The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-30 00:00:00

DEATH IN GREAT DESTITUTION

Yesterday, Mr. Wakley, M.P., resumed and con-
cluded the inquiry, at the Clarendon Wine Stores,
162, Oxford-street, touching the death of William
Hall, aged 43, formerly a metropolitan policeman,
but latterly a general postman at Sevenoaks, who died
on Wednesday last at No. 6, Stratford-place, an un-
tenanted mansion, of which he had the care.
The Hon. Colonel Stratford, the proprietor of
Stratford-place, Mr. Porter, one of the guardians of
the poor, and several other guardians, were present.
A surgeon of the University College, and Mr.
Clarke, surgeon of Marylebone-lane, had opened the
body, and the following is their joint evidence :—The
body of deceased was much emaciated, and showed
no marks of violence. There was a large tumour,
about the size of an orange, in the belly, communicat-
ing with the abdomenal aorta. The tumour had rup•
tured, and hemorrhage from it into the abdomen was
the cause of death. Above a pint of blood had es-
caped. The aneurism had existed a couple of years.
In the course of the examination of the widow of
deceased, she said—All I have had from the parish
was half-a-crown a month since, Mr. Faulkner, the
relieving officer, gave me an order for medicine on
Tuesday, not for food. I received an order for the
doctor to see my husband the day he died. I did
not take the order to the workhouse ; my husband
did not wish I should, as he said he would have better
advice. _ _

A Juror—flow came it that after you received the
first relief a month ago, you did not apply again ?
Witness—Because I thought we should be passed to
our parish if I did.
The CORONER—Who told you that ? Witness—l
cannot say—some one at the workhouse. I should
not know him again.
The CORONER—You would have called again at
the workhouse if something had not been said to
you ? Witness—l should, sir. The fear of being
sent home prevented me.
The CORONER—Have you had any relief since the
sitting of the inquest—have any of the officers called
on you since ? Witness, No, Sir.
The CORONER—Where is your parish ? Witness—
I was born at Sevenoaks, but I must follow my hus-
band's settlement, the parish of Sawtry, Huntingdon-
shire, where I know nobody, not even his mother,
who, I believe, is living there.
The CORONER—This is what is continually taking
place. Men go away from their place of settlement,
get married, die, and their wives, natives of other
places, are required to go back to their husband's
parishes, where they do not know a human being. If
they were sent to their own parishes they would have
a chance of receiving consolation and relief from their
relatives and early friends. To the witness—After
you got back from Mr. Faulkner with nothing but
an order for medical relief, what did you do for rood?
Witness—l tried to pawn an old shirt, but the pawn-
broker would not take it in. I then got a loaf from
Mr. Malcombe, baker, of Southmolton-street, who
has trusted me with a loaf a day for a month past,
though I never dealt with him, paying ready money
but once.

The CORONER—The baker's name ought to be
publicly mentioned. I am afraid (to the jury) you
cannot claim him as a parishioner. Have the parish
buried the body of deceased ? Ridding, the beadle—
The parish would have done so, but the family were
going to bury deceased themselves. His sister had
bought a coffin, and a subscription would defray the
other expenses.
The CORONER—PeopIe who have such feelings as
these ought to receive the most attention and respect
from the parish officers. The feeling of self-respect
ought to be encouraged in the poor by every possible
means. Nothing sustains them so much.
After a long inquiry the jury returned a verdict of
" Natural death from aneurismal disease."

In consequence of the publicity given to this case,
the following subscriptions have been sent to the
Coroner for the benefit of the widow and four orphans :
—Mr. Hudson, Chichester, ss. ; Rev. J. Bassnatt,
ss. ; Mr. Felix, Brighton, ss. ; Mr. Jones, Duke-
street, Oxford-street, ss. ; Mr. G. I. Mills, ss. ; Hon.
Colonel Stratford, 11.; Mr. Pennington, Portman-
square, 1/. ; Mr. Wakley subscribed 21., and all the
jury and Mr. Clarke, surgeon, subscribed. One of
the jury, Mr. Butcher, butcher, of 10, Orchard-street,
Portman-square, subscribed 1/., and was appointed
treasurer to receive further subscriptions, and to
manage them. Air. Hyde, landlord of the Clarendon
Stores, subscribed ss.

