The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-22 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

A silver cup worth £l3O, subscribed by the working
men of Sheffield, is about to be presented to Sir. Plimsoll.

The "first coloured girl" has justgraduated from an
Indignopolis high schooL

A man, sixty years of age, died at the Snith Shields
Workhouse on Friday from the Effects of sun-stroke.

At Liverpool, on Monday, there were 221 prisoners
for trial at the police-court, and 154 of those arrested on
Saturday night and tiunclay were drunk when taken into
custody.
The harvest operations have commenced in Middle-
sex, much of the oats and wheat upon light gravelly soils
having ripened rapidly since the recent hot weather.

At Wirob'edon, on Tuesday, the Queen's Prize, the
great event of the annual meeting, was won by Sergeant
rullmsu, of the 2.lid Middlesex, with a score of 74 points.

The weather of the last week, says the Maidstone
Journal, has rapidly ripened the fruit, and in ev-ry district
the gathering has been vigorously minted out. Although the
crop is short, the price is lemunerative.
The fishing on the w.-st, says the Glasgow Evening
TiriteB having proved unsuccessful, 4 000 men and women
have migraten horn the Lewes thus season to seek more re-
munerative employment in the herring fishery on the east
Coast.

The wheat harvest in Bohemia, Moravia, Siletia,
Galicia, mid liangazy this year promises to be considerably
above the average.

A rumour is current (says Galignani), that the
shepherde a to whom the grotto of Lourdes owes its celebrity,
Bernadette Soubiruus, has just died at Nevers in the con-
vent which she had entered i u a nun.

Some of the largest catches of salmon that have ever
taken ulsce in the river Dee have been made. In one tide
alone there were 173 salmon caught by nine boats.

- -
On Tuesday a deputation from the operatives waited
on a large meeting of Lancashire cotton spinners and manu-
facturers, held in Manchester, and persuaded them to post-
polio the proposed reduction in wages for a month.
On Tuesday morning a young namn named Smith, a
porter at the Blackburn railway station, was engaged in
walki.ig underneath some carriages for cleaning purposes.
Smith's head protruded, and it was
.csvight by the wheels of
an express train and cut cff
The Berlin correspondent of the Morning Post says
—Telegrams from St. Petersburgh announce tnat great satis-
faction is felt in pllitical circles at the tenor of the speech
delivered by the Es.rl of Derby to the deputation which
waited on him last Friday relative to Eastern affairs.
" The managing proprietor of the Dundee Advertiser
has been presented with an eulogistic address, congratulating
him upon having reached the twenty•fifth year of his con-
kexion with that journaL The address was the spontaneous
outcome of the gentleman's emplWs."—Notes from the
North in Pictorial World.

It is stated that the ea-aide resorfs on the coast of
North Wales have no lack of visitors. The rum urn of wars
heavy failures, and fluctuations of the money market have,
apparently, little effect in diminishing the crowds of health
and pleasure seekers who flock to itt)l, Llandudno, Colwyn
Bay, Penmaenmawr, and other delightful spots.
Wednesday's Yorkshire Post reports ten more deaths
from drowning whilst bathing, making a total of twenty-two
in the previous three days. All trio fatalities occurred to
young men and lads who had ventured into the water with-
out being able to swim.

Oa Monday evening a young man named Rubfrt
Dome was drowned in the Windermere Lake whilst attempt-
ing to swim across a little above Downes's, where It is a mile
wide. Another young man was in a boat accompanying him,
but was too far off to render smistance. It is supposed be
was seized with cramp. The lake is about 150 feet deep at
the spot.
The London Gazette announces the appointment of a
a royal commission to inquire into the working and manage-
ment of works and manufactories from which sulphurous
acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, and ammoniacal or other
vapours and gases are given crf, to ascertain the effectprc
duced thereby on animal and vi getable life, and to report
tandeoepxt ehda
al
toiro
Ltsheo
ipsruecvne natcl ovf
aphlurrsy,
tohnertehteo mareiastinisgtlorobme
and gases.
e
The London Gazette of Tuesday states that the
pQinee,,eand,,i,absysio,evettreersignraotefntth,etoOdrdiseprenofsetwheithGaarltletrh, ha
a
and regulations usually observed in arectarud to Installation
and to grant to the King of the fees, tof the,
Order, full power and authority to exercise all rights and
privileges belonging
to a Knight Companion of the Order in
as full and ample a manner as if hit majesty ,
in.-. been
formally installed, any decree, rule, or usage to the con-
trary nut withstauoing.
T itghnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales u p trt y at Chiswick on Tuesday. The
King tie
ngi r ra
aeye Hellenes were present The Prince
nlehs ,j :gni
ro acif" h
and Princess Christian and Pfil)Cesll Amalia, the Princess
Louise (Marchioness) and the M. erquis of Lorne, the Grand
Duke or Meckleuburg.Strelitz, the Duke of Cambridge, and
the Duchess of Pe& and the Duke of 'Peck were also present.
A very numerous and distinguished assemblage was present.
An inquest has been held at Leicester, on the body
of Mathtloa Gillett, aged 45, for the past 21 years Principal
of the Ladies' training College' Chelsea. Di:ceased was on a
visit during the vacation to her sister, at Leicester, and on
Monday evening was taking a drive in :4 raggounet'e, when
the horse bolted, and the deceased and her sister in fright
jumped out. Deceased fell on her head and received con-
cussion of the brain, from which she died at eight o'clock on
Taesday morning. A verdict of "Accidental Death" was
returned.

