The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-07 00:00:00

CORONERS' INQUESTS.

DEATH OF MR. RIDLEY, OF THE " NEW BELL'S
MESSENGER.":-0n Thursday an inquest was held before
Mr. Higgs, at the George the Fourth, Clarezmarket, as
to the death of Mr. j-Itidley, aged 33, for many years
connected with the New Bell's Messenger.
Mr. James Duncombe, the surgeon of King's College
Hospital, said he had been attending the deceased's wife,
and waa called in to see him on Monday. He was
almost insensible, and did not appear to know what was
said to him. He was instantly removed to the hospital,
but died about two o'clock on Wednesday. There was
a bruise on the head, and two large fractures on the
base of the skull, and these injuries caused his death,
probably from the effects of a fall.

- Ann Andrews, of No. 9, Grove-place, Kennington,
stated that the deceased was her son-in-law, and in con-
sequence of his wife's confinement, she had been stay-
ing ut their house in Wych-street. On Sunday he left
home at two o'clock, and at one on Monday morning
she heard him fall at the foot of the stairs. Blood was
then flowing from his head, and he was quite senseless.
She requested a policeman to take him to the hospital,
but he said he must first go to the station, to which he
was taken on a stretcher. The surgeon there imme-
diately attended to him, and applied plaster to the
wounds. He had not been in bed when she saw him at
the station-house, nor was there any fire in the cell. On
Monday afternoon she and a policeman took him home.
On the Saturday night he had been brought home very
drunk.

John Wood, 131 F, said that when he was called into
the house, No. 6, Wych-street, he was lying down in
the passage, and as it was thought he was wounded he
was taken to the station-house. The magistrate dis-
charged him, as no complaint was made against him.
fte %%as able to walk home and up stairs by himself.
Inspector Black stated the cell was heated with hot
air, and he was taken in more out of kindness, and he
was attended by a man the whole night.
Mr. Baker, the beadle, said the potman at the Printer's
Arms, New Church-court, Strand, told him the de -
ceased had been pitched into on the Saturday night, at
the Cock and Magpie, Drury-lane.
The potman was called, and then stated some one had
told him.

After a great deal of evidence, the jury had the room
cleared, and returned a verdict, that the deceased died
from the effects of a fall, or otherwit.e, but the imme-
diate cause the jury cannot ascertain.
One of the jury, after the Coroner had written it, said
that the verdict must be altered "to a blow or other
violence," and that was accordingly inserted amid much
laughter.

gEICIDE IN THE SERPENTINE.-Mr. Higgs held an
inquest on Thursday at the Rose and Crown, Knights-
bridge, on the body of a girl of genteel appearance, name
unknown, who drowned herself in the Serpentine.
Robert Harvey, police-constable 48 A, said that on
Wednesday morning last, while on duty in Hyde-park,
his attention was drawn to a bonnet which had been
washed on the banks of the river. He shortly after-
wards saw the deceased's body not many yards distant,
and having called Mr. Williams, the superintendent of
the Royal Humane Society, it was dragged ashore.
From the marks on the gravel he thought that she had
rushed in head foremost. Her person might be de-
scribed thus :—About twenty years of age, dark brown
hair, blue eyes, five feet four or five in height, well pro-
portioned, with round limbs and features, and a large
scar on the right arm. The following was the dress she
wore :—Straw bonnet with blue ribbons, black shawl
with red border, gown of mouselline-de-laine, striped
with blue, jean boots, cotton stockings, and under gar-
ments of the usual description. In her ears were a pair
of solid gold and rather valuable earrings, and her dress
altogether was extremely good. Mr. Herbert Williams
said that no one saw her go into the water, indeed he
had often noticed that persons who went there to drown
themselves took great care not to let any one see them.
The Coroner said it was rather a strange thing that
females nearly always took off their bonnet and care-
fully folded up their shawl before they leaped in, whether
from the bridge or bank. Verdict, " Found drowned."

