Chatham. They were divided into two gangs, one of which, consisting of nine convicts, was placed in a compartment of a second-class carriage of the Great Western Railway, under the charge of two officers; the other four in another compartment, under one officer. These desperadoes were fastened to each other by the usual irons and chains. The train reached Reading without any suspicious movement being observed; but soon after the train left that station, two of the more numerous gang suddenly jumped from their seats and leaped through the window of the door, the train at the moment running at the rate of thirty miles an hour. The two officers in charge were amazed at their intrepidity; but on looking near the doorway it was discovered that both of them had managed to slip the irons from off their wrists, and that therefore they were not shackled in any way in their movements. The other convicts did not exhibit any desire to be refractory or violent, the experiment of escaping not being one which they were disposed to adopt.

When the train stopped at the next station (Slough) the alarm was given, information was telegraphed back, and a diligent search immediately instituted. It was supposed that some trace would be found at the spot where the men had leaped out, and that at least they must have received injuries that would prevent flight. But there was no trace of blood, torn clothing, or any mark whatever. The county police and prison officers were turned out to search the woods, hedges, and wild country; but no sign of the fugitives was discoverable. The police, indeed, found that a cottage at Woodley VOL. CII.

had been broken into on Saturday night, and two "wide-awakes," a pair of boots, and other articles stolen; the thieves leaving in exchange their own caps. On Sunday, during the hours of divine service, two men of remarkable appearance were seen passing along the market-place of Reading. The police soon got scent of these suspicious strangers, and after watching for some time pounced upon them, and secured them after a desperate resistance. They then admitted that they were the fugitive convicts. On searching them, and removing a brown slop frock which one wore, there were found beneath, an old woman's cloak and a shirt, which being stripped off, the prison dress became visible; the other had only a smock frock over his official costume. They said that their fall "shook every bone in their bodies," but neither had received any injury. After their perilous leap they had concealed themselves in a wood under branches and leaves; and when night came on they stole forth, intending to make their way to London, but being bewildered in the darkness and an unknown country they lost their way, and with daylight found themselves near Reading, which they were attempting to steal through when they were observed and recaptured.

6. MURDER AND SUICIDE AT COVENTRY. Another of those domestic tragedies, which have occurred so frequently of late, has been perpetrated at Coventry. Some fourteen or fifteen years ago, Henry Fawson, a butcher, married a young woman, from whom however he shortly separated, certain circumstances having come to the husband's knowledge which caused him to suspect his wife's chastity C

previous to their union. The husband went to America; the wife remained at home. About thirteen years ago Fawson returned to Coventry and set up a small butcher's shop; and about five months since, he was reconciled to his wife and received her into his house. Fawson is said to have possessed a very violent and hasty temper, and it is believed that since their reunion they have not lived on the best of terms. It was known to the neighbours that on Monday the 6th instant, there had been a violent quarrel. On the following morning, about 3 o'clock, groans were heard proceeding from Fawson's house, and a noise as of some heavy body falling down. At 6 o'clock, groans and a cry of "murder!" were also heard. As the shop was not opened as usual, the neighbours were alarmed, and thought that Fawson and his wife had been murdered. The house was entered by a back door. The bedroom presented a horrible spectacle. The bedstead and bedding, the ceiling and the floor, were besmeared and bespattered with blood. On the bed lay the unfortunate wife weltering in her blood. Her throat had been cut in a most determined and effectual manner. The wretched man Fawson lay "doubled up" at the foot of the bed, his throat cut, stabbed in his breast, and his brains scattered about him. It is evident that in the heat of his passion he cut and stabbed himself in ineffectual efforts to destroy life, and then, being unable to despatch himself so quickly as he wished with a knife, he went down stairs and procured a gun, with which he returned and shot himself through the head.

OPERATIC ARRANGEMENTS.

The unpoetical proceedings of the Courts of Law have admitted the public "behind the scenes" of our two great operatic establishments.

In the suit Gye v. Hughes, the plaintiff, who is also the proprietor of the Opera House, Covent Garden, sought to recover back the sum of 5000l. rent paid in advance for one year of Her Majesty's theatre, in the Haymarket. The circumstances under which the action arose are not otherwise interesting than that they show how behind the glitter and unearthly beauty of these musical paradises there lurks poverty, harassment, and ill-will. It however came out incidentally, that the yearly rent of the Italian Opera House is 5000l. (including 1900. for ground rent), besides the payment of the heavy insurances; and that in a time of great distress Lord Ward had purchased the " properties" for 10,500l. It was also suggested that the object of the plaintiff in getting possession of the theatre in the Haymarket was to keep it closed, the advantages he expected to derive therefrom to his other establishment being so great that it was worth his while to pay 5000l. a year to do so.

