All the wherry accidents are not, it appears, the result
of steaming. On Monday afternoon, as a sailing-vessel laden with goods was com- ing up the River, the mast came in contact with one of the arches of Southwark' Bridge with great force, and the vessel, in consequence, went over a wherry rowed by Thomas Holmes, a waterman, broke it in two, and swamped it. Holmes, who was immersed in the stream, had a very narrow escape from drowning; he was picked up by some other watermen as he was on the point of sinking from exhaustion, and taken on board the craft which caused the accident. We must have an act against barges proceeding through the Bridges at a greater rate than one mile an hour. We hope Alderman Waithman will look to this, as Alderman Wood has already his hands full.
On Tuesday evening, a bullock, closely pressed by a number of drovers, attempted to find an asylum in the house of Dr. Clutterbuck, Bridge Street, Blackfriars ; the steps of which he ascended, and knocked loudly with his horns against the door, as if craving to be ad- mitted ; but the servant wisely declined such a visitor. Finding no ad- mittance there, he travelled on a little further; when seeing a door open, he availed himself of the opportunity, and darted like lightning into the passage, to the astonishment of the inmates. He was with difficulty expelled ; when he manifested a great desire to take water at the Bridge, and actually descended several of the steps leading to the River. He was, however, foiled in his attempt by the watermen ; and, being driven back, passed over the Bridge to the Surry side, where he was secured. Several persons were thrown down by the animal, but none of them sustained any very serious injury.
A poor boy in the employ of Mr. Pigou, of Little Strawberry Hill, met with a severe accident on Thursday last. A brewer's dray was standing in the yard ; and at the moment Mr. Pigou's carriage, con- taining himself and family, were starting for town, the dray-horse took fright at the noise, and set off at a tremendous rate. The boy, in en- deavouring to stop the animal, was thrown to the ground, and his head jammed between the wheel of the dray and a post, by which means his right cheek was nearly torn off, the jaw-bone being laid bare ; a most frightful wound was also made on his head, laying a part of the skull quite bare. In addition, the poor lad narrowly escaped drowning ; for, by the post giving way against which he was driven, he was precipitated Into a deep ditch full of water; his head, however, fortunately lodging on the bank. His moanings attracted the attention of the gardener, who conveyed him into the house. He continued for two days in an apparently hopeless state; but a change has since taken place, and he is likely to recover.
On Wednesday afternoon, a cabriolet, in Blackman Street, Borough, from the horse suddenly taking fright, came in contact with a poor la- bourer, who happened to be crossing the road at the time, and injured
hire so much that he expired instantly. The owner of i the cabriolet was thrown out and much injured.
On Wednesday afternoon, a waiter belonging to the York Hotel, in New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, while employed in cleaning a se-
cond-floor window, fell upon the foot pavement. The mangled body of the poor man was carried to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
On Wednesday morning, a carman walking by the side of a waggon drawn by three horses along Penden Street, City Road, was observed to stagger forward, and catch hold of the shafts to support himself. Two or three persons were in the act of running to his assistance when he let go his hold, and sunk in an insensible state to the ground; and, before the horses could be stopped, one of the forewheels passed over the upper part of his chest.
- On Thursday morning, one of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins's wag- gons, drawn by three horses, and heavily laden with iron machinery, was proceeding over Blackfriars Bridge to the brewery on Bankside, when, on ascending the Bridge, the horses were not sufficiently strong for the burden ; the consequence was, that the waggon ran back with such force upon the foot pavement, that a considerable portion of the stone-work of the Bridge was carried away ; ten or a dozen of the balustrades were forced into the River, and fell with a heavy crash upon a new prize-wherry that was lying moored underneath, by which it was cut nearly in half ; other portions of the stone-work rolled down the steps into the water. One of the horses was severely in- jured ; and had not the forewheels been blocked by the curb-stone of the Bridge, the waggon and horses, together with the load, must inevit- ably have been precipitated into the River.
About five o'clock on Wednesday afternoon, as three ladies were welkin°. down Cornhill, they were surrounded by several well-dressed individuals, in a manner which they made to appear as if perfectly acci- dental; the ladies, incommoded by the pressure, forced their way out of the crowd ; but shortly afterwards, one discovered that her reticule had been cut with a sharp instrument, and a purse extracted, which for- tunately, however, contained nothing but silver. What are the City Police about, to suffer people to be robbed by a crowd of pickpockets in broad daylight?
An account of a desperate attempt at plundering a gambling-house. appeared in the daily journals of Wednesday, under the astounding title of " Storming a Hell." It appeared that some Spaniards and others, either goaded by their losses or their cupidity merely, had collected in considerable numbers in the house, No. 60, Regent's Quadrant, where, watching their opportunity, they made all at once an assault on the bank, which they not only broke, but had very nearly carried away. The same or other parties made a similar attempt at No. 64, another house of the same character; but there they were met with sturdy re- sistance, and kicked without ceremony into the street ; when one fel- low, in his wrath, struck a Policeman, and was for the offence carried to Marlborough Street, where he blubbered for misericorde like a great girl. There was a report of the Spanish party using or threatening to use daggers ; but this has been denied.
On Tuesday, a poor man who had asked permission to roast some potatoes at a limekiln at Brixton, having afterwards fallen asleep by the side of it, was suffocated by the vapours arising from the materials.
A man named Tebbuts dropped down suddenly on Wednesday, and expired, in Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell.
An inquest was held yesterday on the body of a gentleman named Parr, a veterinary surgeon, at Uxbridge. He was described as having died of a contagious scarlet fever—Scarlatina maligna. The Jury were alarmed at the mention of contagion, and on the ground that they were fathers of families, refused to enter the house. The Coroner accordingly went in and viewed the body, and the law was satisfied.
On Monday, a private in the 1st battalion of the Coldstream Guards received two hundred lashes in the Knightsbridge Barracks, in pursuance of the sentence of a regimental court-martial held on him, for being absent from quarters for three nights without leave. Another man, for being absent twenty-four hours, under similar circumstances, was sentenced to an imprisonment of thirty days.—Globe.
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