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

DARING HIGHWAY ROBBERIES

BRISTOL JUNE 20.—The neighbourhood of Bristol has,
within the BRISTOL,
three days, been the scence of some of the
most daring highway robberies, accompanied with violence,
that have been committed of late years in the entire king-
dom. The whole of these robberies have also evidently been
perpetrated by the same persons, an organised gang of ruffi-
ans consisting of seven persons, three or four of whom are
armed with large horse-pistols, and who have attacked
farmers and others on their return from market, within even
a single mile of this city, at as early an hour of the night as
ten o clock in the public road, and in the most daring man-
ner. The first of these robberies was committed on Friday
night, on the person of a professional gentleman of Bristol,
Mr. Francis Edwards, who, it appears, had been dining with
Mr. Frederick Ricketts, of Cote-house, Westbury, about
two miles from Bristol, and left about ten o'clock in the
evening, on his return to his residence at Redland, about a
mile from Cote-house. Mr. Edwards had not proceeded
further than about one-eighth of a mile before—as he came
opposite a place called Henleeze-lane—he saw two men
sitting down whom he had noticed following him at a previ-
ous part of the evening. Not having any suspicion, Mr.
Edwards proceeded, and when he had gone a little farther,
three other men jumped suddenly out of the hedge, one of
whom placed a pistol to his mouth and the other two a pistol
to each side of his head, threatening to shoot him if he made
the least noise, or offered the slightest resistance. Mr.
Edwards then observed that the other two men whom he had
seen following him had joined the party. Finding that the
least attempt at resistance must prove fatal to him, Mr.
Edwards quietly submitted, when they proceeded to rifle his
pockets of his purse, containing four or five sovereigns and
some silver, and of his gold watch, which being suspended
by a guard chain, they found some difficulty in getting off,
and twisted its chain violently round his throat so as almost
to produce strangulation. After they had thus robbed him,
they marched for sonic distance by his side, still holding
their pistols to his head, and threatening to shoot him if he
gave any alarm. When they got on a favourable part of
Durdharn-down they suddenly darted off in different ways.
Mr. Edwards immediately ran back as fast as he could to
Cote-house and informed Mr. Ricketts of the robbery, when
that gentleman, who is in the commission of the peace for
the county, immediately sent out his servants and raised the
neighbourhood in pursuit of the highwaymen, but unfor-
tunately without success. Mr. Edwards has offered a reward
of £25 for their apprehension.
On Thursday night a waggoner of Stoke, about three miles
from Bristol, was driving along in his waggon, when he was

stopped by evidently the of fellO-ws, two of whom
placed themselves at the horses' heads, while the others
jumped into the waggon and proceeded to rifle his pockets,
but fortunately the sound of an approaching carriage being
heard, they made off.
On Saturday night the same gang perpetrated one of the
most daring robberies we have ever heard of, accompanied
with the most brutal violence, within a mile of Bristol, on
the Horfield-road. The following are the particulars :—A
Mrs. Collard, the wife of a respectable farmer at Almonds-
bury, five miles from Bristol, was returning home in her co-
vered cart on Saturday night from the Bristol market, ac-
companied by Mr. Smith, a carpenter, ofAlmondsbury, who
was driving, Mr. Smith's son and a young woman sitting b -
hind. On arriving near the first milestone five men suddenly
jumped out of the hedge, two ran to the horse's head, a third
pointed a pistol at them in the cart, and the other two, who
were also armed with pistols, got into the cart and demanded
their money or their lives. They then dragged Mrs. Collard
and Mr. Smith out of the cart in the most violent manner,
and having thrown them on the ground proceeded to rifle
their pockets. Having robbed them, they beat them about
the heads and faces with the butt-ends of their pistols until
they ceased to move, being reduced to a state of total insen-
sibility, and no doubt being thought dead by their assailants.
Mr. Smith's son jumped out of the cart, and, falling on his
knees, begged them not to murder his father ; they then beat
him in a similar manner, and having left them all lying in
the road, made off.
The sufferers were in a short time afterwards found by
some persons coming up the road; they were removed to
their residence, where they still lie in the most dangerous
state. Mrs. Collard has her teeth beaten out, with some
very severe contused wounds of the face and head. Mr.
Smith is so beaten about the head that he has lain in a state
of perfect insensibility ever since, and scarcely the slightest
hope can be entertained of his recovery.
On the same evening two labouring men, who were return-
ing from market on the same road were stopped and robbed,
and beaten by the same five men. As the men attempted
some slight resistance, one of the robbers attempted to fire
his pistol at them, but it fortunately flashed in the pan.
They were then robbed of their earnings and some groceries
they had purchased. The poor fellows were then beaten
about the head with the butt-ends of the pistols and thrown
into a ditch.
The five robbprs are described as follows :—Three of them
are short men wearing smockfrocks, with Jim Crow hats;
the other two are dressed like navigators, and have high black
hats.
The police are using the most strenuous exertions for their
apprehension.
••11•116 411••••••••11M114.

