Potter's Electric News

unbar Caotle the week before, under the superin- 'endance ot Miss Young. So far, I have informed your Grace with somt of what occurred on this occasior. within my own knowledge and observation. A .1 very fall, and, on the whole, correct account of the I 3utrage itself, was published the next (Friday) 11 horning in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, w«ich I have abstracted, with some trifling cor- Actions and amplifications with red ink in the Prom this your Grace will learn that O'Farrell behind his Royal Highness (who, in common I^th several other naval officers wore a uniform fock^coat and white trousers), whilst walking with ir William Manning, and deliberately shot him in ,^e back with a revolver, being at a distance from ltn at the time of from four to six feet. He then covered with his pistol Sir William Manning, who bad turned round towards him, but, providentially, jus barrel missed fire. O'Farrell has since stated ^Rtthis second shot was intended for the Duke. e raised the pistol a third time, intending, he aysi to shoot himself. At this moment Mr Vial, eoachbuilder in this city, jumped upon his back Ha forced his hand down. The result was that the all struck a gentleman named (Mr Thome), who „as running towards his Royal Highness, passing ,f°ugh his trousers, the elastic of his boot and 's,s°ck, and entering the foot a little in front of d below the inner ankle, passing in a direction ^awards and outward deep into the arch of the la? l°do'nS in t^e heel bone, near its articu- tfed0-11 the bone. The ball was firmly embed- the bone. It was extracted on Saturday, 14th, and Mr Thome is going on well. Barrel I was then seized by several persons tlld. taken into custody by Mr Superintendent A determined effort was made by the bi)!*an(^ers *° Jynch ^im, an<^ am afraid that, for the exertions of the Chief Justice, Lord Mevpry, and the men composing the band of Her j^jeaty's 50th Regiment, he would probably not jj Ve left the ground alive, as the police would have overpowered. W? 0n k°ard a steamer—which was close at bei 'n ahout ten minutes, and a disposition shown by the people on shore to again try possession of him, orders were given for j Steamer. to proceed at once to Sydney. Itbl, enclose an extract from the Empire newspaper, QC« describes what took place in some detail. t0 J* arriving at Sydney the prisoner was conveyed bto e Government gaol at Darlinghurst, and was f0t §ht up on Friday morning, the 13th of March, s sanation 'n the Lebtons' Prison before the ^8 W.ATER P°'ice magistrate. The examination 0 lie J:°Qtinued on Monday, the 16th, and at its close iuSt as Cornmitted for trial at Darlinghurst on 26t^ c0 that day having been fixed by a rule of ^erai aPP^cation, I believe, of the Attorney- I era! SuirC'uSe a copy of the evidence taken at the On £ e,ore the magistrate. «!j0ck Saturday morning, the 14th instant, the Mthf„ *yinS disappeard, the bullet was extracted %„ ci"ty from his Royal Highness by Dr Young, WatsQ11 t0 ^er Ma.iesty's ship Galatea, and Dr $iuCe jV Surgeon of Her Majesty's ship Challenger, burredHt t*me no unfavoui"able symptoms have Pr°g,.es his Royal Highness continues to -n are Iless as favourably as could be wished. There I bayg^P^^s of any injury to lungs. digued 0r>ly tn add that the prisoner was ar- P'eaded n ^^ay before the Supreme Court. He i°r def gUilty- application of counsel «a>v next 71Ce f^e tria* "as PostPooec* until Mon- ger P'J0 enable them to endeavour to procure Indent V1 wit^ reSard to the prisoner's an- li^Self *S"L though the prisoner has avowed 'sdpf a ^ei"an» h,s family have undertaken Me'ence on the ground of insanity.—I have &c, BELMORE. Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Cbandos. a- THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION. details of the surrender of the prisoners, the Sement of Good Friday, the capture of Magdala, cei\, the destruction of that fortress have been re- !8 ^etter Times special correspondent loll c.o1umns in length, and from it we make °w4ng extracts — ^RE TLLE SURRENDER OF THE CAPTIVES. i^res (says the writer on April 12) a life-long f an<* almanacks to believe that barely half have elapsed since we were looking t, of°>l eve^e sa^e delivery of the captives as a sUrf Ce iT' and t0 the Possibility of another year tiin 'Th0* home and rouShin§ il in Abyssinia, i s> bat Kdore