The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-12-02 00:00:00

In the last few days, however, that the horrors of the
Morgue have been brought into most conspicuous
prominence. Day after day vast crowds of people of
every age, class, and sex have thronged the doors of
the establishment, and lately their odious taste has
been gratified by the-addition to the scene of the bedy
of a ‘'omag man crushed out of all shape by a fall from
the No're Dame tower.
It remains to mention the last act in the lugu-
brious farce. A. wax modeller, professionally at-
tached to the School of Medicine, has,, it appears,
just executed a bust in wax of the unfortunate
woman, and after submitting it to invas4gation by
the Juge d'lnstruction and other officials .cornected
with the case, WAR allowed to put it up in the Morgue.
The bust was affixed to a lay figure, clothed in the
appropriate ghastly costume. A Paris paper, speaking
of the result as of a work of art, describes the effect as
saississant. The same crowd which had been waiting
outside from the early morning until four o'clock was
no doubt of the same opinion, for it rushed in with all
the ardour of a theatrical audience on a first night, and
passed out again, apparently well satisfied with its
treat. The.details of this sensational drama illustrate
in so glaring a manner the evils resulting from such an
institution as the Morgue that we may perhaps hope
they will induce a nation proud of its civilisation to put
an end to scenes that thus outrage decency and
humanity.

The Paris Correspondent of the SteleWard, writing on the
above subject, says :
The St. Ouen mystery has turned out to be more
than a nine days' wonder, even in this oblivious-
minded city, where, as a rule, the most extraordinary
events take place one day and are forgotten the next.
It is now more than a fortnight since the crime was
discovered, and yet public interest, instead of decreas-
ing, has gone on increasing every day until it has
, reached such a pitch that we must go back to the
wholesale murders of Tropmann to find any social
event which has caused such general and lasting sen-
sation. In fact, it is the great topic of the moment;
the Eastern crisis may occupy the diplomatic and finan-
cial world, and the threatened Ministerial changes at
Versailles may absorb the attention of political circles,
but, as far as the general public are concerned, both
these grave subjects are forgotten in presence of
the St. Ouen mystery, and the current ques-
tion of the moment is not whether we shall
heve war or peace, or whether the Dufaure
Cabinet is to suffer the fate of its numerous prede-
cessors, but "what is the latest news about the woman
cut in two?" To this lugubrious query no satisfactory
reply has yet been made. The mystery is as impene-
trable as ever, and the French police, with all their
wonderful capacity and command of resources, are
nonplussed. It may be difficult for readers at a
distance to understand this extraordinary effervescence
of the public mind over a murder committed weeks
ago, anct I myself doubted the reports of the papers
until I visited the Morgue this afternoon to verify the
accounts given by everybody of the remarkable sight
to be seen there daily from morn to eve. And in
' reality I found the s;ght remarkable in every respect.
On approaching the flat, sinister-looking little building,
which stands on the bank of the riven and which
although of comparatively recent construction, has
already received the remains of the victims of some of
most,horrible crimes perpetrated in thepresent century,
I came across crowds of people flocking from all parts
towards the sad centre of attraction. The weather
was fine and the sun shone on the spot in bitter irony.
A long line of human beings stood outside the dead-
house waiting for admittance. A posse of policemen
were on duty to keep the crowd in something like
order. I took my stand at the end of the queue, and
waited my turn to enter into the funereat temple.
While standing there I had time to look around ins.
The queue grew longer and longer. Workmen with
their wives, and in some cases with their children too,
came trotting up to the spot dressed out in holiday
attire, and as joyful as if they were going to see a
pantomime, or to take the steamboat down to a
suburban retreat devoted to popular recreation. They
were evidently keeping what the French working
classes call the Saint Monday; they had breakfasted
well to keep up their spirits, and had come down to
the Morgue to pass away the afternoon. By the side
of them came fashionably dressed young swells from
the Faubourg St. Germain, and doubtful young
ladies from the Boulevards, all burning with the
desire to see the bust cf "the young woman cut in
two." Others carried their eagerness so far as to drive
up in cabs, and one or two private carriages belong-
ing to distinguished fernlike, were standing suspiciously
conspicuous a few yards from the scene. I must also
in justice say that I remarked a sprinkling of English
tourists, who were not his curious or more sensitive
than the rest of the people. We had to wait some ten
minutes outside and en attendant the crowd amused them-
selves by discussing the pro. and on of the crime, and
bandying jukes which, however witty, could not be
called decent. At length we were marched into
the Morgue throogh a double row of policemen
The modes qperandt consisted in going in at one
door, walking round the salle, and emerging
at another door. There were no bodies on the
atone slabs to-day, and many of the spectators ex-
pressed their disappointment at the meagreness of the
spectacle. There were, as usual, plenty of old clothes
and rags hanging up on the walls, the sole remains of
the unclaimed or unrecognised corpses exposed there
during the present year, but the crowd took no interest
in this motley gathering of wearing apparel, and
thought little of the sad stories or harrowing crimes
which are attached to them, and which may some day
be discovered; no, all eyes were concentrated on a
slab which stands in the middle of the salle, and
which bears the cast of the head of "the woman
cut in two." The head is apparently attached to a
body, which is covered with a sheet. In fact,
unless you were aware of the fact, you might
easily imegine the whole spectacle to be genuine,
such is the delicate perfection with which the
csst has been made, and the striking death-like
msnner in which the supposed figure has been ar-
ranged. The victim was apparently a woman of
about 30. The face, without being handsome, is at-
tractive, with black eyes, fine features, and a small
mouth; and, jadging from the whole expression of
the countenance, she does not appear to have
Buffered much during her death. As the long line
of spectators passed by and gazed on the counterfeit
resetoblance of the poor creature, everybody gave vent
to his own pecaliar opinion. One woman in front of me
exclaimed, "How like my cousin Marie she is 1" to
which her torniianion replied, "Oh, no; Marie is much
better looking." Another girl, about ten years of
age, cried out to her mother, "Oh, mamma, that's the
very image of poor Aunt Bertha; perhaps it is she?"
What other cnaracteristic exclamations might have
been uttered I leave the reader to judge. I was not
allowed to stop any, longer, and ordered to move on by
the police, which I did very willingly. When I came
out of the place I found the queue waiting outside as
long as ever. The sun still shone, the cabs continued
to roll up, and the spot resembled for all the world
the rendezvous of some festive gathering.

