The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-04 00:00:00

isallantans ntelligata.

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

A DEAD HEAT.—Cremation heat.—Fun.
A COMMERCIAL VIEW OF THE EAATERN QIIES-
TioN.—At the quarterly meeting of the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce on Monday, Mr. Edmund
Ashworth said, as traders, they could not but be
anxious that Russia should not obtain such possession
of Turkish dominion as would in any degree interfere
with our trade through the Dardanelles. If we saw
the transfer of Constantinople to Russian authority, it
would be a bad day for English commerce. Our ex-
ports to Russia last year amounted to £3 100,00,
whereas to Turkey we exported £13,000,000. Mr.
Jacob Bright, M.P., said that, speaking there as a
commercial man only, they wanted peace in the
E Astern part of Europe, and he undertook to say that
there could not be peace unless things were settled.
He believed it would be to the interest of the peace of
the world if the waters leading to the Black Sea were
open to the fleets of all the world. He did not wish to
see Russia in possession of the Turkish provinces. He
desired to see them independent.
- -

A DOG SWIMMING FORTY MlLES.—Captain
Bunco (says the Huntingdon Long Islander), uf the
ship Leonida, is the owner of a large Spitz dog that
was picked up in the middle of the Sound eevrar years
ago as he was swimming about several miles from land.
On Tuesday the captain left the dog on the East Neck
Wharf by some mtahsp, and Jack, seeing the vessel
some distance out on the bay, decided to follow. As
she was under good headway, little notice was taken of
his jumping off, as it was supposed he would soon re-
turn. The vessel reached New York that night.
Nothing was seen of the dog during the following day,
hut what wag the ast.-nishment of the captain and crew,
on going on deck while the vessel lay in dock on the
morning of the seoond, to find the faithful creature at
his post, watching over the vessel in his usual manner.
He was thoroughly exhausted by his long swim of over
forty miles, however, and could do nothing but
lie about and recruit his strength for two or three
days.
HINTS WHICH WILL BB USEFUL Ntxr TSAR.
—The proper place at which to have held the Dairy
Show—Cowes. The Best Locality for the Dog Show—
Barking.—Judy.
RAILWAY BEICRVOLENT INSTITUTION,—The
annual report of this charity, which has just been
printed and circulated, shows some satisfactory results.
The income, which in 186) was only £1,168, has now
risen to £16,466, showing an increase of nearly £2,000
on its receipts last year. Its membere, who are com-
posed of the officers and working staff of nearly all
the chief railways in the United Kingdom, are now
upwards of 40,000, and its object is to provide for
these individuals, when disabled, and for their widows
and children, when left in necessitous circumstances,
by pensions, grants, and allowances. There is also a t
"Casualty Fund" the tables of which show that
1,405 individuals (in other words one in 30 of all the
subscriber,) were relieved during the year 1875, when
injured by accidents. The institution is under the
patronage of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Dukes I
of Sutherland, Buckingham, do., and of the chief rail-1
way directors. Its offices are at 57, Drummond-street,
and 123, Selmour.street, Euston-square, London.
Almost all the railway emp7oyea, both officers and ser-
vants, now subscribe regularly to this institution and
their contributions are supplemented by about 9,000 of
the public at large.

THE " POLARIS " EXPEDITION. Capt. Walker,
of the whaler, Erik, of London, which has been highly
successful at the Davis Straits whale fishing, reports
that while cruising about in Smith's Sound he touched
at the place where the crew of the American exploring
vessel Polaris had wintered. He found a number of
articles lying about. The poles for the tents and the
fires were just as they had been left when the e plorers
abandoned their winter quarters. Close by there were
three large cairns. Captain 'Walker had them torn
down in the hope that he might find documents which
he had no doubt had been deposited. From the appear-
ance of the locality it was quite evident that the
Esquimaux had been there; no trace of any document
could be found, and as the cairns bore marks of having
been disturbed before Captain Walker's men touched
them, there can be no doubt that the Equimaux carried
off whatever articles they c)uld find. The captain says
he never remembers such a splendid season, and he has
been in the Straits annually for the last 30 years.
COURSING ON HUMANE " PRINCIPLES. --I
There have recently been held at the "Welsh Harp,"
at Hendon, a series of races for greyhounds, which
ought to receive the benediction of the Society for the
Protection of Animals. The promoters resolved to
use a "mechanical hare," which is despatched along a
wire, and it is apparently a kind of first cousin to a
clock-work mouse. The astonishment of the grey-
hounds when their teeth penetrated into the dummy
was considerable, and their evident conviction that
they had been swindled might have moved to tears a
member of the Anti-Vivisection Association. —Judy.