escaPed- Measured not by I VPSyeh°l0 £ ?i f Variety a«d intensity of sensations, V6 are in Pf tel1 us time s}louid be measured, I ^jWcklwiU ^ew montlls that would not pass i ht escrinr these short hours. Would that ion S° 'ar fr l0n ,°f n"ne could do justice to them 1 "n/^der^f1 'lave to as't t^10 indulgence of s again :or a report that must be written, not c Oe's> me> hut in such a Babel of questions, 0'1i}?ngratu,ations' kiss.ings» handshakings, (t tadict » rumours, contradictions, and counter- t ^wj°ns as only the Present occasion could a rhlcl? nothin8 short of ntter blindness, a >PonJn ^6ar -Sness c?"1(| make eve" a special s »6 Cr,?. ;mpenrus- ,wjtTh:n four «f the e ,ky £ e a abri under which I have to write, lyinc a CNe?8? °n 8round' Mrs FIad> w^o was n C'is f by lllness from comin8 into camp last s< C C(>nBv thls very raoment exchanging greetings fi CW•'ftu'ation3 with Mrs Rosenthal, both liappy n V llaSt' after 80 many weary months of well- s: captivity a group of small children w ((A c n8 on an animated conversation in a strange F a^P°anded possibly of German and Abys- e 1 a strong-lunged baby is performing, in language, a solo of its own. SNtar hours ago these people were in t r a cruel death, at the mercy of a 1 \Vclfran^ w^° two days before had in cold n t?4 sNvith over 300 innocent captives, slaying J5' K/r0riK ^Wn hand, and who, mad with rage fe.nn alternately threatened and flattered Sh0*1^ ho fu fur-v predominated. Just twenty- n, N r ^ves were not worth1 a moment's °; are as sa^e as five thousand ready to shed every drop of blood in V|! voiCttlf11 xtX!i^e them, with friendly faces and LNW sailnv°n s'des them, and big rough f VtWu °rSt0ufthe Rocket Brigade, of course, w. Cryiti8 nt ,y were in the fiSht °n Friday- o t *aeb °Ver ^eir children. 3 B SHSVT ?GAC'EMENT OV GOOD FRIDAY. Ay.s 5^e«ny's^ler J id not ^ink it expedient to fii VS /°nress »IJ8 ?P t0 the very walls of the hi nO* on'lv J 80 he °^Qered Colonel Phayre to be f;r t0 BaSW1°' and lhen t0 0ver on r18hl' malting a rough path tii C1'lacc°nnt t« °tri u SpUrS °f the iabyrinth dt uUr any li f l suPP°/tmg brigade so de K y"skof Its being obliged to fight or (e and l0nll Phayre disobeyed this le Va0?1/ to e^p,Ilclt orde1' ls at present »t led olonel Phayre. His dis- w 10 such fortunate results that in. ■>ne dees not feel much disposed, more especially at he present moment, tocri icize it very closely. The 'ct remains, however, that he not only rushed boldly n where the commander-in-chief feared to tread. but actually sent off a despatch to say that he had the command of the Arogee Pass (Theodore's road) before this not unimportant military manoeuvre could he performed. In consequence of this dispatch Col. Penn's mountain battery, now better known as the Steel Pens,' the Naval Rocket Brigade, a company of the 4th King's Own, a company of Punjaub Pioneers, the baggage animals and a baggage guard, were all sent under Colonel Milward by Theodore's road, instead of over the mountain spars to the right, and in consequence of their taking this course Sir Robert Napier found himself, to his astonishment, beating the enemy long before he had intended to be within gunshot of them. Fortunately, Colonel Phayre was not the only brilliant blunderer of the day. King Theodore, mis- informed by spies, fancied that only a small pioneer force was advancing with baggage to find a camping ground for the rest of the army, and his mistake was immediately confirmed by the appearance at the top of the Arogee Pass of Colonel Milward's men. more especially as the mules of the battery and the Rocket Brigade looked to his inexperienced eye like ordinary baggage animals. All that he saw of them was a group of staff officers on a lofty eminence to his left, surrounding the commander-in-chief and Sir Charles Staveley, and down below the Punjaub Pioneers, whom Sir Robert, considerably astonished to find that the Arogee pass was not commanded, as he had been told, had immediately on his arrival sent to support Colonel Milward's force. It was indeed fortunate that he did so. Colonel Penn's battery had, as it was, a very narrow escape from being taken; it would have been taken ten times over by a hostile European force in Theodore's position, and it was only the Punjab Pioneers that saved it from even Abyssinians. In a few minutes more one of the guns on Fahla poured forth a heavy booming