The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-04-12 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.
A little boy, four years of age named John William
needham, residing at 16, Pollock-road, New Kent-road,,
London, was looking out of a window on the fourth
floor, when he overbalanced himself and fell out, being -• .
killed on the spot.
During the week ending March 1, 1884, in 29 cities of
the United States, having an aggregate population of
6,550,400, there died 2519 persons, which is equivalent
to an annual death-rate of 20 per 1000.
Thirty-two British and foreign actual shipwrecks
were reported during last week against 41 for the corre-
sponding week of last year, the total for the present
year being 510 against 645 for 1883. Twenty-nine lives
were lost against 88 last year. Two vessels were abau-
donea on fire and those lost with all hands comprised
only two small British boats.
Saturday was the 21st anniversary of the birth of
Princess Victoria Alberta Elizabeth Matilda Mary,
eldest daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and the
late Princess Alice, and granddaughter of her Majesty.
The Princess Victoria of Hesse was born at Windsor
Castle on April 5, 1863, and was baptised there on April
26 of the same year.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 37,000 bales; since Ist September, 4,552,000
bales. Week's exports to Great Britain, 36,000 bales;.
to the Continent, 34,000 bales. Total since lat Sep-
tember, 3,322,000 bales; stock at all ports, 694,000
bales. Stock at interior ports, 67,000 bales.
The cotton manufacturers of the entire South
recently met at Augusta, Georgia, and determined
upon a policy of reduced production, intended to meet
the depressed condition of trade. They also formed a
permanent organisation of their body. -
In Committee on the Franchise Bill Mr. Coleridge -4
Kennard will move the introduction into Clause 3 of
words providing for the exteNsion of the franchise ta
"members of the county constabulary or police
forces," in common with other civil servants of the
State.
All the old envelopes, newspapers, wrappings and
scraps of paper which accumulate in the Treasury
Department at Washington are carefully saved in what
is called the waste-paper room. All this refuse is sorted
out by men and women, and sold to one firm in Nen
York. The receipts amount to quite a handsome little.
sum.

A publisher in New York city, who issues every year.
a great many books having coloured plates of natural
objects, such as flowe- and brightly feathered birds,
says that a large part of the patronage these works
now enjoy is derived from women of wealth and
fashion. They never read the books, he says, but wrmt
to copy the plates in designs for embroidery in colov red.
wools, or in the " decoration " of placques and panel r.
In Holland a fire has occurred in a largo cotton yarn
and cloth manufactory at Hilversum, employing betlreen
500 and 600 men. The manufactory and some adjacent
buildings connected with it were entirely destroyed.
Many of the weavers only saved their lives by Jun ping
from the windows. One person perished, and several.
were hurt. The manager, an Englishman, prevented
an explosion of the boiler by rushing into the burning
building at the risk of his life and turning off the
steam.

Cathal Mills, situated on the banks of the Don, about
eight miles from Aberdeen, have been burned to the
ground. The mills belonged to Sir William Forbes, of
Craigievar, and were tenanted by Mr. Robert Esson.
The buildings were three stories in height. The whole
of the machinery and a considerable quantity of manu-
factured goods were burned.
A New York telegram says that the visible supply of
wheat on April 4 was 28,600,000 bushels, as against
29,600,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply•
of Indian corn 17,800,000 bushels, as against 17,600,000 -
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
590,000 bushels. The export clearances of Indian corn
for Europe during the week amounted- to 830,000 ,
bushels.

A train while running on the Lackawanna Railroad
near Scranton, Pennsylvania, overtook seven Hun-
garians who were walking on the line seeking for work.
Four of them were killed and two others were badly
injured. They had stepped from the one line in order
to avoid an approaching train, when a second train on
the other line struck them.

