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Leader (1850-1860), 24th March 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 274, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      tad beyond- alUpj ^ cedent- advent- of . mild Bpring weathw .-hw ' improved the condition of the ¦» rorkingicla 86 e % .: anfL . the pauper -pressure in Birmingham has now greatly diminished , i Prom . Manchester we learn that ; at . the close-of last -week the clothriftaiiket was XQirch depressed , aud that the recently obtained advance -in the price of some kinds of yarns has . been lost , though in other kinds the demancLis still brisk ..

      The late improvement , in the demand for lace and hosiery at Nottingham has not been maintained ; and an equal depression in the same branch of manufacture is ., noticeable . at Leicester , . where , however , the wool market is firm-. At Leeds , the woollen ^ cloth trade is improving , and the reports from several of the manufacturing villages of the West Riding are cheering .. The linen trade at Barnsley has for some time past been very dull , and the flax-spinning trade at Leeds is still so ; but it is thought that for the

      former a better day is near at hand . Intelligence from Belfast says that there is increased activity in the sales of linen ^ flax , ; and cotton 4 n the North of Ireland . The strike of Lord Vernori * colliers still continues . The turn-outs hold meetings daily * at which violent language against the *' knobsticks" is indulged in . A few of the turn-outs have returned to their work , but there is . no immediate . prospect of the strike coming to an end . Soxneof the colliers have left the neighbourhood , and < gone . ; to look- for employment elsewhere . The rfeighbouring . cottiers are subscribing for the support of the turn-outs , about forty of the principal of whom- have been served with notices to leave their cottages-.-

      Untitled Article

      HEALTH OF LONDON . ( From the Registrar-General ' s Report . ) The mortality of London is etui high ; the deaths which had fallen from 1560 to 1377 in the previous week again rose last week to 1425 . The mean weekly temperature was 40 ? 8 deg . in the beginning of March , higher hy 14 deg . than it had been in the latter half of ^ February . It fell to 36 deg ., ; and in the week that has iiow _ passed it was 38 -5 deg . From natural causes , _ as well as from i ; he circumstance that deaths are not always registered as soon as they occur , the consequences of a change of temperature in one week are only developed in the returns of ihe week following , or at a later period . The return shows that 169 persons died above the estimated number . Diseases of the respiratory' organs were fatal in 339 cases , whilst the average is 260 ; besides these , phthisis numbers 160 , hooping-cough 76 , and influenza 9 . Last week the births of 906 boys and 873 girls , in all 1779 children , were registered in London . In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1845-54 , the average number was 1537 .

      Untitled Article

      FALL OF A BRIDGE AT BRISTOL . A very alarming catastrophe took place at Bristol enrTuesday morning ,-at : aboat ten-o ' clock * - —Asteambarge ; worked by a screw-propeller , and having an engine of six-horse power , was descending the river Avon when she came in contact with the iron framework of the bridge , which reBts on piers . The force of the collision was so great , that , notwithstanding the power of a very strong ebb tide , the steamer rebounded eight or . ten feet , and the bridge immediately fell , carrying everything that was on it . Several persons passing at the time , and two carts , were thrown into the river . Three or four of the people swam to the banks , and were got out alive ; but several are' missing , and a few horses were drowned .

      The cause of the collision is differently stated ; by simo it is said that the barge -was coming down under full steam , the tide also running fast ; while the engineer asserts that by the captain ' s order he was reversing some time before they reached the bridge , but the current ( it had been the high St . David ' s flood ) was irresistible . The captain of the barge has been arrested . Several very narrow escapes took place . Two rnen were talking at the end of the bridge , one being just off . On the bridge giving way , the man who was just on disappeared , and was drowned , while the other remained on the brink of the chasm . A gentleman in a gig pulled up at the very moment that the bridge was sinking a few feet before him ; and the same thing happened to foot passengers ; Only two persons'are ns yet known to be drowned .

      A letter , under the signature of " Ono who fell with the Bridge , " appears in the 7 iineso { Thursday . We derive from it tho following additional particulara : <—" When the barge wns about fifty yards from the bridge , I distinctly heard the captain give orders to reVetse'tho engines , and every exertion wns made to prevent the collision $ long polos were put but to endeavour to push her off from the shore , but all efforts were ' thbn too late '; tho men seemed to have lost all control over h * rr She came down in an oblique direction . I heard th * captain cry out , « Oh dear , oh dear ! ' and in a

      few . seconds afterwards the right bow . of the barge struck the end of , the bridge , on the Bristol side of the stream . At . this ; . time I was . standing just in the middle of the bridge , little thinking that it woidd not withstand the shock , when the bridge immediately sank , bearing slightly towards the railway . We descended at a frightful pace , and I was hurled headlong into the watery together with several-others who were crossing at the time . Whether the bridge was in a good state of repair I know not , but I have since heard that-, one of the authorities had either refused to cross it , or said that he did not like to do so , shortly before the accident occurred , when there was a large waggon upon it , because he considered the bridge unsafe- Should this , however , be the case , great blame is attached to the authorities for allowing so frail a structure to remain there . "

