the deceased laid hold of the handle of the ladle, which contained about six tons of liquid iron, which was about to be poured into a mould for the purpose of forming a diving bell. The ladle was suspended by a crane, and to each handle were two levers, seven feet long. The ladle nearly touched the ground, there being only sufficient room for it to move round on an axle, the mould being sunk into the ground, into which the metal was to be poured. Owing to the immense casting, instead of there being only one man at each handle two were placed, and the deceased took his place by the side of a man named Anderson.

Before the metal was "C tapped" from the furnace, the men took their stations at the ladle, and the ladle was tried and worked well. There were seven men employed at the ladle-two at each handle, and three at two levers. The fluid was run in from the furnace, and he took the keepers, pieces of wood supporting the sides of the ladle, away, and the order was given to pour in.

One side of the ladle was lifted up, and a portion of the metal ran into the runner; upon seeing which Povey, one of the men at the levers, dropped it and ran away, and was followed by the other two. The ladle was canted back, and the whole of the six tons of metal was thrown out the wrong way. The confusion originated by the "surge," sparks flying about the metal. The deceased's clothes were on fire, and he thought he must have fallen down among the metal. Had the men not run they would not have been burnt. There were twelve men at the crane, and the ladle was perfectly steady. Had the two men stopped at the lever, they

were quite able to support the equilibrium of the ladle.

James Roe, another of the foremen, attributed Povey's running away to seeing the sparks, which were caused by some of the fluid getting on to the wet sand round the mould. It was purely an accident. Verdict-" Accidental Death.”

22. EXTENSIVE FIRE.-Shortly after six o'clock this evening, a fire of a most alarming description, and involving considerable destruction of property, was discovered raging in the upper part of the premises belonging to Mr. Wheeler, patent fancy japan manufacturer, No. 8, Newton-street, High Holborn. It appears to have originated in a closet used as a lumber-room on the first floor landing of the staircase between the front and back room, for on the alarm being given by a servant, the flames were wholly confined to that portion of the house, and it seems, that had proper precaution been adopted, they might easily have been extinguished without causing much injury; but immediately on the discovery all the doors were thrown open,. thereby giving full vent to the flames, which shot up the staircase with the rapidity of lightning, and shortly afterwards burst forth from the roof. An attempt was made by Mr. Wheeler's workmen, who happened to be in the manufactory at the back of the premises at the time the alarm was given, to arrest the progress of the fire, but, finding it gaining upon them, they proceeded to exert themselves in saving the stock in the show-room, while others ran off for the engines. The first to reach the spot were those belonging to the brigade from a station in Holborn, which were put into instant operation,

and within ten minutes afterwards two others arrived from Crownstreet and Farringdon-street stations. By that time the flames had reached an alarming height; the upper portion of the building, which was three stories high, presented a mass of vivid light, illuminating the neighbourhood for a considerable distance, and producing the utmost excitement amongst its inhabitants, who crowded every avenue leading to the spot; in fact, so great was the crowd, that the police, who arrived soon after the commencement of the fire, encountered the greatest difficulty in keeping a space for the operations of the engines. The firemen, finding that they could not ascend the staircase in consequence of the burning masses that kept falling upon them, hoisted their scaling ladders to the windows fronting the street, into which they played, the hose being hauled up by ropes, but they were unable to stop the progress of the flames until the roof, and the two floors beneath, together with the staircase, were wholly consumed. This is the second time the premises have been destroyed by fire within the last five years. There is every reason to supthat it arose from an accident. pose COURT OF EXCHEQUER.THE GURNEY AFFAIR. BETS ON HORSE RACING. THORNTON v. PORTMAN AND ANOTHER.The Solicitor-general and Mr. Martin appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Thesiger and Mr. Butt for the defendants.

