The Brecon Reporter and South Wales General Advertiser

THE ARTS, LITERATURE, &c. AMONGST books which have lately been introduced we might mention Man's Age in the World according to Holy Scripture and Science." By an Essex Rector. "More about Farm Lands." By the Author of "Ploughing and Sowing," and others. Edited by F. Digby Legard, M.A. "Ice Caves of France and Switzerland a Narrative of Subterranean Explora- tion." By the Rev. G. F. Browne. History of the Viceroys of Ireland; with Notices of the Castle of Dublin and its Chief Occupants in Former Times." By J. T. Gilbert, Esq. His Royal Highness Prince Alfred comes of age on the 6th of August, and we observe that a portrait of the Prince (by permission, after a recent photograph by Mr. May all), printed on toned paper and suitable for framing, is announced to be presented gratuitously with the number of Cassell's Family Paper" which will be published on the 2nd August. In this number, being the first number of the second volume of this popular periodical, will be commenced a new novel, entitled "Bound to the Wheel," by the author of Guy Waterman's Maze." MR. J. MCGILCHRIST, who appears to have de. voted his attention to biographical literature, has not only given us a striking life of Palmerston, which at the election time sold freely, but has since brought out a handsome little volume, with photographs by Ayling, illustrative of the life and character of Richard Cobden; and the author has, in a very, re- markable manner, pictured the virtues of this peace- hero, and leaves us to suppose that such a man had no vices. MR. BRANGWIN, an English architect, hag obtained the prize offered by the Belgian Guild of St. Thomas and St. Luke for the best design for a parish church. A PIECE of antique church plate of remarkable exe- cution has just been discovered at Toulon in pulling down an old Roman building. It consists of a vessel for holy water suspended by chains to a holy spirit with extended wings, the whole being in massive silver repoussS. This work of art belongs to the earliest age of Christianity. THE very ingenious plan submitted by M. Janicot, a Paris architect, for a construction to serve' the two- fold purpose of a covered area for military evolutions and for the Universal Exhibition in Paris of 1867 is under consideration. M. Janicot proposes to sustain a roof extending over half the area of the Champs de Mars (about fifty acres), by means of one central tower and a series of iron ties. The plan has been favourably entertained by the Imperial Commission of the Uni- versal Exhibition. A RETURN to an order of tno ot Commons concerning treasure-trove, informs us that some articles have been, between March 1st, 1864, and May 10th last, claimed by the Crown, and states how the finders have been recompensed. A gold coin found at Tiong Crendon,Buckinghamshire, of the estimated value of £3, was retained for the British Museum, and.£2 of the estimated value paid to the farmer on whose ground it was discovered; we trust the remaining £ 1 went to the finder.62 gold coins were found in an earthern jar at Stockeston, Leicestershire; thay were esti- mated at .£58 value; five were granted to the lord of the manor on payment of their value, ten were presented to the Leicester Museum; the value of the coins was paid to the fincler.-6,000 silver pennies, temp. Henry the Third, were found at Eccles, Man- chester, of unknown value; these were delivered to the Duchy of Lancaster, according to Royal grant by charter.-760 silver pieces found at Holwell, Newark, worth X15, are undisposed of.—5 gold pieces, foundat Wimborne, valued at 416 17s., were retained for the British Museum; their value was paid to the finders. The Archaeological Institute have now completed the arrangements for their congress at Dorchester. The inaugural meeting will be held on August 1 in the Town-hall, when the usual congratulatory addresses will be presented, and afterwards the antiquities of the town will be visited under the direction of the Rev. C. N. Bingham. On Wednesday, after a paper by Mr. Barnes on "Ancient Dorset," and another by Professor Willis, on Sherborne Abbey Church," an excursion will be made to Maiden Castle. On Thurs- day, Sherborne will be visited, when Professor Willis, president of the architectural section, will accom- pany visitors in an examination of the Abbey Church, after which they will be entertained at Sherborne Castle by Mr. Wingfield Digby^ On Friday, the Dean of Chichester will read a menioir of Cardinal Morton; Mr C. T. Newton (President of the section of anti. quity) will read a paper on Phoenician Art and Professor Willis will discoiurse on <GastonAbbey The excursion to Wareham, and Corfe Castle, and Wimborne Minster will take place on Saturday. On Mondav the 7th, Athelhampton and Milton Abbey, Bingham, Melcombe, and Walters ton • On the 8th, the general concluding meiChlmWf' The reception-room will be the Counoil Chamber in the Town-hall. The meetings of sectl0^ be held in the Town-hall. The miiseams of kwal antiquities will be farmed at the infants' school-room, where the conversazione will be held. —♦

The Winner of the Queen's Prize.-A re- markable reception awaited Private Sharman, the winner of the Queen's prize at Wimbledon, on his re- turn home on Monday evening to Halifax. The streets were hung with banners, and filled with a dense crowd of between 30,000 and 40,000 people, who greeted the champion shot of 1865 with enthusiastic cheers as he passed from the railway station to the White Lion Hotel. He was accompanied by four other Halifax prizemen, and the volunteer regiment to which they belonged formed a guard of honour on the occasion. It is stated that the number of people along the line of route was greater than that which welcomed the Prince of Wales when he visited the town last year. A Dangerous Bridge.-On Wednesday morning one of the large Brentford barges was about to pass under the St. George's (Surrey Canal) Bridge, at Camberwell, when she came in contact with the in- terior coating of the arch. It was nearly an hour before the barge could be extricated. All business either up or down the canal was suspended during the time.

