ATROCIOUS CASE of KIDNAPPING

Tuapeka Times, Volume VII, Issue 382, 15 August 1874, Page 3

ATROCIOUS CASE of KIDNAPPING

The " Newcastle Pilot," 9th July, reports that on Monday, the 6th instant, a man named Driscoli, a sawyer employed at Messrs. J. and A. Brown's colliery, came into Newcastle for a holiday, and" commenced drinking. He stopped on Monday night at some house on the L/ake Liacquarie road, and next, romembers being at Oloudy's Hotel, Nerevnvstle, drinking, about 9 a.m. on Tuesday . In the afternoon of the same day he awoke to find himself in the forecas'le of the Wemys3 Castle, a ship lying in the stream. The man states that he went on deck and asked the mate " How he came there," the mate replying, " You shipped as a seaman, and will have to go iv the ship." On repudiating this, Dridcoll was told, that he had been brought on board by some one employed to get sailors for the vessel, and although be explained that he wa3 not a sailor buta bushmau. and demanded to be put on shore, his request was refused. Shortly afterwards, the pilot boat coming alongside, tho man in desperation flung himself into the boat and begged to be put on shore ; tho pilot, however, knowing nothing of the circura-jtattces of the ease, and afraid of infringing the law, refused. Tiie mate then throw a running noose over the man, and he was slung an.l dragged on board the ship. O>i Wednesday morning, -when the anchor was being heaved up, previous to putting out to sea, a passing boat was hailed by Driscoli, and the boatman requested, " for Grod's sake," to acquaint the police. On the boat reaching the shore, SubInspector Thorpe was at once communicated with, and the water police boat sent off to make inquiries, whiuh resulted in its being proved that the man had not been shipped. Tho police then applied to the captain for an explanation, and he said he had employed sereral parties to get him men to make up his compliment of crew ; and that he paid £1 per head for the men so obtained, of whom the man in question was one. Driscoli was then taken on shore, and at once applied for a warrant on a charge of assault against the mate, who, as the vessel was about to leave, was at once takea in charge. [From our telegraphic columns it will be seen that a civil action has been commenced by Driscoli against the captain and mate of the Wemygg Castle.]

Arf. We to have a Peasant War? — The Bishop of Manchester thinks the most frightful thing that could happen for English society would be a " peasants' war ;" and, alarmed lest the '* insane counsels " to which farmers and labourers are alike listening may produce so grave a disaster, he has published an appeal to the farmers, warning them of the terrible mistake they have committed in resorting to the suicidal policy of a lock-out. In the neighbourhood of Newmarket, from 1500 to 2000 labourers are now either- on strike or are locked-out by the farmers ; and the Bishop is afraid the struggle will spread ' ' like a pestilence in the Eastern Counties." He asks the farmers if they are going mad ? — if, aa reasonable men, they think that a lock-out witt " stave off for any appreciable time the solution of the inevitable question — what is the equitable wage to pay the men who till their ground tend their stock, gather in their harvest 1" He reminds them of the,, inopportuneness of the time they have selected for the struggle ; points out that with the increased facilities of communication now at their disposal, the labourers can quickly remove to the Northern provinces, where wages are 20 or 30 per cent, higher than in the East and South ; and on, behalf of the workmen he offers the plea that the Trades' Unions they have formed — although he is no lover of the principles on which these societies are based — have been forced into existence " by the inequitable use of the power of capital." Sportsmen .are aware that when the judge in a coursing match removes his hat itindicates an undecided course. I have been told that on one occasion in England, Mr. Warwick, the coursing judge, waa in a crowded church. It was so full that lie was obliged to stand on the aisle, hat in hand. The officiating clergyman in Ms sermon contrasted a life of sin with a righteous career. And as he approached his peroration, he appealed to his hearer Has to " which course " they would follow;- Just at this moment minister and congregation were scandalised by some one in the crowd calling out, " Undecided — for here's old Warwick with his hat off."—" ißgleß." advocates of cremation, recently revived, by Sir Henry Thomson, have been strong' enough to form a very influential society in "London, and a declaration disapproving of' the present custom of burying the dead, and desiring to substitute sone method which shall rapidly dissolve the body into its component elements by a process which cannot offend the living, has been extensively signed. The society, it is said, has resolved to start an agitation with the view of obtaining legislative sanction to a practical test of the system. At Dresden and Loipsig, tho authorities have given permission to erect a furnace ; and in is believed that if the same were ! done in this country there would be no lack of persons willing to bequeath their bodies in the interests of science 4 ..