The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-06-20 00:00:00

GENERAL LITELLICrENCE.

Two Tue.DESMEN have been prosecuted in Cheltenham
on a charge of using threatening language towards the local
correspondent of the Morning Post, because he had been
"running down the town, and the Cheltenham Great
Exhibition. " One of them was bound over to keep the
peace towards the complainant.
FRENCH MILIC.—Our French neighbours have extended
their system of surveillance to a censorship of milk. All
the milk sent up for the consumption of the capital under-
goes a rigorous examination at the railway stations and
also at the shops of the retail dealers : and thirteen farm-
ers have just been condemned to fines of 100 f. and under,
and one to eight days' imprisonment, for sending milk
mixed with water.
Homn DIGGINGS.--The Essex Standard gives an ac-
count of diggings at home. It seems that on the shore of
East Suffolk, between Bawdsey and Boyton, veins of
coprolite have lately been discovered—a valuable mineral
used in the manufacture of various fine ware, and the re-
fuse as manure. Gangs of 20 and 25 men, women, and
children, are daily working at these diggings; in one cot-
tager's garden £2O worth of the mineral has been obtained,
and hundreds of tons are being shipped. The veins also
bring to light interesting geological remains, there hav-
ing been turned up, it is said, relics of enormous and ex-
tinct species of fish, animals, and shell.
THE TABLES TURNED.—A coalheaver of more than
common command of temper was John Little, who
prosecuted his wife for assault at the Thames Police-court
on Thursday. When he was coming home from work the
previous evening his wife met him in the street, spat in
his face, and struck him on the eye, saying, with a know-
ing appreciation of the state of the law, I'll make you
hit me; and then I'll give you six months for it." The
coalheaver, however, was not to be provoked into hit-
ting her, but took out a summons for assault, and the
woman was in consequence sent to prison for two
months.
THE RAMAZIN.—A letter from Constantinople of Ist
June says :—"The day which began on Friday last at sun-
set was the first of the Ramazan. On a lofty hill of the
Asiatic shore a mounted Tartar stood looking to the west.
As the thin pale crescent of the new moon came out amid
the twilight he set spurs to his horse and rode into Scutari
at full speed. The shore was reached, where stood a
soldier with lighted match by a loaded gun. The report
thundered out, sent back a hundred times by the
wonderful echo which is formed by the winding shores of
the Bosphorus. Scarcely had it died away when every
fort along either cliff answered with a single.gun. Here
the flash was a blaze of light, and the report sharp and
loud; further on two or three together lighted up the
rocks and mingled their roar, multiplied by echo until it
died away in the distance like thunder, and, last of all,
from the Cyanemn rocks, which guard the entrance of the
Black Sea, a slight glimmer arose, and long after a faint
sound came down upon the wind. Thus commenced the
Ramazan of the year of the Hegira 1270, and for a month
European visitors will be witnesses of the most ancient
and best observed of Eastern ceremonies."
ANOTHER MIRACLE.—The Malta Ordine reports
another miraculous picture of the Virgin in the Church of
the Minor Conventualists, at Civita Vecchia. Two children
praying before it were the first to make the discovery that
the Madonna moved her eyes, a prodigy since certified by
members of every class and age, including painters and
anatomists, summoned specially for inspection. The con-
sequence is, that the chapel has become a most devout
sanctuary. " Immediately after the first announcement,"
writes the narrator in the Ordine, "the chapel was filled
with people, the picture was removed from the wall and
placed on the altar, candles were lighted, prayers were
loudly vociferated, and the holy Virgin repeated the pro-
digy, and moved her divine eyes, although not all present
had the consolation to observe the movement. This was
the commencement of the affecting prodigy. The most
holy mother has continued to move her eyes, sometimes
towards one, sometimes towards another, and sometimes
towards many together, and still continues to do so up to
the present day .(18th May). The most frequent move-
ment of the holy eyes is to look up and look down, but
very often she moves them horizontally, or directs them
towards the bystanders."
A Paonicky.—There is at present attending the Hast-
ings school, Darvel, in Ayrshire, a girl aged between eight
and nine years, who commenced the study of arithmetic
less than a twelvemonth ago. Such are the powers of her
memory, that she is now able to calculate mentally, in a
few moments, such questions as these :—How many
seconds in 60, 80, 90,0 r 900 years ? How many ounces in 20,
60, or 100 tons ? She can multiply such a line as £894
19s. 11d. by 32, 56, or 96, as cleverly and correctly as any
ordinary arithmetician would multiply by 4,6, or 8.
Counts in long division (simple and compound) she divides
by short division, or in one line, by such figures as 34, 56,
72, 96, &c., in eight or ten seconds. The first time her
teacher, Mr. Tarbet, discovered her remarkable abilities,
was when she was showing him sums multiplied by num-
bers from 14 to 4880, which at first he thought she must
have worked on the slate below and then transferred. He
alleged as much, which she would by no means admit.
He then, to test her, told her to multiply a line of pounds,
shillings, and pence, which he gave to her, by 72. To
his surprise, she multiplied it as fast as any other person
could have done by 7. Yet this girl never learned the
multiplication table above 12 times 12 ! She can also add
up eight or ten lines of pounds, shillings, and pence, by
first adding the two lowest lines together, then the third
lowest and so on. When performing iese calculations,
every limb and feature seem at rest. One day lately, the
teacher set the door open, and ordered the children to be
quiet, as he was going to give her the most difficult count
she had ever got. He then told her to walk out into the
garden, and find out how many moments there were in
900 years. She walked only about ten yards at an ordi-
nary pace, when she told the answer correctly—never
having reached the garden. " But," says one of the boys,
" she did a far bigger count than that yesterday, the big-
gest, they say, that ever was done by anybody, she
multiplied 123450789 by 987054321 and gave the correct
answer in less than half a minute, for the bet of a penny,"
which she refused to take—because her teacher had forbid-
den her in the presence of the scholars to calculate large
sums at the bidding of any person. On being interrogated
as to how he knew whether the answer was correct, the
boy replied that two of them had counted it on a slate,
and found it correct ; and that the figures wereso far
above hundreds of millions that none of them could read
them. The girl's name is Margaret Cleland, daughter of
Gavin Cleland, shoemaker in Darvel.—North British
Daily Mail.