OUR MISCETAL ANY. I Stutterers in the Frontiers. — In Great Britain, I think, there is an excess over the average amount of stutterers in the North, where our language meets the Gaelic. When a mixed language is spoken, the majority are unable to speak the one or the other perfectly, and the result is that they find difficulties in both; whence arrises a certain hesitation, the fore- runner of stuttering. If this be true, we might, d priori, expect a large number of stutterers and stam- marers at the frontiers of countries in which the languages differ; and I believe this to be the case.- Hunt on Stammering. Wintering in Madeira.—The invalid who con- templates spending a winter in Madeira, says a writer in a periodical, must bear in mind that he is about to submit to self-imposed transportation to an island in the midst of the Atlantic, six hundred miles from the nearest port of communication in Europe, difficult of access, and still more difficult to escape from; to an island which the waves of civilisation have not yet reached, where there are no resources of amusement or recreation formindorbody; where there is no society, no literature, no subject for conversation, save sickness and death; where communication with home is unfrequent and uncertain; where everybody is indifferent to the great public questions which may be affecting Europe or America; where there is nothing to excite interest, no public question to discuss, no science to attract; where, in a word, there is only apathy, indolence, and stagr.liion. Prince Alfred and the Queen's Messenger. -At Wirdsor Castle the Royal children had gardens, of somewhat small extent, which they cultivated according to their own taste; one would have a fencing of broken platters, another of sticks, and perhaps a third of tiles, &c., whilst their toys were of a very in- expensive character. A Queen's messenger once told us, that when passing these gardens, Prince Alfred, then about five years of age, called to him and said, Are, you clever?" "I am afraid not, your Royal Highness," was the reply. If you were, I thought you could mend this," showing a sixpenny wooden vehicle with the wheel displaced for want of a wedge. The messenger, finding a pin in his coat, made the damaged vehicle all right; and when the little Prince found it would travel, he exclaimed, Oh, thank you, I think you are very clever!"—Oassell s Illustrated Family Paper. W The Winning Side.—The following is an extract from a London letter in the New York Times:- The great change has, in part, an ignoble cause- success. And the conversion of such organs as the Times has certainly an even more disgraceful ap- pearance than the original sin. I cannot refrain from quoting on this passage in a private letter from an eminent English thinker, who stands now at the head of European political philosophers :—' Your remark is most just on the unworthiness of the conversions due only to success. Such conversions merely show the fundamental unworthiness of the original error. The disgust they occasion is one of the causes which make those who "have fought an up-hill battle, up to the hour of victory, eager to go forward to something else, in which they will still have the low-minded and selfish part of mankind against them.' A White Hat.— In our time, a white hat has been regarded as a political distinction. Henry Hunt, the Radical, almost invariably wore a white hat; but the political significance was thought to be lost by the Hon. Mr. Stuart Wortley, an unshrinking Tory, one evening appearing in the House of Commons wearing a white hat. At the Oxford Commemoration, in 1864, we read of the wearer of a white hat being assailed with a storm of hisses: The white hat," says the re- port, seemed to act on the undergraduate as the red rag upon the Spanish bull-it absolutely infuriates him, and, until it is removed from sight, he yells and raves as if he were downright mad." Probably this arose from the recollection of the old Radical badge, the white hat, towards which Oxford University is anything but Alma Mater. In the "Poetical Note-book and Epigramatic Maseum," 1824, appeared the following solution :— THE WHITE HAT. ON BEING ASKED THE REASON OF WEARING ONE. You ask me the reason I wear a white hat: 'Tis for lightness I wear it, what think you of that? So light is its weight that no headache I rue, So light its expense that it wears me out two; So light Is its colour that it never looks dusty, So light though I treat it, it never rides rusty; So light in its fashion, its shape, and its air, So light in its fit, its sit, and its wear; So light in its turning, its twisting, and twining, So light in its beaver, its binding, and lining; So light to a figure, so light to a letter, And, if light my excuse, you may light on a better. Musical Accent.