The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-06-24 00:00:00

ittniffiQuAgrom,On Tuesday sight, abota alaten ut'clook,
Smart shock of an earthrinaku was felt at Cartmel Grange,
id other places: in the vicinity,—TV6strizorlaud Gazette.

In consequence of the new Prison Act coming into opera-
tion, the prisoners from the Fleet and the other prisons will
be brought to the " Queen's Prison" in the course of a
week or ten days.

Two officers of the Belgian lancers at Louvain, having a
w days ago quarelled over a game of dominos, went out to
;ht a duel with their sabres, when one of them was killed
a stroke from that of his adversary, which literally clove
s skull.

The official return of all moneys repaid by her Majesty's
government to the East India Company, on account of the
war in China, since the commencement of the war until the
present time, is as follows :-1840, Oct. 27, £150,000 ; 1841,
July 2;X-100,000 ; 1842, Feb. 9, 23,442 ; total, £573,442.
The steamer Little Nile, belonging to Mr. Waghorn,
which sailed, from Falmouth on the 2d instant, for Alexandria,
reached Corunna safely, and, after obtaining a supply of
coals, resumed her voyage, but soon afterwards ran ashore
at Cape Finisterre, and was totally lost; crew saved.
RELEASED SLAVES AND EMIGRANTS.—By an arrival
from Demerara (the Janet Willis) we learn that the barque
Superior sailed from St. Helena for Sierra Leone on the 28th
April last, with GO returned Africans, and would return from
thence for a fresh supply of emigrants. The barque Lady
Rowena would sail from Demerara to proceed in search of

captured emigrants.
In the Court of Queen's Bench, Dublin, on Monday, the
proprietor of the Belfast Vindicator was convicted of a
scandalous and malicious libel upon the administration of
justice, by representing and causing it to be believed that a
man named Francis Hughes, convicted of murder at Armagh,
had not been fairly tried. lie will be brought up for

judgment next term.
SHOCKING AFFAIR.—On Saturday night information
was given at the police-office which induced the Lieutenant
on duty to order a house in Buccleuch-street to be entered
by the officers. when they found its only tenant' John Messer,
a hawker, lying dead in bed, and the body in a rapid state of
decomposition. It appears that Messer, who was upwards
of 70 years of age. was last seen alive on the 25th 'of May ;
and the neighbours, from not afterwards seeing him supposed
he had removed, until the noxious, effluvium awakened their
suspicions.—Caledonian Mercury.
THE CAPERCAILZIE.—The "cock of the north," this
noble fine plumaged rara avis, with the capercailzie hens,
presented by the Marquis of Bredalbane to the Duke of Ha-
milton, and placed for breeding iu a large curiously-
constructed pavilion aviary, near Broddick Castle, has been
finely preserved. Last year eggs were placed under moor
game for hatching, and, as there was no shooting in Arran,
and all the game strictly preserved, it is probable that some
young capercailzies may be seen in the forests or in the
Mountains. This season proper care has been bestowed to
get more eggs hatched, so that there is a reasonable prospect
of this grand and rare species of game gradually becoming
abundant in Arran. The moor fowl and black game are this
season remarkably plentiful.—Kilmarnock Journal.
LEGACY AND PROBATE DUTIES.—From a recent par-
liamentary return, we find that the following were the total
amounts, omitting fractions of pounds received in the year
1841, (ending the sth of January, 1842,) for stamp duty on
legacies, and on probates, administrations, and testamentary

nvento ries :

Legacies. Probates, &c
England and Wales £1,109,317 £915,354
Scotland....
Great Britain

Ireland

30,020

38,564

Totals £1,209,124 £1,011,873
The total duty received since 1797 to the sth of January last,
has been :

.
Legacies. Probates, &c.
England and Wales .... £32,136,634 £25,504,823
Scotland 1,862,755 1,274,941

Ireland ..

