The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-02 00:00:00

DOMESTIC.

SUICIDE AT CHESTER CASTLE.—About nine o'clock
yesterday morning week, Thos. White, a private soldier
in the 6th Infantry, now stationed at Chester Castle,
committed suicide by cutting his throat. The unhappy
man was a native of Ireland, about 40 years of age, 17 of
which he had served in the regiment; he was much ad-
dicted to drink, and was under punishment for having
been intoxicated.

CAUTION TO MOTHERS.—On Thursday last, an inquest
was held in Leeds, on the body of John Little, aged 14
days. The deceased being rather unwell, his father, on
Monday evening last, obtained a pennyworth of Godfrey's
cordial, at a druggist's shop. The same evening he mixed
five or six drops of the medicine with some warm water
and sugar, and his wife administered it to the child. This
in a short time produced heavy sleep, and the parents be-
coming alarmed, the father went and obtained the at-
tendance of Mr. Bell, surgeon, between four and five
o'clock on the following morning, but his efforts were un-
availing, and the child died the same evening.

RETRIBUTION.—A gentleman, one of the members of
an opulent wholesale firm, lately saw goods. sold by his
partners on credit, marked up in the shop of the pur-
chaser, who kept a "cheap shop," considerably below the
cost price. He therefore walked home and desired his
wife to go and purchase the goods at the price at which
they were ticketed, and have them sent home. On their
arrival, the porter who carried them had the pleasure to
see the gentleman himself, who, instead of payment. said,
" That will do, tell your master the bill shall be set against
his account with the firm of F- and Co." Having
thus got possession of his property at some 20 per cent.
below the price at which he was creditor for it, he next
exerted the law, by making the party a bankrupt for the
balance ! —Br istol Journal

PROHIBITION OF " SMOKE."—A bill to prohibit the
nuisance of smoke from furnaces or manufactories was,
some time ago, brought into the Hciuse of Commons by
Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. W. Beckett, and Lord Francis
Egerton, and is now reprinted, as amended by the com-
mittee of the whole house. The number of clauses is 24.
Occupiers of furnaces are required, under certain penal-
ties, to prevent the issue of "opaque" smoke for more
than a certain length of time in 24 hours ; that is to say,
from any chimney from which is emitted the smoke of
one furnace only, for a longer net iod in the whole than 12
minutes in every three consecutive hours ; and from every
chimney from which is emitted the smoke of too fui naces,
for a longer period in the whole than 24 minute s in every
three consecutive hours, and so on in proportion ; 48
minutes in every three consecutive hours being the maxi-
mum. " Opaque" smoke is defined by clause 2 to be
smoke not transparent at the point of its exit from the
chimney.
THUNDER STORM.—A very terrific thunder storm oc-
curred in the West Hiding of York on Monday. At
Longwood, near Huddersfield, the damage don?, was con-
siderable, the furniture in several houses being much
injured. At Barnsley the electric fluid struck a barn and
fired it, and several sheep and horses were killed. At a
house in Shrewsbury-road, Sheffield, the lightning de-
scended by the bell wire, and entered the dining-room,
blackening and rending the wall by the fire-place, burning
a picture and frame and the frame of a mirror, and shiver-
ing the mirror into a thousand fragments : a female ser-
vant was struck blind, and so continues. In a house near
Swinton a mantel-piece was torn from its place arid hurled
with terrific violence against the opposite wall, where,
having linden deep indentation, it remained. One of the
tall chimneys at the manufactory of Mr. Makin, of Atter-
cliffe, was so deeply cut into, that it is expected a con-
siderable portion of it must be taken down. Much damage
was done also at Otley, llarrowgate, and other places.

SODA-WATER MAD.—A few days ago a seaman, named
Raphael Brown, was paid off from his ship, receiving £37.
Soon afterwards, when about to start in a steamer for the
north, he received a letter from his father, stating that his
sister had gone cut of her mind. This preyed upon him
so much that he became insane himself, the chief indica-
tion of his disorder being a propensity to drink immode-
rately of soda-water. He quitted the steamer, leaving
his clothes on board. He went to the Ship Inn, where
his demands for soda-water astonished everybody. Be-
tween Saturday night and Monday afternoon he consumed
the enormous quantity of 120 bottles, Ile afterwards
went t) another public-house, where he drank thirty-five
bottles, and began to talk so irrationally, calling for a
knife to cut his throat, that an officer was sent for. The
latter, by promising him more soda-water, got him away,
after a further consumption of fifteen bottles. He was
conveyed to the station-house, whence he was sent to the
Workhouse. On his way thither he insisted upon enter-
ing a ginger-beer and mineral-water manufactory, where
he despatched seven bottles of soda-water and ginger-
beer in three minutes, and called for more ; but the pro-
prietor, fearing the man would burst, declined opening
him a further supply.
- -

LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT.—On Saturday week a small
party of friends left Glasgow for the purpose of visiting
the Falls of Clyde, among whom were Mr. Walter Bax-
ter and his lady. After having seen the two lower falls
the party separated, one portion proceeding upwards to
visit the Bonnington fall, while Mr. and Mrs. Baxter and
a friend remained behind. They seated themselves on the
bank of the river, waiting the return of their friends, when
Mrs. Baxter expressed a desire to see " Wallace's Cave,"
which was below, and in the immediate vicinity. She ac-
cordingly went to the spot, accompanied by the friend
already alluded to, and, having surveyed the locality, re-
quested that he would call her husband to participate in
the sight. Leaving Mrs. Baxter seated by the river's
brink, the gentleman retired a few paces to call her hus-
band, and on his return found that, in the very brief in-
terval which bad elapsed, Mrs. Baxter had disappeared.
Whether the unfortunate lady had fainted and toppled
from the rock, or whether she had risen and approached
too near the brink, and fallen into the flood, will never
now be known, for the only trace left behind was her
handkerchief lying upon the rocky seat which she had
occupied when her friend proceeded to call her husband.
Every available means were employed to recover the body,
and it was found only at two o'clock on Monday morning.
Mrs. Butter had only been nine months a wife.

MURDER AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE IN WORCESTER.
—The city of Worcester was on Thursday a orning last
thrown into a painful state of excitement by the disco-
very that a man had murdered his nephew and afterwards
attempted suicide. The victim was Benjamin Hooper, a
boy about five years of age, living with his parents, who
keep a huckster's shop in Pleasant-street, and his mur-
derer—his uncle —Jabez Hooper, a single man, aged 45,
residing in the house. It would appe it that the dreadful
act was done while the perpetrator laboured under nervous
excitement brought on by long indulgence inl,qnor. The
boy had gone to bed at his usual hour, and was fidlowed
by his uncle, who slept with him. About three in the
morning the boy's mother heard a noise proceeding from
the bedroom, and on going thither discovered to her hor-
ror the floor covered with blood. She ran down stairs.
and called several police-officers, who on entering the
apartment found the boy dead on the floor, with his throat
cut. The murderer also lay in a pool of his own blood,
with his throat dreadfully cut. The wound was sewed
up, but it appeared scarcely possible that he could sur-
vive. Whatever his condition when he did the deed, he
was afterwards perfectly rational, and expressed his wants
in legible writing. He bad before attempted self-destruc-
tion.
POACHING EXTRAORDINARY.—We have often heard
of the ravages committed by the hooded crow on the eg,gs
cf game during the breeding season, but we were scarcely
prepared for such a proof of wholesale destruction as the
following fact discloses. A few days ago, Mr. Purves,
tenant of Linton Burtifoot, ascertaining that there was a
hooded crow's nest in a certain tree on his farm, pro-
ceeded to the spot with his gun the intention of
destroying the brood of young before they took their de-
parture from the parent nest. On arriving at the place,
however, Mr. Purves was much disappointed at discover-
ing that the whole brood had flown. Knowing the de-
structive propensities of this vermin, he had the curiosity
to examine the ground around the foot of the tree, and
was so astounded at the number of partridge egg-shells
which he found strewed about, that, lest he should be
accused of exargeration, he took the precaution of re-
questing two gentlemen, his neighbours, to assist hum in
counting the shells, when, to ther astonishment, they
picked up the enormous number of 196 shells of partridge
eggs, within a few yards of the tree! The whole of these
eggs were evidently consumed in feeding the young birds;
but how many the old lady and gentleman had themselves
gobbled up without ever bringing them near the family
domicile, it would be difficult to estimate.---Kelso Mail.
THE CONFECTIONERY TRADE.—Some few weeks since
a memorial was presented to the President of the Board
of Trade, by the journeymen confectioners, respecting
the introduction of hard confectionery into England from
Halifax, North America, and which was done in direct
opposition to the tariff of last year. The parties who im-
ported the goods contended, that, under the navigation
act, which was passed to enable the inhabitants of Halifax
to enjoy the same privileges as the people of England, the
goods, by being manufactured at Halifax, were, to all in-
tents and purposes, British-manufactured goods, and
therefore could be admitted at the duty of Id. per lb.
This was met by the trade, who stated that sugar was not
the production of Haritax, but procured from. the West
Indies; and by its being admitted at a very small duty
into Halifax, the result would be, that, if the trade were
allowed to continue, it would throw every workman in
England out of employ, besides causing a deficiency in.
the revenue of upwards of a quarter of a million sterling.
These proceedings have at length terminated by an order
in council being issued, prohibiting the import of any.
hard confectionery into any of the ports of the United
Kingdom under a duty of 6d. ter lb., and which enact-
ment came into operation on Monday week. Since then
it is understood that seven tons weight of lozenges have-
arrived in the port of London ; and, although exertions
have been made to get it admitted at the duty of Id. per
lb., the attempt has been unsuccessful, and it is now in
bond.

