The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-06 00:00:00

GROSS OUTRAGE.

A most violent attempt at robbery has recently been
made on the Forest, but which proved unsuccessful,
in consequence of the courage displayed by a female.
The appended are the particulars, as we have learnt
them. Last Friday evening, between six and seven
o'clock, a man dressed in a blue smockfrock,
with his face blackened, and having on a " billy-
cock" cap, called at a lone house at the top of the
Larkdale, on the Forest, occupied by a mechanic
named Bowers, and asked permission to light his pipe.
The only persons in the house at the time were Mrs.
Bowers and her child, eleven months old. The fellow
was very inquisitive; after asking a number of ques-
tions, such as " Was Mr. Bowers likely to return soon ;
was the dog in the house ?" &c., he retired. Upon
learning these particulars, Bowers told his wife in future
to lock herself in the house on those evenings on which
he was absent. She subsequently did so. On the
next (last) Monday night, about a quarter.past eight,
as Mrs. Bowers was sitting with her infant at her
breast, the house door was suddenly forced open, al-
though it had been locked, and a men rushed in who
was dressed in a similar manner to the one previously
described, except having a striped worsted cravat tied
round his head, in place of the billycock," and with
his face again blackened. The woman immediately put
her child down and grappled the fellow, who struck
her a severe blow on the head with a heavy stave ;
notwithstanding this, she still stuck to him, and had
nearly overthrown him, when an accomplice entered
the house, and taking up the infant, threw it on to the
Forest. The mother left the dastardly plunderers,
and ran to the assistance of her child. Immediately
the first man found himself at liberty, he went up
stairs, where he ransacked the drawers and boxes; as
soon as the poor woman had recovered her child, she
returned to the house, and had the door closed upon
her by the accomplice. Fearing the approach of the
husband, or the alarm of the adjacent cottagers, the
man upstairs quickly descended to the house-place,
and rejoined his companion at the door ; they both
then ran away together, down the Larkdale. When
they had arrived about half-way down, they met a
man and a boy, when they turned off through the
fields, in the direction of the cemetery, and escaped.
They were in so great a hurry to avoid detection,
that they decamped without taking away anything of
value, and leaving in the house the bludgeon with
which the poor woman was struck. We believe the
fellows have hitherto eluded detection.—Nottingham
Review.

MR. POLK THE PRESIDENT
ELECT.
(From a New York paper.)
During the last summer a variety of wandering
politicians visited Tennessee, for the purpose of casting
an anchor to windward in the affections of Mr. Polk,
and impressing upon his mind, should he be elected,
an adequate idea of their immense importance and over-
whelming influence in carrying his election. But it
seems, according to the best and most authentic accounts,
that all these politicians were quite astonished by the
cool manner in which they were received by Mr. Polk,
particularly in reference to political matters. On
science, on religion, on all ordinary topics of conver-
sation, Mr. Polk would talk with fluency and interest,
and discovered himself to be a well read, polite, and
agreeable man. But on politics—on the tariff—on
any other public question—on his views—his
policy—he was as silent and mysterious as the
grave itself. It is, therefore argued, from all
these accounts, that Mr. Polk will turn out a
much shrewder man than people have generally
imagined. He was never, it is true, regarded as a very
great man in Congress, but he always maintained his
personal dignity and position, and discovered that the
great element of his character was firmness and stead-
fast attachment to his political views and his friends.
What effect may be produced on his mind, or what
influence may be exercised by the various cliques of
the democracy, it is utterly impossible to make any
probable conjectures. No doubt there are many ready
to pounce upon him, but how they will succeed is quite
another matter.

In reference to the fashionable movements in the
White House during the next four years, the prospect
is very brilliant. The lady of Mr. Polk is quite a
good-looking woman, has a great deal of tact, and a
certain amount of that genius for society which will
doubtless give a new tone to fashionable matter in
Washington. It is a long time since the White
House was tenanted by a lady possessel of com-
manding position, talents, genius, and personal
beauty, and we should not be at all surprised if
Mrs. Polk were to restore to the White House
the brilliancy, refinement, and gaiety which dis-
tinguished it during the presidency of Mr. Madison,
when Mrs. Madison was the presiding genius. Mr.
Van Buren was a bachelor, and could not, of course,
give the tone and character and refinement of female
genius to that establishment. Mr. Tyler, with all
the disposition in the world, had not the material, ;
and, even if Mr. Clay had been selected, we doubt
whether female elegance and refinement would have
presided to such an extent in Washington as under
the auspices of Mrs. Poik. In fact, the accession of
Mr. Polk brings with it the best prospect of a com-
plete restoration of gaiety, elegance, refinement,
beauty, and fashion to society in Washington.

