56 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



ileavoured, but in an incoherent 

 manner, to articulate an answer 

 to some questions. 1 1 wasthouglit 

 that he was desirous to defend 

 himself from tlie ch.irge of sui- 

 cide, for he was understood to 

 repeat — " It was taken from me, 

 it was taken from me," meaning 

 the pistol. He was inmiediately 

 conveyed to St. Thomas's hospital, 

 but, as we before st.ited, with 

 little or no ho))es of recovery, as 

 it appeared impossible to extract 

 the ball, or to give him relief. 

 The young woman attended 

 Thompson to the liospital, whilst 

 Brookes was conveyed to the 

 Mansion-house. 



The Lord Mayor, on hearing 

 all the evidence brought forwai d, 

 and leai'ning that more could be 

 produced, ordered the prisoner 

 Brookes to be remanded until 

 Monday next. Brookes narrated 

 the circumstances with a consci- 

 ous innocence, and without the 

 smallest appeaiance of fear or 

 alarm for the consequences. 



The final result was, that 

 Thompson died, and that ]Mr. 

 Brookes being tried, was found 

 guilty of manslaughter. 



25. On Sunday evening, Mr. 

 John Holman, a farmer of Per- 

 ran, Cornwall, was returning 

 from a place of worship, across a 

 common, to his own house. A 

 heavy mist falling, he mistook liis 

 wav, and fell into an exposed 

 shaft of a mine, 96 feet deep, be- 

 sides 9 feet of water m the bot- 

 tom ; and, almost miraculously, 

 he reached the water without re- 

 ceiving any serious injury. Being 

 an expert swinmier, he kept him- 

 self atlo-.it during the night, oc- 

 cnsionally relieving liiiU'^elf by 

 clinging to the projecting points 



of Tock in the sides of the shaft* 

 The return of daylight, on Mon- 

 day, enabled him to see a kind 

 of ledge, on which he contrived 

 to get, and on which he lay the 

 whole of Monday, calling for as- 

 sistance ; but no person ap- 

 proached the place, and Monday 

 night came on whilst he con- 

 tinued in his perilous situation, 

 where, overcome by fatigue, he 

 fell asleep, and again fell into 

 the water. The darkness of the 

 night prevented his regaining his 

 resting place, and he had to sup- 

 port himself as before until Tues- 

 day morning, when he regained 

 the spot from which he fell. He 

 had now become quite hoarse 

 fiom cold, and almost incessant 

 calling for help ; so that the only 

 resource he had for drawing the 

 attention of those whom he sup- 

 posed would be sent to seek for 

 him, was by throwing stones in- 

 to the water. Tuesday night 

 came without affording him any 

 relief ; but the terror of again 

 falling into the water effectually 

 prevented Ids sleeping. On \\'ed- 

 nesday, however, the noise made 

 by the stones which he continued 

 to throw into the w atcr, attracted 

 the attention of some persons 

 W'honi his distressed family had 

 dispatched in search of his re- 

 mains, and he wasextiicated from 

 the dreadful abyss, without sus- 

 taining any serious contusion. 



On Suiulny, the Rev. James 

 Power, sub-deacon of the church 

 of Rome, and late a monk of the 

 order of La Tiappe, and resident 

 in the monastery of Lulworth, 

 abjured the errors of the church 

 of R(nne, and was pidjlicly ad- 

 ndtled into the communion of 

 the established church of England 



and 



