The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-07-17 00:00:00

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER.

though not without a gentle protest, showed themselves
amenable and discreet on Thursday night, when they dis-
pensed with a reference to a Select Committee, and read the
bill a second time.
The general characteristic of the bills that it is framed on
what are called the prirciples of modern p ilith,l economy '
A free system of administration is substituted for an official
system. As far 11, possible, Court rules and restraints are
done away with, and in their stead Bankruptcy affairs are •
left to the operation of selidnterest, special. pains being
taken to make interest and duty coincide. The function. of
the Judge are curtailed, his administrative duties being
rheost eliminated his ouesi-criminal jurisdiction transferred
a criminal Court, and he himself made to assume rather
0 character of all occasional arbitrator to be called in
n disputed points arise for settlement. Inducemen, are
offered to the debtor to confess insolvency at an early
stage, and to be frank in his disclosure of assets.
Creditors are vested with full rights, mid furnished
with adequate powers, and then left to themselves to look
after their own interests. Oil adjudication they select •
Trustee—any 0130 whom they think tit, whether credit., or
otherwise ; they make their own bargain with him as to the
remuneration be is to receive and the security he is to give;
they furnish him with instructions as to the administration
of the property; and these instructions, unless the Court
interfere, he is bound to obey. As to his good behaviour,
the best security is, of course, his own interest, fur the
creditors will take care to make his remuneration de-
pendent upon the result of his efforts But, besides this,
express safeguards are devised by the bill. The Trustee is
prohibited from retaining in his hands any sum exceed-
ing £5O, under a penalty of being charged 20 per cent. upon
all balances in excess, and of being dismissed from his office
without remuneration, unless he is able to justify his conduct
to the Court. Be is directly responsible to a committee of
Inspection, consisting of creditors, and bound to keep proper
hocks; and his accounts are every quarter to undergo a
dounle audit, being first submitted to the inspectors, and
then to the Controller, whose office is created by the bill
'The Trustee's acts are also liable to be reversed by the Court
on the application of the bankrupt, or of any creditor or
debtor or other person aggrieved. This syrtem of manage-
ment by the Trustee is the main feature of the bill, though
other very remarkable changes in toe law are also proposed.
After all, as the Lord Chancellor remarked, the bill must
be an experiment. It remains to be area whether the Scotch
system will answer in England ; whether English creditors,
who now shun the Bankruptcy Court in despair; will, when
thrown on their own resources, show theniselves vigilant 811ki
energetic; whether men competent in character and intelli-
gence will be forthcoming to supply the demand in the new
open profession of Bankruptcy Trustees. But, if the bill is
an experiment, iii. a promising one; at all events, it is one
which should be tried.

HOW THE PARISIANS AMUSED
THE VICEROY!
Some curious devices wen) resorted to at M. Oppen-
heinis ball (the splendour of which is still the talk of
Paris) to amuse the Viceroy. New figures were in-
vented for the after-supper cotillion. Large sealed
envelopes were distributed among the ladies, who
opening them found grotesque headdresses inside, with
which they were expected to crown their partmrs.
Crackers containing pieces of fancy costume were also
Pulled between the figures of one of the dances, and
the gentlemen had to wear the finery which fell to their
share. In what was called the steeplechase dance the
ladies received fans bearing the names of well-known
race-horses, and the gentlemen earls Aiwa:illy in-
scribed. At a signal the music struck up, and each
gentleman hastened to discover the lady on whose fan
was written the same name as on his card. Another
fantastic novelty was the distribution of hoops among
the gentlemen, one to each six. The six advanced to
a lady, carrying their hoop between them, and on
tomthing a spring it suddenly imprisoned the one des-
tined to be the lady's partner. Both the Oriental
visitors and the native vieitors are said to have been
much amused by these performances.
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if they he in good faith, for rejecting it themielvee; but it
I. no excuse fir knowingly and deliberately detaining in
Pr f, stout schools Catholi, children over whom they have
no right; parental or moral, awl no power except that whaph
poverty and misery wive to the rich over 'he poor: and for
education them in Protestant schooln as Protestant., in viola
tins of the known will of Catholic parents, 110111eLiMes In
pposition to legal demand on their part.
A WOMAN MuabEatio EIT HER SON AND HER
GRANDSON. —The Court of Aseis •e of the Aiana,
France, haa just tried a father and son, named Du-
ehemin, for parricide. The victim was an old woman
ot eighty, soother and grandmother of the two pri-
sone. req,ectively. The accused were both labouring
men, and lived, with other inemberg of the family—
including the deceased—at Bcrny-Riviere. The wo-
man, from her great age and infirmities, had become a
burden to her relatives, but in IVoveniber last she
disappeared, and a month later was found murdered
in a wood, to which the body had apparently been only
recently conveyed. The priatinera appear to have con-
cealed the body in a quarry, until they subsequently
carried it to the wood where it was fond. Both were
convicted and condemned, the elder to hard labour for
life, and the other to fifteen years' of the name punish-
ment. . .

