Revival among the Pugilists.

Cromwell Argus, Volume IV, Issue 193, 22 July 1873, Page 7

Revival among the Pugilists.

The adaptability of the English rate is held to he among the principal causes of the national greatness, and it is with nmdi satisfaction that we note the admirable ilustration of this capacity which is being aforded ns by the members of a once popular profession. The gradual decline of pugilisrnis, it seems, directing the atttention of its piofessors to other fields of industry, and wenow learn that about 2009 persons assembled the other night (says a London paper) in the People’s Mission Hall, Whitechapel, ow'ng to an announcement that William Thomsen, better known as “Bendigo,” the prize-fighter and ex-champion of England, would preaci, or in his own words, “ fight for the Gospel” Bendigo, it is stated, was converted some sx weeks ago, much to the satisfaction of tie Magistrate of Nottingham, and the amaament of the Nottinghan Lambs, by Richatl Weaver, the collier, and another revivalist, named Tuke. The new convert, who is described as a “stout, strong-built man, d square face, with spectacles on nose,’ preached, we.learn, “ with considerable zeal, but without much oratical finish.” This, however, was only to be expected, and we have no doubt that Mr Bendigo will improve both in style and “ delivery.” In the meantime it is moat gratifying to learn that a “ deputation is about to wait on Jem Ward, to get him to follow Bendigo’s example.” We shall watch with the greatest interest the result of the application to Mr Ward, upon whose favourable countenance (if we may use such a phrase without fear of misconstruction) much of the success ...of the now movement will doubtless depend. And in the present aspect of the denominational question, and considering the mutual attitude of rival sects, the accession to any one denomination of a large body of converts drawn from the class to which Messrs Ward and Bendigo belong, might turn out to be an event of cou--1 siderable importance.

Ths Wreck of the Atlantic. From the London correspondent's letter to the Daily Timw t we take the following further particulars regarding the wreck of the Atlantic :

" The enquiry at Halifax into tho loss of the Atlantic has terminated. Tho judgment commends tho conduct of the officers of tho ship after she had struck, but condemns her management from the time her course was changed, and especially the captain's conduct in leaving the deck at midnight. His certificate might be cancelled, but considering the efforts he made to save life, it is only revoked for two years. The fourth officer is suspended for three months. Forty out of the crew of the Atlantic have reached Liverpool, among them the second steward and the chief saloon steward. Both of them state that the shortness of stores had nothing to do with making for Halifax, as when the ship struck she had four days fresh provision on board, and salt meat for eight or nine days longer. All the survivors are .said to regard the captain as solely responsible for the catastrophe. " It is painful to remark how the conduct of the sailors of the Atlantic appears in darker colours with each successive account which reaches us of the details of the wreck. A letter from one of the survivors states that ho and his newly-married wife were alarmed by the striking of the ship, and rushed upstairs just as the sailors were fastening the doors down to prevent the passengers from crowding on deck. They both got into a life-boat, wdien the sailors threatened to ' knock their heads off,' if they did not pet out. Perceiving them to be in earnest, Mr Bateman took his wife out of the boat, thinking they might as well be drowned as murdered, arid helped her on to the rigging, where they clung together for nine hours—the husband trying, by friction, to keep his wife from being benumbed, until a falling piece of timber crushed his hand. At last the poor wife became delirious, foamed at the mouth, and then dropped into the sea, already dead with cold and terror. Five cousins who were accompanying the Batemans to America were all lost, and lie alone survives of the seven who sailed from England together on the ill-omened voyage. The loss of all the women and children on board the Atlantic is now fully explained. Mrs Bateman was the only female who—thanks to her husband—was able to escape out of the steerage, the sailors having shut in all tho rest to be drowned like vermin in a trap."