comparative impunity with which
they are permitted to violate the law and ill-treat the
unfortunates who come within their power ; indeed
it would almost appear as if harshness were considered
a necessary qualification for their offices.
The case was that of a relieving officer, named
EDWARD MORAN, who was charged with having
caused the death of a casual pauper, named
A.NDREVI MURPHY. It appeared that the de-
ceased, who was only twenty-two years
of age, and
.who described himself as a tailor in
search of employment, applied on Wednesday, the
18th of September, at the Tib-street vagrant ward
of the Manchester Workhouse for a night's shelter.
The tramp-master, FRANCIS DALTON, informed him

that he would be required to perform three hours
severe task work in the morning in return for his
supper and breakfast, to which the unfortunate
young man replied that " he had no money, and must
get in." He then entered the ward ; shortly
afterwards DALTON saw the deceased struggling with
Mouisr, who had hold of his arm, and was trying to
open his hand, saying at the same time, " You had
better give it up." DALTON declared that on hear-
ing that Mußrar had something in his hand, "he
took hold of his left wrist with one hand and exerted
all his strength to open his fingers with the other,
but he could not succeed. He believed that MORAN
was holding him by the other arm at the time.. Mr.
Horzts, the superintendent of the Tib-street Industrial
Establishment, who was present, and a pauper named
SMITH, went to assist in searching the deceased
Mr. Hows took held of the deceased's thumb, and
pulled it hack, while DALTON got his hand under-
neath the fingers, and a quantity of copper money,
100., fell out of his hand—the money was swept
away, and placed on a stove in the centre of the
room. Another scuffle then took place between the
deceased and MORAY, the former attempt-
ing to strike the other with a Wellington-
boot, which blow he parried, and struck
MURPHY in the face." This was the statement

of D ALTON, one of the parties implicated, who would

of course be inclined to exhibit the conduct of the
authorities in the most favourable light. It would,
however, scarcely account for the marks of violence
that were discovered on the body of the deceased, and
which coul only have occurred on that occasion.
The next morning the deceased complained of being
very unwell. His thumb was swollen and disco-
loured ; one of his eyes was also discoloured, and he
repeatedly vomited a greenish liquor, which smelt
strong of spirits. He was then sent to the workhouse,
where he continued very and never rallied until

death, at two o'clock on the following Sunday morn

ing, having in the interim stated that he " had been
murdered by the Governor of the Tib•street work-
house." From the evidence of the medical witnesses
one who attended hint during his illness, and
the other who conducted the post mortem
examination—it appeared that death was occasioned
from an injury in the head, which produced a rup-
ture in the membrane of the brain, and led to an ex-
travasation of blocs", and Mr. IfoutorD thought that
it could not have be?n caused by a fall, or by pre-

vious intoxication in a man of his age. Under these
circumstances the jury returned a verdict that " the
deceased had died from a blow of the fist given by
EDWARD MOR AN," who was committed to
take his trial for manslaughter, and ac-
companied the verdict by expressing an
opinion that " HoLus, the superintendent, and
the tramp-master, had been guilty of great cruelty,"
and recommended that " in cases of extreme resist-
ance on the part of the tramps in future, the aid of a
police-officer should be immediately called in."
There are few persons who will not concur in this
recpmmendation. It is of the utmost importance that
the poor-law officials should not be permitted in any case
to enter into personal conflicts with the paupers placed
under their charge. Such persons are but too fre-
quently inclined to exceed the limits of their autho-
rity, and woe betide the unfortunate tramp who ven-
tures to complai❑ of ill-treatment. He is looked upon
as a wretch placed beyond the limits of the law, who
may be kicked and buffeted about with impunity
whenever the " relieving officers" or " tramp-
misters" choose to indulge in that pleasing recrea-
tion. The visits of such parties must they conceive be
discouraged, and guardians are inclined to regard
in a favourable light conduct and demeanour, on the
part of their subordinates, which, although not strictly
warranted by law, may be calculated to deter appli-
cants from seek ng, shelter, and induce them to prefer
a night's exposure to the inclemency of the weather,
with cold and hunger as their companions, rather
than submit to such tyrannical and oppressive

