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Otago Daily Times, Issue 76, 12 February 1862, Page 2

Singular, and Fatal Mining Accident to a Girl.—Dr. Glendinning held an inquest at Winter's Flat, on Friday, lipon the body- of'a'^irl of fourteen and a half years of age, whose death w-ts-occasioned by a fracture of the spine and other injuries, caused by the accidental falling in of the side of a hole and drive in wliich she was working, on the 6th of September last. This singular fatality occurred in tho following manner :—On the day in question the little girl, whose name was Cerelia Elizabeth Hushiou, had been assisting her father to proceed with gold washing at a shallow hole in Paddy's Gully, by lifting up stuff "which had already been dug... WkileJiiLwas engaged in washing, she jumped down the hole in order to show her sister how to pick down wash dirt from the drive. Her sister, who is somewhat younger than the deceased, went away for a few minutes to get some firewood ; but on returning and hearing something making a singular noise near the hole, she ran forward and found that the earth had fallen in, aud nearly-filled it up. Her sister being nowhere to ba seen, she immediately ran to he.- father, who, procuring assistance, .extricated his daughter--in-about a ; quarter of an hour. Dr. Kenworth'y was instantly sent' for, but at _onoe pronounced the easo hopeless. On examination he found that the spine was"fractured," as also tile-Lower dorsal region, with perfect paralysis of the lower .part of the ho.iy. Dr ken worthy cbtiuued to attend the little sufferer ever since, until she expired at mid-day on Thursday hist. On a poit-inortenexamination it wil* found that'tbefe was a fracture of the eleventh aud twelfth dorsal vertebra!, with fracture of the eleventh rib of the left-si le. There had-beeiVcxteraive ulceration of both hips and both knees, with a considerable cc lama of the legs nnd feet. There was also ulceration in the region of the fractures on the upper part of the boly.. lie considered that the child had'die from exhaustion, resulting from the injuries above described ; and the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the evidence.—" Ballarat Star, 23th December.

MCRDKR OK AS ISCOME T-AX GOLIiUCTOK.— Mr. Frater, the collector of iieonie-tax for the borough of . Newca-stle-ou-Tyne, was umrderel on tjieinorning of the Ist of October. As he was going. into; his office a man ran up to him with a long knife IS his hand, and thrust the • weapon with great violence into his face. The blade touched the right check near tha mouth, then, slanting ott* from the bone, plnnged into the neck, where it severed the jugular vein. Mr. Frater did not seem at first to comprehend the fat-1 nature of his injuries. Having walked upstairs, however, to his room, he exclaimed, " I.fear I'm done for." and fell upon the floor, and in afew minute* expired. Me.li.-al attendance'was at'oacs.sought fir, but lifj was- quite extinct. The murderer, Georf c Clark, a cabinet-maker, was se-nirad. The knife with which the fatal de;.l was committed wiis found on bin person. It is a common table knife,, .but it has recently bjon ground down to a very sharp point. Upon being ssizel, Clark exclaimed, "He sokfme off, and now 1.1 be trie 1 fir- murder ;" ail a few minutes aftsrwiirds, he sai<', .'This will 1 c a grand business for the penny papers." It appears that same tkreo months ago a-seizure-had been--ii)ade-«pon Ulark'n premises, under Air. Frater's direction, for a dog tax, which hi would not pay. Clark seems'ever since to have cherished a feeling of |deadly revenge against the deceased. .'...-.'■ ' . i ■' ■•""-'"'

Three European Celebrities,—ln the winter of 1853-59 there were residing in one nalubrious spot on the shores of the Mediterranean: three remarkable representatives of the intellm-eiice of tha :r,:at nations of Europe. There was Lord Brougham, 'the chief citizen and host of the pleasant town of Cannes, and the two visitors seeking for renewed health under that genial sky were Baron de Bunsen and Alexis de Tocqiievillc. " Of these, our countryman alone retains hi* vitality of thought nnd action in a wonderful old age. Era many mouths had goua by, the abundant heart and iinsa!iated_spjrit of the German scholar and diplomatic whom we knew jo well, and amid many differences so justly esteemed, had ceased to beat and to aspire. A few weeks of struggle and of suffering were sufficient to exhaust what "yet remained of the physical energies of tha French philosopher and statesman, who, ofall hia notable contemporaries, perhaps best deserve^ the interest and admiration of Englishmen —"■' Alexis da Tocqueville," in the Quarterly Review./;^

Clerical Jok Millers.—Of an English bishop the following story is told. His lordship was examining a candidate for holy orders, who was more deficient in theology than 'in brains. Among other questions, the bishop asked him : "If you were in company with persons who impugn the doctrine of tho Hoh- Trinity, how would you'defend'it?'" "My iord^ I feel hurt by your .supposing that I keap such company." '' If, however, you were.accidentally to find yourself in the company of unitarians, and they were to attack you, what course would you pursue?" " Oan you 'doubt, my lord, what I should do? -I should*of course, leave the room instant!v." The story is parallelled by the' Oxford anecdote of the un-der-irraduate. who, under similar circumstances in his divinity examination, on being asked - which were the greater prophets and which were thelfcss, replied that "'he could not venture to draw'invidious distinctions."— Saturday Review. ■;■-.•

