The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-06-07 00:00:00

DISCOVERY OP SKELETONS IN
MORAVIA.

An interesting antiquarian di- scOvery has been made
near the village of Ceic, in 'Moravia. There is a
mysterious mound, which stands near the villa
its a south,easterly direction. Hofrath von Hoch-
stetten, .the keeper of the lalperial and Roy-4
Museum for Natural History, ,recently sent his
assistant, Herr Szombathy, to .examine the spot.
Four strong labourers cut three fect down into the
mound and found some skeletons. The skeletons
Wetre 111 layers, which were' only separated from each
other by a layer of earth scarcely two feet thick.
Further examination showed that the skeletons in
the different layers were placed in different directions,
at right angles to ,one another and diagonally, but
always 'close together, and that they .comprised
persons of all ages and of both sexes. The skulls are
broad, with large brain cavities, and Herr Szurnbathy
assumes that they belong to a north Slav race, And, to
judge by the size and svucture of the bones, to
strong race. The bones ,were brittle, and when ex-
posed to the air and sun crumbled into dust. 'The
corpses were probably placed 4,Liere, at the sams t4mil
at a period of war or plague.

MRS. MULBERRY'S CUCZ.—" Wake up ! " exclaimed
Mrs. Mulberry in a loud whisper, as she punched the
slumbering Mulberry in the short ribs with her elbow
the other night ; "wake up! I'm sure I bear burglars
down in the dining-room." " Don't dist,urb them,
then," said the drowsy Mulberry, turning oTer on the
other side. "De just as quiet as you can, and maybe
they will eat sow of that fruit mkt) 791; hflal3 in the
pantry."---4mmtg-7; Paver- -,----___

VIE DYNAMITE OUTRAGES IN
LONDON.

On Friday in last week the west of Loath
was startled y three dynamite outrages of the tame
character as that which occurred some weeks since at
Victoria -Station. The 'arst was at Seothysid-yard,
where p*.rt of the offie-Al building was blown in, is
liaplein policeman itO.recl, and a publichouse wrecked.
The t econd. and
.tle`.rd. were in St. aatnos's-squarty,
whet.° the perpeteezrs of the outrage creptdow-rAhe
-art..ta of the Junior 'Carlton. Club, where 'they 'pltt:'.,ed
an amount of ',explosive sufficient to blow'thn'tpave-
tinent up, agL to wreck all the windows 'in the
'neighbourlxv. The third explosion ',was evi-
dently intr.v-Aled to take effect son th Military
Education !Department, next to the mud Navy
Club, on tie west side of the square. The buildings
that sua'm•ed were Winchester House ..ancl the -resi-
dence re. 2 Sir W. W. Wynn. Therware 'signs as if a
fourthxplosion of less magnitnele 't warred close to
Adair !House, a Government office 'opposite the Army
and avy Club, but the damage constiituting the signs
in et estion may have been 'catrsee. by the concussion
front the first explosions. A. blackbagof dynamite, with
rose attached, has fallen intolhehands of the police.
This, it is stated, was placed :agulnlt the Nelson Monu-
,tient in Trafalgar-square.

The explosions were all at;itrout the same time—
a little after nine o'clock in the evening. The whole ,
of Pall-mall, St. JameS's---tareet, and St. James's-
square was shaken by the .-harp detonations, which
sounded as if three mortars had gone off, one after
the other. The scent of 'the chief outrage was the
Junior Carlton Club. timbers who were dining in
the building .at the 'time states that the first
report was not a heavrone, nor did it appear to them
to be a remarkably loud one. A cabman who was
sitting on his cab at the cab-rank exactly opposite the
clab states that he saw a man lean over the area
of the club for a moment, and then run away. Im-
mediately afterwards the first explosion was heard.
A second explosion threw up the paving stones
under the windows of the club, and wrecked the
windows of the -junior Carlton Club and of the
next budding, Adair-house, a Government office, used
as the Intelligence Department of the War ,Office.
Another minnto had not passed when what is 'con-
sidered the third- explosion added to the alarm•of the
already much-affrighted people in the neighbourhood.
The gas in the-street lamps went out, and to:the great
confusion .caused was added the crashing of glass and
the screamingd women. Gradually, however, when
it was 'found no more explosions occurred, 'curious
crowds began' to gather, police-constahles soon made
their appearance on the ground, and ,efforts were at
once commenced to ascertain the real -extent of the
damage which had been caused, and the'nature of the
injuries, if there were any, which had been sustained
by men and women. The screams of affrighted females
in the basement of the Junior Carlton. Club first
attracted notice, but upon investigation it was at once
found that the women servants of the club had been
not so much injured as terrified and shaken by
the 'force of the explosion. The women were
-speedily put into cabs and taken to the Charing-cross
hospital, and it was here found that their injuries
were chiefly incised wounds on the face, arms, and
hands; contused limbs, and scalp •Nwounds. Cordons
of police were placed at all• the entrances to the
square, and reserves of police we-recalled upon from
all parts of London to guard the entrances to Scotland-
yard, where a like destructive force had been set at
work. The place attacked here was a detached build-
ing which stands in the centre, 'of the. noted "yard."
The corner selected for attack was the north-eastern
part of the lyliMing where thcre is a place of public
convenience. A policeman is stationed at this corner,
'which -is nearly opposite to the Rising Sun public-
house. The explosion came from the inside of this
, " convenience" which was shielded by a large iron
-shutter. The iron shutter was hurled across the road,
the well of the building up to about the first floor was
burst outwards, and the explosion wrecked the public-
house opposite, injuring some persons who were there.
Two vehicles which stood near—one a brougham and
one a landau—were greatly damaged, and, unfortu-
nately, a policeman on duty—Police-constable Clark,
4171 A—was much injured.

