At the Thames Police Office, on the 18th, John
Murphy was charged with being in the Hutchinson's
Arms public-house, Devonport Street, with Intent to
Commit a Felony. The curious point in the case was
the discovery of the thief by a cat. Murphy was
supposed to have left the taproom late at night; the
cat was noticed to be uneasy—rushing at the fire-place,
mewing, purring, and exhibiting anger. This induced
the publican to look up the chimney; whence he
succeeded in drawing down Murphy by the heels: a
candle and lucifer-matches were found upon him. It
would seem that in other cases the prisoner had robbed
public-houses by concealing himself in the chimney at
night. He was sent to prison for three months for his
concealment at the Hutchinson's Arms.

On the 19th, John Gould was tried for the Manslaughter
of a child named Towers. The evidence showed that
it was the result of accident. Gould, an old soldier,
decorated with two medals, is toll-man in the Vauxhall
Bridge Road; a window of the toll-house overlooks a
lane, apparently little frequented; Gould had been
washing a basin with boiling water, and he emptied it
out of the window, having no reason to believe at that
time that any one was passing. Unfortunately two
children, had wandered thither; the scalding water
fell upon Towers, and eventually caused his death.
Gould otfered all the reparation in his power to the
parents. Officers in the army gave him an excellent
character. He was at once aquitted and discharged.

Mr. Alexander Shiver, a draper residing at Cheltenham,
was charged at the Marylebone Police Court, on the 24th,
by the superintendent of the Great Western Railway
Company's police, with Throwing a Bottle from a carriage
belonging to an excursion train, in which he was a
passenger on the previous day, and wounding James
Wise, one of the guards, at the Farringdon station. The
defendant admitted having thrown the bottle, but without
intending to hurt any one, and was liberated on bail
till the wounded man's condition was ascertained. On
the following day, Mr. Shiver re-appeared, and the guard,
who seemed very weak and had his head bound up,
stated the way in which he had been injured. The defendant's
solicitor said, that as the occurrence was accidental,
and as there was no danger to be apprehended, he
trusted the magistrate would permit the defendant to
make a compensation to the guard for the injury sustained.
The magistrate said he could not consent to
any compromise in a case in which the public were
materially interested, and enlarged the bail in order
that the case might be brought before the magistrates
in the part of the country where the offence was committed.

At the Southwark Police Court, on the 25th, a young
man named Cornelius Burrell was charged with being
A Suspected Person, and with loitering about the South
Eastern Railway Terminus for the purpose of committing
felony. A policeman stated, that the prisoner with
several others were in the habit of lurking about the
railway, and were a source of great annoyance to the
public, particularly on the arrival of trains, and
that many robberies of females had occurred, who entrusted
their property to those fellows, and in many
instances never saw it again. On the previous night
the prisoner was hanging about the place, and he
(policeman) took him into custody, and locked him up.
The magistrate said, that the policeman had no right to
proceed in that manner. All that the prisoner was
proved to have done was to walk about the place leading
to the railway, which was open to every body; and it
was not even alleged that any offence had been committed
by him. The prisoner was therefore discharged.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

THE ship Indian, A fine East Indiaman, was
Wrecked on the 4th of April, on her outward
voyage from England to Bombay, on the Cargados reef
of rocks, near the Mauritius. About eight o'clock at
night, when running at six knots an hour, through some
mistake, it would seem, in the reckoning, she suddenly
struck with a dreadful crash, and almost immediately
went to pieces. The loss of life and property was deplorable.
A letter from a gentleman on board gives a
striking account of the catastrophe, and the sufferings
of the survivors:—"We saw in a moment that all hopes
of saving the vessel were at an end, as she heeled over
to the leeward suddenly, the sea making a clear breach
over her every roller. This was the work of a few
minutes only. Three parts of the crew were by this
time on their knees, crying and making the most frantic
appeals to Heaven for aid. All order and discipline were
now at an end. The carpenter and two seamen attempted
to cut away the masts; but, owing, I suppose, to the
excitement of the moment, they cut away the weather
rigging only. The masts, of course, went by the board;
but, being still attached to the vessel by the lee rigging
and falling over to seaward, they served as a battering-ram,
beating the vessel to pieces every successive roller.
After the first burst of excitement was over, a simultaneous
rush was made for the boats; but we found the
only one that was available was the starboard quarter
boat; the other two had been staved to pieces by the
wreck. The captain was not slow in taking to our only
apparent chance of escape—the remaining boat; eight of
the seamen speedily following him. They shoved off,
but pulled back once or twice near to the vessel, asking
for water and bread, which, of course, it was quite out
of our power to supply them with. He then pulled
away altogether, which was the last we saw of him.
The ship by this time was breaking up fast—the stern-frame
burst out and was thrown up on the starboard
quarter; and in a few minutes afterwards she parted
amidships, leaving thirteen persons exposed to the fury
of the surf on the forepart of the starboard broadside,
where we remained till the morning broke. The tide
turned about this time from ebb to flood, when the
rollers came in with redoubled violence, and dashed the
remainder of the wreck into pieces. All were immediately
buffetting with the waves. Sharks innumerable
surrounded us on all sides, which very much increased
the terrors of our situation. Owing to my being hurled
on the rocks by the surf two or three times, I lost my
senses, and was perfectly unconscious as to what occurred
till I found myself resting on a spar with a sailor.
I found the ship had gone to pieces, and that five of our
comrades had perished. Water surrounded us in every
direction, with nothing in view but one or two small
sandbanks, and those a long distance off. By night we
had constructed a rude kind of raft, on which we slept;
but as the tide ebbed we grounded, and, with the exception
of our heads, we were literally sleeping in the
water, cold and wretched, but still, comparatively speaking,
safe. We remained on the raft in this state two
days and nights; the sun scorching us by day, and the
wind, owing to our being wet, making us dreadfully
cold at night. On Sunday, the third day, having found
a small quantity of oatmeal, we determined to start for
the nearest sandbank. A sixty-gallon cask of beer, two
six-dozen cases of wine, a piece of bad pork, and the
oatmeal, were the only things saved from the wreck.
We turned the raft, and after a severe day's work
reached the bank about sunset, and once more put our
feet upon dry land. We had only eaten once, and then
but sparingly. Thus we lived fourteen days and nights,
subsisting on sharks' flesh and the wine and beer we
saved. Not a drop of water was to be had. On the
20th of April we saw a vessel to the leeward of us, and
endeavoured to attract her attention by means of a boat-hook
and a shirt attached; but she did not or would not
see us. The next day, about one hour before sunset,
another vessel hove in sight, and about the same spot
the ship of the previous evening was seen. We again
hoisted our signal, and walked about the bank, to show
there were living creatures on it. We thought she did
not see us; and after taking our allowance of oatmeal
and sharks' flesh, we lay down for the night's rest. In
a short time, however, we were alarmed by the barking
of our dog; and on getting on our legs discovered to our
delight a boat close in upon the sands. She belonged to
the vessel we had seen in the evening. The mate and
one of the passengers went on board that night, and the
rest of the survivors were taken off the next morning;
when we were conveyed safely to the Mauritius."