The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-17 00:00:00

jl4

EXTRAORDINARY AFFRAY.
On Saturday evening a man, named John Jeff, ies„ an
utterer of base coin, and who is well known to the police,
entered the shop of Mr. George Sheffield, a butcher, in
the Old-road, Bethnal-green, and tendered a bate half-
crown in payment for a small quantity of meat. A.
counterfeit half-crown was received about half an hour
previous by a man resembling Jeffries, and on the second
occasion the fraud was detected. lle was immediately
detained by the butcher, on whom he committed a most
violent assault, and attempted to regain possession of
the spurious coin. A young man, named Montague, a
greengrocer, came to the assistance of Mr. Sheffield, and
he was also beaten. After a desperate conflict pith the
felloi,v,who gave the butcher two black eyes, and knocked
down several other persons, he was secured, :and given
into the custody of a policeman, named Thompson, No.
396 K, who conveyed him to the station-housi in Arbour-
square, Stepney, where be became exceedingly Violent
and abusive, and, after he was put into the dock appro-
priated for persons charged with felony, Mr. Born, the
inspector, directed him to be searched, and three penny
pieces were taken from him. Thompson was in the act
of marking the base coin, and exhibiting. it to the
butcher, and while he did so, that ho might be
able to identify it again, the prisoner made a
sudden spring, knocked down the policeman and a
sergeant standing by, and snatched a coin froth
Thompson's hand, which he immediately put into his
mouth and swallowed, Police-sergeant Townsend in-
stantly seized him by the throat, and attempted to make
him disgorge the piece, but he was too late, and lie ex-
claimed, " The half-crown has gone down ; he's got it."
Thompson also believed that he had swallowed the base
half-crown, and displayed considerable vexation at the
prospect of being reported for negligence, although the
act was so sudden and unexpected that it was impossible
for him, or any of the numerous officers who were stand-.
ing by, to guard against it. After the prisoner had re-
covered himself, he 'laughed at the police, and e4id.he
had done them. Ile was locked up in one of the cells,
where he had not been many minutes when he com-
plained of severe illness, and the symptoms !became so
alarming that a surgeon was sent for, who advised his
immediate removal to the London Hospital. It was
then that the policeman (Thompson) examined for the
first time the money he had taken from the prisoner, and
discovered that instead of the base half-crown, ho had
snatched one of the penny pieces from his hands and, swallowed it. The illness under which Jeffries labouled was soon accounted for, and he was carried ott the
stretcher to the hospital, where he still remain:, in a most
precarious
state. All attempts to diblodgethe coin have
as yet proved fruitless, and the wretelid man has en-
dured the greatest agony for the last two days. Singular
enough, he was unconscious of having swallowed th©
penny piece instead of the base coin, until the policeman
informed him of his mistake.

- - -
THREE PERSONS SUFFOCATED
BY CHARCOAL.
CHATHAM, DEC. 16.—Yesterday morning (Sunday)
considerable sensation was created in the village of Luton,
near Chatham, in consequence of three husbandmen in
the employ of John Oakley, Esq., farmer, at Darling,
having been found dead in their bed-room. It al-peers
that the men, whose names are John Stedman, aged 25
years.- Thomas Webb, 18, and George Wright, 17,
lodged at the bailiff's cottage, which stands on the oppo-
site side of the road to the farm-house, and in conse-
quence of the severity of the cold they had, ' for the last
few nights, begged the bailiff's wife to warm their room.
On Saturday last, the night being very cold, she yielded
to their wishes, and as the bed-room had not a fire-place
she procured a stable lantern, filled it with charcoal, and
placed it in the centre of the room. About eight
o'clock on Saturday night Stedman retired to rest, and
he was followed about an hour afterwards by the
other two, Webb and Wright, closing the bed-room
door after them. Nothing was heard of them until next
morning. Not coming down stairs at the usual hour,
about seven o'clock, the bailiff went up stairs to rouse
them, and on his opening the door of the room.' the me•
laneholy sight of three dead bodies presented itself.
Wright was found lying on the floor behind the door ;
he had evidently dropped down dead the instant ha en-
tered the room, which must at the time have beets filled
with carbonic gas. Webb was lying on his back on the
bed, with his hand to his handkerchief, as if he had been
seized by death in the act of untying it. Stedman had
his jacket oil', and had partly removed his trousers from
his person, and had fallen back on the bed.' Mr. Oak.
ley, as soon as he was apprised of the melancholy fate
of his men, dispatched messengers to Chatham and
Rochester for medical assistance, when Dr. Adam
Martin, of Rochester, and Mr. Tribe, surgeon, of Chao.
ham, were quickly on the spot ; their services, howeier,
were not required. The poor fellows must have died a
few minutes after their entering the room, Stedman
has left a widowed mother at Gillingham, who was
partly depending on her son for support,. -
An
inquest will be held this day on the bodies_ by J.
Hinde, Esq., coroner for East Kent,

