on the tiles. After having reached this height, at the risk of being precipitated into the street, he succeeded in reaching the window of an adjoining apartment. At the very moment he left the room the Countess opened the door to her husband, who drew a sword from his stick and inflicted several wounds upon his wife. He then constituted himself a prisoner, and narrated every detail connected with the crime. The victim expired on Thursday. M. de Précorbin, it appears, had formed an attachment to the poor lady, which she reciprocated; neither having any fortune, she was forced by her parents to marry the Count Dubourg. She appeared reconciled to her fate, and bore a child to her husband some eighteen months since. They were living as happily together as could be expected, when she met her first love in society, and an intrigue was commenced which terminated in the dreadful manner described. On his being brought to trial the jury found "extenuating circumstances," and the murderer was only sentenced to a term of imprisonment, against the injustice of which he exclaimed vehemently. - A BRUTAL WIFE-MURDER has formed the subject of a coroner's inquiry at Charterhouse, a small and secluded village situated on the slope of the Mendip Hills. A man named William Lease, who is a miner in the employ of the West Mendip Mining Company, came home on Tuesday evening and accused his wife of having been seen on the Hundred Acres with a hundred fellows, and on her asking him what he meant he knocked her down. She had a baby in her arms at the time, and the infant was taken away from her by one of the children who was present when the assault was committed. The poor woman ran to the houses in the neighbourhood, but she did not receive the protection she required. At the last house she went to, the door was locked against her, and she was dragged thence to the garden in the rear of the house. Lease there knocked her down, and then lifted her up with one hand and knocked her down with the other. While she was on the ground he kicked her several times in various parts of the body. This brutal conduct he repeated four times, and eventually dragged her round the corner of the house into the porch. He was subsequently seen to fetch several buckets of water from a brook which runs close by, and from the condition in which the corpse was subsequently found it is presumed he flung the liquid over her. A special feature of the sad affair is the cowardice and apathy displayed by the neighbours, some of whom stood looking out of their windows watching Lease murder his wife. Several men were appealed to by the children of the deceased to interfere, but they declined. 24. A DESTRUCTIVE BOILER EXPLOSION occurred this morning at the ironworks at Prince's End, South Staffordshire, owned by Messrs. William Millington and Co. The guide and merchant mills are worked by an engine which obtains its steam from two long tubular boilers. The largest is perhaps 38 ft. in length, and this burst yesterday. One portion, weighing about two tons, fell 500 yards off, while a lighter piece fell in the new works, 1000 yards away, and dropped through the engine-house, where it destroyed a portion of the engine. In and around the two mills the devastation was complete. The second boiler was hurled from its bed, the tall stack was demolished, the mills became a heap of builder's rubbish and shattered iron castings. The engine-driver was near the boiler at the time, and he was hurled into the arm of the canal close by. He fell into deep water, but, happily, could swim, and, as he was not stunned, got safely to shore. On the other side of the canal was a workman's cottage. A portion of the riven boiler struck a wall of this building with so much force that it stove in the wall. Unhappily, the concussion happened at a point behind which two children were in bed asleep; the brickwork fell upon them, and both were sadly hurt; one, it was feared, mortally. A square piece of the boiler struck a sitting-room window of the rectory broadside on, and took in windows and frame as cleanly as if it had been designed to remove both without disturbing the surrounding masonry. The clergyman and his family were all safe in bed. A stack, 70 ft. high, in the forge part of the works, had a hole shot through it within 5 ft. of the top as though with a cannon-ball. Windows were broken in all directions, and the high road was heaped with bricks ejected from the works. 25. FUNERAL OF LORD MAYO.