--
A CURE FOR Toareacnk !—An Englishman
named John Roberts, aged twenty-seven, was tried
two days back at Fontainebleau for picking pockets at
a fair held in that town. He was detected by a
Mchne. de Grandmairsin with his hand in her dress.
She accused him of attempting to rob her, but he
begged her pardon saying that he had mistaken her
pocket for that of an overcoat which he car•ried on his
arm. The lady's husband, however, gave him into
custody, and he was taken to the police station, where
he was found to have nine pieces of gold concealed in
his mouth. As he had before shown, he was never eta
loss for an excuse, and explained that he had put the
money there to relieve the toothache. He said timt he
was a cabinet-maker by trade, but had orme to Paris
to engage himself as an interpreter. He was now
sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and two years'
surveillance by the police.
THE (417 k aTION OF VAOCINATION.—An inquest
was held on Saturday, before the coroner for
the city of Westminster, on the body of Henry
Mennell, aged five months. The mother stated that
the child had always been strong, stout, and healthy
until he was vaccinated on June M. After that,
symptoms of a dangerous character developed them-
selves, and, notwithstanding the best medical attend-
ance, the child died, July Brh, from erysipelas. The
doctor who made the post mortem examination said it
was but fair to say that the death was connected with
the vaccination; yet not one fatal case in 50,000
occurred. There were no symptoms of blood poison-
ing, as though impure vaccine matter had been used.
A verdict of "Death from natural causes" was re-
turned.
•

Tine EMIORATION QUESTION. The vaTIOUS
boards of guardians of the metropolis have under their
consideration the presentation of a memorial to the
President of the Poor-law Board, on the subject of
pauper emigration, as recently agreed upon at a meet-
ing of the guardians of the metropolitan unions and
parishes. Several meetings have been held at different
parishes, at which this question was discussed. The
proposal is the establishment of. national rate for emi-
gration purposes, in order to enable boards of guardians
to assist persons who are, or are likely to become,
paupers to emigrate. A conference is to be held on
the subject, and representatives of the various boards
of guardians are invited to attend.
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MANEILArGHTER_OF A WIFE.-013. Tuesday an

,
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inquest was held at Liverpool on the body of Harriet
Lockett, aged forty-one, ejfe of John Lockett, a
pasterer. On Sunday morning a policeman found her
lying dead, dressed, upon a bed, and with bruises on
her arms. Her husband was out, and one child was
lying with the corpse. The husband cause into the
house in the course of half an hour, and the officer
apprehended him on suspicion of naming the death of his
wife. In reply ta the charge the man said —"She
came to the door, drunk, a little before twelve on
Tuesday night, and I got up and wanted her to come
in, but she would not. We had some words, and I
struck her with my open fist, and went to bed again
I saw no more of her till day-break, when I found her
on the flior behind the door. I lifted her on the bed,
thinking she was helpless from d t ink. I then went to
sleep again, and awoke a little before seven o'clock,
, when I went out. I did not know she was dead." A
verdict of Manslaughter was returned against the hus-
band.

A DOUBLY; MEANING FOR DIS-EVDOWMENT.—
People seem to forget that the monosyllable "die"
used in composition has two mealtime. There is the
Latin "die," which means separation; the Greek
"die," which means doubling, hi the came of the Bill
for "Disendowing the Dish Church," the Commons
empl4 iy "die" in the former Bernie; the Lords, in the
Letter—Punch.

