CHRONICLE. JANUARY. N the forenoon of Saturday, either side of his neck, grasped the On the foremen of Stupards back of his neck with his tusks, in the menagerie at the Tower, attacked a young man of the name of Croney. The employer of Croney had contracted with Mr. Copps, the manager of the exhibition, for the bones of the carcasses with which the wild animals are fed; and on Saturday morning he was sent with a horse and cart to remove them. The keepers had just before been employed in cleansing the dens, and had heaped the bones up in the yard, preparatory to their removal. In securing the cages again, they had neglected to bolt the door of the leopard's den, which worked in a groove, backwards and forwards, similar to a glass case. Croney, having entered the yard alone, with a basket to remove the refuse, commenced his work, but had not been many seconds employed, when on raising his head, he perceived the leopard push back the door with his paw. Seeing the perilous situation in which he was placed, he made for the keeper's apartment, but before he could stir many paces, the infuriated beast sprang from his den towards him. Croney flew behind some timber near him, thinking to avoid the fury of the animal, but at that moment the leopard pounced upon him, and, sticking his immense claws on VOL. LXXII. and kept a fast hold. The poor fellow shrieked out in excruciating pain, and, with the animal fastened as above described, he hobbled to the keeper's room, when he found the door fastened by a latch, and could not open it. However, his cries being at length heard by two of the keepers, they came immediately to his assistance; but, before they could arrive, the animal had got his victim upon the ground, keeping fast hold of him by the neck. The men endeavoured to entice the beast away, but finding all attempts to allure him fruitless, one of them seized a fowling-piece, and commenced beating him over the head with the butt-end, till they succeeded in completely stunning him; and, being no longer able to keep his hold, he dropped insensible, but not till the gun was broken in pieces. The young man was immediately carried to the house of a surgeon upon Towerhill, where the wounds in his neck were dressed, and from thence he was taken to Guy's hospital, when, upon examination, the vertebræ of the neck were found to be extensively lacerated by the teeth of the beast, and each side of the neck upon the shoulders was equally injured by its talons, which had penetrated to a great depth. B 9. FIRE AT SHEERNESS.-On the morning of the 9th, a fire broke out at Sheerness, and, owing to the combustible nature of the buildings, the houses being built almost wholly of fir and weather boarding, and many of them covered with tarpaulins, it destroyed fifty houses, besides out-buildings, before it could be checked. 11. EXECUTION.--This morning, William Banks was executed at Horsemonger-lane. He had been capitally convicted of a daring burglary and outrage in the house of the rev. Mr. Warrington, at West Moulsey, in December, 1828. He was a powerful, athletic man, and stood about five feet ten inches high, and his age was about 36 years. For a long time, he had been connected with a formidable gang of robbers, whose leader he became, from his robust person, and being considered the most bold and determined among them. The gang broke into the rev. Mr. Warrington's premises, and to accomplish their purpose, tied Mr. Warrington and his lady, and the two female servants, with cords, and secured them in the cellar, whilst they rifled the house of the property. They then possessed themselves of the reverend gentleman's horse and gig, in which they carried away their plunder. On Sunday, Banks took leave of a female with whom he cohabited, and of his two sisters. He was quite unmoved, and talked to them of his worldly affairs with the greatest indifference and recklessness, and upon parting with them for ever he carelessly said, "Good bye, if you are going." He slept during the night, and early in the morning was joined by the two clergymen. They found him in precisely the same unfeeling state in which they had left him over-night, and 12. INQUEST. An inquest was held on the body of Miss Charlotte Both, one of three Hanoverian ladies, who, some months before, had attempted to drown themselves, by leaping into the Thames, on which occasion one of them perished. The following evidence was adduced. Mr. Wm. Davis Lamb, surgeon, deposed, that he first saw the deceased about half past 11 o'clock on Monday night, at her lodgings in Albany-street. She was then in a state of stupefaction from the effects of laudanum and opium. Two tumblers were shown witness, in which were the dregs of both opium and laudanum. Witness was informed, that, about ten minutes before he arrived, groans were heard in the room, and that the watchman had been sent for to break open the door. Witness left the house for the purpose of fetching his stomach-pump, and on his return found Mr. Johnson there, using one upon the deceased. Witness assisted, and it was after wards applied to the other sister, who had also swallowed the same poisons. The sister said, they had each taken 12 grains of crude opium, and an ounce and a half of laudanum. Both laudanum and opium were extracted by the pump from their stomachs. The deceased appeared to be relieved by the operation, but never recovered her senses. She died at half-past 3 o'clock on Tuesday morning. Mr. Wm. Baldry, the landlord of the house in which the inquisition was held, being summoned, said, about 12 o'clock on Monday night, a messenger came to his house for hot water, for the use of the medical gentlemen. Witness took it to the house himself, and remained there. One of the medical gentlemen, after the poison had been extracted, kept moving the deceased up and down the room, and witness did the same for the other, till eight o'clock in the morning. By that time the one with whom the witness was walking, had greatly recovered, and was quite sensible, and talked with witness. Mrs. Perceval deposed, that she was landlady of the house, No. 157, Albany-street. The deceased and her sister came to lodge with her a month back last Tuesday. They occupied the second floor, and were recommended by a neighbour, living at No. 37, in the same street, who described them as highly respectable, and paying regularly, and that the reason he was obliged to part with them was, that the apartments they were occupying belonged to a lady who was about to return Mr. Edward Simpson, headborough of