The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-29 00:00:00

LOCAL NEWS

SUBSCRIPTION CONCERTS.--The second concert for the
season will take place this evening at the Theatre-Royal. It
is expected that there will be a very full house. The excel-
lence of the pr..grarinne will-ensure a delightful evening.
LIVER THEATRE.—Mrs. Waylett appeared here last even-
ing. There was a very excellent honse. Her voice is as
`-- •

fascinating as ever. We shall notice the proceedings there in
our next.

AMPHITHEATRE.—The Life of Napoleon was produced at
this theatre on Saturday. The incidents of the piece are of
the most stirring character. The dresses are new, and the
scenery has been painted expressly fur the occasion. Mr.
Gomersal's Napoleon is an admirable performance. His
making up amounts to identity. The horsemanship is very
extraordinary. Mr. Cooke's scenes in the circle are equal
to Ducrow's in his best days.

THREATENING FIRE ON BOARD OF A SHlP.—Yesterday
evening, abotft seven o'clock, whilst a number of workmen
were employed on the bottom of the ship England, belong-
ing to Mr. Duncan Gibb, and lying in the north end of the
Brunswick Graving-dock, the flames from the pitch-pots
below ignited the lower part of the starboard fore-rigging,
and the vessel became consequently in imminent danger.
The fire first ran up the foretopmast backstays, and after-
wards reached the fore-shrouds. The police-officer in watch
of the lights immediately gave the alarm, and the word being
passed, police-officer 172, Edward Smith, of the fire depart-
ment, who was at the time in Castle-street, was speedily on
the spot with a powerful engine, and, with the assistance of
some of the smaller dock-engines of the Brunswick Dock,
the conflagration was subdued in little more than half an
hour, under the able superintendence of Mr. Whitty, chief
constable, and Mr. Quick and Mr. Hewitt, superintendents,
all of whom were present—to use the words of a bystander,
"in quick sticks." The dock engines were first on the
ground, but their power of raising water to a height is not so
great as that of the fire station engines, and they were con-
sequently not so effective. The ship England is a very large
and handsome North American-built vessel, and was, we
learn, at the time, being coppered and otherwise fitted' up.
She bad no cargo on board ; but had the fire police not been
efficient, she would have fallen a prey .to the flames, and the
whole of the neighbouring shipping would have been placed
in the utmost peril. The damage is not great in amount—
probably little more than the fore backstays, and shrouds, on
the starboard side.
ALLEGED CASE OF RAPE.—Yesterday, at the office of
John Shaw Leigh, Esq. Leigh-street, a young man named
John Tobin. a earpent.r, .5,-a about 90-, -Traa charged before
Thomas Rodick, Esq., county magistrate, with the commis-
sion of a rape, in a field near Walton, on the person of
a female of 15 or 16 years of age. The evidence having been
fully investigated, the prisoner was committed to take his
trial at the next assizes.

We can, from experience, highly recommend Mr. Eggle-
ston's Vegetable Paste as a cure for the tooth-ache.—See adv.

DANCING.—The votaries of Terpsichore will perceive that
Mr. Harwood continues his instructions. Mr. Harwood is
one of the best masters in Liverpool; his style is graceful
without being showy, and such as is easily acquired, and ap-
propriate to private life.

LAWTON'S CHILISTMAS GAME PIE.—We enjoyed last
night a rich repast while partaking of a portion of the con-
tents of one of the far-famed Christmas Pies of Mr. Law-
ton, of the Rainbow Hotel. It is no exaggeration to state
that we have rarely tasted any thing so delicious. The dimen-
sions of this mammoth pie were as following :—Circumfer-
ance 75 inches, depth 9 inches, length 25 inches, and width
22:inches. It contained 1 large goose, 2 turkeys, 2 pheasants,
2 capons, 2 grouse, 2 fowls, 2 hares, I,large tongue,, 1 leg of
mutton, 1 fillet of veal, s a ham, 6 lbs. of rump steaks, 4
lbs. of force meat, 4 lbs. of butter, 6 lbs. of beef suet, and
30 lbs. of flour. It weighed 103 lbs. before baking. We
will back Lawton against all England for Christmas pies and
—milk-punch. Those of our friends who wish t o have a
truly magnificent " set out" for a Christmas party, cannot
do better than order one of Mr. Lawton's pies. By the bye,
as we have heard that his worship the Mayor is going to give
a grand winter entertainment at the Town-hall shortly, we
would suggest that a couple of these pies would look remark-
ably well on the civic table. We are glad to learn that Mr.
Lawton has already received a great number of orders for
Iris exquisite pies.

