82 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



tion, and he continueci walking 

 down the side of the canal, but 

 he had not walked far before he 

 perceived two men bending over 

 the body of a third, which was 

 stretched on the earth. On nearei' 

 ajiproach, lie inquired what they 

 were about : instantly one of them, 

 apparently an athletic man, started 

 up, seized him by his legs, and 

 precipitated him into the canal. 

 He struggled some moments in 

 the water ; and when he had just 

 regained the bank, the villain beat 

 him on tlio head with what he 

 supposed the butt end of a pistol. 

 Concluding him to be entirely 

 disabled, he returned to his asso- 

 ciate, and, it is supposed, com- 

 pleted the robbery. In the pre- 

 cipitation of retreat, they left a 

 pistol, which was found lying 

 near the body. Mean time the 

 man got out of the canal, and 

 with all celerity proceeded to the 

 nearest house to give tiie alarm. 

 A party of men immediately })r()- 

 ceeded to the scene of the mur- 

 der. They found the man still 

 extended on the ground, insen- 

 sible, and weltering in his blood. 

 They conveyed him to the infir- 

 mary, but just as they reached it 

 the unfortunate man expired. 

 Two men have been taken into 

 custody upon suspicion, and have 

 been remanded for exairiination. 

 The nuirdered man is unknown ; 

 but is supposed to have come 

 frcun the coimtry to proceed to 

 America. — Liverpool Courier . 



A destructive fire bi'oke out at 

 Thorverton, near Exeter, at four 

 o'clock in the morning, in the 

 stable of Mr. James, and spread 

 so rapidly, that it could not be 

 arrested until seventeen cottages 

 were demolished^ whereby a great 



number of poor industrious fa- 

 milies were reduced to great dis- 

 tress. In the Exeter papers the 

 circumstance has been attributed 

 to accident, through the care- 

 lessness of a boy ; but gentlemen 

 of Thoverton state, that not any 

 doubt remains in the minds of 

 the respectable inhabitants but 

 that it was wilfully set on fire, as 

 not the least satisfactory proof 

 can be made of any light being 

 used in the stable during the 

 whole night: and, as it was de- 

 tached from any dwelling-house, 

 fire must have been carried into 

 it for incendiary purposes . Threats 

 have been made use of for a 

 month past, that the town should 

 be burnt ; and evidence has been 

 substantiated before Mr. Fursdon 

 and Mr. Carew, magistrates, 

 against one man who said he 

 would burn the town. A subscrip- 

 tion has been opened for the re- 

 lief of the poor sufferers. 



23. The following melancholy 

 accident occurred on Sunday even- 

 ing, on the river Swale, near Fa- 

 versham, Kent. A party of per- 

 sons, chiefly females, had spent 

 the day in a water excursion to 

 Whitstable, and had arrived atP'a- 

 versham-creek's-mouth, on their 

 return home, when it was pro- 

 posed to pioceed to Harty-ferry- 

 house to take te'\ After staying 

 there untd nine o'clock, they all 

 (being ten in number) re-em- 

 barked in a small boat, and were 

 in the act of going off to their 

 vessel, which lay at anchor near 

 to the opposite shore, and to 

 which they had almost arrived, 

 when the boat turned over. The 

 ferryman crossing the river inhis 

 boat at the same time with eight 

 passengers, went to, the assist- 

 ance 