A young man named Williams was last week drowned)
whilst bathing in the Severn, near Gloucester.
Loss OF AN EMIGRANT SHIP IN A SNOW STORM.
Letters have been received stating the total loss of the emi-
grant ship Kent, Captain Gardner, on the night of the Bth
of last month, in the Western Ocean, off the Seven Islands,
during a heavy snow storm. The vessel, it appears, belonged
to Greenock, and was bound for Montreal, having 70 emi-
grants on board. The &Easter, it is said, occurred between
eleven and twelve o'clock,
by the ship running on to a mass
of sunken rocks a short distance from the coast. Owing to
the severity of the storm which prevailed at the time, for a
length of time it was expected that she woidd fall to pieces.
Providentially, however, she held together until daybreak,
when the whole of the emigrants were safely landed OR the
coast, though in a most deplorable condition, many of them
having lost everything they possessed. The ship was about
n tons burthen, and is, together with her cargo, reported
Ot insured,

BRUTALITY OP THE CONFER

MAT

'am the Evansvil

naiana) Journal, May 12

UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE OF A PRIEST. GREAT EXCITE-
MENT IN EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.—We feel it our unplea-
sant duty to give to the public the particulars—so far as we
may with decorum—of an outrage alleged to have been com-
mitted in our town last:week, certainly of the most revolt-
ing character that can be conceived of by the mind of man.
We have often—and who has not—read of similar outrages
charged upon the high functionaries of the Catholic Church
in all ages of its history, and we have believed them, if at all,
to be exaggerated and highly coloured statements, prompted

. .
in many -instances, perhaps, by the jealousies of opposing
sects. But in this instance, our belief has been taken as it
were by storm, the evidence produced upon the examination
being of such a nature as to compel us to the conviction of
the entire truth of the charge. Otter, and serious complaints
we understand, have been made against Mr. Weinzapflein,
the person alluded to above, but with these we have nothing
to do; such an outrage, committed by a father confessor
within the very walls of his church, upon a weak and confi-
ding penitent kneeling before him, could not be increased in
horror by any additional charge. It may not be proper for
us, and we shall not attempt, to express the indignation we
feel in common with the whole community. If the bail given
by the defendant be sufficient to insure his attendance at the
next term of our Circuit Court, (which, however, many of
our citizens are disposed to doubt,) the charge will undergo
a judicial investigation. and we should not as journalists at-
tempt to prejudice public opinion in advance. Our only
object is to give a full statement of the case and the evidence
so far as it went, already public in our own community.
On Friday evening the intelligence spread like lightning
through the city, and on the following morning the defend-
ant was brought before the magistrates, when the court was
crowded to excess. The female upon whom the outrage was
committed is Mrs. Schmall, the wife of a respectable Ger-
man citizen. She was the first witness examined. We took
full notes of the testimony, but as it was delivered through
an interpreter, it is necessarily too prolix (besides being
otherwise objectionable) for our columns ; we shall, there-
fore, not attempt to give it either in the language or order
in which it fell from the witness. Her simple story was in
substance, and as near as we can give her language, as fol-
lows :—She is a native of Rhenish Bavaria, where she lived
until she was about 19, when she removed to the United
States, with her father and the rest of his family. She will
be 21 years old on the 14th of June next. Her parents, as
well as her brothers and sisters, are all Roman Catholics,
and as such she was christened and educated—all the educa-
tion she ever received having been in a Catholic school, to
which she went Curee years to prepare herself for her confir-
mation. She wag. married to Mr. Schmall on last New
Year's-day, eight Sys before which time she had gone to
confession, and did 'not go again until Wednesday, when,
.having previously informed her husband of her intention, she
went to get her sins forgiven. When she entered the church,
which was between five and six o'clock in the evening, some
other person was in the confessional, and she waited till that