conduct.
The " right of . march" affords a peculiarly fa-
vourable opportunity fur inflicting every possible
indignity on the wretched casuals, and it is by
no means surprising that many persons should
revolt and resist the attempt. If the officers

are justified in making it, the aid of the police
may easily bs called in, and the party punished
the next morning by the magistrates. But persons
of the class of MORAN, or DALTON, Or HoLus, should
not be allowed to take the law into their own bands,
to dislocate the thumb of an unfortunate young
man, and, perhaps, to cause. his death, because he
does not yield prompt obedience to their high be-
hests. We trust the Poor-law Commissioners will
cause a searching inquiry to be instituted into the
entire circumstances of the case, to ascertain whether
HOLLIS or DALTON are fit persons to be entrusted
with the extensive powers bestowed. on the workhouse
officials.

We can scarcely believe that the Commissioners of
Sewers can have read the." Report of the General
Board of Heslth on the Epidemic Cholera of 1948
and 1849 ;" for had they done so they would have
scarcely ventured to countenance the plan which has
been recently laid before them by their engineer for
the draining the Surrey portion of the metropolis.
We are told over and over again by the Commis-
sioners of Health that there is no more fruitful source
of disease than offensive sewers and cesspools, and
yet the Commissioners of Sewers propose to make
an enormous cesspool, extending from Chelsea to
Woolwich, the contents of which shall be kept to
ferment for twenty-four hours, and then be poured,
without having been subjected to any previous de-
putrifying process, into the Thames, to be carried by
the tide down to Gravesend on the one side, and by
the'rcturn tide up to Chelsea on the other, thus pro-
mating pestilence on both sides of the Thames.
The Commissioners of Health inform us that the
cholera last year was most fatal on the banks of the
Thatn,-, and, on looking at the tables attached to
their report, it will be found that the outbreak of
cholera on the banks of the Thames was contempo-
raneous with the commencement of the system of
flushing the sewers, and that an increase of cholera
followed each successive flushing, thus proving to de-
monstration that the pollution of the stream by

sewage, if it did not occasion, at all events greatly
aggravated the disease, and yet it is proposed to pour
the concentrated essence of all the filth of the metro-
polis en masse into the Thames, to poison its waters,
while the inhabitants. are to be exposed to the pesti-
lential influence of the neighbourhood of an enormous
cesspool, kept perpetually charged with gases of the
most poisonous quality. We repeat what we have so
frequently stated in former articles, no plan for the
sewage of the metropolis shou'd be entertained which
does not preserve the Thames free from pollution,
The Commissioners of Health have given numerous
instances of the influence of impure water in predis-
posing to the disease; we will content ourselves with
quoting two only. The first is as follows :