609,840

940,089

Totals .... £34,609,230 £27,719,854
The amount of capital, on which the several rates of legacy
duty was paid in Great Britain in 1841, was £41,476,521 ;
in Ireland, £2,487,262 ; and the total amount since 1797 was
£1,163,284,207 ; of which the three principal amounts were
£568,412,956, at £1 per cent. duty ; 293,855,817, at £3 per
cent. duty ; and £124,851,536, at £lO per cent. duty.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION.—An explosion in an ironstone
mine took place in the shaft of a pit, at the Cleveland col-
liery, situate on the road to Willenhall, and between Wolver-
hampton and Portobello. Early on Monday morning last,
the men and boys belonging to the pit, amounting to the
number of thirteen, assembled shortly before six o'clock for
the purpose of going to work. The engine was set to work,
and the whole thirteen began descending in and hanging
about a single skip. The mine, which had not been worked
since Saturday, was not tried with a safety lamp, although a
lamp belonging to the pit was, we understand, at hand. The
party took lighted candles with them for the purpose of light-
ing themselves while at their labour ; but they had not
descended much more than fifty yards when they came in
contact with a hod)/ of foul air which had accumulated in the
shaft. An explosion instantaneously followed, and seven of
the unfortunate men and boys fell from the skip, dreadfully
burned, to the bottom of the shaft ; the remaining six, under
the impulse of terror, retained a convulsive hold of various
parts or the skip, and the engine being backed they were as
soon as possible drawn up the shaft. They were all much
burned, and some of them almost in a state of insensibility
from the dreadful injuries they bad received. The bodies of
the seven men and boys who had fallen from the skip were
brought to the bank, and six of them conveyed to Portobello ;
the other, that of a boy named Marshall, being taken to
Buggin's-lanc, where he had lived. They were all dreadfully
burned, and also much mutilated by their fall.

THE LATE ELOPEMENT AT lIALSTEAD.-011 Monday,
a writ of inquiry was executed before Mr. It. Bartlett, under
sheriff of Essex, and a jury, at the Shire-hall, to ascertain
the value of the property of Mr. Taylor, late of Halstead,
surgeon and paper-manufacturer. The circumstance was
briefly alluded to in our paper of last week. Mr. Taylor is
a married man, has five children, and is about 40 years of
age; but an unhappy passion for a fascinating young lady, a
Miss Greenwood, one of the Society of Friends, induced him
to sacrifice character, family, and everything that is dear to

a well-regulated mind. The young lady, who is about E
years of age, had a sum of £1,400 in her possession, and re.
cently eloped with her parumour to France: Iler brothe.
pursued the deluded girl to France, but could not prevail o►
her return to England. Previous to his flight Mr. Taylor
made no arrangement respecting his affairs, and one of
creditors, who was bound for him to the Excise, procure(

an extent in aid of the crown for £l2O, the amount of duty
on paper unpaid. On the morning of the inquiry the amount
of duty was remitted to the sheriff, but not the amount of
costs. Proof was accordingly given that there was at least
property belonging to defendant in the county of not less
than £240, double the amount of duty. The jury gave a
verdict to that effect.—lpswich Express.

THE MARQUIS OF WATERFORD AND HIS BRIDE.—
Saturday this distinguished couple arrived here by the Osprey
steamer. The moment the vessel came in view, decked in
her gayest flags in honour of the distinguished freight she
bore, crowds of people assembled on the quay and parade to
welcome the Marquis and his lovely bride to Ireland's shore,
and mingled with the feeling of gratulation was one of anxiety
to see the distinguished stranger. The quarter-deck was
full of passengers, amongst whom the marquis did not appear,
as he and his lady were partaking of a &joiner in the cabin,
to which no one else was admitted. In about a quarter of
an hour the noble pair ascended to the quarter-deck, where
they were warmly greeted by the respectable company stand-
ing there, and as they walked along the stage, they were
loudly cheered by the people on the parade, which testimo-
nies of joy they gracefully acknowledged. The happy couple
immediately got into their carriage and drove off to the
princely demesne of Curraghmore, amidst the hearty cheers
of the hundreds present. The people seemed quite satisfied
that fame had not exaggerated the personal charms of Lady
Waterford. The cathedral joybells rang forth merry peals
on their arrival and during the day, and the steamers had
their colours flying from the mast-heads. It was expected
their reception would be equally enthusiastic along their pro-
gress to the family mansion.—Waterford Mirror.

