The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-01-30 00:00:00

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,ILABLE ACCIDENT.—FIVE LIVES LOST. OIL
ay, the Bth instant, a most melancholy accident
place in Loch Bracadale, Isle of Skye, by which five
'ideals were suddenly deprived of life. It would.
ar that a vessel from Russia, laden with hemp and
ow, had been driven by stress of weather into Loch
cadale, where she anchored. A boat from the shore
t out to the vessel, in which were the assistant para.
I teacher, two sons and a grand-daughter of Mr.
mod, innkeeper at Struan, and a young man named
_.toner, son of the parish miller. After passing soma
time in the vessel, t" -

the same individuals, accompanied by
the captain, rowed for the shore. It is said that the boat
was a crazy fabric, and that, in consequence, one of the
planks started. by which the luckless boat was suddenly
filled, and of course sunk, instantly immersing the six
ob. nr•lrs 4-n esnel ♦t- -1- a 1.1 v .• •

deplorable circumstance happened only a small distance
from the shore, yet all met with a watery grave, except
one of the young men, 111`Leod, who succeeded in swim_
ming to the beach. It is said that all the bodies have
been found, and have been decently interred in the parish
burying-place of Bracadale.—Perth Courier.

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THE CHELTENHAM VICTIMIZERS AT BATH.—In our
paper a fortnight since we gave an account of the doings
of Mr. Cross and his so-called "sister," Mrs. Green, who
had victimised the tradesmen of Cheltenham to a con-
siderable extent by ordering goods which were never paid
for : and we have now to record the proceedings of the
same parties at Bath. Tt appears that, after their preci-
pitate; flight from Cheltenham, Mr. Cross, and Mrs.
Green, with a man servant and female cook, arrived in
Bath, and commenced " housekeeping"—that is, they
entered on possession of a ready and richly furnished
house, No. 19, Rivers-street, and began to "patronise"
various tradesmen with unsparing liberality. Tile trades-
men sent in their goods with a readiness that betokened
an anxiety for future favours. The butcher, baker, wine-
mercer, grocer, silk-mercer, coal. merchant, milkman,
and many others, all contributed to the support and com-
fort of the lady and gentleman at 19, Rivers street.
Matters went on smoothly until the proceedings of the
parties at Cheltenham got bruited about through the
Gloucestershire papers, and the suspicions of the trades-
men began to be excited. Suspicion at length amounted
to certainty ; and, after a short stay of twenty-one days,
the whole party, finding the place too hot for them, sud-
denly decamped by an early train on Monday morning ;
but not before they had been compelled to disgorge some
portion of the property. The parties were traced from.
Cheltenham to Bath, and on Tuesday a messenger from.
the County Court went down with a summons against
them, but the birds had flown.

!ATTEMPT OF A HUSBAND TO POISON HIS WIFE.—OIL
Henry Evans, a carpenter and undertaker, was

brought up before the magistrates, at Bristol, charged
with administerinc, poison to his wife, Hannah Evans.
It appeared that about' six weeks since the prisoner's wife

Parker. Two days afterwards she was seized with a vio-
lent vomiting and purging in the middle of the Eight..
Mr. Parker was sent for, and by prompt and proper atten-
tion she recovered, and at that time no suspicion of any
unfair play was excited. She was repeatedly attacked in
the same manner, howover, until she became completely
bedridden. On Sunday they had some roast pork for din-
ner, and the prisoner hav;nmr cut some slip-- it

.ices oil the joint,
was observed by a little girl who assisted in keeping the
place tidy to take the plate to a cupboard, where he sprin-
kled something over it, and then took it to his wife. The
little girl followed, and heard the prisoner's wife ask him
if he hadn't been sprinkling something over the meat, and
she asked if it was arrowroot. The prisoner replied that

some arrowroot might perhaps have got on it, but it was
not of any consequence. The little girl exclaimed, "It
can't be the arrowroot, for I put the paper of arrowroot
away myself, behind a dish." The prisoner then went
down, and the poor woman commenced eating the meat,
but finding a peculiarly disagreeable taste with it, after

one or two mouthfuls she fortunately desisted and put the
rest away. About two hours afterwards she was attacked
with a violent retching, and her suspicions having been
communicated the contents of the plate were analysed by
Mr. Herapath, when the substance sprinkled over tho
meat was found to be a corrosive salt of mercury, sold in
chemists' shops under the turtle of white precipitate. At

or woman deposed to having

been on several occasions similarly attacked, and to ob:
serving white powder at times on her meat. The prisoner
was committed.

DESTRUCTIVE EXPLOSION AND FIRE.— About three
o'clock on Tuesday afternoon last, an explosion took place
at the Gas Company's works, in Edinburgh, which almost
entirely destroyed the splendid new gasometer lately
erected in the North Back of Caningate. The gas-holder
was 100 feet in diameter, and 40 in depth, and was fortu-
nately isolated from the surrounding buildings, and encir-
cled by a wall. At the time stated, the inhabitants of the
district experienced a severe shock, as if from a convulsion
of nature, though without any great explosive noise.
The houses were shaken to their foundations, and persons
staggered. while household utensils were thrown from
their places. The glass in the windows was nearly all
demolished, and great alarm naturally prevailed. The
cause was soon ascertained, and crowds were drawn to the
spot by the appearance of a sheet of white flame arising
from the gas-holder, which told that the immense quan-
tity of gas it contained had by some means caught fire.
In another moment the whole was one sheet of flame—
the immense crowds which lined the Calton Hill, Regent
Road, and the adjoining points, from which a view of the
burning mass could be obtained, forming, as it were, an
immense amphitheatre in the distance. The fire conti-
nued to blaze with great fury until gradually, as the gas
was consumed, the gas-holder immerged in the tank
amongst the water beneath, and the conflagration was
ultimately extinguished by means of wet blankets and
coarse sacking being spread over the shattered remains of
the gas-holder. The origin of the explosion is not yet
known. The gasometer was examined ten minutes before,
by a competent person, and all seemed right. The only
conjecture which can be hazarded is that the late high
winds with which we have been visited must have strained
the pillars and framing of the structure, and thus caused a
friction of the chains and guide rope, which occasioned
the catastrophe. There were in the holder, at the time,
300,000 cubic feet of gas, and the estimated damage is
re
£2,000, but it may be more. including the damage to the
neighbouring property, and the destruction of a portion of
the surrounding wall. No one was personally injured.