27 AUGUST 1831, Page 11

Sims - a !—Threatening letters are again appearing. One was picked up

at Eastbourne on Sunday morning. The farmers threatened are the two Gorringes and a Mr. Waters, the three principal agriculturists in the place.—Brighton Guardian.

IneoSITIONS.—Snell an impudent trick as the following cannot receive too public an exposure. Proprietors ought to beware how they tamper too far with human patience. There is such a thing as passengers tak- ing the shortest way of revenge in such cases. An advertisement ap- peared in the Daily Papers on Saturday last, stating that the Harlequin would make an excursion to Margate and back on Sunday last. So in- viting an excursion could not fail to attract a vast number of passengers; upon a moderate calculation there were between four hundred and five hundred persons on board. When the vessel got abreast of Margate, the Captain stated that they could not enter the harbour, in conse- quence of which he must run on to Ramsgate. Having arrived at Ramsgate, the passengers who intended returning by the boat as agreed upon, requested to know the time of starting, to which question the Captain made the following very modest reply—" He did not feel at all disposed to return that day, the accommodations were exceedingly good at Ramsgate ; " and upon being remonstrated with for this breach of faith, he said, "the passengers who were obliged to return that day, must do so in the best way they could."

BURGLARY.—On Tuesday night, some thieves having obtained an entrance into an uninhabited house in Castle Street, Whitechapel, bored a large hole through a brick wall, and got into the back premises of Mr. 11PCray, an oilman. They proceeded to the countinghouse, where they forced open the clerk's desk, and rifled two cashboxes of upwards of 700/. in bills and drafts, ten pounds in silver, five in copper, and 851. in bank notes, with which they got clear off.

FATAL PUGILISM.—On Wednesday, an inquest was held at the King's Head, Church Street, Deptford, before Mr. Carttar, on the body of Richard Dodd, aged twenty-seven. Dodd was a shoemaker-, living in Coleman Street; about a month since, a match was made be- tween him and James Cox, also a shoemaker, at the Crispen public-house, in Grub Street, to fight for a stake of two sovereigns, and Monday last was fixed for the fight to come off. The two men dined together at the house of the deceased, and were quite friendly. After dinner, they, together with a host of their partisans, proceeded to Battersea Fields, where they fought seventeen rounds ; but being disturbed by the Police, the seconds proposed they should proceed to the Isle of Dogs to terminate the fight. Thither they proceeded, and a ring was formed near the Ferry-house ; but before the men set-to, they expressed a wish to draw the stakes and shake hands ; but the stakeholder, a man named Jordan, refused to give them up. The men then commenced fighting. After about fourteen rounds, both men fell insensible to the ground, and were unable to come to time, and they lay on the grass to all appearance ,dead. The deceased was carried in .a boat to the Grampus hospital.ship, where he was attended to by Dr. Lawson ; and every thing that was pos- sible was done to restore animation ; but all to no purpose, he expired in about an hour after. The other man, Cox, was conveyed home in a coach, and expired on Wednesday night.

Mum:mg.—On Friday, near Newtown, in the Queen's County, as Thomas Gregory, a landholder of some extent, and also an attorney, was on his way home, he was stopped on the road by a man. who struck his horse with a pitchfork, whilst another man came close behind a tax-cart in which he sat, and fired a blunderbuss at him. Although several balls penetrated his back, and passed through the right breast, the unfortu- nate gentleman drove at a furious rate one mile further, when he fell from loss of blood opposite the house of a gentleman named Donnelly, at Newtown. Having been removed into the house, Mr Gregory sent for a doctor, made his will, and had his depositions drawn up before the magistrates. He died at eight o'clock next morning. A person named Rochfort has been arrested, and transmitted to Maryborough gaol, charged, on the evidence of the deceased, with being the man who struck the horse with the pitchfork. A party of police patrolled the neigh- bourhood on Friday night, and endeavoured to arrest two men whom they saw leaving it One of the police advanced, and called upon the men to surrender; when the foremost of them wheeled round, and shot the policeman in the lower part of the body. Another policeman fired, but without effect, and the ruffians escaped. The murder is attributed to some family differences arising out of a lawsuit tried at the last Idaryborough Assizes. Loss or THE ROTSISAY CA;TLE STEAM-NESSEI..—We mentioned the fact of this shipwreck in our last Number, but very concisely, as the state of our information enabled us only to do. The Rothsay Castle left the pier-head, Liverpool, on Iirednesday morning. She sailed regularly between Liverpool and Beaumaris and Bangor ; and on the 17th of August, as on every former occasion, her passengers consisted prin- cipally of persons in the pursuit of pleasure. It was observed that the vast majority of the passengers were strangers in Liverpool. They were composed of persons from York , Leeds, Manchester, Bolton, Old- ham, and the districts adjoining ; by far the greater part were women and children. Out of the numerous accounts published we take the fol- lowing as apparently the most authentic. It is the narrative of Mr. Nuttal, one of two that were saved out of a party of twenty-six belong- ing to Bury, who were proceeding on a party af pleasure to BeaumariS. The remaining twenty-four perished.

