his friend Vicuna should be appointed to the office, although he had a smaller number of voices than either of the other two; and, by his intrigues and influence, Vicuna was declared to have been elected. Prieto refused to submit to this decision; he had recourse to arms to support his pretensions, and a civil war was the consequence, Freire taking the field at the head of Vicuna's party. Engagements took place, not very bloody in themselves, and not at all decisive in their consequences; and Vicuna, in the mean time, continued to exercise the prerogatives of vice-president.

In this character, in the absence of the president, he assembled the legislative Chambers, on the 13th

of September; and, in his message, he described the republic as enjoying undisturbed repose, and pursuing a course of uninterrupted prosperity. The finances alone he described as being in a situation which "would not satisfy the wishes of the Congress." The revenue he estimated at 1,829,079 dollars, and the expenditure at 2,054,228, leaving a deficiency of 225,148. He entertained hopes, however, that the former might be increased, and the latter diminished, contrary to the course of things in all other South American states; and little was to be expected from an excess of revenue, when so small a republic was keeping on foot an army of 45,472 men, of whom 25,000 were cavalry.

CHRONICLE.

N the forenoon of Saturday,

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.

either side of his neck, grasped the

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 in which he continued till his arms and wrists were pinioned by the executioner, when he was left with the rev. Mr. Knight in the chapel. In the course of that gentleman's excellent advice to him, a marked alteration became visible in his manner; and, all in a moment, he called upon the Redeemer for mercy, an ejaculation he was never before heard to utter. In a few minutes after, the culprit was removed to the gallows, and the apparatus having been arranged, the reverend gentleman delivered a short and most impressive address, in the course of which the unhappy man exclaimed aloud-"Lord have mercy upon me!" At this moment the drop fell, and the criminal was launched into eternity. He seemed to die almost immediately. Notwithstanding the intensity of the cold, and the wind from the northeast blowing a complete hurricane, an immense crowd of persons were assembled.

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 to town. The agreement was, that witness should purchase every thing for them they might order, and send in a bill for the same at the end of the week. The first week's bill only was paid; the two following weeks they provided for themselves; and the last week witness again provided for them. They were in the receipt of money from a gentleman named Hare. Witness had known them to have 5l. in their possession. They did nothing to maintain themselves. Their conduct was very prudent. They were reserved in their manner, and witness seldom saw them to speak to them, except when sent for. They kept no company. At first they generally walked out twice a day, but latterly they went out but seldom, and since Friday last they had never been out of the house. Witness knew nothing of their providing opium; and was first alarmed by hearing their groans, when, on the door being forced open, she found them in bed. There were two tumblers in the room, which had contained laudanum. In answer to a question from witness, the survivor said, her sister was asleep, and had taken nothing. Witness was satisfied to the contrary, and instantly sent off for medical assistance.-Juror.— Had you refused to provide for them any longer?-Witness.——— Certainly not. Juror. Then they were not destitute?—Witness.-No: every thing they sent for I provided them with.

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 indemnify 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