"Sixty soldiers belonging to one of tlap Si3rvian regi-
ments have, it Is stated, been shot ty order of the Servian
commander at Alextnatz. o account of the cowardice thy
displa:ted at the assault upon _Nisch, by which the ranks were
thrown into disorder it ls to be hoped that there is at least
some exaggeration in this report, and that the number of
victims has, stall events, been overstated. Cowardice in a
soldier is, uo doubt, most objectionable ; but a panic among
foung troops is rn:t unnatural, and often occurs even in the
best regulated armies The Duke of Wellngten, it is well
known objected most strongly to `panics,'
being designated
as cowardice. and considered it impolitic in the highest
degree to visit with severe condemnation the occasional
nervousness displayed by young soldiers on their 'baptism
oi fire: ,"—.Paa /OA Qcsletist.
&La: -

Between Saturday ritzlat and Mon,lay morning,
Captain Shaw reported no fewer tan 12 Stet in London.
A wall eighteen fe3t hiyh fel'at Sheffi,:del on Mon-
day, killing a lsbourer nand Laegfo3t, and burying and
severely injuring several others.
Large quantities of French clierr.es, imported from
liond,Air, St. nalo, and Havre, arrivel at London on Mon-
flay.
A movement is on foot to have a general review of
Scotch volnnteers in Edinburgh. A muster of from 20,000 to
8),000 is tape c'

A weaver, of Oldham, has died whilst on a v;ait
to Bury from hydrophobia calved by the bite of a cat two
months ego.
The Connecticut Senate has rejected a Bill
proposing to confer suffrage on women in city, tJwii,
borough, and school district meetings.
, A New Bedford phpicikn has given each hackman
of the city a dollar's worth of sodawater tickets in the
Interests of temperance
i, Whilst bghing in the tide in Morecambe Bay on
Saturday evening a young man was drowned.
• A California man recently married his aunt, btcause
he thought his old grandmother would make an affectionate
mother-in-law.
Under the heading "Humours of the Day,'
Harper's Weekly has the following :—'• It Is common to hear
at a 'club with home comforts.' Would not a home with
club comforts be an equally good idea:"
At Blackburn, on Saturday, a meeting was held of
about 100 delegates from L.ncashire, Cheshire, and Derby-
shiresepreseutinz all branches of the cotton trade, and passed
resolutions to retist any reduction of wages.
The value of Ole imports into France during the past
six months is officially stated at 1,811,000,000 francs, a con-
, siderable increAse over the corresponding period of last yaar.
The exports show a small decrease.
It is stated that an enterprising gentleman haft
offered to purchase the Vanguard as she now lies off the
coast of Ireland, being continent that he could raise her,
although not prepared to enter into any contract for that
undertaking.
Speaking at a meeting of the Agricultural Society
of Ghent, Count Blondcff, the Russian Minister, said that
diplomacy had been and was still working to maintain peace.
M. Diouyn de Lhoys, late French Minister, proposed the
toast of Belgian Independence."

An offizial Belgian return shows that the importß
Of English coal into Belgian have comiderably increased this
year. Thus they amounted to May 30 this ye tr to he
160,000 tons, as comparel with 70,000 tons in the coire-
sponding period of 1574.

Captain Soady, in command of the Medway Steam
Reserve, has just invented an apparatus for the speedy
bto ppa4e of leaks or holes in iron ships. It has been tested
and answered well, and further experiments will shortly be
mad e.

The Croydon board of guardians have resolved to
furnish from the workhouse quinine and cod liver oil to the
meoical officers of the mown districts, with a view to
diminish the consumptionaof wine and spiriis prescribed for
the sick poor.