—At a trial in the Court of King's Bench, between certain publishing tweedle- dums and tweedledees, as to an alleged piracy of an arrangement of "The Old English Gentleman," T. Cooke was subpoenaed as a witness. On cross-ex- amination by Sir James Scarlett, that learned counsel rather flippantly said: Now, sir, you say the two melodies are the same but different. What de you mean, sir?" Tom promptly answered, "I said that the notes in the two copies were alike, but with a different accent." Sir James: What is a musical accent ? Cooke My terms are a guinea a lesson, sir" (a loud laugh). Sir James (rather ruffled): "Don't mind your terms here. I ask you what is a musical accent? Can you see it?" Cooke: "A musician can" (great laughter). Sir James (very angrily): Now, pray, sir, don't beat about the bush, but tell his lordship and the jury, who are supposed to know nothing about it, the meaning of what you call accent ? Cooke: Accent in music is stress laid upon a particular note, as you would lay a stress on any given word, for the purpose of being better understood. If I were to say you are an ass, it rests on ass; but if I were to say you are an ass, it rests on you, Sir James." Reiterated shouts of laughter by the whole court, in which the bench ioined, followed this repartee. Silence being obtained, Lord Denman, the judge, with much seeming gravity, accosted the chop-fallen counsel, "Are you satisfied, Sir James?" Sir James, deep red as he naturally was, had become Scarlett in more Mian name; and, in a great huff, said, The witness may go down." Speaking One's Mind.—What would the world be like if we all said out our thoughts ? We should be a set of savages cutting each other's throats, and brandishing eternal tomahawks over each other's skulls there would be no peace, and no love, and no happiness left among us; and for this one question- able virtue of truth unveiled we should have parted with all the rest. A thinks B a conceited, stuck-up insufferable puppy; B thinks A a priggish, solemn, unendurable owl. Shall A and B make clean breasts of it mutually, and tell the truth without counting the cost, and, indeed, without shaming him who shall be nameless ? As it is, being happily men of the world who know the worth of keeping their own counsel, they meet at railway boards, and in committee rooms, and at dinner tables, and in ladies' drawing-rooms tranquilly enough; and A keeps his puppy dog chained up in the innermost courts, and even yelps out some insignificant little white lie of conventional kindliness, and B buries his owl deep in the ivy bush of formal civilities, and never once lets him loose to go mousing after unpleasant candour. And the result is that A finds B something better than a puppy, and B finds A something brighter than an owl. Had they in the beginning told the truth as it seemed to them, they would have hated each other cordially to the last days of their lives, and have never found out the virtues mutually possessed. And can any person in his clear moral sense hesitate as to which is the greater evil, white lying, active or passive, or bitter, black un- charity and hate ?—All the Year Round. Malay Love.—When we visited Bintulu, one of the footmen was in confinement for an affair which showed the strong affection of which Malays are sometimes capable. He had fallen in love with a slave girl, and she strongly reciprocated his attach. ment, but the unsympathising authorities did not view the matter with a favourable eye; somehow they never do when the story is at all romantic. The con. nection had already subsisted some months between the pair, when they conceived an idea that some design was on foot to separate them, and, in the absence of her lover, the woman, overpowered by her misery, stabbed herself a dozen times, in the most de- voted but irrational manner. The lover returned in time to see his mistress expire, which worked him into tae state to which Malays are liable, called "amok," or, in English corruption," amuck." Instead, however, of following the usual custom, and avenging his mis- fortunes upon all sorts of people who had nothing what- ever to do with them, he preferred to cut himself deliberately to pieces, and considering that Bintulu is a very peaceable district, where opportunities for practice were necessarily few, his decision was by no mpans despicable. Without entering into the cata- logue of horrid wounds described to us, of which he bore evident traces months afterwards, it will be suffi- cient to say that sixteen wounds were found on his limbs and body, most of them dangerous. So full of life, however, are these Malays, owing, no doubt, to their simple diet and obedience to the prophet's com- mand of total abstinence from spirituous liquids, that he finally recovered, and was prepared to take passage to Kuching with us in the Jolly, there to be dismissed the service, and to suffer what other punishments I can- not say. I never heard his ultimate fate. Adven- tures among the Dyaks of Borneo," by Frederick Boyle, F.R.G.S

