CHRONICLE. 



101 



"Verdict — Died by the Visitation of 

 God. 



4. Last week, one Hasson was 

 attacked near Lyng, on his way 

 from Ballymullans fair, near Lon- 

 donderry, Ireland, in open day, 

 and within view of several persons 

 digging ])otatoes, and not twenty 

 yards from houses, and was deli- 

 berately murdered by ruffians. 

 One of them knocked him down 

 with some heavy weapon, and 

 others beat him with bludgeons 

 until life was extinct, while the 

 potatoe-diggers stood aloof with 

 their spades in their hands, regard- 

 less of his cries for assistance. 

 Those who witnessed the shocking 

 scene deny all knowledge of the 

 murderers ; and notwithstanding 

 the exertions of the magistrates, 

 they had not been identified, in a 

 neighbourhood where every indi- 

 vidual is almost universally known. 

 Hasson was reputed to have been 

 an Orangeman. 



On Sunday evening an immense 

 congregation was assembled in the 

 Methodist chapel, in Oldham- 

 street, Manchester, to hear the 

 sermon about to be delivered in 

 commemoration of the late Dr. 

 Coke, who a short time since died 

 on his passage to India, for the 

 purjjose of propagating the gospel. 

 While the assemblage was await- 

 ing the commencement of the ser- 

 vice, which was not to begin for 

 half an hour, a false alarm was 

 raised by some mischievous person, 

 it is supposed, as if the gallery was 

 giving way. The entire crowd 

 rushed immediately towards the 

 outlets with such violence, that se- 

 veral persons were thrown down 

 and trodden upon; among whom 

 were iwo women, who died a few 

 minutes after. Several persons 

 ivere severely bruised. The alarm 



was entirely without foundation, 

 the gallery being perfectly safe. 



5. Three merchants in African 

 slave-trading have been brought 

 from Sierra Leone in the Ariel, 

 and lodged in Portsmouth gaol, in 

 order to their being sent to New 

 South Wales for fourteen years, 

 that being the sentence of punish- 

 ment passed upon them after their 

 trial at Sierra Leone. Their names 

 are, James Dunbar, a Spaniard ; 

 Malcolm Brodie, a native of Man- 

 chester ; and George Cooke, an 

 American. 



Seven women, each of them 

 with an alias to her name, were 

 lately committed to the county 

 gaol of Somerset, charged with 

 having obtained, by false pretences 

 and a forged pass, money from the 

 overseer of the parish of Cross, de- 

 scribing themselves as soldiers' 

 wives. They are part of a gang of 

 eighteen, who left London toge- 

 ther. Their method of making 

 application to the overseer was two 

 or three at a time, each describing 

 a long family, which were gone by 

 in a waggon or cart, &c. One pa- 

 rish alone is stated to have naid 

 this party fifty pounds in one day. 



6. The house of Michael M'Ni- 

 chol of Glack, within four miles of 

 Newtownlimavady, Ireland, was 

 lately broken open by a body of 

 armed men. McNichol having 

 been a short^time before robbed of 

 his arms, was incapable of mak- 

 ing any defence, and the merciless 

 banditti, after breaking his wife's 

 arm, and cruelly wounding several 

 of his children, murdered himself, 

 and afterward mangled his bodj* in 

 a shocking manner. Two causes 

 are assigned for this barbarous act : 

 M'Nichol having refused to be- 

 come a member of a treasonable 

 association, and his having taken 



