The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-03 00:00:00

pit, and at the same hour in the evening—but not unfre-
quently eight or nine o'clock—he was again submerged, his
only assistance being a muffin, or some such other eatable,
and the water in thr pit. The cruelties practised upon him
have been greatly increased since his inhuman master was
married (about two years since), the woman it appears having
taken a dislike to the poor orphan lad. As a sample of the
barbarities which this collier boy has had to undergo, let the
punishment he has experienced during the past fortnight

suffice.
It appears that the severe flogging which Whiteley re-
ceived caused him once or twice to run away from his master.
A short time ago he was so beat with a hurrier's strap, and
a heavy piece of wood (a piece of an old cradle), that he
again resolved upon running away. He did so, but on Tues-
day week he was brought before the Halifax magistrates by

his master, charged with disobedience. Through the threats
and menaces of the cruel tyrant who had treated him so bar-
barously he was prevented stating the whole facts of the case
to the bench. The lad bad intended showing the various
wounds inflicted upon his person; enough, however, was
said to induce the magistrates to reprimand the master, and
the boy was ordered to go back again, and the master warned
not to ill-treat them in future. This warning, however, was
neglected. The same day he administered a most brutal cas-
tigation to his victim, which he repeated every day while the
lad remained with him. Our readers may imagine that the
harrowing details which are to follow are tinged with an air
of fiction. They are facts. The poor lad when down in the

pit was beat with a stick, and between each stroke the instru-
ment was dipped in water. The lad's back became one mass
of sores, and it was impossible for him to lie in bed. While
subject to this inhuman treatment, he was allowed three
meals per day of thin water-porridge only, and in conse-
quence of his brutal treatment boils broke out in all parts of
his body. Frequently was he sent into the pit without
breakfast, and obliged to perform the whole of his drudgery.
What made this the more painful was, the fact of his labour-
ing under the effects of a severe wound inflicted upon his
right knee some time since. On that occasion, while beat-
r took hold of the
tolerably large

im with a hurri

s strap, the a
(which is gen

nd opr

ite the buckle

b a more severe punishment; in one of the
strokes the buckle caught the poor lad on the right knee and
tore away a large piece of flesh. The lad, however, was
still forced to work.
On Thursday night week this monster master ducked the
lad's head three or four times in a bowl of water, wetting
his shirt all over, and then forced him into the cellar, where
he remained all night, without bed, chair, table, or even a
morsel of straw! The same treatment was about to be prac-
tised on Friday night, but he begged so pitifully for mercy
that he was allowed to go to bed. On Saturday night, how-
ever, he was again forced into the cellar, where he remained
all night. On Sunday morning he was brought out; no
breakfast was given him ; but, as a further punishment, his
master suspended a heavy bag of iron round his neck, and
forced him to walk up and down the room under the terror
of another flogging. Some cold porridge (which had been
left the previous day) was warmed up and offered him, but
he could not eat. His master then left the house, saying he
would look out for a good thick stick. The woman shortly
after left the house for the purpose of fetching some water
from a neighbouring well ; and the lad, being thus for a few
moments left alone, resolved upon trying once more to es-
cape from a worse than African slavery. With great exer-
tion he managed to unloose the bag of iron from his neck,
and made his escape into Grimscar Wood. Thence he
stealthily proceeded to the old Copperas Works, where he

thus ca

remained fill nightfall. During his concealment in the old
Copperas Works he heard his master seeking him. The lad,
when referrinf, to this circumstance, shudders involuntarily,
saying " I did trecrible then." Fortunately, however, he was
not discovered. At night he proceeded to Elland, where a
charitable woman took him into her house, gave him some
coffee, and provided him with a bed. On the Monday lie
went to the constable's, who took him to Mr. Joshua Dodg-

son, one of the overseers, who was so struck at tt
spectacle which the lad presented that he resolved upon res-
cuing him from his inhuman master. He was brought before
the magistrates on Tuesday by the constable, accompanied
also by Mr. Dodgson. His back was exhibited, and pre-
sented from the nape of the neck downwards one continued
series of bruises, evidently effected by some solid but thin
weapon. His right hand was dreadfully swollen in attempt-
log to parry off the blows. One part of his body presented
rather the appearance of raw, diseased meat, than of human
flesh and skin ! It was at first intended to take out a war-
rant for assault, hut on conferring with the magistrata, it was
thought better to take a summons for ill-treatment, with a
view to cancel the identures and release the lad from the lia-
bility to such cruel treatment.

