The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-07-18 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Mr. Cobden, expressly stated, at the Penenden Heath
meeting, that the repeal of the corn-law is but the first of
a series of triumphs to which the Anti-corn-law League
are looking forward. He distinctly confessed, that it is
not only the total abolition of the corn-law which he de-
sires, but the total abolition of every thing to which he
and his associates are pleased to give the name of " mo-
nopoly."
A sham attorney, named Keene,. was committed for
trial in London, the other day en a charge of fraud. He
bad got hold of an elderly simpleton, named Benjamin
Newport, and contrived to make him believe that an action
had been commenced against him. Then, by continually
serving ugly-looking law papers upon him, he extracted no
less than £3O from his pockets, in the name of fees.
Several other persons had been " served " in the same
way by the knavish prisoner.

'WORCESTER, July 12.—There has been a general in-
quiry for hops this week, and some sales have been made
at 96s to 100 s per cwt, but to-day the market has become
quiet again, and in one or two instances a trifling reduc-
tion in price has been submitted to, though generally
holders are firm at the prices made the early part of last
week. 'We hear of no improvement in the plantation to
cause any reduction in the value of the article, the duty
being still laid at £lO,OOO. No hops have been weighed
at the public scales since our last.

The model of the serial steam-ship has proved its capa-
bility of flying round a large room of the Royal Adelaide
Gallery. Those who have an interest in the machine
really seem to be earnest in their intention to bring it
into practical use. It is set down as a demonstration that,
as a model of some 12Ibs, weight can be made to fly about
90 feet in-doors, a machine, similarly constructed, and
3,0001b5. weight, cannot fail to travel from 30 to 100 miles
per hour over every part of the face of the earth.

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—On Wednesday last, a
very distressing accident occurred at Craigton Farm, near
Clackmannan, and which instantly proved fatal to Mr.
James Brown, farmer there. It would appear that Mr.
Brown was in the act of reaching up for a loaded gun, for
the purpose of shooting some rooks that happened to be
on his ground at the time. In doing so, he unfortunately
caught the gun by the muzzle, and whilst drawing it down,
something came in contact with the trigger, when the gun
went off, and discharged its contents in the head of the
deceased.— Glasgow paper.

AN INSANE MEETING.—At a vestry meeting held at
Wakefield last week, for the purpose of passing the con-
stables' accounts, a scene of confusion took place, which
ended in Mr. G. Craven moving a resolution, "That this
meeting is not in a sufficiently sound state of mind to
entertain so important a question as that embraced by my
resolution." This resolution was put to a show of hands,
and carried almost unanimously. The chairman said that
it was time they all went home, as they had voted them-
selves insane. The meeting then broka up.—Yorkshire
paper.

SHOCKING SUICIDE.—On Friday night last, about half-
past ten o'clock, a woman named Margaret Miller, wife
of John Miller, tailor and beer seller, of N 0.31, Chorlton-
street, Manchester, was found in bed by her husband,
with her throat cut, and quite dead. A table-knife was
lying beside her, with which she had committed the dread-
ful act, for which no other reason could be assigned than
a quarrel she had, about a month previously, with some
persons who lodged in the house, and in which one of the
lodgers, a female named Wood, charged her with being
a drunkard.

FLUCTUATION IN PROPERTY. The Goginan Lead
Mines, situate near Aberystwith, were undertaken some
five or six years since—the amount paid per share, on 100
shares, being £5, or a capital of £5OO in the whole. The
net returns, or profits, we are given to understand, have
been £7BOO to £BOOO a-year, within a comparatively short
period of operations beiag commenced ; while we regret
to observe, from the report to which we have already
referred, which appears in another column, that the last
returns show, not only a diminution, but a loss—Mining
Journal.

REPRESENTATION OF ARGYLESHIRE.—In anticipa-
tion of the resignation of Mr. Alexander Campbell, of
Monzie, at the close of the present session of Parliament,
a requisition has been addressed to Mr . D. M'Neill,
Lord Advocate, inviting him to stand for the representa-
tion of the county of Argyle. The requisition is signed
bp upwards of 700 electors. Mr. M'Neill has accepted
the invitation. The registered constituency of Argyle-
shire amounts to 1,690. The number of Campbells who
have signed this requisition to the Lord Advocate of Scot-
land to come forward for the representation of Argyleshire
is 69.—Scottish Guardian.

