The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-24 00:00:00

THE POOR. SHIRTMAKERS OF
LIVERPOOL.

On Monday last a poor woman, who obtains a
scanty livelihood by making shirts for the largest
retail establishments in the town, and who appeared
to be in the most abject state of poverty, summoned
her employers to the Court of Requests for the sum
of ten shillings, the amount of her bill for making
shirts. The proprietors of the establishment were
represented by a very pompous, genteelly-dressed
young- man, who fills the important situation of
" superintendent of the shirt department." In a
manner the most affected, he said the defendants dis-
puted the bill on the ground that the shirts were badly
made, and that they had to pay fourpence each
to another person to remake and alter them. " Con-
sidering," continued he, in the same pompous man-
ner, "the circumstances of life in which Mrs.
is placed, we would willingly have forgiven
her the fourpence each shirt, but one of the
shirts had been completely spoiled, by the skirt being
put in wrong, and we offered to pay her the amount,
deducting the price of two yards of linen, to supply
the part spoiled." The poor woman said she had of-
fered to make the shirt good if they would allow her
to have it. The overlooker of the shirt department
said, " Oh, it involves a very serious principle, and it
will never do, as we employ so many persons."
The shirt was brought into court, and handed up
to the Learned Commissioner, who, " with spectacles
on nose," minutely examined every part, to see if he
could discover any defect. After a long insia-ction the
Commissioner asked the overlooker what sum the
poor woman was paid for making each shirt, seeing
that they wished to deduct fourpence for the alters
tion ? The overlooker was silent upon this subject ;
but in the course of the examination it came out,
from some of the !Arty, that the extraordinary sum of
two shillinps and eightpence per dozen was paid fur
making plain shirts, or a fraction more than twopence
halfpenny per shirt ! Whether the shirts in question
were plain or not did not transpire. The Learned
Commissioner, taking all things into consideration,
ordered that the poor half-starved creature should be
paid 7s. Gd. and her costs. The proprietors of the
extensive establishment have thus been compelled to
pay about the sum demanded, whilst the poor shri-
velled and worn-out shirtmaker was left minus 2s. Gd
of her hard-earned wages.—Liverpool Mercury.

ESCAPE OF A CONVICT FROM
GAOL, AND HIS RECAPTURE.

At our last assises a young man named John
Powell, alias Bumper, was tried and convicted before
Mr. Sergeant Atcherley, for committing a burglary
in the house of Mr. John Crowther, of Lydbury
North, and received sentence of ten years' transpor-
tation. At that time he was labouring under the
effects of a loathsome disease, which prevented
his removal to the hulks with the other trans-

ports, and he was placed in the gaol in-
firmary, with liberty to walk daily in the court for
the benefit of fresh air, and at night he slept in a
cell on the ground floor in an outer court, surrounded
by a wall eight feet high. At six o'clock on Friday
evening he was locked in his cell for the night ;
but on one of the officers going round to light
the lamps at half-past seven, he discovered that
the prisoner had escaped. The manner in which
he effected his escape exhibits a considerable de-
gree of tact. He contrived to unjoint his bed-
stead, and secreted in his sleeping cell a long piece of
wood, which had been used as a part of scaffolding
for repairs. He then tore up the sheets and blanket of
his bed, with which he lashed the piece of wood to the
side part of his bedstead , and to make it firmer he in-
serted a nail which had been extracted from the span
attached to the bedstead. Having thus far made his ar-
rangements, he next tried his skill upon the door of the
cell, which proved to be very rotten ; and by using the
leg of a stool as a lever, he soon made an aperture large
enough to allow him the escape underneath. Hav-
ing got into the open air, he dragged his scaling
ladder after him, and quietly mout.ting the wall
of the court, he reared the spliced timber
against the outer wall ; but it being about
seventeen feet high his means of escape proved too
short. In a moment he thought of a wheelbarrow
which he had seen it the yard, and to p,-event the
creaking of its wheels from being heard, he carried
the barrow to the place he intened to scale,
and placing the pole in it, he climbed
up, and reached within a yard of the top of the wall.
He afterwards said—" 1 don't know hew I did it ;
but I went over the wall as light as a bird." In his
fall he sp,rained his ancle, and lay on the ground for
some time m great pain. " I was so frightened (he
said) at what I had done that I almost wished myself
back again." He added, that the only person who
saw him lying under the wall was a factory girl, on
her v, ay home from work, and she took no notice.
He then made his way along the river side to the
Welsh Bridge, and thence to the Bridges, on the
Bishop's Castle road ; and on the way he threw
away his gaol waistcoat, and pulled out his shirt to
hide his trowsers, in the manner of a smockfrock.
From thence he made his way across the country to
the neighbourhood of Wurthen ; and he has since
stated that he never tasted food till Monday night.
The greatest exertions were used by the governor,
Mr. Dawson, to re-c apture the runaway, aid bills of
101. reward, and messengers were dispatched to
every direction. On Wednesday Mr. Dawson pro-
ceeded to Chirbury, where the relatives of the pri-
soner are living, and after an ineffectual search he
was returning, when he received information from
policeman Hemming, of Worthen, that he had just
caught the prisoner in a stable belonging to Mr.
Jones, of Marton, where he had been hiding among
the hay in the loft. On the appearance of the
officer he attempted to jump through the window of
the loft; but after a sharp struggle he was secured,
and given in charge to Mr. Dawson, who conveyed
the runaway back to his old quarters. A meeting of
the Visiting Justices was held in the afternoon,
when Jones, the turnkey, who had charge of the pri-
soner, was suspended from his office. The information
to the policeman was given by a person whom the
prisoner
designated as a " friend," and who will share
the 101. reward with the policeman.—Shrewsbury
Chronicle.

