The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-04-24 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS:

CAMBRIDGE.—Professor Thomas Starkie, Downing
Professor of the Laws of England, expired at his lodge,
in Downing College, on Sunday evening, at the age of 68.
Professor Starkie graduated at St. John's college, and
was Senior Wrangler in 1803. He was subsequently ap-
pointed Fellow and Tutor of Catherine-hall, and in 1823
Downing Professor of Laws. In 1825 he was appointed
University Counsel. Recently he also obtained the ap-
pointment to the Judgeship of the Clerkenwell Small
Debts Court. In 1840, he contested t

he representation

of the borough of Carnbridze, in the liberal interest, but
was beaten by Sir A. Grant, by a majority of 716 to 647.
iv • 1•. .

tie is +:now❑ to literature as the author of Starkie on
Evidence, and of several other works. His death is
attributed to a general decay of nature. He has left a
Emily to mourn his loss.

THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION.—The excellent Bishop
of Ripon is now on a tour through his diocese, with a
view of rousing Churchmen to a more vigorous support
of the.Ripon Diocesan Church Building Society and the
Diocesan Board of Education. The Church Building

y £44,000 (encouraging a voluntary expendi-
y £200,000) in building 68 churches, con-
.

taining 32,120 sitting

seven-eighthsof which are virtu-
ally free to the poor; besides increasing 40 poor endow-
ment, and assisting to erect 54 parsonage-houses. Not-
aiding this good work there still remain in the
,liocese-25 parishes with only one church to every 8,000
souls ; 16 with populations between two and five thousand
in which there is no church ; and twenty districts o.
townships similarly destitute.
CHELTENHAM TRAINING COLLEGF
stone of this incritutioas wlikh waxa v

—The foundation

av last

3.reat prey

e to celebrate the event with outward show,
se were unfortunately completely frustrated by the

Ipreviously mac
but t
m

wind. The site selected for the location of the college is
on the north side of the town ; an ample space of ground
(five acres), adjoining Lady Ricketts' property (The
Elms), and with a frontage on the Swindon road, having
been presented to the committee for its erection, by Miss
Jane Cooke. If a judgment may be formed from an en-
graving in the Parish Register, there is nothing remark-
able in the exterior elevation. We have heard that the
quadrangle will be larger than any in Oxford, with one
exception. The building is designed to accommodate
a Principal, a Vice-Principal, a Training and Assistant

. •
Master, and eighty pupils; the internal arrangements
seem admirable. Mr. Daukes is the architect ; Mr.
Haines the builder. The proceedings of the morninT
began by the performance of Divine service in St. Paul's
Church,at ten o'clock. The Rev. Hugh M'Neile had
been icv;'

to preach on the occasion, and many braved
the weather to hear him. About half-past one Lord
Ashley arrived on the ground, accompanied by the Rev.
F. Close, Dr. M'Neile, and several of the local clergy, as
also by a numerous body of resident gentry and visitors.
The 100th psalm was then sung by the company, and
after three or four short prayers by the Rev. F. Close, a
silver trowel and boxwood mallet were placed in the
hands of Lord Ashley, and tho stone was then lowered
to its place.

RAILWAY

AP'FAIRS

CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAlLWAY.—Traffic for the
week ended the 14th instant:—Coaching traffic, £938 9s.
10d. ; parcels, £37 193. lid. ; goods and cattle, £279 ss.
sd. ; steam-boats, £l2l 6s. ;—total, £1377 Is. 2d., (ex-
clusive of toll from the Shrewsbury and Chester Com-
pany, and payment for the conveyance of the mails.)
MIDLAND RAILWAY MEETING.—A qpecial general meet-
ing of the proprietors of the Midland Railway was held at
the station, Derby, on Thursday afternoon. The meeting
was called in compliance with a requisition presented by
a body of shareholders residing in Liverpool, who were
anxious for the appointment of a committee of inquiry
into the state and prospects of the company's affairs. As
the meeting was expected to be numerously attended,
preparations on an extensive scale were made in one of
the large buildings at the station, for the accommodation
of the proprietors. The meeting was appointed to take
place at one o'clock, but as early as twelve the share-
holders began to assemble, and long before one o'clock
there could not be less than from 2,000 to 3,000 persons
present. Great anxiety was manifested to know whether
Mr. Hudson would attend ; but he came to Derby on
Wednesday evening, and in a letter, which Mr. Ellis read
to the meeting, resigned his situation as chairman of the
Midlands. We believe, however, that he remained at
Derby until the close of the meeting.—Mr. Ellis, deputy-
chairman of the company, took the chair, and succeeded
in conducting the business in such a way as to stave off,
for the most part, all extraneous and irritating topics;
and the meeting passed off admirably.—Mr. Bell, the
secretary, having read the notice convening the meeting,
Mr. Ellis read the letter of Mr. Hudson, tendering his
resignation, and also stated that the same had been ac-
cepted by the board of directors.—Mr. Wylie, of Liver-
pool, then proposed a resolution, that a committee of
investigation be appointed to examine into, and report
upon, the management of the company; which, being
seconded by Mr. Mozley, also of Liverpool, after some
discussion was carried unanimously, and the committee
were named.—The meeting was finally adjourned to the
31st day of May.
CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY.—We have to
notice a letter, just published, touching the " doings of
the directors" of this company, as it adds another argu-
ment in favour of an improved system of auditing rail-
way accounts. One object of the writer is to show that
shareholders are kept in ignorance of the real state of
things until fresh calls for money become necessary, and
that, as he contends is the case with this company,—the
original capital is to be mortgaged, and even sacrificed,
in favour of what are called " preference shares." Ana-
lyzing the proceedings of the directors, he states that
there has been a systematic concealment of the amount
required to complete the undertaking, and that the traffic
and receipts are utterly insufficient for making any return
on the original capital, at the same time that the directors
are assuring the shareholders that the information they
have received " tended to establish the merits of the
Chester and Holyhead Railway assn investment." The
writer combats the allegation of the directors, that the
receipts will be adequate when the line is complete, inas-
-h as " party' " He ows that