STABLE BUILDING EXTRAORDINARY.—Sir Tatton
Sykes, Bart. has, within the last twenty years, built addi-
tional stables for his own direct use, upon that part of
Sledmere occupied by himself, good substantial buildings,
amounting to 872 feet in length; 18 feet wide within;
brick and half walls ; king post roofs, and stone blocks
with crooks for door ways. The above length of stabling
is sufficient for 192 draught horses, allowing nine feet for
two horses, or for 145 hunters or ride horses, allowing six
feet for each horse ; and with all this addition of stables,
there is not sufficient for the number of horses bred and
kept by the baronet, who undoubtedly has the most nu-
merous stud of any nobleman in the county of York.

CHESHIRE EXPENDITURE.—The Chester Courant
says :—lt is gratifying to observe, that the county rate
required at the sessions was only one farthing in the
pound ; a fact which proves the good management of the
magistracy in reducing all unnecessary expenses, and con-
ducting the financial affairs of the county ; while, at the
same time, it ought to set at rest the groundless alarms
raised by certain factious clamourers, who asserted that
the churches to be built under the provisions of the Wea-
ver Churches Bill, would swallow up the whole surplus
arising from that source of revenue. Notwithstanding the
depression of the times, the River Weaver has paid to
the county funds during the last year the sum of £12,000.

A PARRICIDE—On Tuesday week a shocking murder and
parricide was committed at the village of Mount Tabor,
near Halifax. John Dobson and his son Joseph Dobson
having quarrelled about the latter's wife, Joseph Dobson
went and possessed himself of a gun, which he loaded
with powder and ball. Some hours afterwards, on the
return of his father to the cottage, he presented the
gun at him, but the cap missed fire. Before he could be
stopped, he fixed on another, fired, and killed the
old man on the spot. He fled to the woods, and bad
not been apprehended so late as Friday. A verdict of
" wilful murder" was returned against him at the coro-
ners inquest.

A party of five young persons left Hull last week, on a
rowing excursion on the Humber. On getting into the
middle of the river a sudden squall came on, the boat
filled, and the whole party were immediately immersed in
the water. Four of those on board sunk directly. The
names of only two of the sufferers are known—C. S.
Roberts, son of Mr. Roberts, of her Majesty's Customs;
and J. S. West, wine.naerchant, Hull. Mr. Turner, son
of the late Mr. Turner, wine-merchant, was the only
survivor, and he was rescued almost in a lifeless state,
having clung to the boat for at least three hours. Two of
the unfortunate sufferers were females.

STATISTICS OF LUCIFER MATCHES.--One of the wit-
nesses before the Children's Employment Commission
stated, that he is a maker of the boxes for containing lu-
cifer matches ; and for the American pine wood, of which
he makes them, he is in the habit of paying the large sum
of £l,OOO a year. According to his belief, from twelve to
fifteen thousand gross, of such boxes as he manufactures,
were made every week in London, during the year 1841.
Each box contains fifty matches. Upon these data the
sub-commissioner calculates that the weekly consump-
tion of lucifer matches amounts to 97,200,000, or
5,055,000,000 yearly.

AN AWKWARD MISTAKE. —On Monday morning,
about 1 o'clock, a man from the neighbourhood of the
Potteries, having partaken too freely of liquor, laid him-
self down at full length, on the top of the balustrades of
the Welsh bridge, Shrewsbury, for the purpose of having
a comfortable nap, but he had not been long in that position
before he turned over and fell completely into the river.
Fortunately he caught hold of one of the rings attached
to the bridge, and was enabled to retain his hold, when
he cried out most lustily for assistance, and, after remain-
ing in the water about three quarters of an hour, he was
extricated from his perilous situation by two of the
watchmen, with no further injury than a good ducking.
When asked to account for his falling into the water, he
said he was dreaming he was getting over a gate into a
field.—Halifax Guardian.

THE BIRDS AND BROUGHAM HALL.—Now that these
intruders have been expelled from Lord Brougham's man-
sion, steps are taking to bring them to justice for the out-
rage ; and a warrant having been issued by the Westmore-
land magistrates against one of the party, named John
Bird, who resides at Ashton-under-Lyne, the warrant was
transmitted, on Thursday, to Mr. Beswick, our chief su-
perintendent of police. Having ascertained the residence
of the party, Mr. Beswick sent Inspector Green to
execute the warrant ; and this was done on Thursday
evening. The prisoner was taken before James Lord, Esq.
at Ashton, on the following day, when bail to the amount
of £2OO was taken for his appearance at the next West-
moreland Assizes.—Manchester paper.