Cowes, Dec. s.—This morning arrived here the
Swedish barque William of Gothenburg, from Torre-
vechia, Alicant, laden with salt, having been run into
by an unknown vessel, during Tuesday night. She was
fallen in with the next morning by her Majesty's Revenue
cutter Stag, Lieutenant Clark, about four leagues to the
southward of St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight, from
whence the Stag towed her into this port. The barque
has lost her main sad misen-masts, also her headyards,
and is otherwise in a very crippled state. She has on
board part of the figure-head of the vessel which run
into her. The monster steam-ship dock, constructing at
this port by Messrs. Thomas and John White, is ex-
pected to be completed in about three weeks, when one
of the large steam-ships will be taken into it.—From
our Correspondent.
ALEXANDRIA, Nov. 22.—Great preparations are
being made for the opening of the dry dock, which is to
take place in a few days. The town is to be illuminated
on the occasion, and Mehemet Ali is expected from Cairo
to be present at the ceremony. Mr. Bourne left for
Cairo, where Artiu Bey, the Prime Minister, is at pre-
sent, immediately after the receipt of his letter by the
English steamer. The Pacha has contracted with a
Greek firm of this place for the whyle crop of senna for
the next five years, at eleven dollars per canter, and with
another Greek house for the whole quantity of saltpetre
which Egypt may produce for the next two years, at 85
piastres per canter, payable in assignments, now at a
discount of 12 per cent. So much for free trade ! The
Great Liverpool steamer arrived on the 20th from Malta
and Southampton with 90 passengers, half of whom
were ladies. The facility with which the overland jour-
THE FACTORY QUESTION. • ney from England to India is now performed is provt d
Lord Ashley, it is to be presumed, has laid in a new by the great number of ladies who undertake it. alone,
stock of courage and resolution since he handed over to and without any mishap ever occurring. On board the
G
the Home Secretary the cause of his helpless manufac-
reat Liverpool there was a very young lady, daughter
of a General in India, who was quite unattended. She
luring clients. The smart of a failure is the best of all
stimulants to some minds, and that stimulant certainly herself had to settle for her transit through Egypt, and
started from Alexandria
fullest for Suez with the rest of the
has been applied to the Noble Lord. It will be warning
passengers with the confidence of joining her pa-
of the warfare, he repeats the capitulation of last Easter. strangely thrown away if, with his present experience,
rents in safety. The Great Liverpool will sail on her
return voyage to-morrow morning, although the mails
There are some whom the ensuing' session will not, see
at their post ; and, on the other hand, there are causes reached Alexandria yesterday evening. This delay has
which will be pressed with growing urgency and power. been caused by the non-arrival of the Bombay passen-
The claims of humanity will not, on the whole, be ne-
gers, who cannot reach here before to-night, having been
glected. Amongst other subjects, there is reason to ex- detained at Cairo by the want of a steamer there, all the
pect that the case of the agricultural labourer will be Nile boats being at Atfeh. Had the Paoha granted per-
'
handled more thoroughly than ever since it first came to mission to the Peninsular and Oriental Company s new
the light of political day. Lord Ashley, of course, will iron steamer Delta to enter the Nile, this detention
take care that he is not the chief defaulter, and that would not have taken place.
other grievances besides those; of the smock-frock shall A FIGHT IN A MENAGERIE.—We find the follow-
be attended to. At present his Lordship has committed ing in the Verdad of Barcelona of the 25th ult ;--"
himself with all that generosity and fulness we expect to sanguinary combat took place yesterday between the
find in the first promises of an aristocratical agitator. wild beasts of the menagerie of M. Borelli. A jackal
In reply to a question from the Manchester Short-time threw himself suddenly upon a wolf. The wolf having
Committee, he announces, in a letter which we published recoiled from the attack, the jackal became elated with
yesterday, that he sees no reason why the question of the his easy victory, and flew at a female hyena. This ani-
Ten Hours' Bill should not be renewed at the earliest pos- mal, in her fury, revenged herself upon the wolf, and
sible period; and will endeavour, on the first night of the the-male hyena, irritated at the insult to the female,
joined in the attack upon the innocent wolf, and tore
session, to fix a day for bringing the subject again
h
under the consideration of the House. So there can be noim dreadfully. M. Borelli was absent, but his daughter,
w
doubt but that we shall have two or three good speeches with heroic intrepidity, entered the cage, to the great
on the subject, containing the fruits of much reading and horror of the spectators, who expected that she:would
be devoured. She seized the jackal, and forced him into
many interviews, and giving to the contents of bulky
reports that publicity which, but for the cognate inven• another den, and, striking the.. female hyena, drove her
from the wolf, so'confined her apart. The combat
tion of opening addresses, they would seldom attain.
But something besides proclamation of war and impels-
between the male hyena and the wolf, however, continued
ous attack is necessary. Rome wasnot built,. Troy was
until the arrival of M. Borelli, who had great difficulty
not taken, or the Peninsula cleared of its Imperial in-
in separating them, and not before the poor wolf had
vaders, in a day. Staunch leaders-and disciplined armies his legs broken and his belly ripped up."
are mutual necessities, without which neither can The Gazette of Tuesday last contains an Order in
escape discomfiture. Shakespeare has drawn the charac- Council regarding the admission of sugar from Vene-
zuela into this country. The order recites that portion
ter of an agitator a little above his work, who, having
given his hand to articles of peace rather too easily,
of the last Sugar Duty Bill which alludes to the admis-
while expecting to see a triumphant parade of his army sion. of this produce from China, Java, Manilla, &c., at
previous to their formal disbanding, was told— a duty of 345. per cwt., and five per cent., a certificate
