20. MURDER IN GUERNSEY.On the 18th October a murder was committed in Guernsey, which, besides being in itself of a very atrocious character, caused great excitement in the Channel Is lands; those beautiful spots being remarkably free from crimes of this kind.

The victim of this shocking act was a widow named Saujon, who resided by herself in a cottage in the Relte Road. On the evening of the 18th October, a female friend had called upon her, and left her about 9 o'clock. On the following morning, a neighbour observed that her shutters had not been opened. He called assistance, and they got in at an upper window by means of a ladder. On entering the bed room of the widow, they perceived a strong suffocating smell, and much smoke. On the floor was stretched the body of the poor woman; her legs were uncovered, her clothes had been on fire, and a deal table, with the drawers taken out, and the contents in confusion, had been placed over the corpse; they had been on fire; the skirting boards were charred. At the other side of the room the bed was still buruing, and the bedstead and corner cupboard had been burnt. There was no communication between these two fires, nor any between them and the fire under the body of the deceased.

The

clock had stopped at 17 minutes

past 11, the weights having been removed and placed outside the case. Numerous articles in the room had been set on fire and partially burnt, and it was evident that they had been saturated with turpentine for the purpose of more speedy ignition.

On examining the body of the deceased, it was found that she had been murdered by repeated blows on the head; that her clothes had been set on fire while she was still alive, and that she had herself convulsively drawn up her clothes in her agony. Her arms were uplifted; the left arm was burnt to the bone. The body near the loins was completely burnt, the liver and intestines were completely roasted; the fire was still smouldering beneath the corpse. The house had been plundered of a great quantity of valuable articles, and of a sum in Guernsey 11. notes.

Suspicion immediately attached to a man named John Charles Tapner, a clerk in the Ordnance Office, who was an acquaintance of the murdered woman. He had been seen near the house by the friend who had last seen the deceased, when she left her on the night of the murder. He was dressed in a glazed hat and a round pea jacket. About 11 o'clock, he was seen by some policemen going across a field near his own house. On the 22nd October a clover stack in this field was searched, and concealed in it were found 11 tea spoons, 3 table spoons, and numerous other articles, all of which were identified as the property of the murdered Mrs. Saujon. Tapner had also paid several debts with 1. Guernsey notes, all of which were proved to have been those paid to the de

ceased woman. In the prisoner's house were found a glazed hat and pea-jacket, and a bottle which had contained turpentine; it was labelled Godfrey's Cordial," and had been supplied to Tapner's wife with that compound.

On the 20th December Tapner was put on his trial before the Royal Court. The investigation was protracted to the 13th day. The proof of the prisoner's guilt was superabundant, and he was found"Guilty," and sentenced to be hanged.

This sentence was carried into execution on the 10th of February, with some shocking circumstances; but singular to say, notwithstanding the atrocity of the murder and the subsequent horrible proceedings, the greatest efforts were made by the inhabitants of the island to save his life.

20. DREADFUL FIRE IN NEW YORK. A most destructive conflagration occurred at New York, by which property valued at upwards of a million dollars was destroyed. The fire broke out in Front Street, which runs parallel to the East River, and spread along both sides of the street, covering the quays, docks and shipping with sparks and burning material. About half-past 1, A.M., the stupendous ship the Great Republic (of which an account was given at page 130 of this CHRONICLE) caught fire in her rigging, and as, from the great height of her masts, any assistance was out of the question, the whole of her masts, yards, cordage and sails soon became a tree of fire. The burning spars and cordage fell upon her decks and set fire to her hull. She was soon in flames from stem to stern, and as the wind blew strongly, she threw sheets of flame upon the

adjoining vessels. Her masts fell one after another, as they were burnt through, and dispersed burning masses in all directions. A fine merchantman, the Joseph Walker, of Liverpool, next caught, and was speedily burnt down to the water's edge. The flames from the Great Republic set fire to a very celebrated clipper ship, the White Squall, and spread over her tracery of masts, spars, and rigging in an incredibly short time. She was cut adrift and allowed to run before the wind. She flew up the river in one astonishing blaze; the heat was so great that no one could approach to scuttle her, and she proceeded upon her fiery course, spreading dismay among the numerous shipping that crowd the East River, until she ran aground at Brooklyn, and some attempt was then made to extinguish the flames. The wind was so powerful that it seemed to drive the fire away from her hull, and she burnt internally, until nothing but her shell was left. Many other vessels caught fire, but escaped without material damage. The value of the Great Republic was estimated at 300,000 dollars, her cargo at the same sum; the Joseph Walker 95,000 dollars, her cargo at 45,000 dollars; the White Squall at 100,000 dollars; and the buildings destroyed at 100,000 dollars.

