The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

TOWN BT OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. --+- 0. readers wiB understand, that we do not hold ourselves respon- sible for 01W able Correspondent's opimens, U IF you really want to assist me, find me subjects for two leading articles." This is what a great friend of mine asked me to do when I went to pay him a visit towards the end of an unusually dull week in his editorial sanctum. He is given to writing leading articles, and keeps a regular score showing how many times he has rung the changes on various subjects. He gravely assured me that he had written eighty-five leaders on the • American question, and that his average on the "coming elections was gradually and surely in- creasing. He longed for novelty. Of course, you will have to write about these accidents," I suggested; and I am sure that can't be a new subject: if they go on increasing at this alarming extent you will be as sick of commenting on them as you are with regard to the American question and the coming elections." Of course, after this I could not be bold enough to commence arguing out this railway accident question. It has been discussed over and over again by my friend the leader- writer and by all his companions in journalism. Perhaps, however, there are one or two little bits of gossip in connection with them which you I may not have heard. You remember, of course, the Queen's memorable letter to the directors of all railway companies some short time since, and I what a thrill it sent all through the land. How often, indeed, does her Majesty show that besides possessing the name of Queen, she can boast of the heart of an Eaglish Christian lady. Directly after the last accident the Queen telegraphed special instructions to her Ministry anent these awful catastrophes. The upshot of this we shall all be most anxious to know. I myself heard a graphic account of the Staplehurst accident from the lips of a lady who was in one of the carriages that went over the bridge, but was miraculously saved. I wish I had an opportunity of telling you all she told me. She described the silence directly after the accident as something awful. A wild shriek would have been a relief. But the car- riages kept sinking lower and lower into the mud, and all was still as death.. This lady was rescued when the water was up to her chin We may expect an excellent account of the Staple- hurst disaster from the pen of Mr. Charles Dickens. He behaved in the most noble manner, and, though terribly shaken and nervous, did all he could to alleviate the misery of the sufferers. In his hat he carried clean water to more than one dying person. The leading journal of England, and perhaps the beat-conducted daily newspaper in the world, I « has been doing some rather eccentric things lately. Mr. Reuter is perhaps responsible for the hoax about the defeat of the Russians at Khokan but surely the editor is answerable for the two strange and inconsistent leading articles on the same sub- ject. And then about Lord Cranbourne! The late Viscount Cranbourne died as Lord Robert Cecil was speaking in the House; and the next morning, to our astonishment, we find, on reading .our Times at breakfast, the death of Lord Cran- bourne reported in one corner of the paper, and in another Lord Robert Cecil's speech, as proceeding iroiii Loxd Cranbourne, This, we presume, was on the principle of Le roi est lJwri; vive le roi and may be safely ascribed to some superlatively sharp ¡ subordinate. I don't think the printers or readers would have dared to have taken a liberty of this I kind. Perhaps the reporter in the House, on transcribing his shorthand notes, heard the rumour of the Viscount's decease just as he got I to Lord Robert Cecil's speech. Oh thought he, "Lord Robert is now Lord Cranbourne;" and down it went. Because Lord Palmerston did not issue any address for seme time, a report was immediately spread that he was going to retire after the gene- ral election. The report was strengthened from I' the fact of its never having been officially con- tradicted. But surely a canard which is not originated in official circles does sot require an j' official contradiction. It is really not because the "silly season "has commenced a little before its time this year that the daily newspapers are inundated with letters about unmuzzled dogs and fears of hydrophobia. These are no false alarms, as a reference to the house surgeons of any of our London-hospitals will prove. I can speak from experience, I happened to be going through a not very aristocratic neigh- bourhood "down east" the other day, and my attention was attracted by a large crowd. Being a curious person, I, too, went to look, and found a circle of people round a dog, which was evidently in an advanced stage of madness. The dog kept darting out from its corner every now and then, 'bent upon worrying somebody's legs, and great was the agility displayed by the roughs in getting out of the way of the furious animal, and clever the generalship exhibited in keeping the beast at bay. There was no dot whatever that the dog ought to have been instantly destroyed. We all thought so we all said so; but who was to kill the dog ? A butcher, who lived hard by," and had a cleaver handy, refused. The police de- clared they had no power, and would be exceeding their duty did they attempt it. During all this discussion the dog was still meditating onslaughts in a state of mad foam. The inspector eventually allowed us to take the law into our own hands. A brave bystander was tempted with half-a-crown, and the dog died an ignominious death. So, the little Prince is to be called Christian," out of compliment to his grandfather, the King of Denmark. A Danish name, after the string of German ones we have always had to submit to, will be a little relief. But how much preferable an English one would have been? Great preparations are being made for the great Metropolitan Horse Show, which is to take place at that great home for shows of all sorts, from j fowls to donkeys—the Agricultural-hall, at Isling- j ton. The aggregate value of the prizes to be [ competed for considerably exceeds £ 1,000. This exhibition is always exciting, because we have an amateur hurdle-race every now and then, and, of course, plenty of tumbles. The excursion season has set in with more than usual severity this year, and it is really a difficult problem to say from what point you cannot get anywhere for almost nothing. Between Saturday at four and Monday at an early hour, London is comparatively deserted. Who can wonder at it ? We are all better for a breath of fresh air and I am sure the country folks, though they may be bothered by the intrusion, don't grudge us a sight of the fresh green fields. Lord Kingsale died last week at his residence in Eaton-square, at the early age of thirty-seven. It is not generally known that this noble lord had a privilege which no other subject can claim, that of remaining with his hat on in the presence of the Sovereign, and having a cover laid for him on all state occasions at the Royal table. These privileges were granted to the ancestor of the De Courcy family by King John, and each succeeding De Courcy (or as they are now, Lords Kingsale) has exercised his right. Z.

