The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-03-10 00:00:00

IN'QUESTS.

SUDDEN DEATH. —On Friday night last, Michael
Mooney, a child five months' old, residing with his pa-
rents in Collingwood-street, was put to bed quite well,
and the following morning was, found dead. Mr. G. C.
Smith, surgeon, made a post mortem examination of the
body, and ascertained that death ensued from congestion
of the lungs, but how set up he could not say. Verdict
accordingly.
CHARGE •01' MANSLAUGHTER.—Yesterday, an investi-
gation took place before the coroner into the circum-
stances touching the death of Chas. M'Caul, who was
supposed to have died from injuries received in conse-
quenre of ablow given him by a young man, a sailor,
named• John Jenks. It appeared from the evidence that
on Wednesday week deceased and Jenks (who was placed
'in custody) were drinking together in a public-house,
"The Lady of'the Lake," in Richmond.row,when a quar-
rel arose, and they went out into the street. The dispute
was continued, and shortly afterwards Jenk was observed
to give the deceased a kick, or, as some of the witnesses
stated, to push him with his hand and at the same time
trip up his heels, when he fell down on the footwalk, and
his bead coming in contact with the pavement, produced
a fracture of the skull He was taken home and attended
by a surgeon, but died a few days afterwards. Both
parties were in liquor. It was stated by several of those
who witnessed the• occurrence. that the prisoner had not
istended any injury to the deceased, but struck him more
in the way of joke than otherwise : also that he was on
friendly terms with deceased, and had no occasion to
lay hands .upon him. A good deal of further evidence
was gone into, and Inspector Moore said that when be
apprehended the prisoner, the latter, after being cautioned,
admitted that, though he had not struck or wounded the
deceased, he had given a push. This witness, it appeared
from his own testimony, had questioned the prisoner as
to his haying been with the deceased, &c., and the coroner
remarked that this was improper, and that a confession
thus obtained would not stand good in the event of the
prisoner being sent for trial for manslaughter. Mr. Cal-
lon, surgeon, made a post mortem examination, and de-
scribed the injuries, which were more likely to be pro-
duced by a fall than a blow, and which had caused death.
The prisoner's mother stated that she was present at the
time; that no blow or push was given by•him, but that
deceased fell heavily in running after her, and endeavour-
ing to catch her to get her back to the public-house, and
that he fell from the parapet into the channel, with his
head falling on the lower part of the acclivity. She added
that her son had but shortly come from aea,and that his legs
were to sore from scurvy that he could not have kicker'.
Two witnessessaid the prisoner was the first to pick him up.
The prisoner, in his voluntary statement, said he did not
push deceased, who fell in pursuing his mother. The
jury, inclining to the inculpatory evidence, returned a
verdict of 4' Manslaughter," and the prisoner was com-
mitted for trial.

FATAL LOUIDENT ON THE RETURN FROM THE STEEPIII
CHASE.—An inquest was held yesterday, at the house of
John Woolfall, the " Plough" public-house., before John
Reyes, Egg., county coroner, on view of the body of
Peter Harkin. Deceased was a draper and auctioneer, in
Park-lane, in this town. It appeared from the evidence
that deceased was, on Wednesday evening, in company
with two other persons, returning from theeteeple chase
at Aintree, and about six o'clock, when they had got
nearer to Liverpool than the part where a railway bridge
is in course of erection, (the road being at the time much
crowded with carriages, carts, aud.people,) the deceased
ran across the:road, with a view to get on the parapet on
the other side. Several carriages passed, going to the
town, and a two-horse coach was driving, at a trot, to
the race-course. The pole of the last caught the deceased
as he was crossing, and he fell, and the two near wheels
passed over his body, dreadfully injuring him in the in-
testines. He was carried to a house near the " Plough,"
and a surgeon was sent for, but he died in little more than
an hour after the accident.' The coach was stopped by
some persons, '.and the driver. Thomas Cain, said he was
very sorry, but bettied his best to stop his horses when
he saw deceased, but could not. Several of the witnesses
said lie endeavoured to pull them up. The jury returned
a verdict of " Accidental death, by being run over."

THE CHASE.

The CHESHIRE HOUNDS Will meet on

To-morrow (Wednesday), 10, at .
•

Thursday, 11, at ..
Saturday, 13. at.........-
Each day at half past ten.
Sin, W. W. WYNN'S HOUNDS will meet on
Thursday, 11, at Winnstay

Saturday, 13, at . • • Llanforda
Each day at half-plat ten.