openings never pay. an dS
glity miles of the railway are open out of eighty-four,
and that the gap of four miles at the Menai Bridge is tra-
..
" If, then," adds
traffic they should, it

THE STANFIELD-HALL MURDERS.

On Tuesday the condemned convict Rush was visited
by the whole of his family of nine children. They were
accompanied by Mr. James Rush, of Wymondham,
brother of the convict, and Mr. Somes, the brother of
the late Mrs. Rush. The governor conducted them to
the cell in which the convict lies. When Mr. Pinson an-
nounced to the convict that his family had arrived, Rush
for a moment or two buried his face in his hands, and
seemed to be deeply affected. Having regained some-
what of his usual composure, he said, " Let them be ad-
mitted ;" and the next minute the whole of the nine
children were in the presence of their unhappy parent.
The scene is described as being most heartrending, both
parent and children giving way to the wildest paroxysms
of grief. They spoke little upon family affairs. The
convict, with intense earnestness, called upon God to
witness his innocence of the foul crimes imputed to
him. The interview lasted upwards of two hours,
and as it was understood that this was to be the parting
visit its close was most harrowing. Parent and children
embraced each other, and gave vent to the loudest lamen-
tations. At length the children of the unhappy man left
him, and after indulging for some mom nts in grief, he
fell upon his knees, and was engaged for a long time in
earnest prayer. A check, for £4O, has just been given
up by Rush to Mr. Pinson, the governor of the Castle,
under very curious circumstances. It will be recollected
that, in the course of the trial, Mr. John Cann, solicitor,
and clerk to the magistrates at Wymondham, produced
certain papers and books which he found at Potash Farm,

on going There after the apprehension of Rush. Amongst
these was a pocket-book which contained certain entries
relative to Rush's business, and also a few memoranda,
&c., on slips of paper. There was also a check in it
drawn in favour of Rush for £4O. Immediately on the
pocket-book being produced in court Rush asked per-
mission to inspect it, and as the judge assented, it was
immediately handed up to him. After detaining it some
few moenelts he requested that he might be allowed to
have it in his possession until the following morning.
The counsel for the prosecution objected to this, where-
upon Rush handed back the book to Mr. Cann. No ex-
amination of the book was made when it came from the
hands of the prisoner, but on the following day Mr. John
Cann discovered that the check had been abstracted.
His suspicions immediately fell upon the prisoner Rush ;
indeed, Mr. Cann felt convinced that nobody else could
haye taken it, the book, with others, having been placed
in a strong chest locked up while it remained at Mr.
Cann's house. Nothing was done in the matter until
after the close of the trial, when Mr. Pinson, the gover-
nor of the Castle, was requested to sound the convict on
the subjeCt. When Mr. Pinson first put the question to
him, Rush said, " No doubt that fellow Cann has got it ;
why don't you ask him ?—he knows all about it." Day
after day passed ; similar questions were put to the con-
vict on the subject, only, however, to elicit the same
reply, that Cann knew all about it, and that if they
wanted any information about it, they had better ask him.
" It's of no use asking me anything," said Rush, " I tell
you I have not got it, and don't know anything about it.
No doubt that fellow Cann has taken it." On Friday
last, Mr. Durrant, a highly-respectable solicitor of Nor-
wich, visited the Castle, and in the presence of the go-
vernor saw Rush on the subject of the missing check.
Rush fenced for a long time, and at length said, " Well,
suppose I do know anything of it, what then ?" It was
urged upon that as be had improperly obtained possession
of it, lie ought to give it up. He said, " No, I don't
want to trouble myself about it. You had better ask
John Cann." Mr. Durrant pressed cim very closely,
and at length Rush said, " Well. suppose it should be
found, what will become of it ?" Mr. Pinson, the
governor, replied that, under the circumstances-, -he had
no doubt the Crown would order it to be handed over to
the cony cats family. Rush, after musing a few moments,
said, " Well, Mr. Pinson, if you really think it will be
given to my children, perhaps I may be able to tell you
something about it. You will find it in the lining of my
hat." The hat was immediately produced, and the check
was found carefully placed under the lining in the crown.
During the few moments Rush had possession of the book
in court he managed to abstract the document unseen by
any one, although every eye was turned upon him. On
being convicted, he was very particular about his hat, and
manifested considerable anxiety about it before he left the
dock. The family of the convict have been ejected from
Felmingham Farm under the notice of ejectment some
time since served. They still remain at Potash, but only
upon sufferance. There is some talk of pulling down
Potash Farm, and building another house upon its site,
to be called, of course, by a different name. Mrs Jermy
and Eliza Chestney, both of whom are still at Stanfield
Hall, are going on favourably ; indeed, the latter has
almost completely recovered.
A Norwich correspondent supplies a probable reason
why Rush, after he had shot Mi. Jermy, sen., went round
by the servants' doer and risked detection, by the fact that
in a box in a closet at. the end of the passage leading to
the staircase hall Mr. Jermy kept his papers and the
mortgage deeds relating to Potash-farm, and that Rush's

