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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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trary , was anxious that the matter should be dropped . But the procureur represented that the law must take its course . In the preliminary examination the Reverend Mr . Hamilton , Mrs . Hamilton , and Miss Isabella ¦ were called on to give evidence . Isabella varied in her statements . In her first examination , she declared that she had resolved on the flight herself , and that Forestier had scolded her on her folly , and had dissuaded her from it ; he only , she said , consented to aid her , when he saw that she was quite determined to go . She was not aware , she declared , that she was to meet him at Paris , and she had resolved , she said , to change her name . She solemnlv took God to witness to the truth o f all this . But
when Forestier ' s letters were read to her she expressed great indignation , but did not retract her statement . In her second examination , on the contrary , she declared that it was Forestier who had first proposed to her to fly and that he had offered to abandon his wife , notwithstanding her illness , to go with her . She had at first , she said , considered this was a joke , and had laughed at it , but he had pressed her and had got the servant Adele to do so likewise . It was only by their entreaties that she had gone . On arriving at Paris , Vivier told her that Forestier was in love with her , and would die if obliged to live without her . When told of the way in which he had spoken of her in his letter , she burst into tears , and to his for !
said , ' Ah , it is painful see contempt meI opened my heart to him , and he learned that I loved him . Yes , I knew he was married . Alas ! I know not how I could have acted so ! ' Isabella was then confronted with Forestier , and she persisted in declaring that it was he who had enticed her to go . Forestier said that the contrary was the fact , and he complained to her that she was not telling the truth . ' You cannot wish to ruin me , mademoiselle / said he , ' by stating what is untrue ! ' and he pressed and supplicated her to retract . But she refused ; and he said at last , ' Well , having in vain made an appeal to the honest sentiments of mademoiselle , I must resign myself to my fate ! ' In the third examination Isabella again varied her story . She said she had laid too much to the count ' s
charge ; that in consequence of dissensions with her sister , she had resolved on leaving her parents ; that she had declared to Forestier that if he would not take her away , she would poison herself ; and so on . She added that she had spoken against him on the last occasion , because she had been told that he had declared that he would sooner go to the galleys for life than marry her . In her last examination she again formally and positively declared that it was she alone who had resolved on leaving home , that Forestier had never persuaded her to go , never promised to leave his wife for her—and never , she added , attempted to introduce him-Belf into her apartment . At the trial ( which took place
before a court crowded to excess ) , Isabella , her father , mother , and elder sister did not appear to give evidence , though all had been summoned . The principal evidence for the prosecution consisted in the reading of the indictment , and in the testimony of Mr . Halley , Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell , and a younger brother and sister of Isabella , as to the precise age of that young lady . They all stated that she was about fourteen . This point was important , as , by the French law , the crime of what is called detournement d ' une jeune jfille mineure can only be committed when the girl is under sixteen ; after that age she is considered a free agent ,
and is accountable for her own actions . It was stated that since this unfortunate affair Forestier ' s wife had died , and that he , anxious to make all the reparation in his power for the injury he had done her , had offered to marry her , but that her father had positively refused . Forestier caused evidence to be given by several persons to prove that he had every reason to believe , from Isabella ' s personal appearance and other circumstances , that she was more than sixteen years of age , and he laboured , both in his interrogatory and throughout the trial , to show that he hud not persuaded her to leave her home . After the pleadings were over , Forestier , in a voice of much emotion , read a paper to the jury , drawn
up as follows : — • I have to make , before my fellow-citizens , the avowal of a fault which the law dies not punish ; and you will accept this Avowal us a further expiation to be added to my long suflerings . During two years I struggled to save from death the life of an atifrcl to whom I had associated my destiny , when a fatal and unforeseen meeting surprised me in one of those moments of moral discouragement , in which a man has not sufficient strength to maintain himself in the line of duty . You will not brand my life , pentlnmen , for a moment ' s self-forgetfulness ; you will not confound a fault with a crime ; you will not forget that the honour of Miss Hamilton ia intact ; and that 1 have offered her all the reparation in my power . ' "
The President then summed up , and the jury , after an hour ' s deliberation , returned a verdict of 11 Not Guilty . " The servant-girl , Adole Gendron , was included in the indictment for haying assisted in the flight of Isabella , but the public prosecutor abandoned the case against her . The verdict was received with Home applause , which was immediately repressed by the President . Count de Forestier remained in gaol till the evening , but when he went away a numerous crowd was waiting nt the door to sec him .
