ALLEGED SLOW MURDER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 60, 24 January 1862, Page 1 (Supplement)

ALLEGED SLOW MURDER.

An investigation of nil important character was opened on Thursday, by Mr. G. S. Brent, at the Earl of Lorn-dale, in Portobello-lane, Notting-hill, touching the death of an illegitimate child named William Macheney Lester, who died from insufficient nourishment while under the care of a nurse appointed by a City missionary. Mrs. Elizabeth Ellery, wife of an engine fitter, and the nurse in question, said she occupier] the house No. 2, Denbigh Terrace, since March last. She had taken children to nurse, entrusted to her by Mr. Porter, a City missionary residing at 38, Char-lotte-street, Elaekfriar's road, the object of the society to which he was attached being to reclaim the mothers of illegitimate children, their offspring being put out to dry nurse, and the expense defrayed by the mission. She received five shillings a week for nursing the deceased, who she believed was, at the time of its death, between four and five months old. She fed the child on arrowroot, sago, ground rice, and milk, but he "fretted after the breast and was very sick," and could not keep any of the food she give it on its stomach. She sent for Mr. Porter, who came in company with his wife. The mother also saw the child, and took it to an hospital, bringing back with her some medicine, which was duly administered. The mother subsequently brought 10s s from Mr. Porter for the sustenance of the child. On the 20th ultimo, by the advice of her husband and a friend, she took the child to Mr. Porter, and wanted a doctor to attend it, to which he raised some objections. She then declined to keep the child any longer, when he (Mr Porter) said she should not leave it, and threatened her with a prosecution; neither ■would he give her the address of the mother. She then insisted on a doctor, when Mr. Jones of the Blackfriar's road, saw him, and told her to give him milk and water and sugar, and, if sick, some lime water. He said he did not think the child would last long without the breast milk. The child wasted daily— every-thing passed rapidly through him—and he died on the evening of the first of November. She had four other children placed in her charge by Mr. Porter, but they had all died. They had medical attendance. Mr. Wrattislaw, surgeon, of Archer-villas, deposed to making a post-mortem examination under the coroner's order. The body was extremely emaciated. There was some disease of the lungs, and the heart was pale and nearly'bloodless. The stomach and intestines were nearly empty, md there was a great absence of blood in the vessels of the head and other parts of the body. He considered the child had died from atrophy, or waiting of the body, consequent upon food being given that was incapable of nourishing. Mrs. Amelia Praed, wife of a tradesman in Portobello-road, spoke well of the treatment by the nurse of the child. She was one who urged her to take the child to Mr. Porter, and insist on medical advice. She heard Mr. Porter threaten the nurse with a prosecution for endeavouring to give up her charge. At this stage of the proceedings ihe deputy coroner, with the full concurrence of the jury, adjourned the further inquiry for the attendance of Mr. Porter, and for further evidence. — Lloyd's Paper.

Extraordinary Scene in the Bevbeiey Town Council. —The members of the Euverley town council met on Monday, at tin.Guildhall: the mayor, (J. M. Kobinson, Esq.) presiding. After the disposal of several matters, Mr. Alderman Arden .moved that the watch committee be instructed to inquire into the efficiency of the boroug police, and to take such steps as they deemed necessary.— Mr. Wreighitt, in seconding the motion, made some remarks as to Mr. J. M. Hind, (a liberal member of the council) walking at the head of a mob, on the evening of the 16th of October last, which said mob broke several windows.—Mr. Cook (tory) here made some unpleasant personal allusions to Mr. Hind, and said he ought to have been imprisoned for the part he had taken.—Mr. Hind denied that he had walked at. the bead of a mob. He, along with hundreds of his fellow-townsmen, had walked in a procession to celebrate the triumph of the so-called "rioters." With regard to the remarks of Mr. Cook, he might as well say if he (Mr. Cook) had his deserts he deserved transporting. —Mr. Cook, I never set fire to a stack. You rascal! you villain ! you scoundrel! what do I want transporting for ? You deserve transporting for firing a stack (great disorder.) —Mr. Hind: Now, sir, you have charged me with arson—3'ou have said that I set fire to a stack, and that stack was insured. I hope you (the reporters) have taken down Mr. Cook's words, for I shall try the question elsewhere. Mr. Cook (greatly excited) You are a liar; I did not say so, (increased commotion). —The council, at this stage of the scene, broke up in disorder. — Yorkshire Paper.

