The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-08-29 00:00:00

ME LANCIIO LY ACCIDENT.

On Sunday afternoon a most afflicting accident
happened to one of a party of Gentlemen who were
returning to London, after a sail down the Hirer
Thames. J. 'P. Mitchell, Esq. a Planter, of the
Island of Tobago, and of No. 6, Rockingham-row,
Kent-road, was of the party. During the sail he
was perpetually expressing his determination to have
a bathe, and when near Woolwich, in particular, he
persevered, and began to pull off his clothes for the
purpose. The tide and wind being very strong, his
friends, with much difficulty, succeeded in persuad-
ing him to abandon his intention for some time, but
the invisible hand of Providence seemed to hurry on
• his fate. Two or three hours afterwards, when about
two miles above Woolwich, and after having corn-
' pinked bitterly of the disappointment to which he
hail been subjected, he expressed his fixed resolu-
tion of then bathing. Entreaties to give up the idea
%Pre useless; indeed they possibly only selsod to
strengtfen it. for being a known excellent swimmer,
and of a high spirit, he ti.tspiced fear, and derided
caution. lie further prided himself on being alsle
to dive deep, aid keep under water a considerable
time; avid after plunging into the river he did not
re-e,tpear for several seconds. This imprudent ef-
tort must iroe exhausted him a good deal, and
when he did rise nglits, it was at an astonish.
log and an alarming distance from the vessel.—
fit. called for the boat tottelv,.ss Oh a coe...,enance
evidently filled with alarm. It had presiously hove
to, and it came up near him almost immediately,
but he would neither catch nt 'a rope, t:or lay hold
of an oar---sonhappily relying ton notify' on Lis skill
in swimming. The impetuosity of the tide and wind,
at this point of the oiler, however, was such as to
drive him rapidly to a great distance from the boat,
in spite of every exertion, and his own increasing
al,trnt impelling him to contend strongly against
both, it thus contributed to his speedy exhaustion.—
An oar was then pushed off to him, but he had not
power to rest nn it. In the agony of the struggles
which he was making, he called out to a friend in
the boat (Mr. D. Campbell, also of Tobago, both
hasing come to England together), " My friend,
Pm drown'ti—Campbell, I'm drown'd !—Oh'! my
mother!" Another boat came to his assistance, but
when within a few yards of him, he ftontly disap-
peared ! Every succeeding effort to r''mder assist-
ance or find the body proved tinavailine, nor has it
yet been found. He was only 20 years of age, and
possessed much too ardent a temper. IV:.at increases
the affliction attending so melancholy an event is,
that he was the only and mach-loved son of a widow
lady, now residing in Tobago, who gave s!riet
charge of him to Mr. Campb•ll. It mly not be an.
interesting to add, that ine‘ioush to going into the
water, while uriltriss.iittz, be took a r•sluaYe gold
watch from his pocket and gale it to Mr. a
frieud who sat near him, saying, " Those. take tare
of my watch—it will be no bad legacy fur yet;

Dnowtrt,tc.—Between the honrs of on and two
on Saturday last, as some of the apprentices of Mr.
printer, Took's-court, Chancery-lane, were
g in the Thames, near Soinerset.house, ono
of them, James Jervis, a lad of seventeen •ears,
having ventured imprudently nut of his depth, im-
mediately sunk, on which Win. Maginth (a fellow
apprentice) SWAM to his assi.tance, and made an at-
tempt to catch him by the hair ; but the unfortunate
Jervis clinging to him, both went down together,
and disappeared for the space of two minutes. At
length Magrath succeeded in extricating himself from
Jervis, and appeared at the top of the water, almost
exhausted, when a waterman came to his assivance,
and rescued him from his perilous situation. Every
exertion has been made for the body of Jervis, but
it has not yet been found.
_ _ _

On Wednesday, es James Goddard, of Pnynings,
was standing at the top of a cart load of clover,
a hich he was about to remove into his stable, through
the sudden motion of the horses he lost his foisting,
and fell to the ground, when, dreadful to relate,
the prong of a pitchfork entered his right side,
just below his ribs, to the depth of eight or ten
inches. The unhappy man drew nut the implement
himself, and died in a few hours afterwards. A
Coroner's Jury sat on the body—Verdict, Accith n-
tal D cull:.

Swlvinivc.—The fraud was practised
upon Mr. PArick, linea-draper, of Coswell-street,
on Wednesday lost. A boy, about 13, called and
delivered a note from Mr. Lewis, who is a customer
of Mr. Patrick's:—

" Mr. Patrick—lle so gond as to send me by
bearer twelve pair cf cotton stockings from 4s. to
4s. 6d. a pair, and six squares of muslin for cravats.
I will call and settle for them on Mmlay.—Yottr's,
" W I. I. W IS."
Upon reading this note Mr. Patrick sent the atti-
de, mentioned. Soon after the lad was ,gone, how-
ever, it struck him as singular that Mr. Lewis should
have mentioned caliing to pay for the articles on
Monday, as there was an account in his name, nod
time for payment was not yet come; he therefore
ell to suspect all was not right, and determined on
going to Mr. Lewis's to mike some enquiries; he
went, and, to his great mortification, discovered
that the whole was a rubrication. Mr. Lewis being
absent from town, and no order whatever having
been given by him. There is some chant,es tint the
writer of the note may lie traced by the writing.
Several other tradesmen in sante nei,;libout hood
have been defrauded in a similar way.
FAIR PLA v.—The sexton of a parish church in
Shropshire, insisted on ft poor man who had his leg
amputated, paying sixteen pence for burying it in
consecrated ground. The pauper appealed to the,
Rector,
case;r,who said- he could not relieve him in the
twee. bitt.m 001 ropsider it id his fele w when 1
remainder realader of his body carne to be buried