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

ST. BEES.

My dear Friends,—Allow me briefly and most inadequately
to return my grateful tha ks for the unexpected memorial,
with which you have honoured my connection with St. Bees
College ; and for the most obliging and fr.endly letter with
which it was accompanied. It is impossible not greatly to ad-
mire and appri ciate the beauty of the gift, and the Pfllctionate
tone expressed by the givers. Each is remarkable for its worth
—the one for cos.tiness of material, and elegance of execution ;
the other for its goodness, and kindliness of feeling. I deeply
and painfully know that both are very undeserved. My part in
the affairs of the College has been tar below its importance and
requirement ; but I should be thankfu to have been thought
not entirely useless among you. The zealous and able labours
of the Vice-Prircipal and the Lecturers, to eti er with the spirit
of love, which has been your own impulse and go'cle throughout
your College course, have left me only to fall back, with touch
respect and retard, upon both : and in this estimate I would
Alike include the clear friends who have lett, and those who yet
rema'n among us. Pray he good enough to accept the assn.
ranee of my deep obligatHn to your uniform kindness, and my
earnest hope that your individual happiness m y be linked by
God in gracious union with your abundant usetulness as Mi-
nisters or his holy Church That you may abundantly receive
the presence and blessing of God, and radiate around you the
good things which Ile bestows upon yourselves, is the sincere
desire of,
My dear Friends.

Your much obliged and affectionate
R. P. BUDDICOM.

St. Becs, 77th February, :845

TIIE POISONING CASE AT WEST DERBY.

On Wednesday. the inquest on the bodies of the family
earned Gilton, at 'West Derby. who were poisoned from
drinking water from a well, was resumed. The Rev. Mr.
Gilton and Master Gilton were again in attendance.
Thomas Crosby deposed that he was authorized, on
Monday, to make a strict examination of the draM. lie
first caused the main drain to be bared about five feet
from the surface ; and on taking off the covering-stone he
found that the drain had fallen in, and in consequence the
water was held up. He found another drain which he
traced to the dwelling-house, through the colour-imuse,
and within a yard and a half of the well. This he caused
to be filled with water from the uutnp in the back kitchen.
He then caused it to le stuffed with clay to see how it
made its way, and he found it ma 'e its way into the well.
lie, that winning, examit.ed the dra'n, and found it per-
fectly dry. From the examination he inade, he was satis-
fied that part of the contents poured into the drain would
make its way into the well. There did not appear to be
any removal of the pumps or pump leads for a consider-
able period.
Peer Palin, of West Derby, corroborated the witness
as to the water from the colours passing into the drain.
The coroner then briefly summed up. tie said it must
be satisfactory to all parties to know that the unfortunate
calamity had been produced by causes purely accidental.
The jury found a verdict to the effect, that the de-
ceased, John, Jane, and Margaret Gilton, had died in
consequence of having, on or about the 7th instant, drank
a quantity of water from a well on the premises, which
well was, accidentally, casually, and by misfortune, im-
pregnated with a solution of arsenic, the said solution
having oozed into the well from a certain drain contiguous
thereto, and attached to the colour or chemical works be-
longing to the family of the late Mrs. Gilton.
A juryman inquired whether it was the coroner's in-
tention to give any instructions as to how the works
should be conducted fat the future, or as to how the water
in the well should be kept pure.
The coroner replied that he had it in his power to order
the well to be stopped up. He believed, however, that it
was the intention of the surviving members of the family
to stop it up witlyiut delay.
The Rev. Mr. Gilton observed that the whole of the
domestic affairs of the family were in his hands at present,
and that it was his intention to take care that the water
front the well was never used again, except it was for the
business carried on in the colour house. The surviving
members would not occupy the premises very long—in
fact no longer than they could procure land elsewhere on
which to erect a suitable factory.
The jury wt re then discharged.
The bodies of the five sufferers by this most melancholy
accident are now deposited in the family vault at the Ne-
cropolis, Low-hill. The mother and youngest son were
buried at the time their deaths occurred. The other
son and two daughters were borne to the grave on Tues-
day in a hearse.
They were followed in a mourning coach by their only
surviving brother and the Ray. Mr. Gliton.