Both was confined in a room, along with an idiot, in the western tower of the Castle. Immediately beneath was the kitchen, in which the prisoners' food was usually cooked. Hughes's door was strongly fastened on the outside, but that of the cooking room was not. communicated with the great staircase, upon which all the prisoners' cells open. He had torn up some of the flooring boards of his own apartment, broken through the ceiling, and had, by the aid of his bed-clothes, descended into the room below. From this his passage to the staircase was both easy and direct. It appears he had then taken a long table out of the cooking-room, and by placing one end thereof on the iron hand-rail of the stairs, and inclining the other against the wall, he had suc. ceeded in reaching a small square hole which communicated with the garret or cockloft immediately under the roof. Nothing but the removal of a few lathes and slates was necessary to enable him to reach the leads. It would seem that he had gained possession of a vast quantity of blankets, sheets, &c., as they enabled him to descend from the giddy parapet into the fosse, a height of no less than sixty feet. A door opens from the foot of the staircase into this fosse or yard; it was strongly fastened on the outside by a heavy padlock. This lock he had wrenched asunder with a piece of an old poker. Having thus gained possession of the staircase from the outside, he had only to tear away the locks from the cell doors of the following prisoners: John_Kaighan, Henry Tyson, George Rowley, R. Magee, and W. Trafford. These being liberated, brought down with and other materials, which they piled together upon the roof of a small outhouse, and thus succeeded in surmounting the high wall which divided the prisoners' yard from the space leading to the ramparts; these they finally ascended and traversed till they reached the ruined ivy-covered bastion which abuts on the quay. From this they descended, being assisted by some fishing nets which happened to be drying thereon. Without further daring, all this ingenuity and prowess would have been of no effect. They had escaped from the prison, and their next step was to escape from the island. This they effected with a skill and decision no way inferior to that manifested in the commencement of their enterprise. They knew that Mr. Gawne had pleasure-boats constantly on the beach, at the southern end of the rabbit warren, and where the stream that passes Kentraug enters the sea. Thither they repaired, and succeeded in launching his smallest one. They stored her with a quantity of fish which they found drying at the doors of different cottages in their line of march, and put in a pig trough for a tank, and supplied themselves with oars and spars, wherever they could be found. They had no sooner got fairly afloat in the bay, than they discovered Mr. Gawne's fine large pleasure boat at anchor. Here they found everything that they wanted for their escape; they therefore trans-shipped their fish, and abandoned the small boat, and were last seen sailing away past the Chickens with a brisk breeze and a flowing sheet, in the direction of Ireland. YEARS OF AGE CONVICTED OF MURDER. At the autumn sitting of the Justiciary Court in Stirling to-day, Allan Mair was accused of the murder of Mary Fletcher or Mair, his reputed wife. The interest of the case lay in the age of the parties; Mair being eightyfour years of age, and the woman a year older. It was stated, that he kept her short of food, although he did not want for it himself; and he had been heard to abuse her, "wishing she was in hell and her soul burning." On the night of the 14th May last, a neighbour heard him striking Mary, as if with a hammer, and saying that he would "make her put in the sneck of the bed;" it was a box bed, probably let into a recess in the wall, like a cupboard, and closed with a door; of which the "sneck" would be the hasp. The old woman was heard to say, "Let me lie and die in peace, and don't strike me any more." Next day he went to the Manse, as he said, "to tell the minister to make a snuff box of Mary." The old woman was discovered crouched up at the foot of the bed, covered with bruises and with blood; and she died of her wounds. Mair was found guilty, and sentenced by Lord Moncreiff to be hanged on the 4th October. [See p. 140.] property of a company at Hull. To-day she was engaged by a party of ladies and gentlemen for an excursion down the Humber to the Spurn light. She left Barton, a small village, at an early hour in the morning, and during her passage she called at Hull and other which amounted altogether to about 130 passengers, including a military band. The whole party spent a delightful morning, it being a very fine day, and on the steamer reaching the Spurn, which was about eleven o'clock, the company were landed on the sands, which are quite high and dry at low water, similar to the Goodwin Sands, and are a great resort for pleasure parties along this part of the coast during the summer. The steamer was run stem on to the sands for the purpose of more safely landing the company, and it appears that proper precautions