196 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



ing the professors with houses in 

 the roUegc is entirely abandoned. 



A burglary, attended with cir- 

 cvnnstances of peculiar atrocity, 

 occurred at Gretna-hall, near 

 Springfield, the residence of P. 

 Gibbs, &c. Tiie following are the 

 particulars : — About one o'clock 

 in the morning, the servant man, 

 hearing a noise in an apartment 

 adjoining that in which he lay 

 rosembhng the crackling of fii-e, 

 proceeded to the spot, when he 

 found this room and three others 

 in flames The family was im- 

 mediately alarmed, and it was 

 presently discovered, notwith- 

 standing the confusion of the 

 scene, that 63 guineas had been 

 taken from a desk. This circum- 

 stanccj coupled with the fact of a 

 ladder having been left against 

 the window of one of the blazing 

 rooms, left no room for doubting 

 that the robbery had been eifectcd 

 by some villains well acquainted 

 with the premises, and who, after 

 ctfecting the robbciy, had set fire 

 to the mansion in ditfercnt parts, 

 for the purpose of escaping de- 

 tection. 'Jlic Rev. Mr. Morgan, 

 minister of the parish, with laud- 

 able alacrity, alarmed the neigh- 

 bourhood, by ordering the church 

 bell to l>c rung. Though great 

 numbers had by (his lime assem- 

 bled to render assistance, the 

 flames continued to rage furiously 

 until about five o'clock, when 

 they w«re at length sub<iued, after 

 very considerable damage had 

 been sustained to the building, 

 and a quantity of furniture and 

 some very valuable pictures con- 

 sumed. A precognition is now 



going on. Dumfries Week'.ij 



Journal. 



21 . jyaterford. — Some time be- 

 fore live o'clock on ^Vedncsdpy 



morning, Thomas Cosker, farmer 

 of CuUenstown, between Ross 

 and Tagmon, in the county of 

 Wexford, left home with a load 

 of corn for Ross. His only ser- 

 vant, James Kavanagh, went a 

 short way with him, and then re- 

 turned. It appears, that imme- 

 diately upon his return, he dread- 

 fully ijcat his master's wife, who 

 lay in bed, and left her for dead ; 

 a very small infant, who lay with 

 her, was killed, as is supposed, 

 by the first blow. He had ]>re- 

 vionsly locked up three other child- 

 ren, and terrified them with hor- 

 rible threats and im))recations. 

 The monster finished by robbing 

 the house of about sixty pounds 

 in bank-notes and cash. The vil- 

 lainy was not discovered until far 

 in the morning, when some of the 

 neighbouring women chanced to 

 call. The little prisoners were re- 

 Icaseil, and from them alone could 

 any account be gathered of these 

 comi)licated horrors. The poor 

 woman could barely be said to be 

 alive, but was utterly speechless, 

 and quite incapable of comnnmi- 

 cation. Late on Wednesday even- 

 ing she still livctl, but afforded 

 no expectation of recovery. After 

 the Imrrid deed Kavanagh ab- 

 sconded. 



•21. It appears by letters re- 

 cently received from our ships of 

 war in the West Indies, that a 

 fc^'er has prevailed on board some 

 of them, peculiarly fatal in its 

 nature to those attacked by it. 

 Among other vessels the Sca- 

 niander, it is said, has lost six 

 officers, including the s\u-geon, 

 four midshipmen, and two clerks. 

 The Childers, in the shoit period 

 of a month, has been deprived of 

 several officers by the same un- 

 fortunate cause, besides five pur- 

 sers 



