The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-10-30 00:00:00

A sad state of affairs appears now to prevail among
the operative classes at Blackburn. Nat less than 5,000 per-
sous in that town are now in receipt of parish relief. fins
feared that the approach et winter will intensify the suffer-
ings of the distressed worspeople.
A donor, sander the initials "'P. W. I)." has sent to
the National Lit &mat Institution the munificent sum of
£l,OOO in aid of its general objects.
The number of deaths repotted in London last week
were 1,476,8 considerable excess over those of the preceding
week. Scarlet fever was more fatal, 2:13 deaths having take',
' place ; it prevails with the greatest severity in the east mul
south districts. The number of births registered was 0,001.
Another case of child stealing was investigated by
the Portsmouth magistrates on Friday. William Taylor, a
labourer, was indicted for the abduction of a boy named
dormancy, aged five years, the sou of a publican in Ports-
mouth, in whose house the prisoner hail been lodging. Ono
afternoon both the prisoner and the child disappeared, and
day or two afterwards a police sergeant saw Taylor trying
force the boy to beg at Fareham. Suspecting somethieg was
wrong, he questioned the prisoner, who eventually admittid
that he had stolen the child. Ile was sentenced to eights C:
months' hard labour. A gratuity of tos, was awarded to tn.
sergeant.
Mr. Robert Barnes's noble gift of £lO.OOO to the
trustees of the Manchester Royal Infirmary for the purposes
of the convalescent hospital at Cheadle Hall, was acknow-
ledged at a meeting on Monday. The best plan of recording
the generosity of the giver was adopted by the trustees. It
was resolved to name the hospital after him, calling it "The
Barnes Convalescent ilonle."
On the night of the 17th of October and the morning
of the followieg days snow-stone of extraordinary violence
swept across Stiria and the adjacent districts. A grad deal
of injury has been done to the gardens and vineyards, ax
the vintage is not yet finished; indeed, in some places it has
hardly commenced.
According to advice(' from Constantinople, the Ens.
peror of Austria is, after all, about to visit the Holy Land,
although not in company with the Sultan and the Empress
Eugenie, as was at first reported.
Balmer, the master, and Helbern. the carpenter, of
a large sailing vessel called the Old Eng:ead, have been
charged at the liansion House, in London, with scuttling the
ship. The vessel sailed from Cardiff, on the 15th of June,
in good condition, and both she and her cargo were insured
in various offices. The whole of the circumstances us
adduced in evidence were full of suspicion, and the prisoners
who had before been examined, were remanded.
A subscription has just been organised by the
Neapolitan Legitimists to offer to Queen Nl:die-Sophie of
N aples a cradle and baby-linen for the child ot which she Is
shortly to be confined. The some contributed have reached
a considerable amount, and about 50,000 L will be devoted to
the purchase of the cradle alone. The French Legitimists
are also preparing a similar manifestation in favour of
the young Duchess of Parma, who is Also in an Interesting
situation.
The whole family of M. Louis Chevalier, living at
St. Andre.de-Crusiere, France, consisting of ten persons, have
fallen victims to the consequences of eating poisonous
mushrooms. The succours of art were unavailing, sod not
one of them escaped.
Sir J. Y. Simpson has been presented with the
freedom of the city of Edinburgh. in recogultion of his con-
tributions to medical science and literature.
The railway goods station at Ileckmondvrike acciden-
tally caught fire on Tuesday night, and was completely gutted.
The damage amounts to nearly £20,000. There was a very
high wind and nothing could be saved. The east wall fell at
eight o'clock, and two men were severely hurt—John Whar-
ton and John Alexander. The latter is not expected to live.
The goods destroy eil are cloth, carpets, wool, and grain.
On Monday a large importation of the capercailzie,
or cock of the wood, arrived in London for sale from Ger-
many. These birds, which are classed as game in this
country, are very rare, and can only be found in the moun-
tainous parts of Scotland. They were sold by the poultereri
at from 10s. to 155, per brace.
The Reforms (Paris paper) states that some members
of the Legislative Body have determined to demand the
restoration of the property of the House of Orleans. The
radical journal is willing that this request should be com-
plied with, but ridicules the idea that the man who has
deprived France of liberty which he does not mean to
restore will surrender a fortune which has become his prey.
A modern Brutus in Paris delivered a few days age
the following valedictory address over his son's grave In pre-
sence of a large circle of mourners :—"(ientlemen,—lle whom
we bury was my sun; he was a lad to the possession of all
the advantages of his age; he ought to have lived one hun-
dred years, but misconduct, drunkenness, and the lowest
debauchery brought him to an untimely end. May the ex.
ample, gentlemen, be not lost upon you or your children !"
The spectators were profoundly affected.
