The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1866-02-24 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

SAD AFFAIR.—A distressing accident occurred in Kidderminster on Sunday evening. Several boys were playing together, and one of them' named nudge, had a loaded pistol with him. Amongst the other lads present were two named John Branford and Herbert Morris. Two unsuccessful attempts had been made to fire this pistol, and it was then proposed to fire it by means of a match. Branford was at this time holding the pistol in his hand, and the others were standing around, Morris being opposite Branford, and within a foot or two of him. Just at this time the pistol did go off, whether from its hanging fire or a match being applied does not seem quite clear. Poor Morris received the charge in his right breast, and his nearness to the mouth of the pistol caused his clothing to take fire. The boy was evidently badly injured, and he was taken to the house of his father, who is a shoemaker. Mr. Bradley saw him soon afterwards, and Morris was then in a cold perspiration, and had but very little pulse. Mr. Bradley applied some restoratives,. which revived the boy a little, and he was then taken in a fly to the Infirmary. Here Dr. Rose, Mr. Bradley, and Mr. Hillman attended him, hut he was found to be beyond all help. He had a dreadful wound- in the chest, and some of the shots or slugs with which the pistol was loaded has penetrated his lungs. The internal hemmorhage was greatly wasting his life away, and his suffering was very great. Branford was taken idto custody the same evening, and as the dying boy expressed a wish to see him, Superintendent Gifford went with him to the Infirmary. Morris kissed -Branford, and said he forgave him for being the cause of his death. The scene was a very painful one. Morris, notwithstanding, the nature of the wouirl, lingered till between six and seven, whim death put a period to his agony.  The number of wrecks reported last week was 43, which makes the total for the present year 436. The Royal English Opera, Covent-garden, London, was suddenly closed on Saturday, owing to pecuniary difficulties. Captain Gregson, of Moorlands, has been added to the commission of the peace for the county of Lancaster. On Saturday night, Mr. Thomas Bates, station master at Middleton Junction, was knockdown by an engine and killed. Emma Harris, the woman who recently attempted to destroy her infant and to commit suicide, at Coventry, has been committed for trial at the assizes. _ _ _  At the Marylebone police court, on Monday., Robert Cooper, the proprietor of the "Spiritual Times," was committed for trial for libelling Mr. Southern, the actor. Two young Russian women are at present studying medicine at the University of Zurich, and show, it is stated, much aptitude for that. profession. An American paper (the "Detroit Tribune") says that one case of the disease called trichina, which has recently excited much alarm in Berlin, Prussia, has appeared in that city, and proved fatal. The victim was a young German lady. The mangled body of Mr. William Hallett, formerly an accountant at Macclesfield, was found the other morning on the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, near the mouth of the Portwood tunnel. A wife who often stormed at her husband was sitting with him at the breakfast table, when suddenly, amid loud coughing, "Dear me !" she exclaimed, "A bit of pepper has got into my windpipe !" "Hurricane pipe, you mean my dear," cooly rejoined her sarcastic spouse.