The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-16 00:00:00

BARBARITIES IN ROUMANIA.

Strange doings, says a contemporary, are reported
from Roumania, doings the authenticity of which cannot
well be doubted. The writer is a Prussian official of high
standing and repute, and at present entrusted by the Govern-
ment with the construction of the nob State railways. It
would appear that some time last month the post
was robbed on the way between Tecucia and Adjond. A
sum of 7,000 ducats and papers of considerable value were
carried off and no trace of the thieves was to be found.
This came all the more inopportunely as the Go-
vernment of Roumania was just about to undertake
the international post. The strictest orders were given at
once to spare no effort to discover the criminals. Unfortu-
nately, the investigation was not entrusted to the ordinary
criminal authorities, but to the head of the post and telegraph
office of Bucharest, who seems to have fulfilled his task
with more zeal than humanity. No less than 12 people,
men, women, and children, were subjected by him to the
most dreadful tortures for days and nights together. The
soles of the suspected persons were rubbed with tallow,
which was then lighted ; or nails were driven into the quick
of their fingers. The apathy in which the populace is sunk
there suffered these things to continue for some days. At last
the authorities were informed of what was going on, and
the people gave unmistakable signs of what the consequences
would be if the " investigator " were not at once removed
from his scene of action. He was very nearly lynched in
the street, and now awaits his punishment in prison. The
worst part of the story is that this ruffian is one of the
spokesmen of the so-sailed Liberal or " National " party in
Roumania.

The Duke of Edinburgh has subscribed £lOO to
the Bishop of London's fund.

The two sons of the Viceroy of Egypt have arrived
in Paris. The eldest is to remain there, the other comes on
to England.
The Earl of Mayo has appointed Major Borne,
Military Secretary and Aide-camp to Gen. Lord Strathnairn,
as Lis private secretary in India. Major Burn° was in India
during the mutiny.
It has been calculated that if the voice of a man
emitted the same amount of sound in proportion to the
size of his body as that given forth by a locust, when
singing at London he could be heard at Constantinople.—
Musical Standard.

At the monthly meeting of the Council of the
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday the president
alluded in congratulatory terms to the approaching visit of
Mr. Reverdy Johnson, the American Minister, to that
town, and it was resolved to appoint a committee for the
purpose of prei aring and presenting an address to Mr.
Johnson, in behalf of the Chamber, if a convenient oppor-
tunity should present itself.
THE ALLEGED MURDER AT LEAMINGTON. —IRO
jury in the case of the Leamington murder have returned
the following verdict :—" That the deceased, Isaac Court,
met with his death by falling down the cellar steps whilst
in a state of intoxication, but there is no evidence before
the jury to shew the cause of his falling ; and that Mrs.
Court's conduct in not giving information at once is highly
culpable." The coroner said the jury had returned a very
proper verdict, and added that there was a very strong
case of suspicion against Mrs. Court.

A CORONER'S JURY IN DANGER.—On Monday
last the jurymen who were called upon to view the body of
the poor man who was murdered on the Southdowns on
Friday night proceeded to a cottage near where the murder
was committed, in an omnibus which had been provided for
that purpose, and immediately on their starting to return to
Lewes the reins broke, and the horses bolted, several of the
jurors receiving some very ugly falls in attempting to leap
from the vehicle ; but fortunately none of them were
seriously hurt, and they proceeded into Lewes on foot,
somewhat alarmed at the singular adventure.

THE HEROIC ENOINEER.—Mr. John Routiedge,
the heroic Englishman, whose services to the wounded
Spaniards in the only great battle fought between the
Royalists and revolutionary soldiers have excited much
comment, is not a Yorkshireman, but a Tynesideman. He
was born at Hebburn, a pit village, immediately opposite
to Willington Quay, where Robert Stephenson was born,
and was some time employed about the pits, until the late
Mr. John Buddle, the well-known mining engineer, took
him in hand and got him a situation in the south, under
Mr. James Hand. He was upon a railway near Rome
before he received his present appointment on the
Andalusian Railway. Mr. Routledge is a middle-aged
man, 51 years of age.

" STRANGE, IF TRlTE."—Under this heading the
Post publishes the following letter signed " F.B. " :—" I
was, last Tuesday evening, at the Royalty Theatre, and
was very much astonished by the entrance of a young
nobleman, very well known among the ' upper ten,' accom-
panied by a woman dressed up in man's clothes. Her
entrance caused a great deal of sensation in the theatre,
as the disguise was palpable even to the most casual
observer. I have heard since that the same young
nobleman has been to the Holborn and several other
theatres, with sometimes two or three women disguised
as men. As this act renders the perpetrator liable to
heavy penalties, and at the same time intensely disgusts
the spectators, I trust, sir, by your kindly inserting this
letter in your colmuns, we shall see no more of it for the
future."

FATAL RESULT OF PRACTICAL JOKING. A
shocking occurrence, fatal in one case and likely to be so
in another, took place at Bolton a day or two back.
Mr. William Brierley, book-keeper at Messrs. Day and
Raby's, builders, on leaving the yard of the establishment
in Crown-street, took up one of the apprentices, named
Nathaniel Morris, and, for a joke, held him over the wall
of a bridge close by, under which flows the River Crual.
In the struggle Mr. Brierley seems to have lost his
balance, and both fell over, a distance of from forty to
fifty feet. The banks and bed of the stream had recently
been paved, and falling headlong upon this stonework
they sustained very serious injuries. Mr. Brierley was
taken to the infirmary, but died in about two hours after
the occurrence. The youth Morris lies in a very dangerous
state, both his thighs being broken.

A. "GHOST " LAID. —A " ghost " Mai has been
alarming the inhabitants of Weston-super-Mare has been
exorcised in a practical fashion. For some time strange
noises had been heard in a certain house, the furniture
was frequently found displaced, and the other tricks
effected by modern disembodied spirits were constantly
played. At length, a gentleman, more curious than super-
stitious, obtained leave to pass some time in the " haunted
chamber ;" and although a large tin pot was hurled at him
in a mysterious fashion as he went upstairs, and hideous
noises greeted his entrance into the apartment, he per-
severed in his enterprise, and just after a large stone had
fallen through the skylight he rushed out and caught the
" ghost "—a youth who, after a little hesitation, admitted
that he had been employed to throw the missiles, and that
the other " spiritual phenomena" were caused by beating
an old mopstick against the under part of the gtaircase.
And M 2 g142.§1 yakkiigjly 1441.