sound, evi- dently in preconcerted signal, and almost simulta- neously the steep road leading do.vn from the heights, and the hilly broken ground below them, were alive with armed men, horse and foot, rushing impetuously to battle. A finer or more spirit-stirring sight it is difficult to imagine, not more, however, from the bold martial bearing of the men-some of them, too splen- did horsemen—although they came on with the proud triumphant confidence of soldiers used to con- quest, than from the magnificent scenery in which the action was carried on, Magdala and the adjoin- ing mountains forming, as it were, a grand natural amphitheatre, and a spacious terrace at the foot of Fahla making an admirable stage on which to give full effect to the brilliant game of war. The effect on our troops was magical. They had scarcely ever dared to believe that the Abyssinians would fight even behind walls, and to find them rushing on in this gallant style to do battle in the open was, indeed, an unlooked-for taste of the Stern joy which warriors feel In foemen worthy of their steel." A ringing cheer broke from their ranks, and the two armies hastened to close. Up to the moment when the first battle-gun from Fahla sounded the prelude to the battle, the 4th were crawling listlessly along, constantly falling out of the ranks to lie down, utterly knocked up by a terribly trying march, and imploring anyone who passed for a drop of water, which on that day was as precious and rare a commodity as champagne. No hallowed rag of saint or winking virgin ever wrought such a miracle upon halt or lame as did the sound of that one Abyssinian gun upon the dead beat men of the 4th. In five minutes they were to the front, dressing up, and hurrying past the Beloochees-not that the Beloochees were a vvjiit the less eager, but they had not the deadly Snider to recommend them, and in a very few minutes more— though to anxious eyes above it may have appeared a longer time—they emerged from the hollow into which they had disappeared on leaving the hill, and began steadily to mount the stage which the enemv had so dauntlessly made their own, and to take it from them inch by inch. To describe the fight after the Snider came into play would be only to describe a battue. Its sharp, short cracks, following each other in breathless succession, were the death knell of the Abyssinian cause. The unfortunate foe had no longer even the shadow of a chance, but went down like grass before the scythe. How they kept their ground at all when Sniders, mountain guns, and rockets had begun to get fairly at them is a marvel, and cays a good deal for their nationa! piuck,' not- withstanding that they never managed to hold even for a few minutes after the first impetuous onset any ground from which it was attempted to dislodge them. That they came on so pluckily is accounted for by their mistaking the character of the force, but :his mistake, soon discovered, could only have con- tributed to their confusion, and yet to the very last, 'hough they had left, it is thought, some 500 com- •ades dead on the field, among them their leader, Fheodore's favourite general, and must have had at eist three times that number wounded, they kept up iome show of resistance, rallied to make a few faint :harges, and mustered up spirits enough for a mock- rictorious cheer when Sir Charles Staveley, as night vas coming on, and nothing more was to be gained 'y useless butchery, sounded the retreat. Their .rtillery Iheodore's famous guns-gave them no ssistance whatever; on the contrary, killed, it is aid, a few of them. The big gun burst at the first xplosion, the rest—there were about seven, I believe, ltogether posted on Fahla-kept up a steady can- onade easily distinguishable by its dull, heavy ound, ascribed to the slow :gnition of bad powder, rom the quick rattle of the mountain guns, but did ot even touch one of our men. Not one man on our ide, strange to say, was killed, and only nineteen ere wounded, among them one officer. Captain toberts, of the 4th, who w,s hit by a bulletin the lbow joint. THE CAPTURE OF MAGDALA. Disheartened by a crushing defeat, and finding his 'oops utterly demoralised and deserting in large umbers, Theodore endeavoured to obtain terms of eace. But having given up the captives, he was )ld that he must surrender himself, and was allowed ,venty-four hours to consider his