- -
DESPERATE ASSAULT AND HIGHWAY ROBBERY.—On
Wednesday night last, about seven o'clock, Mr. Joseph Led-
son, farmer, of Sephton, was returning home from Mr. Henry
Ambrose's, of Stand-park, accompanied by his.wife and a
man in the service of Ambrose, named Phelim Reynolds.
Reynolds carried a lantern, and, in crossing a field, pretended
to hear the sound of some persons approaching. Ledson,
who was somewhat in liquor, exclaimed, " Come on, lads,
let's have your company." Upon this Reynolds whistled,
and three men suddenly made their appearance. Reynolds
exchanged some words with the men, and ran off. They then
attacked Ledson, between whom and his assailants a strug-
gle ensued. Ile was thrown down, and, when down, one of
the fellows placed his foot on his neck. Mrs. Ledson, who
was endeavouring to assist her husband, here exclaimed,
" Don't kill him He has no• money! I'll give you all I
have !" She then gave the money she had in her pocket,
amounting to nearly ten pounds. The fellows had, however,
known that Ledson had a watch : this they tried to force
out of his fob ; but he stoutly resisted, and, the chain break-
ing, they made off without the watch. Ledson was severely
bruised in the struggle, and, when he reached home, was co-
vered with blood. Reynold's, Ambrose's man, was after-
wards taken into custody, on suspicion of having acted in
concert with the three robbers. He was examined, on Thurs-
day, before Charles Birch, Esq., and remanded until a sub-
sequent day.—Yesterday, Reynolds (whose name it would
appear is Patrick Conway), and three other men, James
Moon, Thomas Kearns, and Daniel Connolly, were brought
before the Rev. Mr. Formby, and Thomas Birch, Esq. county
magistrates, on suspicion of being implicated in the robbery.
Mrs. Ledson was the principal witness,' and recapitu-
lated the facts as above stated. She believed, from the
dress and accent of the parties who attacked them, that
they were Irish. Reynolds, who carried a lantern while
with them, ran off with it after the attack was made,
and was not seen for some days after wards. Squire
Wovendon, superintendent of the county police, stated
that he had received information which enabled him to
bring forward evidence to implicate the prisoner Reynolds,
if he were remanded until Wednesday. He added, that in
consequence of a description he had received from Mrs. Led-
son of the persons who had robbed her and her husband, lie
had apprehended the prisoner Patrick Conway, alias Reynolds.
He had made inquiry and found that Conway and the other
three prisoners were in the service of Mr. Garner, near the
place where the robbery was committed, and had left his
service on the evening of the 23d. The prisoners were taken
into custody late on Sunday evening. The case having been
fully investigated so far, the prisoners were remanded until
Wednesday at half-past ten o'clock.

CAUTION TO THE SERVANTS OF THE DOCK TRUST.—
Yesterday, at the Police-court, James Bamfield, a pier-
master, appeared before Mr. Rushton, to vindicate himself
from a charge of having received a sum of money from the
captain of a vessel, which vessel was placed on the grid-
iron--the inference being that the defendant had re-
ceived the same as a bribe. Mr. Askew, the Harbour-
master, was present. The defendant was permitted to
state his own case. He said, that a vessel called the
Newport was placed on the gridiron belonging to his depart-
ment ; that he had by mistake reported her as having been on
for two tides, and that she, was in fact on for three tides.
Some explanation was gone into showing the prices made by
the Dock Trust for vessels lying a certain number of tides on
the gridiron. It appeared from this that for a vessel of the
tonnage named, the charge for the two first tides was 30s ;
that the third tide was not charged if she remained on ; and that
tile charge for the fourth tide, inclusive, was £2 ss. The
pier-master said that he had been accused of receiving ss.
from the captain of the .Newport. He had, he acknow-
ledged, received that sum after a second and urgent proffer
from' the captain, when he had assisted in the mooring of his
vessel—a very sharp-built one—and also in securing her on the
gridiron. He had had no conversation or communication
with the captain as to the tide-charges ; and, he repeated,
he had reported the vessel a tide shorter by mistake alone.
The captain of the Newport was present in court, and was
about to make a statement in exculpation of his gift to the
pierhead master ; but as there was no direct testimony
against him, his intended explanation was stayed. Mr.
Rushton, addressing the pier-master, said it was contrary to
the laws end regulations of the Dock Trust for any of their
servants to receive a gratuity; that what had transpired gave
rise to an inference that something wrong had taken place ;
and that he (the pier-master) might possibly be yet proceeded
against by information for receiving the money. He then
strongly admonished the captain of the vessel on his conduct,
adding, that a repetition of it would involve him in serious
difficulties. It is but justice to state, that, in reply to Mr.
Rushton's questions, the pier-master stated that he had been
five years in the same capacity, and that he had been thirteen
years in the service of the Dock Trustees.

OPENING OP THE SOUP KITCHENS.-In consequence of
the severity of the season, a meeting of the Soup Committee
was held on Thursday, at which it was resolved to open three
public soup kitchens with as little delay as possible. We
understand that the East Soup Kitchen will be opened to-
--w. the South on Thursday, and the North Kitchen on

Monday next

FATAL ACCIDENT

About five o'clock on Saturday after-
teen years of are. attemntM to intim