The Barrow magistrates have refused to grant
licences to publicans and beerhouse keepers in Barrow for
music and dancing. Upwards of 20 applications were refused.
The Journal du Debate, alluding to the fears ex-
pressed by the Dtiritto of a postible occupation of Egypt by
England, believes them to be unfounded, and says, "England
is mistress of the Canal, and does not require Egypt."

General Sir H. de Bathe, commanding the Northern
Diatrict, has caused it to be made known on every parade
ground in his district that, in consequence of the frequency
Of easE s of desertion, he will in future refrain from remitting
any p of the sentences of courts-martiaL

In the private office of Mr. Blackwood, in Edin-
burgh, lithe only portrait of "George Eliot" /or which ahe
ever eat. It is a crayon head, taken in IMO by Sunttel Likfv-
rence—the artist to whom Thsckeray posed, and whp once
visited America.

Some person has lately defaced in the email gallery
at the Luxembourg the head of Napoleon 111., ia a plc:are
by Meissonier. An attempt was made two or three years ago
to injure the same work with a lead pencil.
Somebody remarks that young ladies look upon a
boy as a nuisance untll he is past the age of 16, when he
generally doubles up in value each year, until, like a meer-
schaum pipe, he is priceless.

Engagement rings are now made like bracelet's to
close round the finger with a spring clasp. They are no
longer made plain, but embody various neat and chaste
designs. About the most chaste and appropriate is one that
simulates a rat-trap, and goes shut for keeps when a finger is
stuck tato it.

