An illicit glass-manufactory in Bell Alley, Goswell Street, was dis-
covered and broken open early on Wednesday morning. The street- door of the premises was open, but the officers of the Excise had to force open no fewer than ten doors in the long staircase, before they reached the rooms where the manufacture was carried on, at the top of the house. The persons who were at work escaped, by means of ropes
fastened to the windows, into some gardens fifty or sixty feet below. The quantity of glass seized and the apparatus were very extensive.
On Friday week, an attempt was made by James Clay, a private of the First Battalion Coldstream Guards, now stationed in the Tower, to shoot Sergeant Helston, of the same corps. It appears that when the men mustered on parade for afternoon drill, Clay was discovered to be intoxicated, and was immediately sent to the main guard-house : he bad not been there long before he appeared at the window, when, having furnished his niusiret with a flint and loaded it with ball-cartridge, he took a deliberate aim, and fired at the drill-sergeant, who was standing about fifty yards from the window. The ball fortunately missed its intended victim, passing close to him, and striking a house on the parade. The culprit was immediately handcuffed and placed in close custody to await his trial.
The other evening, a London thief, in Milton Street Theatre, picked a man's pocket of a purse of counterfeit sovereigns, and was immediately apprehended. The man robbed will, of course, not ap- pear ; and the question will turn on a point of law as to the pick- pocket exhibiting the coin in traffic, not knowing it to be counterfeit.
An inquest was held on Saturday, at the House of Correction, Cold- bath Fields, on the body of William Williamson, aged sixty-six, for- merly a Lieutenant in the military service. The deceased, who was sentenced at the Old Bailey to a month's hard labour, was afflicted with dropsy, which terminated in his death on the 25th of September. He was formerly in possession of great property, but lost it all by gambling and by giving way to Wits of intemperance. Verdict- " Died by the visitation of God."
A youth, about thirteen years of age, the son of a plumber, living in Brook Street, Hampstead Road, was amusing himself on Wednesday during the absence of his parents, by discharging a pocket-pistol; when it went off at the instant the mpzzle was in close contact with his right wrist, and shattered the bones of his arm, in such a manner that ampu- tation of the limb to the elbow was deemed necessary. The boy was just on the eve of being bound an apprentice to his father, but he is now rendered a cripple for life.
Early on Thursday morning, a fire broke out in the premises of Messrs. Francis Ma-adon and Co., silk-winders, of George Street, Spitalfields ; owing, as is supposed, to the fall of the snuff of a candle on the material which was worked at the machine. A great deal of damage was done.
On Tuesday afternoon, a fire broke out on board the ship Indian Chief, Captain Dalymore, in the St. Katherine's Dock, close to the east quay ; and great alarm prevailed for the safety of the shipping and valuable property in the dock and warehouse, more particularly as seve- ral vessels which could not be removed, were lyingclose alongside. The labourers immediately proceeded to the ship, and found the fire raging furiously on the deck. It began in the cabouse. Buckets were pro- cured, and a great number of men poured water on the vessel, until the fire was got under. It appears that the fire was occasioned by some of the crew warming varnish (in defiance of the dock regulation) on the fire, which boiled over, and instantly set the cabouse in a blaze.
On the same night, a fire broke out in the drying-room of Mr. Ramsden's chemical works, in Charles Street, Mile End Old Town; which originated from the over-heating of a stove. The fire was got under with the loss of the roof and a quantity of property in the dry- ing-room.
Mrs. Hammersley, residing in George Street, Portman Square, was burnt in a most dreadful manner on Saturday morning, by her clothes accidentally catching fire. She was reaching a card off the mantel. piece in the breakfast-parlour, when the lower part of her dress was drawn against the bars of the grate, and it immediately caught fire. After much difficulty, the fire was extinguished, but not before Mrs. Hammersley was so much injured, that her life is considered in great danger.
Early on Wednesday morning, the house of Mrs. Durham, grocer and cheesemonger, of Queen Street, Hammersmith, was discovered to be in flames by the policeman on duty. An alarm was instantly given, and the punish engine was quickly on the spot ; but from its imperfect state, and the want of a proper supply of water, the fire could not be efficiently checked. The conflagration continued for nearly three hours ; and Mrs. Durham's house, as well as the two houses adjoining, were destroyed, and nearly the whole of the stock and furniture were consumed. A melancholy accident happened to Mrs. Durham in her attempt to rescue from the flames some money that was placed in a cupboard on the first floor. She unfortunately remained in her bed- room until it was too late to escape by the staircase ; and she threw herself out of the first-floor window into the street, whence she :was taken up in an almost hopeless state.
A Mrs. Lee, who resided in George Street, Kent Street, was knocked down when crossing the street on Wednesday afternoon, by the pole of a carriage and pair, furiously driven by a coachman in drab livery. As soon as the coacnman discovered the accident he whipped his horses to their full speed, and got out of sight. It is supposed that the carriage belongs to an "eminent medical practitioner," but no name is given.
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