person went away, perhaps three quarters of an hour, when,
there being no other person in the church, she went into the
confessional. (This, as the witness described it, is a sort of
box, open at the side, and divided into two apartments,
each large enough to contain only one person, in one of
which the priest sits, and in the other the penitent kneels,
upon a stool, the communication between them being through
a window of lattice work in the partition.) Having con-
fessed her sins to the priest, he imposed a penance upon her.
before she undertook which she wanted to pray, as is the
custom of her country, but she could not pray. The priest
then asked her if she believed in being married by a Squire,
and followed this question by others of the most lewd and in-
decent nature relative to her conjugal intercourse. (At this
time it was so dark in the church that she could scarcely see
to read her prayer. These questions she for some time re-
fused to answer, IS he insisted upon them in such a rude
manner that she be e frightened and cold, and at length
prayer.)
did answer them. I-When told her that these questions did
not belong to her confession, and that she must not tell her
husband. While she was thus kneeling before him, attempt-
ing to repeat the prayer which he had set before her as
a penance, as well as the fright she was in would permit her,
the priest came out of his box and seized her by the right arm,
which was next to the door of the confessional, dragged her
out of her box, and then taking hold of her with both arms
around her waist, threw her on the floor. In throwing her
he struck her back against some hard substance and hurt her
very severely. She did not hear the priest leave his box, nor
knew that he was coming until he took hold of her. She
was so cold and stiff that he might have killed her and she
could not have helped herself. The witness then described
the liberties which the priest took with her while on the
ground, and replied to several very pointed questions in such
a manner as to exclude all doubt as to his success in his fiend-
ish attempt to violate her person. After he had accomplished
his horrible purpose he raised her up, placed her upon a
bench, and sprinkled her face ; when she had sat there
some little time, she began to revive, and exclaimed, " Oh,
God! what have you done with me ?" He would not make
her any answer, but asked her if she recollected the penance ;
she replied she did not—she recollected something about it,
but not what it was. He then gave her the penance, and
bade her to pray it. When dismissed she still felt sick and
faint, and staggered as she left the church.—The open air re-
freshed her and she felt better when she reached home. She
found her husband leaning against the fence, who asked her
why she had staid so long, but she not knowing what answer
to make, evaded the question, and afterwards, when he
pressed her to tell him the cause of her apparent distress,
she replied that she was afraid to tell him for fear be would
do himself some injury. She continuing to be distressed, and
crying during the night, he again wanted to know what was
the matter, and towards morning she told him a part of her
story, and said she wanted to go and take sacrament, when
she would tell him all. She thought that she was worthy to
take sacrament now that her sins were forgiven, and that
as it was Ascension day, it was her duty to do so. She did
take sacrament, and upon her return, disclosed the whole
matter to her husband. He was greatly affected, and
threatened to take a pistol and kill the Priest, but she
begged him not to do so, and made him promise that he
would not; he then said that he would go and see the
Priest that evening, but she prevailed upon him to wait till
morning, when she told him lie would be more likely to see
him. In the morning (Friday) Mr. Schmall went and
brought the Priest to the house, but she was in bed sick, and
had so exhausted herself with crying. that she could not un-
derstand what was said, but her husband could tell. Mr. S.
asked her while she was in bed and the Priest present, if he
had done as she had told him, and she replied " yes," but
did not know what remark the Priest made to this ; her hus-
band knew. (It was to detail this conversation that Mr. S.
was sworn as a witness.)
The case was soon afterwards adjourned, and the prisoner
was committed to the custody of the officers, and not to be
liberated without finding bail to the amount of 4,000 dollars.

W. Wordsworth, jun., Esq., has been appointed distri-
butor of stamps for the counties of Cumberland and West-
moreland, in the room of his father, the poet, who retires
upon a pension.
Two new Bishoprics are about to be formed by the Com-
mittee appointed for that purpose, viz., one in New Bruns-
wick, which with a population of 156,000, will have an endow-
ment of £3,200 per annum ; and another in South Australia,
with £l,OOO per annum.
It is with deep regret we announce that a report has
reached us, from a source which is entitled to our highest
respect, that during the last few weeks the Premier's health
has become materially impaired, and that his indisposition is
making alarming strides.—British Queen.

THE KING OF PRUSSIA--The Suabian Mercury, on the
authority of a letter dated Berlin, the 11th instant, states that
the King of Prussia replied to certain persons who objected
to M. Arago's political opinions, when his Majesty proposed
to confer the decoration of the Order of Merit on him, that
" when scientific merit was to be rewarded, all political feel-
in.' should be laid aside. I would have sent the cross of the
Order" of Merit to Mr. O'Connell," added the King, " if
Mr. O'Connell had been distinguished in science."

