The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-23 00:00:00

ALLEGED MURDER OF CAPTAIN

HALSEY.
The prisoner, Jan Kent, who has been in custody at
L'verpoel since the 14th inst., for the alleged murder
of Lis captain, was discharged on Wednesday, a verdict
of justifiable homicide being returned by the coroner's
jury ; but as the American Consul had made a claim to
have the prisoner sent for trial to America, the
inNrmations taken before Mr. Rushton, were fur-
warded to Sir James Graham, with a view of as-
certaining from the law officers of the Crown
whether the prisoner ought to be liberated, or whether,
if sent for trial, he should be tried in this country
or in America. An answer to the fitter question was
deemed of essential importance, as the American Consul
here had formally demanded that he should be sent for
trial to the United Statee, upon the ground that the
vessel was sailing under the American flag and upon the
high seas at the time of the occurrence. Yesterday
morning a reply was received from Sir James Graham,
inclosing the opinion of the law officers ; and shortly
after it had reached the hands of Mr. Rushton, that gen-

tleman had an interview with the Le rd Chief Baron on
the bench of the Crown Court, to whom he announced
the result. Neither the communication itself, nor the
opinion of the law officers, has been made public ;
but the purport of both may be gathered pretty cor-
rectly from what transpired after their receipt: In the
first place the grand jury would have been discharged
on Tuesday, but that the Lord Chief Baron in-
timated to .C.eni that the opinion of the law officers was
expectod yesterday morning, and that they might then
be required to take the bills against Kent into considera-
tion. Bills for manslaughter had in the meantime been
prepared, in order that, if the opinion should bo to the
effect that the prisoner might be tried in this country,
there should be no delay in putting him on his trial. At
eleven o'clock yesterday, however, after the receipt of
Sir James Graham's letter, the bills were abandoned, and
the grand jury discharged ; and at half-past twelve
o'clock the prisoner Kent was brought up at the police -
court. Mr. Rushton thereupon asked whether the Ame-
rican Consul (who was not in attendance) had been in-
formed that prisoner would be brought up that day ?
Mr. Ellis, the senior clerk, replied in the affirmative; he
had told the consul that ho should be brought up at half-
past twelve o'clock.
Mr. Rushton then addressed the prisoner in the fol-
lowing terms :—" When the depositions in your case
were taken before me, I told you that I should submit
the evidence to high official authorities. I have done so,
and it is now my duty to discharge you. From the fact of
the body of the deceased, Captain Halsey, having been
brought within the jurisdiction of the coroner of the bo-
rough, it became necessary to institute a solemn inquiry
into the cause of his death, and since the evidence was
taken by me that inquiry has terminated. The jury were
men of great resp-ctability, and it must be consolatory to
you to know that their verdict was one of justifiable
homicide.'" The prisoner was then discharged, and left
the court, accompanied by a crowd of spectators.
It is said that Captain Varnum has been appointed to
the command of the Thomas Bennett, in piece of the
deceased captain—that a new crew will be shipped on
board the vessel, and that she will, shortly proceed again
on her voyage to Charleston.

