92 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



boxes of ostrich's feathers, recent- 

 Ij' imported, were brought in a hoy 

 the day before, alongside the above 

 quay, previously to being landed, 

 and the duties paid thereon. Two 

 watchmen were put on board the 

 hoy for the purpose of security. 

 About five o'clock in the morning 

 a party of men came on board, and 

 said they had instructions from the 

 proprietors of the goods to take 

 the hoy down the river again, as 

 she had been brought up by mis- 

 take, and that they would shortly 

 return for that purpose. The vil- 

 lians were as good as their words 

 but for fear of being suspected, 

 they carried the hoy out into 

 the stream, and then forced the 

 watchmen below, where they re- 

 mained confined until the whole 

 property was taken away in craft 

 brought for that purpose. The loss 

 is rendered more heavy to the im- 

 porters as the Custom-house claims 

 the payment of the duties. The 

 property is valued at between 2 and 

 ti,000l. 



9. A fire broke out at the village 

 of Gamblingay, in Cambridge- 

 shire. It began at a blacksmith's 

 shop, and for want of engines, wa- 

 ter, and proper assistance, it con- 

 sumed twenty-three houses, 



10. St Vincent's Gazettes to the 

 18th May, state, that the Souf- 

 friere mountain had continued to 

 be agitated up to the 7th, but had 

 since shown scarcely any signs of 

 commotion. By the eruption, the 

 large rivers of Rabacca and Walli- 

 bon were dried up, and in their 

 places was a wide expanse of 

 barren land. The melted minerals 

 which were dashed into the sea, 

 had formed a promontory which 

 jutted out some distance from the 

 main land, at Morne Ronde. The 



quantity of matter discharged frona 

 the crater, is supposed to exceed 

 twenty times the original bulk of 

 the mountain. 



1 0. Winchester Assizes. — John 

 James, a youth of nineteen, was 

 indicted for the wilful murder of 

 his mistress, Elizabeth Hill, at Shal- 

 fleet, near Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. 

 It appeared that his master, to 

 whom he was apprenticed as a 

 shoemaker, was gone with his son 

 to church on the morning of Sun- 

 day the 21st of June last, leaving 

 his wife and thl^ lad at home. On 

 their return, in company with a 

 neighbour, they discovered Mrs. 

 HiiJ lying on the kitchen floor, 

 with three deep wounds inflicted 

 with a hatchet on her head and 

 face, and her throat cut across. 

 On interrogating the boy, who was 

 deliberately walking before the 

 house, he very calmly confessed 

 the foul deed. He stood at the 

 bar, during the whole of the trial, 

 with his eyes bent on the ground, 

 in a kind of melancholy apathy. 

 He viewed the dreadful instru- 

 ments, produced in court, with 

 unaltc^red aspect ; he heard the 

 awful sentence with indifference, 

 and rotued without having uttered 

 a word, beyond a refusal to say 

 any thing. He declares that he 

 entertains no sorrow for the action ; 

 for had any one else come in his 

 way, he should have done the 

 same thing. His mistress, he says, 

 was always too good to him. He 

 feels no terror at his approaching 

 fate, but expresses himself truly 

 happy and content to die. When 

 strongly interrogated as to tlie pro- 

 bable motive of his conduct, he re- 

 ferred the inquirers, without com' 

 ment, to the 3rd chapter of Job. 

 He appears an enthusiast of the 



Methodist 



