The Sun. — 1857-08-22 (London, England)

MILLBANK PRISON.  One of the sub-warders of this prison narrowly escaped assassination yesterday, at the hands of a penal class convict named James Gorman, who has already, in other prisons, made two attempts to murder officers under whose charge he has been  The convicts at Millbank attena divine servide in classes, at the prison chapel every morning. Only a limited number of penal class prisoners are permitted to be present at one time, owing to the known desperate character of these individuals. Yesterday four men of this class—out of the total of acme twenty prisoners—were conducted to the chapel in charge of Warder Wilkie and Assistantwarder Bevington. On leaving the chapel, and while passing down an angle of the pentagon staircase, one of their number, James Gorman, made a desperate attack on Bevington with an open metal weapon, felling him to the ground, and inflicting injuries which, in all probability, if they do not prove fatal, will seriously injure the unfortunate man for life. Gorman was third in the rank, and just as he was turning the angle of the staircase leading from the chapel iso rushed forward and dealt a desperate blow at the upper part of Bevington's person. The miscreant had a sharp weapon in his hand, which catered nu warder's face over the c'ieek bone, and, traversing the fleshy part of the face, came out through the mouth, under the upper lip. The convict was seized by Wilkie and o her officers while the weapon was still in his band, and having been secured was presently placed iu a strong  ce..... The resident surgeon of the prison, Mr. Savory was immediately summoned to the wounded man, and the tro,t approved means were adopted to stanch the bleeding arteries. The poor fellow suffered agonising pain from the severity of his wound, and is still lying in a precarious sta.). There seems to have been an absence of all reasonable motive for the attack, inasmuch as Bevington had only taken charge of the penal class siuce Tuesday last. It is generally supposed the attar:k was intended for his co-warder, Wilkie, who, although an excellent officer, has obtained the of the convicts by a determination to carry out the discipline of the prison. The weapon used by the assassin was a piece of iron hoip, worked into something like the blade of a knife, and strongly bound by waxen thread into a wooden handle. The penal class convicts are the worst description of prisoners, and are received at Millbank as incorrigibles from all parts of the country. Gorman is one of the worst c.l this degraded body. He was originally convicted in a midland county, and sentenced to some light punishment, while undergoing which he attempted to stab an officer of the prison, and on trial for this offence was sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. In due course he came to the Model Prison at Pent onville, where he again attacked and brutally assaulted one of the officers. For this offence he was transf, rred to the penal class of prisoners, and sent to Milbank about four months ago. His conduct has been desperately bad since his admission, and it is understood that his latest crime has not excited much surprise among the aithorities of the prison, the wretched man having only a few days since assured the re vereud chaplain that "he would do for some of ;hem before long."