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1208 ^ THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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AN INJURED ANGEL. The St. Petersburg Cou...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Brutality Of A Cotton-Jloiid. Tun Follow...
very praosewortttily brought up her family of four girls Hitherto -without reproach , and it was therefore no wonder that she should severely feel the injury which lad been inflicted upon her children by the prisoner . The familyremoved to Heywood last September but one , and the four daughters went to work at Roach Mill . —The prisoner was a married man and had professed great interest in the welfare of Mrs . Jackson and her daughters , at whose house he had been a frequent visitor , and the mother had placed great reliance upon his protection . His brother Joseph had also professed paying attention to her eldest daughter Susannah . The charges against the prisoner would have to be supported by the uncorroborated testimony of the girls , and the magistrates
¦ would have to say , after they had heard the testimony , and after they had been cross-examined by Ms friend Mr . Grundy , if they believed their statement . There was another circumstance which doubtless would be relied upon by the defence , and that was that the offences were committed so far back as the 6 th and l £ th of November last , and that no communication was made by either of them until Thursday morning last . The explanation that he had to give was this—that there were four girls entirely dependent upon employment at the prisoner ' s ! mill , and that this circumstance , and a sense of shame , doubtless operated on the minds of the girls in concealing the . outrage ; but from the testimony of the mother and other parties , it would be shown that from
the period the offence wras committed to the present time , the girl Mary Ann had been continually fretting , and very low-spirited ; scarcely eating any food ; absenting herself from a place of worship where she had been a regular attendant ; and in fact had become quite an altered person ; and that her mother had repeatedly endeavoured to ascertain from her the cause of her grief , and it was only on Thursday morning last that she was enabled , with threats , to obtain any information from her . On that morning the girl came to breakfast , but eat nothing , and returned to her work , and the mother then ascertained , from her eldest daughter , that her sister had been again fretting . She sent for herfrom her wort , and after a good deal of trouble , she got to know what the prisoner
had done . Then it was that her sister , Elizabeth also communicated the attempt which the prisoner had made upon her on the 6 th , and warrants were forthwith taken out against the prisoner . —Mary Ann Davenport , a goodlooking young woman , who showed evident signs of suffering , and her sister Elizabeth , then deposed to the assault committed , upon them , which is totally unfit for publication . After hearing their mother ' s testimony , and Mr . Grundy on behalf of the prisoner , Mr . Openshaw , the magistrate , addressed the prisoner as follows : " Thomas Ellerbeck , after a long and painful hearing of the charges preferred against you , we have come to the conclusion tbat the more serious charge of rape must be dismissed ; but such , an opinion do we entertain on the subject , that we must say , if the young woman had complained to her mother at an earlier period , or had her
cries been heard by anyone , our decision would have been a very different one . The second charge preferred against you we consider has been fully established , and considering you in tlie character of a master and the father of a family , your conduct has been most scandalous and disgraceful , and we shall marie our sense of tho enormity of the offence by inflicting upon you the highest penalty the law allows us to do , which is that you be lined in the sum of 51 ., including costs , and in default of payment , you stand committed to the Houae of Correction for two months . Nor can we allow this painful inquiry to conclude without expressing our disapprobation of the conduct of you , Joseph Ellerbeck : the manner in which you have conducted yourself and the levity displayed by you during this inquiry have been such as to merit our severest censure , and we censure you accordingly . "—Tho fine was paid and the prisoner liberated .
1208 ^ The Leader. [Saturday,
1208 ^ THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
An Injured Angel. The St. Petersburg Cou...