Through the falling in of the roof of an old coal
working an alarming subsidence of land has taken place in
Kirkcaldy. The ground has given way to a depth of six feet
across the leading thoroughfare, leaving the foundations of
the houses exposed, and as the whole town is said to be built
above exhausted mines, the inhabitants are uneasy.
The Earl of Beaconsfield had an audience of the
Quen on Saturday at Windsor Castle. The Prince and
Princess Christian and Duke Frederic of Sleswick-Holstein
dined with her Majesty in the evening. On Sunday the
Queen and Princess Beatrice attended Divine Service in the
private chapel. The Rev. Thtpmas James Rowsell, M.A.,
preached.

- Misprints are generally merely tiresome, and it is
but rarely that they are watt or to the point. j have Itrst
seen one, however, in a new French book, "L'Angleterre
litt6raire," by the late M. Thilardte Chaska, which is, curious
enough, Vanity Fair, by "William blakepence hackeray."
Alas, alas, I am afraid that the making of penoe was by
no means the strong point of the author of " Pendennis."—
World.

On Monday morning the mutilated remaiwg °La man
were found lying on the Manchester, Sheffield and LiacMnshirty
iari %so Railway, near Kiveton Park. The us a, legs are own-
pletely cut off, and the body shocgly , ared. The
remains are believed to be those of a miner, NV miut have
been trespassing on the line at the tkneThe was killed.

The Prussian Correspondent of 214 e Times says that
"the Gobs has a vehement article agginst Lord Beaconsiti
field and the British Cabinet, whom it charges with directing
the most unworthy attacks against the Russian Bmperor,
and purposely concealing the Yalta despatches of Lord
Augustus L'Atus, containing His Majesty's engag,ement that
he would act disinterestedly."

-
A conversaziene given in honour of Major Corn-
wallis West brought the Wrexham Art Treasures Exhibition
to a close on Monday evening. During the four months that
it has been open the Exhibition has been visited by 80,000 per-
sons. Major Cornwallis West, Lord Lieutenant of the county,
undertook the promntion of the scheme, and in appreciation
of his services he was presented with an address from the in-
habitants of the district.

Speaking at a meeting of the Liverpool Total
Abstinence League, Mr. it%thbone, M P., said that if the
people of this country went on drinking and spending as
freely as they had been doing they would destroy the very
foundation of our national prosperity. In particular he
strongly advised the working classes to be more careful in
saving money.
The Queen was to have visited the Duchess of
Cambridge on Monday afternoon. All the arrangements had
been duly carried out by the Court and railway officials, and
a special train bad actually been prepared for the Queen's
conveyance to the metropolis, when at the last moment the
order was countermanded, and the Queen did not leave
Windsor as proposed.

- -
It Is stated tbat the total increase of Roman Catholic
establishments in England, Scotland, and Wales, from 1833
to 1876 Is as follows, viz :-722 chapels and stations, 330 con.
vents, ac., 21 colleges, 538 schools. It appears the summary In
the Kaman Catholic Directory for 1876, page 301, gives the
total as 1,061, but this does not include private or domestic
'chapels.

The remains of a balloon have just been found on
the coast of Iceland. In the car werc some human bones,
forming an incomplete skeleton, and a leather travelling-bag
in very had condition, containing papers so deteriorated 13,
wet that the writing could not be deciphered. A conjecture
is formed that this ft the balloon In which Price ascended
during the siege of Pads, being the only one that was not ac-
counted for.
"I hear that frock coats will soon be looked upon
as garments of the pact among well-dressed men, and that
for the London season of 1877 nothing but cutaway or morn-
inc colts will be worn. This is confirmed by what a friend,
'Alio was present at the wedding at Trentham the otlkar day,
mentioned—namely, that with the exception of thenride-
groom and his best man there was not a frock coat to be seen
amongst those present."— Whitehall' Review.
" The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Association,
which has been formed in connection with the Miners'
National Union, issued fourteen days' notices for an advance
In miners wages, to make them equal to what they were in
May last. Should the request not be complied with under
the expiration of the notice, the men hold themselvez at
liberty "to take such course and adopt such measures" as
thermay deem necessary for their interests.