Tiie Niger Exploring Expedition.—The following is an extract from a letter received from the Espoir) 6, screw, Commander Douglas, dated at Lagos, Nov. 5 :—"We have just arrived on our return from the exploring expedition up the Niger. The Prometheus is lying here, inside, where she got with some difficulty. Bedingfield is senior officer protecting Lagos, where we have hoisted our flag, making it a British possession. We are ordered to Ascension to recruit health, having now twenty sick out of our crew of sixty. We had a dispute in the Niger with five villages or towns, situate on each side of the stream, and known by the name of the Kjetoma. We destroyed them in about an hour, with the loss of about two men an our side killed in the commander's gig. Our victory had an excellent effect on many other hostile places near the river, and rendered their chiefs and occupants exceedingly civil, except at a large town about 140 miles from the sea, sometimes termed ' Eboe.' Here they were excessively insolent; but, as the town mustered over 10,000 inhabitants, it was deemed advisable to allow their insolence to pass without notice for the present. The highest point we reached in the river was a place called Onitcha. We remained there for a month. Our convoy in the meantime (the ship Sunbeam) went on to the confluence of the rivers, and communicated with Dr. Baikie, the African explorer, who has been in this part of Africa some years. On the return of the Sunbeam we came down the river as quickly as possible, and are very glad to find ourselves here, and under orders'for Ascension. We were in the Niger altogether eighty-one days. Our commander is about" knocked up by his cruise, and, for the past week, has lived, as, indeed, some others of us have done, upon a cup of arrowroot and a bit of dry toast daily."

Death puoji the Absorption of Poison.—The particulars of a sudden death, the result of having absorbed poison into the system, has been furnished to the Examiner, as having occurred on Mr. Doyle's station at Wooloomon, on the Peel River, some sixteen miles from Tainworth. It appears that a man named JamesM'Farlane, better knownas "Scotchie," about fifty years of age, and in the employ of Mr. Doyle, was engaged on Saturday last skinning some lambs belonging to thab gentleman, which had recently died on the station. Mr. Doyle went to where the man was engaged at. this work, and told him to desist from skinning any more, as he, Mr. Doyle, was not sure from whatthe lambs died, and possibly some accident might occur to him. M'Farlane, it seems skinned two or three more, and then left off work, hut subsequently on the same day killed a large carpet snake with a stick, and took into his hand the end with which he had killed the reptile. On the following day (Sunday) the unfortunate man observed a small sore on the back of his wrist, which he irritated by rubbing, but took no further notice of it. On Monday, the {land and wrist began to swell, and by midday on Tuesday, from the elbow downwards was much swollen and inflamed. Dr, Scott called at Mr. Doyle's station on Wednesday, about 10 o'clock, on his way from the Peel River, and he was requested t------go and see the poor fellow, who was at this tnt:--Buffering excruciating pain, the whole arm bein;. \! ii terribly swollen, and inflamed from the hand "k> tim arm-pit. The doctor remained until 2 o'clock, by which time the swelling had extended across to the chest, and presented a very shocking appearance, the skin falling oft' all over the arm, displaying underneath a perfectly black mass of matter. The unfortunate man died about 3 o'clock the same day. The cause of death may he clearly attributed to the absorption of poison into the body; but whether it was received from the dead lambs, or the snake which M'Farlane killed, we are unable to say.— Sydney Empire.

