The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-16 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

rt i',aid that the working men's democratic orators
receive a guinea a day and expenses paid.

- -
At Durham Assizes. Anne lc icholl was acquitted
of the murder other infant son, on the ground of insanity.
Father Ignatius has challenged the Bishop of Lou.
don to meet him to discuss with hint the subject of monastic
vows.

•
The celebration of the corning of age of Mr. P.
Thellusson, in Yorkshire, has been postponed in consequence
of the condition of his Royal 'Richness.
_ _

The Ftgaro states that du—ring the two days of snow
and frost In Paris the official reports showed that there had
been upwards of AM accidental falls and 76 eases of broken
limbs, two of which were fatal.
Mr. Browning's forthcoming poem, "Prince Ilohen-
stiel Say...angst', Saviour of Sodety, which Is written In blank
verse soliloquy, is understood to hear reference to the Em-
peror of the French.

News comes from Rnmaels that the Empress Euenie
has been robbed hi Spain of a casket of valuable jewels, in•
eluding a very costly necklace, and that the robber is sup-
posed to have taken refuge in Belgium.

"A few persons unknown to fame met in New York
the other day and went through the form of annexing
Canada to the United States by the simple expedient of
passing resolution i"—Tinies' American correspondent.
Mr. Serjeant Cox will shortly publish a volume,
entitled 'Spiritualism Answered by Science," detailing the
experh»ents that satisfied him that the phenomena laves.
tlgated are purely psychic and in no manner produced by
spirits of the dead.

The case of " Rea r. Hillier," an action for false im-
prisonment at the Derry Celebration last Pecemlwr, damages
claimed s:5,000, has been postponed till nest sittings after
Term, on account of the Mums of the Prince of Wales.
It is reported in well-infortmal circles that a prize
black cat at the Crystal Palace show actually witnessed the
Meg° of Paris. There is more in this than Is understo..d by
the philiosopher at the first blush, for the cat WtlB highly
eatable, bring large and fat.

Mrs. Lyres, whose name usefl to be familiar on ac-
count of the claim she set up to Royalty as the daughters(
Princess Olive of Cumberland, died on the 7th instant, at her
residence In Ilaverstock-hill, London, in the 75th year She
leaves two suns aud three daughters.
The Cologne Gazette learns from Berlin that the
Eaghth War °Mee has entered into arrangements with the
Prussian Oeneral staff to be enabled to undertake at once a
translation into English of the history of the late war, which
is being prepared by the Prussian staff.

_
There was a total eclipse of the sun on Tuesday
morning between two and six o'clock. Scientific expeditions
have been sent to Ceylon mid other places to w linen the
eclipse, which It Is hoped was visible in Arabia, India, North
Australia and the intervening regions.

The agitation in support of the nine hours move-
ment in extending In South Wales, The South Stafforthdtim
colliers also have begun an agitation for shortening their
hours of labour. The district Is one of the oldest Mining
centres of the kingdom, and the men employed in the pits
number several thousands.

A nice little order has been executed for an Ame-
rican lady of fashion, and has just been shipped rid Liver-
pool for New York—nannely, a case of fans of the value of
£7,76.1. They are, of course, studded with gems of great
Value.
An action to recover damages for breach of promise
of marriage was tried in the Court of Exchequer, in London,
on Monday. The plaintid is the daughter of the manager t..
a chronometer maker lii the Minories, and the defendant is
a Colonial spice merchant in London. The Jury returned a
verdict for the plaintiff, damages £ll5.

- - -
The posthumous papers of Rowel, collected and an-
notated by M. Jules Amigues, have just been published in
Paris. They comprise an account of the capitulation of
Metz, an interview with Marshal Baraine and General (hen-
Render. The Tours Government, the camp of Nevers, the
Commone, with sketches of Cluseret, Pyat, and belesehtze,
and other subjeas.

Another E-noeh Arden has recently turned up, and
learned from the lips of a neighbour the old, old story.
Staring out into the darkness, he submissively remarked,
" The ways of Providence are past finding out," and borrow-
ing half-a-crown from his informant, he departed.
- -

In a dialogue between a soldier and a peasant at a
cafr, the peasant, after stating that the country had been be-
trayed during the recent war, adduced as a prm 1 that all
the generals were living. " Yes, not one has been killed!'
Not one !" replied the soldier, anxious for the honour of
his general, " mrgeneral of brigade was killed twice."
At a banquet given in honour of the Grand Duke
Alexis in New York, the Russian Minister, Cataoasy, pro-
posed the following toast, accompanied by a new word
drink the health of me of the co-ordinate, &GA certainly one
ofsthe most powerful members of the American tioverutuent
—" Their Fairness. the Women of America."