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This was an action arising out of the "Gurney affair," and notice. having been duly given that it was expected to " come off" to-day, a great number of the "patrons of the turf" were congregated together, so that the court was at a VOL. LXXXIV.

very early hour crowded. Among those whose names are before the world as being connected with sporting matters, the Marquess of Titchfield, Captain Rous, Mr. Brook Greville, and Mr. Byng, were accommodated on the Bench. The pleadings having been opened by Mr. Martin,

The Solicitor-general stated, that this was an action to recover the sum of 1,2501. as money had and received by the defendants for the use of the plaintiff, an opulent merchant in the City, but a gentleman who had ever taken a lively interest in the turf. In answer to this demand the defendants had placed two special pleas on record, to the effect that they, together with another gentleman named Clarke, had been appointed to collect all debts due to one Gurney, who had betted largely at the Epsom meeting last year, and also to pay all his debts, and that the money in question had been paid to them by the plaintiff. Besides this, the defendants had pleaded that they did not promise, and upon that plea it was that the plaintiff supposed the case would turn, for it would appear abundantly that the money had been paid to the defendants by the plaintiff, upon a condition which, not being performed by the defendants, the money ought to be refunded to the plaintiff. The name of Gurney was no doubt familiar to the jury through the papers. If not, it might shortly be stated that that person, who kept a public-house in the Borough, was on the turf, that he betted largely in anticipation of the Derby and Oaks races, and had been a defaulter at the settling day in consequence of the defalcations of other parties who had lost largely to him. It

D

was a rule of the Jockey Club that no party was entitled to receive his winnings if he did not pay his losings, and accordingly various persons who had lost money to Mr. Gurney refused to pay him when the rumour reached them that he did not intend to pay others. Among these were Lord George Bentinck and the plaintiff, while Mr. Portman, a brother of Lord Portman, Mr. Beales, a corn-merchant at Cambridge, and Mr. Clarke, who had won from Gurney, were naturally very anxious to receive their winnings. In furtherance of this wish they resorted to a plan which was of a novel character on the turf, and took upon themselves the payment of all Gurney's losses, as a means of insuring his gains, so that in the end they might receive their share. This was, in some measure, sanctioned by the Jockey Club; but Lord George Bentinck opposed it unless it was understood that the winners from Gurney should be paid in full 208. in the pound. The defendants accordingly, together with Mr. Clarke, took upon them selves the task of settling Gur ney's affairs, and lodged with the Jockey Club an undertaking to the effect demanded by his Lord ship, who thereupon paid his losses at a public meeting at Tattersall's, and recommended all others simi. larly situated to do the same. The day within which the undertaking limited the settlement by the trustees was the last day of the Houghton meeting, and in order to enable them to comply with it, it was of course necessary that they should call in all that person's winnings. They accordingly required Mr. Thornton to pay his loss, which was 1,350., but that gentleman having heard that cer

tain parties had been settled with on terms of composition at various rates less than 20s. in the pound, demurred to meet the demand, and refused to do so unless the defendants would give him a personal guarantee to repay the sum due from him in the event of their not having paid all Gurney's losings in full, with 20s. in the pound, on or before the last day of the Houghton meeting. This guarantee the defendants, after some delay, gave to the plaintiff, who thereupon paid 1,250l. through his bankers, and gave them an order on one Atkins for 1007. There the matter rested till the day named in the guarantee, which had originally been left blank, as the day was not then known, but was ultimately filled up with the 1st of November, 1841. After that day, the plaintiff demanded back the 1,250l. (the 100%. never having been "extracted" from Atkins, to use the expression of Mr. Portman), on the ground that they had failed to fulfil the condition under which alone it had been paid to them: a compliance with this demand having been refused on the part of the defendants, this action was brought to enforce the payment of that sum, and various witnesses were called, among others the clerks of the plaintiff, Lord George Bentinck, and Mr. Hyde, who proved the above facts.

At the close of the plaintiff's case,

Mr. Thesiger submitted, that the plaintiff ought to be nonsuited, as his claim was bottomed on an illegal transaction. The condition under which he sought to recover the money paid by him had clearly a reference to an illegal wager in a horse-race, and as that failed, the payment made by him under it remained a substantive act, the

benefit of which enured to the defendants.

The Solicitor General replied, that that defence ought to have been pleaded, and so thought his Lordship, who, however, gave the counsel for the defendants leave to move, if he should think him wrong in that opinion.

Mr. Thesiger then addressed the jury, and said, that he would yield to the pressure of the law, though he was confident his clients were not bound to pay by any law of honour, and admit that the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict.