shock ii

Tile lad was subsequently removed to the workhouse,
where he was put under proper medical treatment, and the
most assiduous attention has since been paid to him both by
Mr. and Mrs. Dyer.

DOVER Currs.,--The hand of old Father Time, together
with the hand of man, is making sad inroads on these vene-
rable and hoary cliffs. Since the grand blast of Round-
down, to the westward of Dover, on the line of the South
Eastern Railway, many thousand tons of chalk have been
blown into the sea, by a like process, on a similar scale ; and,
we understand, another blast of considerable magnitude, also
at these railway works, will come off in a day or two. This
blast will consist of about 7,0001 b. of gunpowder, and will be
ignited by the voltaic battery.
SHOCKING OUTRAGE.—On Sunday evening last, the Rev.
Joseph Dickey, minister of the third Presbyterian congrega-
tion of Rathfriland, had assembled his hearers in the Meet-
ing-house for evening worship, and while in the act of con-
cluding his sermon, the report of a gun and the crashing of a
window beside the pulpit was suddenly heard,
--and the rev.

gentleman was observed to stagger and fall. Endeavouring
to rally, Mr. Dickey made a struggle to rise hut again fell,
and, upon being lifted up, it was found that a number of slugs
had entered both arms, passing across his breast, A rush
was instantly made by the people to the outside of the house,
with the view of securing the assassin ; but, owing to the
darkness of the night, and the conster :ation which ensued,
having for some seconds held them as it were spell-bound,
the miscreant escaped being discovered. A part of the
blazing wadding of the gun was found on the window-sill.
Our informant tells us that Mr. Dickey is universally be-
loved by all classes, and to what cause an attempt on his life
is to be attributed, it is impossible to conceive. We have
not heard the extent of the injury which Mr. Dickey suf-
fered. but the intent to murder is evident.—Ulster Times.

A GHOST STORY.—Sunderland is in an uproar about a
ghost! A young mariner of the Myrtle, named Cairns, saw
his sister's ghost at sea, and again, a few nights ago, in his
vessel on the Wear. On the latter occasion she promised
him a second visit in a short time, when she would reveal
something of importance. A rumour went abroad that 12
o'clock on Thursday night was the appointed hour, and long
before that time upwards of a thousand persons were con-
gregated near Sunderland churchyard, to catch a glimpse of
the ghost as it wended its way from its own narrow bed to
the bedside of the haunted sailor. But although they had
the patience to remain at their post until one o'clock in the
morning, in the midst of a delightful drizzle, their curiosity
went unrewarded. Spirits, perhaps, are not exempt from
the roguery of bodies, but take a malicious pleasure in tan-
talizing poor silly mortals ; or it may be true, as has been
gravely affirmed, that the public had mistaken the night,.
and that the ghost had haunted the young man in his ham-
mock in the night of Wednesday, and unfolded to him a tale
of horror, which it forbade him to repeat to any living per-
son, save and except her husband, who is now at sea. But
why could not the ghost itself convey the story to the hus-
band ? Whilehaven Herald.
ATTEMPT TO MURDER.—The town of Tavistock has this
week been thrown into a state of alarm, in consequence of an
attempt upon the life of Mr. Benson. Mr. Benson, it is
well known, has been for some time past confined to his room
from an attack of small-pox, and it would appear the mis-

