The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-12-14 00:00:00

sided is situated in a garden, and the way to it is so in-
tricate, and the situation so lonely, that very few of the
inhabitants cf Bath, perhaps, have ever been to the spot ;
and, but; for this horrid occurrence, such a humble and
retired recess would have remained unnoticed except by
the occupants of some of the straggling houses in its vici-
nity. This cottage has but one floor, which is divided in-
to two apartments, the one a kitchen or sitting room, and
the other a sleeping chamber. A poor woman, named Seers,
lives in another cottage, not far from it, and was in the
habit of seeing Mrs. Ridout. In the afternoon it struck
her as remarkable that she had seen nothing of her for the
day, and she thought she would inquire how her neigh-
bour was ; but on trying to open the door she found it
locked. Mrs. Seers was then induced to look in at the
window, when the horrid spectacle presented to her eyes
was the wretched woman lying on the kitchen floor,
steeped in her blood. She immediately called the atten-
tion of another neighbour, a labourer, to the shocking
sight, who gave information to the police. Passing the
dead body of the woman, whom they found with her
throat cut, and a razor lying by her side, the next object
which met her eyes, just within the adjoining room, were
the lifeless bodies of the four children, weltering, in blood
which had flowed from the fatal wounds inflicted on their
throats. One of the murdered innocents is an infant nine
months old, and the eldest of the four is about sire years
old, deaf and dumb. A large tub was standing in the
room almost full of blood and water, and the circum-
tance suggests the probability that the wretched mother
had, on making the incisions in the necks of her unhappy
off.:nrincr_ hpla their heads over the toll as a rprpntsiplP of

the'vitarcurrent as it flowed from the wounds. 1 One a
the little victims was found with. his legs partly hanging
over the step leading to the bedroom, as if he had strug=
gled and made an ineffectual effort to get away. The per-

p-etration of the tragic deeds is supposed to h-ave been the
effect of insanity, as it is stated that the woman had been
subject to symptoms of unsoundness- of mind for some
time past.—Rath Chronicle.—The inquest on the five bo-
dies was held on Thursday. The different witnesses proved

the facts as above stated, the only additional circumstance
deposed to being that, some time aga, the unfortunate
woman, who had been for two months suffering from me-
lancholia, took her children to-the canal gide with the in-
tention of destroying them and herself,. but that their
cries, to use her own expression, " softened her heart,"

and she brought them home again ; and also-that the sur-
geon who attended her had cautioned her husband to re-
move all destructive instruments out of her way, and had
advised him to send her into an asylum for treatment.—
The Coroner having summed up, the jury, iwthe case of
the four children, returned verdicts of " Wilful murder

bouring. under such distress of mind, as it is
end in mental derangement.

ared will

TH LATE GALES

;-SHIPWRECKS AND LOSS
OF LIFE.

The East of England and Scotch papers contain lament-
able details of disasters at sea, and on the shores of the
eastern and southern coasts of Great Britain especially ;
also in lieland. caused by the-late severe gales. We enu-
merate the principal casualties :
An Italian vessel, called the Addolante, bound from the
Thames for Naples, sailed on Thursday week with a cargo
of tobacco; sugar, &c. Owing to the strong head winds,
she reached no further than Beachy-head by Saturday
night, and'there went on shore: The vessel and cargo
were entirely lost, and nearly all her crew perished. Nine
bodies had been picked up. Two of the men saved were
so exhausted by cold, fatigue, and exposure, that they are
not expected to survive. The captain was picked up in a
state of insensibility. He was not aware that he was so
near the land, and the vessel ran on a dangerous bank
called " the Boulder." Her rudder was carried away,
and she became unmanageable. The crew were all Italians.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer Erin,
Captain Russell; sailed from Southampton on Friday, the
3rd instant, for the Mediterranean, with thirty-five pas-
sengers, and returned on the Bth in a disabled state. The
weather became stormy on the day after she sailed, and
on Sunday it blew a gale from the S.W. The vessel was
run into Dartmouth ; but as it moderated, the captain
again put to sea. He had scarcely obtained a good offing
when another gale arose. On Monday a tremendous sea
rolled, and it became necessary to ly-to almost under bare
poles. At 9 P.M. Ushant Light was seen, bearing south.
At half-past rine a frightful sea broke over the ship, car-
rying away toe deck-houses and the greatest part of the
larboard paddle-box, which was floated almost entire on
the quarter-deck. At this moment the ship was literally
ingulphed ; not a bit of the bulwarks or-remaining deck-
houses was to be seen ; and although the weight of water
on board must have exceeded 100 tons, the ship (an iron
one) immediately rose. Had she not been so quick, the
seas following might have done serious mischief. There
was no resource but to put back for repairs. Fortunately
no accident occurred to the passengers or crew. The
mails and passengers for India were transferred to the
steamer always kept in reserve by the company against an
emergency.

