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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd March 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 267, Untitled Article

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      on in number—now in flames , were in imminent jeopardy . Some let themselves down from the windows bv straps and cords , others escaped by leaping from the windows into the river Mersey . Two men and a boy , who were in the sixth story when the flames Were making such rapid progress as apparently to preclude the possibility of their escaping , came to the desperate resolution of attempting to save themselves in the same way . One of the men and the boy happily escaped without injury , but the other man fell on his head , and was killed instantaneously . Nineteen persons are said to have been killed , and a large number seriously injured . The damage to the property is estimated at from £ 5000 to £ 6000 .

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      CRUEL TREATMENT OF AN APPRENTICE . Another case of cruelty to an apprentice was brought to light last week . Thomas Eames , a tailor and draper , carrying on business at Acacia-house , Downham-street , Kingsland , and his wife , a masculine , showily-dressed woman , were brought up at Worshipstreet Police-office , on Saturday , on a charge of cruelty and illusage to their apprentice . Mr . Aubrey , clerk to the guardians , stated that a boy named

      Lewis was indentured to Eames , upon the usual terms , in November , 1849 , and continued in his service until about a week since , when they were informed that the lad , who had been a remarkably intelligent , willing , and hearty boy while at school , had been so greatly ill-treated a « to call for protection . The guardians accordingly removed him , and they now brought their complaint against Eames and his wife for their cruel treatment of the lad .

      Kotert Lewis the apprentice , a miserable , attenuatedlooking lad , whose hands were swollen and ulcerated with chilblains when brought to the court by the parish officers for a warrant against the defendants , and who , though describing himself as sixteen years old , was to appearance much younger , stated , that ever since he had been in his master ' s employment he had been subjected to the most cruel treatment both by him and his mistress , but more particularly the latter , who was in the frequent habit of beating him very violently upon the most trivial occurrences . Throughout the winter he had been compelled by her to wash himself , in the most frosty weather , in cold water , and in consequence of that and other

      treatment he described his hands became-so swollen and frostbitten that he could not , from their soreness , wash his own face ; and on the preceding Tuesday , the last of numerous occasions upon which she had similarly beaten him , because he was incapable of doing so , she beat him so severely with her doubled fists upon his head , arms , and chest , that he fell from weakness upon the stairs , and continued ill all day . He had repeatedly complained to his master of the ill-treatment he was so constantly receiving from his mistress , but without the slightest effect , the only answer was that he left those matters to the management of his wife . During

      the whole time he had been there he had never received enough food at any one meal , wa 3 kept for a " whole week at a time upon the refuse parts of bullocks' heads , which made him very ill , and for breakfast very frequently had only dry bread given him , without anything else to rmder it palatable . He was made to sleep in an underground kitchen , which was exceedingly damp and unwholesome , and the flock bed he slept upon was both filthy and damp also , from its being made upon the bare floor , he not having had any bedstead for more than the last twelve months , and the only things he had to cover him at night were two bits of rags for sheets , and an old and dirty blanket which had not been washed for sixteen months .

      Ever since Christmas the fire h ; id only been lit three times , when it was wanted to cook by , and previous to Christrna 8 , when he was seized with the smallpox , it wns lit once , on the morning ho was taken ill , but discontinued afterwards , and he was left to suffer under the disease in the damp kitchen without one ; the consequence of all which was that he was almost constantly ill , and his hands and feet became bo sore and inflamed with chilblains that he could scarcely use them .

      Both defendants denied all that was alleged a gainst them , but were willing to give up the lad ' s indentures . Mr . Hammill said it wns manifest that the apprentice had been very badly treated and neglected , and , as he considered it a proper case for tho decision of a jury , he should Bend the defendants to meet the charge at the sessions—Eames in his own recognizances in £ 80 , for himself and wife ; and in the meantime he should give directions for the indentures to be cancelled .

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      STARVING A CHILD TO DEATH . A shocking case of death from starvation , causing nearly as much excitement and indignation as that of Jane "Wilbred , has occurred in Dublin . The unhappy child , aged five and a half years , was named Fanny Powell , and was the illegitimate daughter of a man named Powell , an engineer on the Dublin and Drogheda railroad . Mrs . Powell , the mother-in-law of Powell , who had the entire care of the girl , said she fed it well with breakfast , dinner , and supper ; but it was proved that she , as well as Powell and his wife , were in the constant habit of cruelly beating the child , whose screams for mercy were heard by the neighbours , and the poor thing calling out for her own mother . It was proved too , in contradiction to Mrs . Pearson ' s assertion that she fed the child , that the poor infant , whenever she got out , used to go to the neighbouring shops and beg a bit of bread , which she ate most ravenously , saying that she got nothing to eat at home , but sometimes a dry crust . The medical witnesses , who made a post mortem examination of the body , said , that the child died of starvation . The immediate cause was effusion on the brain , but that arose from want of nutrition , the child having no disease whatever . The stomach , intestines , and all the organic parts were perfectly healthy , but there was not a particle of food of any sort , or the remains of anv to be found . Indeed , so completely empty were all those parts , that the sides of the canals of nutrition closed upon each other , there was not even air in them . After a long and painful investigation , the jury returned the following verdict : —

      •• We are unanimously of opinion that the child Fanny Powell came by her death in consequence of want of sufficient food and due care on the part of Mrs . Mary Pearson , who , it appears , had the entire care of the chiid . This want of care and food producing effusion of the brain , which appears , by the medical testimony , to have been the immediate cause of death . " Mrs . Pearson was then committed to prison on the coroner ' s warrant .