The authoress of The Daisy Chain, Miss Yonge, lias given the whole of the profits, £2,000, for the building of a Missionary College at Auckland, New Zealand; and has devoted a great portion of The Heir of Redclyffe to fitting out the missionary schooner Southern Cross, for the use of Bishop Selwyn.— lbid,

" ENCOURAGING " GENERALS,

Briefly, while the public service requires as the leaders of our armies such men as M'Clellan, Sherman. Rorecrans, Lyor, Siegil, and Stnrges—skilful, vigorous, educated, and experienced officers— the crisis us sternly demands >he weeding out or retirement of nil incompetent pretenders aud superauunted old gentlemen. They have already sufficiently embarrassed, delayed, and defeated the plans of the government and the expectaions of the country. Look at the example of France amid all the internal distractions aud chaos of her first experimental -republic. To put an end to her republican heresies—regarded as synonymous with anarchy and universal b rignndage—the monarchial powers" of Europe, for the safety of their divine rights, formed themselves into an armed coalition. They had counted upon an easy conquest, considering tho internal disorders of the republic ; but they were soon convinced of their mistake. Rising with tho exigencies of their situation, the people of Franco raised a milliom of men to arms, and very soon expelled their inv.iders on every every side. " Rut in the outset the guillotine made such evamples of her incompetent, timid, and treacherous generals as to teach all the others that they had but the alternative of victory or death before them. "We may thus pretty safely assume that the summary punishment of v faithless general or two, and the weeding out of all incompetent officers, "old and young:, from our army," would soon be followed by the grmdest results of victory. The loyal states of eliis union are infinitely richer in all -the resources, materials and facilities for a vigorous continental war against all new comere, domestic and foreign, than was the first French republic in its day. But, conscious of our strength, we have been lszp and comparatively indifferent in regard to the desperation of our southern rebellious conspiritors. They have taught us at length that this rebellion is no child's play, and tl at, unless we desire a protracted war, we must resolutely go to work and prune our armies of alljincompetent, ignorant, shrinking, and superanuated officers and leader, beginning at Washington. This is the duty of the president, and he should proceed to discharge it without delay, and without fear, favor or affection.— New York Herald. [The above reminds us irrisistibly of the story in Voltaire's Candide of the hanging of Admiral Byng and the exi>lanation of Pangloss " Dans cc pays ci on a costume de tver de fois en fois un amiral pour encourager les aistres !" —Ed. Daily Times.'}

Capture and Death: or an Italian Brigand.—A recent letter from Pizzo says:—"l send you some details about the death of Mittica, which are worthy the interes of you readers. The famous bandit who had joined the Spaniards, after defeat on defeat and disaster, endeavoured to conceal himself, with three of his companions, in a mountain ravine, at the foot of which was a mill. The millar was one of the old acquaintances of Mattica, or, yet more, what is called throughout the Calabrias one of his 'compari 1, and during the first and second night treated him with cordial hospitality, ;but knowing the severe regulations harbouring brigands, and judging it prudent to get rid of his guest, he did so in the followmanner. Every night Mattica sent one of his companions to pat provisions, and the miller advised the Commander of the National Guard, at Galatto, th"t, in order to render a great service to public order, on a certain night, at a fixed hour, and signal, he might eacily get hold of the brigands. In fact, two men os great courage, Fisani, and Ferrari, one the captain, lhe other lieuteuat, of the National Guard of Calatto,;in the dead of night and followed by six men of determined resolution, surrounded the mill in such a way that they could easily see the brigands if they entered it. About nine o'clock Mattica sent out one of his companions, as has been before said, for the provisions. The miller opened his window, and begged that for this once, as they were going to roast a sheep, Mattica should come and take it himself, and that afterwards they would eat it in company in the mill. This message was reported to Mattica, and the commander of the guard gave his men orders to follow their victim, butto be alwaj's on the watch. On arriving before the door of the mill, which was shut, Mattica called the miller with a loud voice. This was the signal agreed on, or rather the appearance of the miller at the window, with a lantern, and answering, •I am coming.' Immediately a volley was fired from eight muskets, killing his companion on the spot, and mortally wounding Mittica, who, covered with blood, and holding his bowels in his hands, dragged himself quietly into an olive ground in the neighborhood. Here the eight courageous citizens were not long in finishing him like a wild beast. The head of Mittica was afterwards carried in triumph through the province of lteggio. Everywhere the people shouted at the spectacle ' Nivi Italia!' even the gamins danced before the ignoble exhibition, which recalled the worst days of Bourbon despotism in 1847, when the head of the ' Patriot Borneo' was in like manner carried through the streets of Heggio, amid cries of ' Viva il Be! Viva la Madonna !' "