CHILD MURDER AND SUSPECTED POI- SONING OF A WIFE. On Monday afternoon Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, held an inquest at the Royal Oak Inn, Woolwich, on the body of an infant found in the River Thames. Thomas Percival, a waterman, proved finding the body of the child on Friday last floating on the river off Nile-street, Woolwich. A flat-iron, weighing 41b., was tied round the neck with a piece of string, and the throat was cut. He took the body ashore, and it was removed to the dead-house. Dr. Stuart, the divisional police-surgeon at Wool- wich, proved making a post-mortem examination of the body. It was that of a male infant, and must have been about.a month in the water. There was a deep out, three or four inches long, done with a knife. Police-Inspector Brown said: From information I received from two women I went, this morning to the Royal Arsenal, and apprehended a young man at one of the factories named Thomas Jones. I took him to the town station, where the women identified the clothes and iron found upon the child as being his property. .<_ j. i. The coroner suggested the propriety of adjourning the inquest until the examination of the prisoner before the magistrate. The inquest was adjourned Examination at the Police-court. In the afternoon of the same day, Thomas Jones, twenty-five, of Raglan-road, Phimstead, was charged before Mr. Traill, at the Woolwich Police-court, on suspicion of murdering his wife and child. Maria Atkinson, a married woman, of 3, Raglan- road, Plumstead, identified the clothing found on the deceased child. It was a male infant and she had frequently dressed it. The flat-iron attached to the child was a peculiar one, which witness had borrowed of Mrs. Jones on several occasions, and which she could positively swear to. Mrs. Jones, the prisoner's wife, died about a fortnight after the infant was born, leaving the child alive. It was a healthy infant, and was placed by the prisoner in the care of his wife s sister. Louisa Bell said she w&s aunt to the deceased child, which was born on Good Friday last. The mother died on the 30th of April, and witness had charge of the infant, more or less, since the day Mrs. Jones was buried. The prisoner never seemed to care about the infant. On Thursday, the 8th June, he asked her to bring the child home to him, saying he was going to send it to London to be taken care of. She took it home, and at the prisoner's desire placed it on a bed, and she had never seen it after. The clothes now produced in court were the identical ones she had dressed the infant in when she took it to the prisoner on that day. On one oecasion she asked him if the baby was doing well, and he replied, It's a great deal better off than if you or any one else in Woolwich had it." He refused to say where the child was. Sarah Smith, a married woman, of 75, Burrage-road. Plumstead, said she attended the mother of the de- ceased in her confinement. She had a very favourable time, and no medical man was in attendance. She went on well until the fourth day, when she com- plained of' suffering from sickness and purging, with great thirst, a burning sensation of the stomach, and a convulsive action of the heart and face. She asked her what she had taken, and she replied nothing but what witness had ordered her. She felt uneasy about her, and went to Mr. Atkins, a chemist, who gave her a bottle ot medicine. She told Mr. Atkins she was not satisned about the case, and thought that something had been given to the woman. On Monday morning it was evi- dent she was fast sinking, and Mr. Wise, a surgeon, attended, and said there was something wrong in the bowels, and it was hard to say the cause of it. Mr. Traill said the case was one of great suspicion, and ordered Inspector Townsend to communicate with the coroner to issue his order to have the body of the woman exhumed, and the contents of the stomach sent to be analysed. The prisoner was remanded for a week; and subse- quently, when in the cell, eeid to the mspector, Well, they can only hang me."

