The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-03-31 00:00:00

INTERESTING AND MELANCHOLY N-AttroafvE

The following Melancholy narrative • of the priyatiOns and
sufferings of Lieutenant Harmer, and a boat's crew of his
majesty's ship Sparrowhawk, Captain Pearson, wilt be read
with much interest :

" Whilst the Sparrowhawk was lying in August last at Port
Louis, one of the Falkland Isles, an account was brought that
part of the crew of the brig Mars, Of London, from Van Die-
man's Land,.hoine•vard bosud, were in a boat idthe neighbour-
hood, unable to make •any farther exertion to teach the port,
and had left four of their comrades on a distant islar2d, being
prevented taking them on board he the mad size of the boat.
Lieutenant •Harmer (the senior lieutenant), with Mr. Haves,
midshipman, - and four seamen, Volunteered to go in. search of
these suffering people in this dreadrid and severe climate, and
accordingly they left the Sparrowbawk in Pert Louis, Berke-
ley sound. on the Grim of Septemberlast, in a small scaling boat.
• In fifteen days, after enduring. great hardships' from the
storms and' cold weather, they reached *pot cm the mainland,.
whence tne-y imagined they might discover the position of the
island they were in search of; and accordingly Lieutenant Har-
mer, Mr. Hayes, andlWo seamen, landed with a spy-glass and
compass to reconnoitre and survey, leaving two men to take
care of the boat. But horrible to relate, froM the, nattention
of one- of these men, the boat was allowed to get adrift to sea
with only one man in her. In a short time the poor fellow in
the boat was observed to be doing his best to bring her back
under sail; but lie upset her, and was shortly after seen to be
swept firer the wreck. Who grail represent. the feelings of
those on shore, without the means of sustaining life, and cut
off from every.resoUrce; not having any Means. of making fire,
and provided with nothing bat three knivea, every thing having
been- left in the boat! However, nit the 21st of September,
they pushed on Co. the settlement, at Hertz:trey Sound, distant,
as they luprosed shunt 011"tfundred miles—the country moun-
tainous and swampy, and the cold intense, so much so that their
clothes adhered to each other when huddled together for
the night, On 'the 2d of October one man' could go no
farther, and Lieutenant Harmer remained with him. Mr:
Hayes and three others went on; hut in a short time one of
thein:rethrned, not having power to go any farther. They
had -nothing to support life, but occasionally dead birds which
they:tpund, andanpels; Once they caught a calf and another
time they foUnd tr gooie's nest with- five eggs. On the 15th of
October, Lieutenant Harmer and his two comrades reached
Salvador Bay, Where the Sparrowhawk boat was discovered,
she having been despateheji on the arrival of Mr. Haves and
one man at the settlement after almost unheard of priyhtion—
their lives having beenpreserved at the expense of one of their
companions, who, unable to keep with them from being utterly
reduced, was sacrificed for the support of the others:" But for
this dreadful alternative they would never have reaches! Port
Louis.to givelhe tidings of the dreadful plight in which Lieut.
Harmer and the two men were left.

" When Mr. Hayes was taken on hoard the Sparrowhawk,
his weight was only seventy patinas, arid Lieutenant Harmer
was found very nearly as much rkinced.- Mr: Hayes was shock-
ingly frost-kitten; but when the accounts left the SparroWliawk
at,4io Janeiro, on the 15thbor-Novembei; all the sutferets Were
doing well. It is also gratifying to know, that the Purr remain-
ing of the crew of the Mars, for whose relief this unfortunate ex-
pedition under Limit: Harmer was undertaken..-were Miracu-
lously rescued by •an American sealing •schoonei, -nail put on
board the Sparrowhawk."
There can be no doulft but the Lords of the Admiralty will
immediatelY perform the agreeable duty of ressrdinir these un-
fortunate of licers and crew for the Manner in which" they per-
formed their duty under such peculiar circumstances.

MURDERS BY POISONING.

The town of Burnham Market, in Norfolk, and the Vicinity,.
for some miles round, have for (tie last week been in the most
dreaUfel state of .excitetneet, caused .by the discovery of three
diabolical murders which have already *been committed, _and a
plan laid for taking.away the lives of several others. The:cir-
cumstance that led to the discovery was as follows:A woman
named Mary Taylor, the wife of P.- Taylor, a • journeyman
shoemaker, was taken with a violent retching after. dinner on
Thursday the 12th initant, and though medical assistance was
procured, she died at five the same .afternoon. , Mr. °tenser,
the surgeon, as soon as he saw' her, pronounced her to have
been poisoned. An inquest W3B held on the bo- y on the fol-
lowing Saturday, when the jury, after silting till eleven at night,
adjourned the inquest till Monday, and awls having no evidence
as to bow the deceased came by the arsenic which had been
Nand in the stomach, returned a verdict to the effect that she
_died by taking arsenic, but that it was unknown by what means,
it was alininistered. - There were certain rumours that the
husband Of the deceased had beets connected with a 'married,
woman named Fanny.,Billing, who lived at the next door, and
this connection seemed to have been a great cause, of uneasi-,
ness between Taylor, and his wife, and a week or tivo before the
deceased had, it seems, taxed Billing with it. and they had bad
a quarrel. It was also discovered that Billing hail a short time
before bought three pennyworth of arsenic, eta druggist. Some
flour that was in Taylor's house was also found to contain a
quantity of arsenic, and from this the deceased had made some
dumplings on the day she died. These facts coming out, the
Magistrates thought proper to hold , a special meeting on the
Wednesday, for' the further investigation of the matter, add
Taylor and Billing were brought before them, examined, and
remanded for further examination. As Billing, however, was
going away, a woman living next door, named Frary,' who was
frequently in and out of Mrs. Taylor's, was heard to say to her,
"Maw, hold your own, and they can't hurt us." This led to
further suspicion, and Friary was apprehended. It was then
recollected that Frary's husband, and a child they kept, died
about a fortnight before very suddenly. Orders were then given
to have them disinterred; their stomachs were sent to Norwich
to be analysed, and they also were found to contain arsenic.
On Tress ay Billing was fully committed to take her trial for
the murder at the forthcoming assizes. She is nearly 51) years
old, has had fourteen children, and nine are alive. • She has
confessed the whole,. but says that Fray>, gave the poison to
Mrs. Taylor. She has also confessed to other acts of the same
kind with Frary, and that there were several other persons that
they had marked out as their victims. She had made an attempt
to poison her husband about the same time, •but he did not take
sufficient quantity, and recovered. Taylor is still remanded,
and Frary has been taken speechless since Tuesday, and can-
notsbe recovered. Tne, wife of her brother, who liVed at Burn-
ham Overy, died about the same time suddenly, but has not yet
been up. Taylor says he was taken sick on the Thursday with
his wife, but that he threw up and got better. Mrs. Frary was
seat for to attend on Mrs. 'Taylor. and a witness by the name of
Rowley says, when he was in at Taylor's to be shaved, he saw
Frary, in making her some gruel, put something iuto it from a
paper on the point of eiknife, white, almost like fiowdr, so that
in all probability, to snake assurance doubly sure, she poi-
soned also her gruel. It was too the merest wonder in the world
the poisoned flour (for it had not then been found to be poisoned)
was not taken to provide for the funeral—indeed this seems to
have been anticipated by the wretches, and then the whole family
would have been their ,victims; but the management was fortu-
nately taken out of Frary's hands, and the flour providentially
unused. Taylor has borne a good character for many years
until he got connected with this woman. . His wife was a very •
industrious person, and although they hal no family they had
lived very comfortably together. She was 47 of age, and he is
about the same.