THE TARIFF.—A wag of a farmer who occupies a high
field a few miles N.E, of Ayr, whose intelligence renders him
proof against "crying before he is hurt," on listening to
some of his friends complaining of the present dull trade and
other evils apprehended from the operation of the new tariff,
and chiefly that clause permitting the introduction of foreign
live stock, humorously remarked—" The deil's surely in that
foreign beef ; it's far ayont prussic acid, for it seems to
poison folk afore they get time to pree't."—Ayr Advertiser.

THE LAW OF LIBEL.—A journal in Belfast, the Northern
Whig, ventured, in the exercise of its duty, to report the
outline of a speech delivered at a public assembly. The
speech, as reported, was mild when compared with what had
been spoken at the meeting in question. An error was com-
mitted in the reporting of one word, for which an ample apo-
logy appeared in a future publication; but a rev. gentleman,
who was alluded to in the speech, conceived himself injured
by the report, sought damages from a jury on account of the
alleged libel, and the jury returned a verdict of £lOO dama-
ges, and costs, against the proprietor of the Northern Whig!
This may serve as a specimen of the treatment the press is
sometimes called upon to endure, and is another proof of
the urgent necessity of making some material change in the
law of libel.

Messrs. Wigney. the bankrupt bankers at Brighton, re-
ceived their discharge from the commissioners on 'Thursday.
The assignees returned to Mr. and Mrs. Clement Wigney
their watches; and the watches of Mr. and Mrs. Newton
Wigney were detained for the benefit of the creditors. The
assignees are understood to have instituted a suit in equity
against the executors of the late Mr. W. Wigney, father of
the bankrupts, to recover the amount of the liabilities of the
bank at the time of his death, which his executors failed to
discharge, paying the whole of his property to legatees, and
leaving the bank debts to be liquidated by the money of sub-
sequent depositors. Upon the success of this suit it will de-
pend whether the dividend is to be 10s. in the pound, or " a
mockery of a dividend."

METEORIC STONE.—The Agram (Crotia) Zeisnug men-
tions the falling of a meteoric -stone, in the adjourning dis-
trict, on the 26th of April, at o'clock p.m. The fall was
accompanied by a great storm of thunder, and a noise in the
air which lasted 15 minutes. The stone had sunk about 1
foot into the earth, but when removed from the field it weigh-
ed only a little more than 21b., because the persons who first
hastened to the spot had broken off pieces to keep as curios-
ities, The stone is brittle • the fracture is granulated and
ash-gray, interspersed with reddish-yellow points. Another
stone fell on the same day, about two miles from the first.
It was broken and the pieces carried off, so that only a bit
about the size of a plummet has been preserved.—Prussian
State Gazette.
- -

OXFORD AND HIS MOTHER.—Since Oxford's confinement
in Bedlam he has been treated with the utmost kindness;
books of every description are constantly furnished him ; he
is well fed and alio well clothed, and is becoming a linguist.
He has been almost deified by the women ; the wives of the
aristocracy, and those of rich and retired tradesmen, are
positively in love with this wretch, and they have displayed
their " morbid appetites" by writing to Sir Peter Laurie
(the Knight being one of the Governors of Bedlam) begging
him to procure for them a lock of Oxford's hair. When
Oxford was apprehended, it became necessary that evidence
as to his insanity should be produced before the jury. Mrs.
Oxford, the prisoner's mother, at the time she was living at
Birmingham, and she was brought ro London to prove that
her son had exhibited instances of monomania when a boy.
Mrs. Oxford's condition was by no means prosperous ; she
hardly possessed the means of paying her coach hire to town ;
but since then her circumstances have, we learn, wonder-
fully improved. She is now living in the Westminster Road,
occupying a suite of handsome apartments, and living in good
style ; so, it would appear that the very act which had nearly
deprived an amiable Queen of existence, has been a perfect
god-send to the family.

ALLEGED MURDER OF A CONSTABLE AT BRISTOL.—
BRISTOL WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.—•A murder of a mos;
brutal description has been committed in this city by a body
of Irishmen on a constable of the police force, and has created
much excitement. The assault was committed on the con,
stable at an early hour on Sunday morning, but he lingered
in our infirmary till about five o'clock yesterday afternoon,
when he expired of the injuries he had received. The con-
stable is said to be one of the quietest and best conducted
men in the force, and this circumstance, together with the
unprovoked nature of the attack upon him, and the brutality
and determination of the mob by which he was assailed, has
added to the feeling of regret which the violent death of a
fellow creature is, under any circumstances, calculated to ex-
cite. Shortly after the perpetration of the outrage, six
men,
named Jeremiah Dwyer, Charles Dwyer, William Dwyer,
Denis Callaghan, James Regan, and Patrick Donovan, were
apprehended by the police, and taken to the jnfirnaary, where
five of them were immediately pointed out as having been
among the men who committed the the outrage. The in-
queA was held on the body this day-

