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

These are common examr

melted in po

them to only on

thick
nature

induced

mother of a child by a man named Thos. Yapp with who

3g for about eight or ten

child, after it had lived a few days, she dest _
ing it, after which she and Yapp buried it beneath the pa
ment of the brewbouse. The wretched woman further added
that she had been the mother of five children by the same
man, all of whom she had murdered at their birth, and, with
Yapp's assistance had buried their bodies at senarate spots

beneath the floor of the brewhouse, and near a barn adjoining
her cottage. These horrid confessions seemed, from their
unexampled atrocity, to be more like the ravings of delirium
than truth ; but upon information being given to the police,
and a search being made in the spots indicated by the un-
natural woman, the skeletons of her six murdered offspring
were all found and stamped truth upon a tale too horrid else
for belief. Upon this Yapp was taken into custody, and a
policeman, we believe, remained to take chirge of the woman,
who repeated her confession to her sister and afterwards to
the policeman, Fowler. The facts were intimated to J. Cook,
Esq., and a warrant was issued for summoning a jury to
hold an inquest. By this time, however, the woman, Fran-
ces Bennett, had recovered in a measure her hardihood of
character, and on the inquest, which was held on Tuesday
last, she positively denied that she had ever given birth to
any children, except to two which she bore to her late hus-
band, and which were alive now, and she strongly persisted
that she had never made any communication such as that
above stated, either to her sister, to the policeman Fowler,
or to the clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Formby. The latter
gentleman was examined by the coroner, and deposed as
above ; and he further admitted that the woman had subse-
quently made further disclosures and confessions to him, but
as they were made to him in his spiritual capacity, be must
decline to divulge them. After, without effect, endeavouring
to prevail upon Mgifformby to state all that the woman had
told him, and of unavailing remonstrances against the
withholding of evidence, the coroner left the point as it stood,
and passed on to the examination of the sister to Francis
Bennett, whose evidence was to the effect, that, on Saturday,
the 29th of October she was with her sister, who had been in
a weak state of health for some time, and had been confined
to her bed about a week; that, before Mr. Formby called,
her sister made an alarm, and exclaimed that she would have
her dead children dug up and buried in the churchyard.
She said that, immediately after the infants were born, she
held them under water till they were dead, and then she and
Yapp buried them. She added that the last of the six child-
ren was not served in this way, but lived for two days ; that
it was weakly, and she gave it some arsenic and it died ; that
Yapp was very sorry when he found that this child was dead,
and said he would not have lost it for £5O ; and that they
both together buried the child in the brewhouse. At this
stage of the proceedings it was thought advisable to adjourn
the inquiry, in order to afford opportunity for further and
more deliberate inquiry into the circumstances of the myste-
rious and very extraordinary case, and the inquest was accor-
dingly adjourned till Wednesday, the 9th instant —Gloucester
Chronicle.

but of all the genuine contributions of the Americ
vernacular dictionary, the word "fix"
" Will you try, said my opposite neighbour, uanuing me
dish of potatoes, broken up in milk and butter, will you try
some of these fixings ?' There are few words which perform
such various duties as this word fix.' It is the Caleb Quo-
tem of the American vocabulary. You call upon a gentle-
man in a country town, and_ his help informs you that he is

their own favourite
t

fixing hirosele just now, but will be down directly ; by
which you are to understand that he is dressing. You en-
quire on board a steam-boat, of a fellow passenger, whether
breakfast will be ready soon, and he tells you he should
think so, for when he was last below they were ' fixing the
tables;' in other words, laying the cloth. Beg a porter to
collect your luggage, and he entreats you not to be uneasy,
for he'll fix it presently ;' and if you complain of indisposi-
tion, you are advised to have recourse to Doctor So-and-so,
who will fix you in no time.' One night I ordered a bottle
of mulled wine at an hotel where 1 was staying, and waited a
long time for it ; at length it was put upon the table, with an
apology from the landlord that he feared it was not fixed
properly.' I recollect once, at a stage-coach dinner, over-
hearing a very stern gentleman demand of a waiter who pre-
sented him with a plate of underdone roast beef, whether
he called that fixing God A'mighty's vittles ?' "