were not adopted to get her off before the tide fell much lower. The consequence of this neglect was, that her stern kept lowering as the water receded, whilst her bow was firmly imbedded in the sand, until she slipped completely into one of the steepest parts of the spurn. In the meantime the party was enjoying themselves to the utmost on the sands, little dreaming of the sad calamity which had befallen their conveyance, and on their returning to the vessel about three o'clock in the afternoon, they found to their surprise that the sea was rushing in at the aftercabin windows with great violence. The crew failed in altering her position, and as the tide rose she gradually filled, and was soon lost to the eye. The unfortunate company were rescued from their perilous situation by a sloop called the Hope, and were safely landed at a late hour the same evening at Barton. 16. SHOCKING SUICIDE. The Rev. Mr. Hare, of Liddington, had been for some time indisposed with a low nervous affection. This morning, when Dr. Maurice, tendant, called to see him, Mrs. Hare, who was sitting in the parlour, told the doctor, in answer to his inquiry as to Mr. Hare's health, that she thought him much better-that he was just gone upstairs; and added, "Perhaps you will go up and see him, Sir." Dr. Maurice accordingly went upstairs, and, to his horror, found the rev. gentleman weltering in his blood, with his head nearly severed from his body. He had not left Mrs. Hare more than ten minutes. MELANCHOLY COACH ACCIDENT.-This morning, as the Red Rover coach was coming from Ludlow to Bewdley, when within a mile and a half of the latter town, the fore axletree broke; the coach at the time was coming down the hill at a very slow rate, and the wheel had the slipper on, or the accident might have been attended with more dreadful consequences than it was. The coach was very heavily loaded, and the whole of the passengers were violently precipitated to the ground, most of them receiving severe bruises. One gentleman, a Mr. Thomas, of Camberwell, Surrey, received such injury by the coach falling upon him, that he was obliged to be carried to the Wheatsheaf Inn, Bewdley, and on his arrival there every attention was paid him by the medical gentlemen in attendance, but he rapidly sank and expired about two o'clock next morning. The deceased was a native of Ludlow, aged fifty-seven; he had retired from business, and came in the country to see his old friends. 17. DESTRUCTIVE FIRES.-TWO fires broke out almost simultane ously this night, in the neigh quickly followed by fresh outbreaks in Old-street, St. Luke's; Primrose-street, Bishopsgate street; Cottage-place, Lion-street, New Kent-road; Halfmoon-street, Bishopsgate, and Wapping; in fact, throughout the whole night the entire brigade were almost brought into requisition, and the duty which the firemen had to perform was one of a most harassing character. At each of these fires considerable damage was occasioned, more particularly the one in Oldstreet, St. Luke's which excited some strong suspicions that it had not originated from accident, as two fires were found raging in different parts of the building, and after a careful inquiry had been gone into by the firemen, it so far satisfied Mr. Braidwood as to make known to the insuranceoffices through his report his opinion of its origin. That one which occurred at the city sawmills in Wentworth-street, Whitechapel, raged for nearly nine hours, and the numerous brigade engines did not cease playing on the burning property till near five o'clock yesterday morning, when the exact amount of damage was ascertained. The boiler-house, two stacks of timber more than fifty feet high, containing thousands of deals, were completely destroyed, besides other stacks damaged, the whole of which are insured in the County Fire-office. The premises of Mr. Sykes, timber-merchant, in Osborne-street, were slightly injured, as also a dwelling-house in Angel-court. Several persons were seriously hurt by the falling of the flaming deals off the stacks, and who were removed to the London Hospital on shutters. With respect to the dreadful fire which of the one at the mills, on the premises of Mr. Wood, fancy toy and ornament manufacturer, in the Whitechapel-road, it appears that Mr. Wood had only left the premises about a quarter of an hour before the fire was discovered, at which time he thought all was safe, and left them in charge of one of his sisters, who, for a length of time after the outbreak, was considered to have perished in the flames, which providentially was not the case, as she escaped over the roof and sought shelter in an adjoining house. With such fury did the destructive element make progress, that within a quarter of an hour the building, which was very large, was in flames from the basement to the roof, and in less than half an hour the premises were gutted. are 18. EXTRAORDINARY CASE. Inspector Hodson and Sergeant Lambert, of the City police, arrived at Leicester this evening with a warrant for the apprehension of John Briton, charged with committing a highway robbery, accompanied by violence. The circumstances of the