A Female Financier. —The • Marquise adopted anxieties of the King as her own. She lightened the" burthen of State care by sharing it, w-hilb; in laboring ■ for tlie honor of the country,: she had «the tact of placing its requirements before Louis in away that did not fatigue him. - "With her h6'talks," was tho proverb of the day. She was fa.seinntißgHii, conversation, having what one-of her 'countrymen called, " Vcsprit dune causerie i>iei>uisable>" vl''<Th\xa she charmed him into particatiou of duty. "The hard ivork of the Marquise was the basis of the King's best acts." . With the stern'Machaiilt she "labored at - jolumus of terrific figures."-,, Such 'workL ,was opposed .^LU e/hi^sliic''ti^^^n^''^^)dau^l^it^^hicn may '"show that; love,- lier '■."original "pb|{t\»^i^§jbher, was -„ strop"-te Bitstam^Tjite •!" 1^ *ier hardVj^ffCafly' m^m^if^l..d^sM&'im& another, Be Tiaa. never oeeuoeHreoy that of woman, was emboldened .te-it t?-.suggest *t«dier the necessity of obtain. ing the'Kmjg'-^aliithbrit-rfoitihpapproiJliation of some iof'tfixT wc'*lttwei^l,"eSiaßii2iilt--to',t:ii(*'*'p;iyment of the debts of tlieiS^ife;-~rlK"was exactly, what of h;i(j»co^n^lled,toi^^meiHi(JKJl®ie Marijuiae SW $ e^fe^K#^;s}i4»"rinveighed .-.lSTOilgiJjm.fprmly,^^ of ' eecleMMtjcwVealth to tlie'prejud^w^a poor State) was qffi|¥*p see the advais^tgga (gj^jLieh a scheme, *^ uJi^2fiSr *n makhig tlie f boldjahjit phlegmatic, JSf|)«Sisj^' a^deretai^^AbjK•i^Ssffim'shock" the r§ : ''iigious'jwwjpchees of thi?' King„,jrawl^ere part of his "very exifetSJtfea.^'LTlip S'ec'refHStory of the Court

As ' Adventure with a TifeEU.— Sir;— The following account of an adventure with a tiger just received from my son Douglass Hebden, an Ensign ...ia. the 72nd, may perhaps be worth insertion .in the FieliL I may add that he is only nineteen year.J of age—Robert .fames Hebden. "' I had just arrived tit Khandalla, and I met there an old school-fellow who was giiiig out 'to shoot pigs, and he asked liio to ac--company him. He lent me a single-barrelled rifle, and we went put about a mile and a half from camp, to a place wliich was notorious for pigs—it was a deep, ravine, with a very high mountain ou one side, and a low, one "on the other, and filled up with densejungle. My companion placed himself about the middle of the raviue. and I took up my position near the end where the ravine narrowed. We had below about forty beaters or coolies, who began at the open eiid and beat up towards me. They "had passed Heyland without anything to be seen, but as they neared the spot where! was stationed, I heard a rustiilig and breaking amongst the bushes, and naturally expected '-to see some pigs come out, so I cocked my rifle and brought it up to my shoulder.all ready, when, to my utter amazement out bounded a tiger; I then did what I have, since been told was a very foolish thing —-I fired at him with a single-barrelled rifie. Luckily the shot struck him between his two forelegs; had I hit him'anywhere else he would have charged,; and I would have had no chance of escape ; as it was, however, he rushed on as well as he could into the Biuall part of the jungle beyond me and we got him to show himself by making the beaters roll down large stones at him ; blithe always disappeared again before we had time to fire. At last I watched the exact spot where he went after one of these short appearance's, and, makings lucky shot, sent a ball right through his stomach. Upon this, he got up, and with a frightful roar, that made my flesh creep, he rushed back to his old haunt, receiving, two or three balls in his body as he bounded through the open space between tlie two jungles. It appeared, however, that he was in no hurry to give up the ghost, for he got back all right to his original lair. We now found upon calling for more ammunition, that the natives who were carrying it had, throush ' excess of fear, thrown away every bullet we had. We had now no alternative but to ride home for fresh supplies, which we did, after giving the culprits a well-deserved thrashing, and we took advantage of the opportunity of making a late breakfast; havingdone which, we again started for the scene of action — this time each carrying two rifles and a huge hunting knife. Screwing up our pluck, we entered the thick of the jungle on foot, and tracked him by his blood. At last a native,pointed him out to Heyland;' who fired at, and wounded him; the tiger came after us with a terrible roar; and considering discretion the better part of valor, we hastily mounted a ''treel;; this operation was. repeated three times, and "at last we found him lying on his side apparently dead. We went up within five yards of him to have a look at him,1 Heyland firing; both barrels at him :ahout fifteen yards "off previously, to make certain of him; but I suppose that in his excitement he missed him as the tiger never moved. When we were about five yards from him, I proposed to give him a shot and make double sure ; but Heyland said, ' No, no ! you will spoil the skin,' and laid' hold of my rifle, which I, like a fool, let go, thinking the brute must be dead ; but as were taking another step forward, be rose with an awful roar, and sprang after me. Heyland ran "down-hill, and got off all right: but I ran up-hill ,aa hard as I could, and the tiger after me. I had just gat up to some coolies who had followed us in our advance, and .were now running away as fast as they eo'uld, and I heard the beast breathing at my back. What an awful moment that was ! I hover expected to get out of the scrape alive,. sq tlrew.iny knife and turned round in desperation to make a useless effort to save myself, when the tiger, changing his mind, "leaped upon the back of a native who was running alongside of me, and mauled him most frightfully ; but it was his last (lying- effort, and the coolie got off ■with amauling that would have killed any European, ; . but it did not kill him. The tiger was a fine female, 8 feet long. 1 can assure you that I shall in future be a little more rautious about proing up to one again befce I atii quite certain of his -being dead.— The Field, 12th October.