A semi-annual Mormon Conference was opened at
rtah on the 6th instant, and was attended by people from all
tarts of the territory. At a meeting of citizens held on the
sth, in the Tabernacle, at which over 12,000 were present, a
committee was appointed to draft a memorial to Congress,
eaking the admission of Utah as a State. The memorial
states that the population of Utah Is now about 150,000, and
that they are anxious for self-government.
Four Royal accouchments are expected either next
month or in December, viz.:—The Princess of Wales, the ex-
Queen Sophia of Naples, the Princess Margaret of Italy, and
the Duchess of Parma. The Pope has promised to be god-
father to two of the expected infants, those of the ex-Queen
of Naples and the Duchess of Parma. Francis IL and his
Queen have been hurrying back to ROM% in order that the
birth might take place on Italian soil.
Figaro publishes a few figures showing the circnla-
My of some of the most popular journals in France. The
issue for last month was—Figaro, 1,704,090 copies; Peripte.
1,430,000 ; National, 1,200,000; 1,050,1100 ; !tappet,
960,000; LibeW, 450,000. The People and Nattonal are sou
papers, the former the organ of the Emperor, and the latter
of the moderate party. As the stamp duty Is equal to the
price of the paper not much profit is to be looked for.
In London, on Sunday evening, at All Sainte, Lam-
beth, the vicar, Dr. F. G. Lee, preaching from the text "Then
shalt go to thy fathers In peace: thou shalt be buried in a
good old age,' Genesis xv. 15, referred to the great loss which
the country had sustained by the death of Lord Derby. After
alluding to the changes which death makes in the humblest
circle, he pointed out how the deceased peer, sprung from a
noble race, the allies and advisers of kings, had efficiently
served his country with deep wisdom and farsighted judg-
ment. "So long," he remarked, "as one nation produces
men like Eldon and Wellington. Befitted: and Derby, the old
Coustitution, sanctified by its intimate alliance with the
Christian principle, may remain a blessing to ourselves and
the admiration of foreigners." After the sermon the Psalm
e lie pretend's" wali chanted together with the "Dies Inc
A shocking accident occurred at the Nethana
Chemical Works, near Bristol, on Friday morning. A reason
was working on the scaffolding at the top of a now chimney
stack, 130 feet high, when lie missed his footing, and fell
headlong down the chimney. Inside the stack are numeralus
cross pieces of wood, Inserted for the purpose of strengthee-
ing the structure, and agriiiist these the unfortunate men
Amick with terrific violence. ills body bounded from one to
the other in its dearest, and by the time it reached the
ground it was so frightfully mutilated as to be almoe un-
recognisable. Life was quite extinct.
The tenants on the estate of Mr. Bradshaw, who
was murdered some months ago in the county of Tipperary,
have refined, with few exceptions, to pay the additional
public tax for the force which has been kept in the locality
ever since. The collector has summoned them to the sere
sloes of Cappawhite, in order to enforce payment.
Archbishop Manning has caused a letter to be
printed, in which he says that all statements hitherto pub-
lished, In respect to the intentions of the Catholic bishops In
Englaed, with regard to the proceedings at the Roman
Council, are entirely destitute of foundation. It is added
—"A. the preparations for the council hitherto, and its pro-
ceedings hereafter, until published by authority, are and will
be under the highest obligation of silence, no such state-
ments hereafter can have any authentic warrant.
It is stated that the men about Wolverhampton are
taking the steps necessary to the starting of an ironworks
upon the co-operative principle, and that the erection of
works is now being proceeded with, and' that one of the
mills will be get ready as early as possible: The capital' of
the company is set down at £5,000; and the shares have
been made el each, "thus giving every workman the oppor-
tunity of getting the full profit of his ...en labour"
The Northern Ensign states that in one of the nor-
thern counties there is a postmaster who can neither read
nor write. His wife can lay claim to the same ignorance!
On Saturday a labourer's wife named Osborne, Wao
killed by her husband at Bottieham, a village in Cambridge-
shire. The man was under the influence of drink, and dis-
charged a gee, the contents of which tore off the upper part
of his wifi's head. Osborne stated that the matter was an
accident, for he did sot believe the gun was loaded. An he
clued has been held on the remains of the poor woman when
a verdict of "Wilful Murder " was returned.
The series of "Historical Sketches of the Reign of
George the Second," which have for some time been running
Is the pages of Blaekwood,, Magazine, are now acithowledged
te be from the pen of Mrs. Oliphant, the novelist.
Mts. Maxwedel, a German woman, lately went to
the United States to found thine a horticultural school for
women, lies project has met with a great deal of favour,
and the experiment will soon begin at Ithaca, New York.
The President of Cornell University has offered for the pur-
pose several acres of good land adjacent to that institution,
and has offered the freedom of the college lectures to such
girls as shall become members of the horticultural school