CHRONICLE. 



141 



poioted, he seized A wooden bar, 

 six feet long, and four inches in 

 thickness, and raised it with the 

 design to inflict a deadly blow on 

 the poor Chinaman, when the in- 

 terference of Ward prevented his 

 intent. He was then again hand- 

 cuffed; and on being asked the 

 cause of this atrocious attempt, he 

 said, " The devil had ordered him 

 to wash the wall with the China- 

 man's brains, and that he had only 

 him and two more to kill, when 

 he should be perfectly easy." He 

 is now confined in a strait waist- 

 • coat. It turns out that this very 

 man was brought before the sitting 

 alderman on Friday se'nnight, 

 charged by his wife with maltreat- 

 ing her; and, from the peaceable 

 manner in which he conducted 

 himself, and his positive assurances 

 of future good behaviour, the 

 alderman was induced to let him 

 go at large. His wife then empha- 

 tically said, " If he was let loose, 

 she should be a dead woman before 

 the end of the next week.'' Her 

 words were unhappily prophetic, 

 for on the Monday evening she 

 was murdered. 



The miners employed in exca- 

 vating the tunnel under the river 

 Severn, at Newnham, discovered 

 a small breach, through which the 

 water issued. This, for a moment, 

 they conceived was occasioned by 

 a spring; but the aperture increas- 

 ing, they were aware of their 

 danger, and had barely time to be 

 drawn up before the water filled 

 the tunnel. This undertaking was 

 completed to the extent of 226 

 yards, of the breadth of 12 feet, 

 and 13 feet high. 



Joseph Gibson, seaman of the 

 Loire, sentenced to suffer death for 

 maliciously stabbing Lieut. Croker, 



suffered the sentence passed upon 

 him, on board that ship at Spit- 

 head. When conducted to the 

 forecastle he shook hands with 

 Captain Brown and Lieut. Croker, 

 whose forgiveness he entreated : he 

 hoped his fate would be a warning 

 to his shipmates. At eleven o'clock 

 the fatal gun fired, and his spirit 

 was dismissed into eternity. The 

 unhappy man had been school- 

 master of the Loire, but his rest- 

 less violent conduct not only de- 

 prived him of his situation, but 

 caused his shipmates to avoid his 

 company. He had belonged to ihs 

 Superb ten years. 



In consequence of the numerous 

 robberies lately committed at Li- 

 verpool, a plan was laid by the 

 police for the detection of the 

 offenders. On this night, about 

 nine o'clock, a party of the police- 

 officers and special constables pro- 

 ceeded, in a hackney-coach, along 

 the road leading from Everton 

 towards Low-hill ; when they were 

 attacked by five men armed with 

 a blunderbuss and pistols, who, 

 with dreadful imprecations, broke 

 the coach windows, opened both 

 the doors, and demanded their 

 money. Upon finding that the 

 party in the inside were armed, 

 the robbers fired the blunderbuss 

 and pistols into the coach ; and 

 one of the constables having suffer- 

 ed himself to be robbed (agreea- 

 bly to the directions he had receiv- 

 ed), a desperate affray took place : 

 three of the constables were dis- 

 abled very earlj', one by a slug 

 through his arm, another by seve- 

 ral cuts upon the head, and a third 

 by a very severe cut over the eye : 

 fortunately two of the footpads 

 wqre secured. 



The election of the sixteen peers, 



to 



