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

SUICIDE FOR A LARK.—David Lothian, a seaman of drunken habits, was sitting in a lodging-house at West Hartlepool, on Monday, where he declined to take any breakfast. Be had a half-finished glass of ale before him, which he removed into the back kitchen, a room in which nobody was at the time. He staid away only about a minute ; and when he returned he set down his tumbler, which was now empty, upon the table, and then threw a phial, which he held in his other hand, under the firegrate, with the exclamation, " There, that's done." A man said to him, in a jocular manner, not suspecting anything serious. " Aye, many a thing's done." I asked, Are you breaking glasses ?" and deceased said, "You'll all know e'now." He then pulled off his boots, lit his pipe, and went up stairs smoking. A woman rose after he went out ; she said," What is he doing ?" and proceeded to pick up the broken phial from the fireplace, on which was the word poison ( laudanum.) He was found up stairs, quite sensible, and confessed to having taken laudanum in his ale. The stomach-pump and galvanism were applied, and, as he appeared to recover, he was taken to the police station, where he sank and died, In answer to a clergyman, he muttered something about " having revenge." A witness said deceased did not appear sorry for, but, on the contrary, laughed at, what he had done. He didn't think he expected he would die. He thought that the deceased took the laudanum for a " lark," and that he had an attachment for a female in the house.  THE SOUND DuEß.—The conferences on the subject of the Sound dues were really opened at Copenhagen, on the 4th inst., by the Minister von Scheel, who stated that the Privy Councillor Bluhme was appointed plenipotentiary for Denmark, and then quitted the apartment. There were present the representatives of twelve different states, among whom was the special plenipotentiary for Russia, the author on statistics, M. de Tengoborsky. Bluhme laid before the meeting the Danish proposals, consisting of a plan for the capitalisation of the Sound dues, the particulars of which are already known to our readers. His opening speech was interrupted, when he came to talk of Denmark's willingness to make concessions, by M. de Tengoborsky, who stated that it was Russia who was most eager to make advances, and had expressed herself against the abolition of the Sound dues, as Mecklenburg and Hamburg had previously done. Baron Lagerheim, the special plenipotentiary for Sweden and Norway, riftlied to Bluhme's speech. As all the documents and statistical tables promised by Denmark were not yet finished, and as a general view of the receipts of the Sound dues from 1840 to 1847 was demanded by some of the plenipotentiaries, the conferences were adjourned to the end of this month. After some formal difficulties with respect to the protocol, the meeting was dissolved. The number of vessels that passed the Sound in the month of December amounted to 691, of which 163 were Prussians, 109 Danish, 90 Swedish, 69 Norwegians, 68 English, 66 Germans of different states, and 27 Dutch.  THE RIIGELEY PoisoNlNGs.—The coroner's inquest on the body of Mr. Walter Palmer terminated on Wednesday in a verdict that he " died from the effects of prussic acid, administered wilfully by William Palmer." Additional evidence has been collected which has led to the re-exhumation of the body of Cook, and to an enquiry into the conduct of other persons as accessories. The friends of Mr. Leonard Bladen, the collector for the firm of Charrington and Co, the brewers, who died suddenly in the prisoner's house, are desirous of having his body exhumed, and it is said that Government has determined that the whole of the circumstances connected with the mysterious deaths of so many persons shall be thoroughly sifted. An official inquiry is also in contemplation with respect to the conduct of Mr. Ward, the coroner of the district, in connection with charges against the prisoner. The reason why the body of Cook was reexhumed on Friday was, that an experiment had been tried upon a cat. Strychnine was administered to the animal, which afterwards died, and an examination of the body followed, the result of which was that strychnine was discovered in the spinal marrow. It was then resolved to reexhume the body of the late Mr. Cook, which took place on Friday morning, at six o'clock ; and we understand that the examination of the spinal marrow of the body took'place on Saturday, and that the result will be stated at the trial by medical witnesses.  A