The details of the damage in St. James's-square
will prove of interest. At al. Junior Carlton Club
the explosion has blown out the whole of the windows
in the basement. Lamps which were upon the stables
inside the building were shattered. At the building,
Adair-house, which has been referred to as the Intelli-
gence Department [of the War Office, here the
damage was chiefly on the outside, for the windows
were shattered to atoms, casements were torn out and
hurled down, and in every part of the building the
devastation was complete. But the great dam ge was
at once to be seen upon the west side of the square,
in that line of buildings which commences with the
Army and Navy Club, and ends with the town
residence of the Duke of Cleveland. In the
centre of this line of buildings is the house of Sir
Watkin Wynn, and it was here that one of the
explosions had evidently occurred. It seemed,
too; th3t more care had been taken to deposit the ex-
plosive here than in the other instances, and it is pos-
sible that this was the scene of the commencement of
the work. The house has an area in front, which is

some 14ft. wide, and across this area, by some means
which are at present unexplained, there had been de-
posited on a ledge, four feet under the dining room
window, some very powerful explosive agency, which
had there exploded. Upon the solid masonry, which
had bravely withstood the shock, were the signs of
this explosion, for although there was no crack or
fissure in the granite the surface bore the appearance
of recent great heat. For 30 yards on either side of
the house every pane of glass was shattered and every
window casement blown out and it is marvellous that
no more persons suffered injury than have at present
been reported to the authorities.
At the Charing-cross Hospital the several persons
who had been injured were admitted. Caroline Hosier,
one of the servants at the Carlton Club, was suffering
from an extensive incised wound on the face and
shock to the system. Emma Mason had a wound on
the shoulder, Eliza Woods, a contused leg; W. Min-
gay, of 3, St. James's-street, a scalp wound, and a
fractured forearm, and Arthur Preddy, of 42, Harley-
ford-road, Brixton, a scalp wound,, Frederick Ken%
Emily Dargus, Eliza Horsefield, and M. H. Maddox
were also brought into the hospital suffering from the
explosion. At the Westminster Hospital one patient
• only was admitted—Police-constable, Clarke, 417 A,
who was very badly injured.
The excitement in St. James's.-square, continued
• throughout the greater part of the night. For some
hours there seems to have been a-rumour that there
•were three explosions in the square, and persons were
to be found ready to declare that they had seen them.
But there can be no doubt that there were only two
explosions at this place, tha error in regard to the
• third arising from the excitement and alarm produced
by the occurrence, and the confusion of the explosion
; at Scotland-yard,with the two in the square.
. . . .

The first explosion took place at 90 in front of
;the house of Sir Watkin Wynn, and the second a very
Ifew minutes afterwards at the back of the Junior
,Carlton Club, which is on the south side of the square.
A member of the Salisbury Club, which directly faces
the back of the Junior Carlton Club, states that he

