The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-02-21 00:00:00

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Mr. Piers Mostyn, inspector of factories for South
Virales,has been found dead in bed at the King's Head
Hotel, Newport (Mon.),
At a meeting to be held at the City Liberal Club on
Friday, the 27th inst., the question of the necessity of a
second ballot at elections in default of an absolute ma-
jority for any candidate will be discussed.
Private Hayes, of the 20th Hussars—two squadrons
of which regiment are under orders for Souakim-
- has committed suicide at Aldershot by cutting his
throat with a penknife.
The Liverpool steamer Benwell Tower, over 3000
tons register, has been abandoned in the Atlantic. The
second officer and an able seaman were washed over-
board and drowned, and the mate's leg was broken.
A brutal murder took place on Friday evening near
Moate, county Westmeath, the victim being a farmer
named Peter Kelly. When the body was discovered it
showed unmistakable evidence of great violence. The
head was battered in so as to be hardly recognisable.
A young man, named John Evans, has met with a
shocking death in a clay mine, at Withymoon. De-
ceased was in charge of a horse, which took fright upon
being alarmed by a fall of clay, and =locked some
supports down, which caused the roof to fall in upon
Evans, who was killed instantaneously. The horse was
injured, and great damage was done to the workings.
At the Liverpool Assizes, Lambert Tatley has been
sentenced to five years penal servitude for converting
to his own use part of the contents of a furnished
honse. The prisoner's operations had extended from
1872, and were on an extensive scale. He was, it
appeared, in the habit of taking furnished houses and
disposing of the contents, and of hiring pianos and dis-
posing of them.
The steamtug Maid of Orleans, of Glasgow, was pass-
ing Arran when she sprang a leak. The pumps were
tried, but were choked, and the vessel was then headed
for Brodick. The water, however, reached her engine-
room, caused the boilers to burst, and she foundered
four miles from Brodick. The crew, five in number,
were landed in their small boats.
On Saturday, at Winchester, before Baron Pollock,
John Ewers, a miller, of Yately, was charged with
shooting at a party of students, belonging to Wellington
College. On November 27 last the lads were out on a
paper chase' when they crossed the defendant's land.
He ordered them off, and then discharged his gun,
slightly wounding several of the students, but none of
them were disfigured. He was acquitted of the felony,
and, having pleaded guilty to the charge of unlawfully
wounding, he was sentenced to one month's imprison-
ment. _ _ _

The fine bell cast by Messrs. Gillett and Co., of
Croydon, for the Roman Catholic Cathedral of
Monaghan, Ireland, passed through London last week
, with its fittings upon trolleys, drawn by six horses, on
' Its way to Ireland. The bell itself weighs three tons
two hundredweight, and is intended to swing up to the
horizontal.
In the case of the two French ladies who asked to
be registered as municipal electors, maintaining that
the article of the Constitution' "Tout Francais, aged
twenty," applied indifferently to men and women, the
judge has decided, after considering the matter for
eight days, that as women never enjoyed political
rights, and were disabled from many civil ones, this
construction could not be admitted.
Earl Spencer, whilst hunting with the Meath Hounds
on Friday, was thrown from his horse and had his
shoulder dislocated. A surgeon who was taking part in
hunt at once put the shoulder back in its place. His
Excellency then drove back to Dublin. Another acci-
dent happened to the Viceregal party on Saturday.
The Lord Lieutenant, with his usual escort, drove on a
drag to Powerscourt, on a visit to Viscount Powers.
court's residence in the county Wicklow. Lady Spencer
and two ladies who were with the party occupied the
Viceregal carriage. The horses were frightened by a
passing train, and, the outriders being unable to manage
them, they came into collision with a van, and were
somewhat injured. After a short delay the party were
enabled to proceed to Powerscourt.
It was discoTered on Sunday that another outrage
had been perpetrated on the railway near Arbroath on
the previous day, only a week having elapsed since a
similar outrage was committed in the same locality.
About a mile from Arbroath Station on the Caledonian
Railway two stones were found between the rails of the
down line, one weighing about three hundredweight,
and the other a large coping stone from a bridge. Near
the stones was the wheel of a locomotive guard's van
marked by collision, and some broken bolts. It appears
that a mineral train had come into collision with the
obstruction.
It is well known locally that salmon poaching on an
extensive scale is carried on among fishermen on the
Dee during close time, and the conservators are re-
solved to put it down. At Chester on Saturday Thomas
Knyaston was charged with this offence, which he
aggravated by levelling a tremendous blow at the head
of the water bailiff with an oar, which was smashed
with the force of the stroke. The magistrates inflicted
a fine of LIO and costs, with the alternative of two
months' hard labour.

