to determine whether a Jew may or may not legally sit
in the House of Commons.

The trial of an action for False Imprisonment brought
by William Henry Matthew against Dr. Harty of
Dublin, concluded on the 17th, after occupying the
Irish Court of Exchequer for six days. The plaintiff is
a young man who two years since obtained a scholarship
in Trinity College, and has graduated there with much
distinction. He was brought up by the defendant, a
respectable medical practitioner in Dublin; but he had
never known who his parents were. He complained
that Dr. Harty had subjected him to a long course of
cruel usage, and had ultimately confined him in Swift's
Lunatic Hospital during a considerable time, for no
reason but to subdue his spirit and to break down his
health. He suspected that Dr. Harty was his guardian,
and had property left for his use by his real parents.
The details of the case were interesting, and an
extraordinary sensation was excited, when Dr. Harty himself
came into the witness-box, and confessed, "with shame
and grief," that the plaintiff was his own son, by one
who "might fairly be denominated a lady," who had
given birth to him in Monmouthshire, and had died at
Dublin while he was still an infant. Many persons in
the Court were moved to tears. The Jury gave a
verdict for the plaintiff, with £1000 damages.

Garotte Robberies have lately been of almost nightly
occurrence in Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, and
a number of persons have been committed for trial at
all these places. At Manchester, Mary Ann Welch
and Mary O'Brien, two girls each under the age of
fifteen, have been committed for robbing Mary Mutch,
a girl about the same age, of two shillings and three
halfpence. The two girl-thieves were seen to come out
of a public-house, and to push against Mutch as they
passed her; money being heard to rattle in her pocket,
one of them put her arm round Mutch's neck, and
throttled her till she fell on the pavement, when the
two rifled her pockets and ran off.—William Capstick
and Henry Thompson have been committed for robbing
Henry Compton of £9. They tied a shawl tight round
his neck till he was insensible, and then rifled his pockets.
—Two men named Bibby and Caulfield, have been
committed for robbing Abram Orme of two shillings and
seven pence, in Bird-street. Caulfield put his arm round
Orme's neck, whilst Bibby robbed him.—At Leeds,
Mr. James Mann was attacked by three men. One of
them strangled him till he was temporarily insensible;
and so rendered it easy for the others to steal his money,
and for all to escape.—At Birmingham, Mr. Whilock,
draper, was attacked by two men who tried to
"garotte" him: being a powerful man he beat off his
two assailants, but a third joined them, and they then
overpowered him, and, laying him insensible on the
pavement, took off his watch. When the police
discovered him, his face was covered with blood from
wounds on the head, and his leg was broken.

There have been many Affrays between Game-keepers
and Poachers, some of them of a desperate character.
One of these was on the preserves of Sir Arthur Clifton,
at Barton Wood. The keepers were only three, and
the poachers were at least forty; but the keepers had
powerful aid from a mastiff named Lion, of great local
fame. The keepers first met three men: they immediately
let loose the dog—which, however, was half-
muzzled—and rushed on. The foremost poacher drew
his clasp-knife and ripped open the belly of the dog;
but the keepers were on the point of overpowering the
three poachers, when one of them gave a shrill whistle,
and poachers poured in from every side. The odds
were fearful; but the keepers still continued to fight
valiantly. All attempts at capture were given up, and
it was now merely in self-defence that Sir Arthur's men
fought. In a short time they were completely
overpowered, the poachers leaving them in the preserves
frightfully mutilated. No one has been taken. The
keepers are recovering, but Lion died on Tuesday
morning.

On the 23rd the Vice-Chancellor gave judgment on
an important question of nuisance, in the case of Soltau
v. De Held. Sometime ago Mr. Soltau obtained a
verdict for damages against Father De Held, on account
of the annoyance and injury he suffered by the ringing
of the bells of the monastery of the Redemptorist Fathers
in the neighbourhood of Mr. Soltau's house. The bell-
ringing, nevertheless, was persisted in; Mr. Soltau
consequently applied to the Vice-Chancellor for an
injunction; and the application was met by a demurrer.
In giving judgment, the Vice-Chancellor held that the
bells in question constituted a private nuisance, of which
a private party was entitled to complain; that Mr.
Soltau had not come to the nuisance, but the nuisance
had come to him; and that the chapel of the defendants
did not possess any of the exclusive privileges conferred
by law upon the parish or district churches of the
establishment. He therefore granted an injunction to
restrain the defendant, and all persons under his authority,
from tolling the bells in question "so as to occasion any
nuisance, disturbance, and annoyance, to the plaintiff
and his family residing in his dwelling-house."

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT
AND DISASTER.

A frightful and most distressing accident has happened
at New York, whereby nearly Fifty children have
Perished, and many more have been irrecoverably
injured. Ward School, in Greenwich Avenue, is a large
building of four stories, with a winding stair-case.
Each story opens upon the landing, and is occupied by
different departments of the institution. The girls were
in the third story, and in the fourth story was the male
department. One of the teachers in the female department
was taken with a fainting fit, and was carried out
into the passage-way, where a cry was raised of "Water,
water," by one of her companions. This cry was not
understood, and the next moment the cry of "Fire!"
was raised, and spread through the building. The
children from the primary department rushed to the
stairs, as did also the scholars on the floor above them.
The stairway was soon filled, and the press against the
banisters so great that they gave way, precipitating the
children to the ground floor. Two of the female teachers
made an effort to stop the children; but their efforts
were vain, and they were themselves hurried along with
the current. In the upper room–the boys' department
—Mr. M'Nally, the master, took his stand with his
back against the door, and forbade any one to go out
—thus saving the lives perhaps of hundreds. Some of
the boys jumped out of the windows, and one of them
had his neck broken by the fall. There were altogether
in the building but a few short of 1800 scholars.
Hundreds went over the stairs, until there was a mass
of children, eight feet square and about twelve feet in
height. The alarm was now given outside, and the
police were soon at hand to give assistance. Those that
were on the top were, of course, but slightly injured;
but as soon as these had been removed the most heart-
rending spectacle presented itself. Body after body
was taken out in a lifeless state. Some recovered when
brought into the air, but no fewer than fifty of the
children had ceased to breathe. Of the female teachers
five were injured, some of them very seriously. The
dead and dying were carried away in litters, amid a
scene of grief and agony which beggars all description.

An inquest was held at Kensington, on the 6th, to
ascertain the cause of death of R. Woolen, a plasterer,
who was killed on the 29th ult., by the Falling of a
large portion of a Pile of Buildings in course of
erection in the Gloucester-road, Kensington. The jury
returned a special verdict to the effect, That the death
of the deceased was caused by reason of the bad materials
furnished by Mr. Indernich, the proprietor, and further,
that Mr. Bean, the surveyor, was to blame for having
permitted the works to proceed under such circumstances.

Union Hall, in the Borough, was Destroyed by Fire on
the evening of the 6th inst. For many years it was the
chief police office for the district, and, since the removal
of the magisterial business, the premises have been
occupied jointly by Messrs. Pickford and Co., the railway
carriers, and Messrs. Smith and Co., hat and cap
manufacturers. The outbreak was exceedingly sudden.