MtRCTLLANEOj

I nt Woolwich

departure fp

The king and queen of the Belgians arrive
on Monday night, and immediately took thei
Buckingham Palace, on a visit to her Majesty
TESTIMONIAL TO DR. DALTON.—On. ThurSday evening
last a splendid gold medal, value about £2O, was presented to
the venerable Dr. Dalton, at the Literary and Philosophical
Society's rooms, by Messrs. Bradshaw and Blacklock, of
Manchester.
REGISTRAR-GENERAL.—Major Graham, privat

been appointed to the office of registrar-general of births,
marriages, and deaths, in the room of the late Mr. Lister.—
Standard.

Amongst the gentlemen called to the bar by the Hon. So-
ciety of the Inner Temple, last week, we perceive the name
of Sir Thomas Phillips, the gallant mayor of Newport, at the
time of the chartist riots.

Within the period one hundred hours, observes Galigna-
s Messengenthree of. the greatest calamities of this or any
other century have occurred, viz., the fire of Hamburg'', on
the sth of May ; the earthquake at St. Domingo, on the 7th ;
and the fatal accident on the Versailles railroad, on the Sth.

SHEFFIELD AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY.—We under-
stand that a portion of this end of the line, to the length of
upwards of two miles, has been set out for letting, on which
it is expected that the able-bodied poor will be set to work
in the course of two or three weeks.— Sheffield Independent.

At an early hour on Sunday morning a violent attack was
made by a body of Irishmen on the police at Bristol. Three
of the constables were injured, one of them so seriously that
his recovery is very doubtful, Seven of the men are in
custody and await the fate of the wounded policeman.
There is a tree in the church-yard at the corner of Wood-
street, Cheapside, London, wherein three pair of rooks have
been building their nests, and rearing their sable progeny.
A few days ags, one of the young birds, attempting its first
flight across the street, dropped upon the roof of a Padding-
ton omnibus (No. 466,) and suffered himself to be taken by
the driver, without the slightest resistance.

On Sunday afternoon Mr. Wrenn, who was living at No.
7, Weymouth-street, Walworth, on an income which he had
accumulated while in business, committed suicide by drown-
ing himself in the water-butt. He had been missing some
time, when on being searched for he was found with his legs
projecting from the butt. On being taken out, life was
found quite extinct. He was nearly 80 years of age, and had
been observed to be melancholy for several days previous.
RAILWAY TRAVELLING.—The distance traversed daily by
the passenger trains alone, on eight of the principal railways,
amounts to 10,508 miles, and the yearly distance to 3,562,338
miles The lines are the Great Western. London and Bir-
mingham, Grand Junction, Birmingham and Derby, Mid-
land Counties, Manchester and Leeds, South Western, and
Brighton ; and it appears, by the parliamentary returns, that
during the year 1841 the number of passengers conveyed on

these lines amounted to 4.600,000 ! and that during that pe-
riod the number of persons injured was 56, of whom 22 were
killed.—The Britannia.

THE. MASSACRE AT CABUL.—We are glad to learn that
an appeal, which we trust may be eminently successful, has
been made to public sympathy in behalf of the suffering wives
and children of our army in Cabul. The list of subscriptions
is appropriately graced by having at its head the name of the
Queen for £2OO ; Sir C. Forbes has given 100 guineas, the
Hon. Mr. Elphinstone £5O, and a number of other chari-
table individuals have sent in to the committee sums of less
amount. The case is one of very urgent nature, and we hope
the general body of our countrymen, and countrywomen as
well, will aid in the promotion of so pressing an object of be-
nevolence.

ANOTHER SERIOUS ACCIDENT AT THE NEW CHURCH,
ANDOVER.—On Monday week several persons were employ-
ed in clearing away the fallen timber, bricks, &c., which
nearly filled the shell of the new church after thg destruction
of the roof. They had been engaged nearly the whole day
without hurt or impediment until about half-past five o'clock
in the evening, when the whole length of the south wall,
from 25 to 30 in height, fell inwards. Many of the labourers
miraculously escaped unhurt, but three or four sustained
very serious injuries by the fracture of their legs, ribs, &c.
The ruins are still in a very dangerous state, and seem to
threaten destruction to those whose duties require them to
be near.—Berkshire Chronicle.