It was Messrs. Lemon, Hart, and Son, of 59, Fen-
church-street, who took the Government contract of
100,000 gallons of rum on Thursday last.
LYCEUM THEATRE.—The following distinguished
personages have visited this theatre during last week :
The Duke of Devonshire, the Marchioness of Conyng-
ham, Earl and Countess of Grimstone, Earl and Countess
of Orford, Earl and Countess of Beauchamp, Earl of
Harrington, Earl of Munster, Earl of Listowel, Sir
James Graham and Lady, Viscount and Viscountess
Haw•arden, Sir Henry Mildmay, Lord Arthur Lennox,
Hon. Mrs. Wyndham, Hon. Mr. Byng, Hon. Mr. Chi-
chester, Hon. Mrs. Massey, Col. Nilson, Col. Daniel,
Col. Ferguson, Major White, Sir B. Smith, Capt. Con-

stable, Si. &c. -
ATTEMPT TO Ron THE YOUNG.—We are glad to
perceive that the Town Council have had the good sense
to prevent " the Session and Deacons' Court" of the St.
Clement's Free Church from laying their unhallowed
hands on the playground of the parish school. They
want it to ornament their chapel, and truly it is much in
need of something to set it ; but they should have looked
to that before they put that ugly squat thing down in a
place where its hideousness cannot be concealed. In
these days, when the great object in all large towns is to
get crowded places opened up, and provide more liberally
for the out door recreation of all ages, it is too bad to
find a set of men, for a paltry selfish purpose. attemptirg
to curtail the limited space devoted to the enjoyment of
the young. In this, as in many other instances, the
Non-Intrusion idea of freedom seems to be, the liberty
of making free, very improperly, with what belongs to
others.—Aberdeen Herald.
Da. CHALMERS.—We regret to learn that, owing
to the state of his health, Dr. Chalmers is under the
necessity of reluctantly declining the invitation sent him
by the elders and deacons of the Free Church in Glas-
gow, to address them on the subject of the Sustentation
Fund.—Scottish Guardian.
GOPSALL.—Her Majesty the Queen Dowager and
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent arrived here
on Wednesday afternoon, at half-past five o'clock, in a
carriage and four, with outriders, and escorted by Earl
Howe's troop of the Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry,
commanded by Viscount Curzon. The Royal party
were attended by Lady Clinton, Sir Horace and Miss
Seymour, Miss Wheatley, Mr. Hudson, Sir Andrew
Barnard, and Sir G. Couper. Upon the arrival of the
illustrious visitors, they were received by Earl Howe in
the court attached to the mansion, where the Leicester-
shire yeomanry baud were stationed, and played the
national anthem. A large assemblage of company,
horse and foot, greeted the Royal party with loud cheers.
Dinner was served at seven o'clock, and in the evening
the band performed some favourite music in the library.
Numerous visitors are expected during the week.
LOWESTOFT, SEPT. 20.—We are happy to inform
our readers that arrangements have just been concluded
with a gentleman who is recently become a large landed
proprietor in this neighbourhood, for the purchase of the
Lowestoft Navigation, with the ultimate intention of
forming a railway from this town to the Reedham station
of the Yarmouth and Norwich line ; thereby setting
aside the opposition which the proprietors of that pro.
pertywould in all probability have given the meast,re.
We sincerely trust that such a desirable project will be
met by the gentlemen and landed proprietors through
whose property it must pass in the spirit It deserves.
The advantages such a ready communication with Om
metropolis and the midland counties will present to our
town and the fishing interest connected therewith, are
evident and incalculable, and cannot fail, we think, to
be appreciated and furthered in every possible way by
the inhabitants of Lowestoft.—Suffelh Chronicle.
HERRING FISHING.—This enterprise has been dosed
at our port for the season, and the boats, none of which
have been off this week, are being hauled up, and with
the gear stowed away in places of safety.—. North Sun-
derland.—Our fishing, the latter end of last week, wag
good—the highest boat had twenty trans. This week,
up to Thursday, it has fallen off—highest boat twelve
clans. There is a ready demand for herrings at 1411. and
15s. per eran.—Benvich Advertiser,