POPERY.—The town of Walsall was, last week, tit?,
theatre of one of those exhibitions which the lovers of
show in the Rotnish Church will make in defiance of the
laws of the land, so long as the authorities do not inter-
fere to prevent it. It was the procession of a certain body
called the " Catholic Guild," in which the interdicted
carrying of the Cross was performed. The several ranks
in costume, with music and banners displayed, went forth
to their pei ambulation, to the number of 174, besides the
clergy and friends who "honoured" the meeting with
their presence. The band headed the procession, before
them being carried a richly ornamented processional cross,
and a banner representing the crucifixion of our Lord,
with an "appropriate" motto. The females followed.
attired with capes, and other peculiar adornments, with.
whom were borne garlands of flowers, tastefully canopied
orer them ; then followed the Chaplain of the " Guild,"
with the assistant clergy. The girls succeeded dressed in
white, with black hoods and capes, covered with a flower-
ing veil, and bearing artificial lily flowers in their band.
Before the boys, who were attired as the men, in the
cloaks of the " Guild," with the cruciform shield upon
the breast, was borne another cross, and a banner in-
scribed with the lines which tradition states to have been
read by the Emperor Constantine in his vision—" In this
shalt thou conquer." The large " processional cross,"
and the banner of the Walsall Roman Catholic Guild,
preceded the men, who were conducted by the members of
their council and the clergy. The whole line was inter-
spersed with garlands of flowers. Such a scene has not
been witnessed in the neighbourhood since the Reforma-
tion.—Birminghant Advertiser.

THE POISONING CASE AT LONDO.N.—On Monday the
inquest on the body of Mrs. Belaney, who died in Lon-
don recently from the effects of poison, suspected to have
been administered b%. her husband, was resumed. Mrs.
Mary Stubhs, a widow lady, and aunt of Mrs. Belaney,
who trembled a good deal and appeared greatly affected,
was sworn. She said she resided at North Sunderland,
in Durham, and rented a farm from her late si,t.r, Mrs.
Rachel Skelly, mother of the deceased, at £lOO a year.
She went twice to see her sister before her death. Her
sister was then living at the prisoner's house. On the
Saturday she saw Mr. Belaney, who told her Mrs. Skelly
was asleep, having had a little laudanum, and expressed a
hope that she would be better when she awoke. Witness
understood Mrs. Skelly died that day ; but her niece did
not ask her in when she again called. Mrs. Stubbs un-
derstood the property which she rented from her sister
passed on that lady's death to Mrs. Belaney, and from her
to her husband. Witness received notice to quit from
Mr. Belaney, whose wife, on Mrs. Skelly's death, she
looked upon as her landlady. Witness told Mr. Belaney
she did not expect a notice to quit; but he replied it was
Mrs. Skelly's express wish. Witness, however, had rea-
son to think otherwise. She did not know on what terms
the prisoner and his wife lived, as she had not seen them
above twice together. Mrs. Skelly had five houses, and
had no child but Rachel. The inquest was adjourned
unt 1 Thursday, and then terminated with a verdict of
wilful murder against Mr. Belaney. On Saturday the
prisoner was brought up again before the magistrates,
and committed to the August session of the Central Cri-
minal Court, for trial on the charge of the wilful murder
of his wife.