ROBBERY BY A PAGE. John Richer, aged sixteen, a page in the service of Colonel Onslow, 28, Leinster-gardens, Paddington, was charged at Marylebone Police-fiourt with stealing a purse, album, two reading-glasses, a bottle of scent, five cartes de visite of her Majesty, a letter band, and two knives, the property of Edward Elphick, book- seller and stationer, of 22, Leinster-terrace; he was also charged with stealing two pieces of riband, the property of the Postmaster-General. Mr. Elphick keeps a post-office, and has missed articles frequently after the prisoner has been in his shop. On Friday, he stated in his evidence, I marked a purse and placed it on a shelf, and after the prisoner bad been in the shop I missed it. I went to Colonel Onslow's house, and saw two of the servants, wno said they had seen the prisoner with a purse similar to the one I had lost. I waited till the mistress came home in her carriage and spoke to her about it. She said it was a most grave charge to make. I said I was aware of it, but I was certain the prisoner had stolen the property, and that he knew about the missing letters. He was called up, and after being questioned he said he had given one of the letters to a butcher's boy to post. Others he said he had burnt. On looking into his box the property mentioned in the charge was found, including the marked purse. One of the missing letters had contained the cartes de visite. The two pieces of riband had been sent in a letter to Lady Onslow by a tradesman in Oxford-street. She had never received it. In consequence of complaints two of the district letter-carriers have been under strict supervision, and I and my servants also have been closely watched during the past month. A few days ago I got into some trouble through some letters con- taining valuable information addressed to the Lord Chancellor not having come to hand. I believe they were never posted. His lordship has withdrawn his patronage from me through it. The prisoner was remanded.

ANOTHER FATAL ALPINE ASCENT. The Rev. J. M'Cormick, chaplain at Zermatfc, in the Alpine district, writes thus to the Times I am sorry to have to report another melancholy accident. The Rev. J. Robertson and Mr. Phillpotts, who were staying at the Riffel Hotel, yesterday even- ing at bedtime missed their friend, Mr. Kynvet Wilson. Search was instantly made for him with lanterns. Their guides and friends divided them- selves into parties, so as to sweep over the face of the mountain. The night was spent in looking for him, and the search was continued at daybreak. The body was eventually found on the rocks of the Riffelhorn, a rugged, dangerously, slippery hill of serpentine rock, only a short distance from the Riffel Hotel. Mr. Wilson had mounted this rock with some of his friends in the morning, taking the proper precau- tions of having guides and a rope with them. He must, in the absence of his companions, have climbed up it again in the evening without rope or guide, lost his hold in coming down, and fallen backwards on his head. Death must necessarily have been in- stantaneous. Mr. Wilson was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- bridge, and a master of Rugby School. He appears to -be most deeply regretted as an able master, a cheerful and affectionate friend, and a man of great vigour and independence of character."

A "PERILOUS STRUGGLEAND THE '< COMMON FOE." The Times makes the following Liberal commentary on Mr. Gladstone's recent speech to the electors of South Lancashire. It is instructive, as coming from the journal which, more than any other, accuses Mr. Bright of wishing to set class against class:— Mr. Gladstone, at the moment when he can wear at once the palm of the martyr and the laurel of the victor, has this additional fortune, that he need not pledge himself to anything or anybody. Other men have had to be carried over the country weeks and even months, ready to answer questions which they were often ashamed to listen to, though sometimes un- able to answer. But with constitutional impetuosity he has been rushing into explanations for which n@ other reason can be given than that he found them on the tip of his tongue when he had nothing else to say. At a roadside inn abroad, if they have nothing else to offer, they will at least have sausage and ham,, and Mr. Gladstone has a large store of such articles on his shelves. No one who has been dragged out of pleasant company to make a speech to absolute strangers upon no apropos whatever would wish Mr. Gladstone less supplied with commonplaces. But there is no necessity to surrender the British constitution, bodily and for ever, to the first dozen honest and well-educated working men who think themselves competent to demand that concession. There is such a thing as a dangerous glibness of speech, which leads a man to say what he will often wish unsaid five minutes after. Upon the most important question of the day, that of Parlia- mentary Reform, we are either likely to open ground very shortly, or to repeat the memorable As you were' movement of five years ago. We shall either be plunged into a serious and perilous struggle, or the two great parties will agree to resist the common foe. With a view to either event and either course, it is very unwise to propound broad principles which in the one case will be liable to abuse, and in the other will be consigned to the limbo of un- meaning, and therefore dishonest, platitudes. Now that the elections are over, and there is no earthly reason why speeches should be made, except as birds sing, to satisfy the irritability of their vocal organs, Mr. Gladstone may as well hold his hand-that is, his tongue. He has said quite enough for all practical purposes. Happily six long months will probably in- tervene between this and the meeting of Parliament, and that long period will be much better employed in considering what to do than in raising popular expec- tations, and so creating obstacles in the way of what could otherwise be done."