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      WHOLESALE MURDERS . The French papers contain a shocking murder story . A farmer named Rouchoux , living with his family in an isolated house at St Etienne-Vallee-Franc . aise ( Loztire ) , recently agreed to purchase some land for 3000 f . Having procured that sum a few days beforehand , he kept it in his house until the legal formalities should be accomplished . A few days ago his children , contrary to their constant custom , did not go to school , and the schoolmaster sent to inquire respecting them . The messenger found the house fastened up , and no reply was given to his knocking at the door . He accordingly , with the assistance of some neighbours , broke open the door . A

      horrible spectacle presented itself . Rouchoux , his wife , and two sons , were lying in a pool of blood , quite dead , whilst another son , a boy , aged only seven , was severely cut about the head and face . The murders had been perpetrated with an uxc . Upstairs the mother of Rouchoux , a very old woman , was also found murdered—her skull had been beaten in with a stone . The drawer in which the money hnd been placed wa « broken open , and the 3000 f ., with the exception of one piece of 5 f ., had been taken away . Suspicion fell on Baptiste , the brotherin-law of Rouchoux , and a wooden shoe stained with blood was found in his house . His replies to questions put to him were so contradictory that he was arrested . It is hoped that tho life of the little boy will be saved .

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      MISCELLANEOUS . The Queen is expected to return from Osborne on Tuesday next , as a drawing room is held at St . James's on Wednesday . The Duchess of Kent arrived at her residence , Frog more , near "Windsor , on Wednesday afternoon , from Osborne , attended ^ by Lady Fanny Howard and Colonel Sir George Couper .

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      Lord and Lady John Russell had a dinner party on Wednesday evening in Chesham-place . Her ladyship , later in the evening , received a distinguished circle . Her ladyship shortly purposes to give a series of brilliant parties at the official residence in Downing-street . Sir John Romilly will , it is said , shortly be appointed Master of the Kolls ; when Sir A . Cockburn will become Attorney-General ; and , it is believed , Mr . Page Wood Solicitor- General . Sir Charles Napier arrived in London on Wednesday morning , at a quarter past one o ' clock , on his return from India , having travelled from Dover by the South-Eastern Railway . On arriving at the London-bridge Terminus , he was received with three hearty cheers by the railway officials , who were drawn up to receive him . In the list of passengers from Alexandria , per Ripon , to Malta , is the name of Rajah Sir James Brooke , who will land at that island to recruit his health before

      returning to England via the Continent . The Earl of Albemarle died on Saturday last , in hia fifty sixth year . He is succeeded in his title by his brother , the Honourable Colonel George T . homas Keppel , who has been a groom in waiting to her Majesty , and who , on Lord John Russell ' s first appointment to office as First Lord of- the Treusur )' , officiated as private secretary to his lordship . While the newspapers are generally at sea as to the exact whereabouts of the Reverend Mr . Bennett , late of St . Barnabas ' , Pimlico , it may not be uninteresting to know that he has quietly retreated to the Island of Cumbrae , where , last Sabbath , he preached an eloquent discourse in the Episcopal Church there . — Greenock Advertiser .

      A licence was granted to M . Soyer , on Wednesday , authorizing the great chef de cuiainn to sell wines and spirits , &c , at Gore-house . Mr . Linton , well known as " The Bishop of Gretna , " died at his residence , Gretna-hall , alter a few days ' illness . The President of the Republic attended , on Monday , a funeral service in the Church of Rueil , for the repose of the soul of his grandmother . A good many persons , old friends of the mother of Queen Ilortenue , also attended the ceremony , which was celebrated at eleven o ' clock . As a matrimonial symbol of " fusion " an alliance is talked of between the families of Count Mole and the Due de Noailles , by the marriage of the hitter ' s son with Mile , de Champlatrcux .

      Lamartine [ lia-s presented to the French Assembly a petition from the admirers of Washington , requesting that a block of atone lying in the harbour of Cherbourg be given for a statue to the hero of American Independence . Samuel G . Goodrich , the well-known author of Peter Parley ' s Histories , has been nominated Consul at Paris in the place of Hubert Walsh , who resigned . M . de Nieuwerkerko is at present executing the model of the statue of Napoleon , destined for the city of Lyons . It represents tho Emperor with his hand on his heart , pronouncing the phrase , since become historical , of " Lyonesc , I love you ! " In 1 H 11 , on arriving at Lyons from Grenoble , tho Emperor was surrounded by such a compact and enthusiastic crowd thut h « delivered no speech , and could only utter tho celebrated exclamation mentioned ahov <> .

