was excited by Mr. Pries failing to complete the terms
which he had entered into with the bankers who had
favoured his advances. The house of Messrs. Holford
and Co., foreign bankers, on the 1st inst., advanced
£18,000 on warrants, to be repaid on the following
Monday, and the house of Messrs. Monteaux and Co.
granted £9,000 on similar securities and conditions.
Failing in his payments, the firms pressed him, and he
succeeded in putting them off from day to day, until
proceedings were at length threatened. However, on
Saturday week the clerks of those houses called upon
him at his offices, when he handed cheques for the
amounts demanded. He gave two to the representative
of Messrs. Holford—one for £5,000, payable on that day
(Saturday), and the other for £14,000, which included
interest—and to that of Messrs. Monteaux a cheque also
payable on that day. The clerk of Messrs. Monteaux
noticed some peculiarity in Pries' behaviour which
aroused his suspicions. He communicated his
misgivings to the principals of the house, who at once put
themselves in communication with his bankers. The
bank had closed for the day, but they ascertained that
the cheque would not be cashed. Inquiries were then
instituted as to the bonâ fide value of the documents
upon which the advances had been obtained, which
resulted in the discovery of one being forged. While
this investigation was going on, one of the clerks was
despatched to Pries' private residence at Brixton, with
a view of seeing him. The clerk saw Mrs. Pries, who
showed him a letter in her husband's handwriting. It
contained these words: "My dearest, dearest Matilda,—
When you get over the first shock you will be better
without me. Teach little —— not to hate the name of
his wretched father. Oh, God! by what a chain of
circumstances I have been led to this!" The next
sentence was, "I am an impostor, a swindler, and a
forger. I shall take the quickest means of putting an
end to my existence." The clerk hastened back to his
employers, who, not crediting the contents of the letter,
proceeded to the City Police Commissioner's office, in
the Old Jewry, and instructed Mr. Hodgson, the
superintendent, to take active steps to apprehend Mr. Pries
on a charge of forgery; at the same time offering a
thousand guineas reward for his capture. It was
effected just as the prisoner was about to start by the
train for Newcastle, in which he had already taken his
seat. When brought to the police station he was
confronted with the principals of Messrs. Monteaux,
who preferred the charge on which he was detained and
locked up. In the interval it had been ascertained that
both the cheques given to Messrs. Holford—to the
amount of £19,000, £18,000 being the amount advanced,
and £1,000 for interest—had been returned, Pries not
having more than £50 at his banker's. On his
apprehension being made known, much excitement prevailed
in the city, which in a few hours was increased by the
announcement of the stoppage occasioned by the
discovery of the house of Messrs. Coleman and Stolterfoht
by false bills of lading and granary warrants. Mr. Pries
has been brought up at the Mansion-house for
examination; and evidence was brought forward of other
cases in which he had obtained money to the amount of
£50,000. He has been committed for trial.

Some time ago a rule for a new trial was obtained in
the cause of Achilli versus Newman, on the ground that
tlie verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence.
The question has been argued in the Court of Queen's
Bench at great length, but judgment has not yet been
given.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

The St. George, an American emigrant ship, was
Lost on the 24th of December, on her passage from
Liverpool to New York. The St. George left Liverpool
on the 24th November, with 127 passengers, chiefly
Irish, and a crew of 25. On the above day, a fire broke
out in the hold, which it was found impossible to quench.
Seven or eight persons were suffocated by smoke. The
Orlando, Captain White happened to be near; but she
had lost her sails and boats in a violent gale. The
St. George had two boats; but the first was knocked
to pieces in approaching the Orlando, as the sea was
very rough. There was now but one boat to save 150
people, and this boat would only hold 4 or 5 at a
time. The flames gained ground, and the wind blew
furiously. The only way for the people to get into the
boat was by leaping into the sea, from which they were
picked up. After 64 trips, 76 passengers and all the
crew were got on board the Orlando. Besides the 8 who
were suffocated, 15 of the passengers were drowned
by leaping into the sea; while 28 women and children
were left in the burning vessel, as they refused to
attempt the only means of escape—the frightful plunge
into a tempestuous ocean. The Orlando was compelled
to leave these unfortunate people. Even those on board
the Orlando were threatened with famine—both food
and water were exhausted; but a favouring wind carried
them to Havre in 11 days, before their destitute state
had done serious mischief.

Accounts from Madras state that the young Marquis
of Lisboa, a Midshipman on board her Majesty's ship
Hastings, has been accidentally killed by Prince
Ernest of Saxe Leiningen, a brother midshipman,
through the incautious use of loaded fire-arms.

During the storm at the end of last month, a large
brig called the Lily, was stranded and Destroyed by an
explosion of gunpowder, on the coast of the Isle of Man.
Her cargo consisted of about 50 tons of gunpowder,
20 puncheons of rum, a quantity of arms, and some bale
goods, containing articles for barter on the coast of
Africa. The vessel was beating about the channel till
the morning of the 27th ult., when she was driven by
the violence of the storm to the Sound of the Calf of
Man, and stove on Kitterland Island. With a desperate
effort, most of the crew (13 in number) reached the
rocks by the aid of the boats. Captain Owens and three
of the crew got on the ledge of a rock, from which two of
the seamen sprang to the land; but the captain, in
attempting to do the same, was drowned. The cook and
two lads met the same fate. The carpenter was killed
by the mast falling upon him. Thus five of the crew
were lost. Early next morning, Mr. Lace, shipbroker of
Port St. Mary, being sub-agent for Lloyd's, repaired to
the wreck with 31 men, to see what could be saved. At
a quarter before eight a violent shock was felt throughout
the southern district of the island; and a sheet of fire
and pillar of smoke were seen to be hurled into the air
from the wreck. A large portion of the powder had
been placed so high in the vessel that it did not get wet
by the waves breaking on it. The explosion dashed the
vessel to atoms, and blew to fragments upwards of
30 human beings. Only one individual escaped to tell
the story, although one cheek and ear were taken off,
and he was otherwise much injured. 32 men (besides
the 5 of the crew that were lost on Monday) were killed,
leaving 23 widows and 73 fatherless cliildren. The
explosion was heard in Douglas, and was supposed by
many persons to have been an earthquake. Fragments
of the wreck were thrown as far as the Red Gap, near
Castletown, being a distance of 6 miles. Portions of
the vessel and cargo, consisting of chain-links, portions
of gun-barrels, swords, caps, fragments of wreck, shirts,
&c. have also been picked up in various parts of the
parish of Rushen. Some pieces of burning cotton were
actually found six miles off.

The most terrible Railway Accident that has ever
happened in this country took place on the evening of
the 3rd inst on the Buckinghamshire line, belonging to
the London and North Western Company, within a mile
from Oxford. At half-past five o'clock a passenger train
of three carriages was to be started from Oxford.
Between Wolvercot and Oxford, in consequence of the late
rains, a portion of a tunnel had fallen in. The injury
was partially repaired; but meanwhile the up-line only
had been reserved for the traffic, whilst the down-line
was appropriated to the use of the contractors until the
tunnel should have been suitably restored. Only one
set of rails, therefore, was assigned to the traffic. On
the evening in question a coal train was expected at the
Oxford station at 5.20; the passenger train mentioned
above was to start at 5.30. The driver, John Tarry, the
fireman, Robert Bugden, and the guard of the last
named train were warned by the station-master not to