In the case of Lord Ward v. Lumley, the noble plaintiff sought to recover rent from the defendant, who is well-known in the fashionable world as having conducted the Italian Opera in the Haymarket for many years with unexampled efficiency. Success had not rewarded his enterprise, and the opera, after several fitful starts into life, was finally closed. It now appeared that these occasional bursts of brilliancy were due to Lord Ward, who, besides purchasing the "properties" for 10,500l., had advanced various

sums of money amounting to 36,000l. He then received the lease as security, and had thereon made further advances until his claim amounted to little short of 100,000l. Mr. Lumley, who was placed in the witness-box, valued the unexpired term of his lease (thirty-six years) at 150,000l. He admitted that although in 1858 he had taken all the receipts of the theatre, he had neither paid Lord Ward's rent nor even the ground

rent.

THE WEATHER AND THE PARKS. -The warm temperature of the early weeks of the year afforded nothing to record under this head; and it seemed probable that the winter would pass away without affording the sliders and skaters an opportunity for their healthy amusement. Fortunately for them, the cold was so severe about the middle of February that the still waters were covered with practicable ice. Many thousands of persons went upon the Serpentine, the lakes in St. James's Park, Re gent's Park, and Kensington Gardens. Owing to the bad condition of the ice many accidents occurred. Many persons were immersed, but with one exception, all were rescued.

15. THE GALES OF THE 15TH AND 19TH.-On the 15th instant, a gale commenced early in the morning, and continued with great violence for forty-seven hours; another, which began at 4 A.M. of the 19th blew for fifty-seven hours. Very great damage was done by both. At Beeston, on the 19th, the force of the wind was equal to twenty pounds on the square foot; the barometer fell nearly an inch; and there was a snow-storm of which the flakes were sometimes two inches in diameter. There were

numerous wrecks along the coast, and every account narrates the bravery of the life-boat crews, and the success of their efforts.

15. FATAL COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEAR BARNSLEY.-A fatal explosion of fire-damp occurred in a coal mine at Higham, near Barnsley. The pit is of considerable extent and great depth, the most valuable seam lying 210 yards from the surface. Between 1 and 2 P. M., some men came to the bottom steward, and told him that an explosion had occurred in part of the workings. The steward immediately got assistance, and went to the part where the accident was supposed to have occurred. He there found that of fourteen men and boys there employed, eleven were killed, and the other three seriously injured. The poor fellows were much scorched, but appeared to have died of the choke-damp. The explosion appears to have been merely local, none of the men engaged in the other workings were even aware of it. There were about 120 engaged in the pit at the time. 17. WRECK OF AN EMIGRANT SHIP. -Upwards of a Hundred Lives Lost.-The American barque Lima left Havre on the 15th instant, having on board seventy-five passengers emigrants, and a crew of twenty-six or twenty-eight men. On the 17th she was observed off Barfleur, beating up against a gale from the N.W. About mid-day she became unmanageable, and was driven on the Rocher de Quillebœuf. It is supposed that her entire bottom must have been driven in by the shock, for before any boats could be launched against the tremendous sea that was rolling in, she was beaten to pieces, and the whole of her living freight, save three men,

perished in sight of thousands. Of the three rescued men, one died of injuries and exposure. The Rocher de Quilleboeuf is famous in Norman and English history as being the reef on which, on the 25th November, 1120, a vessel called the Blanche Nef, which had on board three children of Henry I. of England, the Earl and Countess of Chester, and a great number of personages of distinction, together with their attendants, was wrecked. The three royal children and everybody else, except one man, a native of Rouen (363 persons in all), perished.

