The Sun. — 1824-01-09 (London, England)

FATAL EFFECTS OF THE SMALLPDX.  CORONERS' INQUESTS.--Considerable alarm ,aving been excited inCambridge,:n consequence of the extent ;o which the small-pox has within these few weeks committed its dreadful ravages, several children having died, and it being the parish of St.. Giles, it was deemed advisable, in reported' that' he infection was rapidly gaining ground, partiloo Yllinwing case, that an inquest should be held, with the view ascertaining precisely the cause of the death of the ctchhule,ladrf; oft and on Illonday last an inquisition was accordingly held a the Thre2 Swans, in that parish, before Mr. CiitVELL, one of the Coroners of this town, on view of the body of Maria Easton, when it appeared in evidence, that on Wednesday three weeks, the mother of the child went to a neighbour's house, with the deceased and another child, and took from the child of Mrs. Champion, (the neighbour) which was then lying ill, a quantity of matter, with which the mother performed innoculation on her own two children, by puncturing the skin of the right arm with a needle, and introducing the matter. On the following day the mother conceiving the arm of the deceased had not sufficiently received the infection, again took the deceased to Mrs. Champion's, and performed the operation again in a similar way. Previous to this, the mother admits that she gave the deceased a quantity of salts. On the Sunday morning week after the inoculation, the deceased sickened, as did the other child, and on last unday morning the deceased died. The other child is doing well. The mother stated the deceased to be a full gross child, and admitted that she did not call in any medical gentleman, or obtain medical assistance.—Mrs. Campion, the neighbour, confirmed the above testimony, and further stated, that in two mornings she had permittednot less than thirty children in the neighbourhood to be inoculated from her child in this manner, and considered she was doing no harm.—Mr. Farish, surgeon, examined the body after its decease, and found the child had died of a very virulent confluent small-pox, and that the arm inoculated had the appearance of a large black spot, which looked like gangrene ; that it was necessary previous to inoculation to prepare the patient by a course of medicine, which depended upon the habit of body, and was of opinion that if a medical man had been called in after the child had sickened, some benefit might have arisen, but it was a very virulent infection of the small-pox. The Jury considered it a case of great importance as it regarded the public health, and after a long deliberation returned the following verdict :—That the child died in consequence of inoculation for the small-pox by its own mother, without due attention to the previous habit of body, being a gross full child, and afterwards omitting to call in any medical advice during the progress of the infection.  The following account of an executio n in Rome is from a letter from a young painter, London, 1748--" About two months ago a person was found murdered in the stables of the Pope's Palace ; on which two fellows suspected of the fact were taken up, and put to the rack in order to extort a confession from them ; with' out which no one can suffer here, though direct evidence appear against him. Only one of them confessed, and was condemned ; and on execution-day hundreds of odd dismal figures, in long black gowns, their faces covered with black cloth in the shape of a mask, marched through the principal streets, raffling a moneybox, to move charitable persons to contribute something towards prayers for the deliverance of the poor sufferer's soul out of purgatory. A long train of these sable petitioners preceeded the miserable wretch, immediately before whom was carried a crucifix, with a black covering over it,and lights all round him. He was seated in a cart betwixt two priests, who, with two of their hands supported him, and with the other two held a tablet close to his face,. having a Madona painted on one side. Being brought upon the scaffold close to which a gibbet was erected, his face was covered with black crape ; and being ordered to kneel down, the executioner instantly knocked him on the head with a mallet, and then cut his throat. After this his accomplice wars likewise brought upon the scaffold, and tied to a post, while the hangman quartered the other before his face, and hung up his limbs on the gibbet, where they remained till night; he was after. wards sent to the galleys for life. I stood within ten yards of the scaffold."