The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-01 00:00:00

BRITISH AND POREIGB.

At Derby the other day a child died from the effect
of burns by accidentally upsetting a cup of tea in her
lap.
A mass meeting of railway servants was held on
Hackney Downs London on Saturday in support of the
eight hours' movement and to consider the policy to be
pursued in connection with the discharge of thousands
from railway employ during the past few weeks. A
resolution calling for a reduction of hours and the
employment of more men was agreed to.
The report of the Board of Trade on the boiler explo-
sion at Tinsley Steel, Iron, and Wire Works, near Shef-
field, by which four men were killed, attributes the
disaster to one of the plates having been thinned by
external corrosion caused by leakage, and expressed the
opinion that nothing indicating leaka3e and corrosion
could be seen.
A series of excavations have been carried out at in-
tervals during the last twelvemonth on the site of.an old
Roman castle,near Rottenburg, in the Black Forest. The
ground-plan of the Castle has been, at least in its main
features, opened up, the zourse of the outer walls the
position of the doors and gates, the chief portions of the
interior buildings, and in some cases very considerable
remains of the old fabric have been brought to light.
During the latest operations some extensive remains
without the lines of the castle have been discovered, all
the ground plan and foundations being perfectly pre-
served. Among them is a hypocaustum, or subterranean
calefactory, which is in a state of completeness almost
unprecedented.
A strong gale was blowing in Liverpool and the
neighbourhood on Saturday evening. A large number
of sailing vessels, after having got well into the
channel, were obliged to put back reporting fearful
weather.

On Saturday, at Derby Police-court, Leonard Vince,
coal merchant, was fined the full penalty of £5 for
cruelly illtreating a dog on the 13th inst. It was stated
that the defendant beat the dog with an iron bar, and
also held it by the tail while a large black dog of hii
own worried it.

Aaron Levy, aged 38, a Jew, of Spitalfields, London,
described as a traveller, committed suicide in Notting-
ham Prison on Sunday by hanging himself with a towel
and handkerchief. Ile was awaiting trial on a charge
of stealing cigars.
Tte smack Favourite brought into Dover Harbour on
Monday morning two of the men of the schooner
Amaranth, which was run down off Dungeness by the
steamer Jacques. The rescued men are the master.
Captain Coombs, and one of the seamen. The smack
fell in with them in the Channel, between Dungeness
and Folkestone. They were floating on pieces of the
wreckage, one being on the bottom of a boat, and the
other supporting himself on a spar. Both men were in
a very exhausted condition' and could not have survived
much longer. They were taken to the Dover National
Sailors' Home.

"La Petrie" says that it learns that M. Ferry is
negotiating with England to obtain her mediation with
China, and should the negotiations fall through the
French Government would have to send out 20,000 men,
and this means mobilising an army corps and occupying
Canton. The greatest activity prevails in hastening the
despatch of reinforcements.
A public meeting in support of the British Com-
mercial Geographical Society was held at the Mansion
House, London, on Monday, and was numerously-
attended. Commander Cameron addressed the meet-
ing, and resolutions in support of the objects of the
society were adopted.
A central office and shelter for the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children was opened by the
Lord Mayor of London on Monday in Harpur-street,
near Red Lion-square. The society, Which was only
formed last July, has already had its attention directed
to more than 150 cases of starvation, desertion, and
cruelty.
At the Central Criminal Court, London, on Monday,
Michael O'Donnell, an old offender, was convicted of
robbery with violence, and sentenced to seven years'
penal servitude.
A supplement to the "London Gazette" has been
issued with the list of prizes awarded to exhibitors at
the Health Exhibition itt South Kensington.