AN INJURED ANGEL . The St . Petersburg Court Journal is by no means behind ita contemporaries of that capital in lamenting the European opinion of Russia ' s angelic policy : _ " Russia raised her voice in the political world entirely in a religious , moral , and philanthropic sense when she reminded tho Porte of earlier treaties , whoroby tho latter was bound to protect the Christian population of tho Turkish empire , and especially those of tho orthodox profession of faith . Novettholoaa Turkey acted in violation of all treaties purchased with Russian blood , and in ita broach of faith oppressed all orthodox Christiana . Conscience and sound * reason induced rational men throughout Europe (?) to boliovo that all European
Christian States would support tho disinterested ( I ) demands of Russia . But the reverse was tho caao . Tho party which thirsts for tho destructive overthrow of Europe has excited tho wnr against Russia , under tho pretext that European civilisation in menaced . This is nothing more nor loss than pitiful and ridiculous . Tho protectorate over Chriatians in tho Hast lxus been thrown in by Russia ' s enemioH as dangerous to European civilisation . Such indecency could scarcely Uavo boon hazarded in a theatrical farce , and yot it has found on echo in tho political world . And England , it it * addod , stands at tho head of this base conspiracy ; and its journal ^ copied by those of Franco and Germany , « ro tho trumpets of ttWBQ and other venomous calumnies . "
THE NEW METROPOLITAN COMMISSION OF SEWERS . —MR . F . O . WARD'S STATEMENT . Aftek the despatch of the ordinary business at last Tuesday's Court , Mr . F . O . Ward ( one of the new members appointed by the Home-office ) rose , pursuant to notice , " to call the attention of the Commission to the general policy of the Commission with respect to House drainage , District drainage , Main intercepting drainage , anil the Utilisation of sewage for agriculture ; also to submit to the consideration of the Court recent inventions calculated greatly to facilitate drainage operations . "
Mr . F . O . Ward , in a speech of upwards of an hour ' s duration , reviewed the existing policy of the Coramission in all it 3 above branches , and set forth the new policy , which , in his judgment , ought to be substituted for the old in each class of operations , in order to avoid the imperfect results of the half measures which have covered previous Commissions with unpopularity , and in order to bring about that complete purification of the London houses , and streets , and river , which can alone give satisfaction to the public , attended as such reform would he with an immediate reduction of existing charges , and diminution , of sickness and mortality , and with a prospective revenue of annually increasing amount , derivable from the application of the sewage manure on a constantly widemng tract of land .
With respect to Private house drainage , Mr . F . O . " Ward-said he took it first , because its actual condition presented the largest mass of urgent practical evil , and that which , happily , we could most rapidly and completely relieve , while other questions ( such as main drainage and outfall ) were under discussion . Of three tons of filth , one under a man's house , another in the open street , the tliird diffused through the vast body of the Thames , there could he no doubt that the first was the most horrible and deleterious nuisance , and that which pressed most urgently for abatement . Now , though there
were above one thousand miles of main sewers in London , two-thirds at least ( in many districts ninetenths ) of the houses , past which those sewers ran , had cesspools under them ; the old policy having been to run sewers through districts , without at the same time abolishing the cesspools , and extending branch drains to the houses on either side . The new policy , Mr- Ward said , should be forthwith to remove the excrement now buried , to the amount of a million tons at least , under the houses •> vithin reach of existing- sewers , to fill up those horrible pits of filth , and to replace the open privies by water-closets
draining into the sewers . This should he done with money borrowed on the security of a private improvement rate , of such amount as to distribute the cost over a term of thirty years . Such a rate would be very light ( about 2 d . per house per "week on the average ) , and as it could be fairly apportioned between occupier and owner , and would , put an end moreover to existing charges foj ? cesspool-cleansing , & c , of greater amount than the rate itself , it would be willingly paid for the great benefit secured . Their Act contained powers enabling them to carry out such a policy , though those powers had hitherto been
suffered to he comparatively dormant , probably from attention not having been sufficiently called to tho advantages which would ensue from their exercise . In illustration of those advantages , Mr . Ware ] cited the case of Lambeth-square , a square of thirty-four small houses , situated near the Waterloo Railway Station , in a low , unhealthy neighbourhood , with imperfect main drainage by tidc-loclccd sewers ; a square inhabited by 560 persons of tho artisan class , and which had been visited by cholera in 1849 , and most fearfully ravaged by typhus in 1852 , while