Lord Abinger could not but congratulate the jury and himself, too, that they had been spared the necessity of entering upon an investigation of the laws of the Jockey Club, or an inquiry as to which construction was the correct one of the two which had been alluded to that day. As a judge, he (Lord Abinger) never could allow any such system to influence any case. He was bound to try this cause, as he would any other, by the laws of England; and whatever the opinions might be of Lord George Bentinck or the noblemen who had been named as having assented to the conduct of the defendants, he (Lord Abinger) must decide ac cording to the law, though he might say that he had the pleasure of knowing most of those individuals in private life, and had no doubt of their respectability. The law upon this matter, therefore, must guide the jury, and it was very clear. There was no doubt whatever, that the plaintiff had paid this money, which he need not have paid at all, on an express condition and understanding that all the winners from Gurney should be paid in full 20s. in the pound; and whatever the laws of

the club might be, it was beyond all question that by the laws of England a payment of 78. or 10s. in the pound was no compliance with that condition. The plaintiff had protected himself as he might by the imposition of that condition, and the defendants having adopted it, were bound by it. The evidence was very clear that they had adopted it. The jury, therefore, would say whether the defendants were not bound to pay back the money so received by them on a condition which had been infringed by

them.

The jury at once found for the plaintiff, 1,2507.; whereupon

Sir W. Follett said, that his client, having acted on principle in enforcing this demand, was ready to test his motives by publicly declaring his intention to present the sum in dispute to the Governors of Christ's Hospital-a statement which elicited applause from the auditory, and a remark from his Lordship to the effect that no one who knew Mr. Thornton could ever have imagined that he resisted the payment of his loss to Mr. Gurney from any lack of means wherewith to satisfy them.

MURDER AT MONKWEARMOUTH.-To-day a murder of an extremely violent nature was committed in Monkwearmouth, in Sunderland. From the facts given in evidence before the coroner's jury, it is difficult to find a motive which could have induced the commission of such a revolting deed. No previous quarrel between the parties is spoken of, and at the time when the murder was committed no provocation was given by the murdered man, beyond a very gentle reproof of the prisoner's irregular conduct as a

workman in the establishment over which the deceased was foreman. The prisoner does not appear to have been so much inebriated as to render him incapable of governing his actions; and in the perpetration of the crime he evinced a resolute determination to take the life of the object of his rage. The name of the unfortunate deceased is James Liddell. He was employed as foreman in Messrs. Lumsden and Co.'s anchor manufactory, in Strand-street, Monkwearmouth Shore. He was a man who appears to have been much respected in his station. He was forty-two years of age, and has left a wife and nine children to mourn his melancholy end. The circumstances connected with the murder are very simple. It appears that the prisoner, James Robertson, who was an anchorsmith employed in the manufactory, was neglecting his work, and drinking spirits from a bottle in a corner of the shop. The foreman spoke to him, and an interchange of words took place. The short parley resulted in the prisoner's lifting a hammer, five pounds and a quarter in weight, and felling the deceased to the ground. The skull was dreadfully fractured, and the unfortunate man lingered in great agony until the following (Wednesday) morning, when death put a period to his sufferings. A coroner's inquest was held, and the jury returned a verdict of" Wilful Murder" against the prisoner, who was accordingly committed to take his trial at the next assizes.

25. DEATH IN ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE FROM A WORKHOUSE. To-day an inquest was taken before Mr. Wakley, M.P., at the University College Hospital, on view of the body of Elizabeth

Marshall, aged 62, who died in consequence of injuries received by a fall in attempting to escape over the wall of the Islington Workhouse.

Police-constable Swain, deposed, that on the morning of Sunday, the 12th of December last, he was on duty in the Liverpool-road, Islington, when he observed the deceased sitting on the ground against the workhouse wall, seemingly in great agony, and groaning very much. He approached her, and asking her what was the matter, she said, that in getting over the wall she had fallen and broke her leg. Witness, with assistance, carried her into the workhouse, where she was recognised as an inmate, but had not been missed. A surgeon being sent for, and her leg found to be broken, she was brought to that hospital. Mr. Norman, house-surgeon, stated, that deceased on her admittance was in a state of collapse, but could speak, and did not appear to be right in her mind. On examination, he found that her left leg was severely fractured, and that both the small bones were broken. She subsequently told witness, in answer to a question, that, thinking they were going to beat her at the workhouse, she endeavoured to make her escape for the purpose of going to a madhouse, and in so doing fell. She went on very favourably till about ten days since, when she refused to take any nourishment, and gradually sinking, died on the 21st inst. The injuries he had described were the primary cause of death, which was accelerated by exhaustion, consequent on the want of nourish

ment.

Carter, the summoning beadle, said, that he had made inquiries at