The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-02-15 00:00:00

TAE LitERPOOL STAADARD.

FEARFUL MORTALITY.—On Tuesday last, three chil-
dren belonging to a family of the name of Moore were
buried in the New Church-yard, Stockton, which, with
two preceding ones, made five deaths in the brief space
of a fortnight. The smallpox and fevers of the most
malignant nature are, we are sorry to say, making sad
havoc amongst the children of the lower orders of society
in that town.

Twenty-three years ago, says the Sunderland Herald,
a youth belonging to Sunderland jumped overboard from
a ship at Aldborough, on the Thames, while lying at an-
chor, and was supposed to be drowned. It appears, how-
ever, that he had swam ashore, and made his way to
Bridgewater, where he found a home. From that time
his parents never heard of him. He was eleven years on
board of a man-of-war, and last week he came home to
see his parents, of whom his mother only remains.
DEATH OF A ROBBER FROM INTOXICATION.—EarIy
on Sunday morning week, three men were found lying in
a field near Leeds. Near them were three bottles of
Marsala wine, and four which had contained whiskey.
An iron implement named a " jemmy" was also lying
near them on the ground. The constable who found
them had them conveyed to the police-office in a wheel-
barrow, and on the way one of them died. It was then
discovered that the wine and whiskey had been stolen
from the Leeds Public Fever Hospital.
SCHOOLMASTERS IN SCOTLAND.—By a return recently
made to the House of Commons of the number of school-
masters in Scotland, and of the offices held by such inde-
pendent of the office of parochial schoolmaster, it appears
that the number of them is 882 ; of whom 710 are session
clerks, 426 inspectors of poor, 193 collectors of rates, 134
clerks to heritors, and 261 performing other duties of a
private character. The total emoluments of the said
offices and fees received on account of such dues are
£12,259 14s. 3d.
HEAVY DAMAGES.—Our readers will no doubt remem-
ber that in August last the Cricket steamer on the Thames
blew up, and many persons injured thereby. Amongst
these was a Mr. Redgrave and his wife and son. Actions
were brought in the Sheriff's Court against Mr. 0. H.
Smith, the owner of the Cricket, for compensation for the
injuries received by these three individuals, and came on
for hearing on Thursday. A verdict for £2OO was re-
turned in one case; and two verdicts of £5O were then
taken. by consent, for the other two cases.
At the Central Criminal Court, London, John Connell,
aged 47. a discharged seaman from the navy, has been
convicted of feloniously trafficking in seamen's register
tickets, which he procured at different registration offices,
and sold to persons not qualified. He was sentenced to
14 days' imprisonment, with hard labour.—Chas.Wheeler,
aged 33, late a confidential clerk in the service of the
London Joint-Stock Bank, pleaded guilty to an indict-
ment charging him with embezzling and stealing £5OO,
the moneys of the directors, and was sentenced to seven
years' transportation.
A few days since, while the wife of a farmer at Hol
Ridding, near Kirkby Lonsdale, was sitting by the fire-
side, near which her infant was lying in a cradle, and a
boy three years old was playing, some stones fell down
the chimney, and caused some lighted coals to fly into
the room, by which the boy's clothes and the infant's
cradle both caught fire. The mother was severely
scorched in extinguishing the flames, which burned the
boy so dreadfully that he died shortly afterwards, whilst
the infant was also much injured, though it is hoped that
it will recover.

