The Sun. — 1844-12-30 (London, England)

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AND STRANGE CONDUCT OF  A PARENT.—Many of our readers may probably reco lect that some twelve months since an incendiary fire took place amongst farm buildings in the vicinity of Droitwich, belonging to J. Robeson, Esq., solicitor, and that a young man, named Henry Bennett, wrongfully accused a person named Drinkwater of the heinous offence, in order to obtain the reward offered for the discovery of the incendiary. Drinkwater, his innocence being clearly established, was discharged by the Magistrates before whom he had been thus unjustly accused ; and since that time the accuser, Bennett, upon whom the guilt of perjury seems to have hung like a deadweight, has wandered about the country a destitute, depraved, and utterly reckless being. Starvation, or a troubled conscience, or the two conjoined, drove him from bad to worse, till, on Saturday last, he made an attempt at self-destruction, by taking a quantity of " crow-fig." lie was discovered early in the morning lying in the road leading from newton]. to Claines nearly dead, from the combined effects of the poison and exposure to the inclemency of the night. Upon him, when searched by Sergeant Radford, was found a letter, directed to his father, Samuel Bennett, living at Fearnall Heath, and intimating that the writer would require very shortly his kind offices in " fatching him to his parach, to berry him." Under the care of Radford, the unhappy man was taken to a public-house, and Mr. Shelton, surgeon, of this city, was promptly upon the spot ; and, in a short time, the noxious drug was removed, and his recovery is confidently anticipated. Instantly upon discovering who the would-be suicide was, Sergeant Radford dispatched a messenger to his father, requesting his attendance. He did come, but evidently disinclined to stir hand or foot to save the life of his offspring ; and despite the remonstrances of all present, positively refused him an asylum in his own house, remarking, " They ought to take him to the workhouse, or where they liked ; but he shouldna come home, if he knowed it." T. G. Curtler and J. M. Gutch, Esqs., who had gone to the spot for the purpose of ascertaining what could be done for the miserable creature, read the old man and unnatural father a severe and deserved lecture upon his conduct ; and eventually succeeded in procuring from him a promise that Ina son should have an asylum in his house---at least till he had recovered—and there he was accordingly removed. Worcester Herald. The memorials in favour of Mary Gallop, condemned to death at the late assizes at Chester, for the deliberate murder of her father, have wholly failed in moving the Home Secretary to recommend a commuta• tion in her case. The execution of this -unnatural criminal took place on Saturday. The following extract, apparently from some Kentish paper, has been sent to Us. its " moral" is good :—" A wight, rejoicing in the name of Parkhurst, has scratched his name on the windows of several of the first-class carriages of the Greenwich Railway, and some wag has made the very mortifying addition— ' Since hung at Maidstone.' Both mune and history have, on some of the carriages, since been carefully obliterated, evidently by the hand of the original offender ; for it is not likely that any friend, however welldisposed. would volunteer such a service, and thereby run the risk of being detected by the Company's servants."—Railway Record.