appeared that the prisoner had been in the habit of
giving her child laudanum, and upon the occasion in
question, finding the child more restless than usual,
she administered an increased dose, the consequence of
which was that it died shortly afterwards. The prisoner
was proved to have always previously exhibited great
fondness for the child, and there was no ground for
supposing that she had any idea of the dangerous
consequences that were likely to ensue from her conduct.
She was found guilty, and sentenced to three months'
hard labour.

At the Derby Assizes, on the 13th, Anthony Turner,
was indicted for the Murder of Mrs. Barnes, at Belper,
in December last. The prisoner had been employed by
Mrs. Barnes, who was a widow lady of considerable
property, to collect certain weekly rents, but as he was
apparently unpunctual in the business a disagreement
took place which resulted in his discharge. According
to his own account there was a misunderstanding
regarding the support of a natural child of a brother of
the deceased, which was in his custody, and for whose
support he had made some deductions from the rents,
which also formed a subject of dispute. On the night
of the murder, after having been heard to utter threats
of vengeance, he borrowed a carving knife of a neighbour,
and making his way to the house of the deceased,
he rushed past the servants, up stairs to the deceased's
room in a state of great excitement, and a noise having
been shortly afterwards heard, on Mr. Bannister, the
deceased's nephew, entering, he found Mrs. Barnes
weltering in her blood, with a fearful gash in her
throat. She expired shortly afterwards, while the
prisoner made his escape as he entered, but was soon
after apprehended. The jury returned a verdict of
guilty, and the learned Judge passed sentence of death.

The case of Mrs. Cumming (see "Household Narrative"
for January, page 7,) came before the Court of
Chancery on the 27th instant. This lady had been
found to be of unsound mind, under a Commission of
Lunacy, at the expense of £ 5000, while her property
was of very small amount. Mrs. Cumming having
applied for leave to traverse the inquisition, the legal
question of the competency of this application was
debated at great length; and on the above day the
Lord Chancellor gave judgment, that Mrs. Cumming
had the right to traverse; stating, that, in his interview
with her he had found her perfectly rational and
collected. In concluding his judgment, the Lord
Chancellor made the following important observations:—
Before he parted with this case, he must say that it was
one which the court had heard with much pain. This
property is of small amount, and even with care—and he
saw no signs of care—could ill afford the costs of these
proceedings. Unless it was managed with the strictest
economy, the whole of it will be swallowed up in the
proceedings professedly taken for the purpose of
protecting it. It would be a lasting reproach to the parties
on both sides—not excepting the counsel by whom they
are advised, if these proceedings are allowed to be carried
on in such a manner as to exhaust this poor lady's
property. Let them seriously think of this. This lady is
now very infirm in health and aged, being 76 years old.
He repeated that it would be a lasting disgrace to all
parties concerned, and it would be a reproach too on the
law, if through these proceedings the few years which
will be left to her must be spent in poverty. Here had
no less than eight counsel been engaged in supporting
and opposing this application, three on the one side and
five on the other. He now made an order that only the
costs of two counsel on each side should be allowed:
and he would make an order that future expenses to be
incurred in these proceedings be cut down to the lowest
possible point, for he was determined to preserve what
remained of this lady's property, if it is in the power of
the great seal to preserve it.

Some time ago, the Rev. Stephen Matthews, incumbent
of Hanging Heaton, in the West Riding of
Yorkshire, was charged with having committed Adultery with
a girl named Mary Helliwell, a teacher in the school
under his superintendence, and the daughter of one of
his parishioners. After two investigations before the
magistrates, in which the bench acquitted the rev.
defendant of being the father of a child, the result of
his illicit intercourse with the plaintiff, the matter came
before the Bishop of Ripon under the Church Discipline
Act, and, after the lapse of a considerable period, the
judgment of the Right Rev. Diocesan has been
pronounced, depriving Mr. Matthews of his living and all
emoluments arising therefrom, the bishop being of
opinion that he had been guilty of "the foul crime of
adultery with the said Mary Helliwell."

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

The investigation before the coroner into the Disaster
at Holmfirth, caused by the bursting of the Bilberry
Reservoir, was concluded on the 27th of February.
Captain Moody, the government inspector, gave
evidence on the construction of the embankment. The
jury found a verdict, declaring that the Bilberry Reservoir
was originally defective, and the commissioners,
engineers, and overlookers, culpable; that the commissioners
have been "guilty of gross and palpable negligence"
in allowing the reservoir "to remain for several
years in a dangerous state;" that they regret that
through the commissioners being a corporation, they
cannot find them guilty of manslaughter; and that they
hope government will consider the subject with reference
to future provisions. After the delivery of the verdict,
Captain Moody offered some remarks on the insecure
state of the Holm Styes Reservoir. Describing the
construction and the defects of the reservoir, he made this
startling statement—"You remember how strongly I
impressed upon you the importance of the waste or
flood-waters being able to escape freely; and that I
recommended a by-wash in preference to a waste-pit.
There was a by-wash designed and constructed at this
reservoir; but when I went up to see it, I found that a
wall had been built across it, and firmly puddled, so
that the water falling into this reservoir must have
poured over the top; and, had it risen a few feet more
on the night of the 4th, the time of this catastrophe,
you would have had a flood down that valley, meeting
the flood from the Bilberry Dam Reservoir at right
angles, and the destruction would have been most
awful. I assure you, that when I saw this wall built
across the by-wash, my expression was, 'These people
are insane.' I could not believe it possible that sensible
men—mill-owners, knowing the operations of water—
could suffer such a thing to exist. But so it was; I saw
it with my own eyes, or I would not have believed it.
By the instructions of the magistrates, I took upon
myself instantly to order the removal of this wall." In
conclusion, he referred to the miserable pay of the man
in charge of each reservoir—£ 5 a-year. Intelligent and
careful management could not be expected for that sum.

Mr. Thomas Newsome, for many years a reporter at
Leeds, was Killed on his return from the Holmfirth
inquest. At Huddersfield he had to change carriages
on the railway; he got into a wrong train; when it
moved he discovered his error, and in attempting to
leave the carriage he slipped between the wheels and
the platform. He died a few days after.

A Fatal Railway Accident happened on the morning
of the 5th, on the London and North-Western Railway,
near Kilburn-gate. While some 200 or 300 men were
engaged in gangs in carrying out some alterations in
the sleepers, a down coal train was heard approaching,
which led a gang of five men incautiously to step aside
on to the up-line. At the same moment the up-train
was coming up; it had entered the curve, and was
travelling at the rate of perhaps 35 miles an hour.
Unhappily the men were unconscious of the close
approach of the mail, and they coolly enough awaited
the passing of the coal trucks. The driver of the mail
engine sounded the steam whistle, but the unhappy
men continued on the line, the noise of the coal train
no doubt preventing them hearing the whistle. The
next moment or so the train was upon them. By
some extraordinary effort two of the men contrived to
escape, but the other three met with a horrible and
instantaneous death. The train went over their bodies,
and they were found frightfully mutilated. Their
limbs were severely mangled, and the head of one was