nation, evidence was given by a police officer as to a statement made by the prisoner Heffer, who was much the younger of the two men, and not such a hardened ruffian as the other was known to be. Heffer's statement was to the effect that on the afternoon in question he and Rutterford went into the plantation for the purpose of poaching, and after shooting a pheasant they were looking for another, when the deceased came up to them and took hold of Heffer. Rutterford ordered him to desist, saying that if he did not do so he would knock him down, and as Hight did not relinquish his hold he carried out his threat, striking the keeper on the head with the barrels of the gun. The blow knocked him down insensible, and Heffer then begged of his companion not to kill the man. He was about to run away when Rutterford said he would shoot him if he left the spot, and proceeded to take the gun to pieces and knock the still insensible keeper about the head with the barrels with such violence that Heffer said he sickened at the sight, and was obliged to turn his head away. Having completed the murder, Rutterford put the deceased's legs over his shoulders and dragged the body to the place where it was found, concealing it by cutting branches from the furze and placing them round it as though growing. Heffer denied having taken any part in the actual murder. A verdict of "wilful murder" was returned against both Rutterford and Heffer, who had also been committed in a similar manner by the local magistrates.

Rutterford was subsequently tried at the Ipswich Assizes. It being important to obtain Heffer's evidence, he was freed from the charge and admitted as a witness. Rutterford was found "guilty," and condemned to death. In consequence, however, of a malformation of his neck, owing to a burn in early youth, and rendering him a difficult subject for execution, the sentence was commuted into penal servitude for life.

19. EXECUTION OF TROPMANN AT PARIS.-The following account of the execution of this notorious criminal is taken from the Debats:

"Tropmann was executed this morning while the clock of La Roquette was striking seven. He probably no longer entertained any doubt as to his approaching fate, since for the last two nights he had lain upon his bed completely dressed, as though he desired to be ready for the fatal moment. At half-past six the chaplain, the director of the detective police, the director of the depôt of condemned convicts, the police commissary of the 11th arrondissement, and the registrar of the Cour Impériale, preceded by two warders, proceeded towards the cell where Tropmann had spent his last night. When they entered the cell they found him standing. Upon perceiving this group of persons, whose presence indicated that his hour had arrived, he became very red, and the veins of his neck visibly swelled. He was leaning against the table motionless, with downcast eyes and that hypocritical and gloomy demeanour which he always assumed when he was gazed at. M. Claude, the eminent chief of the detective police, spoke to him mildly and considerately,

His

and informed him that his appeal had been rejected, that his application for mercy had not been granted, and adjured him in that solemn moment to state the truth concerning the crimes which he had committed. With a kind of impatient manner Tropmann replied, 'I have told the truth.' Then he twice repeated, I did not strike; I did not strike.' He was reminded of those imaginary accomplices whom he had invented (after having made during the preliminary examinations confessions as complete as possible), in order to deceive justice and to gain time, and he was urged to name them. He appeared to have some hesitation, hung down his head, and replied in an almost indistinct voice, 'No; I cannot.' The strait-waistcoat was then removed and the prison shirt taken off. Then were seen the large muscles of his breast and shoulders, his solid arms, his slender forearms, his long and powerful hands. shirt was put on him, and slowly, with that methodical calmness with which he did all things, he buttoned the collar and the wristbands. The strait-waistcoat was replaced and all retired, leaving him alone with the chaplain. When he was next seen he walked upright, or rather stiffly, making an evident effort to preserve a firm exterior. Without assistance, and with an active step, he ascended the twenty-six stairs. He traversed the long lobby, descended the staircase leading to the front register office, nearly fell at the last stair, and entered the small office, still keeping his eyes cast down and not uttering a word. Tropmann, standing, endured with sufficient calmness these dreadful preparations, but at times his head wavered, his eyes, always lowered, seemed swollen, and the ridges of muscle in his back agitated his shoulders. He was made to sit down while his hair was cut off, the priest in a soft voice reciting the prayers. At this moment the prisoner broke down; he appeared to sink within himself, he became weak, and his whole frame was agitated. He kept his lips closed. M. Claude asked him whether he persisted in his declarations. Keeping his eyes cast down he replied, in a low voice, 'I persist.' The last journey was then commenced. He walked unsteadily, doubtless owing to the bonds which fastened his arms. It was scarcely daybreak, the grey and lowering sky cast as yet so indistinct a light that it would have been impossible to have read a letter. When the two wings of the great gate of La Roquette, beyond which appeared the sinister instrument of justice, were opened, the condemned man recoiled and shook all over. Supported by the assistants, encouraged by the chaplain, he crossed the threshold and arrived at the foot of the scaffold. There he twice embraced the priest, and said to him, in a very loud voice, Tell M. Claude that I persist.' At the first stair he stopped, turned round, and exclaimed again, 'Tell him that I persist. The chaplain, who was retiring, also turned and replied, Be easy; I will tell him.' Painfully he ascended the ten steps, losely supported and pushed forward by the executioner, and was aced before the fatal plank. At this moment the ferocious animal hich dwelt in this human form made itself visible. His resigna