      Letters from Venice state that the Count of Chambord had quitted that . city on a viwit to his brother-in-lnw , the Duke of Modi'iia . After panning " few days there , ho proceeded to Purma , to pass a few duys with tho Ducheua , his sister . I In returns to Venice on tho 21 st instnnt . Jenny Lind h .-is completely won tho affections of the people of Now York . When she heard the news of the Atlantic ' s safety , she wept and suntf for joy . It will be remembered that Jenny came to this country in the Atluntio . — Nf . w York Sun . While Paroili whs singing in Itotneo and Juliet , at

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      TWO POISON CASES . Mrs . Dearlove , tho wife of a wealthy farmer residing at Gorefield , near Wiabeach , sat down to dinner alone on Thursday week . Her husband had not returned from Wisbeach cattle market , and her daughter was from home on a visit . No sooner had she taken a mouthful of pudding than she complained of the taste , and after eating , only a email quantity she became very ill , and alarming vomiting ensued . In half-an-hour ' u time Mr .

      Deurlove returned . He hud taken shelter during a thunder storm , which had delayed him , but saved his life . When he reached home his wife was speechless and insensible , and died in two hours after dinner time , in dreadful agonies . It is suspected that death was caused b y arsenic . Mr Dearlove , who used it for preparing his seed wheat , kept a quantity in an iron not , slung up by ropes to the roof of the barn . A few days t > cfor « the death of his wife he found it on the darn floor , but did not suspect that uny part had been taken away for a criminal purpose . As to the motive , it 1 h feared that a feeling of revenge was the cauNe . Mrs . Dearlove

      had a few mornings before thrown a quantity of cold water over the girl in bed to wake her up ; and she had been heard to say she would be revenged . On the morning of the fatal day she had also gone up stairs and thrown the bed clothes off the girl . The adjourned inquest was held on Wednesday on the body of Mrs . John Dearlove . No evidence was offered to fix the charge upon the girl who is suspected , and the jury have returned a verdict of " Wilful murder against some person or persons unknown . " The cook of the Isabella , a Jersey vessel , which arrived from Lisbon last week , has been arrested on suspicion of having attempted to poison the whole of the crew . When the Isabella was about fifty miles from the Channel Islands , the captain and crew dined off pea soup , and all were immediately seized with violent pain in the bowels and vomiting ; none died , however , but the captain .

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      A F K K N C II UOMANC E . A few days since a medical man , named Philippe , died in a village near Paris , where he had resided many years , and had acquired a great reputation for akill and probity . He never demanded any remuneration , except from those who were in circumstances to bu able to pay him ; and during the last visit of tho cholera ho was indefatigable in his attention to the suffcriuK poor . Last year an Englishman , travelling in that part of the country , was taken so suddenly ill that he was obliged to stop at an inn in the commune , and Dr . Philippe was sent for . Scarcely , however , had he arrived at the bedside of the patient , whm the latter became violently agitated , and his countenance changed exceedingly . The doctor appeared also to be agitated , und at once ordered everyone out of the donethr door locked the

      room . When that was , was on inside . The lundlady , being curious- to know what was going on , listened at the door , but the conversation was carried on in u language which ulie did not understand ; she , however , heard the patient exclaim ia French , " Assassin . ' aMflasnin ! " after which a violent altercation enH < ied . The Englishman appeared to threaten , and the doctor to supplicate him ; the lutter afterwards left the room , and went into the kitchen , where he prepared some medicine which he ordered to lie givon to tho patient several times during the night . On the following day the stranger was much worse , and feeling his end approaching , he made a sign for pen , ink , and paper , and wrote a few words in English , which the landlady gave to the mayor of the commune , who , not understanding the language , threw it aside into a drawer , where it was forgotten .

      The stranger died the same evening . A few days since the mayor , when called on to register the death of the doctor , who in his turn had paid the debt of humanity , thought of this paper , and on his showing it to his nephew , who ; understood the language , it was found that Dr . Philippe was no other than the famous Patieson , a noted robber of the United States , all trace of whom had been long lost . The Englishman had recognized him as a man who had , twenty years before , attempted to murder him while travelling in the State of Vermont , in America . The mayor immediately proceeded to the house of Dr . Philippe to institute an inquiry . He found that he had during his illness refused to be undressed , and had made the persons who attended him promise that he should be

      buried in the clothes which he then wore . The mayor , however , ordered the body to be undressed , when it was found that the doctor was in reality a very spare man , although he always appeared stout , the bulk being caused by his wearing clothes wadded most thickly . His legs were also bandaged up , and one of his feet was found to be a very skilfully made artificial one . The body was covered with marks of wounds . In a dark closet there were found several chests fastened with triple locks , and on these being forced open they were found to contain arms of various kinds , watches , gold coins of all nations , and diamonds and jewels to a considerable value . Particulars of this discovery have been transmitted to the government , and a copy sent to the authorities of the State of Vermont . — Galignani .

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      March 22 , 1851 . ] ffift * & * & **?< 267

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 22, 1851, page 267, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1875/page/7/