COMMISSIONS BY THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF THE
COUNTY OF LANCASTER.—WiIIiam Shawe, Esq., to be
Deputy-Lieutenant; Richard Atkinson, Esq., to be De-
puty-Lieutenant ; 2d Regiment of the Duke of Lancas-
ter's Own Militia, Sir T. G. Hesketh, Bart., to be Major,
vice Hcrnby, resigned; 2nd Regiment of the Duke of
Lancaster's Own Militia, Major J. M. Ford to be Lieut.-
Colonel, vice Entwisle, resigned.
THE EASTERN DISPENSARY.—We beg to call the at-
tention of our readers to the advertisement in our columns,
announcing a meeting of the subscribers and friends of the
above institution, to be held at the parish Board-room,
Fenwick-streei, on Monday next, upon matters connected
with the paying off of the debt in which it is at present
involved. It is lamentable that, in such a town as Liver-
pool, such an institution should be suffered to fall into
difficulties; and we trust the public spirit and charitable
feelings of our merchants and tradesmen of Liverpool will
at once wipe away this stain from the character of our
town, and give to an excellent institution the means of
more extensive usefulness.
CAPABILITIES OF THE OREGON.—Referring to my
journal for particular descriptions and for sectional boun-
daries between good and bad districts, I can only say, in
general and comparative terms, that, in that branch of agri-
culture which implies the cultivation of grain and staple
crops, it would be inferior to the Atlantic states, though
many parts are superior for wheat ; while in the rearing of
flocks and herds it would claim a high place. Its grazing
capabilities'are great; and even in the indigenous grass
now there an e►ement of individual and national wealth
may be found. In fact, the valuable grasses begin
within one hundred and fifty miles of the Missouri fron-
tier and extend to the Pacific Ocean. East of the Rocky
Mountains it is the short curly grass on which the
buffalo delight to feed, ( whence the name of buffalo,)
and which is still good even when dry and to all appear-
ance dt ad. West of those mountains the grass is of a larger
growth, in clusters, and hence the name of bunch grass
which has a second or fall growth. Plains and mountains
both exhibit them ; and I have seen a good pasturage at
an elevation of 10,000 feet. In this spontaneous product
the trading or travelling caravans can find subsistence for
their animals; and in military operations any number of
cavalry may be moved and any number of cattle may be
driven ; and thus men and horses be supported on long
expeditions, and even in winter in the sheltered situations.
Commercially, the value of the Oregon country must be
great, washed as it is by the North Pacific Ocean, fronting
Asia, producing many of the elements of commerce, mild
and healthy in ita'climate, and becoming, as it naturally
will, a thoroughfare for the East India and China trade.
—Fremont's Exploring Expedition 19 the .Rocky Moun-
tains.

FALLING OF THE WAREHOUSE IN
MOOR-STREET.
CONCLUSION OF THE ADJOURNED INQUEST, AND PRO-
FESSIONAL EVIDENCE ON THE CAUSES OF THE
ACCIDENT.

Yesterday, the adjourned inquest touching the death of
Peter Lancey, who was killed by the falling of Mr. Tip--
ping's warehouse in Moore-street and Old Ropery, on the
31st January, and which had twice ;been adjourned, (on
the last occasion from the 23d of last mouth) was resumed
before the Borough Coroner ; and as the inquiry chiefly
involved the important question of the cause of the falling
of the building—whether from defects, or from its being
overloaded—a great number of witnesses, and a still more
numerous auditory were present. Mr. Lowndes, solici-
tor, again rppeared on behalf of Mr. Tipping • and Mr.
North, solicitor, for Messrs. Wm. Steele and do.
John Brett, warehouseman to Mr. John Tipping, was
first called. He bad been with him for 13 years. He had
been in the warehouse that fell very often. Mr. Tipping
rented rooms 5 and 6 from Mr. Deane. Room 5 con-
tained barley in bulk. There were 2011 sacks in it, ex-
tended over the floor. The pressure was about 13 cwt.
per square yard. He would put more in a loser room
than an upper one. He considered 13 cwt. a proper
weight for No. 5, but in No. 1 he would put 14 cwt. per
yard, and the same in Nos. 2,3, and 4. He would be
afraid to put that weight into No. 5. Room No. 6 con-
tained barley also. It contained 1811 sacks in bu k--pres-
sure 11 or 12 cwt. on the square yard. He thought 12
cwt. not too much for No. 6. He did not consider there
was any danger. There was a passage between the ware-
house that fell and the one on the west side of it, which
ran up about half-way. The barley in No. 6 weighed
about 170 tons.

