The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-18 00:00:00

TIIE METROPOLITAN PRISONS.

The visiting justices' reports of the state of the
Middlesex prisons were brought up and ordered to be
received, after a long conversation. By these docu-
ments it appeared that the number of persons in the
House of Correction was 1,011, of whom 252 were
females; and of this large number only three were
in the infirmary. In the New Prison there were 149,
of whom 47 were females ; and in the-Westminster
Bridewell the number of prisoners was 450, of whom
149 were females.

The deputy clerk of the peace read a memorial
from the vestry of St. Marylebone, complaining of
the increase in the county rate, owing to the expense
of maintaining those estal•lishments, aril praying that
means would be adopted by a reduction in the sala-
ries of the various officers, and otherwise, to lessen
the tax.

After the declaration of a county-rate of one
halfpenny in the pound, and the transaction of some
other routine business, the Court broke up shortly
after six o'clock.

DREADFUL CONFLAGRATION AT

BLACKWALL.

Yesterday morning, at half-past three, a dreadful fire
broke out at Blackwell, in the bar of the Britannia
Tavern, and spread with rapidity. The A, B, and 1)
engines of the brigade, the West of England, as also
County Fire Office, West India Dock, parish, &c., were
soon brought to bear on the flames, but every exertion
on the part of the firemen was useless, and very speedily
the India House Tavern also shared the same fate
From thence the flames reached the Plough, the Arti-
choke, King's Arms, and George taverns, and by six
o'clock a most dreadful ravage had been the consequence.
Water was well supplied to the firemen, and they, with
numerous auxiliaries, kept continually throwing copious
streams on the burning mass, but not any impression
could be made till property to the amount of at least
10,0001. had been destroyed. By ten o'clock the destruc-
tion was at an end, when an examination took place as
to the origin of the fire, the loss of property, and names
of persons interested in the dreadful calamity. The fol-
lowing may be relied on as correct :
Britannia Tavern—All destroyed. Insured in the
Phoenix Fire-office.

India House Tavern—Completely consumed. Insurell
in the Hand-in-Hand-office.

Plough Tavern—Roof, &c., destroyed. Insured in the
Licensed Victnallers'-office.

Artichoke Tavern—Roof, &c., destroyed. Insured in
the Sun Firo-office.

King's Arms Tavern—Considerably damaged. The
furniture, &c., insured in the Union Fire-office.

George Tavern—Furniture damaged. Insured in the
Union Fire-office.

Also two private houses—Furniture damaged by re-
moval, and neither insured.

It was not known how the fire originated, and the in-
mates had several narrow escapes.