FRIGHTFUL INTIMIDATION.—AIarMiIIg outrages have
recently occurred in the neighbourhood of Sheffield, in-
stigated by trade quarrels. Vengeance is vowed, threat-
ening letters are sent, and assassination attempted, by
members of the trade unions, after true Irish agrarian
fashion, against those who resist their demands. At
Lexley, three weeks ago, bottles of gunpowder were in two
instances dropped down from the tops of chimneys at
night into the fire, but exploded, happily, without causing
loss of life. At Dore, the scene of the last and most
alarming outrage, the same thing had been done a fort-
night previously.' On account of this dangerous condition
of things, Elijah Parker, a saw-grinder, at Dore, who does
not choose to succumb to the demands of the trade union,
has been obliged for a long time past t 9 fortify his house
like a castle :—His dwelling is a new house in about the
centre of the village, strongly built of stone, with doors of
church-like strength, and shutters of impregnable strength
to all the windows. A further means of defence was
about to be added, consisting of strong iron grates at the
tops of the chimneys, to prevent the dropping down of
bottles of gunpowder. He has been obliged further to
assimilate his condition to garrison life by keeping a store
of arms and ammunition in constant readiness, and to
have the assistance of a large savage dog. On the night
of Sunday se'nnight, as Parker and his wife were going to
bed, they heard a noise on the slates outside. Parker
rushed out with a double-barrelled gun in his hand, and
suspecting a design to drop an explosive bottle down his
chimney, looked up to see if any one was on the
roof. He had no sooner raised his eyes, how-
ever, than a shot was fired from a plantation op-
posite, which he received in his shoulder. Rushing
up to the plantation wall, he there detected the head of a
man, but before he could raise his gun, a second shot from
another quarter, shattered the elbow of his right arm,
and brought him to the ground powerless. His wife now
rushed out with a loaded pistol, which she fired into the
plantation as the assassins were making their retreat.
Parker's arm will, in all probability, have to be amputated.
Since the perpretation of this outrage a threatening letter
has been received by another saw grinder, warning him to
get rid of an apprentice. The head of the firm of Messrs.
T. Forth and Sons received a similar note a few days ago,
inwagrn, ienngdhtimhreatotgenetinng'd
aofpthee`
sonarattack' hue whase
i demdplloleyt-
immediately comply; accompanied by an intimation that
the access to their business premises, as well as to their
private residences, was well known to the writers. By
way of confirming this assertion, during Monday night
some person clandestinely. entered the grinding wheel and
deposited a bottle containing gunpowder under one of the
boilers, causing an explosion by means of an ignited fusee:
The explosion did no mischief; it appears that the sole
Abject was to show the proprietors of the works that they
were within the power of the aggressors."
THE MURDER of Six CHILDREN.—The coroner's
inquest on the bodies was held on Monday, last week, and
lasted several hours. The circumstances deposed have
been already detailed. The only addition is the statement
made by the woman to police inspector Biddlecombe. His
statement was as follows:—On Sunday he understood that
Mrs. Brough had inquired for him, and he went to the
house, saw her, and asked if she wanted Biddlecombe ?
She replied, " Yes I have been relating to an officer all
about it, thinking I had been talking to you." She then
said, "I should like to tell you all about it." She went
on to say, " On Friday last I was bad al Id day, ae
Mintwaned
to see Mr. Izod, and waited all day. wanted to
give me some medicine. In the evening I walked about,
and afterwards put the children to bed, and wanted to go
to sleep in a chair. That was about nine o'clock. Georgy
(meaning Georgians) kept calling me to come to bed. I
came to bed, and they kept calling to me to bring them
some barley-water, and kept calling to near twelve o'clock.
I had a candle on the chair. I went and got another, but
could not see, there was something like a cloud, and I
thought I would go down and get a knife and cut my own
throat, but could not see. I groped about in master's
room for a razor. I could not find one. At last I found
his key, and then his razor. I went to Georgy and cut
her first. I did not look at her. I then came to Carry,
and cut her. Then to Henry. He said Pont' mother.'
I said I must,' and did cut him. Then I went to Bill.
He was fast asleep. I turned him over. He never woke.
I served him the same. I nearly tumbled into this room.
The two children here, Harriet and George, were awake.
They made no resistance at all. Harriet struggled very
much and gurgled. I then laid down, and did myself. I
cannot state what occurred for some tine after that nasty
as I
found myself weak and lying on the floor. That
rg
ps toys t
iaound,
thlefnell.
inl awsasittitn grgeeta
tthaen,dvebtlearchek cttloleu
acinwdasdragnokne.
I wanted to call, but could not speak. I went to
to the win-
thing out to call attention. I went to
got up, and saw the children, and it all came me .n
agal. .
dow, and put some
bed and remained there till the bell rung. They made
such a noise, I crawled on my hands and knees, but could
not make him hear. It was Henry Watson. I went to
unbolt the door. There was only one bolt fastened, and
that I undid. That is all I know, they can tell the, rest.
It was not quite daylight when I put the signal out. It is
officer ; if I have he can toll your'no Jury returned. 4
possible I might have said something more to the other
verdict of " Wilful. 4urag.k:'