By Mr. North.—No. 6 was not quite full. In No. 5
the height of the barley was 16 or 17 bricks. He made
his calculation by guess. The number of bricks high is
the usual way of regulating the stowage of grain. He
calculated from the weight-book (produced) which was
kept at the office, and had no other knowledge of them.
If he stowed the room 17 brick high with barley, he would
not have stowed wheat more than 13 bricks high. It was
usually stowed 12 or 13 bricks, seldom higher than 14, and
that in a new warehouse. -

By Mr. Lowndes.—The whole of the quantities taken in
are kept at the Custom-house.
Arthur Murphy, a weigher in Mr. Tipping's employ,
took 291 sacks of barley into No. 5, on 13th January.
Each sack was weighed as taken in, and entered in the
book produced. Into room No. 6he took the same day
1811 sacks, and entered the weights.
Christopher Monk, weigher in Mr. Steele's employ,
said that there were pease and wheat in room No. 7-
1103 sacks of pease, put in bulk, but 70 sacks were deli-
vered out before the accident. The weight of the pease
left was about3,oo2 cwt, 1 quarter. The wheat (713 sacks),
also placed in bulk, in the same room, weighed 1535 cwt.
The total weight of the whole in the room, 4,537 cwt. It
was not in a state to tell hew many bricks high it reeched.
It did not reach to the beams above. A greater quantity
of wheat might he placed in the centre of the room, rising
towards the ridge of the roof. The area of the room was
about 309 square yards, and the pressure about 14i cwt.
on the equare yard. He had been engaged in stowing
goods in warehouses 16 or 17 years. If employed to fill
the whole rooms in the warehouse in question, he would
put a ton to 23 cwt. in room No. 1. He was not aware
of anything wrong with the warehouse to prevent his do-
ing so there. He would reduce the weight in each suc-
cessive room to the top. He considered that if the pease
and wheat in N 0.7, had been left as he left them and not le-
velled, there might be danger of something breaking down,
but none if they had been levelled. It was Mr. Steele's
duty to level them. The pease were worth about 17s. a
sack. The wheat was worth about 235. a sack.—By a ju-
ry an.—The pease were mostly at the south end of the
room. By Mr. Lowndes.—He saw it first on the 17th
January. The levelling had commenced when he was
last there. There was space left in No. 7to take in a load
or two more in the gar ga•ay between the pease and wheat.
There was space to raise the whole higher by about a yard,
below the beams. The' entire weight in the room was
about 226 tons 17 cwt. If an old warehouse such as that
betrayed no symptoms of weakness, that weight might, be
thought at the time, be put into the top room with safety.
If the same warehouse were still standing he would not
hesitate to put the same weight into it. The relative
weight on the square yard guided him as to the weight and
the measurement of the contents of the floor also.

Mr. John Leah, out-door superintendent to Messrs.
Steele and Co.—He took the room No. 7 for them from
Mr. Dean, for 2,200 to 2,300 sacks of beans and wheat.
Mr. Dean's man told him the room would hold just this
quantity, but that quantity was not put in ; but less by
300 sacks, sold in the interim. He thought the quantity
put in reasonable, and less than he considered the room
able to bear. He had had thirty years' experience in
stowing warehouses. In room No. 5, occupied by Mr.
Tipping, after the warehouse fell, be saw the barley on the
part of the floor left, and it was heavier than our stow-
age. It was aboitt 16 cwt. 3 qrs. to the square yard,
taking the barley at 53 lbs. to the bushel. He founded
his calculations on the weights of the barley as given in
evidence by John Brett. Their wheat was fourteen brick
high. The weight of it was less by 2 cwt per square yard
than flour five barrels high. He ordered the wheat and
pease to be levelled as soon as the whole was taken in.
By Mr. LOUNDES.—He took the warehouse for 2,300
sacks, and received into the room 2,116 sacks. He deli-
vered 70 sacks, leaving in at the time of the accident
2,047 sacks. Pease were considerably heavier than
wheat or barley—in the ratio of 63 lbs. to 53 lbs. in bar-
ley ; and from 63 lbs., to 53 lbs', or 58 lbs. in wheat. In
his calculation of the relative weights in Mr. Tisping's
room, and Messrs: Steele's, h e calculation took their
wheat at 60 lbs.,lbs., the pease at 63 and the barley at
50 lbs. He thought the quantity in No. 7 was reasona-
ble, and less than he had computed it to hold according
to u-age. There was space for 200 sacks more. In
loading a warehouse, there was a graduated scale from
the top rooms downwards from about 16 or 17 cwt. to 30
cat. per square yard, in a good warehouse. The pease
and wheat in No. 7 would be on the square yard
equal to flour four barrels high on the square yard. Five
barrels high would be about 19 cwt. upon the square yard.
When the warehouse was taken, he considered it per-
fectly good. There was no appearance of weakness.
By Mr. NORTEI.—When witness stated that Mr. Tip.
ping's barley was seventeen bricks high, he spoke of it
according to all appearances, the original stowage being
perfectly level, and not apparently altered by the accident.
Thomas Hannah was employed, with another man, in
levelling the wheat and pease after all was taken in. The
work was completed in three or four days. It was after-
wards turned, the last time on the day before the ac-
cident. _ _ _