The passengers landed at Queenstown on Monday by
the Inman steamer City of Chicago, frOm New York
report that on Sunday afternoon about two o'clock, a
woman, who was a steerage passenger, committed
suicide by jumping overboard. The captain imme-
diately stopped the vessel, but did not succeed in res-
cuing the woman, who, it was stated, had been some-
what strange in her manner during the voyage. She
was going to Dublin.
At the Cumberland and Westmoreland Assizes on
Monday, before Mr. Justice Day. the principal case was
a charge against a man named France, belonging to
Cleator Moor, of having blown up the house of the
manager of the neighbouring mines, owned by Mr.
Stirling, on August SO, in revenge it was alleged, for
having been dismissed from the collieries. The case occu-
pied over nine hours, lasting until a quarter-past eleven
in the evening. Ultimately the jury brought in a ver-
dict of nol guilty.
It was reported on the Glasgow Exchange this week
that the Sydney pipe contract, the settlement of which
has been anticipated with much interest in ScotlanN
and England, has been obtained by Messrs. Macfarlane.
Strang, and Co., Lockburn Ironworks, Glasgow. The
contract is for 20,000 tons of cast iron pipes, with the
necessary fittings. The work will afford employment
for a considerable number of men.
A man named Charles Wade has given himself into
custody at Clonmel, alleging that he had killed a woman
with a poker at Carrick-on-Suir. Upon inquiry it was
found that no such crime had been committed. The
prisoner, it was soon discovered, was insane, and he
had to be closely guarded to prevent him from killing
himself. He was committed to the asylum as a dan-
gerous lunatic.
At Westminster Police-court, London, on Saturday,
Mr. Charlwood, tobacconist, of Pollen-street, Hanover-
square, was formally acquitted of a charge which had
been preferred against him of obtaining various sums of
money by fraud from Major Sterling. Regret was ex-
pressed on behalf of the latter gentleman at the mis-
take, and the magistrate said that Mr. Charlwood left
the court without the slightest reflection on his
character. The real thief has confessed to the crime.
Manchester is threatened with a water famine the
continuous dry weather having so reduced the ;back
that four of the great reservoirs are quite dry, cattle
grazing on ground formerly coterei with water. The
gathering-ground is 19,000 acres of moorland around
the Longdendale Valley, between Manchester and
Sheffield, and the supply is distributed not to Man-
chester only, but to Salford and the surrounding dis-
tricts, so that a total population of 750,000 is involved.
Mills, dyeworks, and other industries will be stopped
unless there be rain. Thirlmere, which the Manchester
Corporation obtained parliamentary powers to purchase-
is not yet available for water supply, and will not be
for years.

The authorities have ordered the Claimant to report
himself personally at Winchester as soon as possible
His solicitor has protested against this, as if was under
stood he should always report himself by letter.' The
solicitor has advised the Claimant not to report him-
self personally.

isy, extraordinary scene was witnesF,ed on the bees at
Folkestone on Monday. A middle-aged man over six
feet in height, supposed to 1)8 half-witte I, was dis-
covered on a path leading from the Sandgate-road,
where he had changed his attire for that of a fashion-
ably-dressed lady. He was taken in charge by the
police, who removed him to the police-station for
examination by a medical man as to the condition of
his mind.

Although the Prime Minister is expected at the Guild-
hall banquet on the 10th of November, the right hon.
gentleman has not definitely promised to attend, but
states that he will have pleasure in accepting the Lord
Mayor's invitation if the state of Parliamentary busi-
ness will permit.
The Czar has written respecting the report of the
Governor-General of Siberia for the years 1880 and
1881, published in the " Siberia " : "I have perused
your account," says the Emperor, "with great interest,
and I am more than shocked by the sad though true
description of Government neglect and fcrgetfulness
of a region so rich and so necessary to Russia. It is
inexcusable and even criminal to permit such a state
of things to continue."
The sergeants of the Ist Battalion Coldstream
Guards dined together on Monday evening at Welling-
ton Barracks, Westminster, in celebration of the mar-
riage of the Hon. H. Legge (son of the Earl of Dart-
mouth), the adjutant of the battalion, with the HOD.
Amy Lambar t.
Between ten o'clock on Monday night and six o'clock
the following morning a burglary took place at the resi-
dence of Mr. Franks, The Cedars, Brockley-hill-park,
Lewisham. The thieves effected an entrance by scaling
a wall at the back of the house, and forcing a closet
mindow. They ransacked the dining and drawing
rooms, eventually carrying off a large quantity of plate.
—Between three and four o'clock on Monday morning
an attempt was made to break into the house of Mr.
Cardwell, a few dcors from Mr. Frank's residence, but
the barking of a dog aroused Mr. Cardwell, and the
thieves ran away.
The position of parties in the new National Council
of Switzerland is unchanged. All the members of the
Federal Council who had seats in the National Council
have been returned, and their re-election to the Federal
Council itself is assured.