SIR HENRI( POTTINGER,Three public anifes-
tations of respect to Sir henry Pottinger, for his distills
guished services in China, follow that of London.. This
day the inhabitants of Liverpool entertain him at
a banquet in the Town-hall, when a splendid service of
plate will be presented to him. The Manchester manu-
facturers have subscribed 2,8371. towards another testi-
monial which is to be presented at a public entertainment
in that town on Friday, and the week following the mer-
chants, &c., of Belfast (of which place Sir Henry is a na-
tive), pay a similar compliment to him.
PRINCE ALBERT'S Ox.--Yesterday, in pursuance
of the desire expressed by her Majesty when viewing,
at the Smithfield Club Cattle-show on Saturday, the
black• polled ox of the Scotch breed, bred by his Royal
Highness Prince Albert at Norfolk farm, that fortunate
animal, instead of being removed to the residence of Mr.
Bannister, butcher, of Threadneedle-street, who had
purchased it for the sum of sixty guineas, was conveyed
from the Horse Bazaar to the Paddington terminus of
the Great Western Railway, and thence back to Wind-
sor-park, where it will in future be kept. Major-Gen.
\Vemyss, Equerry in Waiting on the Queen, was de-
puted to convey her Majesty's commands in this respect
to the gentlemen connected with the Club, and upon the
receipt of the gallant General's order the animal was at
once delivered up by Mr. haling, who, in the absence of
Mr. Boulnois, the proprietor of the Bazaar, was en-
trusted with the charge of the live stock and implements
exhibited. It is understood that the moment Mr. Ban-
nister was made acquainted with the wishes of her Ma-
jesty, he intimated to some of the gentlemen connected
with the royal household his desire to relinquish all
claim to the animal, and expressed a hope that her Ma-
jesty would permit him to make a present of it, but this
was declined. During the day the greatest bustle pre-
vailed in the removal to their various quarters of the
animals purchased, as also the implements exhibited at
the bazaar during the show. Most of the unsold animals
were removed at an early hour, in order to be at the
great annual Smithfield cattle-market, and last evening
there were but two or three oxen and a few sheep re-
maining at the bazaar.
SUNDERLAND, DEC. 12.—A great many light ves-
sels have arrived at this port since the close of last week,
and from the prevalence of east winds and a heavy sea on
the bar, no laden vessels have this week got to sea., so
that the harbour is blocked up with ships, and consider-
able difficulty is felt in moving the craft to the places
where they are wanted to take their cargoes. Till the
laden vessels can get out to sea, business will, in the coal
trade, be at a stand-still. Coal freights may be considered
stationary at present at from 9s. to 9s. 6d. per ton to
London, and proportionately to other ports.
THE WEST-END INSTITUTION FOR RELIEF OP Tll
HONSELESS Poon.—Yesterday evening the above esta-
blishment, which is founied for the reception of about
200 individuals, and which is situated tit 60, Market-
street, Edgware-road, was opened. hundreds of wretched
applicants were in waiting, and after the necessary exa-
mination was gone through, the asylum was completely
filled. The asylum has been established upwards of six
years, during which time 110,000 pertons have been
relieved with a supper of bread and a pint arid a half of
beef soup, a comfortable bed, and breakfast of bread and
milk. Soap and hot water are plentifully supplied to
cleanse their persons and clothing, which has hitherto
proved a sufficient antidote to infection and disease, no
case having occurred since the establishment of the in.
stitution.

SURREY SPECIAL SESSlONS.—Yesterday a Special
sessions was held at the Court-house, St. Mary-New-
ington, under the Metropolitan Building Act, at which
Mr. Puckle, the Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, pre-
sided, in order to elect a surveyor under the new Build-
ing Act, for the district of Rotherhithe, Bermondsey,
aNd the hamlet Itatcham. The Court was very nume-
rously attended by the magistracy, there being upwards
of forty-seven magistrates present. Mr. Onslow, the.
deputy clerk of the peace, read the minutes calling a
special court, and stated to the magistrates that there
were only two candidates who would go to. the poll. The
justices present having been furnished with voting
papers, the election commenced; at the conclusion of
which there appeared—For Mr. Allen, 27 votes; for
Mr. Clatton, 11.3. The Chairman (Mr. Puckle) then de-
clared the election to have fallen on Mr. Allen. The
Court then broke up,
The boy Flechner, who was so brutally treated by
the commander of the Danish brig, died at Guernsey, on
Saturday last. The commander, Mr. Hans Christian
Christensen, is committed for trial, on charge of wilful
murder.—.7erspu Tim

• LITER TURE-f2:>
. _ „ • THE BOOK OF FA ICI.V.A;n4:ZrFE.
Ci/727Z ;;Igham, difcion,
The title-page of this little work informs that
the author is a mem her of the IZoyal Household,us from
which his readers are of course to infer that his di-
.
rections on the sultjcct of the etiquette to he observed
in the drawing-room, the dining-room, and ball-room,
which he has laid dawn with sin;-lilar minuteness and
precision, are such as may be luplicitly relied ca.
How this may be we know not, but certainly some of
his directions evince much good taste and sense, while
others are clearly superfluous, and become ridiculous
by their very circumstantialness and the emphasis
with which they are given. Speaking of the art of
conversation, which is by no means so easy a one se
may be imagined, the writer observes :—" Whatever
the subject may he, it should be originated Vs l; bout
etlin.t, and descanted upon naturally ; in this respect
well-educated women are our best models, for although
their powers of reasoning may not be so strong, they
have much more of what may be termed harmony of
thought, than men, and their English, •morrovc r, is
pure." This is justly observed, but then follow soms
directions respecting dinners, not a few of which Ere
simply absurd. The volume is intersprsed with se-
veral amusing anecdotes of Court and fashionable life,
which serve to relieve the monotony, and, we may add,
the formal and pedantic nature of the subject.