SHOCKING CASE.—Three children having been left
together in a room, at Birmingham, a dispute arose about
the division of some sweetmeats. Caroline Perry, a girl
eight years old, said she would have the whole from
Rosanna Morris, an older but weakly child, or she would
burn her to ashes ' • and she did thrust her against the bars
of the grate with fatal effect. Such, before she died, was
the story of the sufferer and her brother, but the coroner's
jury ascribed the death of the child to her having " fallen
into the fire while engaged in a struggle with Caroline
Perry."
The Aberdeen Journal mentions that a young man
lately announced that he would perform, in a house in the
parish of Aberdour, the extraordinary feat of creeping
into a large bottle, and that when inside the bottle he
would entertain his audience with a solo on the violin,
sing several comic songs, and finish by forcing a live duck
down his throat. At the appointed time, a crowd of curi-
ous and credulous spectators paid their entrance money,
and waited the appearance of the wondrous wizard, but at
last became impatient at his absence, and then discovered
that his accomplice, the money-taker, had fled with the
receipts.
CRUELTY.—At Old Brentford Police-court, on Wed-
nesday, Mr. R. Hunt was called on to find sureties to
answer a charge of cruelty to his nephew, a boy 14 years
of age. It appeared that the boy had been a sort of ser-
vant to his uncle, that he had been kept in solitary con-
finement in a garret by his uncle for a fortnight ending
Saturday last, and fed on bread and water. There had
been no fire in the room during that time, he had straw to
sleep on, and during part of the time he had been tied by
a cord by the leg to the grate, to prevent his escape. He
had been very ill, and bad been supplied with pills by his
uncle. The uncle complained of the boy's bad conduct,
and that the police were prejudiced against him.
AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR.—On Friday the family
residence of Osman Ricardo, Esq., M.P., at Bromes-
berrow, was thrown into a state of confusion by the
sudden entrance of a very fine fox. Reynard, it appears,
had afforded an excellent day's sport for the Ledbury
hounds, and, being hard pressed, ran in a straight direc-
tion for Mr. Ricardo's house, which he entered by dash-
ing through a window, about three yards from the ground,
into one of the bedrooms. The consternation of the in-
mates was further increased by the arrival of the hounds,
who, hesitating not a moment in following the example of
their cunning leader, soon despatched him in his close
quarters. The singular termination of the day's run was
wound up by the gentlemen of the hunt being hospitably,
entertained by the owner of the mansion they had so un-
expectedly paid a visit to.

ATTEMPT TO BURN DOWN A PRINTING OFFICE.—We
last week noticed the loss sustained by fire on the premises
of Mr. Piper (printer) of Ipswich. It has since been dis-
covered that some villain had endeavoured to fire the
building in nine different places on the lower floor. In
three places, wire files, full of papers, had been hung un-
der light woodwork and then fired, burning valuable do-
cuments to ashes, and igniting the wood, which fortu-
nately in each case burnt out without doing serious da-
mage, in consequence of being saturated with wet. The
front counting-house (a small room filled with paper and
shelving) was set on fire in four different places, and a mass
of burning papers falling on the floor, burnt it through
over a space exceeding a square foot. A previous
attempt had been made to fire the office, but it was dis-
covered in time to save its destruction. The incendiary
has not yet been discovered.
WHITE BELGIAN CARROTS versus SWEDE TURNIPS.—
A gentleman at Great Maplestead has this year grown
upon three acres of very poor land, the enormous quan-
tity of Jour thousand bushels of white carrots. The land
was so poor that it was thought not worth cultivating. It
was allowed to seed itself with glass and other seeds, so
as to form a meadow, but the stock rejected it. It was,
two or three years ago, broken up, and last year sown with
white carrot, and the produce was as above stated. Five
beasts were selected from the yard, and tied up ; two of
the fattest and best were fed with Swedes, and the other
three were fed with carrots. It soon became very evident
that those fed with carrots were going on the fastest, and,
from their present appearance, they are quite a month
forwarder than those fed with turnips, notwithstanding
the turnip-fed ones were the best when tied up.—Essex
Standard. _

