The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-12 00:00:00

STANDARD.

" Mr. John Myles, a very experienced officer, states, that the
city parishes are in general very wealthy, and do not make the
requisite inquiries. The frauds, too, are of a nature which can-
not be detected in the present state of things, except by. acci-
dent. One mode of working' the fraud is by a combination of
this sort:—there are three oul_women, for instance, one residing
in Cripplegate, one in St. Sepulchre's, one in Bishopsgate, or in
a different part of the town. These hree women will lay their
heads together, and agree to acknowledge each other as resi-
dents, by which they are enabled to obtain relief from several
different parishes by giving a different residence to each pa-
rish where they claim relief. Thus when the officer makes
inquiry at the lieuse of the old woman in Bishopsgate, whether
Mary Jones, the old woman of Cripplegate, lives there? the
old woman. at Bishopsgate say, Y es, she does; we live to-
gether; she is a worthy creature, and in a very necessitous
condition, and has suffered very severely.' The old woman of
Cripplegate will go and kidge, at times, with her friend at'
Bishopsgate, in order to give a colour to her statement, and
make other persons corroborate it ; and so on with the others.
By accident I once detected a man who was an .inmate of
Lambeth workhouse, and at the same time receiving a pen-
sion of ss. a week from our parish, and ss. a-week from St.
John's, Hackney. I constantly hear of these frauds in the other
parishes."

MELANCHOLEY OCCURRENCE AT DEWS-
BURY.

On Saturday night- last a poor man of the name of
Joseph Baxendale was shot by Mr. Edward Hague, of
Dewsbury, under circumstances which will appear from
the following aLstract of the evidence given before Mr.
Thomas Lee, jun. coroner, on Tuesday :
George Baxendale, the son of the deceased, stated that
he and his father had been shopping at Dewsbury on
Satin-day night, and afterwards went to several public-
houges, the last of which they quitted between 1 and 2
o'clock on Sunday Morning. When they had got within
a few yards of Mr. Edward Hague's house, Dr. Thornton
came up to them, riding Very fast, and when he got to
the small gate of Mr. Hague's house he got (Allis horse,
and desired the witness to take hold of it. Dr. Thornton
then walked up the causeway to Mr. Hague's house,
when the dogs came out of the house, and Dr. Thornton
began to tease them • the dogs made a great noise. At
this moment Mr. Hague opened the window, and Dr.
Thornton ran behind. the kitchen among some boughs.
Mr. Hague then said, "Mind your heads," and immedi-
ately fired a pistol, and his father instantly fell. Dr.
Thornton then came running down the • causeway, and
strode over his father, who was lying in the gateway,
.and got on his horse and rode off. Witness then asked
his father if he was shot, when he said—"Ay, lad, it has
shot me enough." Assistance was immediately pro-
cured, and Mr. Hague was called up, who sent to Dews-
bury for a doctor. It was near 2 o'clock on Sunday
morning when the pistol was fired.
Dr. W. B. Thornton, of Hosking, stated that he had
been at Dewsbury on Saturday, and that he left between
1 and 2 o'clock on Sunday. morning. He was riding
quick. When he came to Mr. Hague's house lie hung
his horse to the gate, and went up quickly to the door.
He pulled the bell and knocker, when two or three
terrier dogs came barking round; a large dog was
chained, which made a noise, and he went to try to quiet
him, and hit him with a stick, which made him worse;
the dog seized hold of his stick, and when he was trying
to get it away from him, a window was thrown up, and
Mr. Edward Hague called, but the Alogs made such a
noise that lie could not hear what he said. He immedi-
ately heard the report of a gun or pistol, and soon after
heard a voice call out "I am shot." On turning his
head he saw a man and boy within Mr. Hague's pre-
mises, about two yards from him. The man was standing
on the causeway leading to the stable-yard, and the boy
near him, on the grass. He took no notice of the man,
not-supposing he had been shot. He did not ask the
boy to take hold of his horse, or meak to him at all. He
did not attempt to speak to Mr. Hague; he was alarmed
at the suddenness of the shot, and ran to his horse, and
immediately rode away.