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AN HUMBLE PRIMA DONNA . In the winter of 1840 a young girl , poorly clad , attracted some attention by her singing at the edge of the pavement before the Western Club House at Glasgow . A shawl enveloped her head and concealed her face . She asked no alms , but sang on , accepting with grateful thanks the small gifts of the street passengers . One night her voice sounded so sweetly in the ears of two German gentlemen , that they gave her some small coin and hurried on . The rain was falling in torrents . The heart-touching tones of the poor girl ' s voice touched them deeply . Suddenly
one of them stopped and said , " Do you hear that voice ? "What beauty and power ! ^ Does no one try to save the possessor of such a voice from destruction r Shall a girl with such a gift from Heaven die from hunger , or worse r " " Let us see what we can do , " answered the other . They returned and enquired of the watchman respecting the mysterious songstress . He knew nothing of her . She did no harm nor evil that he
ever saw . He would enquire . She gave him a false address , for she wished to conceal her name . After about a month ' diplomatic negotiations , by means of the watchman , the girl agreed at last to visit a benevolent German lady . Arrived there , and putting the jealous shawl aside , a pale , interesting face was discovered . The girl gave satisfactory references as to her former life . It appeared that she was a native of Edinburgh ; that , having become destitute from the death of her father , the illness of
other members of her family , and other circumstances , and not being able to get work sufficient to provide for her family , and being possessed of a good voice—her only family inheritance—she resolved to try to make a precarious living by singing in the streets during the twilight and evening . "When she sang to her new friends her voice seemed to have lost its fine qualities . Doubts were expressed as to her identity—she proved it by
detailing the negotiations with the watchman . But she seemed to have two voices , and the Germans could not understand it . By-and-bye , the lady and Mr . Seligmann , a musical professor , called upon the sick mother , and then it was discovered that the girl had a sister , who was then with a distant relation in Paisley , and who , when she happened to be in Glasgow , sometimes relieved her from the task of singing in the streets . This sister was the elder , and on
being sent for , her voice soon proved her identity . She sang so well , and her character was found to be so good that the professor and the German lady determined to educate her musical faculties . She progressed so well that they extended the range of her studies , and , after two years' instruction in Glasgow , they sent her to Germany to be initiated into the higher branches of music . Great , we are told , has been her progress , not only in music , but general accomplishments . So great that the Glasgow Herald avers that no traces of the street-singer can now be found in the handsome , accomplished , and elegant young lady whose name is Christina Dawson . It is a pleasure to add that her friendly patrons have taken care of her destitute family , and that the heroine is shortly expected home to sing at concerts in her native land .
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RAILWAY ACCIDENTS . Since the sad catastrophe on the Eastern Counties Railway , of which we gave an account in our last paper , several alarming railway accidents have taken place on other lines . The most serious of these was one which befell a cheap excursion train , near Wootton-Bassett , on the Great Western , on Friday . It appears that an excursion train was announced to leave Bristol on Friday morning for Paddington and back . It was completely thronged with parties from the West of England anxious to avail themselves of such a favourable opporttmity of visiting the
metropolis at a cheap rate . So great was the throng , indeed , that for the convenience of despatch the excursion party was divided into two separate trains , one leaving the Bath and the other the Bristol station . Similar arrangements were intended b y the officers of the company to have been made for the return journey in the evening ; but the passengers , anxious to see as much , as they possibly could of the lions of the metropolis , delayed their arrival again at the Paddington station till almost the very minute allowed them , so that when the time approached for leaving , such was the rapidity and the promiscuous
nature of the arrivals of the passengers that it was found absolutely impossible to separate the Bristol from the Bath excursion train , and it was accordingly resolved to send off two mingled trains . The first of these return trains accomplished its passage with great punctuality , arriving at the Bristol station shortly before twelve o ' clock on Friday night . It was stated by the passengers that when they leftSwindon the other excursion train was just signalled as being in sight , and it seems it also arrived as far as Svvindon in safety . It left Swindon at a quarter past eleven
o ' clock , and just after passing the Wootton-Bassett station , at the junction of the siding with the downline , the passengers felt a tremendous concussion , and immediately there was an awful crash ; the train had come into collision with a horse-box , which somehow or other , in the short space of a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes which had elapsed since the passage of the first excursion train , had been placed on the lino . The engine and the first four carriages wore precipitated down the embankment into a field of mangold-wurtael . The first carriage was turned on its side , so that there were no means
of escape , but , although the top of it had to be removed by forcibly breaking it in with a sledgehammer before the inmates could bo rescued from their perilous position , none of them sustained any
injuries that were of a serious or dangerous character . The engineer and stoker were flung violently to the ground , but apparently without much injury , as they shortly afterwards busied themselves in endeavouring to assist the passengers . The scene for some minutes was one of great consternation and confusion . The screams of the women were most heart-rending . On looking after the wounded it was found that two persons had their collar-bones dislocated , the heads and faces of several others were hurt and bruised , and some had . their arms and legs injured . A lady named Lewis , wife
of the high-bailiff of Bath , was said to be most seriously and dangerously injured , she having suffered from concussion . Dr . W . Bird Herapath , of Bristol , also received injuries about the head and face . Mr . Richard Smith , also of Bristol , had his knee split open , and there were many minor injuries inflicted . The cause of this accident has not yet been ascertained , but enough is known to excite very strong suspicion . The belief at Wootton-Bassett is that the horse-box was placed on the line intentionally , as no reason can be discovered for its being placed there , unless for the diabolical purpose of throwing the train off the line .