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tion disappeared, and he would not die. He threw himself towards the right, and, finding himself thrust back to the centre by the executioner, he displayed with an extraordinary energy that agility, suppleness, and strength which had made him so formidable. Lying with his stomach against the plank, he drew himself up and thrust forward his head and shoulders beyond the hemispherical opening in which his head should have been confined. The assistant executioner in front seized him by the hair, and thrust him back; the executioner took him by the neck to draw him into the proper position, when Tropmann, quickly lowering his head, inflicted a bite on his forefinger. The executioner, who possesses prodigious strength and dexterity, succeeded in placing the criminal's head within the opening; the knife fell like lightning, and the basket closed upon the body of the dead man. All that we have related occurred in no longer a period than twenty seconds. Very minute precautions had been taken by the authorities. From midnight the approaches to the Place de la Roquette had been guarded by strong squads of sergens-de-ville, detachments of the Garde de Paris, horse and foot, and by a body of the gendarmerie of the Seine. The crowd had been kept back as far as possible to beyond the Rues de la Vacquerie and Gerbier. The crowd was, as on all such occasions it has ever been, disgraceful."

A short account of the crimes for which Tropmann was executed will be found in our Chronicle for December last year.

23. TERRIBLE DISASTER IN A LIVERPOOL CHAPEL.-A dreadful accident occurred this (Sunday) evening in the Roman Catholic Church of St. Joseph, Grosvenor-street, Liverpool, where fifteen lives were lost by the crushing of a crowd from a false alarm of fire. The building was originally a tennis-court, and was, in 1798, converted into a Protestant established place of worship, capable of accommodating 2000 persons, and called All Saints' Church. In 1845 the building was purchased by the Roman Catholics, by whom it was dedicated to St. Joseph.

The sides of the building ran parallel with Grosvenor-street. It is a plain, unpretentious, brick structure, ordinarily intended to accommodate about 2000 persons. The central portion of the body of the chapel is pewed, but there is also standing room for several hundreds under the three galleries which run round the sides and the west end. Underneath the chapel is the schoolroom, which will hold from 500 to 800 persons. There are only two modes of ingress or egress, one at the northern and another at the southern end, and both fronting Grosvenor-street. The south doorway is the larger of the two, but neither is much larger than the dimensions of an ordinary house-door. It was at the north entrance where the terrible struggle for life took place; and, as showing the defective construction, it is necessary to be more minute in its description. On entering the doorway there is a small landing, only three or four yards square, immediately to the right of which the visitor descends by four or five steps into the schoolroom, the

chapel being reached by an ascent of six steps from the same landing. Thus, in the event of any sudden rush out of the building, the contending streams from the chapel and schoolroom would have to fight their way over a narrow space, in which probably not more than three persons could ordinarily walk abreast, and this was what actually occurred.