SHOCKING OUTRAGE AT PLYMOUTH. A murderous assault of a most frightful character was perpetrated at Plymouth on Saturday, on an in- spector of the metropolitan police, doing duty in Devonport dockyard. The inspector, Silas Annies, had risen from the ranks of the force through his abilities as a detective, and being somewhat zealous to maintain his reputation as an active officer, had been very watchful over the classes of tradesmen carrying on business in the neighbourhood of that naval arsenal, and likely to deal in Government stores. On some occasions this zeal had carried him on to the getting up of frivolous cases, and to striving for convictions which the evidence on examination had failed to ensure. The annoyance caused by these pro- cedures, coupled with that occasioned by his actual success in proseeutions, had rendered him very un- popular among the persons with whom he was thus brought in contact. Of late some awkward collisions that had taken place between him and them had been the subject of magisterial proceedings—one of the chief bickerings being his wishing to search shops without search-warrants. On the present occasion, however, he was fairly provided with a search-warrant to search the promises of Edward Bunter, an old man, a marine- store dealer, carrying on business in Fore-street, Stonehouse. On Saturday af terneon, in company with another officer, he proceeded to Bunter's shop, and making a search he discovered amongst the metal stowed there about 24lb. of old Government copper and some other trfvial items of old Government stores. This they seized, and were about leaving the premises when Anniss went back and asked to see a metal book that these dealers are by law obliged to keep. The book was handed him, and while he was inspecting it Bunter approached him, and, with the exclamation, There! you have got that, have you n?J' made a thrust at the lower part of his person with a sword- stick. The blow took effect about two inches below the heart, breaking off about eight inches of the blade of the weapon, which was left in the wound, some four or five inches of the sword having penetrated the unfortunate man's body. Anniss drew out the piece, made an alarm, and fell on the floor. He was immediately taken up and conveyed to the Royal Naval Hospital, where he was still living on Sunday, but with very faint hopes of his recovery. During Saturday night his depositions were taken at his bedside by a magistrate, in the presence of Bunter, who is in custody to await the result. The prisoner had, it was rumoured, before threatened that if Anniss visited him again he would do for him," and at the bedside all the contrition that could be drawn from him," was the observation, in reference to Anniss, that he hoped he would recover to repent." Anniss has a wife and four children, and the prisoner has a large family by a second wife, a young woman.

SELF-ACCUSATION OF MURDEB- A few weeks ago Charles Percy Fuller, a_ native^ Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, who is married r?,^ actress of some note, was found guilty, at the Mi'd sex Sessions, of obtaining money under tences, and sentenced to twelve months' imPr. a ment. He was removed to Coldbath-fields rlyeg and a,bout a fortnight ago stated to the that id July, 1864, he went to Ramsay, on a visit his brother, Mr. Alfred Fuller, a veterinary surge0 that their sister Elizabeth resided with Alfred; a.y that whilst there he (prisoner) poisoned his si3ter. the administration of tartarised antimony, as his reason the desire to possess some money ijgi he believed would accrue to him at the death of sister. The prisoner went on to say that since his sis^e death he had received X120, and that he expected ob The prisoner was so earnest and statement, that the authorities attached some weIgh; to it, and the services of Inspector Tanner, of the tive police, were called into requisition. The P"8^, having solemnly repeated his statement to Tanner forthwith departed for Ramsey, where aJg lant inquiry was set on foot, with the aid of the trict members of the Huntingdonshire police toft. It was found that Miss Fuller died on the 19th 1864, at the age of twenty-three, she being r eldest daughter of the late Mr. Charles veterinary surgeon. The statement that P.1*0^ received £ 120 is false, and in addition Eliz^gg Holding, servant to Alfred, at the period of Fuller's decease, states that deceased was ofted and that during her last illness the self-SOO of murderer never saw his sister but twice. On 0 ill 1J these occasions he gave her some ginger beer. proved by several persons