NEW POOR LAW DIETARY.—The adjourned inquest on
the body of George Shoesmith, a boy seven years of age,
whose death, in an extreme degree of emaciation, was alleged
to have been caused by the want of nutritious diet while an
inmate of the Ringmer Workhouse, in the Chailey Union,
was held at the Town-hall, Brighton, on Monday night.
After the evidence had been fully gone into the jury returned
the following verdict,—" That George Shoesmith, the de-
ceased, died by the visitation of God, in a natural way—to
wit, of an enlargement of the mesenteric glands, which
disease was accelerated, if not caused, by the dietary of the
Union Workhouse at Ringmer, in the Chailey Union, which
the jury think not sufficiently nutritious for growing chil-
dren. They are also of opinion that the deceased did not
receive that medical attention in the workhouse which his
case required."

THE EAST AND WEST INDIA MAILS.—The mails that
are now brought from the East and West Indies are so
heavy, that it has been found advisable, after they have ar-
rived at Falmouth, to despatch, without sorting, the major
portion of them to London by the first conveyance, because
the number of persons employed in the General Post-office
can always insure any number of letters arriving in foreign
mails being sent to their various destinations without delay.
One of the West India steamers brought mails, a short time
since, that occupied the Falmouth post-office authorities 12
hours in sorting and despatching them. Unless, therefore,
such heavy mails arrive at Falmouth a considerable period
before the London mail is despatched, or are sent off to
London unsorted, a delay of 21 hours must tale place. The
increase in the East and West India mails will render the
Falmouth packet establishment useless, unless considerably
augmented. No inconvenience is felt from the size of the
Falmouth establishment for outward foreign mails, because
most of them are made up in London, and only those letters
posted to the west of the metropolis are sent direct to Fal-
mouth.— Globe.

AN IRISH BROTH ER.—A young sprightly couple, to all
appearance under age, passed through this town on Friday,
in a carriage and four, en route to Gretna Hall. The young
lady, in addition to a swain alike loving and likely, was ac-
companied by her brother. an Irish gentleman of superior
education, and the greatest frankness of mind and manner.
In calling on a townsman to obtain a supply of sovereigns
for Bank of Ireland notes, he mentioned, unasked, his des-
tination, and seemed to enjoy the trip amazingly. " What !"
said the Dumfriesian, " I hope you are not going to make
a runaway marriage ?" "Not yet, at least, but my sister is,
and that's pretty much the same, seeing it's a family affair
after all." " Indeed ! But why travel so far to get the knot
tied, as if there were no altars and priests in Ireland?" "As
for that, there are plenty of parsons, and ready enough to
take the fee besides; but then, you see, my father refused
his consent, and was like to break the hearts of both the
darlings. But for my own part I see nothing wrong in the
match ; the bridegroom is a friend, and a fine young fellow,
who may as well have my sister as another ; and so I thought
it best to jog along in company, and enjoy the spree." Gold
was readily tendered for good bank paper, and the party took
their departure across the border in the same dashing style
they had arrived. On Saturday they returned, and seemed
quite delighted they had got the job so well over. The
" lions" of Dumfries were, of course, visited, and many com-
pliments paid to the scenery of Nithsdale ; and, after a slight
repast, the trio started for their own country, via Portpatrick,
to beg forgiveness of an offended father, who resides some-
where in the county of Dublin.—Dumfries Courier.

