The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-08-06 00:00:00

FLOODS IN THE WEST.-131 the Hibernia were received
fearful accounts of the overflow of the Mississippi. For
a region of more than a thousand miles in extent, along
the Missouri and Mississippi, above St. Louis, the inhabi-
tants have been deprived of their cattle and crops, and, in
many instance's, their houses and barns also ; while the
soil itself, Tor hundreds of thousands of acres, has been
either seriously injured or totally destroyed. The loss of
the cotton crop now growing, is estimated at equal to
300,000 bales. The city of St. Louis, itself a severe suf-
ferer by the flood, has naturally become the refuge of
hundreds of houseless, destitute, and starving creatures,
driven from their homes by the pursuing footsteps of the
flood ; and the scenes of want and suffering presented by
them—gathered together in sheds and rude tents, and fed
by the hand of public charity—is represented as heart-
sickening in the extreme. We are yet to hear of the de-
structive course of the flood for thirteen hundred miles
between St. Louis and New Orleans ; and we anticipate
disasters of the severest kind when the mighty torrent
roars through the Louisiana plantations—the garden of
the south.
SUPPOSED ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE KING OF
GREECE.—On Sunday, the 7th of July, a serjeant of the
gendarmerie at Athens rushed past the sentinels on duty
at the palace, and proceeded to enter at the private door
which leads to the garden. The sentinel on duty at this
door attempted to stop the intruder, who drew his sword,
and turning aside his musket, sprang into the corridor ;
the sentinel immediately followed, but not being able to
seize him, transfixed him with his bayonet, and he fell
wounded before the door of one of the maids of honour,
Mrllle. Wiesenthau, a Bavarian lady, who opened the door
to inquire the cause of the disturbance, and was witness
of the scene. The King's physician was immediately
called, and the wound was dressed. Though the bayonet
passed through the body of the unfortunate man, it ap-
pears that there is every prospect of his recovery. There
is little doubt that the man was insane before and at the
time when he conducted himself in so extravagant a man-
ner. No blame can be imputed to the sentinel, who only
wounded him when he was rushing in with his drawn
sword, and it was impossible to stop him in any other way.
The King is said to have been deeply affected by the sad
accident, and to have sent repeatedly to make inquiries
concerning the state of the unfortunate man, and he has
ordered that he is to receive every possible care and atten-
tion.
THE EMPEROR OF MOROCCO AND THE FRENCH.—
The Moorish Consul at Gibraltar has received a letter
from Morocco, vid Tangier, informing him that, for the
purpose of being nearer the Algerine frontier, and there-
fore having his orders better obeyed by his people there,
the Emperor was about to set out immediately for Fez
and Mequinez, the one being but half a day's journey
from the other, and the latter more properly the rendez-
vous for large assemblages of troops in that part of the
empire. The Moorish Consul states, that on such move-
ments the Cadis of the different districts furnish their
quotas of cavalry, so that he thinks the Emperor will have
nothing short of 100,000 of that force at Fez and Mequi-
nez, 5000 being splendid blacks, quite superior to those
usually seen, and such as astonished the officers of the
Gibraltar garrison who saw some of them at Tangier a few
years ago. The Moorish cavalry are always quite inde-
pendent of a commissariat ; indeed, every man is his own
commissariat, and manages matters thus for himself :
Preparatory to the march he gets a quantity of wheat
toasted by his family ; this, pounded with a portion of
dates and butter, is formed into a mass, of which about
141 b. is put into a prepared leather bag, which he slings
on his shoulder ; and this quantity answers for his con-
sumption for twenty days. It seems an exaggeration to
speak of 100,000 cavalry, unless it be considered that a
young man of thirty is often the father of ten boys, each
brought up to horse and long gun from an early age ;
indeed, a boy mastering a horse at the age of eight is
common.

STEAM BOAT ACCIDENT.—SEVENTY LIVES LOST.—
The following melancholy account is extracted from the
Rio de Janeiro papers :—At five o'clock in the afternoon
of the 25th May, about 200 persons had taken their pas-
sage in the Especuladora steam-boat, which plies between
this city and Nitheropy (a pleasant village on the opposite
side of the harbour.) The next day being Whit-Sunday,
and this the last boat for that evening, was crowded by
respectable parties anticipating a day's pleasure on the
morrow. The clock had just struck five, and the captain
given the order to " cast off," but the moment the paddle-
wheels began to move round a terrible hissing noise was
heard, the precursor of several explosions, which suc-
ceeded each other like flashes of lightning and claps of
thunder—the boiler had burst ; at first nothing could be
seen for a dense cloud of steam that covered the vessel,
from whence issued the most dreadful cries. On the
steam clearing off, a most horror-striking sight presented
itself to view ; the middle part of the deck had been blown
away, and a great number of human beings were disco-
vered—men, women, and children, struggling in the hold,
amidst the boiling water from the exploded boiler. Some
died instantaneously, and these were, -perhaps, the most
fortunate : others, in their endeavours to extricate them-
selves from the horrid cauldron, caught hold of the hot
bars and fragments; but obliged to let go their hold, fell
backwards into it again. Soon after the explosion the
chimney and mainmast fell on the awning, and buried be-
neath it a number of the passengers, who were thus placed
in the greatest jeopardy, as the boiling liquid was fast ap-
proaching them ; but they were rescued by the great ex-
ertions made. The number of victims could not be
ascertained ; but, from more recent information, the
deaths exceeded seventy, and several of the thirty wound-
ed were still in a dangerous state. The cause of the
explosion bad not been exactly ascertained.