that prisoner had not be^ ui the house with his sister for five weeks befor0 death, during which period she went to Hasting the benefit of her health. Moreover she had attended by Mr. Bates, surgeon, of Ramsey; y Ward, of Huntingdon; and Dr. Walsh, of London)j would appear to have concurred that the caaS0 death was phthisis, and a certificate was cordingly. Inspector Tanner and Inspector Hanoi' s. of the local constabulary, attended before the James Linton and George Johnstone, sitting in fg- Sessions at St. Ives, on Monday last, and made port of the above circumstances but the magiSf.jjy declined to warrant any application to the Se^^r, of State for_ exhumation. It is probable, ho^f., he that a requisition to the Home Secretary forwarded from the neighbourhood. <•>

CURIOUS CASE OF ATTEMPTED FRAUD. John Green, a navvy," in the service of Mr. W. Webster, the contractor for the southern low level sewer, was re-examined at the Wandaworth Police- office, on the charge of issuing a forged order for the payment of X4 10s. It appeared that on the 17th instant the prisoner presented an order to Mr. Hoffmann, Mr. Webster's deputy cashier, for payment. It was one of the usual forms, filled up, and professing to have been signed by one of the time-keepers named Todd. The signature being misspelt attracted the notice of the cashier, who also observed that it was not in the handwriting of Mr. Todd. A constable was sent for, and the prisoner, who stated that the order was given to him by the timekeeper, was re- moved to the station. Mr. E. W. Todd was called, and he proved that the order was forged. He said the prisoner was known by the name of Cole, and he gave him a ticket for the payment of X4 10s. He also proved that he had missed a blank from his book, and he accounted for the loss by one sticking to the other, so that he tore two out instead of one. Miss Rise of the Alma beer-shop, near the Wandsworth station, proved that the order was in her handwriting The prisoner asked her to fill it up as he could not read nor write. He wanted it filled up like another he had, but to put in the name of Green instead of Cole. He said if it was not written in the same way as the one filled up he should not get his money. She filled it up witheut any attempt at disguise. Mr. Dayman said it was a very clumsy attempt to defraud, as the order bore the same number and the same date as the genuine ticket. Mr. Hoffmann said the number would be the last thing that would catch the eye. They issued some thousand of the tickets, and it was very important to stop the practice. The prisoner was re- manded for the completion of the depositions.

HORRIBLE DEATH THROUGH CRINO- LINE. Another death through crinoline formed the subject of an investigation before Dr. Lankester, at the Royal Free Hospital, Gray's-inn-road, on Friday. The in- quest was held upon the body of Mrs. Ann Piggott, aged 35 years. Mr. William Piggott was called. He identified the deceased as his niece. She was married to an in- spector on the Great Northern Railway, residing at No. 5, Great Northern Cottages, Islington. She had seven children. Mr. James Rolfe, an inspector on the Great Northern Railway, said: I live next door to the deceased. On Tuesday last I heard loud screams proceeding trom her house, and upon looking over the bftck garden palings I saw her all in flames. The light musiin dress was distended by a large crinoline, and she was on fire from head to foot. Her children were running about her screaming. I jumped over the railings and ran into the house, when I get a cocoa-nut mat and threw it over her. That did not put out the flames, and the children brought me jackets and shawls to put over her, crying out Save her. save her. She her- self shrieked out "Save m«;, ^od s sake do not let me die a death like this. ihc children clung to me asking me to save her, and I caught hold of her arms and struggled with her trying to throw her down. But in her agony she resisted, and the flesh came off her arms. The heat was very great, and my uniform was burnt, and I was so injured that even now my chest a.nd arms are covered with large blis- ters. The straw hat which I had on was set on fire, and my hair. I called for help, and a policeman came down the steps and looked in at the doorway. I said, "For Heaven s sake, help us! The woman is being burnt to death, But instead of doing so, he went away- a"'e quench the upper part of her dress, but the hoops prevented my succeeding with her underclothing. As her daughter Fanny, a girl ten years of age, was passing her to go for assistance, her frock caught