display protracted through a whole week the
jury acquitted the woman, and convicted the priest,
but with a reserve of "extenuating circumstances" in
his favour, and he was condemned to the gallies for life;
but it is said that he intends to appeal against the
sentence.

An Extraordinary Escape from the Pentonville
prison was made by a convict named George Hacket on
the evening of Sunday the 1st inst. Having lately
escaped from a cell at the Marlborough police court,
and also attempted to escape from Newgate, he was
removed to Pentonville, and placed under the surveillance
of the prison officers. After service on the above
evening he was missing, and it was by finding the sheets
of his bed, a rope, and his clothing on the parapet-wall
that his mode of escape was detected. It appears that
he had wrested off the spring of the door of his cell,
which he formed into a "jemmy," and concealed about
him a weight and the sheets and rope of his bed, which
he must have wrapped round his body under his clothes.
As soon as he was conducted to his seat in the chapel he
must have slipped down off it on to the flooring, and by
the "jemmy" and weight forced out the boarding, thus
enabling him to descend to a small closet beneath. A
window with trifling protection afforded him access to
the parapet-wall some few feet below. Gaining it, he
proceeded along to one of the main walls, 50 or 60 feet
long, communicating to the governor's house, on the
north side of the prison. Reaching the end, he must
have got on to the roof of the house, a height of more
than six feet from the wall. He then must have
divested himself of the prison clothing, save his trousers
and blue shirt, and with the "jemmy," rope, sheets,
&c. left them on the roof, and by sliding down one of
the gable-end walls got clear of the gaol. The governor
despatched officers to the different police stations with a
full description of his person, and the inspector of
prisons instituted an inquiry into the circumstances attending
the convict's flight. Next evening the governor
received by post the following note:—

"Monday, Dec. 2, 1850.
"George Hacket presents his compts. to the Governor of
the Model Prison, Pentonville, and begs to apprise him of his
happy escape from the gaol. He is in excellent spirits, and can
assure the Governor that it wiill be useless for his men to pursue
him; that he is quite safe, and in a few days intends to proceed
to the continent to recruit his health."

All endeavours to discover and recapture him have been
unavailing.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

Two fatal accidents have happened in the Tunnelling
Operations now going on under the streets. To divert,
or suppress, the stench of a sewer discharging itself near
the New Houses of Parliament, a sluice-grated sewer
has been in course of excavation at the bottom of
Northumberland Street, Charing Cross, which would
carry the sewage into the Thames below the low-water
mark. On the 16th, there was a spring-tide; extra
precautions had been taken to keep out the water, and
they were thought to be sufficient. But while sixteen
persons were employed in the subterranean works, the
river suddenly made a breach through all obstructions,
and flooded the works. The men strove hard for life;
but two of them, Edward Gorman and William
Gardner, were overwhelmed by the rush of waters, and
drowned. The drowned men have each left widows
and families destitute; for whom the contractors,
Messrs. Humphreys and Thrist, declared their intention
to provide. At the inquest held on Wednesday, it
appeared that the contractors, without consulting the
Sewer officers, for a temporary facility to their works,
made an extra tunnel under "the Regent Street sewer,
with a roof of from four to six feet thickness of mud and
earth, resting on timber supports. On Monday morning
the men went down to work while a high tide was in
the dock; the earthy crown of the tunnel could not bear
the pressure, and the water rushed in. The inquiry
was adjourned till the 23d, when the Jury found the
following Verdict:—"Accidental death by drowning:
and the jury cannot separate without expressing their
opinion that great negligence is attributable to Messrs.
Humphreys and Thrist, and their foremen, Messrs.
Wheeler and Perrott, in not consulting the engineer
connected with the Victoria sewer."

More disastrous accidents from the Explosion of
Engine-boilers have occurred. At Halifax, on the 29th
ult., the boiler of a manufactory exploded while the
people were all at work in the afternoon: the boiler
was the centre one of three; above was a part of the
premises occupied by the workers, and this became a
heap of ruins, which the fires of the boilers set in a blaze,
that was with difficulty extinguished. Many were
buried in the rubbish, and it was a long time before the
debris could be cleared away to get at the unfortunate
people. Nine were taken out dead, and others were
found very much hurt. Another explosion subsequently
occurred at Bilston, in Messrs. Baldwin's colliery.
Though very violent, large masses of iron flying to a long
distance and destroying buildings, no one was killed.
The engineer was scalded, but is going on favourably.

The Duffryn mine, a new colliery in the valley of
Aberdare, has proved fatal to at least two lives. Fifty-
two persons were down a pit more than five hundred feet
deep, when an explosion shattered the "bratishing"
which lines the shaft, and closed up all means of escape,
and apparently all means of ventilation. After an hour
or two of painful suspense, a single bucket was got down
the pumping-shaft; and by its slow instrumentality all
the poor prisoners were drawn out but three. Two
lifeless bodies were extricated.

In the Morfa pit of Messrs. Vivian and Son, at
Taibach, Glamorganshire, at least two persons have
been killed, and some thirty wounded, by an explosion.
In the Abergwydden colliery, Monmouthshire, the
gearing of the lifting apparatus having gotten out of
order, the heavy "carriage" ran down the shaft with
frightful rapidity. A man stood beneath; panic rooted
him to the spot, and he was crushed to death.

Two Collisions on the Eastern Counties Railway took
place during the dense fog in London on the evening of
the 23rd. They both took place at Stratford, near the
Brick Lane goods station. The half-past four o'clock
down train to Hertford was standing at the Stratford
station, and on the eve of resuming its journey, when
the Enfield express, which left Bishopsgate at a quarter
to five, came in fearful contact with it, causing
considerable injury to the passengers in the two rear carriages
—a first and second class. The train, however, went on,
and ran into the Hertford carriages. The first struck was
a second-class, which was shattered in all directions; the
unfortunate occupants, with fractured limbs and
contused wounds, falling amongst the fragments. The next
carriage, a first-class, was then driven in, and the escape
of a lady and gentleman, Mr. and Mrs. Head, connected
with the firm of Charrington and Co., the brewers, who
occupied the coupé, was most surprising. They were
exposed almost to the full force of the collision. On
being extricated, however, although much shaken and
bruised, their limbs were not found to be fractured.
The density of the fog tended much to the alarm and
confusion, and during the period employed in removing
the injured persons from the wreck of the carriages their
cries for aid excited much sensation. At length they
were all extricated, and, apparently, every one who was
seated in the last two carriages was hurt, more or less.
The second collision was of a similar character; the
Norwich evening express overtaking the Colchester
parliamentary train, near the Brick Lane goods station,
and running into it. Both trains were overdue—the
Colchester about half an hour, and the Norwich an
hour; the fog and slippery state of the rails being the
primary cause. As in the other case, many persons were
hurt, some of them seriously, but no lives were lost.
Investigation, in both cases, will take place.

A Railway Accident occurred on the 23rd on the Leeds
and Selby line, near the Melford station. A heavily
laden luggage train from Leeds, arriving at a rather
steep ascent, the engine was unable to drag it up, and
it recoiled down the incline, running into another
luggage train coming from Leeds on the same line of rails
The engine and tender were smashed to pieces, and the