The Prussian Minister of Public Works has ordered
that the railway carriages of every class are to be furnished
a ith apparatus for warming them by means of a chemically
prepared compressed charcoal. This regulation is to he en-
forced both on the public lines and on those which are pri-
vate property.

- - -
The Danbury Neva says :—" They are a feeling
people, those Bridgwater people are. A loving wife, on the
decease of her husband, sent the following thrilling telegram
to • distant friend :—"Des? John la dead. bas fully
covered by Insurance."

A freetrader and political economist remarks :—" Sir,
have read in the papers that a child had met its death
through swallowing a reel of cotton. This is not the right
way of putting the event, having due regard to its mast im-
portant feature. It should have been • a reel of cotton was
lost to industrial purposes, through being swallowed by a
child.'"

An important book, treating on the vexed question
of the connection between the populations of the Old and
New World, by Julius Elatzmann, the distinguished artist in
water colours, viii soon be brought before the Anglo-
American public by !Ur. TrUbner, under the title of
Americano-Asiatie Etymologies, via Behrings Straits from
the East to the West."

The Economist says " rreaident Thieve' menage
leaves very little doubt that he ia bent on committing almost
en cry capital error open to him In respect to his financial
and fiscal . France 18 paying dearly for the
privilege of having a politician of the old achool at Its head
when fiscal errors are Is danger of being adopted at ao
tical a moment. Great as the material injuries of the war
have been, we doubt if they will be so serious as the aggra-
vated injuries which those errors of policy will inflict.'

A Correspondent in Paris, writing laat Saturday,
aays that winter has set in there with unusual aeverity, and
that no such cold had been recorded hi Parte since 17ee. The
Seine waa full of large icebergs, the streets were covered
with snow, and the roadways were in such a dangerous state
that scarcely any vehicles ventured out. So inteliae was the
cold on Friday night that an outside passenger on ,ale of the
Paris onthibusea, a carpenter, forty-seven years of age, was
frozen to death.

The Paris Journal says that a rat-killing match took
place on Monday at the dog show in the Avenue d'Eylau,l n
which "Sir Julius Ravenpark, an English Lord, lost ten
thousand francs." The same paper also informs no that
" Count de Clarendon is shout to be married to Mie.
George, one of the richest heiresses of the United Kingdom.'
AID ingot the gatherings which have been postponed
in consequence of the dangerous illness of the Prince of
{Wales is the Nonconformist Education Conference, which
was to have amembled at Manchester this week. The Con-
ference will, to all probability, meet in the middle of
January.

There la a great scarcity of seamen on the Tyne, and
large steamefl and sailing vessels Vain some diffienlty in
making np their hands. The rapid development of steam
tonnage has been the occasion of a considerable demand for
MIMI.. awl wages from the Tyne are tit 15s. per month.
Firemen are better paid than seamen, and many of the latter
are turning firemen.

• •
• ',eat week the aggregate mortality in London and
1,9 other loge towns of the United Kingdom was at the late
of 31 deaths annually to every 1,60.) persons estimated to he
living, in the metropolis, 2,12 e births and 1,856 deaths were
mgiatered, the former having Owen 40 below, and the latter,
1,f.5 above, the average. The deaths Included 104 from
enallepos, Si from measles, 31 from scarlet fever, 10 from
diphtheria, 85 from whooping-cough, 51 from different forms
of fever (of which 4 were certified as typhus, 15.. entefle or
typhoid, and 10 as simple continued fever), and 14 from
diarrhoa.

• A German scientific journal describes a very simple
apparatua for determining the richnese of milk, as meant-4.d
by his transparency. Two polished plates of glass are ad-
justed by means of a screw, to stand at different distances
fran each other. The milk is placed between them : and
the distance of the plates from each other, when the dame of
a lite:nine candle is rendered invisible, is the measure alike
ot the transparency and richness of the milk. We give this
Mt of German learnellueso for what it le woolly It does not
seem very clear, except the German means to render the
flame invisible by ;ticking the candle Into the milk, and thus
also obtain a rich flavour.
• The great diamond, weighing 154 carats, which has
tree found at the 'ape and is now on its way to England, is
already furnished with Its legend. It is said to have Mei;
found in the wall of .me of the native huts, where a poor
Irish adventurer had received hospitality for the night, and
that being surprised at the light shining amid the darkness
he had upon examination found it to proceed from a clomp
of the earth of which the wall was built Of course the
clump was soon detached by the visitor, and this new Koh-l-
noor, with many other smaller diamonds, found within.
All 'this poor Irish