The amount of coal raised in the United Kingdom
last year was 163,777,337 tons an increase of 7i millions,
or 4i per cent, over the output of 1882.
A serious railway accident has occurred midway
between Geelong and Melbourne. A passenger train
ran into a goods train. Two persons were killed, and
several injured.
At Madrid the authorities have, discovered ata house
in the outskirts of the town 21 bonibshells or grenades
and 8 or 10 rifles. Judging from the state of the
arms, it is believed that they must have been deposited
there some time ago.
Intelligence has been received at Lerwick from
Whalsay Island, Shetlands, of a terrible shipping
disaster which occurred during the gale last week. The
Danish barque Alba, from Copenhagen, struck on the
east side of the island, and soon became a total wreck.
Fifteen of the nineteen souls on board perished. The
mate, a seaman, and two passengers were saved. The
vessel was bound for Davis's Straits.
The Queen has commissioned Mr. Williamson,
sculptor, of Esher' to execute a replica of the bust of
the late Duke of Albany as a present for the duchess.
The original was completed for the Queen about a year
ago, and is at Buckingham Palace.
According to the " Kreuz Zeitung," the marriage of
the Princess Victoria of Hesse with Prince Louis of.
Battenberg, which was to have taken place on the 15th
of April, but was postponed on account of the death of
the Duke of Albany, will be celebrated at DarmstaAlt
at the end of May; and the wedding of her sister,
Princess Elizabeth, with the Grand Duke Sergius, will
be solemnised at St. Petersburg in June.
A few days ago there was a massacre of eagles at
Valtellina. There passed over that district a flock of
royal eagles coming from the north. Fourteen were
soon shot by the native sportsmen. They were superb
birds, the smallest measuring more than 711 t. from.
wing-tip to wing-tip.
The Swiss Government, it is said, intends to subject
the manufacture of dynamite to the restrictions at
present obtaining with respect to poisonous drugs.
In the Italian Post-office Savings Bank there were on
the Ist of February last 837,457 books, containing sums
of deposits amounting to 116,850,105 lire.
The editor of a Madrid comic Journal has been sen-
tenced to eight years' imprisonment for the publica-
tion, several months ago, of a caricature considered to
be offensive to the king.
By the premature discharge of a blast at Port Arthur,,
Manitoba, five men were killed and four injured.
A petition in favour of the Sunday closing of public.
houses, signed by 92,308 women, and another, signed
by 18,579 men, have been presented in the House of
Lords by the Earl of Aberdeen_

An international exhibition of metal work is to be
held next year at Nuremberg. It will be held in the
new museum building, and will contain specimens of
the art of the silversmith and the worker in brass and
copper, together with the machinery and appliances
used in the making of jewellery and art metal-work.
The exhibition will be open from the middle of June to
the end of September.
The ratepayers of Aberdeen have resolved to adopt
the Free Public Libraries Act by the large majority of
891 to 264.
In imitation of the American system, which supplants-
the wooden discs of plate-wheels by discs prepared of
paper pulp submitted to great hydraulic pressure, and
with which good results have been obtained in the
United States, such wheels have been experimentally
tried on the State railways in Germany. They are said
to have given every satisfaction. Some of the wheels.
have run 100,000 kilometres and more before being
turned again.
It has been stated that the late Duke of Albany had
thoughts of writing a biography of the Prince Imperial,.
whose intimate personal friend be was. He had a large
collection of Bonapartist souvenirs.
Paris advices state that the French wheat markets
have continued to present generally the same aspect..
The supplies brought forward by farmers have been
restricted, but, on the other hand, the milling trade has
only purchased sparingly, so that prices have been
maintained with some little difficulty.
The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens,.
Regent's-park, London, during last week included two
Malbrouck monkeys from West Africa, presented by
Messrs. G. Somerford and G. A. Zobel ; an Axis deer
from India, presented by Mr. L. B. Lewis; a Bosman's
potto from West Africa, presented by Captain Grant
Elliott; a common squirrel, British, presented by Mr.
P. Aug. Hoist; three herring gulls, European, presented
by Mr. S. Aloof; a rose-crested cockatoo from Moluccas,
presented by General Rundall, R.E. ; a Grecian ibex,
South-East European, presented by Mr. Thomas B.
Sandwith ; a smooth snake, British, presented by Mr.
W. H. B. Pain; a greater sulphur-crested cockatoo from
Australia, a rose-coloured pastor from India, deposited ;
a leopard tortoise from South Africa, an Egyptian
aobra from Africa, purchased; a white-fronted lemur,
a vulpine phalanger, born in the Gardens.
A duel with swords, arising from a private quarrel,
has taken place near Paris, between MM. Cherubini
and Gallard. At the first pass M. Cherubini received a
wound in the forearm, which bled a great deal, but is
not dangerous. The opponents were reconciled on the
eround.

A STORY OF PARISIAN LIFE.

BY FORTUNE DU BOISGOBEY

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[ALL RIGIEITS RESERTEpd
A CRIME IN AN OMNIBUS.