-The state ceremonial in connexion with the funeral of Lord Mayo took place in Dublin. From an early hour the city was astir, and people came streaming in from every side to the streets through which the procession was to pass, and swarmed in every direction and every public place. No element was wanting to make the ceremonial worthy of the occasion and of the country. The result was a grandeur and solemnity befitting its imperial character and the public sentiment which it embodied. The military element preponderated, but there were other features in the demonstration which made it a touching tribute of popular esteem and personal friendship, as well as a magnificent display of national sympathy. The funeral was originally fixed for Wednesday, April 24, and the "Enchantress," the vessel containing the body of Lord Mayo, was expected at Kingstown on the morning of the 22nd. But in consequence of the non-arrival of the ship the ceremony was inevitably postponed. The Enchantress" was brought up on the Thursday to the North Wall, where the disembarkation of the body of the late Viceroy took place. The process took some time. The enormous weight of the coffin (nearly two tons) made especial machinery necessary in order that it might be lifted safely into the guncarriage which was ready to receive it. Slowly the huge burden was put into its place on the gun-carriage, made secure, and covered with the Union Jack, and in a short time the procession was fully marshalled. The tenantry walked eight abreast at the head of the procession; and as they moved slowly on, arrayed in their white scarves, they contrasted strikingly with the brilliant scarlet and blue uniform of the military and the dark masses of the civilians on each side of the lines in the distance. They were followed by the Marines, who marched ten deep in three bodies, and then came the sailors ten deep, preceded by their officers in full uniform. The banners of the Orders of the Star of India and of St. Patrick were borne in charge of the knights in single file, and stood out conspicuously. The cavalry numbered ten abreast, and the lines were kept with wonderful compactness and precision. The deputation from the India Office was conveyed in an open carriage at the head of the state equipages of the Lord-Lieutenant, in official uniforms. The external coffin contained the following simple inscription : "Richard Southwell Bourke, Earl of Mayo, Baron of Naas, K.P., G.M.S.I. Born 21st of February, 1812. Died 8th of February, 1872." After the public part of the funeral the escort of the King's Dragoon Guards took charge of the funeral car, and the cortége was almost immediately on its way to Palmerston. The interment took place from Palmerston House, on the 26th, in Johnstown churchyard, in the presence of a large assemblage. The Union Jack served as a pall, and on it were some beautiful flowers and ferns. 26. RELEASE OF THE TICHBORNE CLAIMANT.-This afternoon the Claimant to the Tichborne estates was released on bail from Newgate. An immense crowd had assembled in front of the gaol as early as eleven o'clock, in the hope of seeing "Sir Roger." About half-past two a private carriage and pair, which had been driving leisurely round the adjacent streets for some time, came slowly down the Old Bailey from the Holborn end, and, passing the front entrance to the gaol, stopped at the door of the Sessions House. The Claimant and his friends immediately came out and jumped in. This was soon perceived by the people, who, with a tremendous roar, came surging down the street. They were, however, too late to catch anything but a passing glimpse of the Claimant, as the coachman immediately drove off, amid cries of "Bravo Tichborne" on all sides, mingled with hisses. The party drove off to the private address given by the Claimant. 27. ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS.-"Yesterday morning, about seven o'clock," writes Mr. E. L. Knight, from Naples, "I went out to get a carriage to go up Mount Vesuvius, and on my way I was asked if I had heard the news of the night. I was then told that hundreds of people who had gone up the night before to see the burning lava in the Atrio di Cavallo were dead. I had seen the mountain the night before, when there was a stream of lava running from the top of the cone into the Atrio-that is, the valley between Vesuvius and the adjoining hill, the Somma, where there seemed to be a lake of fire. Later in the night there was a tremendous eruption, a large crater opening suddenly between the Observatory and the Atrio di Cavallo, across the path of the visitors, it is said, of a mile diameter. We started from Naples at eight o'clock. I could see the lava rushing from several openings to the right of and above the Observatory, but below the cone. The lava was still flowing from the cone into the Atrio, but no ash or dust was thrown up. We drove on to Resina, where the population was in fearful excitement, not knowing what to do, and apparently apprehensive of instant death. A few minutes afterwards we met a cart bringing down a dead body, and as we went on we saw other bodies, at least twelve, of which one only appeared to be living. They were frightfully burnt on the face and hands, and some which were carried on chairs in a