AFRICAN CIVILIZATION SOCIETY.—The annual meeting
of this society took place on Tuesday in London ; Lord
Ashley in the chair. Amongst the friends of the society
present were Lord Sandon, Lord John Russell, Lord Teign-
mouth, Sir R. H. Inglis, the Bishop of Worcester, Sec. A
letter was read from Mr. Clarkson, in which he said that he
was of opinion that another expedition might be undertaken
on a smaller scale than the last. They only required the
Bible and the plough, and very few persons would be suffi-
cient in number to attend these instruments of good. The
report consisted of forty-eight printed pages. It was divided
into four heads or departments ; the first relating to the
operations of the society abroad; the second to the oper-
ations at home ; the third to the state of the slave-trade and
the condition of Africa ; and the fourth to the future plans
and operations of the society. The last division of the re-
port recommends a perseverance in a course of operations
similar to those which have already been commenced, and
says, that in Africa the resources and influence of the society
must still be devoted to the encouragement of such efforts as
may tend to smooth the path and to protect the labours of
the Christian missionary, the free cultivator of the soil and
the friend of innocent commerce ; whether this is to be done
by establishments of its own in the manner suggested, or by
rendering assistance to others, has not been determined.
ANOTHER MADAME LAFFARGE.—At the Assizes of the
Rhone, on the sth instant, the wife of a workman named Pre
was tried for attempting to murder him by cutting his throat
with a razor, The victim of her fury escaped, bleeding pro-
fusely, before she could consummate her crime by repeating
the attack, and with skilful attention recovered in less than a
month. The motive assigned for this offence in the act of
accusation was jealousy, but the evidence left no doubt that
the woman was at the time, and had long been labouring
under monomania. On the day of the attack, after some
words with her husband, she had requested him to kiss her.
and, on his refusing to do so, she seized a razor and drew it
across his throat. In her defence she declared she had acted
under a momentary impulse for which she could not account,
and it was proved that she and her four children had been
drinking something which would cause death, and that she
had attempted to murder her husband in order that the whole
family might go out of the world together. She was very
indignant, however, on her trial, at the attempt of her coun-
sel and medical witnesses to establish her insanity, and her
replies were intended to remove this belief from the minds
of the jury, but there were occasional symptoms of incohe-
rence which left no doubt of the fact, and the jury consequent-
ly returned a verdict of acquittal, after which the president
of the court ordered that she should be placed in a lunatic
asylum. In the course of the pleading of her counsel, he
cited several instances of monomania to show that the priso-
ner was really insane, and in illustration of his argument,
amongst other cases, related the following extraordinary
anecdote :—Madame Adelaide, sister of the King, in 1836
took under her protection a young lady of family, placed her
in a boarding school, and received her frequently on holy days
at her own apartments in the palace. Suddenly her protegee
announced to the schoolmistress and her intimate friends
that she was about to be married, under the auspices of her
patroness, to a young Lieutenant-Colonel, to whom she had
been introduced by her Royal Highness, and in evidence of
her assertions produced letters on the subject with the seal
of the Princess, and in a handwriting which all acquainted
with that of Madame Adelaide believed to be hers. Subse-
quent letters were also displayed, in which her Royal High-
ness was made to state, first, that the intended husband was
detained away by his regimental duties; then, that he was
dangerously ill, and ultimately, that he was dead and buried.
Tile young lady, upon this, gave herself up to such violent
grief that fears were entertained for her own life. The only
consolation she would listen to was a permission to put her-
self into the mourning of a widow, and to weep over the
tomb of her lost lover. The under governess accompanied
her to the cemetary of Pere la Chaise, and, at the gate,
desired to have pointed oqt the place of interment of Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Connt M., who had died a week before at the
age of 25. The concierge searched the register, and then
assured the enquirers that it did not contain the entry of any
such burial which consequently must, he said, have taken
place elsewhere. This answer increased the despair of the
young lady, who prevailed upon her attendant to go with her
to the other cemetaries of Paris, at each of which they met
with the like disappointment. It was night before they re-
turned home, and the grief stricken pupil retired to rest in
deeper despair than ever. The governess, the neat day, felt
it her duty to go to Madame Adelaide, and relate all these
mournful circumstances, taking with her the letters announc-
ing the events which had so entirely destroyed the peace of
her pupil. The astonishment of the Princess on hearing the
extraordinary narrative, and at seeing letters apparently in
her own handwriting, but which she had hewer written, and
recognizing impressions from a seal which did really belong
to her, could not be described. No such person as Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Count M. was known to her Royal Highness,
consequently she never could haVe contemplated any such
alliance for her pupil, nor have announced to her his illness
and death. In fact, the young lady had been induced by a
morbid imagination to intent the whole tale, to purloin one
of her patroness's seals, imitate her handwriting, compose
the fictitious lettters, and, by bribing an old servant, induce
her to put them in the post. Her mind, however, was affec-
ted with the. same grief from her own deliberate invention
as if all the circumstances had really existed.

HAlVlS.4lfAltr.,.iiOn Tamlaynkht
k of an earthqual

slant eleven o'olati

a smart sh

nafalt at Cartmel Gran

nd other places in the vieinit

lrestmorland Ca:ett

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
few days ago quarelled over a game of dominos, went out to
fight a duel with their sabres, when one of them was killed
by a stroke from that of his adversary, which literally clove
his 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, £400,000; 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 60 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. He will be brought up for
judgment next term.