23. DREADFUL MURDERS IN IRELAND.-A double murder has been committed in the county of Wexford, a district that has hitherto been comparatively quiet and orderly. The victims of this atrocity were Thomas Ball and his wife, who resided in a small cabin on the roadside at Rylands, near Clohamon, in the barony of Scarawalsh. They were dealers in apples, oats, and other small com

modities, and invariably kept a stand in Newtownbarry on Saturdays. On the day following the murder they did not appear at the market as usual, and Curran, brother to the woman, missing them from their usual stand, went to the house about 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He found the door shut, and all silent. He then went to another relative, and both returned to the cabin and raised the door off its hinges, when the apalling spectacle of the lifeless bodies of the man and wife met their sight, their heads being literally beaten to atoms! The weapons used by the murderers (for there were evidently more than one engaged in the horrid brutality) were a spade, a pair of tongs, and a blunt billhook, which belonged to the house, and were found in it covered with blood. The spade appears to have been the instrument with which the man's skull was first cloven, and that breaking, the handle was often used. The woman was found dreadfully battered about the head; and the floor was covered with clotted gore. The object of the murderers was to possess themselves of money, about 707., which Ball was known to have, and which his wife was in the habit of carrying in a kind of purse with a string round her neck; the broken string was still round her neck, and the purse gone. The murderers had also rummaged the house; for in a broken box in the bedroom, the only one in the cabin, a shirt stained by a bloody hand was found. The murders appear to have been perpetrated at an early hour, before the couple had retired to bed, perhaps just as they were preparing, for Ball had his shoes, and his wife her cap, off. VOL. XCV.

23. GREAT FIRE AT ESHER.The celebrated Royal Paper Mills, at Esher, have been destroyed by a fire. These very extensive works, which are close to the South Western Railway, cover several acres of ground. The fire was first discovered by a workman, who perceived a small body of fire in the second floor rag warehouse. He threw some water on the fire, and supposing that he had extinguished it, he left the place; but immediately afterwards the flooring of the story above gave way, and it became apparent that a very extensive mass of fire existed. The alarm was given; but, before anything could be done, the whole of the rag warehouse, containing many thousand tons of linen and other rags, became a mass of flames, which rushed from 30 windows, with a deafening roar. From the rag warehouses the conflagration spread to another range of buildings used as the engine and the heating houses, the hydraulic press houses and weighing departments-the rooms in which the rags undergo the last process before being made into paper-in which eight steam-engines were employed. From thence the work of destruction extended to the millwrights' and engineers' shops. At this time the scene was of awful grandeur; the flames issued from numberless windows, and shooting high into the air, spread around a fiery illumination and showers of sparks and blazing fragments of paper, over a wide expanse of country. The flames having destroyed these buildings, next caught an immense pile which had 80 windows, and which contained many thousand tons' weight of paper, and this also was destroyed. The value of the

M

premises, machinery, and stock destroyed, is estimated not under 100,000l.

24. MURDEROUS ATTACK BY BURGLARS.-A very daring burglary has been committed at the house occupied by Mr. Richard Thomas, a butcher, at Pencoose, near Penryn, Cornwall, accompanied by treatment of a most brutal and savage nature towards the inmates. At the time of the robbery, Mr. Thomas being from home, the only persons on the premises were his wife and daughter. Between 8 and 9 o'clock on the evening of the 24th inst., while Mrs. Thomas was sitting alone in the kitchen, she heard the front door open, and immediately three men, having masks over their faces and sacks over their clothes, walked into the kitchen and surrounded her. The foremost of the villains told her not to be alarmed, as they only wanted money, and would not hurt her if she delivered up the keys. Mrs. Thomas hesitated to comply with the request, when one of the men threw a handful of pepper in her eyes, and then bound her, a third giving her several kicks, and telling her that if she stirred hand or foot, or made the slightest noise, they would return and murder her. Miss Thomas, who was in an adjoining room, on hearing the voices, began to scream for help, whereupon one of the burglars rushed into the room, and, having felled the young lady by a tremendous blow on the head, he knelt upon her, and drawing forth a large knife, wounded her severely, at the same time threatening that he would have her life if she did not keep quiet.

Two

of the men then kept guard over Mrs. Thomas and her daughter,

while the third proceeded upstairs, and, having obtained the keys, he took from an escritoir a bag containing between 500l. and 6001. He then came down stairs, and, giving a shrill whistle as he passed through the room where his two companions were stationed, got clear off with his rich booty, speedily followed by his accomplices.

26. DISASTROUS FIRE. - Another destructive fire occurred in Thames Street, near Queenhithe Dock, and near to the premises which were consumed on the 3rd of the present month. The building, which was eight floors high, had been a sugar-house, but at the present time was occupied by Mr. Dunster, wholesale stationer and ragmerchant. In a short time ten powerful engines of the brigade and the steam floating-engine were at the scene of the fire, and threw immense quantities of water upon the flames. Notwithstanding this, the flames caught the house on the other side of Bread Street Hill, a house behind, and finally St. Michael's Church. The sacred edifice was, however, saved. The warehouse was burnt down and some other houses much injured.

28. WRECK OF A STEAMER IN THE CHANNEL.-A very heavy gale blew in the Irish Channel for some days, during which a fine steamer foundered, with the loss of 11 lives. The Eva, of Glasgow, had been built for plying on the river Clyde, and she was consequently of great length and comparatively light construction. Her owner proposed to send her to ply on the Australian shores. For the purpose of the passage she was rigged as a sailing vessel, her paddles were unshipped, but her boilers