" When the vessel arrived off the floating light, the sea appeared rough, and Mr. Tarrey, of Bury, being, in common with others, greatly alarmed, went down to the cabin, where the captain was at dinner, and requested him to put back. His reply was, ' I think there is a d—d deal of fear Cia board, and very little danger. If we were to turn back with passengers, it would never do—we should have no profit' The sea continued rough, and the vessel made such little way that she continued three hours in sight of the floating light. The passengers became very ill, and all ex- pressed great anxiety to turn back, but the captain still refused. He was repeatedly asked to make signals of distress, but he declined to do so. Soon after nightfall, the vessel began to fill with water, and the pu mps were put to work, but still it gained on them, and the captain was requested once more to make signals of distress. Had he done so, it was the opinion of practical men at Beaumaris, that all could have been saved. He would not, however, make signals, neither would he hang out a light, and the result of his obstinacy was, that the vessel quitted her course, and struck at twelve o'clock. The scene then was piteous in the extreme : fifty persons were at once thrown into the sea, amidst the screams of the sur- vivors, by the lurching of the vessel. Lene before she struck, the pas- sengers looked on themselves as lost, and parents and relations were to be seen taking leave of each other. It appears that when the vessel struck, the passengers rushed forward ; hot (sea ai n ordered them aft; and on. seeing him consult with the mate, a gentleman cried out, 'It is all over with us ! the captain and mate era preparing to leave the vessel !' At that instant the Captain fell overboard—he was the first person drowned. Mr. Nuttal says he was intoxicated all the way. The vessel continued whole until one o'clock, when she broke across; and the remainder of the pas- sengers, with the exception of those saved, were hurried into the sea. Be- fore this direful event, the acetic on deck was heart-rending. The wo- men and children collected in a knot together, and kept embracing each other, keeping up all the time the most dismal lamentations. When tired with crying, they lay against each other, with their heads reclined, like inanimate bodies ; but when the vessel went to pieces, at half-past one, the shriek of anguish and despair was terrific and deafening. At that awful moment Mr. Nuttal was precipitated into the sea ; he was encumbered with all his clothes, a great-coat, and, in addition to these, a little boy tole refuge on his back. He could not swim, and must have sunk had not Providence thrown a rope in his way. He seized it eagerly, and was guided by it to a part of the wreck that adhered to the wheel of the engine. Here he found Miss Whittaker, a boy, and six others. They remained hanging until seven o'clock. In the hope of attracting notice they hoisted a shred of Miss Whittaker's flannel petticoat; and this signal having been seen from land, the life 'boatcame off and carried them from the wreck. PreCious to her arrival, the tide was carrying them out to sea, and they must have soon perished. It was low water when the vessel struck. It should have been stated before, that on the vessel striking, the bell was rung; but the tongue breaking, they could not make more noise titan was occa- sioned by the striking of the bell with a piece of timber. A schooner, belonging to a nephew of Alderman Wright, was lying off Beaumaris Green : the persons on board heard the bell rang in the Rotltsay Castle; but, in consequence of no light being displayed, which the captain re- fused to allow, they could not tell in what direction to go to render assistance. They eventually saved several persons who had been seven hours in the water. Such was the state of anxiety of the poor creatures, who had been so long hanging to the wreck, that they imagined, when taken up at seven o'clock in the morning, that it was noon. One indi- vidual, rescued by the schooner, had totally lost his sight ; and not being aware of his misfortune, his constant prayer was that the day might break." The following additional particulars are taken from the North Wales Chronicle, which, from its locality, had facilities of procuring authentic information respecting the accident. " From the time the steam-boat left the Mersey, itsprogress was slow ; it does not appear that at anytime it made more than from three to four knots an hour. When off Great Orme's Head, the sea-got very rough and the wind right a-head, which made the vessel strain very much, and take in water through the seams and at the axles of the paddles, so as to make it even then ankle-deep in the engine-room. The pump was now set a-going, but was in a short time choked by the ashes from the engine-fire. Meanwhile, the water appears