The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-11-15 00:00:00

He complained of Pain in his.chest, was very

Purged, and had a very bad cough.
tended by the surgeon, and everthing ordered was given to
him, Every attention was paid to him by the officers of the
gaol. He kept gradually getting worse, and died on Sunday

He wa:

afternoon. I:Hs-wife and daughter came and saw him several
times. About four or five months, ago deceased was at the
hospital, but so far recovered that he was able to leave it.—
Mr. Francis Archer, surgeon of the gaol, said that he saw
deceased when he first came in, and he seemed a delicate
man. On the 24th February deceased complained of being
very ill, and witness ordered him some medicine, together
with flannel. He did not then send him into the hospital,
but visited him several times from that period up to the 22d
of March following, when he was suffering from an abcess.
He then ordered him into the hospital, where he remained up
to the 12th of July, when be became considerably better.
Witness was informed by the governor that deceased had
broken the rules of the prison, and was asked if there would be
any danger ;n placing him in solitary confinement. Witness
said he did not consider there would he any danger. De-
ceased was placed in a boarded cell for three days, and his
diet was bread and water. Witness visited him in the cell,
and also when he came out of it, and did not then consider
him anything worse. Deceased was then put into class No.
10, a part where boys are placed, and the most comfortable
class in the prison. The cell was next to, one occupied by
an officer of the prison, and one of the most comfortable in
the gaol. From this time witness visited him frequently,
and in consequence of his delicate health gave him medicine
and regulated his diet accordingly. On the 31st October, as
he seemed much weaker, witness had him again placed in the
I hospital, where he gradually declined up to yesterday, (Sun-
day,) when he died. Witness was of opinion that the deceased
died of bronchitis and general debility. As he appeared to be
in danger, an application was made to the mayor, and a commu-
nication was addressed to the Secretary of State for his pardon.
The wife of the deceased, a respectably dressed female, who
appeared to be much distressed, was present at the inquest,
and remarked that the deceased had been very ill for twelve
weeks before he was put into solitary confinement. The
coroner referred her in reply to the evidence of the surgeon,

and proceeded to address the jury. He said that as an
individual he thought it was to be lamented that the man
had, under the circumstances been placed in the confine-
ment stated, as perhaps, his treatment in that respect might
be supposed to have accelerated his death. He himself, how-
ever, could not assume to judge so competently as the sur-
geon, whose evidence they had heard, and they must there-
fore return such a verdict as they considered conscien-
tious. It appeared, too, that the governor had the
power to order the prisoner into solitary confinement,
for the breach of the prison rules of which he had been
guilty. The jury, after consulting together some time,
returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased died
by the visitation of God, in a natural way ; but that con-
sidering his illness he had not had proper treatment in the
gaol in being placed in solitary confinement. The coroner
stated that this conveyed an imputation which was, perhaps,
not meant to be conveyed—both the surgeon and governor
perhaps acted in their official capacity to the best of their
judgment, and in the strict exercise of their duty. The
surgeon said that he had no conception that the confinement
stated would affect the health of the prisoner, nor did he
notice that such was its effect. On the contrary, if he had
had a doubt, he would in humanity have given him the benefit
of it. Mr. Highton also explained that he only acted in the
strict line of his duty, and was guided by the surgeon as to
the state of deceased's health. The jury reconsulted, and
withdrew the latter part of their verdict—leaving it simply
" Died from natural causes."

RAILWAY WHEELS.—The Commission on Railways in
Paris is unanimously agreed to recommend to the Minister
of Public Works to prohibit the use of cast-iron wheels, on
account of their brittle nature. All the Companies in fu-
ture will have to employ wrought-iron wheels. In England
and Belgium cast-iron wheels have disapr•nred, unless,
indeed, they may be sometimes used in the transport of
coals and goods.
MINERAL PRODUCE OF MONMOUTHEDTDE.--It was
stated on the late occasion of the opening of the Newport
Docks, that the commerce and manufactures of Monmouth-
shire had vastly increased; and, as illustrative of such fact,
it was adduced as evidence, the increase in her mineral pro-
duce. In 1803, the whole produce of her minerals was
10,924 tons. In 1842 that produce was 185,000, instead of
10,000. In coal, such has been the progressive increase that,
whilst in 1803 it was only 34,000 tons, in 1842 the quantity
raised was 600,800 tons.

The office held by the late Solomon Herschell, D.D.,
(chief rabbi of the eastern synagogue) has become extinct by
that gentleman's death, the committee for regulating the
ecclesiastical affait s of the Jewish body having passed a reso-
lution, about two years since, that the office should be abo-
lished at the death of its then occupant. The salary of the
late rabbi is stated to have been £lOOO per annum, and a
considerable addition to his income was derived yearly from
presents of various descriptions from the most wealthy mem-
bers of his nation.

COMPARATIVE COST OP ENGLISH AND FOREIGN RAIL-
WAYS.—Mr. Robert Stephenson's elaborate and important
report, addressed to the directors of the South-Eastern Rail-
way, on the system of railways as now projected by the
French Government, he gives an analysis of the cost of rail-
ways in England, selecting three lines—the Northern and
Eastern, the York and North Midland, and the Birmingham
and Derby—as cases similar in their results to those in France
now under consideration ; from this, and also an analysis of
the cost both of the Belgian and French lines, it appears the
average cost per mile of the English lines is £25,000,450,
the French lines £23,000. and the Belgian lines £16.206,—
thus showing a difference in the cost in favour of the Belgian
lines over the English of no less a sum than £9244 per mile,
and over the French of £6794.

