23 SEPTEMBER 1848, Page 3

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Kent has been deluged by wretched Irish, who have poured into the county, at the hop-picking season, in numbers far beyond those required for the work. Swarms of starving creatures have besieged the workhouses: at Coxheath Union, on Saturday night, from 500 to 800 collected, and threatened a disturbance. A messenger was sent to Maidstone to desire that troops might be in readiness. Attacks have been made on individuals, and property plundered. Special constables were sworn in at Maidstone on Monday, to act in the surrounding parishes.

The Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society held its meeting, and distributed prizes to agricultural competitors, on Tuesday. Lord Stanley presided. In proposing the toast of the Army and Navy, he threw in a word relating to the military expenditure of the country-

" At this moment, the army kept up by this great country, with all her colo- nies—some forty in number, besides our Indian empire—barely exceeds in amount the force kept on foot by France for the maintenance of the French post session of Algeria alone. That fact of itself proves how little of reason, and still less of wisdom and policy, was shown by those who, looking to figures and sums alone, complained of the amount of expenditure incurred on account of the British naval and military establishments." (Cheers.)

In his general speech, Lord Stanley reiterated the lecture on " deep, thorough, and effectual draining," which on a former occasion he gave to a similar audience; and was listened to without impatience. He criticized somewhat freely the competition-show: " he gave full credit to the excel- lence of the pigs," and allowed there had been "improvement in the bulls "; but fell foul of the horses with characteristic mercilessness—" he appealed to the meeting, whether any one could not go into the streets of Liverpool or Manchester, and in a couple of hours select from the passing carts, horses fully equal to those now shown for prizes."

The Magistrates of Ashton were engaged on Monday and Tuesday in examining evidence against some seven or eight men charged with the murder of Policeman Bright, in the Chartist disturbances of the 14th Au- gust. The proceedings have resulted in the committal of Ratcliffe, Con- stantine, Kenworth, and Walker, as principals--Ratcliffe stabbed and shot Bright; of Winterbottom, as accessory after the fact; and of Scott, as ac- cessory before the fact. Tassaker and Sefton were committed on charges of being present at an unlawful meeting. The evidence was that of men obliged under threats to join the rioters; or of Chartists who felt they had " had enough of it when they saw Bright murdered."

Mr. Feargua O'Connor met his constituents at Nottingham on Monday, for the purpose of being reelected by them, after an account of his stew- ardship during the past session. He addressed his constituents with cha- racteristic railings at the Parliament, and self-glorifications---" It was al- most beyond the power of man to describe the iniquity transacted during

the late session. Whilst the Six Points of the Charter had been repudiated, five Gagging-bills had been passed, every one of which he had opposed in every stage, and almost alone. Those bills had been passed chiefly to catch him; but the ' old fox' was not caught yet." A vote of " confi- dence" in Mr. O'Connor was passed by "a large majority," and he was " reelected."

In the Leeds district County Court, yesterday week, Mr. William Burge, Q.C., late Commissioner in Bankruptcy, underwent examination as an in- solvent debtor. At the end of two days' inquiry, the Judge gave judgment against Mr. Burge; refusing either to appoint his final meeting or to grant him a protection-order, on the ground that his debts of 35,7621. were Contracted without a reasonable expectation that they could be paid.

Thomas Curtis, the collector of poor-rates and assessed taxes in Salford, who absconded some months ago with 1,6001., was captured on Sunday morning at

Hull, whither he had just returned from America. It has already been stated that Curtis was robbed in his turn, of the money he had stolen, by a fellow passen- ger.

The sentence on William Adams, for the murder of Dinah Thomas in a fit of jealousy, was executed at Kirkdale on Saturday last. The execution is thus described—" A few minutes before twelve, the door leading to the scaffold was opened; and immediately after, Calcraft, the 01d Bailey executioner, came for- ward to adjust the rope. The prisoner soon appeared, and cast an anxious glance at the multitude. His countenance was careworn and disturbed. IA his hands be bore a crucifix; and two Catholic clergymen followed him, reading the litany for the dead. Daring the final preparations, the dying man looked wist- fully on the scene about to close on him for ever. The bolt was drawn, amidst

exclamations of sympathy and horror from a number of persons; and he fell. For a moment there was scarcely a struggle perceptible; a few seconds and he strug-

gled intensely, amidst the shrieks of the bystanders. At length, in his agony, he attempted convulsively to raise his hands to the rope by which he was suspended, and at least five minutes elapsed before life was extinct."

James Kelly, a young man of Stockport, has murdered a girl who worked in the same mill with him. Eliza Faulkner, twenty years of age, and of comely appearance, is described as having been of good c_haracter, quiet disposition, and

steady habits; Kelly had been " keeping company " with her, but latterly there had been some disagreement, and the man grew very. churlish and morose.