SHOCKING AFFAIR.--OH 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.—TiIe "cock of the north," this
noble fine plumaged rara avis, with the capercailzie hens,
presented by the Marquis of I3redalbane to the Duke of Ha-
milton, and placed for breeding in 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 arc 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
18-11, (ending the sth of January, 1812,) for stamp duty on
legacies, and on probates, administrations, and testamentary
inventories :

Legacies. Probates, &c.
England and Wales £1,109,317 £915,354
Scotland. 69,787 57,955
Great Britain
Ireland

T0ta15...... £1,209,124 £1,011,873
The total duty received since 1797 to the sth of January las
has been :

Legacies. Probates, &c
England and Wales .... £32,136,634 £25,504,823
Scotland 1,862,755 1,274,941
Ireland 609,840 940,0E9

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 ; 293,955,817, 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 banging
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 body 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 of 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 had 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-lane, where he had lived. They were all dreadfully
burned, and also much mutilated by their fall.

THE LATE ELOPEMENT AT HALSTEAD.—On Monday,
a writ of inquiry was executed before Mr. IL 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 23
years of age, had a sum of £1,400 in her possession, and re-
cently eloped with her paramour to France. Her brother
pursued the deluded girl to France, but could not prevail on
her return to England. Previous to his flight Mr. Taylor
made no arrangement respecting his affairs, and one of his
creditors, who was bound for him to the Excise, procured
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 lIIs 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 dejeuner 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 Curraghtnore, 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 joyhells rang forth merry peals
on their arrival and during the day, and the steamers bad
their colours flying from the mast-heads. It was expected
their reception would be equally enthusiastic along their pro-
gress to the family mansion.—lVatelford Mirror. *

EXTRAORDINARY CASE.—On Thursday last an inquest
was held at Pencombe, near liromyard, 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
i inquest held upon t. It appeared that the deceased had
suffered from indigestion, and died from an obstruction in
the bowels. He 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 benentted 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 followino-
verdict :—" We find that the deceased, Mr. Thomas Wilkinb-
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 DE ATH.—OVIEDO, June 10.—In the morning
of the Bth, M. Bernardo Gonzales Alvera, solicitor of the
Audiencia of our town, died suddenly. He was upwards of
seventy years of age, but very strong, and displaying still
considerable energy in the discharge of his official duties.
At nine o'clock in the evening his body was placed in a coffin,
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 bands 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. fled 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,

Tua 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; nor shall
utter or receive any piece or pieces of gold coin of this realm
at any greater or higher rate of value, nor at any less or
lower rate or value, thanthe 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 he deemed and adjudged guilty of
a misdemeanour, and being thereof convicted by due course
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 front the end of the
said six months ' • and if the smite 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 ber good behaviour for une year more, to be
computed from the end of the said last-mentioned year ; and
if the same person shall afterwards offend against this act,
and shall by due course of law be convicted of any subse-
quent offence, he 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 proclamation of May,
1821, is 5 dwt. grains the sovereign, and 2 dwts. 13&
grains the half-sovereign, and consequently a refusal to take
coin of that weight would be the often •, • •
offence within the m
• • Ming
of the act.

BiZVIWThr GRAIVD nolvulr rigsrA
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS,

HIS present FRIDAY EVENING., the 24th instant,
and to be repeated every MONDAY and FRIDAY during

the Season

THE PICTORIAL MODEL OF ROME

At dusk, this novel exhibition will be seen under the
aspect which the scene presents during the rejoiciffg in cele-
bration of 11 Giorno di San Pietro, when prK whole vast
Edifice of St. Peter's is Illuminated, and svOry detail of the
glorious Architecture shines forth in liages of resplendent
re
light. It is on such- festive occasio that the celebrated
Girandola, or great FIREWOR of ST. ANGELO,
are displayed from the summit .a the Castle and Bridge.
beyond all comparison the gran4st display of Pyrotechnic
Art ever invented. A fac simile-of this
GORGEOUS FESTIVAL •

will be represented. • Amidst tremendous FLIGHTS of
ROCKETS, and CASCADES of FIRE, FOUNTAINS, and STARS,
the whole of the Eternal City will appear as visible as by
the broad light of day.
Pyrotechnic Artist, SIGNOR SEMONL

A first-rite MILITARY BAND, under the able superin-
tendance of Mr. STUBBS, will perform during the Season.

ADMITTANCE, GIVE SHILLING.

TO CORRESPONDENTS

The STANDARD is regularly forwarded to Wigan by the first
post, and if our correspondent in that town does not duly
• receive it, the fault rests with the post-office there.
VERITAS.—We are much obliged to " Veritas" for his good
opinion, but will he favour us with a few facts ? We are
in possession of an old tale or two that will perhaps sur-
prise him. We care very little for what evil men think of
us—still less for threats. When we are sufficiently in
possession of the doings of certain people we will not spare
them.

Ebt Ztlicrpot 'tanbarb.