Tin NATIONAL GALLERY.--This exhibition was
yesterday re-opened to the public, having been closed
during the last few weeks for the purpose of examining
the various works of art contained therein, and making
the necessary repairs, &c. During the recess, all the
pictures have been either cleaned or varnished. The
late purchases, the Guido and Rubens, from the Pen-
rice collection, now appear in all their splendour. The
Francias are now seen in perfection, and no picture has
undergone a more thorough change than the "Brazen
serpent," by Rubens, which had probably never before
been cleaned from its smoke and varnish since its arrival
in England. It is now, in a manner, resuscitated, and
presents a noble specimen of the mater. The Hogarths
have been varnished, and are in the most perfect state ;
the cracks in the Wilkies have been carefully mended,
and the pictures brought out in all their beautiful effect.
The rooms have been thoroughly cleaned and repaired,
and the blinds and ventilators put in order. It is to be
feared, however, that the return of summer dust and the
breath of crowds will again obscure the brightness of
these fine paintings, and probably ere long this result
may convince the public that a larger place is necessary
for the accommodation of both pictures and spectators
than is afforded in the present building. The cleansing
of the pictures has been entrusted to Mr. Seguier and
Mr. Brown. The rooms were yesterday very much
crowded, and the improved character of the exhibition
appeared to give the greatest satisfaction to the visitors.

A WATERSPOUT.
The French papers contain the following account
of the ravages committed by a waterspout, the details
of which are contained in a letter from Cette, of the
22d instant :—A frightful misfortune has, this after-
noon, plunged our whole population into a state of
consternation and despair. About four o'clock an
electric waterspout fell upon our town, and commit-
ted such ravages, that at the present moment it might
be supposed that the town had been submitted to all
the horrors of a siege. This terrible phenomenon,
which arrived in the direction of the Fortress of St.
Pierre, skirted the mole in its whole length, and when
it came opposite the engineers' establishment, attracted
probably by the conductor and the zinc roof of the
house, it turned round the edifice, and at last fell with
violence upon it. At the same moment a violent explo-
sion was heard, and the whole population thought that
its last hour was come. During two minutes' space
of time a terrific crash resounded in the air. The roofs of
the houses were smashed to pieces and the fragments
were carried to the mostdistant part of the town. The
building belonging to the engineers has been entirely
sacked, its zinc roof was carried off in the twinkling
of an eye, and the whole façade demolished and razed
to the ground, so that nothing now remains of it but
the back and side walls. Another house, four stories
high, new and solidly built, belonging to M. Labaille,
was literally crushed to the earth. In every apart-
ment the separation walls were destroyed, the win'
dows torn out ; everywhere destructive traces have
been left. Never in the memory of man has s°
frightful a catastrophe been witnessed in our town.
Alas ! however, we have still further misfortunes to
narrate. A fearful inundation joined at the same
time its ravages to those of the electric waterspout.
In an instant the waters of the canal rose and flooded
the quays. It was a pitiable spectacle to see all the
lighters loaded with wines torn into the current,
driven one against the other, and then swallowed up
by the element. At least a dozen boats were sunk
in the canal itself, and what was the most terrible
is, that most of them had their crews on board.
Some few were able to save themselves, the others
have perished. It is supposed that nearly thirty
have been carried down with their boats. Five or s!%
large vessels have been completely wrecked, and remain
with their keels uppermost. As to the lesser injuries
clone among the masts, rigging, &c., they are innume-
rable. In the streets and on the quays are every'
where to be seen woundedwretches,some with fractured
heads, others with mutilated limbs. A body has just
been dug out of the ruins of the house belonging to
the engineers. In front of the Cafe de la Bourse,
merchant of this town, M. Francois Lavatre,
crushed beneath the ruins of a huge structure be-
longing to a party of strolling players, stationed at
the extremity of the old bridge. Persons are missing
in their families, and it is to be feared that they have
perished in this awful storm. It is impossible to give
any description of the feelings of terror produced '°
the minds of the whole population. Persons are to
be met with in every street running to and fro de
mending news of different members of their families,
and it is with fear and trembling that each asks the
other, "Is there no one destroyed in your house?
We are unable, from the lateness of the hour, to give
any further details, but those already given are exaeti
although a feeble picture of the horrors that surround
us. At this moment a violent south- east wind 16
blowing. Grant, Heaven, that we have not to give
more wretched details to-morrow.