      The bridge was of cast ? iron , and was erected in the years between 1805 and 1809 : It consisted of only one arch , and was one hundred and sixty feet in span . In 1808 , owing to some defects in the stonework on which it rested , it fell ; and either killed or severely injured thirty-two persons .

      Untitled Article

      THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST LORD CLANRICARDE . Lord Clanricab . de has filed an affidavit in the Irish Court of Chancery , in which he emphatically denies the charges . that have recently been brought against him in connexion with the suit " Handcock v . Delacour . " A copy of this document has been transmitted to the daily papers by Mr . Power , his lordship ' s solicitor , who says : — " Some of the charges made against Lord Clanricarde were unsupported by a particle of evidence , some rested upon loose inferences , drawn from insufficient premises , and some were negatived by documents proved in the cause . ' Of the former class were the assertions that Lord Clanricarde was the father of the boy Delacour ; that he caused the separation of Mri and Mrs . Handcock ; that he accompanied Mrs . Hahdcock to Paris ; that he drew a codicil to Mr . Handcock ' s will , whereby Mr . Handcock made-his wife the guardian of his daughters ; and that he gained admittance to Mrs . Handcock ' s house 'by a latch-key . '

      " There was jiot a shadow of evidence to support any of these statements . Lord Clanricarde denies them in his affidavits ; some of them are disproved by documentary evidence ; and the solicitor- of Mr . dF . D . Handcock now says , ' the latch-key was used in a figurative sense .- ' ¦ "It was alleged that Mr . Handcock had said he suspected his wife of infidelity with Lord Clanricarde . But a witness has since contradicted , upon oath , the supposed fact said to have created the suspicion ; and the person ( Mr . Handcock ' s brother ) who swore to the conversation of 1842 , supported in 1843 Mrs . Handcock's claim to be guardian of her daughters , in opposition to his own sister , and supported also the selection of Lord Clanricarde to be guardian of their fortune . "

      Lord Clanricarde , in his affidavit , denies that he assisted in promoting the marriage of Mr . and Mrs . Hahdcock ; that ~ lie -was on- " notoriously intimate terms" with Mrs . Handcock before her marriage ; that he had improper connexion with her after her marriage ( in proof of which denial he mentions that after the separation of Mr . and Mrs . Handcock , he received a very friendly letter from the former , and was on friendly terms with him in Paris ); that he was the father of the boy Delacour ; or that he caused the separation of Mr . and Mrs . Handcock , which he attributes to money differences , and to the former taking the Trench maid , Sophie , as his mistress . With respect to his connexion witli the will

      of William Henry Handcock , he states that that individual appointed his wife ond his sister guardians of the persons of his children , and a Mr . Francis Langan guardian of their fortune , and sole trustee and executor ; that he ( Lord Clanricardo ) persuaded Mr . Handcock to alter the latter of these provisions , as he doubted Mr . Langan ' s fitness for the office ; that Mr . Handcock drew a codicil to his will , appointing his wife joint executrix , though Mrs . Handcock never proved the will or acted as executrix ; and that ho ( deponent )^ afterwards consented , though without proposing it , to become guardian of the children , who were made wards in Chancery . He furthermore states that tho three Misses Hundcock , Anne Mary , Josephine , and Honoria , who died

      successively . at short intervals of time , severally consulted him about making a will in favoxir ^ of their mother ; that ho dissuaded Anno Mary from doing so , but , after her deuth , consented to mako such a will for Josephine , and , after the death of Josephine , refused to make a . similar . will for . Honorm ,. but persuaded her to reserve a power of revocation , to which yhe agreed , " and such a power was inserted , and she survived her mother nine months , during which interval sho might , if so minded , have revoked the ilced . " With regard to the assertion that his object was to obtain for tho infant , John Delacour , tho property of tho Misaes . Handcock , Lord Clanricarde positively denies that lie had any such wish . " And deponent eaith that Mrs . Handcock felt greatly anuoyed with deponent on account of . the power of

      revocation , " &c . Finally he asserts that he had no connexion whatever with the suit of John Stratford Handeoek , . which sought to set aside the willof Josephine Handcock and the deed executed by Honorisi Handcock . '

      Untitled Article

      • . MISCELLANEOUS . The-Edinburgh ( steamer ) has been wrecked neap Varna . The crew ^ are saved , but nothing else ; her engines are in 4 § fathoms of water .

