ENGLISH & FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 710, 19 August 1869, Page 4

ENGLISH & FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE

[FROM PAPERS BY THE JUNE MAIL,]

0H Saturday, June 5, the following tele gram was received at the office of the peninsular and Oriental Company from fcher agent at Aden;-—"Mr Pow-11, MPowell, and their child are said to be murdered, but it is not known whether the English maidservant, and the keepers that accompanied them, escaped or not." Mr Powell, wiio was a wealthy colliery pro prietor, some time last year conceived the jdea of going on a shooting excursion to Abyssinia, in which he was to be joined by peveral other gentlemen. Many of his friends were stronuly opposed to his goint! out, but he persisted in it, and he left Newport, Monmouthshire, in the latter part of January or the beginning of February, taking with him his wife and one ol his children, a keener, a native of Scotland, and a female domestic servant. Soon after leaving England the maidservant fell ill, and it is said was let at Marseilles to return home as soon as she recovered. Mr Powell and his party proceeded on their excursion, and while at Suez the keeper was taken ill, and he also had to bo left behind. Other servants among whom was p, Swiss, reached Abyssinia with the party. Mr Powell, it appears, was anxious to propeed to a part of the country known to be extremely dangerous for an Englishman to enter, and although told of this fact his determination was made, and the onwaid journey was pursued. On the morning ol the 17th of Aprii the Swiss went up the country, and while away a lot of savages fell upon Mr Powell and his party, who were unarmed, and murdered and mutilated them in the most horrible manner A similar fate awaited the Swiss on his return. Mr Powell was the eldest son oi the late Mr Thomas Powell, of the Gaer, near Monmouth, and has two brothers jiving, Mr Walter Powell, M.P., and Mr Henry Powell. There are also several pisters. He was a magistrate for Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire, and married a daughter of the late Mr Jenkins, of Caerleon. There were five children living by the marriage, including the one they took out with them. In the last letter received from Mrs Powell, which came to hand about three weeks ago, she gave an interesting description of their progress Up the country. Mr Henry Saint John Powell (brother of the late Mr Powell) and Mi* Jenkins (brother of the unfortunate lady who shared her husband's fate) left for Egypt to obtain an adequate escort from the Egyptian governor at Mas gowah to proceed as near as practicable to the locality of the reported massacre, and to ascertain by personal inquiries on the ppot the fate of their relatives. Shouli their worst fears be realised, they will wisely leave the punishn ent of the assas pins to the only available instrumentality, namely, the Egyptian forces, who are now pn active service in that territory. On the other hand, should it prove that the unfortunate party are retained as hostages by the wild Basenah tribe, negotiations will be set on foot and every conciliatory means used to effect their liberation. Between 6 and 7 o'clock on Thursday morning, June 10, an explosion occurred at the Ferndale Colliery, Glamorganshire. About half-an-hour after the colliers, of whom 600 were generally employed in the Ferndale Pit, situate in the lesser Rhondda valley, had descended to commence their daily avocation, a vibration of the earth, followed by a faint report, was perceptible to those stationed at the mouth of the pit. Almost simultaneously with these signs a dense volume of black dust issued from the mouth of the " down-cast" shaft, and it was immediately known by those on the bank that another calamity had visited this fated pit. As rapidly as was possible the uninjured men working in the pits were drawn to the surface. The Ferndale Colliery comprises three separate workings. Jcnown respectively as the Duffryn, tin Rhondda, and the Blaenllecha headings These all radiate from one shaft, and are on one level. It was in the Duffryn heading that the present explosion took place. This working was uninjured in the great explosion which took place in 1867. From accounts received from some of those who were working we gather, that out of the 400 men who went down there were from 130 to 140 in the Duffryn side, and of these about 60 made good their escape. The Duffryn heading runs in a southwesterly course, towards the Rhondda Vale, The workings have extended about three quarters of a mile. It is not known at what point the explosion took place, but it is supposed to have been towards the centre; and it is conjectured that the pause was the falling of a portion of the roof, and an irruption of highly inflammable gas. The men i earest the shaft, which is 280 yards deep, escaped, but those towards the other end were cut off by the after-damp. MrPedlington and Mr Rees, the managers, on their arrival, promptly prganised an exploring party. The first party descended a little before 8 o'clock, and by 9.30 !en bodies were brought to the bank. These presented no appearance ol having been burnt, but apparently had ppfferpd from the effects of the after-damp. Calm, and with features perfectly com posed as if they had fallen asleep, they were laid by the pit mouth till eager friends recognised them, when they were tenderly borne to their now desolate homes. B.eJief parties were told off to continue the pearch. and bodies continued to be brought Up till between 12 and 1 o'clock, at which hour, 4p bodies hac been recovered. Seme ef these latter presented a sickening specfcacle, many of them being shockingly burnt. In one or two cases the features ol t-kf? pop? Mows were m cJw-pd. a§ to be

almost wholly unrecognisable. There were| i large number of medic d gentleman om the spot. In the course of the day, it. was! f mnd that the explosion had not been at-1 fended with such fatal results as was at first anticipated, but still is of such a character as to stamp it as a most appa ling one, inasmuch as 53 poor fellows had been lurried into eternity. Mr Overton, the uironer, opened his inquiry on June 11 out the proceedings were merely formal $ the jury, after viewing the b>dies bei>>g bound over to continue the inquiry on the Lst July.