AMERICAN NEWSPAPER PRESS.—When any man of any
grade of desert, in intellect or character, can climb to any
public distinction, no matter what, in America, without first
grovelling down upon the earth and bending the knee before
this monster of depravity ; when any private excellence is
safe from its attacks; when any social confidence is left un-
broken by it, or any tie of social decency and honour is held
in the least regard ; when any man in that free country has
freedom of opinion, and presumes to think for himself and
speak for himself, without humble reference to a censorship
which, for its rampant ignorance and base dishonesty, he
utterly loathes and despises in his heart ; when those who
most acutely feel its infamy and the reproach it casts upon
the nation, and who most denounce it to each other, dare to
set their heels upon and crush it openly in the sight of all
men; then I will believe that its influence is lessening, and
men are returning to their manly senses. But while that
press has its evil eye in every house, and its black hand in
every appointment in the State, from a President to a post-
man—while with ribald slander for its only stock in trade, it
is the standard literature of an enormous class, who must
find their reading in a newspaper or they will not read it at
all—so long must its odium be upon the country's head, and
so long must its odium be plainly visible in the republic. To
those who are accustomed to the leading English journals, or
to the respectable journals of the Continent of Europe—to
those who are accustomed to any thing else in print and
paper—it would be impossible, without an amount of extract,
for which I have neither space nor inclination, to convey an
adequate idea of this frightful engine in America.—Dickens's
Notes on America.

THE PALI LANGUAGE.—CabraI, is the name of a place,
occurs in the book of Joshua, chapter xix., verse 27, and Mr.
Masson remarks that many localities in Affghanistan bear
scriptural names. He notices Zoar, Shinar, Gaza, Sheva,
Sidim, Tabar, Aman, Kergha, and concludes that these
names were borne by the localities when they became first
known to the Israetites, and that they were not conferred by
them. The question instantly occurs, what names then are
they? Mr. Masson replies, Pali names, given by the Pali
settlers in the region called Palistan, the land of the Pali—
our Palestine. We will pause to remark, that evidences of
the existence of this ancient people are scattered over the
globe, and to that most important of uses might the collec-
tion of these indications be consecrated—namely, to the
elucidation of the early history of mankind, and the confir-
mation of the Biblical narrative of the origin and progression
of the human race. In Tyre we have Palitar, the Pali tower
or fort. The Palatine Hill of Rome is that Palitan, the
Pali town over the ruins of which Rome was built. The
Pali spread themselves over ancient Scythia. Recent dis-
coveries in India and Central Asia have proved that the lan-
guage of those countries at the period of the Macedonian
conquests was Pali ; Pali words occur in the vocabulary of
the savages of Western Australia, as we noticed by our re-
view of the travels of Captain Grey ; and traces of the same
ancient tongue are discernible in the language of the red man
of North America. The common origin of the Tartar, the
North American Indian, and the Australian aborigines, may
thus be traced, and a ready refutation given to the scepticism
of Humboldt and the Erench physiologists on that point.
An industrious reader will find throughout Mr. Masson's
volumes many valuable notices to serve for the illustration
of the theory we have taken so many occasions to inculcate,
which, perhaps, it would be more correct not to designate a
theory, but a confirmation by existing evidence of the facts
recordedln_the sacred Scriptures.—From an article in the

Times of Friday

THE. MINT AND ITS OPERATIONS.—The new edifice
upon Tower Hill was completed about 1841, at an expense
of about a quarter of a million of money. This immense
tm, however, included Boulton's expensive machinery. In
Process of coining, the ingots are first
'loy of copper is added (to gold,

Hesent interesting

one part in twelve • to silver, eighteen p
pound weight,) and the mixed_metal case

ieTations of the stupendous machinery,
the mint of any other country, and is

vmendous crusbing power, reduc,

ncb, by their ...-
third their former thickness,
them proportionally in their length, they are now r
through the cold rollers, which bring them

of the coin roquir
performed by thi
nt, and which sc(

ly to t

a the last operation of th

peculia

degree of

I uniformity in the surface o
the exact thickness desired.

"rhe cutting-out
machines now begin their work. There are twelve of these
engines in the elegant room set apart for them, all mounted
on the same basement, and forming a circular range. Here
the bars or strips are cut into pieces of the proper shape and
weight for the coining-press, and then taken to the sizing-
room to be separately weighed, as well as sounded on a cir-
cular piece of iron, to detect any flaws. The protecting-rim
is nest raised in the merking room, and the pieces, after
blanching and annealing, are ready for stamping. The coin-
ing-room is a magnificent looking place, with its columns
and its great iron beams, and the presses ranging along its
solid stone basement. There are eight presses, each of them
making, when required, sixty or seventy (or even more)
strokes in a minute ; and as at each stroke a blank is made
a perfect coin—that is to say, stamped on both sides and
milled on the edge—each press will coin between four and
five thousand pieces within the hour, or the whole eight be-
tween thirty and forty thousand. And to accomplish these
mighty results the attention of one little boy alone is required,
who stands in a sunken place before the press, supplying it
with blanks.—Knight's London.