FIRE IN MANCIIESTER.—On Tuesday morning, at
ten o'clock, a fire was discovered to have broken out in
the extensive print works of Messrs. Gisburn and Wil-
son, Salford. The Are originated in what is called the
" White Room," that is, where all bleached goods are
kept before they are put into the process of printing.
The building was fortunately fire-proof, so that the flames
were confined to one room, otherwise the damage must
have been very extensive, the works being situate in the
midst of several dye-works and cotton-mills. As it is,
the loss is estimated at from £7OOO to £BOOO. There
were about 30 persons in the room when the fire was first
discovered, and such was the rapidity with which it raged,
that it was with considerable difficulty they escaped with
their lives. The property is fully insured in the Atlas.

On Wednesday evening a destructive fire broke out upon
the premises occupied by Messrs. W. Taylor and Sons,
upholsterers and cabinet-makers, Rcebuck-place, Dover-
road, Southwark. By the exertions of the firemen the
conflagration, which at one time assumed a serious aspect,
was soon stayed, all danger being at an end in less than
three quarter of an hour afterwards. The parties are in-
sured. No sooner had the engines left off working at the
fire in Dover-road, than intelligence arrived that another
fire had broken out in the neighbourhood of Newington,
to which spot several engines were immediately despatched,
on reaching which it was ascertained, that the marine store
premises in the occupancy of Mr. Vandermulen, and situ-
ate in Cumberland-place, near Newington Church, had
taken fire, and had it not been for its timely discovery by
a police constable, in all probability several of the inmates
would have lost their lives. The flames were soon ex-
tinguished, but not until considerable damage had been
dcne to the building and the stock•in-trade, which will I
fall on the West of England Fire-office. The origin, of I

the fire was unkuowu

MELANCHOLY ACCIDENT.—On Monday` week, a boat
containing several women and children in addition to the
crew, was upset in a squall near Bridport, when seven out
of nine met with a watery grave. The following are 0e
names of the unfortunate sufferers :—Mann (a boatman),
Mrs. Turner and child, Mary Hodder, with three children
belonging to a boatman named Dumble. Mrs. Dumble
was i❑ the boat, and was saved by clinging to a boatman
named Phillips, who was also saved, after being in the
water nearly an hour. When Phillips picked up Mrs.
Dumble, she was clinging to one of her children dead in
her arms.

A PERSEVERING HYDIWPATHIST.---An Englishman
lately died at Vienna who for three years past had spent
half his time in the water. It is stated in the Courrier de
Lyons that being affected with a liver complaint, and hav-
ing seen in a treatise that baths were a good remedy, he
took two every day for the last seven years. At first the
length of each was two hours, but that period went on
gradually increasing. For the last three years he entered
the bath each morning at half-past four or five, and re-
mained there till twelve, when he dined. He again en-
tered the bath at half. past one, and left it at eight in the
evening to eat his supper and go to bed. So that he spent
thirteen hours a day in the water. On the day of his death
he arrivzd at the bath a little later than usual, and com-
plained of the lose of a valuable half hour. In au hour
after a servant entered and found him dead.