to have been rapidly gaining in the engine-room ; so much so, that when fresh coal was required for the fire, according to the testi- mony of the surviving fireman, he could not throw on a shovelful of coal without deluging the fire with an equal quantity of water. By this means, the fire got low, and the power was diminished so much as to have very little effect in propelling the vessel, whose progress now did not exceed one mile an hour. Indeed we have been informed by some of the survivors, that before the vessel struck, the motion of the paddles ceased entirely for about five minutes, and then went on again. The steersman had the helm a-port when the vessel struck with her stern upon the bank. The captain came upon the poop, and ordered the steers- man to starboard his helm, alleging that he would otherwise run the vessel upon the causeway on the other side. This was done, and the engines were reversed, with the view of getting into deeper water ; but owing to the want of sufficient power, the attempt proved ineffectual. The jib was then hoisted, but in vain ; and after striking and dragging along the edge for about half a mile, the vessel came broadside on the bank, about half-past twelve, and there remained. The moon had by this time gone down, and the sky was overcast with heavy clouds over lead, • Soon after the vessel had got with her broadside to the auk, the after-tackle of the chimney brok' loose, and in a few minutes it tame down, bringing with it the main-mast. About one o'clock ten or twelve persons were washed off the deck into the deep. The rudder next got unshipped ; and the boat having filled with water, broke from the painter, and sunk. A gentleman's carriage, on which three persons were seated, was washed overboard ; and two individuals, taking hold Of the bass drum belonging to the band of music, leaped with it from the paddle-box into the sea ; they both perished close to the vessel. Several persons stripped off their clothes in order to swim, and others threw themselves into the sea from the quarter-deck ; but all perished speedily. The bulwarks on the weather side, behind which from twelve to twenty persons had sought shelter, were next washed away, and all who clung to them buried in the deep. Betwixt a quarter and half-past one, the weather paddle-box, on and about which betwixt thirty and forty persons were placed, was carried off by a tremendous sea; every one of those individuals is believed to have perished. Before two o'clock, the vesselhroke amid- ships, and became a total wreck. The main-deck burst up in every di- rection, and the quarter-deck, or poop, which was new, and raised about three feet above the main-deck, was parted from the hull by the force of the sea. There were at the moment six men, a woman, and a boy, upon the quarter-deck ; and they shortly afterwards picked up another man, who was drifting past upon a plank. They then commenced paddling with pieces of timber ; and two men held up betwixt them a petticoat, as a substitute for a sail, in hopes of gaining the Carnarvonshire shore. Shortly after daybreak, they observed people upon the land, to whom they shouted ; but the distance was too great for their voices to be heard, and they continued to drift before the wind, with the sea washing over them almost every minute, until half-past seven in the morning, when they were seen and picked up by the Beaumaris life-boat, in a state of complete exhaustion. Mr. Maud was of this party. At the time the quarter-deck floated from the hull, there remained from thirty to fifty persons upon the wreck. Some of these threw themselves into the water lashed to planks, others were washed overboard ; about twelve clung to the fallen main-mast, three ascended the fore-mast, which still retained its upright position, and two or three more clung to the lower part of it. Of the whole, not above ten appear to have been saved. The escape of Mr. Edward Jones, of Bangor, was almost miraculous. lie could not swim ; but having found a small keg on board, he fastened it with a piece of rope to his body, and placed himself, along with two others, upon the gentleman's carriage on deck. Shortly afterwards the carriage was washed overboard, and he and his companions thrown with great violence into the water. The keg shifted from his breast, and got under his left arm, so that it was with great difficulty he could keep his head above water. The carriage was now floating past him, and he laid hold of one of the wheels with his right hand ; but the carriage soon sunk. At that moment he observed a man (Mr. Duckworth, of Bury) seated on a board about the size of a room-door, within a few yards of him. Mr. Jones relinquished his keg, and although he bad never before attempted to swim, made a few resolute strokes, and succeeded in gain- ing the board on one end of which he rested, and Mr. Duckworth on