SLEEP OF ANIMALS AND MAN.-MOSt animals sleep
more than man ; some indeed for months—as the hiberna-
ting tribes of bats, dormice, marmots, and bears. Cats and
dogs would seem to have the faculty at will, as have some
idiots and persons of a low order of intellect. The ideas or
impressions upon their minds are so feeble or so few, or are
made at such long intervals, that succession is lost for want
of continuity ; hence the organ retains imperfectly, and but
for an instant, the image which the external senses have pre-
sented to it ; weariness supervenes, unconsciousness follows,
nd lastly, sleep, as a necessary consequence of inanition, is
It is observed, however, that monkeys do not
sleep as much as other animals. Whence is this apparent
deviation from the ordinary law of nature affecting animals ?
Is a monkey a reasoning animal? Observe a dog chained :
he twists his chain, shortens it, and cuts himself off from his
platter. Does he seek to untwist it, to restore the links to
their wonted extension ? No : he continues tugging and
owling till some friendly hand frees him from his toils, and

restores him to his former range. But how is it with the
monkey under similar difficulties? Why, he deliberately un-
twists the chain which he cannot sunder, and hence evinces
something like reason.__ls the sleeplessness of monkeys then

. -
a proof Of reason ? We think so. But infants are fre-
quently sleepless ? Yes ; but never in a state of health.
Restlessness in them is always an indication of hunger, or a
symptom of disease. The absence of sleep cannot be long
sustained. Damiens slept on the rack; Luke in his iron
crown ; and a battalion of infantry have been known to
slumber during a march ! Muleteers frequently sleep on
their mules, post-boys on their horses, and seamen " on the
high and giddy mast." " Massa call you," said a negro to
his comrade who had fallen asleep near him : " Sleep has no
massa," replied the wearied boy; and be was right. We
may bear the privation of fire, food, and even drink, longer
rs, which
than we can the want of sleep.—Dr. Binn's Anatomy of
i I sheep
d by poison

CAN BOOTMAKER.—I wanted a pair of boot
at a certain town, for I had none to travel in but those with
the memorable cork soles, which were too hot for the fiery
decks of a steam-boat. I therefore cent a message to an
artist hi boots, importing, with my compliments, that I
should be happy to see him, if he would do me the polite
favour to call.. He very kindly returned for answer, that he
would " look round ' at six o'clock that evening. I was
lying on the sofa, with a book and a wine.glass, at about that
time, when the door opened, and a gentleman in a stiff cra-
vat, within a year or two on either side of 30, entered, in his
hat and gloves ; walked up to the looking-glass ; arranged
his hair; took off his gloves; slowly produced a measure
from the uttermost depths of his coat pocket ; and requested
me, in a languid tone, to " unfix "my straps. I complied,
but looked with some curiosity at his hat, which was still
upon his head. It might have been that, or it might have
been the heat—but he took it off. Then he sat himself down
on a chair opposite to me ; rested an arm on each knee ; and,
leaning forward very much, took from the ground, by a great
effort, the specimen of metropolitan workmanship which I
had just pulled off—whistling, pleasantly, as he did so. He
turned it over and over ; surveyed it with a contempt no lan-
guage can express; and inquired if I wished him to fix me a
boot like that ? I courteously replied, that provided the boots
were large enough, I would leave the rest to him ; that, if
convenient and practicable, I should not object to their bear-
ing some resemblance to the model then before him ; but
that I would be entirely guided by, and would beg to leave
the whole subject to his judgment and discretion. " You
an't partickler about this scoop in the heel, I suppose, then ?"
says he ; " we don't fuller that here. I repeated my last
observation. He looked at himself in the glass again ; went
closer to it to dash a grain or two of dust out of the corner
of his eye ; and settled his cravat. All this time my leg and
foot were in the air. " Nearly ready, sir ?" I inquired.
" Well, pretty nigh," he said ; " keep steady." I kept as
steady as I could, both in foot and face; and having by this
time got the dust out, and found his pencil-case, he measured
me, and made the necessary notes. When he had finished,
he fell into his old attitude, and, taking up the boot again,
mused for some time. " And this," he said, at last, "is an
English boot, is it? This is a London boot, eh? " " That,
sir," I replied, " is a London boot." He mused over it again,
after the manner of Hamlet with borick's skull ; nodded his
head, as who should say, " I pity the institutions that led to
the production of this boot ! rose, put up his pencil, notes,
and paper—glancing at himself in the glass all the time—put
on his hat, drew on his gloves very slowly, and finally walked
out. When he had been gone about a minute, the door re-
opened, and his hat and his head reappeared. He looked
round the room, and at the boot again, which was still lying
on the floor; appeared thoughtful for a minute, and then
said, " Well! Good arternoon." " Good afternoon, sir,"
said I ; and that was the end of the interview.--. Box.

