32 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



entire new clothes, by which they 

 eluded the guards at the gate. Bro- 

 thers has left a wife and two chil- 

 dren, and the shock of his un- 

 timely end occasioned her to give 

 a premature birth to a third. 



The Hants Courier communi- 

 cates the following additional par- 

 ticulars: — "ThreeFrench prisoners, 

 Francois Relif, Jean Marie Danze, 

 and Daniel Du Verge, having ef- 

 fected their escape from Forton 

 depot, engaged the wherry of the 

 above-named George Brothers, to 

 take them to Ryde : when off the 

 Block-house (according to their 

 own assertions), they proposed to 

 the boatman to take them to 

 France, promising ample reward, 

 and liberty to return immediately ; 

 but he, not to be corrupted by 

 promises or reward, resisted their 

 proposition, and in consequence 

 they stabbed him in sixteen places 

 (three of which were mortal), and 

 threw him overboard. The French- 

 men immediately directed their 

 course to sea, and were promptly 

 pursued by several wherries, in one 

 of which were lieut. SuUock and 

 three seamen of the Centaur, at 

 anchor at Spithead. In conse- 

 quence of a heavy swell, and bad 

 management, the Frenchmen were 

 overtaken after a run of about 15 

 miles ; one of the men belonging 

 to the Centaur leaped into the 

 wherry among the Frenchmen 

 alone, when at the distance of se- 

 veral feet, armed with nothing but 

 the stretcher, with which lie knock- 

 ed one of them down ; they then 

 surrendered. They were taken on 

 board the Centaur for the night, 

 and on being searched, a large 

 sum of money was found about 

 them in silver, and three knives; 

 one of them was very bloody ; and 



on Thursday morning they were 

 delivered into the hands of the civil 

 power, and landed at the sally- 

 port. They were taken to the 

 borough gaol, where they were 

 again examined. They confessed 

 that Brothers was killed by two of 

 them, but that the third was no 

 further concerned than in lending 

 his knife to the other when the 

 waterman resisted them. More 

 money was here taken from them, 

 one having actually concealed in 

 his pantaloons under his boots 

 thirty-three 55. 6d. pieces. It ap- 

 pears, that by the manufacture of 

 lace, toys, &c. the prisoners accu- 

 mulated a sufficient sum of money 

 to procure a suit of genteel clothes 

 each (besides the sums taken from 

 their persons), dressed in which 

 they mingled with the crowd of 

 visitors that were walking in the 

 depot, eluding by their metamor- 

 phosed appearance the vigilance of 

 the turnkeys and military sentinels. 



27. When the last packet from 

 Goltenburgh sailed, a dreadful fire, 

 which had consumed a part of the 

 town, was still raging there. It 

 broke out on Sunday se'nnight, 

 and a great quantity of merchan- 

 dize and other valuable property 

 had been consumed. About 200 

 houses, principally of wood, had 

 been burnt down before Monday 

 evening, when the packet left the 

 harbour. Some warehouses, with 

 grain, leather, and colonial pro- 

 duce, became a prey to the 

 flames before the property could be 

 saved. 



28. Another of those dreadful 

 calamities, the blasting of a coal- 

 mine, occurred at the Hall-pit, at 

 Fatfield, in the parish of Chester- 

 le-street. Upwards of thirty men 

 and boys were killed. 



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