THE RECENT MURDERS IN ABYSSINIA.—The
Swabian Mercury contains the following passage from ,
a letter addressed by Mr. A. Duniiliohn, a Swedish
missionary at l'endere in Barca, to &gentleman in Wur-
temberg:—" We have lost two dear friends by death,
Elfblad, and Kjellberg who has been here three years
and was married three months ago. Both these friends
were killed during a journey in the Kunatua country
with an Englishman, Mr. Powell, who had come here
with his wife and his little son to hunt elephants
(between Egypt and Abyssinia). Elf blad and Kjelle
berg were to accompany the Englishman to Massowa,
but he wished to make a tour in the country of
Tilts between Gesell and the river of Takassie,
to the south-west of Kunama. They did not entertain
very serious apprehensions, as several of the natives
knew us here, and had lung wished us to visit them.
But stow the Englishman came with his baggage,
, camels, and mules, and this was too much for their in-
clination to robbery. The Englishman and his wife
and child with Eliblad were some hours in advance;
Mr. Mackerer of Suez and Kjellberg followed with the
camels and servants. This was on the 17th of April.
In the morning a number of natives passed them.
They afterwards returned, and, rushing out of the bush
where they had concealed themselves, attacked the
travellers, piercing Mackerer, Kjellberg, and one or
two of the servants with their lances. We received
the sad news on Sundae, when we were assembled for
pr.yurs. We co .:1 aierisu tew h ,pes of the others
who were in advance, and on the following evening we
received the news that all of them, Elf blad, and
Powell with his wife and son, had been killed on Sum
day morning."

THE MARRIAGE OF A HINDU WlDOW.—Pay-
ticulara of the approaching marriage of a Hindu widow
are given in the Hindu Reformer
The bride and bridegroom, we are told, are aged Teepee-
Lively 16 and 24 years, both of the Chitpawan section of the
Brahmin caste, and respectably born and situated. The
bridegroom and the brothers of the bride (the parents on
both sides, of course, keep aloof serve as teachers in the
Educational Department and bear a very good character. In
other respects also the coming marriage is to be, unlike
the few hasty and hole and corner apologies we have
had of the solemn ceremony, celebrated under favourable
auspices. The Widow Marriage Association has undertaken
the conduct of the business, and it is to be carried out
with due publicity and decent gate. The aid and sympathy
of all is invited, hut no preshure is attempted to he exercised.
The bride was widowed at a tender age, and her brothers
have come forward in brave and fraternal pity of her fulcra
condition—the bridegroom, not a widower, offers and enters
into the match in spite of his father's anger. Thus it will be
seen the approaching occasion, while the first of its kind
on this side of India, is also one that excites interest
and commands sympathy. We are glad to learn that the
Widow Marriage Association has taken this op,ortunity to
raise a general widow marriage fund from public subscrip-
tions, part proceeds of lOich are ti be devoted to meet Cer-
tain expenses on the present occasion, while the remainder
will beheld in reserve for future necessities of a similar
kind.