On the Great Northern line an accident of a very serious nature occurred on Saturday night , by which several persons were severely injured . At the very moment when a down-train was due at theHitchin station , a heavy cattle train , the first that the Great Northern authorities have run . upon the line , on arriving at the station , had to be taken across upon the down line to make room for two up trains which were then due . Various precautions were adopted for the purpose of
preventing the occurrence of an accident ; but , nevertheless , the down train ran with very great violence into the two engines that were attached to the cattle train , all three engines being materially damaged . The driver of the down train was thrown off the engine and has sustained severe internal injuries . The fireman had his leg broken , and a lady who was a passenger by the train had several of her ribs broken ; many others were injured .
An old man , upwards of eighty , who walked on crutches and was deaf , was walking on the South Wales railway , near Skewen , on Friday , when a train came upon him suddenly , and threw him down . The shock was so great that he died on the following Wednesday . He had been frequently warned against wandering on the line . As the mail train to Hereford was passing near Admaston , on Tuesday , it ran over and killed two cows , which had strayed on the line , which threw the last carriage off the line , causing a delay in the train of an hour and a half , but without any other casualty .
One of the guards of the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was killed on Friday , by falling from the half-past ten express train near Linlithgow . It is supposed that he was in the act of moving from one place to another , in order to apply the break on approaching the Linlithgow station , when he suddenly lost his balance , and met with instantaneous death . The investigation into the late fatal accident on the Eastern Counties Railway was brought to a close on Monday , when the jury , after an interval of an hour and a half , returned the following verdict : — " We find that the death of the nine men was occasioned by misadventure , but at the same time express our regret that more caution had not been exercised for the protection of the men on the line . "
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ROBBERY AND ATTEMPT TO MURDER . One of the most daring robberies we have heard of for a long time was perpetrated in the City on Friday week . The case was one of a very aggravated nature as the robbers made an attempt upon the life of the gentleman whom they robbed . The circumstances of the robbery are briefly these . Mr . Cufeton , a gentleman who holds an official situation in the British Museum , resides in the second floor of a house in Aldersgate-street , occupied by a person named Wilson . As Mr . Cureton has to purchase most of the coins , medals , and other antiquities for the British Museum he invariably kept an immense
, deal of property in his house . This seems to have been known by some of the swell-mobsmen , for on Friday afternoon , three men , dressed in the first style of fashion , applied at the house to sec Mr . Cureton . Mr . Wilson , who was in his shop , answered the men , and told them that they would find him on the second floor . The three fellows immediately repaired up stairs , and nothing was afterwards seen or heard of them by any party in the house , except Mr . Cureton , until they took their departure , some fifteen or twenty minutes afterwards . A female then saw them walking coolly down stairs , and not exhibiting tim lonat . siffns of frisrht or being in a hurry . Some
few minutes after that period , Mrs . Wilson , the landlady went up stairs with Mr . Cureton ' s milk for his tea when to her no sm all astonishment she saw the ' unfortunate gentleman quite black in the face , perfectly speechless , and a considerable pool ot blood at his feet . Blood was also running down his face , from a wound in tho forehead . At first she imagined that Mr . Cureton had been seized with an apoplectic fit , and she immediately
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630 SC |) £ ULt&Xltt * Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 28, 1850, page 630, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1854/page/6/
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