sitting position were very ghastly objects. We ascended on foot with the guide by a path straight up the mountain side. At length we stood on the edge of the flat ground sloping to the foot of the cone. Currents of lava were running down on both sides of us far below, but the craters from which they flowed were hidden by the smoke, clouds of smoke were ascending from the top of the cone, and the lava still pouring down to the Atrio. The roar of the mountain, which we had first heard at Portici, was now tremendous, continuous, and like millions of peals of thunder rolling at the same time, when suddenly, about noon, there was a cessation with a low rolling sound, and one heard the clicking and rippling of the lava currents pouring down the hill-sides below. Then, in about a minute, came a deafening roar, shaking the ground under our feet, and a new crater burst forth just on the farther side of the Observatory, as it seemed to us, and dense clouds of ashes and stones were thrown up into the air on the left hand of, and mingling with the great white cloud, making a great contrast with the dark brown dust and ashes which rose perpendicularly to an immense height. The roaring continued and kept on increasing till it became deafening. When we had gone down a short distance the same phenomena again appeared. All this time the sun was shining in an Italian sky without a cloud. When we reached Resina it was curious to see the congratulations for what they thought our escape on the faces of the people. The uncertainty and the panic were gone, and they were steadily packing up their beds and the few things they could carry and starting with every sort of conveyance to put their guardian saint, St. Gennaro, between them and the danger. When I started from Naples I expected to find all the world at the top of the mountain, but, to my great surprise, there was not a single stranger there-only the few persons employed in bringing down the dead. The awful roaring of the mountain continued and increased till midnight, when it ceased, and only roared for a short time about four o'clock. Today the mountain is quieter, and the Neapolitans are a trifle less pale. The view of the mountain at midnight was grand in the extreme." THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.-The International Exhibition for this year, 1872, in the Galleries erected around the Gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, at South Kensington, is now open to the public. It comprises, first, the annual collection of works of Fine Art, painting and sculpture, decorative pottery, furniture, metal ware, glass ware, mosaic, carvings, and embroidery ; secondly, the select samples of particular branches of manufacture appointed for display upon this occasion, which are the cotton manufacture, jewellery, musical instruments, paper, books, printing, and engraving. 30. DEATH OF A STUDENT OF CHRIST CHURCH.-Mr. George William Manuel Dasent, Junior Student of Christ Church, was drowned this afternoon while bathing in Sandford Lasher, near Oxford. The deceased had rowed down the river with two friends, and was bathing in the deep and dangerous pool at Sandford, already notorious for various fatal accidents. Mr. Dasent was in all respects of the very highest promise. CYCLONE AT MADRAS.-On Wednesday night and Thursday morning the cyclone with its full force broke upon Madras. The night was dark, and one was hardly able to see what damage was being done, but the frightful gusts of wind that now and again shook every house sufficiently prepared one to see signs of great destruction in the morning. The sights that were everywhere witnessed therefore did not take any one by surprise. Many houses had been damaged, some having their walls blown down, and others having their windows and doors carried away. Substantial structures were thrown down and shattered. Almost every vessel that had been riding at anchor in the roadstead on the previous evening had suffered severely. About half a dozen vessels were wrecked, and others were in great distress and were fast drifting towards shore. It would seem that the fury of the tempest acquired verygreat vigour at about three o'clock in the morning, and at this time signs of distress were communicated by some of the ships to the authorities on land. The marine officials at once rendered all the assistance possible, and at an early hour a large crowd of persons were assembled on the beach ready to do what they could to assist the unfortunate people in distress. By eleven o'clock many English ships were found to be wrecks. MAY. 1. THE TWO-THOUSAND DAY.-The great trial race of the year was won by Prince Charlie, the "roarer," a feat which many believed impossible, but which the public had anticipated by making him the first favourite. The three first horses were thus placed: Mr. Joseph Dawson's Prince Charlie, by Blair 1 |