Early on Friday morning last week, Kelly met the girl in the street, spoke to her, and immediately after struck her in the throat with a long and sharp knife, inflicting a wound that seems to have been instantly fatal. Three men seized the murderer, and conveyed him to the Police-station. Kelly told the constable there, that the charge against him was true. The woman having been called his " wife," be said, "It is not my wife, but my sweetheart. It's all her friends' fault: they tried to persuade her all they could not to keep company with me." He was very faint and dejected, but answered all questions readily and respectfully. An inquest was held during the day; in the course of which Kelly besought the Coroner to let him see his sweetheart "once more "; but this was not permitted. A verdict of " Wilful murder" was returned, and Kelly was com- mitted to Kirkdale Gaol.

Maria Jones, an insane woman of Willenhall, near Birmingham, has murdered two children; one her own infant, and the other a niece twelve years old. Jones bad been under restraint in the workhouse, but bad been discharged eis cured. She took the children home with her from her sister-in-law's houses-Oaring the night, with a table-knife, which she sharpened for the purpose, she cut off the infant's head, cut her niece's throat, and attempted to cut her own throat. She has since had fits of spasmodic violence. The Coroner's Jury found a verdict of " Wilful murder."

Mr. Holden, a farmer of Darton, near Barnsley, was roused at midnight by a noise on his premises; and on looking from the window he saw two men on a roof,

}Aisle off the slates, while a third stood below. The farmer fired at the de- predators, and one of them was wounded; his companions, however, carried him off. On the following morning, the wounded man, one Gledhill, was found in a stable: a bullet had entered between his thigh and his body, and his case was considered to be hopeless.

Three men were killed on the Great Western Railway yesterday week. Near the Hatherly Bridge station, between Gloucester and Cheltenham, repairs were going on; and as the traffic is huge the interruptions are frequent. Both gauges are laid down on this part of the line, so that the rails are quadruple, and the risk of confusion to the ballast-men is great. As a precaution, a person is set to watch the approach of the trains, and with a bell to give notice of them to the men. At four o clock, a train of about sixty luggage-trucks, on the narrow gauge line, passed by. The bell was sounded as usual: five of the men stepped back on to the broad gauge, and thoughtlessly counted the trucks as they passed. Whilst they were so engaged, the Great Western train, which left Paddington at twelve o'clock, appeared in sight. The boy rang the bell, and the driver of the engine Firefly opened the alarm-whistle, repeating it as loudly as he could; but the poor fellows seemed not to hear it, for they did not make the least attempt to get out of the way. The driver reversed his engine, and put on his breaks, to give the men a chance of seeing him. All was in vain; three of the five were dished to death on the spot, and the other two were so mutilated that they can scarce survive. An inquest was held on Saturday; and it was proved that the ballast-men transgressed express instructions in stepping off one gauge on to the other—they are peremptorily ordered to leave the rails altogether at the sound of the bell. A verdict of Accidental death" was found.

Walker, the guard of a luggage-train, has been killed at Leicester, through his own temerity. He was standing on the buffers of a van attached to an engine in slow motion, intending to detach the van while the engine was moving; he fell

from the buffers, and the ash-box of the locomotive struck him dead. The practice of uncoupling vehicles while a train is in motion is prohibited on the railway, but it is not unfrequently done. It was stated at the inquest, that the rule had been omitted accidently from the printed list; and the Jury, in giving a verdict of "Accidental death," advised its reintroduction.

On Sunday night, a woman wbo had been repeatedly cautioned, crossed the rails at Annerley station as a train approached: she was knocked down, the wheels went over her arm, and amputation became necessary.

The body of a woman has been found in a ditch on the heath near Sandhurst, by one of Prince Albert's keepers. The corpse was naked, and much decomposed; hard by were the clothes of the deceased. By these it was discovered that the woman was the wife of John Parker, of Yately, who had been away from home and unheard of for eight weeks. Mrs. Parker was "flighty "—of weak intellect;

and she had left her family without cause more than once. On the last occasion, a neighbour met her going off; and she told him she was "never going back." At the inquest, a surgeon said he considered her to have been insane for four or five years. It is supposed she undressed herself, sat down on the bank, and died of cold and starvation. The Jury returned a verdict of " Found dead."

While workmen were engaged erecting a chapel at Bradford, last week, five large stones fell upon them from the coping of the roof, crashing three dead on the instant, and badly wounding another on the foot. The Coronets Jurythought that the stones had not been secured with sufficient care.

Two children have perished by a fire in a farm at Bradfield. Some workmen ]t Wed smoke issuing from the house, and on approaching it they heard the half-stifled cries of children from within: the doors were forced open, and the sufferers rescued; but they were so badly burnt that they died the same day.

The mansion of the Honourable Captain Jackson, M.P., called Vernovignette, at Rocotat, near Christchurch, was totally destroyed by fire on the llth. All the valuables were saved. Captain Jackson was insured.