DEATH OF VISCOUNT CRANBORNE. Viscount Cranborne, the eldest son of the Marquis of Salisbury, has just expired at the family mansion in Arlington- street. His lordship had been attacked a few days previously with a slight bilious fever, but the symptoms were not of an aggravated character, and no apprehension of a serious termination of the malady was entertained. A few hours, however, sufficed to give a very different aspect to the attack, and led to his premature demise on Wednesday, in the presence of the Marchioness of Salisbury and Lord Eustace Cecil. Viscount Cranborne was born in the year 1821, and was consequently in his 45th year. The infirmity of blindness, with which he was afflicted, prevented him from taking a prominent position. Nevertheless, he took an active interest in all the great questions of the day, and, although abstaining publicly from the field of politics, exercised no inconsiderable influence in the social circles in which he mixed. A great traveller, a good linguist, an earnest student, an able writer, and a sound thinker, there were few topics on which he could not speak with knowledge, and few in the dis- cussion of which his opinions were not well worth careful consideration. But to his mental qualities, carefully cultivated, he added a charm of amiability, a kindly and genial 'manner, a friendly and even affec- tionate interest in those around him, and a warm- hearted cordiality towards all who came in contact with him, that will make his loss severely felt. And outside the narrow circle of sorrowing relations and regretful friends and acquaintances there are many who knew him but by name and by his acts of charity, who will mourn for years to come the departure of this true and largehearted philanthropist. His lordship's title will devolve upon Lord Robert Arthur Talbot Cecil, M.P. for Stamford.

CALAMITOUS FIRE AND LOSS OF LIFE IN LEADENHALL HABEET. A dreadful fire, by which two unfortunate creatures perished, occurred early on Thursday morning at the Poulterers' Arms Tavern, in Ship Tavern-passage, on the east side of Leadenhall-market. The whole of those premises were destroyed and also several other houses in the market, as well as in Lime-street, Fen- church-street. The Poulterers' Arms Tavern had re- cently come into the possession of Mr. Lovegrove, who was putting it into repair. The tavern business was still being carried on by Mrs. Lovegrove, who slept in the house, the rest of the inmates, consisting it is un- derstood, of the barmaid, cook, servant, and potboy. The tavern was closed between eleven and twelve on Wednesday night, and at the time of the in- mates retiring to rest there was nothing to excite suspicion. At half-past five o'clock in the morning the city policeman on duty in the market in passing along the passage noticed a strong glare of light I through the fan light window over the door, and in a very few moments the flames rolled out with great force. The tavern being built chiefly of lath and plaster, and the front covered with timber, the flames spread with great rapidity. The fire had obtained possession of the staircase and prevented the inmates from escaping, and, from the peculiar construction of the market, it was difficult to get a ladder up to the window where the poor creatures were appealing for aid. The fire-escape men got some short ladders up the passage, but just as they were on the eve of being placed against the windows Mrs. Harris, the landlady, and the potboy, threw themselves out into the pas- sage, and were much injured. The servant, it is stated, was got out through the roof, but there is too much reason to fear that the other inmates, the bar- much reason to fear that the other inmates, the bar- maid and the cook, perished. Before the engines were at work the largo timber roof over the poulterers' market had also ignited, threatening destruction to the whole of the market. The fire had also reached the house in Ship Tavern- passage, a.nd the houses Nos. 20 and 21, in Lime-street, in the occupation of Mr. Barker, baker, and Mr. Severn, the upper portion being let as offices to merchants and others. As to the cause of the fire nothing precise could be learnt. The occupier is believed to be insured.