COMING TO A FORTUNE !—A young man of
the name of George Martinengo orginally of Norach,
who till lately had been clerk in his uncle's office at
Marseilles, has just inherited 80,000,000 francs under
the most extraordinary circumstances (says the Court
Journal) Several years ago a General of foreign
origin died in Holland, having no presumable heirs.
His large fortune went t a the Dutch Treasury. Nothing
was heard of the General's family or his money for
many years, when a short time ago the French Minister
of Foreign Affairs and Prince Bismarck informed the
Dutch Government that the inheritance was egally
claimed by members of the general's family established
in Marseilles and Germany. The Hague Cabinet
made some difficulties at first, but was ultimately
obliged to yield. The amount was raw accumulated
to the enormous figure of 159,322,800 francs; the
whole to be divided between the two heirs. The
Dutch Government will begin by paying 16,000,000
francs, but will only have discharged the entire amount
in ten years.

QUANTITY NOT QUALITY.—Brown, senior.
"Well, Fred, what did you see during your trip
abroad ?" Brown, junior. " Aw—'pon m' word, 'don t
know what I saw 'xactly, 'only know I did mere by
three countries, eight towns, and four mountains, than
Smith did in the same time I"—Punch,

"POLE ImPuscrwaßLE."—ln a leader on the
return of the Arctic Expedition, The Times remarks
They have not reached the Pole, but we venture to think
they have done quite sufficient if they have really established
the fact intimated in the two words "Pole impracticable."
It is, of oonrse, to be regretted that anything should be
impracticable ; but, grieved as we are at the accomplishment
of our prediction, we feel bound to recall that this was a fact
we presumed, notwithstanding much professional indigna-
tion, to anticipate. We had the gravest doubts whether It
was even worth while to fit out two fine ships at great
expense, and, still more, to imperil the lives of some of our
best seamen, iq order to make quite certain, what there was
every reason to believe, that the Pole was impracticable.
People talked so much about the Pole that they came to
think themselves quite injured in being unable to reach it.
They forget that there are some things which, however much
to be desired, are 'unattainable, and some places of great
Interest undoubtedly inacoeasible. The centre of the earth
and the surface of moon would, no doubt, be very curious
places to visit, and might Yield very valuable scientific
results; but we acquiesce in the impossibility of either
a balloon to the
In Captain
inplareaceilortys,ensadinrpgrising
other. There Tahtennnre tunnel
t4notthheinnen,e
Nares'a annonnoement—" Pole impracticable."
WANTED TO KNOW. If the curate who
efficiates for another in his absence is his altar ego I—lf,
In the present Eastern labour of the capitals of Europe,
Russia is on time work and England on peace work ?
If Alexander goes to war, how many old boys will it
remind of Alec campaign. —Pun.
A °Romp= is Pais.—ln Paris, the other
night, there was immense emotion in Levallois-Perret,
where a constant dropping discharge of fiearms brought
hundreds of the inhabitants into the streets. At day-
break a worthy citizen, looking out of his window for
the dawn, espied an enormous crocodile in the middle
of the street. Supposing that some proprietor of a
menageriehad permitted the terrible animal to escape,
the prudent burgess took down his fowling piece, and
discharged it at the noxious intruder, He saw the
crocodile make a slight movement, but it did not quit
the place. At the noise the neighbours also opened
the windows, and those who had guns also opened fire
on the croeodile. The creature appeared to receive
every shot with a certain shock, but not to be suffi-
ciently penetrated or pained either to fall or run away.
The gendarmes, aroused by the firing, soon came on
the scene of ;action, Seeing the creature from a dis.
tanoe, they loaded their carbines and advanced
cautiously in skirmishing order. One of the heroic
agents of authority finally walked up almost to the
laws of the crocodile and exclaimed, "We have killed
him already ; he does not move." In fact, the crocodile
was dead—but, for some time past. He was stuffed !
An inquiry was opened to discover who placed him in
that publio way.
MISSING STEAMERS. —1 here is great distress
in Tyneside among the families of seafaring men
through absence of any information with regard to
the steamships lonia, of London, and the Zampa, of
Newcestle. The lonia was bound for Alexandria, and
the Zampa for Port Said. Tee first sailed from
London on the 24th September, and the latter on the
23rd of that month. They would thus be both in the
Bay of Biscay at the same time. Very heavy weather
was experienced in the Bay of Biscay in the latter part
of that month, and several steamers came to grief.
Most of the shipmasteis who crossed the Bay at that
time report that they never enceemtered worse storms
at any • time of the year. As these creamers are now
long overdue, there is a fear they may have foundered
in the Bay of Biscay about a couple of days after they
left our shores. The crews were "mixed" more than
ordinarily. And they seem from the lists which have
been published in the Tyne to have been of almost
every nationality. There wo-ald be fully 50 souls, all
told. The whole of the Zampa's crew were shipped in
the Tyne" as were also about a third of the r
onta s ;
the remainder were engaged in London.
RABIES CANINA.—The prevalence of rabies
canine in this country, and its evidently wider exten-
sion every year, is a matter for serious public consider-
ation (says the Veterinary Journal). The amount of
damage it has caused cannot be estimated. The
Veterinary Department of the Privy Council takes no
cognizance of this contagion, neither have any legis-
lative measures been devise to check its progress.
There can be no doubt whatever that the continuance
and extension of rabies is due solely to the absence of
of legislative measures uniformly carried into opera-
tion, as well as to the ignorance ot the public with
regard to the preumuitory symptoms of the disease in
dogs, and the prompt treatment of wounds inflicted
by them" .We have repeatedly and urgently
insisted on the necessity there exists for making
every one who has to deal with dogs, or who is
likely to come in contact with them, acquainted with
so much of the subject as would diminish accidents to
a minimum e tent. The suggestions we offered in this
direction in " Rabies and Hydrophobia" have been
adopted by the police in Paris, and the principal of
thess.-aint- -outline of the premonitory symptoms, of
rabies in the dog, and directions what to do in the
case of dog bites as well as the identification of doge by
a police number on the collar of each animal—Would
prove of great service in this country. Surely it is
not too much to ask that the public should be informed
as to what veterinary science has done to protect, not
only animals, but mankind, and mankind's most de-
voted compseeirel from this Noun's. -r Veterinvil
Jour:l44