"Winter ham elmeel in with tinuanal Reverity in the
Ncrth-West (says the Nrto York Tribtenf , of the 49th ult.),
tied accounts of Intense gold and heavy snow reach us from
many points. tin the line of the I"nion Pacific Railroad
there nas been an estmordinary fall of allow, considering the
sigtaon in yet comparatively early; and at some places nearer
Mit the thermometer has been more than twenty degrees
below zero, Travel is likely to be impeded on the ratty...via ,
but, thus far, winter transit on the tratiarontlnental line has
been less embarraseed than was expected,"

On Saturday an inquest was bead on the body rf
William Schofield, labourer, aged 60 yeare, who died rm.
Injuries received whilst attending a lecture by 45t cLaries
Mike on Registration and flepreaentutino, as the Temper.
anoe Hall, Bolton, on the BOth oh. Deceased was, as has
been already frequently stated, ntmir with a brickbat on
the forehead on the ,CfAiion referred to. Ito lingered
until the teat 'I hursday. Tito Jury returned the following
vordi, I—' That William Schofield came to his death by a
blow from a missilc thrown by some Dooson unknown from
amongst a riotous issernbly." The Coroner said that
amounted to a verdict of manslaughter against tome pawn
or persons unknown.

A new English paper has been darted in Peru. •
1)r. J. Newman has a third volume of collect*
Miscellanies iu the proem.

"Jul4t like Roger," ia the newest popular expres
sion.

The Rubmarine cable hetween Trance Rua Conde:Os
hrel.en The rupture Is attributed tO malevolence.

The Count and Countece of Paris aro expected very
shortly at Cannes, eller.. apartments have been prepared
for them close to the villa of the Duke and Duchess of
aloutpensier.

The Socialist 1-17,crte. of Braes.le, in reference to the
late executions at Versailles. risnerks :—" AU Use blood the
flee on M. Thiers' flannel waistcoat will net make a puryle
mantle of it.

The mute from Berlin to Aforeem has juitt been
shortened by one hundred sad ta enty miles. by the opening
of the Brest to Smolensk line, which places Warsaw in direct
communication with the old capital of Russia.

The new French journal, Lc Reneeiononref, contains
the following advertisement :—.•Madame Y. M aged 45
years, eery well ioreserred, desires to unite herself to a man
aged from 110 to years. Address, F. M., Asc."

• -
The Vicarage of Hampton, Heron, hao heenne
vacant by the death of the Rev. nacres Adams, of Bon-don,
rural dean, in his 65th year. It is worth ts:i.) per annum,
with residen,•e, and is in the patronage of the Dean and
Chapter of Exeter.

An applicant for the poeition of dotneatie in a Dan-
bury famtly waa asked if she understood how to use kerosene.
Her reply exceeded the most sanguine expectation. UPS
It, Is It! she exclaimed in a tone of reproachful erplana-
tion. " give me a can of karyosane and I'd never ask for his
bit of a shaving." She was not engaged.

.•
The Chic., Leol IV( 41%•1 hms made ita appearance
regularly, notwithstanding the tire, which swept away ales
and library. This paper is remarkable for being edited by a
woman. Mrs Myra Brethren, and, nye the New York N t ton,
" we believe that it is esteemed by the profession as the beet
law journal in the country."

•
annual London Christmru, cattle tuarlict
held on !Monday. In pond of numbers the show was scarcely
so strong as on some recent oceastons, owing to the
&nee In force of the transit restrictions, but the actual weight
of meat on sale is stated to have been about an average. In
point of excellence the Scots cattle are ram to have been the
Onest. The total number of beasts exhibited was 15,32 U.

I'llre:doting letters in Meath have again been re.
sorted to for agrarian purposes. Mathew Dolan. whose
house was tired into recently, has again been the object Of
one of these missives. threatening him with Instant death If
he did not obey the former mandate. It bore (ho Kell. post-
mark. Dolan is in the employment of Mrs. lb AS, who holds
a farm from Mrs. Scott, of Pelgany, and both of the have
also been threatened.

"A circular letter has just been extensively circu-
lated stating that a number of noblemen sold gentlemen,
having notiond the formation of Republicna associations in
England, composed of democrats, infidels, and atheistical
spirit., comelier it time that the loyal portion of the em.
munity who had property to lose should combine to counter-
act the efforts of these parties, as hest they could, morally
and physicaily."—Cotert Journal.
In all serionenese it French paper has the followinz
in its columns We spoke recently of lord Mid
Tom Sayer., the celebrated American boxer. We linderstan
to-day that he was killed at the tire of Chicago, and our e.
temporaries are wrong In saying he died two years ago.
Tom Sayers was the husband of theeelebrated Blenken.
lie boxed ninety-one times, RIO killed three men by menus
of a knock—the secret of which he has tartivol to the grave.
lie was aix feet high and four feet round the chest. Truly
tin bet hconnu• !"