By Mr. LOWNDES.—There was, room up to the ridge
of No. 7 to put 1000 sacks more, not that we would have
put that quantity in.
Mr. Picton said the area of each room was, irrespective
of the staircase, about 296 to 297 square yards.
Mr. LOWNDES called Mr. Samuel Huggins, builder,
who said he had measured the warehouse. The area of
the top room, No. 7, was 294 k square yards without de-
ducting the stairs, and deducting the staircase 289 k. No.
6 and 5 the same ; No. 4 was 280. The cotton room we
2761 without deducting the stairs, and without including
them 271 1-6th. The area of the middle rooms, 4,3,
and 2, taking off tl e stairs, was 280 square yards each.
The fo lowing p: o essio a' testimony was then taken :
Mr. John Stewart, surveyor, said,—l have, both alone
and in conjnnction with others, taken a survey of the
ruins. I will not undertake to assign any individual
cause for the building falling. There are many causes, '
some stronger than others The main and probable cause
was the rottenness of the ends of the beams in the eastern
and western walls, which could not ►scovered when
the building stood, but is now m t. There were
other causes in the weakness of the tiding, especially
the nature of the foundation on which the lower series of
props rested. That also was a hidden defect, developed
only by the breaking down of the warehouse. The
western wall was weakened by flues at every ten feet, and
part of it did not abut upon the neat warehouse. I
never saw flues so put. At the time it was built it would
be considered a well-timbered warehouse. I have heard
what has been stated as to the quantities in each room,
and the pressure upon the square yard. Assuming that
the quantity of wheat and other articles were equally dis-
tributed over the floors, and there was no evidence of
bulging or giving way, I should not. (judging from the
parts of the floors remaining.) consider it was overladen.
I consider the cause of the accident to have been the un-
foreseen rottenness of the ends of the beams, and the
unforeseen causes named.

By Mr. LOWNDES.—There was a difference in the
building of warehouses according to the produce they were
to receive. For instance, rooms for cotton were generally
much loftier than those for West India produce or corn.
This, as regarded cotton, arose from economy in building
and stowing, and did not refer to the pressure on the
beams. Cotton was not distressing to the timber. I would
not stow sugar as I would cotton. I cannot state from
my survey what part of the warehouse gave way first.
Many of the beams had broken in the middle; but this
might have readily been the effect of the fallen goods, &c.
The ends of the beams were reduced in size from the decay
of the timbers. The defects in the foundation were that
the stones on which the props rested at the turn of the
arches of the vaults, upon rubble-stone and rubbish with
which the arches are backed, instead of being built up
with good and solid brick-work. " Had I been called' in
the day before the warehouse fell, to give an opinion whe-
ther it was overloaded or not, I should have expected to
see some deflection in the beams or crushing of the caps of
the props into the beams, before I came to such a conclu-
sion. There is no such evidence in the part standing."
Mr. Samuel Holme said—l have heard Mr. Stewart's
evidence ; I agree with him in general. The most promi-
nent cause has been the giving way, by decay, of the ends
of some of the bottom beams. The greatest decay was in
the beam-ends of the first floor (No. 1), at the west aide.
The props (two rows) likewise stand, as stated by Mr.
Stewart, upon a very insufficient foundation of rubble and
brick-work, which form the backing of the arches ; and the
walls which divide the arches, and carry the props, are
only 18 inches thick, and each wall has two door-ways, to
pass from one vault to the other. There are six ventila-
tion flues in each side wall, carried up vertically in the
walls, and these have tended materially to weaken the
walls. I have frequently attended the clearing away of the
ruins, and the best judgment I can form of the cause of
the accident has been, that one or more of the bottom
beam-ends have crushed through decay—that a movement
has taken place of the produce in consequence ; that the
weight has acted laterally upon the west wall, which was
broken up into sections by the flues, and the weight being
thrown to the south-west corner, has carried away the
wall where it was unsupported by an adjoining building,
and taken the south front of the warehouse with it, which is
torn off vertically from the south-east corner. This is the
best judgment I can form, but it is matte! of (minion- If tt
builder had been sent to turvey the warehouse it is impos-
sible he could have discovered the floes. All the defects
which I have named were hidden ones, and could not
have been detected by any but a practical man. 1 consi-