Arsksic vor the Milmox. —A remarkable case of poisoning by arsenic was tried at the Durham Assizes lately, in which it was proved that the accused person, the wife of the deceased, purchased a quarter of a pound of arsenic ostensibly to cure her husband's toothache.1 It was sold to liar labelled "Mercury." He died shortly after taking some medicine she administered, exhibitingsymptomsof arsenical poisoning: In his stomach was found 150 grains of arsenic. It was proved ou the one hand thai she had contemplated her husband's death ; but it was proved also on the other that the deceased was in the habit of taking tho Mercury—say, the arsenic—for his teeth, and that gheihad seen him put a quantity of it into a lucifer btHf, and take a -spoonful from it, into which hedipped his. finger when he had wetted it, and rubbed it into his gums. The teeth of the deceased were proved to be very much decayed, but no irritation of the gums or sign of the recent application of arsenic appeared. •Of course no conviction could follow after such evidence. But the state of things^which is disclosed is -highly alarming. - Surely the chemist who sold the : arsenic, labelling it mercury, is liable to prosecution. :.This is another of the many instances which we have lately accumulated, showing the urgent necessity for a speedy revision of the laws affecting the sales of poisons in this country.— Lancet.

Indian Vktehans.—During the past month England has welcomed hack to her shores the remnants of some of those gallant corps wliich liore the brunt of the great Indian mutiny, independently of having passed some fifteen years in tbe exhausting climate of that country. The men landed on their native shores reasonably looking forward to leave and furlough amonar the pleasures of home service, and we fancy that it will hardly be credited that they have been met by an order that, with winter staring us in the face, they are to proceed at once with the long annual course of musketry, interrupted necessarily by the voyage home ; and accompanied by an intimation that they will he able to complete during: the ensuing five winter months the course for this year, just in time to commence that for the following year March next! This order has been seat to the 04th 'Regiment at Dover; the Ist battalions of the sth Fusiliers and the 24th Beiriment nt Portsmouth; and to the 57th and 73rd Regiments at Plymouth. Now, it is well-known that a period of three to four months .uninterrupted fine weather is necessary to exercise a regiment though a course of musketry, and, therefore, the satisfactory accomplishment of such an object during the approaching winter months is more tban doubtful : anil we ask, in the name of common sense, what sort of practice at the targets these men, fresh from long tropical service, will make during the approaching v.'intefmonths.— A rmy and Navy Gazette.

Louis the 15th's Jealousy op the DAtr-VHIJ.-.—ln the midst of all the fetes in his honour, and the ioy of his adoring people at his presence, the heart or* tiie kincr was lonely. Long before this he would willingly have recalled the Duchess de Chateauroux, hut regard for'appearances, that tyrant, even of a triumphant monarch, restrained him. Self respect languishes and dies under the chiP cloud of indifference, but it was fostered in the heart of Louis at this time by appreciation. Yes, Louis XV. could not deny to himself that he had been unjust to his former mistress ; and with this plea to his conscience it was easy to foresee how the struggle between principle and passion would end, especially when he took the Due de Richelieu into his confidence. Nevertheless, the Queen, who was naturally of a reserved demeanour, just now showed more than usual tenderness towards the King her husband. This display at such a moment was, doubtless, irritating to him, and tho more so, as with her he connected the fact of the" Dauphin's arrival nt Metz during his illness, which act of filial duty was misconstrued.by the morbid monarch intojja sign of eagerness to take possession of his kingdom. Of all jealousies there, is none worse than, that of a parent who suspects his children of a desire to supplant him. This jealousy must have been peculiarly painful to an affectionate mother, as was the Queen. If no man be a hero to his valet de chainbre, there is hardly, one so to his own wife. Thus, while France was shouting forth a piean of praise, Maria Leczinski knew that the conqueror was .hot only at war with his conscience, about his late mistress, but also that he was the slave to jealousy of his son. Tlie King had dismissed the governor of the Dauphin (the Due de Chatillon), because it was pretended by the governor's enemies that when all Paris was weepincr, and one citizen crying to another. " Alas! our King ! If he die it will be from having gone forth to help us," he had knelt to the Dauphin at an act of worship to the rising star.— " The Secret History of the Court of France Under Louis XV."