PROOF POSITIVZ.—" Mayll per Father gone
home, Billy ?" "Be., Mother." "Be 'es bad,
Billy ?" " Ees, Mother, awful." "Did 'ee whaok
yer, BilFi 7.,.' Noa, noa, Mother; he hadn't sense
enough left,"—Pun..

DEATH AT THE GAMING TABLE. —A curious
story comes from Parte (says the Pail Mall Gazette).
It is not 80 very long since a young man well dressed
and apparently rirh, entered a clandestine gaming.
house. He was playing at trente-et-quarante, and had
already won a little pile of gold. "Red wins,,,
presently said the banker, and proceeded to hand over
over a hundred napoleons to the unknown one, for the
stakes were high. But the stranger made no
attempt to take the gold, and return,i no answer to
three or four questions put to him in reference
to the game. His eyes remained fix-d on the red,
while his features assumed a ghastly paleness. A.
player touched his arm—he was dead. Trien the
banker coldly withdrew the hundred napoleons, ob-
serving that play was in the nature of a reciprocal
contract, which could only be entered into between
parties both of whom were capable of contracting, and
therefore never between a live man and a dead one.
The cause of death was heart disease, and the official
report was soon drawn up in proper form. It con-
tained, as may be imagined, no sort of reference to a
gaming-house.
TARING TWO TOGETHER. —New Rector's Wife
(who has been explaining the third Commandment)
"I hope, William Sloman, you never swear."—
William (mildly) :—" Oh, no, mum—leastways on'y
on weekdays."—Fun.
- - - - -

SL E or FAT STOCK.—ON Monday afternoon
the annual sale of fat stook fed on Her Majesty's
estate, Claremont Park, Egher, was held under the
direction of Mr. Ewen MacDonald, agent to the
Queen. The catalogue comprised in all 112 oxen, 57
of which were Shorthorns, Devons, and Herefords, fed
on the pastures of Claremont Park and 55 polled Soots
reared on the pastures of the Hone Park, Hampton
Court. There was a large attendance of buyers from
the metropolis and various parts of the country. The
average price fetched by the beasts in the first portion
of the catalogue—Shorthorns, Dawns, and Herefords
—was £25 per head. The quality not being up to the
usual standard on aocottat of the unfavourable weather
for pasture lands during the last six months. The
polled Scots were sold at an average of 1226 per head.
Conbidtring the quality of the stock offered for sale,
the prices realized were considered very good.