MORMONITE SUPERSTITION.—On Sunday last a black-
smith, residing at Clifton-on-Teme, named James Jones,
died under circumstances which have since originated in-
vestigation, and an inquest was acccordingly held on the
body on Wednesday last. It appears that deceased was
taken ill about three weeks ago ; but, a man of the " Lat-
ter-day Saints' " persuasion, who lived with the family
(which consisted of the man, his wife, and three daugh-
ters), persuaded them to have no medical advice, saying
that " If it was God's will, he would die whether he was
attended by a doctor or not ;" and so the poor people,
acting on the fallacious mode of reasoning, neglected to
apply the proper mode of treatment, and the invalid died,
the neighbours having been refused permission to see him
during his illness. The case excited considerable interest
in the neighbourhood of Clifton-on-Teme ; and at the in-
quest on Wednesday, the deceased's wife and a bricklayer
named William Allen deposed that the deceased had been
solicited to have a doctor, but that he himself refused,
and threatened to throw away the medicine if any were
sent to him. Mr. Sheltor, surgeon, of this city, gave
evidence that the death had been occasioned by inflam-
mation of the bladder and adjacent parts, which had
mortified : there was no doubt in his mind that if the
deceased had received medical assistance in proper time,
he would have been alive now. Verdict—" Died by the
Visitation of God."— Worcester Guardian.
HORRIBLE MURDER AT LLANRWST.—A murder, ac-
companied by circumstances of almost unparalleled bru-
tality, has just come to light in this remote part of the
principality. About two months ago, a middle-aged
widow, named Margaret Davies, ostensibly acting as
housekeeper to one Evan Jones, a husbandry labourer,
holding a petty tenement on the mountain Moel Trefriew,
within a mile of Capel Garmon, in this parish, was sud-
denly missed, and various conjectures were formed as to
the cause of her absence ; all, however, very different from
the true one. Weeks rolled away, but still no signs of
her return. On Friday last, however, her mutilated body
was discovered in a ditch, near a dingle, about three hun-
dred yards from the cottage in which she bad dwelt with
her presumed murderer. It is generally supposed, that,
after having committed the deed of blood, he had hidden
the body in a turf fence, such as are generally used in
mountainous districts, and not more than from fifty to
sixty yards from the cottage. In his haste (it is conjec-
tured) to hide from the eye of day his foul and barbarous
act, the grave he dug for the body was so very shallow
that the stench arising from its decomposition attracted
to the spot the dogs of the neighbourhood. This appears
to have been a source of annoyance to the assassin ; for,
further to conceal his guilt, he undertook the revolting
task of exhuming the body, and in its putrid state con-
veyed it to the distance already named, where it was dis-
covered accidentally by tracing a dog thither, who had
been repeatedly seen resorting to the spot to feast upon
the dead. Nothing, as yet, has transpired to throw light
upon the cause which led to the perpetration of the deed.
The supposed murderer was immediately taken into cus-
tody by the police, in order to await the result of an in-
quest upon the mutilated remains. On Monday week,
the coroner for the county held an inquest on the body, •
when a number of witnesses were examined, and the jury
brought in a verdict of " Wilful murder" against the
prisoner, who was committed to Ruthin gaol, to take his
trial at the next Denbighshire assizes.—CarnarvonHerald.

A BEGGING LETTER MANUFACTORY.—A day Or two
since, Mr. Edward John Brierley, son of the chief con-
stable, with Carter, his assistant. in searching the noto-
rious lodging-house kept by a person named Mitchell, in
Wrengate, Wakefield, found concealed there an immense
quantity of documents, which tend to show the means by
which the begging letters, petitions, and memorials have
been manufactured, with which not only Yorkshire, but
the whole kingdom, has been supplied by a gang of inge •
nious and persevering swindlers. The most remarkable
of the manuscripts are many hundreds of genuine signa-
tures of the nobility, clergy, and gentry residing in differ-
ent counties of Ireland, cut from letters and other papers,
and stuck in rows upon pasteboard, for the purpose of
being imitated in duplicate sham petitions. Amongst
these signatures are those of many of the respectable
inhabitants of Wakefield, Heath, York, Halifax, Leeds.
besides those of persons in the counties of Lincoln, Nor-
folk, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Cumberland, &c. &c.
How some of these signatures have been obtained, it is
difficult to conjecture; some of them have, there is no
doubt, been attached to subscription lists of the impostors
in the course of their perambulations; others, probably,
have been cut from letters in answer to such applications
to the charitable gentry as were lately exposed in the
newspapers, in the account of the committal of an impos-
tor at Wakefield. Another set of documents consists of
models of petitions and memorials, for persons pretending
to want funds to emigrate to New Zealand ; to make up
losses by fires and shipwrecks; to raise funds for those
pretending to be afflicted with blindness, lameness, &c.
A third set of documents were routes in England and
Ireland, for persons travelling with the petitions, giving
the names and residences of persons on the different roads
likely to be called upon, and pointing out where the peti-
i oners should not call for fear of being detected. Some
of the descriptions of parties are curious and instructive :
such a person is described as " giver to all callers" ; ano-
ther will give if " stuck to and talked well to" ; a third
is " drunken and the dodge may be well played" • a fourth
" must be seen at breakfast time" ; a fifth must be avoid-
ed " any time just before or after dinner" ; and so on
through an amazing long list of the nobility and gentry.
Besides these, some letters were found from Some of
these systematic impostors, describing their success or
otherwise. One of these is dated from Tickhill, in May
of the present year, signed " Thomas and Harriet Monks."
and directed to the care of John Jackson, for John
Clarke, Newgate, Pontefract." It begins " Dear father
and mother,' and goes on to state that they had failed of
late in every place they had tried, and complained that
they were now in a " dead country," .or they would have
sent some money. In short, it is plain that the police of
Wakefield have broken into the main manufacture of the
begging petitions. No person in the lodging-house would
own the bundle of papers, which Mr. Brierley has kindly
put into the hands of the reporter for the purpose of ex•
posure ; and the magistrates of the district have expressed
their wish that editors of other journals would assist in
breaking up this extensive system of fraud.—Hull Rock-
ingham.