position. He made o reply, but early next morning the camp was full rrur.iours, as usual, contradictory, of his flight by ight from Magdala, and of a wholesale massacre of ie Abyssinian hostages. Some of his leading men ime early into the camp to give themselves up us risoners, and to surrender Selassee, the lofty peak hicfi on the north commands Magdala, and reported lat nearly all Theodore's army had deserted him. efore eight o'clock it was known on trustworthy ithority, that Theodore indeed fled from Magdala, I it had returned almost immediately, probably on nding his retreat cut off by the fierce Wollo Gallas, s bitter foes, who since his defeat on Friday had ;en swarming eagerly round him, like bloodhounds i the scent of wounded prey. Driven to despera- an he was now standing savagely at bay, prepared to ;fend Magdala itself to the last, and sell his life as :arly as he could. Before ten, all the troops here xcept a small baggage guard)-two brigades, mus- ring about 5,000 men, were marshalled in order of tack, under Sir Charles Staveley, on the terrace hich formei the principal scene of Friday encounter, unediatety under Fahla, prepared to ascend the road up to it, made by Theodore for his guns, and carried through Islamgee (his camp) to Selassee, which projects, about a mile further on, slightly north- east, and to Magdala about the same distance which projects slightly south-west. The task of taking the place was mere child's play. Although the enemy had every advantage of position, and might have fired with their eyes shut upon the troops massed in the narrow path below, not one of our men was killed, and only about ten wounded in the path, a few being touched by stray shots elsewhere. Even of these ten two or or three-among them Major Pritchard, who led the Engineers-were, it is believed, struck by British bullets, the men keeping up an objectless fire in spite of the interference of their own officers and the general in command, Sir Charles Staveley, himself. At first the perfectfeu d'enfer raised by the Sniders, as the head of the storming column moved up the path, did, no doubt, admirable service. Volley followed volley with a blinding, deafening vehemence and rapidity, and showers of bullets rattled, without an instant's intermission, round every crack and crevice of the gate and adjoining stockade, leaving scarcely an inch of wall of rock nnexplored from which an opposing shot could safely be fired, such as might well have shaken a far cooler and more experienced foe than the Abyssinian. THE SCENE WITHIN THE FORTRESS. Only a small number of Theodore's troops stood by him to the last. It is said that eighty dead bodies have been found within Magdala. If so, I fear that many of the slain were not fighting men, for I myself counted the bodies near the gateway, at which nearly all the fighting occurred, and I could not find more than ten, and at least half of these were Theodore's chiefs, distinguishhed from the common soldiers by their shirts of coloured silk. These few men stood by him to the last with desperate devotion, but the rest must have made a very poor stand, or our troops would have suffered far more. As it is, it is little short of miraculous i that even six men, bent on selling their lives dearly, and with good arms in their hands (nearly a dozen English breech-loaders have been found in Mag- Z5 9- dala) should have failed to kill one man out of a dense column advancing up such an ascent of Mag. dala—it would have been less surprising if they had between them killed a hundred men than that they should have failed to kill one. Theodore's body was found, not near those of his chiefs in the gateway, but alone on the hill above. I happened to be near Dr Lumsdaine when he examined the body, then still warm, and was told by him that he believed Theodore to have committed suicide. This theory is so exactly in accordance with what is known of the man's character and his conduct up to the last moment, that I am inclined still to think it the right one. His face seemed a rather disappointing one after all that has been said about it, but then it was impossible to judge properly after death, especially as the eye was said to be, from its fire and expression, the most remarkable feature. There was a look of bloated, sensual indulgence about the cheeks by no means heroic or kingly, but the forehead was intellectual, and