The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-09 00:00:00

WORSHIP-STREET.

George Brown, a journeyman shoemaker, was charged be-
fore Mr. Broughton with having violently assaulted Catherine
Blit,:h, a young woman, of respectable appearance, aged 17 ;
and a young man named John Tillyer, was charged with having
resisted the police, and attempted to rescue the prisoner from
custody.
No fewer than thirteen witnesses were examined in support
of the charge, of whose evidence the following is a short ab-
stract :—lt appeared that, about six o'clock on Saturday even-
ing the complainant was passing Whitecross-street, when she
was accosted- by the prisoner Brown; who asked her what she
meant by having called him "a Newgate thief," and spread
other reports that were prejudicial to his character. She felt
much surprised at such an accusation, and assured him that he
laboured under a great mistake, as she knew nothing whatever
respecting him; but, notwithstanding her denial, the pri-
soner immediately struck her a violent blew on the
face, which cut open her lip and caused a stream of
blood to flow from it. The prisoner afterwards struck
her a severe blow under the eye, and was proceeding to further
acts of violence, when a tradesman, named Cockley, who wit-
nessed the outrage, prevented him from doing so, and inarne-
diafely dispatched his errand boy in search of a policeman.
After abusing him in gross language for his humane interven-
tion the prisoner made off before the arrival of the officer, but
some hours after the complainant hal pened to meet him in an
adjoining street end gave him into custody. 'The policeman,
however, had no sooner taken the charge than he was knocked
down by a fellow named Dillon, who was in company with the
prisoner, and the latter a second time effected his escape, but
he was afterwards recaptured in one of the low courts of the
neighbourhood, and was conveyed, after a desperate resistance,
to the station-house. It required six policemen to secure his
caption, an immense mob having assembled, who made repeated
efforts to rescue him from custody.
The prisoner Tillyer having been observed to take an active
part in the resistance that was offered to the police, he was also
apprehended and included in the charge.
On behalf of the prisoner Tillyer two respectable tradesmen
came forward, who expressed themselves confident that the
policemen had mistaken him for some other person, as he was
utterly incapable of the outrageous acts that were attributed to
him.

Mr. BROUGHTON said that the offence with which Tillyer
was charged was one of a most serious nature, but be felt some
difficulty in deciding upon it after the excellent character he
had received, and he should therefore require him to find bail
to answer it at the sessions. The prisoner Brown stood on a
very different footing, it having been placed beyond doubt that
he had committed a most brutal and cowardly assault on a de-
cent young woman, who had not given him the slightest pro-
vocation and he should therefore fine him 505., or commit him,
in default, for two months to the House of Correction.

ERUPTION OP MOUNT. ETNA.—Accounts from Pa-
lermo, of the 9th ult., state that the eruption of Mount Etna
at that period was considered to have come to its termination.
For the fortnight previously the old crater continued to send
forth hot ashes, smoke, sand, and lava. The latter
had continued to flow, but had turned aside from the
direction of Bronte, which was deemed out of clinger. The
lands of Basiliani are half covered over, and it is thought
that the lava will go as far as Gripito. 'lite whole distance
it has run over is about ten miles, it having gone across the
public road in a stream 60 feet wide. On.the 24th November
a second crater opened near Coriano, front which a fresh
stream of lava flowed towards Cartiera. It continued to ad-
vance in the same diree;ion up to the day when the accounts
left, making its passagc'by a frightful accident, which occa-
sioned a considerable lois of life. Not tar from Cartiera the
laVa collected in a low spot, where a quantity of water was
Ivirog. As it continues! to form a smoking mass, a number of
spectators came from various points to kok at the unusual
spectacle. A number cf workmen were also employed in cut-
ting down the trees near the spot. All at once a loud explo-
sion was heard, from the steam produced by the lava acting
on the water, and the superincumbent mass was thrown around
in all directions with great violence. Upwards of sixty per-
sons were killed or severely burnt by the burning. steam and
pieces of red-hot lava, some of them at a distance of 159
metres. The horses and mules which had brought the crowd
there were also much injured, and the seems iz described as an
exceedingly lamentable one. The exact number of persons
killed is not stated,

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