CHRONICLE. 



103 



houses. Tn the Oberland, near 

 Frutigen, the country was covered 

 with snow in the early part of 

 July. Numbers of cattle have 

 been brought down from the 

 mountains into the valliesj where 

 great want of forage prevails, 

 and in consequence some of 

 them have perished. All the dis- 

 tricts bordering on the lakes of 

 Bienne, INIorat, and Neuchatel, 

 have suffered equal losses. The 

 low grounds are under water, 

 and the course of the rivers is 

 scarcely perceived. The village 

 of Landeron alone estimates its 

 losses at 24,000 fr. The earth- 

 fall which took place on the 3d 

 inst. in the commune of Kappel, 

 canton of St. Gall, overwhelmed 

 three houses and three barns ; the 

 earth giving way, the precipice 

 above was extended over a space 

 of almost a quarter of a mile, and 

 stopped a river in its course, 

 which soon formed a small lake, 

 covering the banks. Eighteen 

 persons were either killed or se- 

 verely hurt, and forty cattle pe- 

 rished. 



16. A most savage robbery wag 

 committed at Limehouse, on the 

 person of a poor industrious la- 

 bourer of the name of John jNIil- 

 lard. From the statement of the 

 poor man, given to the Rev. James 

 Rudge, the minister of the parish, 

 the following are the particulars 

 of this atrocious case : — About 

 half past eleven at night, as IMil- 

 lard was lying down on a sack in 

 a lime-shed, by the side of the 

 New-cut, he was attacked by five 

 men in a yard in which he is ac- 

 customed to work night and day. 

 On asking theiu what they wanted 

 there, one of them answered with 

 an oath, "I'll soon let you know: 



where is your money ?" The vil- 

 lain had scarcely uttered these 

 words before he Tiolently seized 

 the poor man by the throat, and 

 with the assistance of the others, 

 having first bound his feet toge- 

 ther, cut off his breeches pockets,, 

 and took from thence one hundred 

 and tifty-one Bank of England 

 notes, together with two pounds, 

 which were in a small tobacco- 

 box, the whole of which were the 

 savings of fifteen years of hard 

 servitude, and which he had al- 

 ways carried about him ! He had 

 often imprudently mentioned this 

 to his fellow-labourers, and to 

 others j and it is more than pro- 

 bable that the perpetrators of this 

 brutal act ^ve^e persons in whose 

 healing the ciicumstance had been 

 related. After rifling his pockets, 

 and robbing him of nearly all of 

 his property, with the exception 

 of two dollars that had escaped 

 them, one of the villains strongly 

 urged that they should finish the 

 business by cutting the poor man's 

 throat. To this proposal there 

 was a good deal of objection, ano- 

 ther insisting that they had got 

 all they came for, and that he 

 could not now pursue them. Not, 

 however, content with this. Day, 

 and two others, whose names and 

 persons are well known to the 

 poor sufferei", began, in the most 

 savage manner, to kick him on 

 the head, and beat him with sticks 

 on different parts of the body. 

 Neither his groans nor entreaties 

 were of any avail, and it is pro- 

 bable that in a few minutes they 

 would have nmrdered him, had 

 not a providential noise which 

 was heard compelled them to de- 

 sist from their barbarous work. 

 They then jumped over the wall 



into 