the mouth singularly determined and cruel. A very strange snsile still lingered about the lips, as if even in the death-throe his last thought had been one of triumph at having baulked his conquerors by dying a king. His death is universally regarded with unmixed satisfaction. It would be affectation to pity a tyrant who himself knew no pity, who was as unscrupulous and crafty as he was cruel, and who had indeed every reason to style himself the Scourge of God sent to punish the people. He has met with a death far mere merciful than be dealt out to better men, and far more bonourablo than any trait in his character, except, perhaps, his dauntless bravery and invincible determination, deserve. These few to whom these qualities recommended him to some sort of mercy had only to look for a moment into the fearful charnel- house, the loathsome human shambles which was exposed to our borrified gaze as we near Magdala, and every lingering trace of compassion at once disappeared. We had been told by the prisoners, our feJlow-countrvmpn. that the day before the arrival of the British army Theodore had summoned all the prisoners to his pre- sence, and had in cold blood butchered over 300 of them some with his own hand, almost within sight and hearing of the rest, who momentary expected the same fate. But though details of this kind make one shudder, the mind of a civilised man, whose whole experience runs counter to a vivid faith in the actual existence of such atrocities, somehow cannot fully realiso them, or take in their whole terrible import. On Easter Monday, however, nothing was left the imagination, the tragedy was forced in all its naked horror upon our revolted senses. A strange smell, for which was no apparent cause, made some of our party look over the edge of a steep cliff, almost within a few yards of the spot from which the guns were beginning to play upon Magdala, and there, on a ledge about fifty feet below them, lay two other large heaps of mangled human bodies, closely piled upon each other in ghastly confusion, their limbs protruding from the mass in all sorts of repulsive attitudes and contortions, and presenting altogether a scene of horror such as no pen could adequately describe, could any pen be found to undertake the task. Here was the latest, though not by any means the worst, specimen of the pious handi- work of the self-elected Scourge of God. More com- monly he mutilated and disabled his victims, leaving them to die of their wounds, or to the more tender mercy of the hyena. On Delanta one of the force picked up two human hands, evidently not long cut off. The only exceptionally cruel feature in this last massacre was its unusual wantonness. The victims were, many of them, prisoners of very slight offences, and men of no import- ance, who might with perfect safety have been set free, Theodore feared the expense of keeping them during a siege, and considered it perhaps derogatory to his dignity to let them go; so he massacred them. It is impossible to feel pity for such a man. JHE DESTRUCTION OF MAGDALA. Writing on April 17th, the correspondent thus speaks of the destruction of Magdala The town itself was uninteresting, save from its accidental associations as the prison of our fellow-countrymen and other Euro- peans, even for Abyssinia a charge so grave that no man, it is to be hoped, would lightly bring it against any town calling itself Christian. It consisted of the ordinary collection of huts, most of them built of grass and wood, with thatched conical roofs, and did not boast even one building of exceptional beauty or im- portance. The church was one of the meanest and dirtiest that we have seen'in. Abyssinia, while the palace of the great Emperor Theodore differed only from the surrounding huts of his humblest subjects in being larger, two-storied, and with a thatched roof not conical, but oblong, giving it much the appear. ance of-an English barn, except that no decent Eng- lish farmer would allow any animal that he valued to live in a building so dark, dirty, and ill-ventilated. After all that one had heard and read of this un- doubtedly great man, of his immeasurable superiority to his people and the country upon which, unhappily {"r him, his lot was thrown, of his enlightened appre- ciation of the institutions of more civilised nations, and of his penetrating practical insight into what- ever