On 'Tuesday last, the Metropolis was visited with a violent
storm of wind and rain, which did considerable damage, principally in the sub- urbs. On the Thames, numerous tiers of shipping in the upper and lower pools broke from their moorings, and several of the colliers were injured. Two ballast-lighters went down off Deptford; but the men escaped, by jumping into their boats. A barge filled with barrels and provisions was driven against new London Bridge : she soon filled, and went down near Billingsgate. Three persons were drowned by the upsetting of a boat in Limehouse Reach. A coal-barge was swamped and sunk near Bankside.
The house of Mr. Taylor, a brush-maker in the City Road, was burnt on Tuesday night ; and one of his children suffered so much from the tire, that its life is despaired of.
Early on Wednesday morning, a young woman in the service of Mr. Hoy. ard, of Norfolk Street, Strand, rushed out into the street shriek- ing dreadfully—her clothes all on fire. A Policeman was passing at the time, and he instantly threw his greatcoat round her and rolled her in the street. The flames was extinguished, but the poor creature was dreadfialy burnt.
Mr. Robert Core, a man of considerable property, and sixty years of age, was drowned in the King's Mill-pond, Rotherhithe, on Monday last. There was no evidence to show how he had been drowned ; but as some shots were found in one of his pockets, it is conjectured that he committed suicide. His hat was seen floating on the pond, which first awakened suspicion. He was a cheerful man ; and on the day previous to his body being found, was as happy, to all appearance, as usual. A Coroner's Jury on -Wednesday returned a vertectsthatahe was found drowned in the mill-pond, but that there was no evidence; to show how he got into the water.
On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Daniel Macbride, clerk to Messrs. Bur- ley of Lincoln's Inn, cut his throat in a fit of insanity. lie was a man of considerable income, but of irregular habits. He read the Bible at- tentively the day before he killed himself; saying, he was making his peace with God, having only a short time to live.
Mr. Henry Wishey, a young gentleman, lately residing with his father at Foot's Cray in Kent, poisoned himself on Monday, by taking a quantity of prussic avid. He hnii formed an illicit connexion with a Miss Eliza Willoughby, and wished to marry her : to this his father objected, and he became melaueholy. On Monday, he visited his mistress, at her residence in Upper Berkeley Street ; and calling for a glass of ale, made her drink some : it is supposed that he had slipped into the ale a small portion of prussic acid, and Miss Willoughby fell into a state of insensibility. The young man then became alarmed, and sent for some medicine, which produced vomiting; and the lady recovered. While this was taking place, however, he swallowed the remainder of the poison he had brought with him, and expired immediately. Miss Willoughby talked of dying with her "dear Henry." A Coroner's Jury inquired into these circumstances, on Tuesday last ; and returned a verdict of Temporary Insanity. This account is abridged from the one published in the Daily Papers; but Mr. Wisbey's brother has written a letter to the Times, containing the following additional particulars.
" Dr. North (the gentleman called in on the occassion) repeatedly stated his conviction to the Jury, that had prussic acid heen given to Miss Willoughby in any quantity sufficient to cause ileath (as was stated to have been given by the witnesses), it must inevitably have occasioned instantaneous death; and that the time that intervened between the administration of the antidote and the-al- leged taking of the poison rendered the supposition of Miss Willoughby's having drunk any portion of the poison extremely improbable. The I )oetor further said, in answer to a question put by thy Poreman of the Jury, that it was ut- terly impossible' that the poison could have been taken by Miss 'Willoughby :and that she should be alive to make her allegation."
It also appears that this Miss Willoughby has pretended to take poi- son more than once before, and that one of the witnesses drank some of the ale without feeling any bad effects from it. In short, the scene ap- pears to have been got up to make an impression on her "dear Henry ;" a female artifice, common enough among young ladies like Miss Wil- loughby.]
An inquest was held, on 'Tuesday, on the body of Charles Coates, a boy nine years old, whose parents reside at Roston. 'The little fellow was playing on Christmas-day with another child, inn his mother's kitchen, and caught hold of a rope hanging from the ceiling in the form of a swing, and endeavoured to raise and turn himself over. His hands, however, slipped ; the rope caught his neck ; and it swung rapidly round so as to prevent him from extricating himself. He swung for sonic time; upon which his playfellow, who is about eight years of age, said, " Charley, why don't you speak ?" No answer was returned ; and shortly after his mother, who was in the parlour, called him. The other boy said, " Oh, he is in the rope, and won't speak." The mo- ther then came down stairs, and screamed out "murder ;" which brought assistance, but too late. The other boy thought that"Charley was playing all the time." Verdict, " Accidental Death."
Mr. Richard Prince, formerly of Lug Mills, near Hereford, died suddenly on Wednesday, in the Coldbath Fields prison, to which he had been committed for offences against the revenue. At one time, he had been reckoned a man of very large fortune, drove his carriage and four, and lived in great style; but he ruined himself by speculating in malt, soap, and flour, and by constantly engaging in violations of the revenue-laws. A Coroner's Inquest sat on the body on Thursday, but found a verdict "Died a Natural Death."
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