The revival services, conducted here by the mission of the Passionist Fathers, began on the first Sunday of the year, and were attended each Sunday evening by congregations of two or three thousand souls, besides an equal number of children, gathered together on Sunday afternoons in the schoolroom under the church. On the Sunday when this disaster took place the service was conducted by Father Alphonsus O'Neill in the schoolroom, and by Father Raphael in the church, both at the same time, and, in each instance, with a densely-thronged congregation. While the service in the schoolroom was progressing, about half-past seven, a drunken man, who had staggered into the place, shouted out to the preacher, "I have listened to you long enough." This indecent interruption was followed by cries of "Turn him out!" One or two persons rose from their seats apparently for that purpose; the service was stopped, the confusion grew worse, a crash of glass was heard at the lower end of the room, nearest the door, followed by the screaming of children; and when the excitement was at its height the cry of "Fire!" was raised by some one. Then arose screams from every part of the room, accompanied by a terrible scramble by those nearest the stairs to get out. The alarm rapidly extended to the occupants of the chapel, both in the body of the building and the galleries; there was a violent rush to escape; many people were thrown down on the stairs and landing, and some were trampled to death. Many others received serious injuries. The fathers and priests in the church exerted themselves to persuade the people to be quiet, and continued their religious services, with great presence of mind, while the police arrived and carried away the dead. One of the fifteen bodies could not be identified, the face being horribly disfigured. They were all those of poor people, and several were those of women. Most of them had died of suffocation. An inquest was afterwards held, and amongst other evidence, John M'Ginn, a porter, stated that on the evening in question he went to a mission service in the schoolroom under St. Joseph's Chapel, Grosvenorstreet, where the Rev. Father O'Neill was preaching. Service was also going on in the chapel above. There was a great crowd in the chapel, and witness could not get in, so hearing that there was service in the schoolroom he went in there. There were not many people in the street at that time. There was no crushing or confusion. He knew Patrick Nevin, a man now present. He was present in the schoolroom, and his attention was called to him a little before eight, by hearing him call out to the preacher, "I've heard you long enough: you've said enough." Nevin was near a window. He heard some people call, " Put him out," but the preacher told

them to keep quiet. He was sure Nevin was in drink, by his voice. In less than a minute he heard a voice cry, "Fire, fire!" slowly. It seemed that of a boy in Grosvenor-street. The windows were broken in places at this time, but he had not then seen any one break them. The voice was low, and appeared to come from close to the windows. The effect was to alarm the congregation. The room was lighted with gas, and no candles or tapers were burning, nor had they been during the service. The witness himself, however, was alarmed by the cry. People tried to get out of the place in the best way they could, through both the door and the windows. No one inside repeated the cry of fire, but there was great confusion. Witness and several others got out through a window, but the great crushing was towards the door. When he had been out, and saw there was no cause for alarm, he got back again into the room, and shouted out that there was no danger. Nevin then said to him, "They're going to kill me;" and witness replied, "You vagabond, you deserve it." The crush was still going on at the door, and the Rev. Father Donovan called out from the door for men to come and help him. At the same time the preacher called out to the congregation to remain quiet. The crush lasted five or ten minutes. The greater number of the congregation remained in their places. After the crush had passed he saw several persons lying just outside the schoolroom door and in the passage.

Dr. Bligh and Dr. Hanbury described the injuries which some of the killed had sustained. Suffocation, in nearly all the cases, had been the direct cause of death. Dr. Bligh was in the school room attending the service. He heard persons crying for some one to be put out, and the confusion soon became serious. Some persons,

breaking the windows and trying to get out, caused much noise and increased the alarm. There was a rush of about forty to the door, and in a minute or two he saw several persons on the floor. The Rev. Father Donovan was trying all he could to keep the crowd back, and the preacher, seeing the disturbance, engaged the congregation in prayer to keep them quiet. He did not hear any cry of fire throughout. As soon as the crush had passed he did what he could to assist the injured, all of whom were outside the schoolroom. The majority were killed at the point where the stream from the chapel met that from the schoolroom.

Moses Whelan, a cooper, positively identified Nevin as the man who called out to the preacher. There was an attempt to remove him, and then some one outside called, "Fire!" There was then a rush to the door.

The Rev. Alphonsus O'Neill said he was preaching a mission sermon in the schoolroom on the night in question. About ten minutes before eight o'clock he noticed a disturbance. A man called out, "I beg your pardon; enough of that," or words to that effect. It was the man Nevin. He was under the influence of drink. A slight commotion ensued, and this increased owing to an attempt to put Nevin out. He told them to deal quietly with him. When