W. O. Bigg, Esq., of Abbot's Leigh. There was a
large party at the house, and during the night a
"German Tree," about five feet high, with its branches
covered with bon-bons and other Christmas presents,
and lit with a number of small wax tapers, was
introduced into the drawing-room for the younger members
of the party. While leaning forward to take some toy
from the tree, the light gauze overdress of one young
lady, Miss Gordon, took fire, and blazed up in a most
alarming manner. One of the lads present, whose quickness
and presence of mind were far superior to his years,
with much thought and decision threw down the young
lady, and folding her in a rug that was luckily close by,
put out the flame before it had done any serious damage
beyond scorching her arms severely.

An Inquest was held on Tuesday the 8th, at Kempsey,
on the body of a newly born male child, whose death
was caused the previous day from Exposure to the Cold.
The mother, Mary Ann Thompson, had been wandering
in company with another mendicant about the country
begging. On reaching Kempsey, the pains of labour
suddenly came on, and she was delivered of an infant while
lying on the snow in the turnpike road. Her companion
immediately sought assistance at the Crown, and was
told by Mrs. Webb to go to the relieving officer. The
woman remained in the road full twenty minutes before
she was removed, and from the evidence taken at the
inquest, it appeared the poor creature did not receive
that timely aid which her perils under the most ordinary
circumstances would have met with. The jury returned
the following verdict:—"That the child died from
exposure to cold and want of proper attention at its birth;
and the jury blame Mrs. Webb, the landlady of the
Crown, for not giving prompt attention to the application
made for assistance on behalf of the mother."

On the 11th, at Chatham, Ellen Bright, a girl of
seventeen, known as the "Lion Queen," attached to the
menagerie of her uncle Mr. George Wombwell, was
Killed by a Tiger. An inquest was held on her body.
She had been in the habit of entering the dens several
times daily for the last twelve months. On that evening
she entered a den in which were a lion and a tiger; she
had only been in two or three minutes when, the tiger
being in her way, she struck it slightly with a small
whip she carried in her hand. The beast growled as if
in anger, and, crouching close to the bottom of the den,
stretched out its paw as if at her leg or dress, causing
the deceased to fall sideways against the cage; the
animal at the same moment sprang at her, and, seizing
her ferociously by the neck, inserted the teeth of the
upper jaw in her chin, and in closing his mouth inflicted
frightful injury in the throat with his fangs. He then
appeared to change his position, making a second gripe
across the throat of his victim. A keeper who was
standing on the step of the den, armed with a whip,
immediately rushed to her assistance; but the animal
did not loose its hold until struck over the nose violently
with an iron bar; and whilst the keeper held the animal,
the unfortunate girl was removed from the cage, bleeding
profusely, and life all but extinct. She was taken
into one of the caravans, where she was immediately
attended by two medical gentlemen who happened to be
present at the time of the occurrence. She died in a
few minutes after she was taken from the den, from the
wounds and from the shock to the system. The Jury
returned a verdict to the effect that deceased was killed
by a tiger whilst exhibiting in its den; and expressed a
strong opinion against the practice of allowing persons
to perform in a den with such animals.

On Friday the 11th, as Mr. Charles Godwin, mealman,
of Somerton-mill, Oxon, was returning from Bicester
market, he met with his Death by walking or slipping
into one of the locks on the Oxford canal, a very short
distance from his house. It seems the deceased borrowed
a horse of his brother-in-law to go to Bicester, and called
and left it on his return; and the nearest road to Mr.
Godwin's mill being along the towing-path, and the
night extremely dark, it is supposed he walked into the
lock. When found, the next morning, his hat was on
his head and his walking-stick in his hand.

A gentleman passing through New North Street, City
Road, on the morning of the 12th, was observed to
Stagger and Fall to the Ground, and being raised up
by some bystanders, was conveyed into the house of a
respectable tradesman; but appeared then to be dead,
having been heard merely to groan two or three times
after he fell. Mr. Coulton, a surgeon, resident in
Clifton Street, presently attended, but found life quite
extinct. On his person were found cards bearing his
name and address, "Rev. Spencer Thornton, Wendover
Vicarage," and various documents from which it was
ascertained that he was son-in-law of a gentleman of the
name of Dupree, whose town residence is in Portland
Place. His coachman identified the body as that of the
Rev. gentleman. It appeared that he had just come to
London from his father's at Wood-hill, in Hertfordshire,
and he was supposed to have been proceeding from the
railway to Portland Place when he died in such an
awfully sudden manner, the cause of death being
conjectured by the medical gentleman to have been disease
of the heart, although his friends in London did not
appear to have been aware of his previously suffering
from such a disease.

A woman named Rachel Riach, who lived in Glen
Conglass, had gone to Tomantoul on the afternoon of
Saturday the 12th, for meal and other household
necessaries. She left Tomantoul in the twilight on her way
home, which she never reached. The night was stormy;
and the falling snow, and frequent gusts of wind drifting
the snow, added to the darkness. The hapless
woman soon lost her way, and wandered for hours
among the moors and mosses that intervene between
Tomantoul and Glen Conglass. About 10 o'clock p. m.
her cries for help were heard by two lads, who followed
the calls, but could not discover the perishing woman.
They gave no alarm, and the poor woman was not missed
till Sabbath afternoon, as her family thought, from the
badness of the night, she might have remained in
Tomantoul. Not returning with those who had gone
to attend the places of worship in Tomantoul, alarm for
her safety was instantly raised among the neighbours.
Search was made in the village, and the body was found
frozen and lifeless, only a few hundred yards from a
house. The bag with the meal, and a pail containing
groceries, were lying near her.

On the night of Monday, the 14th, A Fire, attended
with Dreadful Loss of Life, took place in Killarney. It
broke out in a portion of the building formerly known
as the College, but for months past used by the guardians
of the poor as a workhouse hospital. The inmates were,
with much difficulty, saved from the fire; and the
building was reduced to a ruin in two hours.  Scarcely
had the fire in this portion of the building been
suppressed before it broke out in another portion called the
Brewery, and used as the dormitory of a multitude of
children. The doors and windows were fastened; and
the only ready access was by a loft through which the
flames were already pouring. The police and multitudes
of assistants made extraordinary efforts to drag forth
every one of the children, and their nurses; but when
they had nearly performed their perilous task, the rafters
of the loft gave way; and twenty-eight persons were
instantly killed, and as many more frightfully
mutilated.

A distressing accident, resulting from the Incautious
Use of Fire-arms, occurred at Walsall on the 14th. A
youth about fifteen or sixteen years of age, son of Mr.
Swanwick, relieving ofiicer, was on a visit with a
relation, of that place, and in the morning went out
with two or three young companions to shoot birds. On
their return home, two of them put their unloaded guns
in the corner of a room, and shortly afterwards the third
put his gun with the others; but unhappily this one
was loaded. The young men were soon after playing
with the servant-maid; and Swanwick, laying hold of
one of the guns, and under the impression that they
were all unloaded, presented it at her, and said he would
shoot her. Thinking to frighten her, he pulled the
trigger and fired; when, in an instant, the poor girl
dropped dead at his feet.

On the night of Tuesday, the 15th, Edward Hurley, of
Ballinahinch, near Knocklong, in the county of Limerick,
was Murdered in his own house; in the presence of his
wife and five children. Hurley and his family, after
rising from prayers, directed his son to look after the
cattle before they retired to rest. The boy proceeded to