25 AUGUST 1849, Page 4

iprobinces.

Several groups of public meetings have been held in the provinces on various subjects. At Sydenham, and in several places in North Durham, for the establish- ment of societies on the model of the Birmingham Freehold Society, with the objectrof " winning both divisions from the political party at present holding the representation." The Durham meetings were crowded, and animated by a spirit of activity. At Stafford, Sunderland, Southampton, and Sailsworth in Gloucester- shire, meetings have been held to testify sympathy with the Hungarians. In the hop growing districts of the South, several meetings have been held in imitation of the example lately set. at Horsmondene, to petition for a further postponement of the hop-duty of 1848. At Marden, Brenchley, and Goudhurst, the speakers spoke in a tone of deep depression at the pre- sent state of the hop-growing interest.

According to the Sussex Advertiser, the Lords of the Treasury have for- mally declined to comply with a similar petition sent by a meeting of hop- growers at Hastings.

Some thousands of dyers and dressers in Manchester and Salford struck for an advance of wages on Monday sennight. They marched in proces- sion through Manchester—well-dressed, looking well, and behaving peace- ably.

The Carlisle hand-loom weavers have got an advance in their wages; but from a temporary cause—the approach of harvest, which will call many away from the loom.

It appears from a statement made to the Magistrates of Hull, that although a little alleviation has resulted from an increase of shipping in the port, there is still a vast amount of distress among the labouring classes of that place. The Committee formed for distributing the funds subscribed for the relief of the distressed have 2,000 persons on the books, represent- ing 10,000 individuals; the funds are nearly exhausted; while there is a demand for increased aid in consequence of the ravages of the cholera. Mr. Clark, one of the Committee, stated, that within a fortnight thirty of the people ou the books had died of the epidemic; one man had lost his wife and four children. The Mayor thought that the poor ought to have extra assistance at this period, under the Poor-law. Mr. Day, the surgeon of Hull Workhouse, stated that he had improved the diet of the inmates. 'Mr. Clark urged the claims of the relief-fund: many poor people had a great antipathy against appealing to the workhouse. The Mayor recom- mended him to see the Poor-law authorities on the subject of the distress; and he said he would.

At Liverpool Assizes, on Wednesday, John Gleeson Wilson, the man charged with the murders of Mrs. Hinrichson, her two children, and a female servant, was put on his trial for the murder of the servant, Mary Parr. The particulars of this case have been already mentioned. The evidence showed that, in March last, Wil- son engaged lodgings at Mrs. Hinrichson's, the wife of a master-mariner then on a voyage: the hiring of the lodgings was a pretence, as the man had lodgings else- where. Next day, while Mrs. Hinrichson was out, the servant was assailed. Some potatoes were received at the street-door by Wilson, who seemed confused. On the return of Mrs. Hinrichson, the assassin assailed her and the children; and then the house was robbed of a number of valuables. The murders were dis- covered by a youth, who had brought home some earthenware: he could get no answer; and on looking through the key-hole, he saw the body of Mrs. Hinrich- son lying in the passage. An alarm was immediately raised. The servant and the children were lying in the parlour: the servant and her mistress were yet alive. A poker, a shovel, and a knife, were the weapons of the assassin. It was shown that Wilson's clothes were bloody; and he seems to have got rid of them piece by piece, replacing them with new. A gold watch and other articles stolen were traced to him. Mary Parr identified the prisoner before she died, while lying in -the hospital. But the admission of her evidence was disputed by the prisoner's counsel: when Mary Parr gave it, Wilson was charged with the murder of the children, not with the attack on Parr. Mr. Justice Patteson retired to consult with Mr. Justice Wightman. Whilst the Judge was absent, the crowd in the body of the court began to hiss and hoot the prisoner; who turned round and said that some of them might some day be in the same position themselves. The Judges determined that the evidence could not be admitted in this case.

Fur the defence, Mr. Pollock urged that no sane man could have committed such brutal murders without any motive; and Wilson's conduct subsequently to the crime, going into places where he was sure of being discovered, showed strong evidence of insanity.

In summing up, the Judge, speaking with great emphasis, scouted this notion. If the Jury were satisfied that the prisoner was the man, there was no question as to his sanity; there was not the slightest evidence of insanity. He was obliged to state so openly, because if on account of the brutality and ferocity of the offence a jury were to be told to presume a man to be insane, there might as well be no law or justice in society at all. It was really frightful, and he believed that this was the first case in which insanity was attempted to be set up from the brutality and ferocity which characterized the deed.

