92 



ANNIfAL REGISTER, 1816. 



some misguided persons to com- 

 mit the outrage in question. A 

 reward of 5001. was offered for 

 tlie apprehension of the offen- 

 ders . 



30. Frankfort. — On the '2Sth, 

 a dreadful hurricane caused hor- 

 rible ravages near Vibbel, three 

 leagues from this city : the roofs 

 in some places Avere torn from 

 the houses, some buildings en- 

 tirely destroyed, and above 400 

 fruit-trees torn up by the roots. 

 The hail lay two feet deep in the 

 streets and fields. It w.is so dark 

 that it was necessary to light can- 

 dles. The continued rain in this 

 neighbomhood does vast damage. 

 The ricw mown hay is rotting on 

 the ground, and, unless we soon 

 have dry weather, the standing 

 corn is likely to share the same 

 fate. The vines look well, but 

 cannot blossom for want of 

 warmth. All tlie rivers and 

 streams are so swelled, that many 

 mills cannot work. The oldest 

 peojjle do not remember the 

 Maine so high for such a long 

 continuance at this season. The 

 consequence of all this is the in- 

 creasing dearness of }irovisions. 

 The prospect is not promising for 

 the winter. 



Another letter from Frankfort 

 of the 2d of July, says, that after 

 two day*' of fine weather the rains 

 had reconmienced anew ; and 

 should they continue, there was 

 reason to fear an entire loss of 

 the harvest. 



A most dreadful crime was re- 

 cently committed in the commune 

 of Biron, in France. On the 30th 

 of June, in tlie afternoon, three 

 young girls, two of whom were 

 sisters, one aged 10 and the otiier 

 16, walked into the forest of Biron 



to gather strawberries. Suddenly 

 an individual presented himself, 

 who, without uttering a word, 

 commanded them by signs to fall 

 upon their knees and pray to God, 

 which they did in tlieir fright : 

 he then drew a cutlass from un- 

 der his coat, and plunged it into 

 the breast of the youngest of the 

 sisters. The third girl then ran 

 off, but she was pursued by the 

 assassin, who gave her three stabs 

 with the cutlass, and thinking her 

 dead, retui-ned to the two sisters. 

 The younger was then struggling 

 in the agonies of death in the 

 arms of her sister ; the monster 

 then stabbed the latter, and dis- 

 appeared. The young girl above- 

 mentioned, who was so despe- 

 rately wounded, succeeded in get- 

 ting home, and raised the hue and 

 cry. Tlie police flew to the spot 

 where the two dead bodies lay, 

 and from thence to the residence 

 of a deaf and dumb man named 

 Monteil, a most villainous cha- 

 racter ; they did not find him, but 

 his father said, with a sorrowful 

 air, that he had not seen his son 

 since ten o'clock in the morning. 

 Their suspicions are almost con- 

 firmed by the circumstance of the 

 wretch not having been seen at 

 home since. 



Died at Darlington, aged 53, 

 Adam Yarker, better known by 

 the name of Blind Adam, having 

 been blind from his birth. He 

 possessed a strong memory, which 

 he particularly applied to regis- 

 tering the number of deaths, &c. 

 which occurred for upwards of 

 the last forty years in Darlington. 

 Without hesitating a moment, he 

 could tell how many deaths had 

 been in any given year or month, 

 the exact day when the individual 



died. 