RIOTS.—Last week a series of riots took place at Shiff-
nall, Oaken Gates, and Wellington, Shropshire. The
disturbance arose from a jealousy entertained by the
English navies against Irishmen employed on the Shrews-
bury and Birmingham Railway ; the former persuaded a
number of colliers to join them, and on Wednesday they
walked in a body, to the number of 40 or 50, into Oaken
gates, armed with sticks and bludgeons in search of the
Irishmen. They thence proceeded to Shiffnal, stating
that they were going to fetch the men employed on Mr.
Hoof's contract of the railway, to enable them to drive
away the Irishmen working on Mr. Murray's contract of
the same line, near Wellington ; but Uvedale Corbett,
Esq., the nearest magistrate, reasoned with the men, and
prevented any outrage. About 12 o'clock the men, then
200 in number, all armed with bludgeons, marched to the
Oaken Gates, where a regular affray was expected to take
place ; but the Irishmen, numbering about 500, being too
many for their opponents, frightened them away. Several
of the rioters have been apprehended.
SINGULAR CAPTURE OF A HOUSEBREAKER.—OR Sa-
turday evening a weaver, named Cameron, was appre-
hended in a rather singular manner. He had taken ad-
vantage of the absence of the inmates of a dwelling-house
in Crown-street, Gorbals, to effect an entrance by a back
window, and not having a lantern, as an older hand would
likely have provided himself with, he coolly tore up one
of the best shirts belonging to the gudeman, and formed
it into something like a torch, with the light of which he
proceeded deliberately to select the best in the house.
The master, however, at this critical juncture, came to
the door, which he found locked, and was on the point of
turning away, supposing that his wife had gone out on
some errand, when his eye caught a glimpse of light
streaming through a back window. He listened, and
suspecting what sort of a customer he had to deal with,
procured the assistance of some of his neighbours who
surrounded the house, and caught the weaver in the act of
bundling up the gear which he thought most valuable.—
Glasgow Mail.
A ROBBER OF HIMSELF.—A few nights ago, a gentle-
man who had got powerfully refreshed with a friend,
wended his way toward his own house in the west end of
Sheffield. He had scarcely reached home, when he
imagined that three men stopped him and demanded his
money. He handed them all he had, viz. 3s. 6d. Still
they seemed to obstruct his onward progress, and he
threw them his watch. There was no getting rid of them,
and he remembered. a pocket pistol that his friend had
given him. Accordingly be handed it out of his pocket,
with the friendly invite, " Here, have a drop of brandy,"
at the same time throwing the bottle towards them. He
'then selected the likeliest, as he thought, for a struggle—
a wood post—which he thrashed till his lady opened the
door and found her husband hitting right and left ; his
hands were bruised all over, and shoulders, with the ex.
ercise' nearly out of joint. Next morning, the purse,
watch. and a broken brandy bottle, were found in his own
garden, where he had evidently thrown them, under the
delusion of being robbed by three " nairvies."—Shef.lriB.
A RADICAL CURE OF A BILIOUS COMPLAINT nv HOL-
LOWAY'S PILLS.—Mr. John Madden, of Derryaughal,
near Moy, county Tyrone, according to his own account,
suffered perhaps more than most people, from severe
bilious attacks, accompanied with a disordered stomach,
and great derangement of the system, from which, last
spring, he was completely cured by taking Holloway's
Pills. He now occasionally has recourse to them, as they
have the effect of keeping him entirely free from all affec-
tions of the liver and stomach, besides improving his
health. Persons of weak and delicate health should try
this fine invigorating medicine, which. would soon
strengthen the tone of the system.