"Tbe privies of a number of houses in Silltmill-row,
Hackney, were tuned down, and cesspools substituted.
In Dr. Gavin's report it is stated—
"' The first cesspaol was sunk in the middle of July
within one yard of the only well which supplies with
water 12 houses containing 85 inhabitants. Three other
cesspools were made a. the distance of 3,3, and 12 yards
from this well. About a fortnight or three weeks af,er
the first cesspool had been ;nide, the inhabitants ob-
served the water become tainted and offensive; it gra-
dually became worn► until, when I titer it, that tr.-sh
drawn in the morning was as thick as thin soup, with
feculent matter. The landlord's agent employed himself
an hour every morning in pumping off the thickened
water in order to fit it for consumption and use. Atter
his morning's work he declared the water to be quite
good enough for the inhabitants. Those who do not
choose to drink and cook with this most foul wa•er are
compelled to catch the surface water which flaws along
the kennel from the road and neighbouring tield. This
water, which at other times would be considered foul,
appears pure when compared with that used by the un-
fortunate inhabitants of this place.'
'• Of these 85 inhabitants, 22 did not use the water of
the well: these remained free from disease. Of the re-
maining 63, 46 were attacked with severe diarrheas, one
of them approaching cholera."
The next is a still more remarkable instance ; it is
given on the authority of Dr. EVANS, of Bedford,
who says—
" A few years ago he was staying at Versailles with
his lady, when they both became affected with ague, and,
on inquiry, the following facts were disclosed:—The
town of Versailles is supplied with water for domestic
purposes from the Seine at Marti. At the time in ques-
tion a large tank, supplying one particular quarter, was
damaged, and the mayor, without consulting the medical
authorities, provided a supply of water consisting of the
surface-drainage of the surrounding country, which is of
a marshy character. The regular inhabitants would not
use this polluted water; but Dr. and Mrs. Evans, who
were at an hotel, drank of it unwittingly, and it was also
used by a regiment of cavalry. The result was, that
those who drank the water suffered from intermittent
fever of so severe a type that seven or eight of the
soldiers, fine young men, died on one day, September 1,
1845. On a careful investigation it was ascertained that
those only of the troops who had drunk the marsh-
water were attacked, all the others, though breathing
the same atmosphere, having escaped, as did also the
townspeople."
The Commissioners themselves furnish further
proof of the deleterious effects of using polluted
water, although they do not draw from the fact which
they record the inferences which they might draw.
They state that cholera was more prevalent on the
south bank of the Thames than on the north bank,
but seem at a loss to account for the circumstance.
To us the reason is evident. The inhabitants of the
south bank depend upon the Vauxhall and Lambeth
companies for their supply of water, and those com-
panies depend exclusively on the Thames as the
source of such supply, and it is to the exclusive use
of polluted Thames water that the greater prevalence
of cholera on the south bank of the Thames is to be
attributed. The Commissioners of Sewers themselves
have admitted that the great majority of the in-
habitants of the metropolis must necessarily derive
their supply of water from the Thames, and there-
fore we impress upon the authorities the necessity of
at once rejecting every plan of sewage that does not
keep the waters of the Thames throughout their
whole coarse free from pollution.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
Almost every other political subject of interest is
forgotten in thiexcitement caused by the studied
insult lately offered to the PRESIDENT of the Republic
by General CUANQARNIEIt. The abrupt departure of
that officer from the plain of Satory in the very midst
of the review seems at length to promise an open
rupture between himself and LOUIS NAPOLEON.
Much indignation is expressed by certain parties at
the flagrant lent petty bribery practised by the latter
towards the army indiscriminately. After each of
the reviews there are not only supplied to the privates
and officers, with and without commissions, cold co!.
lations, but each man has his bottle—ein ordinaire for
the rank and file, for the officers champagne, and,
in addition to this, cigars of excellent quality are
liberally distributed, and on the completion of the
banquet, or rather, we should call it, the unceremo-
nious jollification, the PRINCB in person decorates a
select few with ribloons and crosses. The 4th Regi-
ment, which called out " Vive le President !" was
sent to Lille ; and the 623, which shouted " Vive
I'Empereur I" retained in the capital. Still, while it

is but wise to watch these things vigilantly, it must
be remembered that Louts NAPOLEON has, ever since
his election on the 10th of December, acted with
uniform loyalty to the Republic, and again and again
proclaimed his allegiance to the republican institutions.
Masses still continue to be said throughout the
country for the repose of the soul of the late ex-
King Louis PiiimPris.
Yesterday M. POITEVIN hovered over the Boule-
vards, riding on an ostrich, which swung from a
balloon.