19. TOTAL Loss OF THE MAILSTEAMER HUNGARIAN." Much excitement has been caused in British North America by the appalling shipwreck of the Montreal Ocean Steam-ship Company's steamer Hungarian. As every person on board perished, the particulars of the disaster are unknown. The Hungarian left Liverpool for Portland, U.S., on the 5th, with a crew of seventy-four persons, and, it is believed, forty-five cabin passengers, and eighty steerage passengers-making the total number on board about 200. She also carried mail-bags. On the 19th a large steamer was observed on shore at

Cape Ledge, part of Cape Sable, Nova Scotia. On the report being On the report being received at Halifax, a vessel was sent round to afford any assistance that might be yet possible; but on her arrival, the vessel, which was then ascertained to be the Hungarian, was found utterly wrecked, and not a single person survived. So total had been the destruction, that the very corpses had been carried away by the ocean currents, and only three bodies were found. The cargo had been entirely broken up, and large quantities of broken

bales, &c., were swept along the coast. Sixteen mail-bags were recovered, but saturated into pulp. Among those who perished by this disaster were Mr. Nash, a valuable servant of the Post-office, who was now making his last trip previous to retiring from the service; and Mr. Marcus Talbot, a member of the Canadian Legislature, and son of the proprietor of the Leinster Express.

19. COLLISION AND LOSS OF THE "ONDINE."-At 3 A. M., as the steamer Ondine, from Dublin to London, was abreast of Beachey Head, she came into collision with the schooner Heroine, of Bideford. The steamer received so much damage that she sunk, and in less than twenty minutes not a trace was left of her. The Ondine, on her passage, had called in at Plymouth, and had there landed fortytwo soldiers, women and children, and some other passengers: she also took on board a few persons for London, and it is supposed that at the time of the disaster she had between sixty and seventy persons on board. Of these twenty-one were saved in the jolly-boat, and landed at Dover. The fate of the remainder was soon known. the steamer Thetis was passing down Channel, her crew thought they perceived a man floating on a raft. A boat was launched, and the object seen proved to be the wreck of a life-boat with three men floating on it-they were the second mate and two of the passengers of the Ondine. The mate states that, immediately after the collision, it being apparent that the ship was sinking, the boats were got over the side.

As

The port life-boat had been smashed by the collision, and the other lifeboat was stove in getting her over the side, and she was

nearly full of water. Nevertheless, in this precarious refuge, twelve men, three women and two children embarked. The mate says, "As we were leaving the ship, a good many faces were looking down at us." There were still available for the rescue of the re

maining passengers the cutter and the jolly-boat. The latter, we

know, arrived safe at Dover with twenty-one persons; of the other it is not known whether she was launched, or swamped with her living burden. When the lifeboat shoved off from the steamer, she was so deeply submerged that the water reached up to the people's waists as they sat on the thwarts, being kept from entirely sinking by the cork in her compartments. Her wretched freight, in a short time, beheld the steamer rise forward in the air, and then go down stern foremost. Soon afterwards the people in the boat began to be exhausted from the sea breaking over them, and dropped one by one. Mrs. Marsh (the wife of one of the rescued persons) and one of her children were first overcome and swept away, the other died from exhaustion, consequent on the wash of the sea and the bitter north-west wind, in its father's arms. The lady passenger and stewardess next followed, and so on, one after the other, until only the three rescued were left. The numbers who had perished and been washed out of the boat had considerably lightened her, and the survivors were thus kept afloat until they were rescued, benumbed and exhausted, by the Thetis. The captain was one of those who perished; the passengers were mostly invalid soldiers on furlough, and women and children.

19. GREAT FIRE IN HORSELY

DOWN.-Between 1 and 2 A. M., the extensive cooperage of Mr. Bradford, at Horsely down, was destroyed by fire. Several of the engines of the fire brigade were already engaged in extinguishing small fires which had broken out on the south side of the river; but the light spread around by the conflagration of the cooperage was so considerable, that all that could be spared hastened to that place. By the time they arrived the flames had spread to a number of small houses in the vicinity, and it appeared probable that a great conflagration would ensue. By the exertion of the firemen, however, a further extension of the flames was prevented; but Mr. Bradford's premises were entirely destroyed, and a considerable number of the adjoining buildings more or less injured.

20. DREADFUL ACCIDENT ON THE EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY. -A railway accident, the most fatal to life and limb that has occurred for some time past, happened on the Eastern Counties line as a train was passing through the Tottenham station.

The train left Cambridge at 7 A. M. Subsequent inquiry put it beyond doubt that the officers of the Company had performed their duties in every respect: the engine was in excellent order; the wheels of the engine, tender, and carriages had been sounded, and seemed quite perfect, and the officials of the train were experienced and steady men. train consisted of the engine and tender, the break, and eight carriages. As Monday is the great metropolitan market-day, there were a considerable number of passengers, most of them millers, corn-dealers, and others, coming up to attend the markets. Every

The