The Sultan of Turkey recently sent the Emperor of
Morocco a present of eighteen women for his harem. It is
extremely gratifying (remarks an American editor) that this
mode of making presents is not customary among the great
Men of this country. At the present price of bonnets and
sealskin sacks we should go one West and grow up with the
country if any one were to present us with eighteen women.
"The Americans, having brought their Exhibition
to a clone, have begun to turn their attention to the display
which their country intends to make at Paris in 1878; and
the curious suggestion is made that America should form a
gallery of feminine beauty on the Trocadera, which should
prove at once and for ever that our American cousins are
the most lovely women in the world."— Whitehall Review.
At a public meeting held at Birkenhead a resolution
was passed, "That it is desirable that a school board should
be established in Birkenhead." The voting took place on
Saturday, and the result was declared as follows :—For a
school board, 135 • against, 845; majority against the esta-
blishment of a bortici, 710.
The Nord, alluding to the assurances given by the
Emperor Alexander to Lord Augustus Loftus, trusts that the
English nation will discover that they are something more
than words—that they are as solid guarantees of the disin-
terested intentions of Russia as the military preparations are
of her firm purpose not Cobs satisfied with the mere patching
up of the condition of the Christians in the East.
The town of Hildesheirra Hanover, has just had the
exciting spectacle of a lion-hunt. Two escaped from a
travelling menagerie, and one immediately sprang on a
horse which it kil'ed. It then dashed oil down tho Rae
Zineel, which was fortunately deserted, the hour being early.
At lest the beast made its way iata a garaen, tho place
was surrounded by soldiers. It climbed up a tree and the
troops received orders to shoot it. They fired, and it fell
dead riddled with bullets. The other, which had got into a
cellar, was easily mastered and taken back to its cage.
Mr. Edward Edwards, landlord of the Moira Hotel,
Cardiff, has died from hydrophophia. Three months ago he
seized hold of a small dog which was following a child, when
the dog bit him on the wrist. He bled freely, but no notice
was taken of it. On Saturday week htKit out shoofing and
caught cold, and since then was ill. 'Tuesday symptoms
of hydrophobia appeared and several me ical men attended
him up to Thursday, when he became very violent, barked
and foamed at the mouth, and manifested all title usual
symptoms of hydrophobia, being unable to swallow water or
anything liquid. He died on Friday morning in great agony.
The Brighton Aquarium has been outstripped by a
similar establishment in New York which contains a white
whale. Thirty thousand pounds was the price of this interest-
ing stranger, whose fresh sea water costs a hundred dollars
per diem, and whose food costs another hundred. At the
same enormous establishment they have several sharks, but
these are troubles/me. When worried by the attentions of
visitors, they charge against the glass, and on more than one
occasion have succeeded in breaking it.
An important memorandum from the British Iron
Trade Association has been submitted to Lord Derby. It
states that a large proportion of the furnaces are out of blast,
and a still larger proportion of the forges and mills for the
production of malleable iron are closed. Thousands of work-
men had been oischarged, and the wages of those at work
materially reduced. It was pointed out that prices rule ex-
tremely low, even in the United Stater, where a large
proportion of furnaces and forges are standing idle.
The ship City of Seringapatam came into collision off
the north end ot Palma with a ship swposed to be the City
of Foochow, the former losing her wizen mast, and with it
the sezond mate, and six hackie, who were aloft at the time
of its fall. The accident occurred on November 13 A heavy
gale of wind was blowing at the time from the soutn-weat.
The latter ship apparently sustained no Wary. The Serituct-
patam put into Santa Cruz, Tenerlffe, for repairs.
Berlin now has nearly a million inhabitants. The
figure given by the Statistical Bureau of the town is 956,853.
Contrary to the rule which prevelis in almost every
European nation—taking the populuticn of town end country
on the average—there is, in the German eepltal, a nal aa
or in des;
as against 431 2,33 femsles. This
is different from London, Paris and other great chief,. In
"
1826 Berlinnamhellsdy, 4286
205,2575; inhabitants in 1858, 4-80138.
Withinreatthperleaagt: eB has l :Y e are
s itspopulation has been doubled
been made in the book trade of
Italy during the lest forty years. In 1835 there were only
454
lxinting*oftt?e, and booksellers' shops, whereas now
there are 1,03 nooksellers, of whom 150 are publishers. In
835 aeiy 2 819 works, forming in all 4 235 volumes, were
published, whiles in 1872 there were, 6,793 publications, 410
being devoted to natural sciences and 371 to philology.
mere were 185 newrpepers p•ehlished in 1835 in the
six States States which then cemposea Italy, £6O in 1846, 721 to
1870, 765 in 1871, while the numbers have now risen to 1,126,
of which 334 are daily jaurnals. The province of Allimaalone
has 138 journals.

