CHRONICLE. 



39 



fiouse of her daughter Mrs. Will- 

 liams, threw herself from the win- 

 dow, of the first-floor, upon the 

 foot-path, and though taken up 

 alive she expired in a few minutes 

 afterwards. Mrs. G. was between 

 sixty and seventy years of age, and 

 had for some time laboured under 

 a great depression of spirits. 



31. A most melancholy accident 

 happened on the river Severn, at 

 Upton-upon-Severn. Eight young 

 men, consisting of a corporal, fifer, 

 and four recruits of the 2nd regi- 

 ment of foot, and two watermen, 

 named Pumphry and Oakley, took 

 a fisherman's boat, intending to go 

 to Hanley quay, and back, by water. 

 They were returning from Hanley 

 quay to Upton, when Pumphry, who 

 was conducting the boat, said he 

 would frighten the recruits a little, 

 and began rocking it. The water 

 came in on one side, and the re- 

 cruits being alarmed, immediately 

 rushed to the opposite, which so 

 overbalanced the boat, that it was 

 instantly filled with water. Oakley 

 and the fifer swam to the shore, 

 procured another boat, and rowed 

 after their companions, who by the 

 force of the current had been car- 

 ried a considerable distance. They 

 succeeded in picking up one of the 

 recruits, who was saved, but the 

 other five were drowned. 



31. Murder of Mr. and Mrs. 



Bonar of Cliislehurst, Kent On 



Sunday evening, Mr. Thomson 

 Bonar went to bed at his usual 

 hour : Mrs. Bonar did not follow 

 till two o'clock, when she ordered 

 her female servant to call her at 

 seven o'clock in tlie morning. The 

 servant, as she had been directed, 

 at the appointed time w.nt into 

 the bed-room of her master and 

 mistress, and found Mr. Bonar 

 mangled and dead upon the floor, 



and her lady wounded, dying, and 

 insensible, in her bed. A bent 

 poker which was lying on the 

 ground, as well as the fractured 

 condition of the heads of the un- 

 fortunate victims, plainly denoted 

 with what instrument the act had 

 been committed. As there were 

 some remains of life in Mrs. Bonar, 

 servants were sent express to town 

 for surgical assistance. Mr. Astley 

 Cooper arrived with all possible 

 dispatch, but it was too late : the 

 wound was mortal, and she ex- 

 pired at eleven minutes past one 

 o'clock, having been, during the 

 whole previous time, insensible, 

 and only once uttering, the excla- 

 mation of " Oh ! dear !" Never 

 was witnessed a scene of more 

 horror than the bed-room present- 

 ed. Almost the first object which 

 met the eye on entering, was the 

 dead body of Mr. Bonar, with the 

 head and hands steeped in blood : 

 the skull was literally broken into 

 fragments, in two or three places ; 

 and there was a dreadful laceration 

 across the nose, as if effected by 

 the edge of a poker. His hands 

 were mangled in several places, 

 apparently by the same instru- 

 ment : there was also a severe 

 wound on the right knee. From 

 the numerous wounds on the body 

 of Mr. Bonar, from the swoln 

 state of his mouth, and the con- 

 vulsive adhesion of his hands, and 

 knees, it is clear that he had strug- 

 gled with all his force against his 

 horrid murderer. The most shock- 

 ing circumstance connected with 

 this spectacle was the appearance 

 of the night-cap, which lay a kw 

 paces from his head, drenched in 

 blood, with a lock of grey hair 

 sticking to it, which seemed to 

 have been struck from the skull 

 by the violence of the blow of the 