the other. Their mutual weight brought the board so much under water, that it was with difficulty they could breathe, and both were rapidly exhausting, when Dlr. Duckworth contrived to undress himself, and quitted the board with the intention of swimming to the shore, and succeeded in the attempt. Mr. Jones now got upon the board, and put his feet through a hole in the centre, holding with his hands by the sides. In this posture he kept afloat until nearly eight o'clock ; when he was picked up by Mr. W illiamson, in the schooner Campadora's boat, so close to the breakers off the Creat Orme's Head, that had the boat leen five minutes later, she could have rendered him no assistance."

Mr. natal speaks of? the sea as rough, and the wind high ; but other passengers, probably more accustomed to travelling by water, describe the weather as rather fine, and attribute the loss of the vessel solely to the drunkenness of the captain and of the mate. The following are the

names of the persons saved : names of the persons saved :

Sirs. Payne, of Greenwater, Salford (husband drowned); Miss Mary Whittaker, of Bury ; Mr. J. Whittaker, her brother ; Mr. Wilson, Marsdeq Court, Manchester, (wife drowned) ; Mr. linmmond, ship-carver, Liverpool (wife drowned) ; Mr. James Coxbead, Size Laiw, London ; Mr. Nuttal, Bury; Mr. Tinne, merchant, Liverpool ; Mr. Ducl:worth, shuttleworth, near Bury (wife drowned) ; Mr. Mars- den, of Sandal, near Wakefield ; Mr. Owen Morris, seaman, Liverpool ; Mr. Broad- burst, Sheffield (his two datiAtcrs drowned); William Jones, Liverpool, pilot,

No. 7; fladInnd, ; Wm. Jones, fireman ; Wm. Hughes and son, and Evan Evans, of the crew ; Mr. Edward Jones, Bangor ; Mr. James Martin, shoe- maker, Cable Street, Liverpool ; Mr. Lawrence Duckworth, of Edenficid, near Bury (wife drowned).

The exact number of persons on board cannot be ascertained. Ninety- one took tickets at the packet-office; but many entered the vessel with- out paying at the office. It is computed, with every appearance of pro- bability, that time passengers must have exceeded one hundred and thirty. Among them were Mr. and Mrs. Foster, from London. They took with them their servant, carriage, and a little dog. The dog only has been saved. The number of bodies recovered has been about dog ; several of them have been unclaimed, but the greater portion are known.

The Coroner's inquest, which sat on one of the bodies, along with the verdict of "Accidentally drowned," gave into the hands of the Coroner the following letter.

" Beaumaris, 19th August 1831.

"Sir—From the evidence brought before them, the Jury on this inquest cannot separate without expressing their firm conviction, that had the Rothsay Castle Leen a sea-worthy vessel, and pm-openly manned, this awful calamity might have been averted. They, therefore, cannot disguise their indignation at. the conduct of those who could place such a vessel on this station, and under the charge of a captain and mate who have been proved, by the evidence brought before them, to have been In a state of intoxication. (Signed) • R. W. BULEELEY, Foreman. " To the Coroner."

The unworthiness of the Rothsay Castle has been denied. A letter from Messrs. Wilson and Sons, shipbuilders, Liverpool, certifies that it was thoroughly repaird in December last. We have no doubt of the fact, but the public will oppose to it another—namely, that the vessel having struck on a sand-bank, in weather far from stormy. fell through the middle in about an hour after it struck. This is an indication of weakness which a thousand certificates or affidavits of thorough repair will not outweigh. It is we believe, a fact, that the Rothsay Castle was employed on the Clyde for many years, and was condemned as unsafe even there; before it was bought by the late proprietors ; the engine is silto said to lave teen very insufficient. The case of the Rothsay Castle has been mentioned in Parliament. The office whence tickets were given out was stated in the bills to be connected with Government ; and it is supposed passengers may have been attracted by this false lure.