      Untitled Article

      Fire . —At an early hour on Sunday , a fire broke out on the premises of Mr . Murrell , hay salesman , of 65 , Russell-street , Bermondsey , which , besides consumi ng much valuable property , destroyed six valuable horses in the stable . The fire extended to the adjoiningbuildings' ,- several of which were more or less injured . The North York : Rifles have been for some days in a state of great insubordination , -which at one time assumed a serious'appearance . Part of the men had taken offence at an order of the commanding officer , by which their bounty was paid to them by 6 d at a time , 1

      instead of in * quarterlysums of 5 s . at a time . On the quarter-day when the instalment of 5 s . became payable , the money was not forthcoming , and a large portion of the men evinced a determination to set their officers at defiance . They collected in the market-place and round the King ' s Arms- Inn , and hooted such of the officers as were unpopular . During the night great drunkenness and disorder prevailed , and next morning the ringleaders , bv wheedling some and bullying others , brought the business of the regiment to a standstill . Order -was restored with some difficulty .

      The Adulteration of Flour .- —Mr . Scholefield , the member for Birmingham , has given notice-for the appointment of a select committee of the House of Commons with a view-to put down the adulteration of flour . Some cases of the kind have recently been discovered in the West Riding-of Yorkshire , which have led to the conviction of several corn millers . In two cases tho delinquents were fined 207 . and costs . It appears that the flour was adulterated with sulphuric acid and oxide of iron ! The Pulverising House at the Kennel Vale Powder Works , near Truro , has blown up . The night police at Truro , whieh-is seven or eight-miles distant , plainly saw the flash of light , and immediately afterwards felt a distinct shock of the ground . Fortunately no lives were lost "; but much damage was done-to the premises whero the explosion took place . _ . -

      The Moniteur publishes an Imperial decree , granting a silver medal Of honour to Edward Richard' Warden and George Edwards , fishermen , of the port of Rye , for having rescued from certain death , on ' the 14 th oi January last , the crew of the French merchantman Notre Dame dn Mont Carmel . Commissary-General Luscombe , for many years connected with the Commissariat Department , died a few days ago in Dublin . He was attached to the army during thirty-five years , and served in the Peninsula and in Italy , and was the man whom General Picton threatened to hang in'the event of his troops being left a few hours longer-without the necessary , supply , ... . A . very , fe-w weeks ago the press charged the Commissariat-General Filder with being the person who was thus threatened ; but this was an error .

      From America we learn that the Senate has struck out of the Civil and Diplomatic Appropriation Bill that portion relating to the tariff ; and that the House of Representatives has agreed to the omission . Havannail—Letters from Havannah to the 25 th state that Senor Estampes and Mr . Felix had been sentenced , the former to death by the garotte , and the latter to ten years with the chain gang in Africa . Everything wore a gloomy aspect at Havannah , and the banishment and disarming of Creoles continued . There were three British ships of war in port . Garcia Monroe and . the Conde de Carnijo had been appointed respectively to the Military and Civil Governorship of ITavftnnnh .

      Inundation in Demtcrara . —An inundation , pupposed to be connected with some subterranean perturbation , has done considerable damage in Domernra . Meteorological phenomena , unusual in February , have also manifested themselves . " Houses" ( nays the ltoyai Gazette ) " have ' toppled down' before extraordinary winds ; forest trees have also been levelled or dismembered , and such a aea has broken upon tho const ns to destroy the seaward defences , break kokor pieces , and create an amount of destruction unprecedented in man « memory considering the shortness of tho time . During ono or two days , tho rain fell incessantly and in torthe

      rents ; but , although back dame were endangered by pressure of tho accumulating savannah waters , no great d « mngo could bo effected from this case—it only kept-CHtntes draining-engincs in conRtant emp loyment , lne soa has thoroughly saturated Kingston ( part of George Town ) with suit , killing , as a matter of courso , trees and shruba and fruit and Howor with which it wan ornnmented , and which cost both time and money in tlio raising . There in also a mud doposit upon tho land— -in this country a certain cause of disease . Tho Executive » nd tho Court of Policy have agreed to get out a Dutch jhghioer , accuBtomed to eon defences on tho const ol Holland . "

      Untitled Article

      Sgj £ - " .. THE I / KDEB . [ S ^ TTmp'AY ;

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 24, 1855, page 274, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2083/page/10/