At Holywood Petty Sessions, a short distance from
Belfast, "W. J. Ashcroft, a well-known comic singer,
and proprietor of the Royal Alhambra, in Belfast, was
charged with having threatened the life of William
Ledlie, and also with smashing the furniture in his resi-
dence. Mr. Ashcroft said he was quite prepared to
pay for the damage done. Medical evidence was given
to the effect that Ashcroft was a dangerous lunatic, and
be was accordingly removed to the lunatic asylum,
guarded by police.
The Sheffield magistrates have decided that a com-
mercial traveller is bound to deliver up the cash-book
he used on his journey, even if he paid for it himself.
They held it is his duty to charge for a book, but even
if he dces not do so, the book contained his employer's
transactions, and should not be retained by an em-
ploye.
A Berlin correspondent says: On the eve of the
general election to the German Parliament the
Liberalist party has lost one of its prominent members
in the person of Dr. Fredrich Kapp, who died in Berlin
recently, somewhat suddenly, at the age. of GO. Falling
a victim to hi S revolutionary zeal during the stormy
year 1848, he went to America, and took an active part
in public life in the Union both as a politician and a
writer. Returning to Germany after the establi, hment
of the Empire, he was elected to the Reichstag, and
passed for an authority on all matters connected with
emigration and transmarine policy.
The "Courier," of Warsaw, states that an agent of
some English capitaiists lately visited that city to learn
if butcher's meat could be profitably sent from Poland
to England. He is now visiting the south-western pro-
vinces of Russia with the same object. If satisfactory
arrangements can be made with the dealers, special
railway waggons furnished with refrigerators will be
immediately constructed to convey meat across the
Continent. The meat could be delivered in London on
the third or fourth day after being despatched, accord-
ing to the locality from which it was sent. Should this
design be carried out, the meat inspectors in England
will have to be on the alert for cattle disease, which is
endemic throughout Southern Bank's

A seaman, whilst in a state of intorieation at G rimf
was drowned while leaving his chip on Saturday.
James Henry Meek, a Sheffield artisan, having re-
ceived a letter from his wife intimating her intention of
separating from him, drowned himself on Sunday.
At Bridgwater, on Saturday, a servant girl was
charged with attempting to commit suicide by poison-
ing. Her employer, Mr. P. P. Bouverie, kindly under-
took to see that he was sent back home. She was dis-
charged.
The anniversary of Balaclava was celebrated in the
Dome, at Brighton, by a benefit concert on Saturday,
in favour of Mr. Landfreid, a resident, who personally
sounded the charge on the memorable occasion.
Two boatmen, named Frederick Hicks and William
Ritchie, belonging to South Shields, were in their boat
behind the screw steamer Naworth Castle, entering,
Shields harbour on Sunday, when, owing to the north-
westerly gale and strong sea, the boat filled. The men
were thrown into the water and were drowned. Their
bodies have not yet been recovered.

Captain Stracey, of the steamer Caroline, of London,
which was docked in R,oath Basin, Cardiff, on Sunday
afternoon, reported that on Friday afternoon while on
the voyage from St. Malo, a seaman named William
Wood jumped overboard. The steamer was stopped and
a boat lowered, but the man sank before it ieached
him. He was suffering from drink. He leaves a widow,
who resides at Portsmouth.

At Croydon on Saturday a Swiss, named Christie
Engel, of Biggin-hill, Beulah-hill, Upper Norwood, was
seutenoed to two months' hard labour for stabbing
Edward Terry at Biggin-hill on the previous Saturday.
The assault was unprovoked, the prisoner stabbing
Terry in the throat with a penknife and inflicting other
cuts on his arm and the back of the head. _ _