RECORD OF MISFORTUNES.—In the Banker's Magazine
for February, there is a list of 270 firms which have stopped
paytneiit from August to December last. Nearly all
these merchants of the first class have been brought to
the ground by the operation of Sir Robert Peel's free-
trade and monetary legislation. We have gone through
the long list to ascertain where they all lived and where
they moved in all the pride of mercantile wealth and
greatness, and we find 78 resided in London, 49 in Liver-
pool, 33 in Manchester, and 25 in Glasgow, making 185 ;
the other 85 consist chiefly of foreign merchants, con-
nected with the Colonial markets.
TREMENDOUS RUN WITH A Fox.—We hear of a tre-
mendous run with the Cambridgeshire hounds yesterday
(Friday), the exact details of which have not yet reached
us. They met at Harlton Wheat Sheaf, found at Evers-
den, went at a killing pace straight to Haley Wood, and
thence to Morden Heath, where poor pug gave up the
ghost. Some four or five only were up at the finish, one
of whom was the celebrated Miss Reynolds. the most
celebrated lady-rider in the kingdom. We regret to add
that several horses were left dead in the field in conse-
quence of the severity of the run, the huntsman's horse
being one of those which thus yielded up its life for the
pleasure of man.—Cambridge Chronicle.
CAPTURE OF RARE BlRDS.—Several rare and valuable
birds have been captured in the vicinity of Margate du-
ring the past few days. One of the Rough-legged Buz-
zards (Buteo Buzzard) was shot a short time since in St
Nicholas marshes. A fine specimen of the Bohemian
Chatterer (Bombycilla Garrula) has lately been shot by
Mr. Miller, of Coalswood, near Margate. Two others
have been taken near Birchington, and one at Ramsgate.
In 1829 this country was visited by great numbers of
these birds, and in Kent several specimens were taken,
particularly in the neighbourhood of Canterbury. A
great Northern Diver (Colymbus Glacialis) was shot near
Margate a few days since. These birds are rarely seen so
near our coast, except when attracted by shoals of her-
rings or sprats; and they have occasionally been taken by
a baited hook while diving in the water for their prey.—
Muefford's Kentish Observer.
CURIOUS INCIDENT.—On Saturday, in Hosier-street,.
Calton, during the temporary absence of the mistress of
the house, a woman entered the room where two young
men were sleeping, and, after carefully scrutinizing the
inmates of the bed, remarked to herself that "it was all
right," and quietly deposited a fine healthy male child
between the unconscious sleepers. The transaction was
witnessed by a young man who was lying in bed in ano-
ther part of the room; but, as he was in a weak state of
health, having but partially recovered from fever, he
could not in any way interfere with the movements of
the woman. The astonishment of the mistress of the
house may be imagined, when, on entering the door, the
lusty squalling of the little stranger met her ear ; and
when she saw the place which had been selected for its
deposit she awakened the sleepers, but they both pro-
tested their entire ignorance of any circumstances which
could have led to such an unceremonious intrusion; and
the child, a fine boy of about 10 months old, has been
handed over to the parochial authorities.—Edinburgh
Mail.

-----
SAGACITY OF A Doc.—The Dundee Advertiser reports
the suicide of a young girl at Rothsay by drowning, in
consequence of her friends refusing their consent to her
marriage with a young man to whom she was engaged.
Our provincial contemporary adds :—" There was a cir-
cumstance connected with this tragical affair which in-
vests it with a horrid and melancholy interest. The girl
left the house between five and six o'clock in the evening,
and returned again about eleven o'clock in a state of con-
vulsive agitation—her eyes frenzied, her hair dishevelled,
and her dress disordered and torn, and dripping with wet;
and she bore evidence of having been engaged in an agi-
tating and violent struggle. She spoke not, but opening
the door, thrust in the house-dog, by which she had been
accompanied, and, shutting the door, immediately dis-
appeared. It is conjectured, and with a great degree of
probability, that this sagacious animal, with that almost
reasoning instinct for which the Newfoundland dog is so
much noted, had by force prevented her from committing
the rash act, which she had attempted, but which she
could not accomplish until she returned with him, a dis-
tance of between two and three miles."