The last " Article de Paris" is a gronp representing
three young ladies in a chariot drawn by wild bouts- This
group deplete the Republics of France, Switzerland, and the
United States in the chariot of " Progress," to which lions, the
symbol of "Power," are harnetne,d. Preceding them is George
Washington, pointing the way upwards, while close behind
are William Tell, with bent bow, M.. Thters, with an spple,
as the merry Swiss boy, and Marshal MacMahon, with his
marshal's baton resting against his thigh. Finally come the
"grateful people," giving "All hail" to these "glorious
founders" of the three Republics.
Among the signs of dep,reesion of trade is a dimi-
nished number of stamps required by the publtc for hiPs of
exchange. In the flnaucial year 1873-74 the number was
9,99339, producing a revenue of £999 €Ol, or nearly ten
millions of bills, sueplying nearly a million of menu". In
the next year, 1874-75, the number fell to 9,800 899, and the
reremie to £919.309 , In tke yeix 1875-78, tbe,-siumber was
hut 9 73%686, and the ttt £369,131 ; the number of bills cl,-
"creating aist a splatter of a million in the course of two I
tears, bus the revenue not declining so much. Still, the
:nninner of 1)1113 13 1111.1C11 above that of ten sears ago, alien
(in the yea: 186.5-0 o) there Wire- but 8,3'6,893 bill stsiard,
burned.
. The Ainerinaw4 appear to hm ritccc.dhig in their plan
•of rcr.ding over fresh meet to Great in itain. They have
7,o‘ganized a system under which some 5,000 quarterepf fresh. -
.beef can he sent over in each eiez.wer, not frozen, but coolest,
to a safe teinperatnre by sir which has pad Vlto.ugh
cliambers. The meat is very good and "blight, and in ,
spite of opposition from the Waxers a oargo was Sold in
Liverpool the other day at from 61 to 8.1. a pound. The
meat, it is said, has fetched 8d per pound In Glasgow for
some time, and does not excite the prejAice arising from
the over-cooked condition of the Australian tin-ned meat.

Messrs. Chubb and Sln have just eoMpleted & lerge
fire•resisting strong-roum tor a London bank. It contains a
lobbyin which wilt stand several iron sales. The remainder
of the room is subdivided into '° principal
dro
incipal; stthreonogocelrosaand
Reti closets,
one to receive e for CS'h,
largest comp•rtment being fitted up on all sides, from floor
to root, with tier upon tier of iron shelves: The outer door
Is constructed of wrought iron end :hard steel, weighing
nearly a on, and is seettred by' two of nhubb's locks throw-
ing bolts all round its four. sides. A
en. fatting grille in the
doorway fa used to ventilate the room by day while the door
remains open. The room measures 201 t. by 1211., and 93.
nign, and weighs about twenty-three bons.
Ten yew's' t.naperanee legislation will be the most
"
pressing sunfect of the day: •Every week it becomes more
prominent. A year ago The:Tinlee would never have thought
of giving, SS to d 062 O Y.% ooktunn and shalt beaded, The
Temperance Question; with. speeches by four prominent
mcm—Mr. Chamberlain, the Blihop el Manchester, the Arch-
bishop of York, end Mr. Bardsley.• Two years ago we 611Glatl
not have had those speeches, for men are now eeasing to
lament over the evils of drunkenness—they had got beyond
that stage • the evils are so great and so universally admitted
that there is no need to dvcell upon them. The ne2t stage is
to devise remedies. The third stage will be legbilatlon."—
Court Journal.
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