The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-03-08 00:00:00

DUDLEY.

TIIE OFFIC ;It OF HEALTH'S ANNUA.I. REPORT. --
' From till; rep .;t ; pea:, that th) tctal number
of deaths from all diseases and causes during the
last year is 1,171, giving a death-rate of 23.8. The
b rths registered have been 1,886 in number, the
rate per 1,000 Ging 40.77. Referring to small-pox,
Dr. Timmins says :—" Its prevalence in adjoining
rarishes during te past year caused considerable
fear !hat the di-ease would :similarly affect this
borough, hut although we have not escaped a visi-
tation, yet we may congratulate ourselves upon
having so opportunely provided and having in readi-
ness an InfeJ.ious Diseases Hospital for the recep-
tion of the ease, as they appeared in the borough,
for to this wise and timely provision we may alto-
gether Attribute the speedy termination of the con-
ta,4ious disease." Only three deaths occurred,
whereas at the previous outbreak in 1883 the largo
number of 339 deaths teok place from small.pox,
and 9VO persons were report' d as suffering from
iitcase, The fatality of searlit fever exceeded
that cf any other z, motlc disease during the year,
the number of deaths, viz., I :;4, exec Aing any ye, r
since 1878, when the disease caused 170 dew;
The repot do aa with a complaint of unjustifiable
delay in compelling a compliance with notices
erved upon owners to provide a proper supply of
water to their houses, in s me of which sof

fever had appearel, caused by the drinking of
pure well or pump watt.
THE Citeatee or BUHULSILY.—At the Police Court
on Wednesd iy, befove U Bagott and J. Bateman,
, Josoph Jewkes (30), wit' teimith, Furnace.
row, The Dock, on remand, was charg: d on sus-
picion wi:11 ['leaking into the warehouse of William
Naylor, iron me chant, Tin_hbourne-street, on th(-
Bta and 2.:nd of February, and stealing therefrom a
sum of money.—Mr. Shalttsp,are defended,—
Police-sergeant Sansome, r called, admitted, in
reply to Mr. Shakespeare, that the prisoner belonged

t a very respectable family.—Clara Macdermott,
who keeps the keys of the schoolroom, said on the
22nd prisoner's sider fetched them, and did not
return them —Police-constable Biddle spoke to the
fact that on the night of the 22nd ult, he examined
the prosecutor's premises three times between mid-
night and two o'clock on the following morning.
On each occasion they were secure, but at midnight,
when he first examined them, he saw a light in the
a,thoolroom adjoining. The door of the latter he
found unfasternd, and the keys on the table inqde.
Witness went all over the premises and into the
chapel yard, but found nothing.—llenry Hemmings,
carpenter, King Edmund-street, who was called
by the police, said he was of opinion that oae of
the tools produced, and which was found ia pri-
soner's house, did not make the impression visible
on the drawer, as it did not fit the indentation
made. One of the tools would probably make
another mark visible on the drawer, but there were
many other such tools,—The Bench considered
that the evidence was not sufficient ta send the case
for trial, and discharged the prisoner. The charge
ae.ainst_hirn on suspicion of entering the premises
,
' of Mr. J. Finch, of Priory-street, was abandoned,
and he was formally discharged upon that also.
ALLEGED TIIEFT OF A WATCH.—Benjamin Bed-
dard (21), shoemaker, Waterloo-street, was charged
with breaking into the house of John Mills, carter,
Spring Gardens, and stealing a silver watch and
chain,—On Monday Mrs. Alias locked up her house
and went out, leaving the watch and chain hanging
on the kitchen mantelpiece. During her absence a
neighbour saw prisoner making his exit from the
, house through the window, audit was subsequently
di.covered that the walch and chain had been re-
moved from the mantelpiece to the window sill,
! although neither that or anything else had been
I actually taken.—The Magistrates Clerk (Mr, Barra.
dale) held that there was no evidence of felony, and
I the charge was amended to one of being found in
the hous.3 for an unlawful purpose.—Prisoner, who
has been in a reformatory, and received much kind-
ness from time to time at the hands of Chief-su-
perintendent Burton, was sentenced to one month's
hard labour.