10 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



been upon the close watch every 

 night, then went over to the house, 

 and heard 'all three talking very 

 loud in the kitchen. From the 

 noise, and what they saw through 

 a key-hole, they ascertained that 

 the two men were dragging the 

 girl up stairs against her will, 

 and she was exclaiming, •' Lord 

 have mercy upon me, what shall 

 I do !" One of the men told her, 

 if she made such a noise he would 

 blow her brains out, and pre- 

 sented a pistol to her head, and 

 kept it there. They forced her up 

 stairs, she continuing the above 

 exclamations in defiance of their 

 threat ; the officers heard doors 

 being broke open, &c. and in a 

 few minutes after the other man; 

 whose name is Jenkins, came 

 down stairs, and returned with 

 the kitchen poker ; they then 

 heard other doors break open, but 

 not hearing the noise of the girl 

 continued, the officers were afraid 

 she was being murdered, and were 

 proceeding to break open the 

 street-door with an iron crow, 

 which the girl hearing, exclaimed 

 it was her mistress, gave a sudden 

 spring, released herself from them, 

 ran down stairs, and the robbers 

 after her : they got into the pas- 

 sage just as the officers had broke 

 open the door, and were also in the 

 passage. Clayton and Jenkins ap- 

 peared as if nothing had happened, 

 and wanted to get out. Perry and 

 Reid seized them : the villains 

 made a most desperate resistance, 

 which they were enabled to do, 

 being very tall, stout, powerful 

 men ; the officers, however, soon 

 secured them. On searching Clay- 

 ton, a large clasp-knife and a bad 

 dollar were found. On Jenkins 

 wiere found a fHstol, two bad dol- 



lars, &c. On examining the house, 

 the officers discovered that a large 

 quantity of property had been 

 packed up ready to be carried off. 

 Several rooms and closets were 

 broke open; and they were in the 

 act of breaking open a chest when 

 they were disturbed. 



A duel took place last month at 

 Bourdeaux, between two mer- 

 chants. On the first fire, one of 

 the parties fell, and the seconds 

 immediately approached, supposing 

 that he was mortally wounded ; 

 after a close inspection they found 

 he had not sustained any inju- 

 r}', his antagonist's ball having 

 glanced aside, and lodged in the 

 trunk of a tree ; but he was 

 nevertheless dead ; having, it is 

 conjectured, anticipated by his 

 terrors that fate which he might 

 otherwise have escaped. His an- 

 tagonist was wounded in the right 

 arm. 



According to the tables publish- 

 ed in the almanack of the French 

 Board of Longitude, the population 

 of the French empire amounts to 

 43,937,144 souls. Of this num- 

 ber, it is supposed that 28 mil- 

 lions speak the French language, 

 6,453,000 the Italian, 4,063,000 

 the Dutch or Flemish, 967,000 the 

 Breton, and 108,000 the Basque. 

 The population of the states con- 

 nected with the system of France, 

 in which number are included 

 the kingdom of Italy, Swis-se'r- 

 land, Spain, the Confederation of 

 the Rhine, &c. is estimated at 

 38,141,541 souls. 



The largest emerald which has 

 ever been seen has lately been im- 

 ported from the East Indies ; it 

 was one of the most valuable stones 

 of Tippo Saib's crown. It is of an 

 extraordinary size, and its weight 



IS 