A society has been established at Vladivostok in
Eastern Siberia for the purpose of exploring the Amour
district, with a view of founding in Vladivostock a
museum illustrative of the natural history of the
region.
An inquest has been held at Bromley, near Kingswin-
ford, respecting the death of Samuel Bourne, who had
been engaged as a sinker at Bromley-lane Colliery. The
workings had been closed two years, and when the de-
ceased was engaged in lowering the water, a hard sub-
stance came down the shaft and fell upon his head,
causing instantaneous death. The jury considered that
the occurrence was the result of an accident.
The Department of the Public Charities of Paris is
drawing up an inventory of all the works of art, con-
sisting of sculptures, paintings books mementos, &c.,
belonging to it, which have been loaned to the various
hospitals and asylums.
The Belgian periodical press now numbers 641 news-
papers and magazines. There are 70 daily papers, which
is a very fair allowance for a country whose entire popu-
lation only slightly exceeds that of the metropolitan
area of taxation and police.
The trestle bridge of the New Orleans and North-
Eastern Railroad across Lake Ponchartrain is said to be
the longest structure of the kind in the world. It is
built of creosoted lumber, and altogether is 21 miles
long seven of which are directly across the lake.
A:Vienna correspondent say the Japanese missions
in Europe"has just been informed of the creation by
the Mikado of a national peerage, consisting of 11
princes, 24 marquises, 76 counts, 324 vicounts, and 74
barons, who will form the Upper House in the future
Japanese Parliament.
The bronze medal and certificate of the Royal
Humane Society has been awarded to Private Herbert
Loraine, of the 3rd battalion Grenadier Guards (now
serving with the Camel Corps in Egypt), for rescuing a.
man who attempted to commit suicide in the Serpen-
tine last month.
A valuable Leonardo da Vinci is said to have been
discovered during recent alterations in the Berlin School
of Fine Arts. The painting dates from 1460, and rep-
resents the Resurrection of our Lord.

The grand stand of the athletic sports ground at
Lansdowne-road, Dublin, formerly belonging to the
Irish Champion Athletic Club has been burned to the
ground. The fire is believed to be the work of an in-
cendiary.
At the Liverpool Sessions Peter Hockey, a cripple,
has been sentenced to five years' penal servitude for
violently assaulting and injuring two men who refused
to give him money.
At Oxfordshire Assizes on Saturday Charles Stocker,
40, sawyer, was sentenced to five years' penal servitude
for striking William Hearn on the head with a hammer,
at Clewer, on August 16. The parties were related,
and the occurrence arose over the sale of some pro-
perty, about which the prisoner thought he had a
grievance.
On Saturday, at Croydon, three lads were convicted
of an assault committed at a Salvation Army meeting
at Carshalton. In dealing with the ease Mr. Edridge,
chairman, said that, so far as the Salvation Army were
concerned, he was sick of hearing of them. If they
would keep to their barracks and do the good work
they might do, he should be glad to assist them by every
means in his power, but when they went about com-
mitting a nuisance, and causing the amount of trouble
they did, it was perfectly shameful and quite time it
was stopped.
There are now in the 'United States sixteen locomo-
tive works, not including the shops owned by railway
companies. Pennsylvania has five of these, New
Jersey and Massachusetts three each, New York two,
and Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Maine one
each. These works give employment to 14,000 men,
and every year adds about 2600 locomotives to the
20,000 now in use.
A wealthy American has chosen a rather singular
mode of passing his life. He has taken a Pullman car
on the express train between New York and Chicago
for a permanency, and in it he lives—whirled along
night and day at the rate of sixty miles an hour.
Benjamin Marsden, an engineers' tool fitter, return-
ing, to his home at Sheffield on Saturday night under the
influence of drink, swallowed 2d. worth of laudanum in
the presence of his wife and family, and went to bed.
He was left there, and on Monday morning was found
lying on the floor of his bedroom dead. Mrs. Marsden
says she never thought 2d. worth of laudanum would
have killed him, •
In the Chancery Division Mr. Justice Chitty has had
before him the case of Mr. Albert Benthall, surgeon and
resident medical officer of the Hospital of St. John the
Baptist, Twickenham, London. The Charity pommis-
sioners had awarded him £2OO as compensation for the
loss of his post, which had been abolished, but he
claimed £7OO. His petition was dismissed with costs.
An inquest has been held at Elham on the body of
Mr. George Palmer, tenant farmer, of East Kent, who
met with a fearful death. He was riding through the
archway of an ancient hostelry at Elham, when, failing
to bend forward sufficiently, his head came in contact
with the woodwork, and he fell to the ground. His
foot was caught in one of the stirrups, and the was
dragged forward some distance. On examination his
spine was found to be broken.
On Saturday a sineular demorstration took place at
Leicester. A Mr. J. B. Smith, who had suffered ten
days' incarceration for refusing to pay a fine inflicted
in consequence of an unvaccinated child, received quite
an ovation on his release. Upwards of 2000 'children
remain unvaccinated in Leicester, and the law remains
a deadlock. . . . .

