The disturbances in Wales still continue, though the apprehension of
some of the rioters who destroyed the Pontardulais gate has had some
effect. The following distressing scene is reported in the _Times_:--
"OUTRAGE IN SOUTH WALES.--On the road from Llanelly to Pontardulais, and
within five hundred yards of the latter place, is a turnpike-gate called
Hendy gate. This gate was kept by an old woman upwards of seventy years
of age, who has received frequent notices that if she did not leave the
gate, her house should be burnt down. About three o'clock on Sunday
morning, a party of ruffians set fire to the thatch of the toll-house.
The old woman, on being awakened, ran into the road and to a
neighbouring cottage within twenty yards of the toll-house, shouting to
the people who lived in it, 'For God's sake to come out and help her to
put out the fire; there was not much.' The occupier of this cottage, a
stout able man, was afraid to go out, and begged the old woman to come
into his cottage, which she refused, and went back to try and save some
of her furniture. It appears her exclamation had been overheard, for the
villains returned and set fire to the thatch again. The old woman then
ran across the road, and shouted out, 'She knew them;' when the brutes
fired at her, and shot her dead."
An inquest was held on the body of the unfortunate woman, and the jury
returned the following astounding verdict:--"That the deceased died from
the effusion of blood into the chest, which occasioned suffocation, but
from what cause is to this jury unknown."
Meetings of the magistrates, in relation to the turnpike trusts, have
been held, and measures taken to mitigate the heaviest tolls.