DEFRAUDING THE DETECTIVE POLICE. Frederick George, twenty-three, was indicted at the Middlesex Sessions, on Tuesday, for fraudulently ob- taining by false pretences from Maria Chown, the sum of 5s. with intent to defend. There was a second indictment against him for obtaining Is. from Police-sergeant John Cook; and a third indictment against him for obtaining from Sergeant William M'Matfc, S division, the sum of Is., with intent to defraud. The particulars have recently appeared in the police reports. The jury immediately found the prisoner Guilty. In answer to a question by the Assistant-Judge, Sergeant Chown said there were nearly a hundred other cases of a similar nature ready to be preferred against the prisoner. Sergeant Charles Cole, 23 C, said that the prisoner had been the cause of two detective inspectors going to Birmingham on a foolish errand, pretending that some great robbery was committed there and which was not true. He had known the prisoner since 1857, when he took him into custody with another man, who was now undergoing a sentence of ten years' penal servitude. The prisoner was then sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment for picking pockets in Regent-street. In February, 1861, the prisoner was tried at the Surrey Sessions for housebreaking, when he was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour. After he had served this sentence the prisoner cametohim and said that he was determined to get his living honestly, and wishing to encourage him in doing so he occasion- ally gave him a shilling, and it was from information he obtained from the prisoner that he was enabled to pro- secute some men for a carriage robbery in Long-acre, who were tried in this court, and sentenced to five years' penal servitude. He had lost sight of him for some time, but one day he saw him outside Mr. Poole's, in Sackville-street, and subsequently he took him in charge for obtaining money from the police by false pretences. He believed that the prisoner was destitute, and to encourage him to gain an honest living he gave him occasionally a trifle of money. The Assistant Judge said the prisoner's offence was a very impudent one, and the sentence of the court upon him was that he be kept in penal servitude for five years. The prisoner, who appeared to treat the whole affair as a very good joke, left the dock laughing heartily.

A NEW CLAIMANT TO THE THRONE. An extraordinary affair took place at Stafford on Saturday. At the office of the magistrates clerk, John Nagleton was charged with a criminal assault upon Mary Haywood, at Bridgford. The charge against the prisoner was not proceeded with, in con- sequence of his being snpposed to be insane. The unfortunate man was the victIm of various mental delusions, and amongst others that he was a member of the English Royal family, ana tne lawful King of England, by the title of George V. This knowledge, he said, had been imparted to him in visions and by revelation, and he had been kept from his rights by the influence of witcncrait and enchantment, prac- tised upon him by his enemies. He had written to Sir George Grey (the Home Secretary), the Bishop of Lichfield, the Earl of Lichfield, the Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, and other persons of distinction. He also wrote three letters to her Royai Highness the Princess Helena, in which he made her Royal Highness an offer of marriage, and requested that the matter might be at once brought before Parliament. The letters, in which were enclosed cartes de visite ef his Fifth Georgian Majesty, were very voluminous docu- ments, containing about thirty sheets of foolscap, and were addressed to her Royal Highness the Princess Helena, Windsor Castle, or elsewhere, a superscription being added, "To the service of the nation." The Court being at Osborne at the time the letters were dispatched, they were forwarded thither from Wind- sor, but were returned unopened, with the trifling amount of 2s. 6d. to be paid thereon. The would-be suitor may be described as a mild, rather good-looking young man, with not the slightest appearance of in- sanity in his countenance. He is a native of Hinstock, Shropshire, and his father is a miller there, which trade he also followed, and it is said that an unre- quited attachment he entertained towards the daughter of a neighbouring clergyman has been the cause of his present mental derangement. ♦