INSPECTION OF DEPTFORD DOCKYARD BY THE
LORDS OF THE ADMIRALTY.— The ancient dockyard at
Deptford, which is the oldest in the kingdom, and which
lay for nearly thirty years in an almost desolate state, is
about to be restored to its original state of activity and
importance. Yesterday several of the Lords of the Ad-
miralty went over the whole of the departments, and
having inspected the carpenters and joiner's shops, the
foundries, the works of the boiler-makers, the wood-
sawing pits, and the timber-bending coppers, they viewed
the slips, numbered consecutively one, two, and three,
lying upon the north-west side of the yard, immediately
contiguous to the victualling Department, which is se-
parated by a wall from the dockyard. The slips have
not been used for many years, and the whole of them are
now greatly out of repair ; but we have reason to believe
that orders have been received for their immediate
restoration. The Noble Lords then proceeded to inspect
the works in the building yard, and the forward state of
the vessels now upon the stocks, as well as the excellent
character of the work appeared very satisfactory to their
Lordships. There are now building in the dockyard at
Deptford, the Terrible, which when completed will be
the largest steam-frigate in the world ; and the Spitfire,
of 300 tons, which was commenced on the 21st of June,
in this year, and will be finished in the spring of next.
The Phenix steamer is under repair, but now nearly
completed. The following are the dimensions of her
Majesty's steam-frigate the Terrible : Length between
the perpendiculars 226 feet, keel for tonnage 196 feet 10i
inches, extreme breadth 42 feet, depth of the hold 27
feet, engine room length 75 feet, width 38 feet, depth 27
feet, diameter of the paddle-wheels 34 feet by 13, dia-
meter of the cylinder 6 feet, power of the engines 800
horse, weight of the engines 500 tons, coal-boxes to hold
800 tons of coals, burthen 1,847 tons, cost of boilers and
engines complete 40,2501. It is expected that this noble
vessel will be launched about the spring quarter-day (the
sth of April, 1845.)
A ROYAL RAT-WARREN.—There is a small parcel
of enclosed ground, situated in the Green-park, which
was at one period a pleasure-ground, annexed to the
ranger's premises, but since the ranger's-lodge has been
removed, and the site upon which it stood has been
thrown open to the public (it forming at present a por-
tion of the promenade contiguous to Constitution-hill),
the icelosed plot of ground under consideration has been
quite neglected ; indeed, altogether deserted, and has
become of late a notorious nursery for weeds and vermin.
Situated in a bottom, nearly in a line with the spot where
the old pond used to be, it is exceedingly damp, and
the noxious vegetation it gives life to is not a greater
evil than another it upholds, viz., that of its affording re-
fuge to a dense and rapidly-increasing colony of in araud-
ing rats, which obit:awed animals, finding themselves
undisturbed, carouse in this inclosure (a perfect
free warren) with the utmoLt assurance, aware
that from the nature of the position they
have taken up for their encamping ground, they may
rest perfectly secure from the unwelcome interrup-
tions of dogs and other inimical annoyances. Any person
passing up or down Piccadilly on that side of the way,
and looking down upon the spot in question, will per-
ceive an opening to a dead well, and squadrons of rats,
moving about in all quarters, entering and egressing
from this aperture, which appears to be the central
station for their operations. Those which are to be seen
emerging from the well are, in almost every instance,
furnished with a modicum of food, which circumstance
may lead to a conclusion that this well communicates
with the mansions on the opposite side of the road, for
the domestics affirm that they " are eaten up with rats:'
The earth around the well is perfectly honeycombed
with borrows, into and out of which these vermin are to
be seen moving at all hours of the day. How long this
obnoxious colony may continue undisturbed, it is hard to
say ; but if they are suffered to remain much longer in
quiet possession of their quarters, these expert engineer's
will not only sap the foundation of Constitution-hill, but
will propagate to so alarming an extent by-and-by as to
enable them to take forcible possession of the houses and
premixes opposite their present head-quarters.
The Shrewsbury Trienniel Musical Festival, in
aid of the. funds of the Salop Infirmary, is to take place
on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the 3d, 4th, and
sth of the ensuing month, under the patronage of her
Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, the Queen Dowager,
the Duke of Sutherland, the Earl of Powis, the Earl of
Liverpool, Hon. R. H, Clive, M. 1.5., J. C. Burton,
Borough, Esq. (High Sheriff of the county), Hon. and
Rev. Lord Berwick, Sir E. J. Smythe, Bart., Sir A.
Corbet, Bar 4 &c. Grisi, Favanti, the Misses Williams,
Mario, Manvers, Signori I'altoni and F. Lablache, are
engaged for the occasion. On the Tuesday a miscellaa
neous concert will be given, and on Wednesday Haydn's
Creation and Rossini 's Stabat Muter will be performed,
and a grand ball will on Thursday terminate the festival
The ball, which, from the preparations now in progress,
is expected to be exceedingly brilliant, is under the pa-
tronage of the Duchess of Sutherland, Viscountess
Fielding, Viscountess Newport, Lady Harriet Clive,
Lady Charlotte Lister, Lady Louisa Cotes' Lady Cor-
bet, Lady Leighton, Lady Smythe, Lady Worsley, Lady
Jenkins, Hon. Mrs. Leighton, and a numerous list of
fashionables. Most of the vocalists will, immediately
after the termination of the second day, proceed to con-
tinue their tour in the provinces.
LONDON AND CROYDON RAILWAY.—An extraordi-
nary meeting of the Directors and Proprietors of the
Croydon Railway Company was held yesterday, in the
large room over the station at London-bridge, for the
purpose of authorising the Directors of the Croydon
Company to purohase the Croydon and Epsom Railway,
or any shares or interest therein, and to create such an
additionel number of shares, and to borrow such addi-
tional capital, by mortgage of the Epsom Railway, or
by bond, as might be considered necessary for completing
such purchase. W. A. Wilkinson, Esq., took the chair,
and stated that forathe construction of the line to Epsom,
on the atmospheric principle, a sum of 200,000/. will be
requi?ed. A further sum of 130,000/. would be required
to carry the line to London-bridge. Several deficiencies
bad been discovered in the estimates for the works on
the Croydon line, and in order to cover these, and
to obtain
the above additional capital, the Directors proposed
raise 400,0001., by creating new third shares at 9/. each,
peewelih
oirlcsdhbawe re.oeuolnd bear
iv,ehretseedisnihnt
aetrroee interest
swt
whole
the
lreeto bratee shares,f 5
atra nthtLeedpreawrt
ectehonfet.
02,
r7oiLr.
ginal shareholders at the rate of one to one. Resolutions
were passed, authorising the Directors to carry this pros
ject into effect.
ACCIDENT FROM THE BURSTING OF A BOILER
A terrible accident, which no foresight
could have
at
pre-
vented. has just happened, says a Brussels journal,
the coal-works of Haut Flenu. One of the six boiers
of the engine used in clearing the mine of its waters
burst, and killed instantaneously, as if he had been struck
b
• y lightning, a mason who was at work on the • opposite
side of the bending. The chief engineer, who was
walking above the boilers, was thrown to a distance of
between six and seven yards against a glass door, but
was not even bruised. The steam passed through the
broken glass into an adjoining room, threw a workman
who was in it against the wall, and caused him some
severe bruises. He, however, was not quite disabled,
and hastened with the engineer to run to the pistons and
stop the engine, thus preventing the evil from becoming
much greater. They were not yet in time to save the
stoker, who was completely parboiled, but able to run'
across the fields and throw himself into a reservoir of
cold water. When taken out and undressed, the whole of
his skin cume away with his clothes, not a particle being
left on his body, and his state is considered to
or
be most
dangerous. Two other workmen were more
hurt, but neither of them seriously.
DECREASE OF CRIME IN LIVERPOOL.—From offi..
cial documents it appears that a considerable decrease
has lately taken place In the number of prisoners con-
fined in the borough prison of Liverpool. The average
number is now only 540, whilst twelve or eighteen
mainlymonth to b
months
tri
the number
to the great
berwas6Bo.This decrease is
rtvival of trade
which has taken &go iA Liverpool.

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