Blandford Weekly News. — 1886-09-04 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

EXTRAORDINARY DELUSION. An extraordinary letter was read at an inquest held at Longton, touching the death of Harry King Hales, better known an Dr. Correy, panorama proprietor, who shot himself. The letter, which was found in a pocket of the deceased after the terrible tragedy, was as follows : " Longten, Friday night. Dear mother and father,—l am happy to say I am doing first-class. I do feel so happy, only my head is rather queer. I don't know what is the matter with it; but I know that someone is inside it. If you can come and bring a acrewdriver, and open it and let him out, I shall be all right. Don't fail to come by first train, and bring your tool-box with you. I will help you to get him out. With God's blessing on you both, and everybody else, I remain, your affectionate son, HARRY KM°. Don't fail to come by first train, as he is eating my brain. Come at once, or lam gone." The deceased in purchasing the pistol with whictw he shortly afterwatchi committed suicide, stated that he wanted it for stage purposes. The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst in a state of temporary insanity.  At Belfast, William Malone, a constable of the Royal Irish Constabulary, has been tined Os. and costs for suffering a prisoner who was in his custody to escape. The man had been given in charge by a district inspector during a riot, and it was alleged that Malone, on the instigation of another person, allowed the man to escape on the way to the barracks. The bench in passim sentence said they were agreed that the constable had committed the offence, bi*.. whether from cowardice or design they were not pre. pared to express an opinion. It is the intention of the War Department to nosy , struct a permanent camp at Lydd. Mr. John Tozer, warrant officer on board her Majesty's ship Indus at Devonport, has been tried by court-martial for drinking to such excess as to be incapacitated from the performance of his duty. A medical man found him suffering from "extreme alcoholism," and in such a state that his reinoval to the hospital was immediately ordered. Two other surgeons then sew him and one of them stated that be was in a state bordering on delirium tremens. The prisoner denied that his state was due to drink, and asserted that it was due to having eaten impure oyster'. He was, however, found guilty, and, having been been twice previously convicted of similes (dere% wee adjudged to be disatisted est Majesty's I lalleatima  The " Psalm of Life" came into existence on • bright summer morning in July, 1824, 113 Cambridge, ttt a small table in the corner of his chamber. It was I verse from his inmost heart, and he kept it unpnblisl.ed for a long time. It expressed his own feetings at that time, when recovering from a deep affliction, end he had it in his own heart for many months. The poem of " The Hesper, Death" came without effort, crystallired into his mind. " The Light of the Star." was composed on a serene and beautiful summer morning, exactly suggestive of the poem. "The Wreck of the Hesperus" was written es the night after a violent storm had occurred, and as die poet sat emoting his pipe the Hesperus came sailing into his mind. He went to bed but could not sleep, and wrote the celebrated verses. It scarcely cost him an effort, but flowed on without let or hindrance. (in a summer afternoon in 1849. as he was riding on the beach, "The Skeleton in Armour' rose as out of the deep before him, and would not be hid. The word " Excelsior " happened to catch his eye one autumn eve in 14l on • piece of newspaper, and straightway his imagination took fire at it. Taking vp a piece of paper, which happened to be the back of a letter received that day from Charles Sumner, he crowded it with verses. As first written down, '' Excelsior" differs from the perfected and published version, but it sliewm a rush, aglow worthy of its autlior. The story of "Evangeline" was first suggested to Hawthorne by a friend who wished Lim to found a romance on it. Hawthorne did not quite coincide with the idea, and he ',ended it over to Lmigfellow, who saw in it ail the elements of • deep and tender idyll.  On Wednesday afternoon a disastrous accident occurred at Messrs. Daniel Doncaster and Son's steel wcrks, in Doncaster-street, Sheffield. About 600 tons of bar steel had been stored against a wall 30 feet long by 20 feet high, rind the weight is supposed to have caused the wall to give way, and the masonry fell into the street. About 150 workmen at once set to work t 3 clear away the mass of bricks and steel, and in the course of their labours they discovered the bodice of seven children who were playing under the wail when it fell. They were all buried under tons of bricks. mortar, and steel billets. The children were crushed and mangled out of all recognition, and presented a shocking sight. Heartrending scenes were witnessed. Fathers and mothers came forward and identified their dead children by their garments, which alone afforded a means of recognition. The little victims were: Martha Armitage, aged 10 years, and John Armitage, aged 2 (sister and brother) ; Henry Crisp. aged 6 ; William Cullingworth, aged 3 ; Guildford Anderson, (wed ; Samuel Bates, aged 0 ; and William Ward, aged 4. They were the children of working people living in the neighbourhood, and were seen playing under tile wall shortly before it fell. The wall, which was of brick, is stated to have been 21t. thick. The weight of the steel billets piled against it, which is believed to have pressed it out into the street, is variously stated at from 200 to 600 tons. The proprietors of the premises mention a smaller quantity, and add that the wall had previously resisted a much greater weight. A person who was near the spot at the time of the accident says that two sharp reports like pistol shots were heard, then a great crash, and clouds of dust obscured everything as the mingled bricks and mortar and metal fell in confused masses. The accident caused great excitement, and all the thoroughfares leading up to the scene of the disaster have been packed with people, many of whom were parents anxiously seeking for children who lied not returned home, and who they feared might be nun bored amongst the victims.