2 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
city poor-chest 2,000 florins. His 
other legacies were a bequest of 
220,000 florins to the Old Town 
Merchant Society, towards afoun- 
dation, out of which might be paid 
annuities of 300 florins each to 
fifteen widows of decayed mer- 
chants; and annuities of 130 
florins each to forty poor men or 
widows of other classes. 
An unfortunate event hap- 
pened at Castelsarrasin in the 
department of the Garonne, in 
France, on the seventeenth of 
December. A family of peasants, 
consisting of four persons, poison- 
ed themselves by eating that spe- 
cies of mushroomsfound at the foot 
of the poplar tree, and which, inthe 
idiom of the country, is called 
bicalerados. The father of the 
family, who fortunately had not 
dined at home that day,,was the 
only one who escaped the disaster. 
His wife, aged 42, and his young- 
est son only 5 years old, were the 
first victims. After three days of 
colic and incredible sufferings, the 
wife died, notwithstanding every 
possible remedy. The poison ope- 
rated on her so frightfully, that a 
few hours after her decease the 
features and form of her figure 
entirely disappeared. The infant 
died two hours earlier, and the 
action of the poison upon the 
nerves, the muscles, and the mem- 
bers, was such, that before death, 
the body took the form of a muff, 
The other child, aged nine years, 
whether the dose of oil admi- 
nistered to him had operated with 
a happier effect, or whether he 
had eaten less of the mushrooms 
than his mother and brother, was 
in a way that afforded some hopes. 
2. An inquest was held at the 
St. Andrew’s Head, Upper. East 
Smithfield, on the body of a man 
discovered in Down’s wharf, tied 
up in a hamper, which was to be 
sent to Scotland. Mr. Toss, 
clerk in the warehouse, deposed, 
that Tuesday, last week, two 
despicable looking men came be- 
fore the wharf was opened, in 
the morning, with a horse and 
cart, and inquired if the Leith 
Smack went from thence ; on be- 
ing told it did, they went to a pub- 
lic house while the warehouse was 
opening, and afterwards came to 
him with a hamper. They said 
the direction was written on a 
piece of leather, which he found 
by the light was “Mr. Wilson 
Janitor, College, Edinburgh.” 
After they paid the booking and 
wharfage, he asked their names, 
in consequence of the unusual 
hour at which they came, which 
they said were Chapman, and then 
departed. The hamper lay in the 
warehouse until last Friday,when __ 
the vessel was ready to sail, (the 
Mary Ann of Leith.) It was put 
on board, and the crew, on account 
of the smell, turned it round two 
or three times, when the bottom 
broke, and the hand of a man 
came through. .They sent to the 
beadle, to inform the proper of- 
ficers, and on opening the hamper, 
the body of a man was discovered, 
with his head bent back between 
his shoulders, and the body and 
limbs shockingly mutilated. The 
Beadle coroborated this evidence, 
as far as related to the state of the 
body on opening the hamper. 
Being asked by a Juryman, whe- 
ther he thought the body was 
taken by any resurrection men for 
the purpose of dissection; he said, 
he believed the body was never 
buried. After a short consul- 