PRESENTATION TO THE REV. ROBERT MOFFAT.—On
Thursday, the 3d instant, a meeting was held in the Waterloo
Rooms, Edinburgh, on the occasion of presenting to the Rev.
Robert Moffat, missionary to South Africa, a copy of the
Encyclopaedia Britannica, as a mark of esteem from friends
in Edinburgh. The room was crowded. The Rev. Mr.
Alexander, the chairman, presented au elegant bound copy
of the above work, with a suitable inscription, to Mr.
Moffat; who, in acknowledging the testimonial, adverted to
the benefit it
_would be to himself in instructing the

chunas, and other barbarous tribes of Africa. By the liber-
ality of the Marquis of Bristol, he had also been enabled to
provide himself with a telescope and a microscope. Mr. and
Mrs. Moffatt, and their fellow labourers, Mr. and Mrs.
Inglis, sail shortly for their missionary station, in South
Africa.

An inquest was held on Friday, on the body of James Ha-
milton, who was found dead in bed on Wednesday morning.
Mr. Elkington, surgeon, deposed that on a post mortern
examination of the body, he found sufficient to warrant him
in concluding that deceased died from taking a large dose of
laudanum. He found in deceased's coat pocket a piece of
paper, on which was written, in pencil, the following:--" I
bequeath my body to any surgeon who will send a sovereign
to my wife, Mary Anne Hamilton, No. 2, Howarth's Gate's,
Long Mill Gate, Manchester ; and request he will particu-
larly examine my head, as I have had a dreadful pain in it.
P. Hamilton." The following note also appeared on the
paper :—" I do not die a Christian • no, but a Deist or So-
cialist." The jury returned a verdict, " That the decaased
died from taking laudanum when in a state of temporary in-
sanity.”—Birmingham Advertiser.

A Goon Con'.—The following song descriptive of the
points of a celebrated Durham cow, was Chanted amidst great
applause at the Darlington Agricultural Society's meeting:—
She's long in her face, she's fine in her born,
She'll quickly get fat without oil-cake or corn.
Hurrah ! hurrah for this beautiful cow !
She's clear in her jaws and full in her chine,
She's heavy in flank and wide in her loin,
She's broad in her ribs and long in her rump,
Has a straight and flat back with never a hump.
Hurrah ! hurrah for this beautiful cow 1.

She's wide in her hips and calm in her eyes,
She's fine in her shoulders and thin in her thighs
Hurrah ! hurrah for this beautiful cow !
She's light in her neck and small in her tail,
She's wide in her breast and good at the pail,
She's fine in her bone and silky of skin,
She's a grazier's without and a butcher's within.
Hurrah ! hurrah for this beautiful cow !

SAFETY EXPLOSIONS IN COAL MINES.—In a communi-
cation to the Gateshead Observer, Mr. J. Murray makes the
following proposition " of a safe and efficacious method of
clearing coal mines of fire-damp,' thus obviating all dan-
ger, and preserving a salubrious atmosphere for the miner,
which will go far to obviate entirely the use of safety-lamps
(at best an equivocal security,) and must recommend itself to
universal adoption, at once for its economy, as well as its
simplicity and efficiency. Let a copper conducting wire,
traversing the avenues and recesses of the mine, form the
circuit, connecting the poles of a Sniee's voltaic battery.
This copper wire is interrupted at intervals by uniting wires
of platinum ; and these platinum wires—say about three-
eighths of an inch long and one-hundredth of an inch in
diameter—form the several nuclei, or centres, of wire-gauze
cages, each cage having a double fold of wire-gauze. On
each immersion of the voltaic arrangement into diluted sul-
phuric acid, the platinum wires would be simultaneously
ignited throughout the entire extent of the circnit, and the
gas safely exploded and consumed. A Smee's battery of
very small dimensions would suffice; and this might be re-
peated at specific intervals."
THE FEMALE SAILOR.—DREADFIIL LEATH.—It will be
recollected, that a few weeks since a girl was apprehended at
Cardiff going on board one of the Bristol packets in sailor's
attire, on which occasion she stated that she was going to
America to see her brother. We lament to state that the
unfortunate girl, whose name was Anne Rees, and who was
about 21 years of age, was burnt to death at Merthyr, on
Wednesday last. It appears that the prior girl, who is of
weak intellects, had come to Merthyr in search of employ-
ment, and, not having money to pay for her lodgings, she
went to rest in one of the night lodging-houses, in which
there is generally a fire, and having fallen asleep her clothes
ignited and were entirely burnt from her person before her
cries brought any person to her assistance. On being dis-
covered the poor creature presented a shocking spectacle,
her face, hands, 'thighs, and abdomen being burnt in a
dreadful manner, the flesh on the thighs being burnt nearly
to the bones. Surgical aid was immediately called in, and
she was removed to the police-station where every attention
was paid her, but after lingering in the greatest agony for 20
hours she expired.