was most valuable ii those of his own, it seemed strange, almost beyond belief, to find that he had lived the squalid, graceless life of a savage, to stand in his so-called palace-a rude, dirty cabin--and look everywhere around in vain for even one slight trace of a refined or accomplished mind. In the workshop of his European artisans there were, of course, many aigns of modern civilisation, though nearly all of a practical, very few of a strictly ornamental or luxurious kind. Workmen's tools and huge glass tumblers, ap- parently of English make, seemed the principal articles of import, drinking being, next to fighting, the great J business of a wealthy Abvssiniaa'a life, and these, mixed up with crosses, censers, mitres, b"<lls— the spoils of Gondar churches — Amhario bibles, stray copies of the Record, odd volumes of encyclopedias, foolscap paper, old matchlocks, pistols, swords, powder- flasks, and percussion caps, formed altogether as strange a jumble as it would be easy to find anywhere. The 4 loot,' on the whole, has rather disappointed the captors. They did not expect much, but still it was believed that Theodore had both gold and silver treasure. If h& had, it has somehow disappeared. By an oversight no orders were given nor any precautions against looting, and there is little doubt that the moment that place was forced many &.byssinians, who knew best where to look, began to search for plunder. Next day an order was issued that everything taken should be given back, but, as many things had already changed hands and handsome prices been paid for them as curiosities and relics of Magdala rather than for their intrinsic value, the order was unpopular, and I question whether it has been very strictly obeyed. The late Emperor, too, ap- pears to have behaved to his prisoners and artisans with a generosity which must have left him nearly bmkrupt. Scarcely an article of real value has been found which is not declared to have been at some time or other pre- sented by him to some one of them, which, therefore, does not go into the general fund to be raised, by the sale of all toot, for the benefit of the non-commissioned officers and men of the force. All these deductions will, I fear, make the proceeds of the sale very small. How- ever, a few curious and valuable relics have been found. Mr Holmep, for instance, who came out here as archaeo- logist for the British Museum, and who has hitherto had a singularly disappointing and unfruitful journey, was lucky enough to rescue a handsome crown, probably an archbishop's, and a gold chalice, bearing the following inscription in Ambaric :— • The chalice of King Adam Segud, called Yasoo, the son of Queen Brahn Mogussa, presented to Kwoskwan Sanctuary (Gondar). May my body and soul be purified! Weight twenty-five wokkits of pure gold, value five hun- dred dollars. Made by Waldo Georgia.' The Emperor's own crown has also been found, and is, I believe, to be sent home to the Queeu. I saw in the hands of a British soldier what, under the circumstances, was certainly a very singular and interesting bit ot loot, a six-barrelled revolver, with an inscription declaring i that it was presented by the Queen to the Emperor Theodore, in token of her gratitude for the kindness shewn by him to her servant Plowden.' The soldier told me that he had seen five pistols with this inscription, and had had a hard fight to get one for himself, but, so far, only one has been given up to the prize agents. -0 THE TEMPTER AND THE TEMPTED.—A young man named Cerisier, clerk to MM Wolff and Co, bankers, Rue Richer, has just been tried by the Court of Assize of the Seine for applying to his own use a sum of 47,000f. belonging to his employers, and condemned to two years' imprisonment. A young woman of the name of Debat, who lived with him, and who had urged him to the theft, was sentenced to five years of the same punishment. A little boy was lately brought before the justices at Lyndhurst for having stolen four pheasant's eggs while bird-nesting on Crown lands in the New Forest, The youngster appeared to regard the matter as a capital joke, till the justice fined him tt for the offence, or 5s an egg, and 7s 6d more for costs. He was sentenced to one month's hard labour in default of payment; and unless the justices have by this time repented of their folly, he is now undergoing that sentence in Winchester gaol. COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE IN THE BusH.