M. TEIIERS had arrived in Paris from Germany.
M. PERiIGNT had also returned to Paris from
London.
M. METERBEER has recently arrived in the French
metropolis.
Monsignor FRANZONI has arrived in France. Last
night news was received that he had reached Brian-
(pil in the department of the Hautes Alpes.
M. COCHELET, Consul-General of France in Lon-
don, has been appointed one of the Commissioners for
the arrangement of objects in the French compart-
ment of the London Exhibition.
A paragraph in the Constilutionnel contradicts the
statement of the death of M. FREDERICK &Mgt;
mentioning that his journey to Pisa has been taken at
the advice of his physicians.
A decree of the PRESIDENT of the Republic appears
in the Moniteur, conferring the decoration of the
Legion of Honour on M. AMADEE MARE, director of
the Paris and Orleans and Vierzon Railways.
According to Galignani, a courier had actually left
the capital for Turin with dispatches strongly repre-
hending the conduct of the Sardinian Government.
The following note, communicated by the Minister
for Foreign Affairs, is published by the Patric and
the Moniteur du S'oir . _

" Several journals of this morning contained, relative
to the incident at Pernambuco, assertions which are
wanting in exactitude. All the measures of satisfaction
which the French Government was entitled to and bound
to apply for have begin demanded from the Brazilian
Government, and the French Government has every
reason to believe that they will be accorded. Besides,
no news has yet arrived from Rio Janeiro later than that
received from Pernambuco." .

- ------_ _
The privilege of the Theatre %Olen was yesterday
transferred to the hands of Mr. LUMLET, the director
of her Majesty's Theatre in London, on the special
recommendation of the Commission des Theatres, to
whom the situation of the Italian Opera had been re-
ferred by Government with a view to its re-establish-
ment in the state of eminence and prosperity this
elegant theatre enjoyed previous to the revolution.
Thefirdre makes a violent attack on Prince Louts
NAPOLEON; whereas the Pays speaks in the follow-
ing terms of the PRESIDENT of the Republic :
" In 1851 he will be indispensable. Indispensable, be-
cause without him France would fall back into anarchy,
and would lose the fruit of two years' efforts ; because
independently of him no government is possible; because
the Socialists, the moderate Red Republicans, the Legiti-
matists, are not only incapable of preserving any go-
vernment, but even of arriving at it for a single moment;
indispensable, because he alone can be moderate without
weakness•, and because his moderation, the effect of
strength, becomes in its turn a fresh cause of strength;
indispensable, because independently of him there are
onlya
Francenegai
desireso n; but
toa
oconulyntprayrtdioees s
notand live
live. All that is marked beforehand with the stamp of
pa
ortti ins egaartieon ,
logic; the principle of good sense will have it so, and we
have said that we know no other. As fatally as the
spirit of party has caused those whom it blinds to pass
by the triple stages of useless, dangerous, and impos-
sible,
so incontestably Louis Napoleon, after having
been useful in 1849, and necessary in 1830, will become
indispensable in 1851. We do not think this truth a
novelty. There are few men in France who have it not
at the bottom of their thoughts. Many have not, per-
haps, yet expressed it to themselves; no one will dis-
avow it, and all will admit with us that, in the calm and
perfectly disinterested terms in which we expose it, it is
in reality what every one desin.s."
The decline in the price of Government Securities
at the I3ourse to-day had nearly assumed the appear-
ance of a panic, in consequence of the quantity of
Five per Cents. offered for sale for cash. The Five
Ts e
hqrueeen tpl ye r tco e
n9t151..
c31.505c
e. ,d a t dt
5c l6ors. e d4sact
;91Rf
u4eonc
Itll
re.
per Cents. opened at 91f. 85c , rose to 921., fell sub-
a
6
25c. ; Havre, 242 f. 50c. ; Great Northern, 460 f. ;
Avignon, 1721. 50c.; Vierzon, 3451. ; Penis and
Strasburg, 337 f. 50c.;Tours and Nantes, 2371. 50C. ;
the new Roman Loan, 784.
BUSINESS
Boulogne
.aDii
LONDONAEu
STOCKIieN a F, C FOREIGN E 15.1 Oct
iNe s
--Central
xrlo
RAILWAYS
EoFl.4o.A(TorTicila:

and Vierzon), 133/4—East Indian, 914—Namur and Liege,
77i—Nortliern of France, 10,1—Orleans and Bourleaux,
21,1 Paris and Rouen, 2446 Rouen and Havre, 10%—
Sambre and Meuse, 214.