SHOCKING DEATH OF HERB IMSENO. —On
Monday, the sth instant, Herr Imseng, the well-known
curd of Sass, started for a long botanical ramble with
two English ladies, and rested for some time at the
little hotel on the Mattmark See. The ladies left the
hotel in the afternoon to return to Seas by the path
which overhangs the lake, Herr Imsevg promising to
follow in five minutes. As he was not ready to
start so soon IN he expected, he sent on two men
to bid the ladies wait for him. The men saw him
leave the hotel and follow them, but after a time
they lost sight of him, and as he did not reappear
they went back to look for him. They found him dead
in ihe lake. He had slipped on some rough [steps,
where a stream poured across the path, and had fallen
over the rocks into the water. His head had struck
against the rocks, but the wound was not sufficient to
cause death. The ladies had remarked that his cas-
sock was inconveniently long, and it had more than
.dice been in the way in crossing the numerous streams.
It is said also in Saes that the sturdy Id mountaineer's
eyeeight was failing, and that he had lost or late some
of the sure-footedness for which he nas been famous.
" Cost's() EVENTS," &c.—ln the match at
Wimbledon the Commons beat the Lords. In the
content between these two bodies, expected to come off
almost immediately .t Westminster, many persons are
hoping that the Commons wid be again victorious.
Betting in favour of the Lower House. —Punch.
BeFoltli us vats Litz I—ln Paris a new mode
of locomotion has been started, which, if it should prove
successful, will solve a very old problem. Along the
outer Boulevards there are railway seam cars now
running without rails. Hitherto it has been found im-
possible to construct engines which ',mild run over a
macadamised road ; and the diffiJulty of guiding the
engine without rails has proved a fatal obstacle. Some
years ago there was a steam carriage which ran be-
tween London and Cambridge; but it alwas ran into
a ditch before it had got fairly on its way, and was
therefore abandoned. If, however, these Parisian
road engines run straight, and do not tear up the road-
way, we shall have entered on anew era in steam loco-
motion. Still it most be owned that the Boulevards in
the French capital are so beautifully laid down that it
is not easy to argue from them to our ordinary English
highways.
IMPORTANT GEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY. —The prizes
that were offered by Mr. Barkas, of Newcastle, to
pit lads, in Durham and Northumberland, to induce
them to search for fossil remain., have been attended
by the most unexpected results. Not only have the
lads picked up from the refuse shale heaps large
numbers of fish remains, and some remains of large
reptiles, but, what is really extraordinary, and will
astonish palreontologists, one of the lads has found the
lower jaw of a true mammal. The effect of this dis-
covery will be to reduce the comparative ages of all
hitheito known mammalia, and carry back the mam-
malian life of the world for millions of years.
THE GALLANT SCOTEL—As a party of very
pretty girls approached the camp of the Royal
Scottish at Wimbledon, the band struck up—" The
Camp- belles are Coming ! "—Punch.
THE BOOTH FAMILY—The remains of John
Wilkes Booth, received final sepulttus on the 26th of
June at Greenmount Cemetery, Baltim ire. The
remains of all the deceased members of his family in
America are now gathered there, and repose beside
the ashes of his father Tunis Brutus Booth, who died
seventeen years ago, and his grandfather Richard
Booth, who died in 1839, aged 76. The monurneht to
Junius Brutus Both has been erected over the remains
and bears the inscription, "Hw Jacet Inatchliss
Booth ; born May 1, 1796, died November 30, 1852,
under which are the words, "To the memory of the
children of Junius Brutus Booth and Mary Ann Booth
—John Wilkes, Frederick, Elizabeth, Mary Ann,
Henry Byron." At the re-interment of the
mains of John Wilke", they were quietly conveys.*

the ground by pall-bearers eslected from the theatrical
profession who knew the deceased, one of them having
been a pall-hearer for his father seventeen years he.
fore. Some forty of the relatives and frisnds of the
family aseemliled at the grave. The Criurch of
England ',style& for the burial of the Ilea I was read by
the Rev. Fleming James, of St. Luke's Hospital, New
York, the aged mother of the deceased, his sister
Rosalie, and his brothers Edwin avid Junius Brutus
standing in a group betide the clergyman.
N, GATiVE Monday evening, at
the meeting of the Jurisprudence Department of the
National ANINICIA'IOII for the Promotion of Social
Science, held in Lomloll a paper upon "Negative
Votes" was read by Mr. Clair J. Grace, LL. B. Mr.
Grece observed that by the present practice negative
ripinion wart nit elicited or asked for. The voter was
precluded from voting against, say both the objection-
able candidatee, and so was often driven to vote for
one candidate as the only means of excluding the other.
The logically correct course would be for him to vote
against both. Another evil was, that while any
number of candidates may be put forward, the support
of the electoral body may be so divided amongst them
that the absurd result may readdy arrive that while
the election purports to be that of the majority, the
representative of a minority of the constituency may
be declared elected, as occurred at Brighton in the case
of the election of Mr. Moore a few years ago. Mr.
Green suggested that recognition should be conferred
upon negative votes. The Legielature had recently
enfranchised an extensive section of the community,
and he claimed for his suggestion that it would be a
measure of enfranchisement, not, it is true, of person's,
but of opinion. An interesting discuesion followed the
reading of the paper.
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No TIME Los? !—The following anecdote is
relatosl of the late Mr. Henry J. Raymond, of the
New York Times : _ .

