36 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815, 



6. On this night, during a severe 

 thunder-storm, part of the steeple 

 of Greenwich church was precipi- 

 tated into the church-yard. A 

 public house (the Mitre) was also 

 injured. The weather-cock, with 

 a large stone attached to it, per- 

 forated the earth several feet. 

 Stepney church has received some 

 injury, and some of the trees in 

 Vau^jhall Gardens were struck. 



7. The nephew of a British peer 

 was executed at Lisbon. He had 

 involved himself by gambling, and 

 being detected in robbing the 

 house of his English friend, by a 

 Portuguese servant, he shot the 

 latter dead to prevent discovery. 

 After execution, his head was 

 severed from his body and fixed on 

 a pole opposite the house in which 

 the murder and robbery were com- 

 mitted. 



Two English soldiers werelatelv 

 stabbed in the night in the streets 

 of Lisbon, and both of them are 

 since dead. A few nights after- 

 wards, a Portuguese was killed 

 with a bayonet by an English 

 soldier, who remains undiscover- 

 ed. 



10. An act of intrepidity was 

 performed at Portsmouth which 

 merits commemoration. Three 

 officers of tiie Inverness militia 

 were in a pleasure-boat, and when 

 sailing between the prison-ships, a 

 sudden current of wind upset the 

 boat, which, having heavy ballast, 

 immediately sunk. Two of the 

 officers could swim, and they kept 

 themselves upon the surface until 

 boats took them up ; but the other 

 was in the most imminent danger 

 of drowning. A French prisoner 

 on board the Crown, named Mo- 

 rand, the moment he saw the 

 officer struggling, jumped oft" the 



gangway into the water, and 

 by putting his feet under the 

 officer's body as he was sinking, 

 raised him to the surface, and then 

 held him fast till further assistance 

 was obtained. A proper represen- 

 tation has been made to govern- 

 ment, and, no doubt one part of the 

 brave fellow's reward has been a 

 release from his present situation. 

 2L A coroner's inquest was 

 held at Hainford, by the coroner 

 of the duchy of Lancaster, on the 

 bodies of Dinah Maxey, aged 50, 

 and Elizabeth Smith, aged 22, her 

 daughter by a former husband. 

 After a minute examination of 

 witnesses, and the bodies being 

 opened by an eminent surgeon, 

 the jurors verdict was — Killed by 

 poison administered by a person 

 or persons unknown. It appears 

 that on the Thursday morning pre- 

 ceding, these unfortunate victims 

 breakfasted at their usual hour, 

 and made their tea from water out 

 of a kettle which it was their 

 custom to fill the evening before, 

 and place in a closet, and into 

 which arsenic, or other corrosive 

 poison, had been infused. The 

 young woman 'observed the water 

 being white as it was poured out, 

 but took no further notice. She 

 was soon after taken suddenly ill ; 

 the mother was attacked in the 

 same manner, and a few hours 

 terminated their existence. James 

 Maxey, the husband, has been 

 committed to Norwich gaol, on 

 suspicion of perpetrating this atro- 

 cious crime. He was afterwards 

 tried but acquitted. 



This morning, between nine, and 

 ten o'clock, a very melancholy 

 event took place in Somerset- 

 street, Portman-square. The hon. 

 Mrs. Gordon, who resided at the 