A Variety of Choice Dishes for the Dinner- table.-See receipts with each packet of the PEARL SEMOULE. Much prized for Invalids, Children, and Infants. Sold bygroofrs, &c. J. EISOM,.I £ £ WICH, MAEITFACXTJKEK.

TELEGRAPHIC NEWS. [ AMERICA. NEW YORK, JuNEb' The Federal debt amounted on the 1st inst- 2,635_millions of dollars, the annual interest theron P"L able in coin to 64| millions, and the interest {■ currency to 60 millions. The legal tender notes amount to 659 inillions. trw The suppressed testimony at the conspiracy jQ|. has now been published. Connover, a of the New York Tribune, Merritt, a a Montgomery, and a Government detective, 11 that they were intimately acquainted with the federate agents in Canada, and feigned to h complicity with them in order to learn their seCie0j | They frequently saw Saunders, Thompson, t; Clay in intercourse with Booth. Connover fied that he was present when Surratt dispatches to Thompson from Davis and ) indicating Lincoln, Johnson,-Stanton, Grant, and Chase for assassination, and that Thompson <?oj) missioned Booth for this purpose. He also vjj that the Confederates in Canada had organised a Plo j to poison the reservoirs and the stock of cotton in .1-,1. York.. ) The Times says" That the Government depelldg upon the evidence of Connover, Merritt, and Noll. gomery, for the implication of Mr. Davis." 0 General Kirby Smith has surrendered on the j1 terms as Generals Lee and Johnston, and all P f cotton in the trans-Mississippi department beloBfPf t to the Confederate Government has been j over to the Federals. J NEW YORK, JTJNE & |t A denial has been given to the statement that ™ i c Stanton intends to resign his office of Secretary 01 War. j» President Johnson has discharged from imprint J ment all enlisted men of the Confederate army'"j. 1 above the rank of captain, and those of the navy t above the grade of lieutenant, upon taking the j of allegiance, except those who were excluded by a amnesty proclamation. 11 General Grant has arrived at New York, and received with great popular enthusiasm. He 1 present at a meeting of citizens in the Cooper !& 11 tution to signify their adherence to Mr. j administration. Resolutions were passed urging JP/ Government to demand indemnity from the neutt? TJ powers for the depredations caused by Confede 0 pirates, predicting the enforcement of the MoU1 t doctrine and favouring negro suffrage. It is reported that Mr. Davis will not be tried titfjr September. The Nevj York Times confirms the st^ ment that he was manacled for three days. NEW YORK, JUNE 9- J The Federals have occupied Brownsville. The Co e federates had previously sold their artillery to Me' i 3 can Imperialists. j t Tho fort at Sabine Pass had surrendered. It I j t expected that Galveston would also be surrender to the Federals on the 28th ult. 1 General Kirby Smith has gone to Mexico witk c large amount of money. 1 A large proportion of the citizens of Kentucky ha^. refused to employ free negroes, the object being drive them from the State.. J It is not yet decided whether Mr. Jefferson Davis K r to be tried by a civil or military tribunal, nor is < certain that he will be tried in the district of Colu¡]l'l ] bia. | i

ANOTHER RAILWAY A CCIDENT. On Tuesday afternoon, as a passenger train ] leaving the platform of the Lancashire and Yorkshi'Jl station at Wigan, the express, containing Liverpool merchants returning from Manchester market, dasb0% through the station, The engines met beneathjj bridge at the point where the line from the platfor^ and the line through the centre of the station meiT into the main line. At the same moment a higga|! f train was moving beneath the bridge in the opposij; direction. The first engine was jammed against$ wall of the bridge, and the carriages of the express were kept upright by the luggage train, the passengers escaped without fatal injury, thou £ j several were bruised, and many severely shaken.

