The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-06-14 00:00:00

Eisailantoits Inft
HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

SINGULAR DISCOVERY OFF GIBRALTAR.—A diver
engaged in diving operations off the coast opposite
Gibraltar, under Apes Hill, with the object of ascertain-
ing the whereabouts of a recent wreck, has discovered
at the bottom from 80 to 100 large guns, mostly 24 and
32 pounders, and also two large anchors. They are sup-
posed to have belonged to some large line of battle ship
which sank in the old war, possibly after the battle of
,Trafalgar. As there was no apparatus for the purpose
none of the guns were brought up, so that it has not
been possible to ascertain their nationality.
KILLED BY LIGHTNING.—On Friday evening in last
week, at Halesowen, during a heavy thunderstorm, a
woman named Phcebe Harris was killed by lightning.
In consequence of the violence of the storm the de-
ceased caused seven children to assemble in her
kitchen. She picked up a grandchild, and when in the
act of sitting down she was struck dead by lightning,
and the whole of the hair burnt off her head. The
child, which was clasped tightly in deceased's arms,
was unhurt.
BOY'S GAMES IN AUSTRALIA.—AImost all the games
and sports pursued by English boys and girls are known
and practised also in Australia, but some are in greater
favour than others. Climate, in a large measure, deter-
mines this. In England football is at least as popular a
game with boys as any other you could name, but in
Australia, though football is coming to be played more
and more, it stands no chance beside cricket, being
less suited to a warm climate. Cricket is certainly the
most popular game with boys and after that I should
say rowing and riding were the sports most in favour.
Both these latter amusements are eujoyed under very
favourable conditions, owing to the long stretches of
uninterrupted fine weather, when it is possible to be out
in the open air, on horseback or on the water, frora day-
break to sundown. Many girls become proficient rowers
in Australia, and equally graceful and fearless riders. In
all tht country districts a pony or horse may be kept at
a slight cost. In towns, the expense is, of course,
greater, but even in towns Australian boys and girls
manage to get more riding than they do in English cities,
where horse exercise is only possible to people in pos-
session of large means.—" Little Folks' Magazine."

--S—A-CRILECIE IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.—For the third
time a new head has just been placed upon the carving
of Major John Andre in the beautiful fresco upon his
tomb in Westminster Abbey. Exactly six cases of
sacrilege have occurred at this tomb. The heads of
George Washington and Major Andr43, both being pro-
minent in the fresco, have been three times stolen
respectively. Americans are fond of taking home
samples of what they see in the "old country,"and the
tomb of this unfortunate English gentleman has, it is
supposed, specially suffered in this way. The last theft
of Major Andr6's head occurred *during an organ recital
by Dr. Bridge; and the head was cleverly replaced by
a new carving during last week. Major Andre was an
adjutant-general in the British
secret expedition
eaxnilewdiatsiotnaktoenthine
disguise on his return from a ere
traitorous American General, Arnold, September 23,
1780. He was wntenced to execution as a spy by a
Court of General Washington's
o
York, and he suffered death by hffiancoer.:fa.t Tappan, New

Avvuos PRICES OF BRITISH Conx.—The following
are the average prices of British corn for last week, as
received from the inspectors and officers of Excise:
Wheat, 375.; barley, 275. ; oats, 215. 4d. per im•
penal qr. Corresponding week last year Wheat,
435. 4d.; barley, 28s. 2d.; oats, 222.10 d.
FATAL QUARREL OVER A PE3I% T.—The Leicester
police have apprehended a man named Alfred Chap-
man, iron turner, charged with killing an ostler named
Arthur Cockerill. It appears that Chapman and
several others were playing bagatelle in a publiehouse,
when Chapman bet a penny that a certain stroke could
not be repeated. Chapman lost, but declined to pay,
and a quarrel ensued. Chapman knocked two men
down, biting one on the cheek and arms. He then
knocked Cockerill down, breaking his leg. Cockerill
was removed to the infirmary, where he exoired.

HOMING PIGEONS.—The Turin correspondent of the
"Morning Post " writes: The experiments made with
the trained pigeons were most successful. Notwith-
standing the excessive bad weather, with rain and wind,
the five pigeons belonging to the Bologna section were
let loose at 9.10 and arrived simultaneously at Bologna
at 3.15, doing the distance of 300 kilometres, in a
straight line, in 61 hours. The Alesandria group were
let loose at 9.37 and arrived at 10.39, having been one
hour and 22 minutes on the way, a distance of 75
kilometres. The Exiles group was let loose at 10.22,
and all the pigeons arriving at 11.5, occupying 43
minutes in covering the distance of 59 kilometres.

AN INDIAN MußnEn TIII.AL.—The men implicated in
the murder of Lieutenant Dupuis have been tried at
Quetta. One man and two boys were convicted of the
actual murder. The man was sentenced to death and
was hanged the next morning, the body being afterwards
burnt. The boys were transported for life. Several
others were sentenced to various terms of imprison-
ment for concealing the murder. They belong to the
Yassingai Pathans, who occupy the villages between
Khnsdil Khan Kilu and Karbula.