Four sailors of the steamer Cerdiac, of Newcastle,
named Williamson, Tuck, Plumley, and Maunsell, were
arrested at Londonderry on a charge of mutiny. They
went on board the ship in a drunken state at midnight
on Saturday and pulled Captain M‘Kinney out of his
berth and seriously assaulted him. In defending him-
self the captain inflicted cuts on tno of the men. He
was rescued from them by two harbour constables who
heard the disturbance.

A report having been current at Eton College that a
letter had been received announcing an intended
attempt to blow up the chapel with dynamite on Sun-
day, the Bth inst., extra police have been placed round
the buildings, and the College quadrangle and other
gates shut, and guarded by police.
Considerable excitement prevailed in Londonderry on
Sunday owing to the proclamation of the Nationalist
meeting. Some disturbances took place in the street,
but nothing more serious than stone throwing de-
manded the interference of the police. At night strong
bodies of police patrolled the streets.
A young man, named James Dempster, a mason,
who resided in Edentown, Ladybank, Fifeshire,
when engaged in target shooting on Saturday, was shot
dead by the accidental discharge of one of the barrels
of his revolver.

Ar Mold, George connor, formerly accountant at the
local branch of the National Provincial Bank of Eng-
land, has been sentenced to six months' imprisonment
on a charge of misappropriating £5O, paid to him by a
customer of the bank. The accused had been in the
employment of the bank for many years, and is very
respectably connected.
At Norwich, on Monday evening, Sir J. Lubbock,
M.P., and Mr. L. Courtney, M.P., addressed a meeting
in favour of proportional representation. Mr. G.
Gurney Buxton presided. The meeting, it should be
stated, was convened under the auspices cf the local
Liberal Association, but the committee expressly
guarded itself against being supposed to endorse in an
unqualified manner the sentiments propounded. At an
experimental election, six candidates were t ominated
for three seats—viz., the Premier, Sir S. Northeote,
Mr. W. H. Smith, Mr. Broadhurst, Mr. Cowen, and Sir
C. Dilke. Mr. Gladstone, Sir C. Mike, and Mr. Broad-
hurst were elected. A petition to Parliament in
favour of the proportional representation system was
also adopted.
The members of the Oxford Conservative Club and a
large number of the newly-formed University Habita-
tion of the Primrose League held their annual banquet
on Monday evening at the Clarendon Assembly Rooms,
under the presidency of Mr. A. W. Hall. The company
included the Earl of Abingdon, Viscount Valentia, Sir
Algernon Borthwick, the Hon. Claude Hay, and
several leading citizens and gentlemen from the county
and university.
A youth, named Davies, met with a terrible death
at the Plaskynaston Colliery, Cefn, Ruabon, on
Monday. He was employed on the pit bank to place
the trams on the cage to descend the pit. Whilst the
youth was busily engaged placing a tram near the
mouth of the pit, the wagon overcame him and ran
into the pit, carrying him with it. He was precipitated
a depth of 600 ft., and his body was frightfully mangled,
death being instantaneous.
At a meeting of Salisbury citizens, the Mayor (Mr.
i Fulford) presiding, t was decided that the city memorial
to the late Right Hon. H. Fawcett should take the
shape of a bronze statue on a granite pedestal, to be
muted by some eminent artist. There had been it
was stated, a public desire that the memorial should
take the form of a public park or library, but that it
was felt that the erection of a memorial which would
entail an annual rate in aid for its maintenance would
be unsatisfactory to the family of the deceased
atittayman.

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