The gales caused much havoc on the more eastern parts
of our coast, and an equal amount of mischief in the
North Sea. At times it blew a perfect hurricane from the
S. S. W., and at its height several vessels were instanta-
neously lost on the Gunfleet Sands, The City of London
steamer, from Rotterdam for London, had a very narrow
escape. She left Rotterdam on Saturday, and the same
night was thrown on her beam ends, the sea bursting
furiously over her decks. A number of cattle were washed
overboard and lost. Upwards of thirty bullocks and
sheep also died on board during the raging of the storm.
The captain, Mr. Cook, very wisely determined to run for
Harwich, and, after encountering further fearful weather,
succeeded in making the harbour.—A three-masted vessel
and a brig were seen to go down with all hands, it is sup.
posed, to the westward of that port. The crews of the
Albion and Bridgeholm were rescued, and are reported to
have been taken on to Gravesend.—The accounts from
Yarmouth, Cromer, and other places along the northern
coast, communicate a sad list of casualties. In the road-
stead off Yarmouth the shipping suffered severely. The
Concord, Mr. Clum, master, of Ramsgate, got ashore on
the Sheepwash Sands during the night, and all attempts
to save her proved fruitless. The life boat was, launched,
and by dint of the usual exertions of the Yarmouth boat-
men, rescued the crew. The unfortunate vessel was to-
tally lost, and in the course of the morning the Darling-
ton packet, belonging to Stockton, met with a similar fate
on the Scroby Sands. The captain, however, and his crew
were preserved. Every port along the coast has had to
record its losses in shipping.

On the Saturday a large ship, timber-laden, was totally
lost with all hands, on, the Godwin Sands. A quantity of
the wreck had been washed up, but nothing that could
lead to her name. On the same night the New Holland,
from Port-au-Prince, for London, was driven on the
same sands. The craw were picked up by the Tartar,
lugger. A number of vessels run into Ramsgate, with
loss of cables, anchors,-&e.
At Shoreham the gale was severely felt. On Sunday
the captain of the Diligence, of Brightonsea, descried two
vessels to have foundered in the Swin, on the south side of
the Gunfleet. Their names were not ascertained. Fur-
ther northward, on the Gunfleet, two other vessels, the
Albion and the Bridgeholm were wrecked,—both crews
saved.
At Sheerness much anxiety existed, on Tuesday last,
as to the fate of the Magnet, Rotterdam steamer, which
had not been seen or heard of since the Saturday previous.
Thames
eee, ,eefsnt
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ir.SseolTiceorlifeewwpaswusy
Dundee,
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ee preservedfai
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by the life-boat. The St. Lu.cia, al
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Montreal,
Theharbour, cr e wgs
owoftere preserved. The Scotch traders report here
many sad losses along the more northern portion of the
coast, and upwards of forty fishing vessels are missing.—
At Berwick the storm appears to have effected much mis-

chief. Three vessels Were lost in the district, namely,
John Whall, belonging to Shields ;
,the Tyne, bound to
Port Dundas ;. and the Thomas, from Seaham to Dundee.
In each instance, however, the crews are stated to have

been saved.
Much injiry has also been done, on the French coast.
The royal yacht Comte d' Eu, which went out in tow of
the Alcide steamer on Saturday night, from Havre for

Cherburg, parted from her companion during the gale,
and was lost sight of near Barfieur. The Alcide got into
Havre, and some alarm prevailed as to the fate of the
other, which, however, might possibly have put into
Cherburg.

The Francis Lawson, bargne, from America, for Bridg-

water, ran on shore on the ah, at Warren Point, east-
ward of Minehead. The sea was making a breach.right
over her. She was from Quebec.
SCOTLAND.-011 the 7th, 20 or 30 beats were more or

less damagec
Cockburn path. The Scotsman of the Bth says:=" The
wind at the outset Tas E,S.E., but it ultimately veered
round to the N.E., and in this direction it continued. At
Granton, three sloops, named the Poulton, the Ann, and
the Tontine, coal laden, from St. David's, ran ashore,
and were dashed to pieces. All the crews, however, were
saved, but some of them made very narrow escapes.
Much damage has been done to the new slip in the
course of construction,, by the Edinburgh and Northern
Railway at Granton ; and all along the shore from thence
to Trinity, considerable injury has been done to the
remaining wall, and to that part of the old road which runs
between the railway and the sea-wall. Although the
railway is far above the high water-mark, yet so heavy
was the surge that it washed completely over it, covering
it in several places, with stones and gravel. Ihe tide, we
understand, rose five or six feet beyond its usual height.
About three-fourths of 60 fishermen's boats in Newhaven
bay were wrecked. The damage is estimated at £2OOO.
Much damage was done to the harbour at Musselburgh,
and to the herring boats moored. there. A vessel was
driven ashore at Cockburn path, and it was reported that
the crews were all saved by means of Captain Manby's

wapirtsis tviaienehde.veTtherseteetveestshealst
apparatus, brought from Ltinbar.
the crew
iccrceawr
At Dundee, on the 7th, the wind rose to a hurricane.
Great damage was done all along the coast. The number
of wrecks was great, and many lives were lost.
Point a foreign barque went to and Atht
perished. Several casualties had pieces:
duasrre;danodn
tthhee
west coast of Scotland, but not to so great an extent as
dT)cen. e'Tbhocuinvdewts-aoraer- each co hpouene were fortunately
on the east.
At Berwick much injury
the John Wale, belonging
wtsoeearsiehialimodsdttsoicttihuieeu district, viz.,
saved.
Coming nearer to our C
the Amelia, from the ba of Fund '
Fundy, struck on Puffin
Island, on Friday, and afterwards
went
on to the main,
where she remains, and is likely to
wreck. She has lost her rudd become a complete
er and keel, and is,full of

water.
The Margaret Ann, for. I4iverpool, from Newfoundland,
has put into Holyhead, with loss of boats, bulwarks, and
sails. She shipped a sea whieh fille4 10r cabins, and
da►uaged her cargo,