The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1856-01-29 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

EMPRESS •OF 'WPM FEENCIL—The pregnancy of the `Empress of the Erma is an event -scarcely second toany of the present age in importance, not only to the destinies of :France, but to the interests of Europe and the world at large. 'Sinister rumours have been set afloat in Paris brthose disaffected to the Bonapartist dynasty:: and it is in the 'highest degree imperative that the gestation of her Imperial Majesty, and the birth of &direct heir to the empire, should receive the highest scientific attention, and be watched with the greatest and most impartial assiduity. We alluded to this subject in the last number of -the Lancet: and we are informed, on good authority, that 'Dr. Locock wishes it to be mentioned, that certain of the points referred to by our " Correspondent," are net entireirterrect. The Empress was in this country in April 'last, andwe 'believe that Dr. Lecock was consulted at that time ; and he was subsequently-summoned to the Palace of thelTuileries. The Empress Eugenie did not become pregnant until the last week in June. Dr. Locock was first eonsultedtin this country, and he then attended a consultation of distinguished physicians and surgeons in Paris before that auspicious event occurred. Dr. Locock has not yet been requested to attend at the approaching accouchement of the Consort of Napoleon ;he has not, therefore, declined to attend. There are reasons of state, in France, for and against his attendance, but if his presence should be called for, we do not seewhy Dr. Locock should refuse his services.—Lancet. We read, in a letter from Paris :—" The Empress's secretary is wholly occupied in replying to the expressions of solicitude and good wishes which arrive from all parts of France, togetherorery often, with relics and consecrated articles, which the senders believe will assist powerfully in obtaining the desievelreault. Amongst the gifts, however, is one of a different kind, namely, a pigeon which was taken in its cage by a voltigear, on the occasion of the assault, upon the Malakhoff, and nponrthe very spot. The authenticity of these antecedents &the bird having been ascertained, the present has been accepted and the donor rewarded." BRUTAL MURDER :OF A WIFE ,AT BATlL—Between twelveand one o'clock on Saturday night, the 19th instant, a woman named Eliza Howell, living in Avon-street, was kicked in the abdomen by her husband, and bled to death in about twenty minutes. What renders the case more shocking is that the unfortunate woman-was very near her confinement, and the life of her child as well as her own has consequently been saaitesed. The prisoner, James Howell, was brought before the magistrates at the -Guildhall on Monday, when a crowd assembled,in the Market-place. Howell,evho is about thirty years of age, is a eostermonger, and is well known about the streets as a hawker of oysters, nute,.&c., under the soubriquet of." Ferret." His .wife also carried about turnip greens, and was. about the same age as her husband. Four children have been the fruit of the marriage, but they are all dead. The principal witnesses .examined were is labourer named John Brown and his wife, svho occupied two •rooms on the garret floor, .adjoining prisoner's bedroom. From their evidence it appeared that at about half-past eleven .o'clock on Saturday night they heard the prisoner enter his room, uttering angry exclamations, and threatening repeatedly that he would kill her. About ten minutes afterwards the prisoner's wife came up-stairs, rand when outside the door she said, "Are you in Jim?" He answered " Yes, I am, you ---- where have you been all night?" His wife said, " I wasdooking for you, hot I could not find you." The prisoner then appeared to come out of the landing and push her into theroom. He pushed.her into the room, and the sound of two'blows was then heard. After the blows something fell heavily, and the prisoners wife cried out " Oh," and said, "Jimaou have killed your child, and you have killed me:' She then said, "Jim, look,abnut and see what you have done." After she said that the prisoner ran down stairs as hard as he could. Brown and his wife, entering the deceased's room, found her king on the floor, which was covered with blood. She said,. 'Jim has killed me," and died in a short time. Her body. was.completely blanched, as was also that of the infant, whose life it Was vainly attempted to save. It appears that the prisoner.and his wife had been drinking together in the course of the,avening, and had quarcelled at the Seven Dials public-house, when the prisoner gave his wife a backhanded blow in the face. He afterwards left, and the wife went away with another woman. Ax