William Henry Coney, an American practising at
Sheffield as a physician and surgeon, has been appre-
hended upon a serious charge. He was visited ten days
ago by a married woman named Sarah Barnes for advice,
and she subsequently became so seriously ill that her
depositions have been taken.
James Watson, employed at the North-Eastern
Railway Department, Sunderland, was run over whilst
crossing the line. One of his legs was almost severed
from his body, and the other was mangled in a frightful
manner.
When F. Archer passed the first post on Canzoni for
the Selling Plate over the T. Y. C. at Newmarket on
Friday, he had this year scored more •winning mounts
than had ever previously fallen to the share of a jockey
in a single season. His total to date was by, that vic-
tory made 233, which is one more than he was credited
with at the close of the season of 1883, when he had
achieved a best on record. C. Wood comes next with
143 wins out of 495 mounts, his total wins last year
being 186.
Some amusement was caused at the Exeter Police-
court, on Saturday, by circumstances connected with a
charge preferred against a lad named Denbey A fire-
works vendor having had a bundle of 250 crackers
stolen from his shop set a trap, consisting of bundles
largely made up of dummy squibs. The defendant was
not detected in the theft, but the yoingsters to whom
he gave the dummies were so excited by, the fact•that
none of them would go off that they were the indirect
means of discovering the author of the robbery. The
Bench, treating the case as a boyish freak, rather than
a felony, let the defendant off with a severe lecture and
a small fine.
The increased value of oysters in France is shown by
the fact that in 1881 the number caught and disposed
of was 374,985,770, the value of which was 2,061,753 f.,
while in 1882 the yield was only 155,761,399, but the
money value rose to 2,318,727 f. The decrease in the
yield rose from the more stringent conservancy of the
oyster beds. At Royan, for instance, the beds were
only allowed to be interfered with during the mouth of
January on account of the extreme backwardness of the
oyster harvest, while the Arcachon natural beds were
not fished at all during the year. The district of the
Teste, which includes the Arcachon basin, produced
from the oyster parks, between September 1, 1881, and
Juno 15, 1882, 268,000,000 of oysters grown in those
parks, representing a value of 4,825,485 f., being an
increase over tho preceding year of 52,000,000 oYettrs,
valued at 519,000 f.
From Florence come tidings of the death, in his 55th
year, of the distinguished German, French, and English
writer, Professor Hildebrand, on the 20th of this month.
Karl Hildebrand was born in Giessen, and had to leave
his country in consequence of the political disturbances
in Baden in 1849. He first settled in France as Pro-
fessor of "Belles Lettres " in Douai, then at Bordeaux,
and finally in Paris, where he became a regular wotker
in the Journal des Debsts, Revue des Deux Mondes.,"
&c. Later in life he resided permanently in Florence.
He made himself known in this country by his lectures
on" England and the English," extracts from
piweiseehttherirscalh
were published as articles in the "Nineteenth t
w :
Cen-
tury."
reeltvoreoe2r:s Journal." the
advisergbruhelraig'cot.hsfsrwiibeAilunyedfctahoalrelnddgir;uegeaoteton p
s tthleieotcefe,r,natFirybhreearpnErtimszefttpi,
of Russia, Aranieyeff by name, founder of the mil• itary.
colonies at Novgorod, deposited, in 1833, in the
Imperial Bank a sum of 50,000 roubles in gold. This
deposit is to remain in the bank at 4 per cent, interest
until 1925, and on December Ist of that year—the cen-
tenary of Alexander the First'c death—the entire sum.
will be paid to the writer of the best history of the
reign of that Emperor'. The prize is to be decided by
the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, one quarter
to he devoted to the expenses of publishing the
fortunate work. At this rate the value of this grand
prize on the day in question will be no less
.than
1,918,900 roubles—say £300,000.
yt asixGtawrditeen: s
duTrihneg aladsdtitwioeensk tionetihuedeZdoaolomgiecardiuwSopciiepti
a linnet, eight lesser, redpolles. British, presented by
I Mr. T. E. Gunn; two Robben Island snakes from South
' Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk, C/.M.Z.5.;
uaremfuruTtia
elhned ian,l(p)nrkeeseynttedrnmbylvMestr.
sulph r- ere sed cockatoo from
CaAufFirtihaerbadewrtiacjkoh's:nesaaotsietiirg;
America, 'deposited;
an
efii
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c 3 m
0,
in the gardens three wcockfraotmeels.sZuredth

•