Thirty-three years ago an old woman named Lister, disappeared very mysteriously from Stockton-on-Tees, and some months afterwards her dead body was dis covered in ahe ige. Her only son, who bore a bad character, was suspected of having murdered his mother, mainly from the circumstance that on the morning before her disappearance the old woman said her son was pnrsuing her to murder her, and to rob her of two pounds. At the coroner's inquest an open verdict was re turned, the jury inclining to the opinion that the deceased had committed suicide, from the fact that a razor was fouu t lying beside the body. The son died a few da?s ago at Hull, and conscience-stricken, he confessed on his death-bed that 33 years ago he murdered his mother in a plauta tion at Elton, near Stockton on Tees. Mr James Hall, the senior partner of the firm of Hall and Sons, shipbuilders, ol Aberdeen, died suddenly on May 29, while aiding in the extinction of a fire iu a neighbor's woodyard. Read and Jones, the persons charged with getting up a fraudulent insurance company, in which the directors were footmen, but whose addresses were printed at the West end residences of their masters, were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court on June 11. The former was sen fenced to four years' penal servitude, and the latter to 12 months' hard labor.

An adjudication of bankruptcy has been made against Benjamin Higgs, bite cashier to the Central Gas Company, who recently absconded after defrauding his employers of upwards of £70.000. The adjudication has been made on the petition of a piivat. creditor. The plaintiff is described as ol Teddington, Middlesex, late clerk to thCentral Gas Company. Higgs is still ai large, notwithstanding that a large reward has been offered for his capture.

The practice of cropping the ears o( terriers in order to improve their appearance was the subject of prosecution 8t Hammersmith Police Court on May 25 by the Society for the prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The magistrate held tinpractice to constitute cruelty within the meaning of the act. On Friday evening, May 21, a shocking tragedy occurred in one of the eastern dis tricts of Glasgow. About eight o'clock a window in the fourth story in one of the houses in Main-street, Calton, was seen to open, and immediately after the people below were horified to see a man leaping out and falling to the street. On being picked up he was found to be dreadfully injured, and was at once conveyed to the infirmary. The neighbors, who recognized the would-be suicide as James M'Breardy, a dyer, on proceeding to his house found the door locked. They broke it open, and on entering found the daughter of M'Breardy, three years of age, lying in a pool of blood, her head almost severed from her body, and a raz >r smeared with blood at her side. Mrs M'Breardy had left i he house only a few mi.utes previously, and was one of the fii\-t to r«-cogniz-her husband as he lay bleeding in the street. For some time past M'Breardy has shown symptoms of insanity, and step* were being taken to have him removed to the insane ward of the poorhouse at the time of the occurrence. Though the injuries received by the unfortunate mat. were very severe, they are not expected to prove fatal. Mr Peabody has no intention of remaining in the United States. Among his benefactions there is one for the establishment and maintenance of schools in the Southern States. They are not de signed to be schools for " freedmen's chil dren" merely, but for black and white alike; and the general plan being now in a fair way of accomplishment, Mr Peabody lias lesolved to increase his original dona tion. He has gone to America to settle the business arrangements and he intends to return to this country in the autumn or

•early next spring. Messrs Laird Brother?, the builders ol the Alabama, have issued a public explanation of their conduct as to the ship which has been the cause of the differences be tween the United States and this country They produce evidence to show that the Alabama was built publicly, in the ordi nary course of business, for a lair price, less than the sum paid for similar ships in her Majesty's service, and that the ves sel left England, unarmed, without even as much "as a signal gun or musket on board." In reply to an imputation that (lis firm sought their own gain irrespective of municipal or international law, Messrs Laird reply that eminent lawyers pro nounced the course they pursued strictly legal, and in 1861 public opinion fully justified their conduct. When, however, in 1864, the question of neutral and belligerent rights had been raised, the firm refused to build a ship for the Confederate government, even though it was not to be delivered until alter the termination ol the war, and the price was to be paid by instalments, making the commercial venture perfectly safe. Had there been any feeling adverse to to the building of the Alabama .a laiil, Messrs Laird affirm thai ineyi would not have built her. They also state, Mr John Luird, M,P. for Birkenhead, eeased to bare a»y interest \n the #rmj

before the building of the Alabama, although he was aware of the transaction. The emigration to America and Canada is si ill active. 8,000 left the river Mersey in one week. The Government promises to consider the question of giving the movement some assistance.

The Great Kastern steamship left Sheerness on June 11, and the Nore on the following day, i'or Portland, preparatory to commencing the work of laving a special cable between France and the United States. She is to leave Portland on SunJune 20, <"or Brest, where, in the meantime, the shore' end of the cable will be laid. The Great Eastern then steams out with the cable to St. Pierre, a small island off Newfoundland from whence the remaining ditance to Boston, over 600 miles, will be laid bv a smaller steamer.

A few evenings since a singular accident occurred at Alley's Theatre during the performance of the " Battle of Waterloo." In one of the scenes, Napoleon, accompanied by his staff, rides on to the stage. On this occasion an aide-de camp's horse suddenly became restive and unmanageable. It pranced about the stage, then hacked on to the footlights, which he smashed, and finally backwards into the O'-hestra, throwing his rider, and creating considerable alarm among the occupants of the stalls. The musicians tiied toeseape from the dangerous proximity of their unwelcome and unexpected visitant ; but one had his colar bone broken, and had to he conveyed to the hospital. The damage done to the i .strumen s was considerable. Violins, violineetloo, flutes, and flageolets, were broken to atoms, and the music was torn and scattered in every direction. The horse was with some di liculty extricated af.er a delay of about 20 minutes.

May 24 b; ing the Queen's 50th birth day, her Majesty spent it quietly with the rojal family at Balmoral.