fire. The people in the street had to ex- tinguish the flames. A sergeant of police, Locke, then came [in from the Caledonian-road Station and we got the fire out. Deceased said that while she was seated at the fire, with her son Albert in her arms, her dress became ignited. Her son Albert, who was five years of age, was much burnt, and had to be taken to the hospital with his mother. Everything on the deceased except her stays was consumed; even the hoops were destroyed. I was blackened by the soot and smoke. I have not yet recovered from the effects of my injuries. In answer to the Coroner, the witness said that the police-sergeant told him that the police-constable came to the station-house, and reported that a woman had been burnt. The sergeant thought that the woman was dead, but when he found that she was alive, and that the constable had left her burning without assisting her, he said that the officer ought to be kicked out of the-force. The sergeant behaved in a very kind manner. The police-constable afterw ( explained that, when he looked in, he saw so m^0"' and smoke he was afraid to enter, and he went w < station for assistance. J ( Mr. Hill, house surgeon, proved that deceased i i next day from the effects of her injuries. were frightful all over the body, and she had not remotest chance of recovery. The jury returned a verdict "That the deceased j burnt to death accidentally through the extensio i the dress by crinoline," and the jury expre „ J their high opinion of the courageous conductor "j Rolfe, in endeavouring to save the deceased's W i/. the risk of his own; and added that they consii } the behaviour of the palice-constable in not aid when called upon to assist in extin9 fiie, to be censurable. «itlr The Coroner said that he would communicate the police authorities upon the latter point. 1

ALLEGED THREAT TO MURDER- John Morris was charged at the Aylesbury essitJ'?'\ on Friday, before Lord Chief Justice Erie, with & ing letters threatening to murder Joseph Robinso11) y farmer of position at Clifton Raynes, near The prisoner was servant to a Mr. Durnsford, as^o master. The prosecutor received a series of -J-J threatening to murder him if he did not give the { £ 300, and the last one demanded < £ 400. That I was a very long one, and in it the prisoner asfe"1*. „3 f means to emigrate to New Zealand, and » follows:—" I think £ 400 will do; but, mind, it s, J { be all in gold, and not one single coin to be There are two things present themselves to me-^ I give me the money or else I shall be hung; andtJ1 are two to you—if you pay all will be we^ a I not, your portion will be Clifton churoiya^J not, your portion will be Clifton c ur,obyvs 1 have fully made up my mind, come what "JfgjJ» I swear I will blow out your brains, and /fi all your money won't fetch you back. The let reiterated this threat several times, and then j "Now let me tell you where to put the money; all gold, £ 400, not less; if you like to give £ 50 do take it down to Olney-mill meadow, at the V the ditch that separates your meadow from J near to the bed of the willows, close at the f the thorn-bush cut down. Yon will 11at il cornered stone; under it is a hole; there Pn 5 money. Now, there are two words have you study,—desperation and determination; 1 those two I will carry out if it costs me every blood in my body. I sign myself and determined. Be sure you put this letter bag with the money; mind that." The pros0"0, ag being in communication with the police, filled a ^fl with farthings, and put it in the place directed. J prisoner was seen twice to cross the river in a boati go to the place mentioned, look at the stone, turnro rS observe some one in sight, and then go away. ^0t found on the prisoner were put in evidence and "• pared with those which were the subject of the seoution, and there was a general similarity g writing. Mr. Payne, for the defence, called a to prove that an envelope found on the prisoner, said to be in his handwriting, was really in the writing of Mrs. Durnsford, and contended that a £ witnesses were mistaken in one bit of writing ^.gi might be so in others. He also proved that i Durnsford owed the prisoner £ 60 for wages, and gested that these letters might have been wii^60,^ „ her with a view of getting the prisoner into troU,^ iv He contended that the prisoner being seen vg, spot where the money was to be placed was fa as he was looking for ducks' eggs. His lordahiPi summing up, observed that the suggestion ^ha-' Durnsford wrote the letters was most improbaD The jury, after deliberating for some tiine, verdict of Not Guilty."