intention was doubtless to secure those deeds at all
hazards, for, according to the forged documents cancelling
the mortgage, all the deeds and papers of a prior date re-
lating to Potash-farm were to be burned. Young Mr.
Jermy just reached the door opening into the recess when
Rush reached it, and therefore Rush fired at him. After
shooting young Mr. Jermy he very likely went into the
dining-room to shoot any person there, and thus to pre-
vent the possibility of his being interrupted while he was
employed in securing the deeds. The two women ran to
the same recess, and further prevented his purpose being
carried out; and when he came out of the dining-room
he fired at them, doubtless with the view of escaping

The following particulars of the unfortunate but not to
be despised Miss Sandford, will be acceptable to our
readers, and may also act as a salutary caution to those
who may have any young friend seeking her livelihood as
a governess—a class greatly to be pitied. They also tend
to show the extent—the intricate ramifications of the
assassin's complicated scheme of villany. Rush, as be-
fore stated, put an advertisement in The Times for a
governess for his children. Mrs Sandford, the mother
of ten children, seeing this, took her eldest daughter
to the reference in the advertisement, a very re-
spectable house in a good street in town, where
they found Mr. Rush, occupying the first floor. The
landlady had been induced to represent that she knew
Mr. Rush, and spoke of him as a worthy kind of man ;
and after various inquiries and witnessing her handwriting
the daughter was engaged to go down to Norfolk to
educate Rush's children. Some months after having
been there she was rather surprised at receiving no letters
from her mother, and the latter was equally so at receiving
no replies from her daughter. During this state of things,
Rush, when in town, called upon Mrs. Sandford, who
very naturally expressed surprise at not having heard from
her daughter, whereupon Rush said he believed the fact
was she was become engaged to a Mr. James, a commer-
cial traveller, but for some reasons she thought it would
be a match her mother would not altogether approve, and
therefore preferred not writing at all to her. The fact no
doubt was, Rush had intercepted these letters both ways,
and thus caused an estrangement between her and her
friends, to facilitate his own purposes and her ruin. She
now felt her dependence upon Rush. and in the simplicity
and confidence of her nature, and her ignorance of the
world and its snares, soon became first his victim and
then his instrument. He subsequently compelled her to
write her friends in such a way as to repel any attempt on
their part to interfere in her welfare. So late as 10 days
before the murder Rush again called upan Mrs. Sandford,
and told her her daughter was married, and had been in
France with her husband, Mr. James. The inference of
all this is evident. It would have accounted for her dis-
appearance, had such taken place, of which there is little
doubt in the minds of those intimately acquainted with
the minutiae of attendant circumstances.

The guilty man continued to eat and sleep well and to
enjoy life to the last. The accounts that have appeared
as to his depression of spirits were entirely without foun-
dation. he exhibited no sign of repentance, nor any
desire to purge his breast of the tremendous crime which
must have been preying on it. He persevered in the most
solemn declarations of his innocence, and upbraided
Emily Sandford most bitterly, asserting that she forswore
herself at the trial, and that had it not been for her evi-
dence, he should have been acquitted. On Thursday he
asked the turnkeys if they had begun to fix the machine :
but no answer was made. He then expressed a hope that
it might be a fine day. The Rev. Mr. Brown, Chaplain
to the gaol, the Rev. Mr. Andrews, and the Rev. Mr.
Blake, of Felmingham, were most assiduous in their efforts
to bring the unhappy criminal to a due sense of the awful
position in which he stood: But these efforts were
attended with very little apparent success.
On being informed that the universal opinion through-
out the country was that he was guilty, he appeared
angry. He wrote a letter asserting his innocence, which
he wished to he signed by his daughter, and sent to the
editor of the Times; but Mr. Pinson declined forwarding
it. In two years, he asserts, the real murderer will be
known.

He was watched by ten turnkeys, who relieved each
other every two hours, and every precaution was taken to
prevent anythihg taking place to rob justice of its victim.