MISCELLANEOUS.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 115, 26 November 1858, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Capture of the Bushrangers.- —We copy from the' 'Launceston Examiner of October 8, the following particulars:—By previous arrangements on the 29th ultimo, (Sergeant Mc Ivor, with constables Waller and Shaw, of the Rural Police, arrived just before dusk at a hut occupied by a man named Luke Bradley, a shepherd of Mr. A; Bisdee,near the little Pine River, in a wild portion of the Marlborough district. Bradley was known to have been laid occasionally under contribution by ' Wingy,' and his mate, and they were expected to pay a visit that evening. The constables concealed themselves in the hut, and about half past ten at night a tapping at the window announced the arrival of the bushrangers. Bradley thereupon opened the door, and Wingy and Thornton, armed to the teeth with double barreled guns, revolvers, and bowie knives, entered the hut, and ordered Mrs; Bradley to provide them tea, and also demanded a supply of rations, stating that they were very short. All this time tlie constables, armed in the usual* way, with the addition of revolvers, lay conceuled in an adjoining room. Wingy producing some grog, asked Bradley and his wife to partake of it. After regaling themselves with tea and grog, the bushrangers said they would stop all night, and they accordingly laid down in one corner ofthe room, without undressing, and placing their arms ready for use beside them, at the same time directing the leys not to leave the room. The night was very dark, and the lights in the hut were extinguished, when all being quiet Sergeant Mclvor leaped from his place of concealment into the room, and presenting his piece at the desperadoes, as well as the imperfect light afforded by the embers of the fire would allow him to distinguish them, called upon them to surrender. A shot from Thornton's revolver was the reply, and the fire was returned by Mclvor. Thornton then rushed upon his antagonist, closed with him, and a severe struggle ensued, during which constable Shaw, to prevent Mclvor from being overpowered, thrust his bayonet into Thornton's side, who instantly fell, and neither spoke nor moved afterwards. Whilst this was taking place, constable Waller, after being fired at by 'Wingy* without effect, returned the. shot and closed with him; they rolled together upon the ground, and at last Waller, with the assistance of Bradley, secured his opponent. When this was effected it was found that the shot from Waller's piece had passed through the upper part of'Wingy V only remaining arm, completely disabling him. At this $;me it was midnight, and the constables remained with tlieir prisoner until the morning in Bradley's hut.

Shocking Accident at Port Esperance.—Since the calamitous fire in Jan. 1854, when so many persons were burnt to death, there has not occurred in this colony a single accident with the loss of so many lives as that we are about to record. On Saturday, October 16, about one o'clock, six persons, viz.—Mr. James Watson (son of the late Mr. George Watson), Thomas McEwen, bis two children (the eldest aged 14years), Mr. Pitcher, the schoolmaster of the place,

and a. man whose name is not yet ascertained, were taking shelter'from a shower of rain-in a small uninhabited hut usually termed by splitters a 'badger* box;',an immense gum-lree was blown down, and fell exactly on the hut. It seems .that the widely-spreading branches of. the' tree so enveloped the whole of the unfornate inmates as to prevent their escape, for they were all crushed beneath it. The only on* who at-present survives is.Mr. Pitcher, but very little hope, is entertained of his life. The mangled remains of the five bodies present a melancholy spectacle. An inquest was to be held at twelve o'clock this day. (Monday),, at Port' Esperance, before Mr. Walpole, Coroner. The scene of this sad accident is not more 'than one hundred yards from where a lady, some few years ago was killed in her house, by the fall of a tree.— Hobart Town) Courier. '.' The Rev. Mr. Spurgeon preached in the open air at Old Sarum list week, and stated that he would no longer preach' in the Music Hall of the Surrey' Gardens. The rev. gentleman also stated that if he, failed in getting funds for his new, tabernacle, it was probable that he would leave this country for America or Australia.-— Home News, July 16. A Mexican- - Amazon.— Among . other curious anecdotes Mr. Julius Trobel heard about the Indians of Mexico, was one relating to an Apache chief who had received a decent education in the house of a clergyman in Sonora State. When he set up on his own account as a robber, he employed his ability to read and write as' well as any civilised highwayman could have done. He stopped the mails coming from the mines, obtained 'all the necessary information from the letters as to transport of silver and goods, and did altogether a most thriving business. At length he fell, with his band, into an ambuscade of Mexican soldiers, and they were utterly exterminated. Tlr's Indian lived with a Mexican girl, whom he had stolen from her father's house. She played her part in the fight against the "soldiers like a thorough Indian woman. Her countrymen cried to her that they kflew her, and that she had nothing to fear if she surrendered. She spurned the offer, ' however, and fell with the last of the band, after killing several ofthe soldiers with her arrows. . y [Forcing, the Jews to goto Cliurch.^-la Rome, during the whole eighteenth century, it Avas a strict rule that the Jews should visit a certain church on certain days to listen to sermons on the Christian religion. Gregory XIIL, so far back as 1572, issued a decree that the Jews should be forced to hear a sermon weekly. A Jewish convert introduced this custom. On the Jewish sabbath the police proceeded to the Ghetto, and drove the Jews to church with whips. Men, women and children—if the latter were above 12 years of age—must appear, to the number of one hundred males and fifty females, but the number was eventually raised to three hundred. At the church-door an inspector counted the persons who entered, while in the church itself the sbirri made the people attentive, and if any Jew was careless or sleepy, he was roused by blows and kicks. A Dominican general preached, and took care to select a text from the lesson the Jews had just before heard in the synagogue. The host was always carefully removed from the altar on these occasions. These services were, at the outset, held in the church of San Benedetto alia Regola, but afterwards in the church of San Angelo, in Pescaria, which is built on the ruins of the Aula Octavia, and is the spot where Cola Itienzi first held his enthusiastic addresses to tho Romans. Eventually, the service was limited to five times a year, and the custom was dying a natural death, when Leo XII. Genga revived it in 1824. It was finally abolished in the first year of Pio Nono's papacy. The Emperor Napoleon, in addition to numerous donations to the Museum of Sovereigns, has just presented it with ■ a small casket which belonged to St. Louis, and which is ornamented with medallions and armorial bearings, and decorated with precious stones at the corners of the lid. It is placed in the case which contains the ring, Bible and other objects which belonged to the same king. A young elephant, bom a few months ago at the Jardin dcs Plants, was in some danger recently of falling a victim to the anger of his sire. It appears that a strange and unnatural exists between the pair, and that it was sought to diminish this feeling by bringing the animals somewhat into contact. The lather was accordingly introduced into an enclosure, separated by a strong iron railing from his cub. The latter on seeing him at once commenced collecting sand and small pebbles with his7 trunk, and discharged them at the face of the elder animal. The other elephant immediately gave signs, of terrible wrath; he withdrew to the extremity of the cage, and then charged down on the railing which separated him from the cub. Fortunately the iron resisted the shock, and after some difficulty the attendant succeeded in appeasing Jum. The family mutiny was at once brought'to a close by the removal ofthe elder elephant. A Very Common RcsulL —"Come, Bob, how much have you cleared by your speculations?" said a friend to his.companion.—"Cleared!" answered Bob, with a frown, " why I've cleared my,pockets/-'