Foston Hall, in Derbyshire, the residence of Mr. Charles Thorold
Wood, was nearly destroyed by afire, which broke out between one and two on Saturday morning. The first alarm was given by a crackling mar the sleeping-room of the second son ; who escaped, though nearly suffocated by the smoke in the passages. Mr. and Mrs. Wood, five of the children, and the servants, reached the garden in safety, when they missed two of their younger sons. To rescue them seemed impos- sible ; when the missing boys appeared—having tied sheets and blankets together, and, fastening one end to the bed-post, let themselves down through the window. The eldest of these boys is only fourteen. The property destroyed is very great.
George Gidley, a chimney-sweeper of Leeds, has been committed for trial on a charge of murdering a lad named Michael Hurley, apprentice to the person who was Gidley's mistress. The child (for such he is called), seems to have ran away from Leeds to Ripon, and Gidley was sent to bring him back. On their road to Leeds the prisoner beat the deceased with a stick most brutally, and there seems no doubt, as to his having killed him.
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