" CHACIIN POUR SOI." - Lady's-maid. "I
beg pardon, Ma'am, but your dress ix trailing—hadn't
I better loop it up before you go out? "—Lady. "No,
tbanks, Parker, I prefer letting it tsail, as it's the
fashion just now—" Lady's-maid. " Yes, Ma'am—
but ;as the dress is to be mine some day, I think, I
ought to have some say in the matter I "—Bunch.
A Stionnio 11178 BAND —A chance of acquiring
the eternal gratitude of a sleepless lady is open to the
French public (says the Evening Standard). Some.
thing yet more substantial than gratitude might be
added, should an abundant supply of this sentiment
not be considered sufficient. The lady in question
has a "cross" to bear, which she assures the editor
into whose ears she pours her troubles is too heavy for
her strength, however light it may appear to an indif-
ferent observer. The "cross" takes the shape of a
snoring husband, and if ever there was a man who
should endeavour to rid himself of an ill-mannered
habit it is he, since he has the signal good fortune to
possess a partner "renowned for her beauty, and who
outshines all the feminine part of her province
at country balls and Ma." She admits that but for
this incorrigible habit her lord is a worthy man;
but all his good qualities are nullified by the cruel
indifference he shows to the lady's repose. The
writer's case is certainly a hard one, since not only is
she pursued to the utmost limits of her apartments by
the nasal music of her husband, but she is under the
cruel necessity of refusing a night's hospitality "to
her own mother." She has tried, unsuccessfully,
every known remedy, such as propping the sleeper
upright in bed, rubbing the bridge of the offending
organ with hartshorn and oil; in short, she has done
her best to turn the unfortunate nose to a more har-
monious utterance; but finding everything fail,
deposits her "cross" at Mr. Editor's feet, declaring
she Will take it up no more, but will seek a separation
if "through the medium of his widely-circulated
journal no relief is found." The Editor confesses to
an inability to help the fair sufferer himself, but
chivalrously offers a reward to any of his readers who
may propose an efficacious remedy.

INFERNAL Maommts. —Vanity Fair says
"There is reason to believe that an attempt may
shortly be made to create alarm and provoke disturb-
ances at Constantinople by means of explosions similar
to that which took place at Bremerhaven. A number
of machines similar in construction to that which was
enclosed in the Bremerhaven case are now, we are in-
formed on excellent authority, on their way from
Marseilles to Constantinople."
" THE S TRUGGLE FOB EXISTENCE." —Dar-
winian Coster (to thrifty Housewife). "Well, fish is
dear, Mum; you see it's a gettin' wery SZeTAS in Mae-
kenee o' these 'ere Aquerituas I"—Punch.
" FLOTBAM."—Mr. J. Alfred Lockwood writes
to The Times:—" When fishing in Great Yarmouth
Roads on Saturday afternoon, October 28, the trawler
Gleaner, No. 646, arrived and anchored a short
distance from my boat, the captain shouting to myself
and boatman that he had a live stag on board which he
had picked up in the water. Going alongside I found
such to be the case—a fine male red deer, with good
antlers, lying on deck, his legs bound together to pre-
vent his escaping overboard. He had been captured
an hour or two previously in the Cockle Gatway,
swimming away from land at a distance of some two
miles frcm shore and about four miles from Yarmouth,
the sea being at the time very smooth and the wind
almost a dead calm. It would be interesting to know
how the animal had got so far from land. Had he
through fright—having escaped from some park in the
county—taken to the water and, partly by swimming
and partly carried by the tide, arrived at so great a
distance from the coast, or had he, as the crew of the,
trawler supposed, escaped from some passing steamer ?''
A CABBAGE C BOP. —Upon the rocky, steep
mountain side, near the noted Water Gap in Pennsyl-
vania, it is stated, may be seen at the present time
some of the finest plantations of cabbages that ever
gladdened the eye of a "trucker." In this forbidding
locality, where the stones apparently cover the entire
surface of the soil, the seeds are planted singly in rows,
and the plants allowed to remain until maturity.
Although the past season has been noted as unusually
dry, the crop bids fair to surpass its predecessors. One
block of three scree has 16,000 heads, which are now
rapidly approaching maturity. Last year one batch
produced 9,000 heads, which were disposed of for
about 10 cents. each, the largest specimen weighing
twenty-five pounds. Pretty good that for a worthlesa
piece of ground.