-Absurd and disgusting as some of their practices are, there are traits in the character of the Bushmen in these parts which are much to be admired. Degraded as they are in the scale of humanity, and even in the eyes of their superiors amongst the native races, their morals are in general far in advance of those that obtain among the more civilised Bechuanas. Although they have a plurality of wives, which they also obtain by purchase, there is still love in all their marriages, and courtship among them is a very forma!, and in some respects a rather punctilious affair. When a young Bushman falls in love he sends his sister to ask permission to pay his addresses. With becoming modesty, the girl holds off in a playful, yet not scornful or repulsive manner, if she likes him. The young man next sends his sister with a spear, or some other trifling article, which she leaves at the door of the gill's home. If this be not returned within the three or four days allowed for considera- tion, the Bushman takes it for granted that be is ac- cepted, and gathering a number of his friends, he makes a grand hunt, generally killing an elephaVit or some other large animal, and bringing the whole of the flesh to his intended father-in-law. The family now riot in the abundant supply, and having con- sumed the flesh and enjoyed themselves with dance and song, send an empty but clean bowl to the young man's friends, who each put in their mite, either air axe or spear, some beads, or trinkets. After this the couple are proclaimed husband and wife, and the man goes to jlive with his father-in-law for a couple of winters, killing game, and always laying the produce of the chase at his feet as a mark of respect, duty and gratitude. For the father-in-law a young man always entertains a high regard, but after marriage he shuns his mother-in-law, never per- haps speaking to her again for the whole of his life and there seems to be a mutual inclination between Lhem to avoid each other. The same feeling exists )n the part of the bride towards her father-in-law.— Travels in the Interior of South Africa, by James Chapman, F.R.G.S. THREE CHILDREN BURNT TO DEATH.—An awful calamity, resulting in the death of three children, occurred at East Bergbolt on Monday afternoon. On the east side of the village, and at a short dis- tance from the Bentley Road, stood a cluster of farm buildings, in the occupation of Mr William Green. At half past three in the afternoon flames and smoke were observed to issue from these build- ings by some men at work in the neighbouring fields. The flames quickly spread to the two cot. tages, and as the men were unable to obtain a I sufficient supply of water, they procured a number of ladders, by means of which they got on the roof and tore off the tiles and rafters of the cottage, which was already on fire. By these means they succeeded in saving one of the cottages, but the other was completely destroyed, and by six o'clock in the evening the whole pile of the buildings, with the exception of the cottage just mentioned, pre- sented only a blackened heap of ruins. In the bouse destroyed lived a man named Henrj' Wright and his wife, with a family of five children, the eldest of whom was at work, the second at school, while the remaining three were playing in the shed at the time the fire broke out. It is supposed the children had accid^nt.illy set fire to some straw. Ihe eldest of the three, named Henry, aged eight, was found in the yard lying flat on his face, with his legs wide apart, and a bowl a few yards in front of him. From this it is conjectured that the child had gone to fetch some water from a tub standing in the yard, with which he meant to extinguish the flames, but being overpowered by the dense sm5ke tell down, and was suffocated. Of the two other children, the body of one, Elizabeth, aged between four and five, was found just outside the place where the shed bad stood, and that of her brother, Alfred, aged two years and half, inside; leading to the inference that the little girl had gone to meet her brother with the water, but was arrested by the flames, while the youngest remained in the shed. The eldest child was frightfully scorched, L and his brother and sister so fearfully burnt that they could scarcely be identified. — Chelmsford Chronicle,