Daily Iowa State Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1856-1859, 1858-05-02


lstiou to the nsturs Of the shells used by
orsini and Pi~ri. in their late attempt upon
the life Of Louis Napoleon, was sdduced on
the trial of simon Bertrand in London:
Jswes Davies Psrkev, examined-I sm in
the employ Of Messrs. Herrings, Wholesale
druggists In Aldergate street. know the
prisoner, and remember his making . pur-
chase At Messrs. Herrings' on the l4th Of
Nov. last: he bought eight pounds Of sbso-
lutte alcohol and ten pounds of pure nitric
acid; on the 18th Of Dec. he called again
and purchased the same quantities Of the
same materials - before having taken
them away. he returned in about quarter
Of an hour and purchased one pound OF
quicksilver; know the composition Of full
minating powder; it is made Of these mate
risls amslgamated, In the proportion of the
articles which were bought on the 18th Of
Dec. asked his name and he gave it.
Edcayd Chambers NicAoison, examined by
Mr.. Welshby-I am . partner in the firm
Of Simpson 4 Co., manufacturing chemists,
OF the Atlas Works, Lock's-felds. Walwortl
our house Is engaged in making Illuminating
powder for the Government the ingredi-
ents Of which it is made are mercury, abso-
lutte alcohol and nitric acid; the proportions
being one part by weight Of mercury, eight
parts by weight Of alcohol, and ten parts by
weight Of nitric acid absolute alcohol is al.
cohol, or spirit Of wine without water: il is
100 above proof. and proof spirit, therefore,
is made by the mixture Of equal quantities
OF alcohol and water; in order to make full
minsting powder the mercury is dissolved
in nitric acid. and the solution thus obtained
ia added to the alcohol violent reaction
ensues. accompanied by the evolution Of.
masses of white vapor, and the Illuminating
mercury is precipitated in the form Of
dense sandy powder, varying in color from
grayish to brownish yellow; the purest
| and strongest. however. is a perfect white
the powder SO obtained is much more explo-
sive in its character than gunpowder; We
keep 1t in . wet state, and it is then per
fectly harmless
N Charles Pioct, deposed-I am chiJ
deseddron of artillery and director of the
chemical laboratory Of artillery at Paris,
examined the contents Of grenade. which
| Analysed in the chemical laboratory, and
discovered to be illuminate of mercury pure
with some particles of iron.
Mr.. William Tozsr-I am manager Of the
gunpowder works at the Royal Arsenal at
WOolwich and superintendent Of the chem
icsl laboratory. had not before seen the
instrument which you have just put into
my hand, and nothing of this description
has ever been used by the British army that
am aware Of never saw an instrument
similar to it before. | should say that a
hand grenade more nearly resembles it than
any other weapon. 1t Is about the same
size, but hand grenade has no nipples
like this, and nothing Of the sort that have
ever seen explodes by nipples and caps
All the hand grenades that have previous
ly known explode by q fusee or some
other means Of ignition. ! am familiar
with illuminate of mercury, and its str ength
as used in the British army, is at least
twenty times greater than that Of gunpow-
der. | have made experiments with the
two substances upon the same kind Of shell.
l used 100 grains Of illuminate of mercury
and it broke the shell iuto 1855 fragments:
while 1900 grains Of gunpowder broke the
shell into only twenty five fragments.
MAssACHUsE. Is--A short time since the
Grafton Bank was robbed of $l2 900, while
the President was absent only few mo-
ments A young man named Stockwell was
arrested for the robbery, but it turns out
that it was the teller in connection with
| Stockwell who committed the robbery
We give the particulars:
The whole sum stolen, except eighty dol
lars, has been recovered. through a confess
ion of Stockwell. 1t appears that he stole
the money and secreted it in box in the
bank building, according to previous ar
| rangement with Mr.. Pratt, the teller of the
bank, who came to Boston on the day of the
robbery, and who, upon his return, removed
the money from its hiding place iu the bank
to spot near his fathers house, in the
neighborhood of the cemetery. After the
boy Stockwell was released on ball. his fears
induced him to reveal the circumstances Of
the robbery, and demand was Immediate
ly made upon the teller for the money,
which, after some parley, he delivered up
The boy Stockwell states that he was told
by Pratt to go to Boston, and that the cash.
Ter would be obliged to leave the office
empty while he went to the post office, and
that then the robbery would be easy Act
ing on this knowledge, the boy effected the
robbery.
| We learn that Pratt has been arrested.
and Is now in prison for his crime
|
B-On Sunday morning. March q, -four
men entered CRANKY. Newton county. NO.,
on foot, without baggage Of any kind. They
were shabbily dressed, and three Of them
were armed with two revolvers each-One
with Sharpe's rifle. An hour afterwards,
Alfred Bryson, citizen of CRANKY, return
ed there from Maysville. Ark. One of the
U. s. Deputy Marshals of Arkansas, gave
Bryson description of four horse thieves,
answ ering to the description of these four
men precisely. Their conduct during the
day being suspicious, at about five o'clock
the citizens determined on arresting them.
For this purpose, number of citizens re-
paired to the CRANKY House, and inform ed
the men that they intended to arrest them.
Three of them quietly SURRENDERED !, but the
fourth drew revolver, cooked, backed up
into corner, and raised it to fire, but F.
NJ. Lewis, deputy sheriff, fired and killed
hin instantly. The others said it was all
right, for he was desperate man. Next
morning they confessed they were horse
thieves, and had been in Arkansas They
were from Tennessee The man killed had
on his person s 900, two revolv ers, and a
memorandum book The other three were
pinioned and started for Arkansas.
Coal BOATs SUNK IN SToRM-SEvERAL
LIVES Losr.-By private advices from Louis
vile we learn that during the storm on
Thursday night last several Of the large
fleet Of coal boats that left Louisville We'd
nesday had sunk near Hawesville, KY. in
the Lower Ohio. Eight pair of boats con.
tanning about $4,000 bushels of COAL are
reported as having gone down, and eight
lives are known to have been lost. One
pair of boats belonging to H. J. Brown of
Pittsburgh. Mr.. Brown was saved, but his
two brothers, William and Henry Brown. ri.
lots were drowned. together with four of the
crew, named Dorsey, Jackson, - Cron-
in, Casper, Colt and Mr.. Murdy, all of Pitts
burgh. Henry Brown had $500 in money
on his person. Harvey Neal lost one boat
and r 4 J. Watson pair. bnt their crews
were saved. A pair Of boats belonging to
| Mr. Wataon. in charge of nilnt Crane rra.a