The Sun. — 1858-08-21 (London, England)

MURDER AND SUICIDE AT CARLISLE.-011 Monday alteraoon the body of a child was observed floating down the liver Eden, at a short distance above the town. Ultimately it was dragged out, and conveyed to the Turf Hotel, to await identification. At midnight the body remained unclaimed, and it was supposed that the child belt.nged to some of the villages up the river, and had been accidentally drowned. During the night, however, a man, named Robert Irving, a bookbinder, became alarmed at the absence of his wife and one of his children; and having heard the report concerning the drowning of the child, he went to the hotel about six o'clock next morning, and found the body to be that of his little girl. He then appre. .  tended that his wife was also drowned; and, having cotnmunicated with the police, the river was dragged, and the body discovered about noon on Tuesday, near the place where the child was recovered. An inquest was  held on the bodies the same afternoon, when Irving stated that at dinner time on Monday there was no dinner ready for him, and they quarrelled; but not more than usual. She had been in the habit of drinking for years, but he saw no appearance of unsound mind. She came to the shop about five o'clock on Monday afternoon with the child, and he asked her to come in, but she turned rouad sad went away.' He :had always been kind to her, excerpt when he had to find fault. George Edgar, the deceased's brother, said he called twice to see her on Monday, and he noticed a wild restlessness in her manner, and was of opinion that her mind was not sound. She was usually very "tidy," but he noticed to her that her dress was dirty, and she replied, " Oh, it will be clean soon." There were no marks of violence on the body, and the jury found that the deceased had destroyed herself and child while in a state of unsound mind. _ _  WESTMINSTER BRIDGE:—The works of the new bridge are proceeding steadily and satisfactorily, under the supervision of Mr. Page, the eminent engineer; the abutments, both on the London and Lambeth sides of the river, being now neatly completed—at least as regards half of the roadway. One-half of the six piers in the river longitudinally are also carried to the required height, and ready to receive the beautiful elliptical iron arches destined to rest upon them. These piers are to be surmounted by octagonal pillars, which are now in course of preparation, and consist of immense blocks of grey granite; they have moulded capitals and bases, all to be cut from the solid, and when finished will assuredly be amongst the finest examples of granite masonry in the kingdom. We trust the engineer will resolve to have them plished, in which case the great beauty of the material will be brought out, and they o ill thus, when completed, defy the action of our London smoke, and remain for ages oljects of real beauty. To give our readers some idea of the magnitude of these pillars we may state that the blocks of which they are being constructed vary in weight from 15 to 20 tons each. They have been cut at great labour from the quarries of Cheesewring and Pcnrhyn, in Cornwall. The new piers are 19 feet 6 inches above low water level, and are of the most sound and substantial construction, the details of which we gave in otr: former notice. We may now only add that we have the satisfaction to state that, both with reference to the abutments and piers, such Is their solidity that there has not been the slightest set tlement or shrinkage in the entire stonework, which is more than can be said of the old bridge, built 111 years ago, for two of its arches fell, and were obliged to be rebuilt, before the structure was entirely completed. One-half of the approaches to the bridge are already graded to their ultimate level both on the Surrey and Westminster sides, the former being close to the Old Red Lion Tavern, and the other at the base of the clock-tower of the Houses of Parliament. As a matter of course, the old tavern will have to be cleared away, and also property on the London side, iu order to widen the approaches. The works so at the bridge are now entirely shrouded from view by lefty hoarding, that the public at large can have but a slight idea of the vast operations that are now proceeding silently (with the exception of the crash of the ponderous ,c monkey" used in driving the piles) within for their special convenience. We may state for general information that the new structure is proceeding entirely independent of the old bridge, the new piers having been built between the old stone arches. and the additional width is being obtained on the upper side, next the Clock-tower of the Houses of parliament. The half of the roadway will be opened to the public without at all interfering with the old bridge, and this is, we understand, the intention of the engineer, as soon as one-half of the new arches are completed, by which arrangement the ultimate half of the new bridge will be proceeding whilst the finished one is in use. The first half, we may ,hate, will , be within 3 feet of being as wide as the old briticse—viz., 42 ' feet la inch; the total illtehded width to be 84 feet 8 inches In the clear between the parapets, In preparation for the iron arches, what are technically called the " skewback stones," are all set at an angle of about eight degrees from the vertical, and are constructed of Yorkshire slabs, 15 inches in thickness. These form the springing-line of the arches, Mes,rs. Cochrane Brothers and Ca, have trip contract for the the ironwork, and whole of will be ready to commence operatipt4 as to the *iing of one-half of the width of the arches In about a week. In prosecution of the works canneelcd with the bridge we may add that, as well as our legislators, the workmen have suffered much from the abominable stench proceeding from the " noble river," so much so, that as many as sis: at:rt seven men at a time have been cellPelled to leaa, e their esaployment, having been seized with sickness, nausea, and general physical prostration. We are sorry to learn that, in consequence of the excessive amount of casualties, the sick fund of the operadyes Is entirely exbausted.—Building New