Mr Webster was to make an important speech in Boston,
and Mr Rromond went front New York to report it, taking
wills him, not a corps f phonographists, but a corps of corn-
posPors with their cases of type. Taking down the speech of
the err ar orator in tire "longhand "—for his quickness
enabled him to give, In this way, a report almost as perfect
or one in shorthand—he returned the risme evening to New
York, wrote out his copy on a steamboat as fast as his
printers could net it up, and issued it in an extra Tribune
within an hour of Ws arrival.
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A NovEL CURIE !—The Elector of Cassel had a
perfect cure, which might be employed in similar cases
namely, when grand tenors aml prime donne become
suddenly ill just as the theatre is about opening. He
bad engaged a tenor, hut at the supreme moment the
artiste became ill, His Highness directed the head of
the lunatic asylum and two assistants to visit the
singer, and they proceeded to put on him a strait-waist-
coat, he having been declared mad. He said he was
not no; and to his frantic appeals as to the best means
to show he was in his senses, he was advised to sing.
He forthwith found his voice.

A REMARKABLY CABE!—A curious point was
raised before Mr. Justice Brett at the Warwick
assizes on Saturday. A woman committed for trial on
a charge of wilful murder subsequently became insane,
and was removed to a lunatic asylum by order of the
Secretary of State. Two doctors on Saturday ex-
amined her, and certified that she answered their goes
thine rationally, and was quite capable of pleading if
arraigned, but they did not, as required by the Act,
certify that she was sane. The learned judge was of
opinion that her removal to the asylum before the trial
was an unfortunate mistake, as under existing circum-
stances she could never be tried, he having no power to
remove her. He ordered the case tabs reported to the
Secretary of State.
MLIRDEBB IN AIINTRALIA.—The history of the
month (says the Melbourne Age of May 21,) has been
shadowed by several outrages singly bad enough, but
positively horriide as happening within so brief a
'Pace. Maria Lynch, an "unfortunate woman," was
found dead on the St. Kilda swamp, near the
military barracks, evidently strangled alter a severe
etroggle. Smpicion at first fell upon some of the
soldiers, but furtner inquiries led to the arrest of a
labourer named Daly, against whom there is strdni,
circumstantial evidence. Shortly afterwards the corn-
munity Was shocked by the perpetration of &murder of
a far duff-rent and mire ate. ClllllB Kind. The Rev.
William Hill, a Wealeyan Minister, univereally re-
spected and beloved, was in the habit of administering
epiritual consolation to the convicts in Peutridge '
Stockade, a duty performed without fee or reward, for
"tie pure love of blessed charity." Amongst the
convicte was a young man named Riteon, imprisoned
for life for attempting to shoot some person against
whom he had taken offence. This ruffian contrived
to wrench an in in hinge from his bedstead, and the
Rev. Mr. Hill had scarcely entered his cell when
Riteon literally smashed the unfortunate clergyman's
skull in. Poor Mr. Hill had but thee to say "Lord
have 'tier y!" when he died. Almost simultaneously
a third murder was reported from Chilwell, near
Geelong. There a woman was Its rug in concubinage
with her brother-in-law, named Fuller, her husband
having deserted her, when another claimant for her
favour, one Danagher, came upon the ecene. Fuller
became mad with jealousy, and in a paroxysm of fury,
seized a hatchet, inflicting such injuries upon Danagher
as soon ended in death.
A LEGIBLE WRITER !—Horace Greeley's chiro-
graphy is as diffi,ult to decipher sea manuscript copy
of the Koran. During the excitement attending the
Presidential election, be had occasion to expose some
Congressional frauds, and quoted the lines :
" 'Tis true, 'Us pity, and pity 'tis, Us true."

On receiving the proof, the philosopher was dumb with
astonishment kW he read :
'Tie two, 'Us fifty, and fifty 'tie till ave."