In excavating to lay the foundation of a temperance
hall in Donegal, the sseleton of a full grown female was
discovered. it is supposed to have lain there fir halt a
centniy.
Mr. Russell, who has for 30 years been editor of the
Scotsman newspaper, died on Monday at his residence In
Edinburgh, at the age of 62. He had long been in filling
health, but has been confined to his house for only about
ten days.

Ex-Mayor Eastman, of Poughkeepsip, has given
500 of the street boys of that ci'y a straw hat each, with
this advice pasted irrside the crown :—"D met drink, don't
swear, don't chew, don't smoke. Be industrious, work
hard, study hard, play hard, and you will never be 'hatless,'
With the best wishes for your future welfare."

"Mrs. Sage, I should like to know whose ferryboats
these are that I tambled over in the hall " " Ferry-boats
Indeed, sir I Those are my shoes. Very polite of you to call
them ferry-boats l" "Didn't say ferry-boats, tars. Sage;
you misunderstood me. Fairy booti, I said, my dear friend."
—Pictortal World.

The New French postage-stamps are now in circula-
tion. They represent Commerce with the caduceus and
Peace with the olive-branch joining hands over a terrestrial
globe, upon which is placed a number indicating the value
of the stamp. The design is by lA, Riles Auguste Sage.
An amusing caricature appears in the shop windows
of Philadelphia. called "1776 and 1876." In 1776 a email boy,
clad in the immortal stripes, is squaring up against his
venerable mother. In 1876 he and the stripes have grown to
manhood, and the old lady is taking a "cobbler" with him
—of course, through straws, in the proper American style,
out of the same glass.—Correspondent of The Times.

The new iron Clyde-buift ship East minster took her
(lA,arture from Qaeenstown for Brisbane, Queenrland, on the
1171 inst., having on board the following ontrants :-147
unmarried men, 79 unmarried women, 32 married cnuples,
48 children under 12 years of age, and live infaots in arms,
making a total of 313 souls, equal to 314 adults. Of these 188
embarked at Liverpool on the 10th inst.

We regret to announce that Mr. Francis Hart Dyke,
her Majesty's Procurator General, was thrown from his horse
on Saturday at Egharn, and died on Monday from the injuries
sustained. The deceased gentleman for over a quarter of a
century filled the office of Queen's Proctor. He was at West-
minster, attending ta his official duties, the latter part of
last week.

A carious case of drowning has occurred in the
neighb3nrhood ot Sheffield. Some young men were bathing
in a dam when one dived to the bottom Finding that he
did not come again to the surface, his companion dived to
his rescue, and then found that Ma head WAS embedded in
mud. Till assistance came they were unable to bring him to
the surface, and he was then dead.
On Saturday (15th), being St. Swithin's day, the
ancient custom of proceeding to orchards and christening or
counting the apt les, was duly observed in the rural districts
of Surrey and Sussex. The assembled parties drank ale and
cyder in the orchards and proclaimed success to the apple
crops. The ceremony is considered important, and it is be..
hewed that all apples remaining upon the trees on St.
Swithin'a day will mature and ripen. The apple crops are
generally light this season.

- Since his conviction for the murder of the little boy,
William Crouch, at Ryarsh, James Parris, now under sen-
teuce of death in .11 ildstone Gaol, has admitted his guilt.
He states that the thought suddenly came into his head, on
the mother failing to meet him, that he would kill the child,
and he "went and did it." He has written a penitential
letter to his parents. The execution is fixed f,-)r the Ist of
August.
A large concourse of spectators assembled at the
Mollneaux Grounds, Wolverhampton, on Monday morning,
to witness 8. Rawaon, the well-known bicyclist of Derby,
commence the feat he has undertaken of riding COO miles on
a bicycle in six consecu'ire days. He started in capital
form, and accomp`ished 74 miles, with an interval of rest, in
five hours and lb minutes. and he finished his first day'.
Journey in seven hours and 15 minutes.

News of the war with the American Indians is tele-
grapen by the New York correniondent of the Daily News.
The despatch says :—The advance of General Croak, twelve
hundred strong, met with a check oirthe 12th from four thou-
sand Sioux. fresh from the defeat of General Custer. The
Sioux had been j 'hied by Cheyennes and Arrapahoes. General
Crook refused battle in order to wait for reinforcements,
when, he says, one erushinr blow will end the war.
A memorial stone, with the following inscription, is
about to be placed on the front of the house in Paisley, where
the poet Tannahill resided:—