Poplar, deposed, that he had been acquainted with the Misses Both since the 16th of June last, when they were brought to that parish, they having jumped out of a boat into the Thames. The last time he saw them was on the 21st of December. It was in Albanystreet. The conversation turned upon the treatment they had received from the Lambeth-street magistrates, and other gentlemen of Poplar. The deceased expressed herself greatly dissatisfied with it, although witness knew the magistrates had behaved to them as kindly as if they had been their own daughters. The deceased appeared to have great control over her sister, and would not allow her to say anything. She completely tyrannized over her. Once when witness accompanied Mr. Hardwick and Mr. Wyatt to see them, several questions were put to the surviving sister, but the deceased interfered, and would not allow her to answer them. The deceased herself would talk for hours together. Witness thought her deranged, from ambition; her ideas were most extravagant; she seemed to think his Majesty's palace hardly good enough for her. At the conclusion of the conversation which took place when witness last saw her, she said, "I request when I am dead that I may be buried by my sister in Poplar church-yard." Witness thought from her manner that she had then made up her mind to destroy herself, and he mentioned it to one of the magistrates, who agreed in the same opinion. They left Poplar about four months back, and went to Gray's-inn-road. There was a public subscription raised for their benefit at the time of their throwing themselves into the Thames, but how it had been appropriated he had been unable to learn. They were for a month under his charge at that time, and he advanced them 291., but had been repaid only 10l. Their bro ther-in-law had undertaken to indemuify him. The coroner, in summing up, observed, that the whole family appeared to be in a state of insanity. What their sufferings had been he did not know, but it seemed they had produced an effect on their minds, of which these were the consequences. Great care had been taken of them, but their ambition was so great as to render them insensible of its value. There appeared to him to be no doubt but that the deceased had taken the poison with the intention of destroying herself, and that she was at the time in a state of insanity. Before returning their verdict, the jury proceeded to view the body, which was lying on a bed, on the second floor of No. 157 Albany-street, and on their return unanimously pronounced a verdict, finding "That the deceased had committed suicide while in a state of temporary insanity." Bow STREET. A statement having appeared in the newspapers, calling upon the police authorities to inquire into the proceedings of an infamous gang of swindlers, who infested a court in the neighbourhood of Drury-lane, and, under the pretence of telling fortunes, were in the habit of robbing and ill-treating those who were foolish enough to consult the old sibyl who was supposed to be the prime mover of the gang, sir Richard Birnie deemed it right to depute Taunton, the senior officer of Bow-street, to inquire into the matter, and endeavour to discover whether there was any truth in the statements which were made. Taunton and Stevens accordingly set about the matter, and having ascertained that a woman, who was in the habit of telling fortunes, lived at No. 15, Charles-street, Drury-lane, a plan was fixed upon to entrap her, and the result was her appearance at the bar of the office on a charge of fortunetelling. She no sooner entered the office, than she was recognized by sir Richard Birnie and the officers as an old acquaintance, being one of the endless family of the Lovells, of Gipsy and fortune-telling notoriety, with all the characteristics of her wandering tribe strongly marked upon her countenance. She said her name was Mary Jones, and admitted that her maiden name was Lovell.-Susan Jeffrey, a middle-aged woman, was then called forward as a witness. She stated, that she was the wife of a carpenter, who lived at Somers-town. About 11 o'clock that morning she went to the residence of the prisoner, at No. 15, Charles-street, Drury-lane, for the purpose of having her fortune told. Upon inquiring for the prisoner, she was shown up stairs to the first floor, where she found her. On learning her business, the prisoner took her into the back-room, and asked her if she knew her charge. "Yes," replied the witness; "I understand it is half-a-crown, but as I am a poor woman, I hope you will take less." The prisoner answered, that her usual price was five shillings, and added she would consent to take half-a-crown from the witness, if she could not afford to pay more, but of that sum she would not abate a farthing. Witness accordingly gave her a half-crown piece, and the prisoner took her to a window, and asked her whether she wished to have her fortune told by the planets, the cards, or the hands? Witness replied, "whichever way you please.' The prisoner then looked hard in her face, and, after pausing a few moments, said, "Your husband, I find, is dead, my good woman; you will never see him more in this life. You are living with a man who is rather inconstant to you, and who is in the habit of illtreating you; but I will bind him down in such a manner that he shall neither leave you nor ill-use you."-Sir R. Birnie.-And is it true that your husband is dead, and that you are living with another man? Witness.-No, your worship; my husband, thank God, is alive and well, and I have no occasion for any other man.—Mr. Minshull.-But did she promise you nothing more? Witness.Oh yes, your worship, she said I should become possessed of a deal of property before the end of the new year, but I suppose that is just as true as the rest. "Well, Mrs. Jones," said sir R. Birnie, "have you anything to say why you should not be sent to prison as a fortune-teller ?"-" My dear good Sir, I will tell you all about it," said the Gipsy. "This good woman comes three times to look for me, to ask me if I could dissolve her a question or two. She said, she wanted to know whether her husband was dead or alive. She then forced half a crown upon me, and asked me to introduce her to some nice young man to be her sweetheart. But I said, 'No, my good woman, you are too old for that; and as for your husband, I can tell you nothing about him.' So she puts down the half-crown upon the table, and that gentleman (pointing to Taunton) picked it up."-Taunton, being sworn, stated, that he gave half-a-crown, |