" My Lord, our army is dispersed already ; being given that this sugar is not the produce of slave
labour, and of course that it is not refined. The present
Like youthful steers unyoked, they take their courses
East, west, north, south; or, like a school broke up, order extends the benefit of this Act 'to Venezuela, the
Each hurries towards his home and sporting place ;" order having force from the 28th ult. A considerable
and while the intelligence still rung in his ears, stir has been made as to the existence of slavery in this
found himself a helpless captive in the hands of a State, though we think the fact, if' it is so, ought to be
crafty and uncompromised foe. Should his Lordship first ascertained,
benefit by
.his experience, and that so far as to carry the RUNNING MATCH FOR TEN POUNDS A-SIDE.—On
object which the future historian will associate with his Wednesday morning a foot race came off near the Earl
name, it would be some consolation if the delay had of Moira public-house, at Shooter's-hill, between Crisp,
brought to pass that it was not carried just in the shape the Elthaur pet, and Davis, of London. The distance to
and guise it wore last year. It cannot be denied, that be contested was two miles, which having been measured,
on the whole, spite of a few inconsiderable salvos, it bad the pedestrians came to the starting mark, and a good
the very ill look of a hostile inroad on the manufacturing deal of betting took place, the men being backed at even.
interest, considered as a faction of the political world. At the signal they went away well together, and Davis,
As far as it had this look, we do not hesitate to say that at a lead of fifteen yards, performed the first mile in five
it deserved a present defeat. To consider the manu- minutes and three seconds. They strenuously contended
facturers by position an injury to society is an absurdity till within 400 yards of the goal, when it became quite
too gross to admit of illustration or comment. To con- manifest ahat the pace was too swift for Davis, and Crisp
eider them generally less humane than the average of ran in tV winner, accomplishing the two miles in eleven
other capitalists and employers, is a calumny too shame- minutes and thirty seconds.
ful to be seriously refuted. In position, of course they LAUDABLE PATRONAGE.--..We are gratified to hear
are benefactors—more than benefactors—absolutely that, on its being recently represented to Sir Robert Peel
necessary. In character, they are much like other men. that Mr.. Peach, a very meritorious officer in the coast
A hearty recognition of these two facts we believe to be guard night service, in Cornwall, with a very large family
requisite to the ultimate success of Lord Ashley's cause. and small pay, has for some years past, during the in-
Something more than words too, is, or will be, wanted tervals of his duty, made valuable researches in marine
to show the sincerity of this recognition. Humanity geology, which he has communicated to the meetings of
as well as justice must be even-handed. Burning the British Association for the Advancement of Seieuce;
indignation at the twelve hours' slavery of the and that be had also made collections in fossil eonehology,
female operative must not go together with an eco- which have been of much service to the ordnance geo-
nomical endurance of the workhouse test, and rural logical survey of Cornwall ; Lady Peel has been pleased
families existing on es. a-week. The factory and the to confer on Mrs. Peach a pension for her life, from a
cottage must be regarded with equal eye: C Wait)? small and limited fund which long usage has placed under
begins at home. The most studied protestations will the control of the lady of the Prime Minister, in con-
not save an agricultural Lord from the reproach of a aideration of the scientific merits of her husband, and
factious philanthropy, if he husbands the yearnings of testimony borne to his good character.—Literary Gazette.
his bowels for a brief spring campaign in Parliament, Sr. MARY-LE-STRAND.—Tvvo charity sermons will
and still briefer autumnal tour in the manufacturing dis- be preached on the ensuing Sunday in the church of St.
tricts. He must not see only what ho annually looks Mary-le-Strand, in aid of the charity schools of ths
for, and be wilfully blind to what is daily obtruded on parish, and the precincts of the Savoy. So excellent an
his eyes. A sentence or two, a demonstration or two, a object, in our own immediate neighbourhood, has our
feeble proposition about better cottages whispered before best -wishes, and we trust that the appeal will not be
a select London auditory, and a chimerical
_prospectus made in vain, We may add that the boys' school has
charily circulated by post, will seem bfit tame expe- been in existence 136 years, the time it has lasted, sup-
dients, hardly befitting_the-badness of a man who, for ported by the benevolence of the public, being a proof of
one peculiar-and adopted class of clients, can shake a its utility.
'Ministry to its basis, face assembled populations of ope- Housz OF COMMONS COMMITTEE...ROW/S.—ln COll-
- and, what is more than all, hold private corre- sequence of several of the old committee-rooms being re-
spondence and intercourse with public-house committees quired, in order to proceed with the building of the new
and fustian delegates. These are the things which show Houses of Parliament, workmen are now busily em-
s man sincere—sincere, at least, in his 'repulses
and
first endeavours. If Lord Ashley, too, wishes t„irly to ,10yed in erecting temporary rooms in Palace yard,
,facing the entrance to Westminster Hall ; which will be
grasp the subject, and meet its real difficulties, be must completed before the opening of the session in February
not shirk the commercial view of the question. The next.
profitable employment of increasing millions within this THE PILCHARD FISHERY.—Several shoals of pil-
narrow isle is as much a matter of figures as the affairs chards passed through St, Ives Bay on Sunday, but none
of a domestic household. It is child% play, and worse, have been seen since. The drift boats are bringing in
to spend without income, to sit idle when the shelf is -Ivry fuze herrings, but the catches are not greet, in con-
empty, and advocate a different view of egonomicit ques- sequence of the brightness of alto AIWA ---Falmouth
lien! on Mon4ai morning sad 'oil Siturday night. As Paci4s4 _

After a vote of thanks to the Chairman and the other
gentlemen who took part in the meeting, the proceedings
terminated.