heard the first explosion and immediately rushed to
ithe front of the house, when he saw and heard the
second explosion, which was accompanied by a very
'brilliant flash. He then went out into the square,
.and by the time he
,got there the third explosion at
Scotland-yard was heard by him. As to the almost
simultaneous character of the explosions, this
statement agrees exactly with the statement of
-sergeant of police (Sergeant Bitten 116 0),
fwho‘svas in the act of walking towards-the scene of
the explosions,when the first occurred. He had just
given .directions to a man who was specially posted
for the protection of a nobleman residing in the
neighbourhood, and had turned to walk round the
square on his " round," when the flash outside the
house.ofSir Watkin Wynn startled him. The lamps
in that part of the square were instantly blown out,
lights in the houses were extinguished' and there
was a terrible crashing of glass find falling stones.
The sergeant proceecled•to run to the spot, when the
second explosion which was much the louder, more
serious and destructive of the two, took place with-
in a few yards of him. Instantly the whole square
was enveloped in darkness, and the crashing of
material and 'hurling of glass proclaimed that great
destruction had been wrought by the nefarious work.
On this (the south) side of the square there were a
cab-stand and a cabmen's shelter, and the stand at
the time was filled with .cahs, the drivers lounging
about as usual. The second explosion created the
greatest confusion, the cab horses took fright and
rushed about wildly in all directions, and the few
persons who were in the square when the explosion
took place increased the alarm and confusion by their
shouts and screams. The constable states that the
flashes of the explosions were remarkably sharp and
meteor-like, and were apparently accompanied by
very little smoke.
As to the destruction caused by these two explo-
sions, that occasioned by the latter was much more
extensive and serious. By the first, the front of the
,houses of Sir Watkin Wynn, of Winchester House,
;and of the Junior Army and Navy. Club are much
damaged. It was in the area or immediately outside
Sir Watkin's residence that the first explosion
,occurred, and these large premises therefore had the
fulUorce of the bomb expended on them. The glass
in all the windows were smashed to atoms, the win-
dows themselves were demolished, considerable
damage done in the interior of several of the rooms
which were nearest the point of the explosion, and
the front of the house generally was affected, large
pieces of miasonry having been blown off in severed
places. The second explosion completed the work of
destruction :which the first began, and scarcely a pane
of glass or a lamp is left unbroken in this part of the
square. The damage eted by it in the under part
of the premises of the Jinior Carlton Club is very
great—in fact, the place is simply wrecked.
It may be remarked that much uncertainty exists
as to the exact spot of the explosions. In regard to
the second, there seems to be no doubt that the bomb
was taken down the area, and placed in one of the
coal and wine cellars which run under the pavement,
That it took place in this cellar is regarded by the
police as a matter of certainty, for it blew several
cellars into one, entirely destroyed the place, and tore
up several fine in the pavement. The kitchen on
the basement, innuediately opposite this cellar, was
Wrecked to on Dlmots eaual ette4, lIMI two or three

of the setmits who were in the room at the moment
were itjnred, but not seriously. Their escape with
life sens a miracle, when the surrounding evidence
of destruction is witnessed. At any time it would be
ea,t- for a person to step, or stride, over the front
paling, and descend to the area, and there is reason
Ito suppose that the cellar in question was not kept
locked. The windows of the club are entirety
smashed.

Itis a peculiar feature of the aplosions that while
they wrought great destruction in the immediate
vicinity, a cabman's shed, directly opposite the Junior
Carlton Club—within 30ft.—was uninjured, as was
also the scaffolding erected oqtside the porch of the
house next to the Club. The, force of the explosion,
indeed, seems to have gone almost wholly in a west-
ward direction, for little damage was inflicted on the
east and north sides of the square.

On Monday the scenes of the outrages in Scotland-
yard and St. James's-square were thronged by crowds
of sightseers. Precautions having been taken at
Scotland-yard to protect the building which was the
subject of attack by the erection of hoardings en the
north side, the public were allowed to wander in art_'.
out of Parliament-street, Whitehall-place, and Nor-
thumberland-avenue—a permission of which they
freely availed themselves. In St. James's-square, too,
the lines of police were withdrawn, and there the
populace could see the effects of the latest phase
of the " wiz" thus purposelessly waged against
the nation. The windows of Winchester-house,
the Government (office where military education
is superintended under General Sir Beauchamp
Walker, of Sir W. Wynn's mansion, and of Adair
House, the War-office Intelligence Department,
opposite the Army and Navy Club, were filled with
white deal boards. The Duke of Cleveland's mansion
in the St. james's-square part had been in part
repaired, and was not so conspicuous from the fact that
the shutters were closed from the inside in place of
the dearboarding which distinguished the other build-
ings. The damage to the front of the St. James's-
-square part of the Junior Carlton Club had been
repaired as'far as the windows were concerned, and
the people had to look into the area to see any
,effeets of the explosion.
The police do not consider it necessary to withhold
further the character of the dynamite found at the
Nelson 'column. This material was found at the
north-east side of the square, near that one of the
four Landseer's lions which faces St. Martin's Church.
It was in a black bag, which was carried straight into
Mr. Williamson's room, the discovery being made
some time—nearly an hour—after the explosions
occurred. Hr. Williamson cut the bag open and
found that it contained cakes of dynamite, with a
'fuse attached. He at once ordered the dangerous
matter to be carried into the open, where it was laid
within the rails of the opposite building and covered
with tarpaulin, There were some 17 or 18 cakes,
each case being about six ounces in weight, not suffi-
cient, certainly, to have done any damage to the
column, or even to one of the lions at its foot, but
sufficient to have injured many persons who might
have been near.