FRUIT CULTURE EXTRAORDINAM.—A pro-
position has been recently made, and has obtained
some favour, to the effect that railway cuttings awl
embankments throughout the country might be planted
with fruit-trees and vines, and our fruit supplies thus
be immensely augmented. But this ought to be done
cautiously. Though a vast deal of the land by the
side of railways might be turned to profitable account,
and made to look a great deal more picturesque than it
does at present, the results which might follow from
an inconsidered mix-up of fruit-trees and telegraph.
posts are dreadful to contemplate. We might have
earthenware insulators growing on apple-trees, and
galvanized wire sprouting into tin foliage, and bearing
a profusion of iron grapes. Dr. Darwin ought to be
consulted before such tricks are played with the
vegetable kingdom.—Judy.

ill DUN CONJURERS. —6‘ Ignoramus," in writ.
ing to The Times, says—" Will you allow one who has
seen something of the magicians of the East to relat•
his experiences? I was in command of the Fort of
Attock, on the Indus, in 1861. One evening when, at
mess with the officers of my little garrison, a 'native
was introduced, professing to be what we would call
a 'conjurer.' Having spread on the bare floor of the
mess-room a cloth of linen about a yard square, he
placed at two opposite corners copies of the Koran.
He then recited a prayer, to whom I know not, and
having thrown on to the Cloth three or four figures in
paper out out from a Journal des Modes, commenced
playing a tune on some reed instrument. The figures
rose and danced in time with the music. I was allowed
to examine the figures, and found them to be stiffened
with a little gum and cardboard. The dance ceased
and recommenced with the music, and we could dis.
cover no sensible communication between the 1 coa-
gured the tab
s. Our dinner
He put a rupee atinn er was over, but the
gtaiebilaneelotahndstilis ficovere
signet-oringuatinthsternomtheenrt.,
arid
rtley.
one corner and my
mrPeinuagetecikwihmtlivi )aerdavytiorr:agptol
the
ee ddmisogtioonnalkuenetpiiingit time to
the
rupee, which it clawed—l can describe it by no other
word—and brought back with it to its own corner. We
did our best to discover how this was done. The °co-
lorer, a wretched-looking creature, declined to sell his
secret, although I offered considerable sums. I re-
turned to England and propounded the problem to a
well-known member of the fraternity, but in vain."

- -
A GRELT ADDITION.—A fine alligator, ten
feet long, from Savannah, has been added to the
Brighton Aquarium. He has been placed for the
present in the grotto in the cross corridor, until the
tropical room, 'which is being made, is ready to receive
him. He is a wry healthy specimen, and takes his
food freely ; but the report that the authorities have
been thinning down the surplus juvenile population in
order to provide for his wants, is probably an error.
Judy.

„-I ”" s A PAINT MULE A HOES T'—Nothing is
more remarkable than the facility with which the
colourei population become acquainted with the forme
of law, and the practical management of a case in
court. There was a striking illustration of this fact in
the Recorder's Court, last month. The prisoner was
accused of riding across one of the bridges, in a gait
faster than a walk. and the proof was that he galloped
a paint mule over Houston street bridge. He managed
his own case. His Honour said, "I think I'll have to
firm you, Johnsing." "May I ax yer a few questions?"
"Yon may." "Isn't thar a sign over dat brideS,
warning people how dey must ride ?" "There Isand
that makes you all the more guilty." "Ii does, does
It? Now, Mr. Recorder, is at sign what I has to go
by? Is dat d, law ?" "it is." Well, den, dat sign
oli.
irte_addo t
s, ' NiVt,ablkosysT,i,r horselt or you
jwoihllnl7
"Well,t
paint mule, wasn't it boss?"
yth.eepsr,orbeishlewveassog7l,
krel3inpli':d his Honour, beginning to
smell a rat. "Now, it your Honour is willing to admit
bdaectaasepyainoutsmeeudlee alianw't
isnlo hsohsasil
kremstydbeocasas,eahneah,d
an
it was a paint mule, dat is fatal to de indictment.
You is a lawyer, and you ought to know them pinta
most as well as myself.', Recorder : "Ahem I for the
purpose of this suit, Johnsing, I'll regard that paint
Mule as a boss." Prisoner "Your Honour will please
note my ception. I Jess wants to make one more pint.
Allow in' for the sake of argument, dat a paint mule is
a boss, de sign reads; Walk your boss.' Now I has
de witnesses here in court to prove dat paint mule hose
was not my boss at all. De law says walk your hoes."
Recorder; "I'll fine you ten dollars Johnsiug?
And as Johnsing was conducted to the lockup he ex-
pressed great sympathy for the taz-paaas he intenp
ded to bring a snit for 100,000 dollars ges fox false
itSKlEliateter_a_44 Antim gold,

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