Fossil Elephants.—Dr. Adams continues sii prorations in search of remains of the Maltese elephant. Recently he was fortunate enough jjj cover some more relics of this curious aai^T-jo several new localities. He has met with its ^een0ei great quantities in a cavern near Crendi. In jjjg gap, evidently at one time the bed of a torrent, found the teeth and bones of thirty more indiy1^ These skeletons of elephants are met with, ja^arjy between large blocks of stone, in a way that shows that the carcases must have been hurled g their present situation by violent floods or 0f Dr. Adams has now almost completed the skelet^ Qc this wonderful little representative of aH. lteS^s quadrupeds to which we had, until the fossil M jfc elephant appeared, applied the term gig3^ :«■&$ seems from Dr. Adams's inquiries that th0 P °e$.- fossil elphant of Malta did not exceed the small pony. Stealing Watches at a Dw6lling-ii?^m0r« Robert Archer, labourer, age twenty-five, of street, Bow, was charged before the dab, the Thames Police-court with stealing a gold w jjjt, k silver watch, a silver guard chain, and a »g° /< the property of Joe Miles Smith. A few day4Pied' prosecutor and prisoner, with their wives^■ oOpaxn'0* separate rooms on the same landing, at 2, weejj, buildings, Old Ford, Bow. On Friday, in !ai3 n tvro at six in the evening, the prosecutor lulsse n d a line watches and a guard chain, valued at £ 10, a»d wjfe, shirt, from his bedroom. The prisoner and h w^0ge who had been removing their furniture, arl^aesd, conduct was very suspicious, cleared out on A last. On Friday afternoon the prosecutor ^jm, prisoner in the Whitechapel-road, and saao aJ)d "Do you know anything about my nothi^ shirt?" The prisoner replied "No, I ^n0 hetter/ about them." The prosecutor said I ^?ov^0nstable and gave him into the custody of a poUp6' >g pe^ named Clay, No. 79 K, who went to the Prls0/Lnd lodging in Summer-street, Old Ford, and t & prosecutor's shirt concealed between a » w0BjaH mattrass. It was identified by Mrs. Page, t (i gewi» £ who made it, and who knew her oV??,ifified klS stitching, and hemming." Smith also ide -j the shirt. Inspector Griffin, of the K divisio > .Q tbe prisoner had been spending monoy }^T1l,mand course of the last few days, and that if » _|iar<j 0ha £ d granted, it was probable the watches a°^all<jed We would be discovered. Mr. Partridge prisoner for a week. A

THE LATE MR. RICHARD THORNTON, THE LONDON MILLIONAIRE. The will of this gentleman, so well known at Lloyd's, Jerusalem, and almost every commercial establish. ment in the City of London, and who died a few weeks ago, leaving the enormous wealth of Q3,700,000, has just been proved at Doctor's Commons. Mr. Thornton's career as a merchant in the City was most exraordinary. He was the son of a north country gentleman, and was born in 1776, at Burton, a village in Lonsdale, Yorkshire. The tourist to that sequestered region will find a handsome monument of Mr. Richard Thornton's attachment to his birthplace in the charity school, which he built at a cost of X40,000, and endowed for the lodging, boarding, and teaching of poor children in the parishes of Burton and Thorn- t,on. He was educated at the school of Christ's Hospital, and on leaving sohool he entered into busi- r ness in Southwark. But very few ef the oldest City men can remember Mr. Thornton's first start in his commercial career. Mr. Thornton was a member and underwriter at Lloyd's from 1798, and besides being the largest holder of Consols in England, he was also one of the largest holders of foreign securities; he was noted for the extent and multiplicity of his investments, as well as as for his dexterous use of such opportunities as have frequently been presented by the variable moods and opinions of the Stock Ex- change. We may refer to his acts of charity and beneficence as a fitting accompaniment of such ex- traordinary good fortune. The schools which he founded in his native village, far away in the Yorkshire dales, have already been noticed. But there is another pleasing trophy of his liberality- a double row of almshouses, neatly built, and situated in a very pretty open garden, at the edge of Barnet Common, just outside that neighbourly little town. The Leatherseller's Company, which boasted in him as its father, or senior member, erected one block of these houses in 1838 with money given by him when he filled the office of master in that wor- shipful guild. A second donation of his in 1850 en- abled them to build a new range of these comfortable lodgings, in which altogether thirteen aged men and women enjoyed a stipend each of 10s. weekly, with coals and candles. Mr. Thornton in his will makes the following be- quests:—. £ 1,000,000 to Mr. Thomas Thornton, who like-, wise is to inherit the deceased's estates Xl,000,000 to Mr. Richard Thornton West; X500,000 to be divided among other relations and friends; a hand- some provision for Mr. Neal, and other of the de- ceased's clerks; £ 100,000 to be divided among all the charities, hospitals, asylums, and benevolent institu- tions in London, &c., the sums being duly propor- tioned in each bequest; X15,000 to Christ's Hospital (where deceased was educated); X 10,000, left in trust, for the benefit of the schools in Merton, in Surrey; X10,000, left in trust, for the schools in Mr. Thornton's native village, Burton, in Yorkshire; Y,1,000 left for the benefit of the aged poor at Burton £ 500 left for the poor a Merton. There are many other bequests contained in the will. The executors are Mr. Thomas Thornton, Mr. R. T. West, Mr. Pulford, and Mr. Lee. It is represented that the probate duty of the whole cost £ 42,000, and the legacy duty will amount to up. wards of < £ 100,000.