The Miner and Workman's Advocate. — 1865-07-29 (London, England)

THE ROAD MURDER AND ELIZABETH' GOUGH. Mr. J. W. Stapleton, a surgeon of Trowbridge, has written the foll4wing letter to the Times:— In few and touching words Mr. Coleridge spoke to every heart while Constance Kent, convicted of murder on her own confession, stood penitently in the shadow of death. Solemnly, in the presence of Almighty God, and as one who values her own soul, she desires me to say that the guilt is hers alone, and that her father and others who have so long suffered most unjust and cruel suspicions are wholly and absolutely innocent. The finger of suspicion was first pointed at the nurse and father of the murdered child by an unfounded and unfortunate conjecture that he had suffered partial or complete suffocation. Upon a prosecution by the Government, founded upon this conjecture, Elizabeth Gough stood, with her life in her hand, accused of the dotal° crime of impurity and murder. By God's mercy, this terrible mistake was not permitted to send her, with the father of the child as her accomplice, to an ignominious death; and now, by Constance Kent's confession, the suggestion of suffocation, which placed Elizabeth Gough in mortal peril, is completely refuted. The story of this young woman's life is known to me and to others, and it is without a blot. The his• tory of her girlhood and of hr domestic service; the uniform modesty and purity of her character; her fidelity to her master and to his family; her unwavering courage and simple truthfulness in her time of trial and peril—these have made her an example to her station and to her sex.  For five long years she has tbeen shut out from profitable domestic employment under a social ban. It is now proposed that a small annuity shall be purchased for her by a fund raised by subscriptions, limited to one guinea each, an account being opened by a committee of gentlemen appointed for the purpose with the bank of Messrs. Dimsdale and Fowler, of London, and with the North Wilts Bank; Trowbridge. The case and prospects of William Kent, the younger brother of Constance Kent, are also deserving of something more than the poor reparation of kind words and good wishes. This young man, now neatly twenty-one years of age, is a good son, a devoted brother, ami.sble and talented beyond the ordinary endowment of.such qualities; but the thick dark cloud of thisendurinm' family sorrow rests on him and bars his entrance into lire. Will no one bring William Kent under the notice of the Government? Would the Government resist an appeal on his behalf for employment suitable to his education and.habits? The unhappy convict throws herself at. the feet e 6 her earthly Sovereign. She prays for her life, fors fatted, as she says, for her f•oli fary crime. She prays also for those whose hearts have bom luting and whose fortpne iave ban ruined by lior long. silence. As the veil drops over her sad story, this wrong she has done to her father and to his children,and servants troubles her heart and .fills her eyes with-tears.  A Dangerous Bridge.—On Wednesday.reurning one of the large Brentford bd.rges was, aboirt ito pass under. the St. George's (Surrey C 441) BrOge, at Cambo.rcvell, when she c.3.rne in contact with the interior coating of the rob. It was nearly an hour t'efore the barge could be extri(Ated. All business either up or down the canal was suspended during the time.  Peers Coming cf Age.—The following noblemen come of age during the course of the present year :—The-garqui.es of Ormonde and Queensberry, Viscount Downe, and Lord Willoughby de Broke. In 1866 the Duke of Hamilton and the Earls of Eldon, Harrington, and Jersey will come of age; in 1367, the Earl of Caledon ; in IS3S, the Doke of Norfolk, the .la.rquises of Buto and Huntly, and the Earle of Ellesmere and Ferran; in 1869, Lords Langford and Beaumont; in 1870, the Marquis of Ely and the Earls of Ranfurly and Elgin • in 1871. the Earl of Pembroke and Lord Macdonald ; in 1872, the Earls of Guildford and Waldegra.ve, and Lord Rossmore ; in 1873, the Earl of Charleville and Lord Manners; and in 1878, Lord Rodney.