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.—On Thursday last an inquest
was held at Pencombe, near Bromyard, on the body of the
late Mr. Thomas Wilkinson, farmer, of that parish, who had
died on the 15th .May ; but in consequence of some rumours
which had got abroad that he had not come fairly by his
death, the body was exhumed for the purpose of having an
inquest held upon it. It appeared that the deceased had
suffered from indigestion, and died from an obstruction in
the bowels. Ile was a single man, aged about 55, and lived
with his sister, a single woman. The rumours which had
been spread abroad, it appeared, had originated in the fact
of Mr. Shelton, the surgeon who had attended him, having
administered a clyster after death, when the body was laid
out ; which was looked upon as an extraordinary circum-
stance, and fraught with suspicion that there had been some-
thing wrong. Mr. Shelton, moreover, was henefitted by the
will of the deceased, and the tongue of slander having propa-
gated statements to the prejudice of Mr. Shelton, an inquiry
became neceassary. The jury were satisfied with the medical
and other testimony adduced, and returned the followinc,
verdict :—" We find that the deceased, Mr. Thomas Wilkin-
son, died in a natural way, from obstruction of the bowels ' •
but the jury consider that this investigation has arisen from
the suspicion caused by the indiscretion of Mr. Shelton in
injecting the body after death.

DREADFUL DEATit.-oviEno, June 10.—In the morning
‘,l)/1, Bernardo Gonzales Alvera, solicitor of the
.4; rd suddenly. He was upwards of
seventy years of age, MU Fel y disnl • cr till
considerable energy in the discharge of ts.
At nine o'clock in the evening his body was placed in a cola,
which was immediately carried to the church of St. Sebas-
tian, where his funeral was to take place on the following
day. Yesterday morning, at five o'clock, when the sacristan
opened the church he was not a little surprised to find the
coffin lying on the ground, by the table on which it had been
deposited. He ran to the spot, and found the lid broken in
the direction of the head. The hands and face of the de-
ceased were covered with scratches still bleeding, and his
mouth and ears were full of blood. On inquiry it was ascer-
tained that nobody had entered the church during the night,
and that M. Gonzales Alvera was not dead when he was shut
up in the coffin. Had a person been left to watch him, as is
usually the case, he would perhaps be still alive. To-day the
municipality of Oviedo, in accord with the clergy, decreed
that hereafter no corpse should be admitted into the church
or interred until it should have been visited by a physician to
certify his death,

THE COINAGE.—The reference made by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer on Tuesday night to the illegality of refusing
a sovereign of the due weight, will, without doubt, have a
salutary effect in putting a stop to the many advantages
which have been taken, among some tradesmen, of the gene-
ral panic caused by the proclamation,and to which the gene-
ral ignorance as to a law which has so long been suffered to
remain inactive has been very conducive. The following
section of the act 56th George 111., c. 16, will show the
penalty that is enacted against receiving the coin of the realm
at a higher or lower rate than its current value, and its pub_
lication will probably prevent many of those impositions on
the working classes which have lately been too frequent
" Sec. 13. And be it further. enacted, that from and after
the passing of this act, no person shall by any means, device,
shift, or contrivance whatsoever, receive or pay for any gold
coin lawfully current within the united kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, any more or less in value, benefit, pro-
fit, or advantage, than the true lawful value which such gold
coin doth or shall by its denomination import /10r shall
utter or receive any piece or pieces of gold coin of this realm
at any greater or higher r* elf value, nor at any less or
lower rate or vainc, than the same shall be current for in
payment, according to the rates and values declared and set
upon them pursuant to law ; and that every person who
shall offend herein shall be deemed and adjudged guilt
a misdemeanour, and being thereof convicted by due courseyof
of law, shall suffer imprisonment for the term of six calendar
months, and shall find sureties for his or her good behaviour
for one year or more, to be computed from the end of the
said six months ; and if the same person shall afterwards be
convicted of the like offence, such person
shall for such se-
cond offence suffer one year s imprisonment, and find sure-
ties for his or her good behaviour for one year more, to be
computed from the end of the said last-mentioned year ; and
if the woo pprion shall afterwards offend against this act,
and shall by due course of law be convicted of any subse-
quent offence, be or she shall be imprisoned for the term of
two years for every such subsequent offence." The proper
weight of the coin, according to the proclarnat:on of May,
1821, is 5 dwt. 21 grains the sovereign, and 2 dwts. 131
grains the half-sovereign, and consequentiv a refusal to take
coin of that weight would kiy the offence
within the meaning
of the act.