Joseph Clegg, of ''hornbill, got up in consequence of
being called by the son of the deceased, who told him
that Mr. Hague had shot his father. When he got on
the road he saw a man lying on his back; and witness at
first thought that he was drunk, but afterwards found
that he was shot in the right breast. Mr. Hague came
in in about a quarter of an hour, and said, " I am very
sorry for you, Baxendale; I hope you will be no worse ;"
and immediately sent to Dewsbury for a surgeon. The
deceased was stripped and put to bed. He appeared to
be quite drunk. The surgeon arrived in about three-
quarters of an hour.
Mr: John Savage, surgeon of Dewsbury, after de-
scribing the manner in which he had treated the wound,
stated the result of a post mortem examination. A ball
had penetrated through the pectoral muscle on the right
side, and through a portion of the right lung, about an
inch from the bottom of it, and entered the spine between
the tenth and eleventh vertebrae. Witness found the
ball in the spinal canal. The wound was quite sufficient
to cause death. Mr. Hague had ordered a bed to be
prepared in his own drawing-room, but the witness did
not think it desirable to move him. Deceased told him
that Mr. Hague had been the kindest friend possible.
The Jury returned the following verdict :—" We are of
opinion that Mr. Hague fired the pistol with an intention
to frighten the persons in the ground, and not to shoot
them; and that the deceased was accidentally killed by
the shot. We think that Dr. Thornton was very blame-
able in not remaining to render his assistance."
We understand that Mr. Hague is deeply affected by
this fatal accident, and that it is his intention to make a
provision. for the wife and family of the deceased.—
Leeds Mercury.

Among the number of petitions presented to the House of
Commons on Tuesday week, was one from Mr. George For-
wood, of this town, presented by Lord Sandon, upon a subject
of considerable interest to numbers of the industrious classes,
and.' their families, viz., the payment of wages at public-houses.
The consequences of this pernicious practice are fully exposed
in the.petition, and we hare the strongest confidence that the
subject. will excite au inquiry among those who, having the
power, we have no doubt will, with pleasure exercise it for the
benefit of the persons they employ, and instead of intrusting
the money to the care of any individual to be paid elsewhere,
to cause their workmen to be. paid upon their own premises.
The interest of the tradesman is sa intimately connected with
the sobriety of his work Men, that we feel assured the importance
of the subject will attract the attention of those who may not
hitherto have had it brought under their consideration. Many
respectable tradesmen have long been aware of advantages de-
rived by their men being enabled to lay out their money upon
the best terms, and with this view have paid them their wages
on leaving their work ou Fridays, thus giving their families the
opportunity of the Saturday's early market, a practice which
cannot be too strongly recommended. Our mercantile friends
will, we trust, excuse our endeavouring to interest them also in
favour of the subject we advocate, as their inquiry may prove
beneficial to a numerous class often suffering severe privations.
We allude to the porteis and labourers employed in warehouses
under those merchants or brokers who do not employ a master-
porter to do their work. If, upon inquiry, it should be found
that not only is the employment of those men left to the selec-
tion of the warehouseman, but that he is also intrusted with
making up the pay-list, and receiving the money from the cash-
keeper, to be paid at the place most convenient or profitable to
himself, which may be his own public-house, where the men
who spend the most money. obtain a preference of work,—or
that from which he can derive an advantage from taking the
men to be paid there ; they will see that they will be rendering
an essential service by directing their men to be paid on the
spot, and thus so far prevent the continuance of a practice so
pernicious in its consequences. When the public-house is made
the pay-table, the intoxication of the Saturday night, leads to
the profanation, if not to the total disregard of the Sabbath-
day, the proper observance of which is so essential to social or-
der and the well-being of society; we, therefore, most earnestly
recommend the subject to the attention of our xeaders.—Liver,
pool Courier.