HIASTAOTOUTEHOIC—This is the name of a Chinese
plant, the root of which is said to change, at a certain time,
into a worm. M. Reaumur has given it the name of Plante
ver in the French, but he discovered the error of supposing
such a transformation ; the whole truth of the case being,
that a certain caterpillar, when about to change into the
chrysalis state, so nicely joins itself to the root of this plant
as to appear a part of it.
ink I INDIFFERENCE OF A SEA-SICK TRAVELLER.—Nothing

would have surprised me. If, in the momentary illumina-
tion of any ray ofintelligence that may have come upon me
in the way of thoughts of home, a goblin postman, with a
scarlet coat and belt, had come into that little kennel before
me, broad awake in broad day, and apologising for being
damp through walking in the sea, had handed me a letter,
directed to myself in familiar characters, I am certain I
should not have felt one atom of astonishment : I should
have been perfectly satisfied. If Neptune himself had walked
with a toasted shark on his trident, I should have looked
ent as one of the very commonest ;everyday oc-
-Dickens.:

a the ev

currence

THE LITTLE WOMAN WITH THE LITTLE BABY.—On the
'ter leaving Louisville we reached St. Louis;

fourth

and here I witnessed th; conclusion of an incident trifling
enough in itself, but very pleasant to see, which had interes-
ted me the whole journey. There was a little woman on
board, with a little baby: and both little woman and little
child were cheerful, good looking, bright-eyed, and fair to
see. The little woman had been passing a long time with
her sick mother in New York, and had left her home in St.
Louis in that condition in which ladies who truly love their
lords desire to be. The baby was born in her mother's
house, and she had not seen her husband (to whom she was
now returning) for twelve months, having left home a month
or two after their marriage. Well, to be sure, there never
was a little woman so full of hope, and tenderness and love,
and anxiety, as this little woman was : and all day long she
wondered whether " He" had got her letter ; and whether
if she sent the baby ashore by somebody else, " He"
would know it, meeting it in the street; which, seeing that
he had never set eyes upon it in his life, was not very likely
in the abstract, but was probable enough to the young mo-
ther. She was such an artless little creature, and was in such
a sunny, beaming, hopeful state, and let out all this matter
clinging close about her heart so freely that all the lady pas-
sengers entered into the spirit of it as much as she, and
the captain (who heard all about it from his wife) was
wondrous sly, I promise you; inquiring, every time we met
at table, as if in forgetfulness, whether she expected any one
to meet her at St. Louis, and whether she would want to go
ashore the night we reached it (but he supposed she wouldn't)
and cutting many other dry jokes of that nature. There was
one little weazen, dried-apple-faced old woman, who took
occasion to doubt the constancy of husbands in such circum-
stances of bereavement ; and there was another lady (with a
lap dog) old enough to moralize on the lightness of human
affection, and yet not so old that she could help nursing the
baby now and then, or laughing with the rest when the
little woman called it by its father's name, and asked it all
manner of fantastic questions concerning bim in the joy of
her heart. It was something of a blow to the little woman,
that when we were within twenty miles of our destination,
it became clearly necessary to put this baby to bed. But she
got over it with the same good humour ; tied a handkerchief
round her head, and came out into the little gallery with the
rest. Then, such an oracle she became in reference to the
localities; and such facetiousness as was displayed by the mar-
ried ladies ; and such sympathy as was displayed by the single
ones; and such peals of laughter as the little woman herself
(who would just as soon have cried) greeted every jest
with. At last there were the lights of St. Louis, and here
was the wharf, and those were the steps ; and the little woman
covering her face with her hands,and laughing (or seeming to
laugh) more than ever, ran into her own cabin, and shut
herself up. I have no doubt that in the charming inconsis-
tency of such excitement she stooped her ears, lest she should
hear " Him" asking for her, but I did not see her do it.
Then, a great crowd of people rushed on board, though the
boat was not made fast, but was yet wandering about, among
the other boats, to find landing place : and everybody look-
ed for the husband : and nobody saw him : when in the
midst of us all—Heaven knows how she ever got there—
there was the little woman clinging with both arms tight
round the neck of a fine, good-looking, sturdy young fellow !
and in in a moment afterwards there she was again, actually
clapping her little hands for joy, as she dragged him through
the small door of her small cabin, to look at the baby as he
lay asleep !—Dickens's Notes.