EXTRAORDINARY CAREER OF A t Jessie Pray, a diminutive girl, about sixteen ot age, showily dressed, was charged at Green> Police-court with stealing a basket of linen articw and also with being in possession of a second baek^ of linen, for which an owner had not been found. Tiie facts of the case, as regards the career of f prisoner, are of a somewhat extraordinary characte^ j Although so young she has several times been si\ marily convicted at this court of robbing children the street, and in the early part of 1862, being j between twelve and thirteen years of age, she committed for trial for a like offence, and l sentenced to a short term of imprisonment, and to detained three years in a reformatory estBbb 11 ment. The sentence expired in April last, since time numerous robberies from children in the str?0 have been reported to the police, the descript1^ have been reported to the police, the descril)tioll given of the thief leaving no doubt that it was tbo to prisoner, notwithstanding which she had contrived evade detection. On Saturday last, a laundress, reSJ° ing at Peckham, sent her son, a youth about tw0^. ) years of age, to take & basket of linen home to j customer. The lad was met by the prisoner, who S°L into conversation with him, and persuaded him t^ii she had been sent for the things by her aunt, having purchased twopennyworth of cherries i given them to him, she obtained possession of basket of clothes. Under pretence that she had I with an accident by letting the basket of clothes f jS, and had thus mixed different persons' parcØV which she said she was employed to deliver, obtained the permission of a woman whose W?'' she passed to enter and put the things straij and then having made up a parcel she left ø ( it, saying she was about taking it to the pereo to whom it belonged. She returned in about \e minutes, and made up a second parcel, which took away under a like pretence, leaving the ba>sK and several small articles, and not again Suspicions being raised, the police were communi°a^0 with, but nothing was seen of the prisoner until was accidentally met with in Greenwich, carry1* another basket of linen, and which she had j tamed from some person at present unknown. pawnbroker's assistants were in attendance with two parcels of goods taken from the basket on SatoJ day, and which had been pledged by the against whom Sergeant King, 27 R, said there at least thirty charges of a similar character COf mitted in Lambeth, Southwark, and other parts 0 the metropolis. i The Magistrate committed the prisoner for trJ* but ordered her to be again brought up for the pletion of depositions. I

All up with Poor Jack.-The Messager duM^* asserts that a machine hag been just invented tt I will destroy with the rapidity of lightning vessels, I war covered with the strongest armour plates. motive power is electricity, and the remarkable Vs?, of the invention is that it is not necessary for enemy's vessel to come in contact with the L but at a great distance the vessel is destroyed iIllØ instant. A Matrimonial Lottery. In the HighlJl 1 parish of Abernethy, a young man proposes to a lottery under the following conditions :—All wi and maidens who have not attained the age of thbwj • two are invited to buy of him a ticket at the pricey 10s. After 300 tickets are sold at this figure drawing will take place. There will be only one and it will be the right of the fortunate lady who it to claim the young gentleman for her husband, ( partake with him the comforts to be derived from t" I X150 produced by the lottery. JOHN SOIHCII BSTD CO*'# CHERRY TEOTB PUS#- I'eoidcdly the best preparation for closMing and ooldbyftBperinmeEBandcheuuate.—-XX.l'hree K ID- j Satisfying, Strengthening, J? ftmtg, agreeable, digeeible, nourishing for Ir PATENT (cooked) FOOD. Prevents acid" cheapest food. Of ohymists, in eanistsra, The Himalaya Tea Oo.'sF and of excellent quality; being tb' K wholesome, therefore the best r Holmsn's Toothache" nstantly relieves without '• j is recommended by v post free, 18 stamp" •- I l-alfcia. Ague, F" I bottles-is. l £ a- £ Instant Cn date and perms Baker Reduc best and chr I