The Jury quickly found a verdict of " Guilty." The prisoner heard it with composure; but when asked what he had to urge against judgment upon him, he tittered the most incoherent exclamations. Sentence of death was pronounced. When the Judge concluded, "I pray God to have mercy on your soul," the prisoner, in a loud and confident tone, exclaimed, " He has mercy already, my Lord."

A remarkable feature in this case was the violent exhibition of the feelings of the populace. One outburst in court is mentioned above. The verdict was re- ceived with general murmurs of approbation; while the mob in the street cheered loudly. Mr. Justice Patteson's sentence was received with a burst of applause in the court, reechoed without; and when the Judge drove to his lodgings, he was followed by a multitude of people shouting exultingly. The demand for the local papers was excessive: policemen had to be stationed round the office of one journal to prevent accidents.

Mary Anne Geering, the woman who destroyed her husband and two sons, and attempted to kill a third son, was hanged at Lewes on Tuesday. Very few persons were present. After the woman had confessed to the Chaplain that she had been rightfully condemned for the murder of her husband, she gradually admitted her guilt in the other three cases. She appeared penitent, and the clergyman administered the sacrament.

At the village of Horbury, near Wakefield, a Mr. Craven, a bachelor, lived in a respectable etylo; with him resided a young woman who was called " Miss Cra- ven," and who was reputed to be his natural daughter. Recently it was bruited about that this woman had been delivered of a child, and that Mr. Craven had buried it in a plantation. Mr. Craven and the woman left the village. The body of a child was found in the plantation, and an inquest was held. The evidence of a female servant left no doubt that Miss Craven had been delivered of a child, secretly, no one being present but Mr. Craven; the servant herself was shut out

from the rooms for a day or two, and no medical man was sent for. After hear- ing surgical evidence, the Jury gave a verdict of " Still-born." Application was subsequently made to the Magistrates for warrants to apprehend Mr. Craven and the young woman; but they were not at once granted, as evidence was not pro. duced to make out sufficient grounds for them.

The inquest on the fifty-two persons who perished by an explosion of fire-damp in Lettly Shenkin Colliery was commenced last week, at Aberdare. It appears that the mine is principally worked by unprotected candles; the colliers declaring they could not live on their earnings if they laboured with lamps. There was much difficulty at the inquest in taking the evidence, and in imparting it to the Jury : some of the witnesses could speak only Welsh, and their testimony was given by means of interpreters; and as a portion of the Jury did not understand English, the part of the proceedings which took place in that language was a mystery to them; but the Coroner promised that all the evidence should be read to them in Welsh at the close of the inquiry. Much of the evidence was very confused- William Williams, " lineman to the pit, who had suffered much from the explosion, was examined at great length. It was his duty to examine the state of the mine every morning before the men went to work. He was asked if he examined the old workings to test the state of the air there, and he admitted that he did not examine all of them; some he had never been through: he had never found any gas in the old " stalls." He had never been instructed to ex- amine the old stalls; it was only his duty to follow the air-course—the galleries where the men were at work. If gas accumulated in the old workings, it was his duty to complain of it. A fall from the roof would drive out any gas that had accumulated in the old galleries into the main airways. He could not forte an opinion as to the cause of the disaster—he had not experience enough to jadge. He had never noticed is deficiency in the current of air.

On Monday, Mr. David Thomas, the manager of the colliery, admitted that the explosion might have originated in the way suggested by Williams's examination —a fall of the roof in the old workings forcing gas thence into the galleries where the men were employed. Mr. Samuel Dobson, mineral surveyor to the Honour- able E. Clive, who has had considerable experience in Northern mines, and who examined Lettly Shenkin, expressed an opinion that the ventilation in that dis- trict was more imperfect than in the North of England; but Lettly Shenkin did not appear to be worse ventilated than neighbouring mines. The inquest terminated on Tuesday. The Jury found that the deceased had been accidently killed, " in consequence of an explosion of fire-damp, caused by gas oozing out of old and abandoned stalls in No. 1 crossing, caused by a fall from the roof of those stalls, or by a sudden fall of the barometer, or by a com- bination of those causes; the gas thus sent oat coming into contact with the naked lights of the hauliers at the time engaged in the upper level." The Jury also recommended an improved system of ves.tilation, by which any gas generated in the old workings might be carried off without communication with the galleries where the men are engaged.