"Poor lienriatte is dead." Henrietta hag regularly
attended at the terminus of the Orleans railway for months
past, expecting the return of her lover, killed a year ago at
one of the battles before Orleans. The railway people
humoured the harmless lunatic, slid gave her a seat on the
platform, where she might lie seen in her Sunday dress,
with a bouquet of dowers and a packet of cakes. A
days ago, when her friends came to take her away—elli,
dead.

"We are macle one in the bowie nf affliction. The
whole nation watches together the silk lied at bandringliam.
The nation, as one man, sympathizes with the queen Anil the
Princess in the heavy tnuilile which is visiting them. Alen
go forth to their wells and return again in the evening, but
they, carry out and bring hack with them one thought in
their bosoms ; and the same thought is uppermost in the
minds of those who are at home. Are not these lag wives,
bothers, sisters, and eau they not tell whet It hi to pan
through trials such as that one family of which we are all
part now sutlers! "—The Tree e.

-
It him often been Raid that warmly a (liseavery ran
he made, or CO event recorded, for which .The passage may
not he 4inoted pat to the purpose, from Shakspenre.
correspondent finds to the Tempest the followiag account of
the loss of the 11.9.ra :
" l' the dead of darkness,
The minielters . hurried thence
Me, and thy crying self . where they prepare&
A rotten eareare of a boat ; . the very rats
Instinctively had cmit it . there they hoist pg,
T. cry to 1t0',.-.. that roard to an to sigh
To the wind, whose pity sighing bast again
loving wrong.

HOW .an we aallmy?
Prospero Ity Providence
At the Chelsea Vestry, on Tneaday prening, it was.,
after a lung discussion, resolved, by a majority of two only,
that the use of the hall be granted to Sir (lorries Nike, fur
the latillmse at addressing his constitionts on the 17th
of January next. The vestry will communicate with Sir e.
Nike, suggesting the desirability of postponing, the meeting
till the 17th of Tubruary, in consequence of the illness of
the Prince of Wales and the present state of public feeling.
At the Marlhorongli-ntreet pollee-court, in London,
' on Tuesday, an elderly gentleman applied for a summons
against his son for misconduct. The magietrate aekeft what
offence the eon had been guilty of. The applicant said he
was in the habit of lying in bed after eleven o'clock in the
morning. The magistrate said, "Do you suppose I es.,
grant a summons against your son for such • thing ? " he
applivant replied, "I thought you might assist me.' me
magistrate said, " Can anything be more ridiculouss than for
' a man to c before a mairletrate with such • Twined iro
away." The applicant, it 13 stated, left the court evidently
dissatisfied."
, The jewela belonging to the Apollo gallery or 4110
Louvre welt coneerded during the Commune in a small room
carefully walled up, so the second story of the building
erected by Francole I. over the salle Henri it. and the Solon
des Sept Cheminees. The work had been so skilfully exe-
cuted that the insurgents during their two months' onell-
potion of the palace, mutt have passed before It a thousand
times without suspecting that this treasure of Jewellery,
rock crystal, enamels, &e., estimated at fifty milli.. of
francs, goo so near them. The credit of this success is due
to ('runt ClSment de Itis, coneervator, and to the emptoyei
of the museum, who wore several times on the pint of tieing
shot for refusing to disclose the place of concealment.
A serious collision took place on Monday evening
near the Wortley Station of the Manchester, Sheffield, rind
Lincolnshire Railway. The express train from Jimiehester
to sheitield ought to leave Perdido., at 4.40 pm., hut it wan
six minutes late. A slow train which leaves at 4.1.; was des-
patched before it, a luggage train having been sent on mist
before that. on approaelling the Wortley elation the signal
lights were on for the luggage train to go Into the si.ling,
and there it proceeded, l'he driver of the slow passenger
train mistaking tine lights also ran Into the siding. The
driver of the express, which was just behind, fell into a
similar mistake, and the engine dashed Into the break of the
slow train, smashing It, and severely injuring the gliani.
In the first carriage, near the break, were a Mal, aunt his wife
mid child. l'he woman was killed, the hill much injure,.
god most 4,1 tire passengers in both trains very much shaken,
gritensive damage was done to the tolling stock, and it was
some hours before the lines were clearest.