case briefly as follows:-About sixteen years since, a robbery was committed upon the person of a farmer returning from the market at Wells, in Somersetshire, when such violence was used that the victim was left for dead, several blows having been inflicted, and his mouth stuffed with clay. After some time a gipsy named Burton was apprehended, tried, and convicted as one of the parties implicated, in consequence of which he was executed. From that time till about three weeks since, no clue was obtained to the other parties, when the prisoner, by a Somersetshire man, now one of the Metropolitan police, as Gipsy Jack," one of the parties suspected. A communication was immediately made to the authorities in the neighbourhood of Wells, and a warrant was put in the hands of the abovenamed officers to execute, whereupon they succeeded in tracing the prisoner to East Langton, in Leicestershire, where for the last sixteen years he had been carrying on business as a horse-dealer, upon an extensive scale, under the assumed name of Briton-indeed, it was said that last year he had a contract with Government to supply the army with a large draught of horses, and not the least suspicion attached in the neighbourhood that he had at any time formed improper connexions. Upon the arrival of the officers at Leicester, they communicated with Mr. Goodyer, the active chief-constable of the county, who accompanied them to Waltham fair, near Melton Mowbray, when Mr. Goodyer quickly found the party of whom they were in pursuit, telling him that he wished to speak to him in an adjoining public-house. Prisoner at once proceeded thereto, when he was informed of the nature of the charge against him, upon which he said, "Oh, it's a mistake; it's another man you want, named Burton," the name of the man who was executed. Upon searching his person, 100. in bank notes were found, and several sovereigns; a large string of horses that he had at the fair were immediately taken home by one of his men, and he himself was, after the necessary forms had been gone through, conveyed by railway to London, the next day, excitement prevailed in Leicester on the arrival of the prisoner, who had been known and respected in his line of business for some years, in the course of which he had accumulated a respectable competency. 21. MORE FIRES.-This week was a remarkable one for fires in London, as no less than twentytwo, not including those which broke out almost in the same moment in Whitechapel, took place on Saturday night the 16th inst., On Sunday, from the hours of one in the morning to twelve o'clock at night, six fires occurrednamely, at Poplar; Old-street, St. Luke's; Wentworth - street, Whitechapel, High-street, Whitechapel; New Kent-road; Halfmoon-street, and Primrose-street, Bishopsgate. Monday, eight fires -at Wapping, the Hall of Commerce, Russell-square; Bow-street, Covent garden; Munster - place, Regent's-park; Devonshire-place, Commercial-road-east; in Fleetstreet, and in Upper Grange-road, Bermondsey. On Tuesday three fires broke out ;-High-street, Whitechapel, again; Osbornestreet, Whitechapel; and in Upper Whitecross-street. Wednesday eight fires, George-street, Bethnal green; Princes-street, Wood-street, Spitalfields; Warwick square, Newgate - street; Warren-street, Fitzroy - square; Great Suffolk - street, Borough; Kent-street, Borough; Trumpetcourt, Whitechapel; and in Parson's street, Ratcliffe - highway; at each of which several of the brigade engines attended, and were so far fortunate as to prevent their extending to any alarming height. The one, however, in Parsons-street was very nearly at sugar-house, formerly in the occupation of Mr. Church. It was discovered by a potboy, who was retiring to bed, and who noticed a great quantity of fire issuing from the basement windows. The brigade engine was promptly in attendance, and after some exertion the fire was subdued, and, on an examination being made, it was found that the bond timbers in the party-wall had ignited, through a fire being kindled in an adjoining yard on the previous evening, and which would have quickly extended throughout the building, had it not been discovered at so early a stage. 23. "WITCHCRAFT" IN SCOTLAND.-A "witch" was tried at Dingwall, in Ross-shire, in the Sheriff's Criminal Court. Catherine Campbell or Beaton was prosecuted on two charges,-for having stolen 17. from Donald Matheson, " tenant in Inverchoran of Strathconan," in May 1836; and for having stolen 27. from Elizabeth Murchison, a widow, about ten weeks ago. Matheson went to consult the witch about some sheep that were dying and straying; and she took the opportunity of warning him that his wife was threatened with some ill through the machinations of "Miss Hay," another "witchcraft doctress." Mrs. Campbell, however, promised that the ill would be averted if he would procure her a 17. note to put under his wife's pillow. He borrowed a note, and gave it to Campbell; who handed to him a parcel, which she said contained the note, to lay under his wife's pillow; enjoining him to return it to her unopened. The wife, however, opened it: and it proved to contain only sand and |