A Novel Wat of Intkiguing.—'■ The French being in possession of Rome, were masters of the post-office, and thus in a great measure enabled to prevent the communication of any exact intelligence as to the progress of the war. . . . The foreigners who were obliged to remain in Rome were naturally anxious to obtain correct accounts of what was passing elsewhere. Of this number was the excellent Angelica lvauffman, who was civilly treated, however, by the French, as they rathei paid court to artists. ... I used to send her the news in art terms?-, calling the French ' Landscape Printers,' and the English

' Historical Painters.' Nelson was Don Kattaell. But I recollect being puzzled how to inform her that our fleet had gone to Malta, until I thought of referring her for the subject of the picture to a chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, well knowing that the book in which that island was mentioned was not likely to be opened by the inspectors of post. To another lady I was in the habit of writing in the millinery style, giving a description of gimps and ribbons ! and to Monsignor Maretti, who was with the Pope in his confinement at Valence, I conveyed intelligence as fragments of ancient Greek tragedies found among the MSS in the library of Capo de Monte. He had lately translated into Italian verse the ' Seven against Thebes,' and the ' Agamemnon' of JEschylus ; and these were subjects that had very little interest for our enemies."— Aulobiogauphy of Miss Knight.

IfuuKcii Economy in War.—" One day, after the French occupation of Parma, a regular canon of the great church of Piacenza entered his church for the purpose of taking his own seat, but was surprised at not finding the confessional in its proper place. After looking about for it in all directions, he found it in a gallery lying on its side, and on the top of it the dead body of a French soldier, which the surgeon or surgeons' mates of that army were busily skinning. Horrified at the .sight, he asked the meaning of this ghastly proceeding, and was told that some scientific men had discovered that the human skin made excellent leather. It had therefore been ordered that all dyad bodies should bo skinned for the purpose of providing boots and shoes for the soldiers.—Autobioyraphy of Miss Kniyld,

PItKACHIKG IN THIi 18X11 CENTURY.—"The Cardinal de Bernis gave me two anecdotes of missionary preachers in Longuedoc. One of them said to his hearers that they were not ashamed to live in the mud of the sins, but were ashamed to confess them publicly. If it were not so, why did not they hide their heads in the mud in token of repentance ? It so happened that they were just then standing in a very muddy place, and in obedience to the preacher they all plunged their heads into the mire, standing with begrimed faces to hear the remainder of his discourse. The other mis-ionary used to carry a death's head about with him, which he dressed up in the cap iincl ornaments then in fashion among ladies of rank. This skull he would throw down on the floor of the pulpit, and talk to it, answering himself in a low voice, to imitate that of a woman. ' Qui etes-vous V 'Je suis line marquise.' ' Etes-vous dame de la cour V ' Oui, monsieur, je sitis dame de la reine.' 'Ou etes-vous?' 'Dans l'enfer, monsieur.' 'Et pourqtici cela V To this last question he used to give answers- that embodied satirical allusions to the doings of the most celebrated women of fashion."— lbid.

Major Murray, the intended victim of the assassination in Northumberland-street, has perfectly recovered. It -will be remembered that after bein" shot in the neck he was removed to Charing-cross Hospital, where Mr. Edwin Canton, the surgeon of that institution, extracted the bullet. The convalescence _of Major Murray has been retarded by an exfoliation from that part of the spiue against which the ball struck. At length the piece of bone has been extracted by Mr. Canton,