DAGUERREOTYPE BANK OF
ENGLAND NOTES.
A friend, who has recently returned from London,
assured me that he had discovered a simple method
of making a permanent engraving on a metallic plate,
of a Daguerreotype likeness or sketch. On making
the discovery (the nature of which he explained to
me), being then in London, his application for a pa-
tent in England was enrolled, after which, he was
compelled to specify in six months, or forfeit his right
to the discovery. When the time was nearly expired
he was seized with an hemorrhage of the lungs, which
prevented his specifying; whereupon a Frenchman
stepped in and secured a patent for a similar process.
My friend is now about securing his patent for the
United States. He showed me a finely-engraved let-
ter seal, copied by this process. from en original en-
graving made by a first-rate artist in London. He
says, that by this discovery he copied several Bank
of England notes upon metallic plates, by merely re-
flecting the light from them to the plates, as is done
in taking miniatures, and by a simple chemical process
converted them into permanent-engraved plates, and
then proceeded to take impressions from them, which
exhibited a striking and remarkably exact likeness to
the originals, even showing the waved lines in the
paper. This he did for amusement, showing this
wonderful result to his friends, and deposited them
in the museum, as objects of curiosity. He tells me
he entertains no doubt but the process is known in
France, and that the 1001. counterfeit notes offered
at the Bank of England were executed by it. So
exact were the counterfeits that the Bank actually
paid some of them, and only accidentally discovered
the second or third note by a genuine note of the
same number, letter, and date, being offered at the
same time. My friend thinks that when the plate is
once thus accurately formed, it might be made more
perfect, if necessary, by receiving slight touches from
a skilful engraver. He thinks there is not a bank bill
but what can, by skilful management, be so perfectly
counterfeited as to defy the detection of the bank
which issued it. He supposes there can be but one
probable mode of prevention, and that is, to have the
bill crossed or printed transversely, with a variety
of strong colours. Even in this case he does
not know but the difficulties might be surmounted by
ingenuity and perseverance. If this new mode of
counterfeiting has been so
.successfully practised in
France, what is to prevent the same ingenious scoun-
drels from putting their art in operation in the United
States ? Under these considerations, it may be well
for our banks to keep a close look out for counterfeit
hills of a large denomination, and devise some scheme,
if possible, to forestal or prevent such a fraudulent
operation.—New York Journal of Commerce.

parish,nigh uleasn
a worthy ploughman,
(vst
ithaAct:t.ous ESCAPE.
his way homeward with a
residing ItturiandaanY
by some chance or other lay down
" wee drap in e'e,"
A cart belonging to a
frewshire,
fast asleep.
on the road, and 1111
whip: wen
a servant man,
neighbouring farmer, attended
hap-
pened to
the road, but was suddenly
come up shortly afterwards. The night being
dark, the man saw nothing on
startled by a crash under one of the wheels, followed by
a loud roar. The horse being
stopped,
alighted, and to his great horror the driver
discovered a human
being apparently under one of the wheels. He imme-
diately bawled lustily for help, but none appearing,
he
proceeded to a n,itehbouring house, and having alarmed
the inmates, described all the horrors of the ease. Lights
being procured, the party repaired to the spot, expecting
to see nothing but the remains of a mutilated human
being, when, to their astonishment, thsy discovered
their old neighbour apparently in perfect health and
good spirits. The wheel of the cart had pulsed over his
hat, crushing it in two within half an inch of his head.
It may truly be said of this man that he was " within an
inch of his life."—Glasiow Journal.
PROJECTED NEW DOME AT BIRK.ENVEAD..--It is
be made t€
in contemplation to turn Tranmere Pool ireo a floatg
dock, and, :we understand, 'application
Parliament in the next session for powers From the
Parliamentary plan of the proposed docks, it appears
that their position will be between the two slips of
Birkenhead and Tranmere, a site which is covered with
water every tide, just the same as Wallasey Pool. It
is intended here to construet—suppose th 4 Act should
be obtained—one wet dock, the area of vhich will be
eleven acres and 1,980 yards, and also a :raving dock,
at the point nearest the Chester Old-roal. The quay
to the northward of Tranmere slip will be 100 feet
wide; and the dock will be entered by gaes of 70 feet