The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-20 00:00:00

an of his intended procedure

t had passed. On rec

the latter had jc

he had fashioned a ring

n inquiring respecting

orders

jaw. On some occasions
the Somers with blasphemo

the same time th,

:ted the hand of

cumstances led me to regard the information I received from

at Gans

'oort in a much

d to my mind
pencer. W 11(

I 1 have

of the I

York, I at once gave him

id and a courteous wel,

dismissed from til

azil squadron on account of drunken-

ness and other improper conduct, and tt
desirous that he should be

smissed from the br

count of the young men who wer

ci with r

blood, two of them

by alliance, and all f

placed under my immediate car

The circumstance of his being th

:overnment enhanced his t

more d

t rid of hire

and mad

heard that he would be willing to join the Grampus,
I desired Lieutenant Gansevoort to state to Mr. Spencer
that, if he would apply to Commodore Perry to detach
him from the Somers, I would second his application.

The application was accordingly made and I seconded it,
earnestly urging that it might be granted in order to secure
the comfort of the young officers. Commodore Perry, how-
ever, declined to detach Midshipman Spencer. I observed
that Spencer was in the habit of associating little with the
other officers, but that he was continually intimate with the
crew. He was often in the habit of joking with them, and
smiling whenever he met them with a smile never known but
on such occasions; and I had frequently observed in him a
strange flashing of the eye. In the evening 1 gave orders to
Mr. Perry, my clerk, to have all the officers to come aft upon
the quarter-deck. When they were brought up I approached
Spencer and addressed him thus :—" I understand, Sir, that
you aspire to the command of the Somers." With a defe-
rential air he replied, " Oh, no, Sir !" " Did you not," said
I, " tell Mr. Wales that you had a mutinous project on foot
—that you intended to kill the commander and the officers of
the Somers, and such of the crew as you could not seduce
to your plans, and to enter• upon a course of piracy ?" " I
may have told him something like it," he replied, " but it
was only in joke." " You admit, then, that ou told him of
such a plan ?" " Yes, Sir." " This, Sir," I continued,
• •

" you must know is joking upon a forbidden subject. This
joke, Sir, may cost you your life. Be pleased, Sir, to re-
move your neckerchief." He did so. I took it and opened
it, but there was nothing in it. I asked him what he had

One with the paper that was in it ? " The paper," he
said, " which had been in it contained my day's work; and
I destroyed it." "It is_a strange place, Sir," said I,_`• to

keep :your accounts." He acqUiesced with an air of the
greatest deference and blandness. I said to him, " Your
design was to make yourself commander of this vessel. You
must have been aware that you could compass it only by
passing over my dead body, and over the dead bodies of all
the officers of the Somers._ You had laid out for yourself,

Sir, a great deal to do. It is my duty to confine you."
Turning to Lieutenant Gansevoort, I said, " Arrest Mr,
Spencer, and place him in double irons." Lieutenant Ganse-
voort stepped forward, and received from Mr. Spencer his
sword. Mr. Spencer was then ordered to sit down; he did so.
Double irons were then put upon him, as were also handcuffs,

for the sake of greater security. I directed
voort to place a watch over Mr. Spencer, a

tion with
told to M

y of tt

fr. Spencer. In t
f characters in Gi

•oved to contain

st of til

of the crew, some of

whom were marked certain and others doubtful; some were
marked to be kept at all events, and others to be destroyed.

Those were des

arious department

ACCIDENT AN

IL" (Cromwell was the tallest man (
id Small th

Small being
lso ironed. The next a

Cromwell was
thus accused by an
.h of
The effect of my address
em seemed delighted at

nd others seemed struc

curred

in to see

icipation of

rder of

Suspicic

nTAL ACCIDENTS.—The following loss of life took place
at Grangemouth one evening last week. A sailor who had
been on shore, ka going along a plank to return to the vessel.
lying in the canal, accompanied by a young
4iel man, happened to lose his balance, and, catching hold of tb
locker of lirl
h- -Ater

, uoth unfortunately fell into the v., An old woman
ho was near the spot at the time of the accident gave the
llama, and, it is reported, rushed into the water to lend her
feeble aid to save the drowning couple. The captain of the
vessel also plumed into the water for the same humane pur-
pose, but perished. Exertions were now made by several

ople to remove the bodies from the water. The captain
was taken out lifeless. The bodies of the. girl and sailor
were taken out clasped in each other's arms. Thu poor old
woman was taken out alive, but is not expected to survive.—
had had with I Caledonian Mercury:

ROW ESCAPE.—On Saturday even-

ing two coke trains, on the Midland Company Railway, came
in collision, near Derby, and one of the engines and several
carriages were smashed. It appears, that the first coke en-
gine, owing to some defect, could not get along : the conse-
quence was, that a second coke train overtook it, and, not-
anding the guard of the first train exhibited the signals,
cond train ran into them, and a fearful collision oc-
. The guard of the first train sprang off just as the
nd came upon them. The engine was smashed and now
on the line. On Friday, as a Nottingham train was