AGED GOVERNESSES.—The projected Asyulm for Aged
Governesses is a merciful appendage to the Governess'
Benevolent Institution : the State having declined to in-
terfere tas it does in other countries) in organising a sys-
tem that would secure to families properly qualified and
duly accredited ladies to perform the duties of home edu-
cation, and to direct moral as well as social and intellec-
tual training, it devolved upon private zeal and benevo-
lence to move in the matter; the Governess' Benevolent
Institution has thus been associated with a college in
which governesses pass voluntarily through an ordeal by
which their qualifications are ascertained, and which can-
not fail to induce confidence in those to whom it is en-
trusted the important task of forming the minds, guarding
the tempers, and directing the hearts of the young : in
short, conducting education in all its various and distinct
departments. While the patrons and directors afford
temporary assistance in the too frequent cases of distress ;
while " The Home " in Harley-street is indeed a home to
to those who need such a protection until they obtain cer-
tificates and situations; while they grant annuities twice
a year to a certain number of aged candidates ; and while
they are " instant in seasen and out of teason " in the
glorious labour of this good work, they also desire to bnlld
an Asylum for Aged Governesses, for those who, having,
during a long life of labour, undergone all the duties and
cares of maternity without reaping any of its advantages,
have no child to steady their footsteps along the down-hill
of life, no duteous hand to smooth their pillow, no arm to
lean on, no voice to retail the little business or news of
the passing world to their deafened ear.
THE POWER OF WITCHCRAFT.—Some days ago, a per-
son of the name of Southward, who keeps a small shop
in the village of Dinnington. had five sovereigns stolen
from a cup in which he was accustomed to keep all his
cash. Being unable to discover, by ordinary means, who
had been the robbery, he determined to resort to a " wise
man," residing in Sheffield, of whose fame he had heard,
in order to obtain his aid in recovering the stolen pro-
perty. He accordingly repaired to the abode of this
wise man," who, it must be admitted, gave a most
eminent proof both of his " wisdom" and his craft.
The professor of the " mystic art" told his silly dupe that
he could not acquaint him with the name of the person
who had taken the money ; but he said that he had it in
his power to torment him if he did not leturn it. What
the man paid for this information, we are unable to state;
butitis not to be supposed that such a display of "wisdom"
would be made for nothing. On his return home, the
man was assailed on all sides with inquiries as to the result
of his interview, and when he told them, the news spread
with wonderful rapidity throughout the whole neighbour-
hood. Amongst those who heard it was the real thief,
and, fearing lest he should be " tormented before his time"
through the influence of the magician's word, if he did
not restore the money, he tied £3 of it, probably all he
had remaining, in a piece of cloth, and having knocked at
the man's door, he threw the money in directly it was
opened, and then ran away. The man heartily rejoiced at
having recovered so large a portion of his lost treasure,
and no doubt attributed it to the magical power of the
"wise man" whom he had consulted.—Doncaster Gazette.
GREAT PROCESSION OF SAILORS IN SUPPORT OF THE
NAVIGATION LAWS.—The sailors' demonstration, on
Wednesday, on the Thames, was one of the most novel
and imposing that bas probably ever been witnessed on
the river. At an early hour four steamers belonging to
the Waterman's Company were engaged in collecting the
crews from the numerous vessels moored between Black-
wall and Gravesend, towing them in their boats to the
starting opposite the Shadwell entrance of the London
Docks, where an immense crowd of spectators surrounded
all the places whence they could catch even a glimpse of
the proceedings. Shortly after one o'clock the steamers
were filled completely by the blue jackets, and each steam-
vessel was successively puc in motion, all following in
single line, the decks of each being lined with a grand
display of union-jacks. of which there could not be less
than one hundred. To the third steamer was attached,
fixed together by strong ropes, about fifty small boats also
filled with sailors, each boat having a union-jack. The
bands on board the steamers played national airs, which
contributed much to enliven the scene. The men were
all dressed in blue, wearing round their caps a blue ribbon
bearing " The Navigation Laws-" They reached Water-
loo Bridge a few minutes before three o'clock, where they
disembarked, and proceeded to Trafalgar-square in pro-
cession, three abreast, from whence they marched to the
Home-office, where the delegates had an audience with
Sir G. Grey, who then received their petition for presen-
tation to the Queen, praying her Majesty not to sanction
any alteration in the navigation laws of this country. As
they passed under London Bridge, Southwark Bridge,
and Blackfriars Bridge, the men gave a most vociferous
huzza, which was most warmly responded to by the
thousands of spectators assembled on those edifices, and
the neighbouring shores. Great part of the snipping in
the pool and the docks were all decked out with their
flags, evincing the feelings of the owners to be in the
strictest unison with that of the men. After the reception
of the petition, the men all returned to their respective
vessels. AU the proceedings were marked by the most
praiseworthy decorum and order.