LOUIS PHILIPPE'S JOURNEY TO DOVLR BY THE
DOVER RAILWAY.—It gives us extreme pleasure in
being able to state, that his Majesty the King of the
French has, through Colonel Wemyss, conveyed to the
officers of the Dover Company an expression of his ex-
treme approval of the manner in which the arrange-
ments for his transit had, from first to last, been con-
ducted. His Majesty expressed much regret at the fire
which was raging at New-cross on his arrival, inquired
anxiously as to whether the Company were insured,
and finaing they were, evinced much pleasure. Tee
journey occupied 2i hours, and his Majesty bore it, from
the known smoothness of the line, with apparently little
fatigue.— Times.
ATTEMPT TO UPSET A RAILWAY TRAIN.—At
Durham, on Monday, William Atkinson, a young man
of respectable exterior, was charged with having ob-
structed certain carriages on the Durham and Sunder-
land Railway, and thereby endangered the lives of the
passengers. It appeared that on the 4th of August, as
the passenger tram in the evening, from Hartlepool to
Sunderland, was proceeding down Seaton-bank—a steep
incline, two miles and a half in length—the conductor
observed something lying across the rails. He applied
the break, and this obstruction (which proved to be a
bunch of railway keys) was safely passed over. Further
along the line two similar obstructions were met with ;
in one case two keys had been placed in an upright posi-
tion between the rails, and had not these been removed
by the guard, who leaped from the train, there can be
no doubt the carriages would have been thrown over
on the incline, and many lives sacrificed. Near where
the last obstruction took place, Atkinson was seen
running along the line, and afterwards leaping over
a hedge. He was pursued by the guard, and when
he came up to him and asked what he was doing
there, Atkinson replied he was going to take a sleep
He was removed to Sunderland. No other person was
seen on the line, or near it, for the entire distance from
Seaton to Sunderland. No motive could be assigned for
the commission of such a heinous offence by the prisoner,
or indeed any other person. It appeared that he had
been compelled to leave the carriage at the junction
which is near Seaton, when he wanted to be at Sunder-
land, in consequence of having only taken a ticket to
that place, and also that the servants of the company re-
fused to allow him to travel to Sunderland on the coal
waggons after the train had left; both these circum-
stances seemed greatly to annoy him, but no threatening
language was used by him. His counsel, Mr. Grainger,
commented on the absence of motive for the commission
of such an appalling crime, and suggested that it must
have been perpetrated by some discarded servant who
harboured feelings of revenge against the proprietors.
It was elicited in the course of the investigation that
railway keys are laid about so loosely that any person
may easily obtain them for the purpose of overthrowing
trains, and also that the line is not watched by police-
men, at least only a small portion of it. The jury re-
turned a verdict of Not Guilty.
INTERMITTENT FEVERS.-Dr. Crawford states that
intermittent and remittent fevers are extremely prevalent
in Upper Canada, whilst they are very rare in the lower
division of the province. An extraordinary exemption
from this class of fevers is also observable in Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick. At Annapolis, Windsor,
and Fort Cumberland, in Nova Scotia, which are situated
at the embouchures of rivers, daily exposed to exten-
sive inundations by the rise of the tide, where the banks
for several miles exhibit a combination of mud, marsh,
and decayed vegetation, so generally considered
a prolific source of this class of febrile diseases—inter-
mittents and remittents are extremely rare ; and at
Frederictown, in New Brunswick, situated on the marshy
banks of a river, surrounded by a dense wood and luxu-
riant vegetation, these diseases are scarcely ever met
with ; proving that, although, on some occasions, cir-
cumstances of this nature may favour the development
of this disease, its prevalence or existence is by no means
a necessary consequence or concomitant ; while, on the
other hand, this class of diseases has been very preva-
lent at Gibraltar, the lonian Islands, and Bermuda,
countries which are destitute of marsh, and compara-
tively barren of vegetation.—Medical Times.
On Wednesday the Earl of Chichester held his
half-yearly audit at Stammer Park. About forty of the
tenants sat down to a handsome repast, his Lordship pre-
siding over them with the kindness and affability for
which the Noble Earl is proverbial. Next evening the
cottagers and those holding allotments in the parishes of
Stanmer and Falmer, to the number of seventy, also
attended their audit, a substantial hot supper, flanked
by a plentiful supply of good October ale, being provided
for them. After supper his Lordship addressed his
humble but happy guests, and presented many of them
with various premiums for keeping their cottages and
allotments in good order.—Sussex Advertiser.

SHERIFFS COURT.—Yesterday, proclamation- was
made in the usual manner by Kemp, the officer, and the
following persons not answering to their names, were
declared outlaws:—Thomas Reade Kemp, at the suit of
Sir William Pilkington, Bart.; John Charles Trevanion,
at the suit of. Jacob Connop ; George Clarke, at the suit
of Joseph Ivimy; Thomas De la Hay, at the suit of
William Graham; Thomas K. Channell, at the suit of
J. Wilkinson; William Pyne, at the suit of J. C:a.lcptt ;
Sarah Grcgson, at the suit of William Wood ;
lliam
Francis Ellerby, at the suit of Nathaniel Daniel; George
Boker, at the suit of William Tombleton ; Thomas
Hawkes, at the suit of William Adams ; E. B. Lake:, at.
the suit of Joseph Smith ; George Croke, at the. suit 9f
E. J. Hill ; John Croko (clerk),
at the same suit.;
.Sir
John Scott Lillie, at the suit of E. J. Hill ;
am
Pyne and William Learmouth, at the suit of C. Lewis ;
and C. Wing, at the suit of the same plaintiff.
UNPARALLELED 7N TIIE WEST.—Yesterday after-
noon, during the storm which arose about one o'clock,
large flakes of snow fell at intervals. Let it be .remem-
bered that it snowed, ol the 27th day of August, 1844--
a thing which has reier happened in this city before
during the summer a oaths, at least it is unknown to the
oldest inhabitants.--Cincinnati Times, Aug. 28.