- -
getting away from the station, a North Alidlind luggage train
came up from the north, and nothing but the extraordinary
presence of the points' man prevented a frightful calamity.
Seeing the danger, he reversed the point, and sent the passen-
ger train on to another line just as the luggage train came up
to the junction. Had a collision taken place, the passenger
train must have gone over the embankment, perhaps into the

DESPERATE ASSAULT.—On Tuesday evening' the turn

key of Kirkaldy gaol entered a cell in Which were confined
two prisoners—one for sheepstealing and another for some
other theft—for the purpose of giving them supper. As is
usual, he locked the door, and instantly one of them seized
him by the throat and bore him backwards. Recovering
himself, he struck the fellow a blow on the head with the
key which knocked him senseless on the floor.. Immediately
the other prisoner seized him in the same manner. A severe
struggle ensued, when the noise the combatants made reach-
ing the gaoler, he came running to the door, and the turn-
key having got his knee upon his opponent's breast, while he
held him down by the throat with his left hand, opened the
door with the other and admitted the gaoler. The prisoners
were then secured and laid in irons. There can be no doubt
that the object they had in view was to effect their escape,
and certainly the turnkey deserves great praise for the in-
trepid manner in which he resisted them.—Caledonian Mer-

- -
DESPERATE AFFRAY WITH POACHERS.—On Friday
night, the 6th instant, the butler of Sir Benj. Hall, Bart.,
hearing the report of a gun in the preserves, summoned the
keepers and assistants, and went in pursuit of the parties.
On arriving within a field or two of the place whence the
sound was heard, they met two men on the turnpike-road,
whom they accused of having been shooting. On attempting
to take them into custody a fearful conflict took place, the
men using the butts of their guns, knocking about them
right and left. The head keeper and an assistant were both
knocked down and much bruised. One of the men made
his escape, -and the other, Joseph Bailey, was eventually
captured. after resisting until he had been repeatedly knocked
down. The prisoner was examined before Mr. E. H. Phil-
lipiand the Rev. Dr. Jones, but, being too much injured
to be brought to the station-house, the magistrates kindly

went to the White Lion, Pontypool, where the prisoner was
in bed, and, after hearing the evidence, fully committed him
to Monmouth gaol to take his trial for a misdemeanour.
The prisoner gave his name " Joseph Bailey," but he is also
known as " Joseph Jones." lie is a powerful man, and
evidently possesses considerable courage.—Monmouth Mer-
lin.

MURDER OF A WIFE BY HER HUSBAND.— Edward
Jones, of Knockroghery, had been out on some night last
week, and when he came home he found his wife in bed.
He called her, and though awake, she did not answer him, as
she saw a hatchet in his hand, and they had not been for
some days before on good terms. When she did not answer
he struck her with the hatchet on the arm, which he broke ;
gave her another blow on the head, and fractured her skull,
and a third on the shoulder, with the sharp part of the
hatchet, and cut through the shoulder blade. He then went
to the police barrack, and gave himself up to the guard,
whom he told he was after killing his wife. There was no
man in the barrack at the time but the guard, and, after
staying a short time, he thought to get away—whether it was
he got sorry for having given himself up, or that he wanted,
as he alleged, to kill her outright, as he did not think he
finished her. The policeman would not permit him to de-
part, a scuffle ensued, but the policeman, after a severe
struggle, succeeded in retaining him. He was next morning
brought before a magistrate, who committed him to Ros-
common jail. The poor woman lingered till yesterday, when
she died in great torture. Jealousy is said to be the cause
which urged Jones to commit this fearful crime. A verdict
of wilful murder has been returned against the wretched man,
who has been committed for trial. He had a property of
£lOO per year in the town of Galway.—Athlone Sentinel.
lURDER OF Two INFANTS.—APPREHENSION OF THE
ESS.—A young woman of the name of Margaret
ged about 20, has been committed to our county
ed with being accessory to
twin illegitimate children
idow named

nd has re-

ret Hughes, and is about 46 years of agt
been delivered of two unfortunate babes, for the mur-
whom she is now, with her daughter, in custody
ther of the children is supposed tc

i the neighbourhood, a married man, hiving a
ily, and the horrid deed was perpetrated by throwing the
Jeep pit, in which place they were found quite
attaching to both prisoners, a surgeon ex-
, and declared that they were born alive,
inc healthy children. The parties were therefore
d before the magistrates, and committed to take their
_Jr wilful murder. The bodies were discovered by a
wring man who was hedging near the pit, and whose
icions were excited by the extreme anxiety which the
hter entertained that he should hedge in the mouth of
pit. After she had left the spot he examined the pit,
found the dead bodies. Happily the crime of child ma-
s rare in Wales, and in this instance the perpetrators
for some time past bonne very questionable characters.
elder prisoner is in custody, but as yet she is too ill to
e removed to the gaol.—The Welshman.