THE DUKEDOM OF SUSSEX.—Their Lordships sat as
a Committee of Privilege, for the further hearing of this
cease, on Tuesday last. Sir Thomas W ilde called Augusta
Emma D' Este, the sister of the claimant, and Lady -Vir-
ginia Murray, aunt of the bite witness. Lady Virginia
proved that the late Duke of Sussex and her sister lived
together as man and wife, and that she was present at
the birth of the claimant, whom the duke called the
Prince Augusta. Dr. Lushington was called, and men-
tioned a conversation of four hours' duration, with the
Prince touching his martiage, The evidence of the
learned doctor was, however rejected. Dr. Nicholas
Wiseman, who resided twenty-two years at Rome, and
was coadjutor of the Bishop of Rome, gave evidence re-
specting the law of marriages in that city, and showed
that such a marriage was valid in that country: and the
children legitimate. At length, after the examination of
a Catholic priest, of the order of Jesuits, who had studied.
at Rome had been proceeded with, the Lord Chancellor
gave it as his opinion, that, on the subject of the marriage
law, they should have the evidence of some member of
some tribunal at Rome, or some lawyer practising at
Rome. The committee adjourned sine die, in order to
afford time to Sir Thomas Wilde to procure additional
testimony in support of the claim. The Lord Chancellor
reminded Sir Thomas Wilde of the necessity of procuring
this additional testimony before the judges went on circuit.
Their lordships sat again on Friday, when Dr. Thomas
Brown, vicar apostolic for Wales, was examined as to the
Roman law of marriage. He testified that the marriage
of two Protestants by a Protestant, at Rome, would be
held valid, and the issue would be entitled to inherit
property. A letter was put in from the Secretary of
State to Lord Grenville, by which it was proposed to
allow Lady Augusta Murray an annuity, provided she
would not use the royal arms. A clerk from Coutts and
Co.'s proved the payment of £l,BOO a year to Lady
Augusta Murray. This closed the case for the claimant.
Mr. Earle having summed up on behalf of the claimant,
the Lord Chancellor submitted to the common law Judges
a case founded on the evidence. The committee again
adjourned sine die.
SALARIES AND EMOLUMENTS OF GOVERNMENT
OFFICERS.—The following are extracts from the evidence
(given before a parliamentary committee) of Mr. Leonard
Edmunds, clerk of the crown, as to the salaries and
emoluments of some of the public officers :—" The salary
of the reading clerk, the junior clerk of the table, is £l5OO
a-year. The salary of the clerk-assistant of the parlia-
ments is £3OOO a-year. The salary of the second clerk
of the table is £2500. The salary of the Berg ant-at-
arms in the House of Lords is £l5OO a-year, and £2OOO
a-year in the Commons. The sergeant-at-arms receives
£l5OO a-year for his services in this house. His services
in the Court of Chancery are paid by fees received there,
which fees amount to a sufficient sum to enable him to
pay his deputy for his services in the Court of Chancery,
and for his services in this house. The sergeant-at-arms
is an officer of state in this house, having no responsible
duties. The registrars of the Court of Chancery receive
from £l2OO to £2OOO a-year. The masters in the Court
of Exchequer, who are officers for the taxation of costs,
receive from £l2OO to £l5OO a-year. The various officers
lately created by acts of the session 1842, in lunacy, and
on the abolition of the six clerks' office, receive from
£l2OO to £2OOO each. The taxing officers of the Court
of Chancery receive £2OOO each ; the commissioners in
lunacy £2OOO each ; and various other officers in courts
of justice receive £l2OO each. Under a late act of par-
liament the tithe commissioners receive £2OOO a-year
each. The registrar of births, deaths, and marriages, a
new officer, receives £lOOO a-year. The clerks in the
offices of this house commence with small salaries—they
commence at £l5O, and rise to £l5OO by seniority. In
the House of Commons they are pretty nearly on the
( same scale. In the law offices I find in the secretary of
bankrupts' office the chief clerk receives £5OO a-year, and
the junior clerk £3OO. The door keepers of the Houses
of Parliament receive from £2OO to £5OO. The door-
keepers at the Commons receive at present between £9OO
and £lOOO a-year. Their successors are to receive £3OO
and £5OO. In no office of the courts of law do I find a
less salary than £5OO a-year for a principal clerk. The
clerks' salaries range from £2OO to £5OO and £6OO a-year.