creant, whoever he may be, the chief actor in the nefarious
plot, thought that circumstance likely to aid him in the exe-
cution of his fiendish intent. It had for some time past been
deemed expedient by the medical advisers of Mr. Benson to
order an attendant to sleep in the same room with that gen-
tleman, in order that assistance might immediately be ren-
dered him in the event of circumstances occurring to require
it, and in consequence a man servant connected with Mr.
Benson's establishment occupied a bed in his master's sleep-
ing apartment. On Monday morning last, about six o'clock,
the servant having occasion to administer some medicine to
his master, crossed from his own bed to that of Mr. Benson,
with a light in his hand, and in doing so passed the window;
this he had no sooner reached than an explosion, as of the
discharge of a fowling-piece in the yard beneath, took place,
and several panes of glass were instantaneously broken. An
immediate search was made in the room for the missiles
which had broken the glass, as it was conjectured they might
have passed into the room, and a number of slugs were found,
so that no doubt remained of the murderous intention of the
party who fired the gun. A reward of £BO has been offered
for the discovery of the villain.—Davenport Independent.
—•- • - -

BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRlAGE.—Elizabeth Robert-
son, Pomariurn, versus Laurence M`Donald, weaver, Clay-
holes. This was a case tried before Mr. Sheriff Barclay, last
week, in the Small Debt Court, Perth, which, from the situ-
ation in life of the parties, created not a little interest. The
court was crowded to excess by persons from the neighbour-
hood in which they reside. The damages were laid at the
maximum allowed in that court, £8 6s. Bd. From the evi-
dence, it appeared that the parties had met in a house to-
gether, along with some of their acquaintances, on a Satur-
day night some months back, when over a dram, in talking
of a sweetheart of the prosecutor's, defender had said if she
would take him and desert the sweetheart, he would marry
her. Prosecutor accepted the offer, and the parties shook
hands over the bargain, which was to be fulfilled immediately.
Prosecutor's father and defender then went in search of an
elder, when after some difficulty, they found one, and got the
marriage contract made out. Immediately after this, how-
ever, defendant had rued the step he had taken, and refused
to fulfil his engagement, and at the same time offered 20a. to
be relieved from it; but it was refused, as not equivalent to
the injury sustained, and hence the present action. No wit-
nesses were called on the defender's behalf; but his agent,
from the testimony of the prosecutor's evidence, endeavoured
to establish, first, that his client was the worse for liquor;
secondly, that the whole affair was a joke • and thirdly, that
he was inveigled into it by the company they were in. The
Sheriff held, that none of these points had been made out;
and commented severely upon the plea of a joke being ad-
vanced in so solemn and important a matter as marriage, and
awarded damages, £5 and costs.—Perth Courier.
On Wednesday evening last, about seven o'clock, as Mr.
Howarth, tutor to the family of James Whitaker, Esq., of
Broad Clough, was entering the avenue leading to the resi-
dence of John Holt, Esq., Stubby Lee, on a visit to his
sister, who resides with that gentleman's family as governess,
he was fired at by some person unknown, but happily without
effect; although the contents of the pistol must have passed
within the eighth of an inch of Mr. Howarth's chest, a large
slug of lead, about the weight of a ball, such as is generally
used in a screw-barrelled pistol, having perforated a music
book about an inch thick and strongly bound, which Mr.
Howarth happene, -be carrying under his arm, one end of
the book projecti“, - time oni, 'aches from his
nerson. The villain who fl 'd the

e at the time only a fe

ter cover of the music
«'e

close to his intended victim, as the ou.,_
book was burned by the blaze of the powder. .
right to state that, previous to this horrible attempt at a,
sination, several threatening letters were received by Mr
Holt, to whose house Mr. Howarth was going when fired at,
as well toi by Mr. Earnshaw, and Mr. IN hitaker, who, along
with Mr. Holt, usually sit as magistrates at Bacup Petty
Sessions. There can be little doubt, therefore, that the shot
was not designed for Mr. Howarth, hut for Mr. Holt, pro-
bably by some person who has been dissatisfied with the ad-
ministration of the' law by that gentleman and his brothe
magistrates, of whom, it is only jus'ice to say, that th
gentlemen of the very highest and most upright obarar
Blackburn Standard.