THE MURDER OF JOE SMITH.—We mentioned in our
last briefly the murder of this notorious fellow. It appears
from fuller information that the Mormonites have for
some time past been in insurrection. Their leader, how-
ever, Joe Smith, and some of his followers, laid down
their arms on the assurance of protection from outrage.
Joe Smith, his brother Hiram, and some others were con-
fined in gaol at Warsaw, in the State of New York, await-
ing their trial on a charge of treason. The gaol was
strongly guarded by soldiers and anti-Mormons, who had
been placed there by the governor. A Mormon attempted
to rush by the guard for the purpose of forcing his way
into the gaol. He was opposed by the guard, and fired a
pistol at one of the guards, giving him a slight wound.
The governor and his forces being absent, a general con-
fusion ensued in the crowd around the gaol. Joe and his
Mormon fellow prisoners it seems had provided themselves
with pistols, and commenced firing upon the guard within.
He then attempted to escape from the window, when a
hundred balls entered his body, tied he fell a lifeless
corpse. His brother Hiram shared the same fate. Ri-
chards, a leading Mormon, was badly wounded. There
our intelligence ends—what took place after this, God
only knows. Mormons immediately left for Nauvoo to
carry the news of the death of the prophet. The dead
bodies of the Smiths have been conveyed to Nauvoo, by
order of the governor. It was supposed by many that the
Mormons, on seeing them, would break away from all re-
straints, and commence a war of extermination. But no-
thing of the kind occurred. They received their murdered
friends in sorrow—laid down their arms and remained
quiet. Colonel Singleton and his company of sixty men
are still at Nauvoo, and the Mormons submit to their
authority. A man has been knocked down with a musket
in NV arsaw for presuming to express disapprobation at the
murder of the Smiths ; so great is the popular feeling
against the sect. The papers by the Great Western in-
form us, that the Mormons submit to the loss of their
leader in silence. The prophet and his brother were
buried without parade on the 29th June, and the poor
infatuated creatures confidently anticipated his resurrec-
tion on the third day. It is said that a Dr. Richards, of
Massachusetts, a man of talent, has been selected as a
prophet.
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rAudTatroy THEbt SOUTH SEA. ISLANDS.--On the
informed that .a vessel had lately been captured, and most
part of her seamen murdered by the natives of Maryee Is-
land. In order to test the truth of this story, the Magnet
got under weigh, and proceeded to the spot. Soon after
her arrival, a canoe came alongside with a missionary and
three men, who had just come from the south-west ex-
tremity of the island ; and upon being questioned as to
the alleged outrage, they confirmed what the officer of the
Magnet had previously heard, their information being.
that all hands had been kill-d, and the ship sunk, but that
the sails, rope, and part of her stores had been deposited in
the hole of a rock abreast of the spot where the vessel
went down. The missionary further informed the crew
of the Magnet that another vessel had met with a similar
fate ; that the whole of her unfortunate crew, with the ex.
ception of two seamen who had managed to escape to a
more secluded part of the island, had been slain; and that
if the Magnet could lay to till the following morning, they
would bring the two survivors on board. Captain Lewis
consented, and about the middle of the day the missionary
came again alongside with one of the seamen, and the ac-
count he gave of the transaction was, that he sailed from
London in September last, in the brig Janet, of Dumbar-
ton, on a voyage to the South Sea Islands, for a cargo of
sandal-wood and tortoise-shell, but they were wrecked
upon the coral reef of Caledonia, on the 14th of Decem-
ber. Some of the crew perished in the wreck, and the re-
mainder (14 in number) escaped by a boat, and landed
safely on the same day in the Isle of Pines. Their stay
.was but short, owing to the ferocious disposition of the
natives ; and they again set sail, in the hope of gaining
some other island where a more civilized race of people
might be found. Unfortunately, however, they touched
at Maryee, where they were immediately attacked, their
boat destroyed, and twelve of their crew seriously maimed.
He and another sailor, named Richards. were saved, and
they eventually sought refuge in that part of the island.
Nothing further having been learned as to the fate of the
missing ships or•erews, the Magnet proceeded on to Lip-
pore Island, on a further search, and on coming up to that
place the officers ascertained that the name of the former
ill-fated ship was the Two Sisters, a South Sea whaler,
commanded by Captain Brend, and that every soul of the
crew bad been barbarously murdered. Shortly after her
arrival off the coast a large number of the natives, of both
sexes, went on board. The crew were at their respective
duties, but unfortunately one of them happened to take a
slight liberty with one of the women, and a dreadful slaugh-
ter ensued. The natives then plundered the vessel, and in
order to carry out their diabolical revenge, fired her. and
she was thereby utterly consumed. The crew of the Mag-
net being well armed, and believing that some portion oft
the unfortunate whaler's cargo was distributed amongst
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Two Sisters were delivered up. Amongst thet
articlesinjured, a
brought on board were a quadrant
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last. The Magnet then
kept up to the 10th of December
fine shins during the last two
set sail for Sydney. Five
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