SINGULAR OCCURRENCE.—In London, on the 6th inst.,
Mr. Bedford held a lengthy inquiry at St. Martin's
Vestry-hall, into the circumstances attending the death
of a man (name unknown) who was found drowned
near the Temple-stairs on the evening of the 3rd inst.
The evidence of witnesses went to show that at a
quarter past nine o'clock the man was seen sitting on
the Embankment wall, opposite the Temple-ganden
Hall and suddenly he drew his hat over his eyes and
fell backwards into the river. Within a few seconds
the man was seen struggling for life, and in spite of the
efforts made by some persons in a small pleasure-boat
that was passing, he was drowned. The body was
recovered by drags within ten minutes, but life had
ceased to exist. The jury returned an open verdict,
"That the deceased was found drowned," adding a
rider that there was not sufficient evidence to show
whether it was an act of suicide or an accident. •
FLORAL FASITIONS.—Among recent freaks and
changes of fashion at New York, we find that monster
bouquets have been adopted to the same atent as in
London, nearly fifty large roses being used for a single
bouquet. Floral arrangements there are on a large
scale. Twenty-fcur roses a.r., frequently futentil T:11
fan of stß,iv ail" not only roses, Lift also pansies,
Mies", I:l7anches of lilac, daffodils, and other spring
flowers are used for bodice and for hand bouquets. The
" daffadowndill/ " of the poets has become a favjarite
flower, and the gardeners are 'making nilicE Of it. It
appears at the opera as a " bouquet de corsage" more
frequently than any other flower. Instead of sending
flowers to those who have lost a friend, it is now some-
what customary in New York to have the house dressed
with flowers for a funeral as if for a wedding or other
festivity. The coffin rests on a bed of flowers; the
long-cupped white lilies, callas, lilies of the valley, and
white lilacs are the favourite flowers used, and are tied
with long white ribbons.
SEVENTY-FOUR MILES IN SixTy-SIX MINUTES.—What
is the fastest railway time on record was made on May
8 between Lima and Dayton, Ohio (says" Iron "). Mr.
W. H. Vanderbilt passed through Dayton on that day,
en route for Cincinnati, in a special train consisting
of two coaches and an engine, which made the distance
from Lima, serenty-four miles' in sixty-six minutes.
The train went from Dayton to Hamilton, according to
telegraphic information from there, a distance of thirty-
five miles in thirty-six minutes. It started
from Detroit, making the entire trip to Cin-
cinnati, 263 miles over the Canada Southern,
Dayton and Michigan, and Cincinnati, Hamilton, and
Dayton lines, in five hours and thirty minutes, an
average of 50.7 miles an hour. A number of stops were
made, and engines were changed three times, at Toledo,
Lima, and Dayton. The run between the latter place
and Cincinnati was made in one hour and nine minutes.
The train was run through all the cities at a rate of
speed complying with established regulations. It is
estimated that in some places the train travelled a mile
in from forty-eight to fifty-two seconds.
_ _ _

TEA-DRINKING AT WASHINGTON.—Tea has almost
wholly superseded all other beverages at Washington
receptions by day and evening, and its use is so general
that any novelty in the style of making or serving it
attracts great attention. The Russian samovar 'of
burnished brass has been introduced on tea tables by
two ladies—the Wife of Lieut. Will Emory, of the
navy, and the daughter of Senator Miller, of California.
The water is kept constantly at boiling-point in the
samovar, and only one cup of tea is made at a time. -1
The samovar has a metal cylinder in the centre of its '
interior, which is kept filled with burning charcoal. ~
The water is around this cylinder. The samovars used '
by the ladies named were brought from Russia, and are -
very tall, and round in shape, measuring probably about r,
three feet in circumference. Miss Miller, who has some
of the Chinese Emperor's own brand of tea, has pre-
served fruit at hand to sweeten each cup of tea, if any -
of her visitors prefer it to sugar, and lemon sliced for
those who wish to use it instead of cream.
A CHILD SHOT.—On the 6th inst. Mr. G. F. Roumieu
held an inquest at the Cottage Hospital, Epsom on the
body of Ann Best, 612- years of age, who was killpd by a
bullet on Epsom Downs on the previous Monday after-
neon. A party of the Ist Volunteer Battalion Royal
Fusiliers were firing at the Epsom Rifle butts, and about
five o'clock heard that the child, who was out with her
sister gathering wood, had been shot. She was taken
to the Cottage Hospital, and died there the same even-
ing. Sergeant-Major Lewis, who had charge of the
firing party, stated that the place where the child was
shot was 80 yards beyond the distant danger flag and
about 100 yards to the left. They were firing from 200
yards, and the distant flag was 500 yards behind the
butts. He believed a shot had hit the ground, which
was very hard, and ricochetted. The jury returned a
verdict of "Accidental death," and recommended that
steps should be taken to make the place safer.
MULCHING HERBACEOUS PLANTS.—The advantages of
mtiching the surface of the ground occupied by many
kinds of vegetable crops is generally admitted, and in
dry summers in such parts of the kingdom as are sub-
ject to a light rainfall the good results of the practice
become doubly apparent, especially where water is
given, which when combined with mulching has not
only a much greater effect on growth, but- there is a A
great saving of labour, as the water applied under such
conditions lasts much longer through the check which
the mulching materials offer to evaporation. But it is
not alone in the kitchen garden that the advantages of
mulching are seen, but equally so with herbaceous
plants, although in the case of the latter the operation
is not by any means so common as it deserves to be.
An inclination to have the surface trim and smoothly
raked often prevails, to the detriment of the plants, an
objection being raised to the presence of anything in
the shape of loose material on the surface, which is
supposed to be inseparable from an untidy appeatance ;
but such is not the case if only a mulching of the right
sort is used. OH beds and borders filled with herbaceous
plants manure in any form does not look well; but if
leaf-mould sufficiently decomposed—say such as results
from leaves which have lain together for a yeay and a-
half, so as to have become sufficiently reduced—is
applied, it not only answers the purpese of greatly
reducing the amount of the evaporation from tke soil,
and keeping the roots of the plants near the surface in
active condition, but looks nice, and keeps down weeds
as well. Where spent hops can be had, and which
before use are allowed to lie together for a few monihs,
so as to get dark coloured, they make excellent instleh-
ing material for herbaceous borders.—" Gardeners'
Chronicle." .