TILE THUNDER STORM.—We gave in our last the par-
ticulars which had then reached us of the ravages caused
by this visitation. The following are some further de-
tails :—At Lavington, Hants, two horses were struck by
the lightning and killed on the spot. A man who had the
care of the horses was also much injured, and now lies in
a very precarious state. Two other men at some dis-
tance from the spot were knocked down, but, fortunately,
received no injury. At Hereford and the neighbourhood
several trees were shattered by the lightning. In the
neighbourhood of Flint two fine cows and a heifer, the
property of Joseph Evans, Esq., the mayor, were struck
dead by the lightning. The storm raged with great fury
in the vicinity of Ulverstone ; and, during its continuance,
a vessel lying off the Isle of Barrow had its mainmast
split in two as neatly as if the separation had been effected
by artificial means. At Cockermouth a new cottage was
struck. The fluid entered the chimney, and made its way
out a little above the mantelpiece of the lowest room,
struck the master down, and scorched the hair of one of
the son's head, and then escaped again by the chimney.
Neither party is much worse. The church steeple was a
little rent, and several slates carried from the roof. At
Edinburgh, while a servant girl was polishing a steel fork,
with the point directed towards a half-papered opening in
a pane of the kitchen window, she received a severe shock
of electricity, which for some minutes caused her life to
be despaired of, but she then came to herself. A servant
girl in a house in Great Stewart-street was engaged in
ironing some articles of dress, when she perceived, im-
mediately preceding the violent discharge which took
place about twenty minutes past seven o'clock, a circle of
fire vibrating round the iron which she held in her hand.
This phenomenon was repeated three times with extra-
ordinary rapidity, and shed such a glare upon the article
of dress she was just engaged in ironing, that the girl
thought it was actually on fire. The violent claps of
thunder accompanying the lightning, together with the
vividness of the fire-circle streaming from the iron, threw
her into a swoon, in which she lay for about two minutes.
At Aberdeen, a girl named Paterson was struck, and re-
mained in a state of insensibility until the following day,
when she expired. Another individual, a teacher of
music, near Udny, was struck dead on his way home
from his class-room. The unfortunate man was travel-
ling between two others at the time, but neither of them
were injured. In the neighbourhood of Dumfries several
cows and sheep were killed. On the four days following
the above disasters, there were thunder storms, of more
or less violence, in various parts of England, Scotland,
and Wales. On Saturday, a young woman residing at
Camlachie, near Glasgow, named Janet Knox, a weaver,
was struck by the electric fluid whilst standing by her
loom, and fell dead on the spot. On Saturday week Roch-
dale and the vicinity were visited with a tremendous
storm of thunder and rain. At one o'clock in the after-
noon the electric fluid entered through the roof of the
\Wesleyan Chapel, Castleton Moor, on the Manchester-
road, tearing up the flooring and destroying several pews ;
170 squares of glass were also broken, and, with the ex-
ception of two, all the rest were damaged. The teacher
and scholars had left only a few minutes before. On
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, great numbers of persons
visited the place. On Sunday a thunderstorm visited
Milnrovv, upwards of two miles south-east of Rochdale;
four bridges were carried away by the flood, and articles
of household furniture, such as chairs, tables, &c., were
found at a distance of three miles off. Mr. Heap, fulling
miller, at Ogden, four miles from Rochdale, had a num-
ber of flannel pieces damaged, and the river Beal was
Leight.