cesspools and open privies wore retained ; but which , having in tho autumn of I 8 . i 2 boon fitted with waterclosets , draining to tho sower through 4-inch pipos , and the cesspools having been abolished , hnd not since produced a single case of typhus ; while last summer ' s cholera , though it had ravaged the surrounding streets , hud left Lnmboth . sq . imro entirely untouched .. Mr . Ward exhibited a map of tho Bquare , and of tho streets adjacent ; those latter blackened with dote , indicative of the number of deaths by this year ' s cholera , while Lambeth-square itself stood out , a white epot in tho midat , not one man , woman ,
or child , having died of cholera in any of these properly drained houses . The cost of the improvement had only been about 6 l . per house , or about 200 ? . in all ; and the agent for the property had informed Mr . Ward , that each house brought 28 Z . a year rent now-, more readily than 26 / . a year before the improvement , besides which the tenants , instead of being frequently ill and unable to pay their rent , paid regularly ; and instead of the houses standing frequently vacant as before , some times seven o > r eight empty at once , there were always now more applicants than houses to > let ; so > that , on the whole
the property produced from 100 / . to 120 ? . per annum more than before the improvement . Such improvements , Mr . Ward said , might "be extended within twelve months to extensive districts of the metropolis , comprising probably from 100 , 000 to 150 , 000 houses . The expenditure of from half a million to a million sterling in this way , would do more direct and immediate good than any other measure he knew of . And they should do this at once , beginning with those houses , or groups of houses , which the late epidemic had marked out as Ckolera-death-housesy most urgently requiring- fortification against future
invasions of disease . Fiom 10 , 000 to 20 , 000 deathhouses should , at all events , be thus dealt with before the next liot season ; and such an operation would effect a large reduction in the next year ' s mortality returns . To illustrate further the pecuniary benefit which would result from this policy to the rate-payers and to ' society at large , Mr . Ward computed the pressure weighing on the rates and on the general resources of the community , in consequence of preventible sickness and death , and showed how heavy that pressure was , even if the funerals in excess were only taken at 4 l . each on an
average , the eases of illness at I / -each ( a low estimate ) , and the value of the labour lost at I ' Os . per week on the males laid up , and 5 s . per week on the females . Applying these figures to the preventible sickness and Mortality of London , Mr . Ward showed that the pressure on the means of the community ranged from 30 s . to 40 s . per liead per annum , causing a vast aggregate loss , which might be rapidly diminished and ultimately saved by extending , as proposed , to London at large , the simple and cheap improvements that had worked so admirably in Lambeth-square . From private house drainage , Mr . F . O . Ward
proceeded to street or main drainage , and thence to the grand scheme of intercepting draiaage , "which led to the question of sewerage utilisation , by irrigating ; pipes , precipitating processes , & c . On each of these topics in succession , he examined the old policy of previous Sewer Commissioners , and set forth with great clearness the new policy ho would recommend for adoption , describing as he went on several new inventions adapted to meet special difficulties ( amongst others , a mode of making jointless pipe-drains in continuous lengths of indefinite extent ) , and sketching- out a series of practical measures , which we regret our inability , through tho pressure on our columns , to insert this week . Mr . F . O . Ward was listened to
throughout with tine deepest attention by tire Court , every member of which was present ; and on his concluding :, Sir John Shelley rose , and in thu name of his colleagues ] thanked him for tho luminous and comprohon aive statement which they had just ; heard , and which ho trusted they would have in print . There appeared , indeed , to be a very general concurrence in Mr , Ward ' s views , to which , as they refer to matters of deep and permanent interest , wi ? shall revert ; making each brunch of his argument , and each of his main conclusions , the subject of « soparato report j and in tho moan time warmly supporting tho plain and practical suggestion with which ho concluded this first portion of his address : —
"That measures of prlvato house improvement , such as have worked well in Liimbotlx-squaro , preventing cholera , diminishing tho tenants' expense ? , and increasing tho landlord ' s profit , should bo immediately extended throughout London along the lint s of tho existing sowora , precedence being given to tho Cholcra-dcath-housoa ; amd tho requisite cnpitiil being raised by loan , and repaid by improvonicui rates , so as to spread tho cost over thirty yenr , thus obviating undue pressure on individual ru-Hovircos , and coupling tho sanitary bonoflt couibrro I with an immediate reduction of oxiBting charges . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 23, 1854, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23121854/page/8/
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