The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-01-26 00:00:00

SATURDAY, 'JANUARY 26, 1884.

Mr. Bassano said defendant had made himself liable
to a fine of £lOO or 6 months hard labour, but they
should sentence him to 3 months hard labour with-
out the option of a fine.—John Shaw, James On-st,
Joseph Haden, William Haden, and Thomas Wake.
man were charged with aiding and abetting Jos, ph
Siddaway to keep a common gaming house on the
19th inst, P.C. Rowlands and Inspector Walters
proved the case. Defendants were each fine I 40s
and costs ; in default 1 month.
PERMITTING DRUNKENNESS.—SIIRS Whitehous,
landlord of the Handel Hotel, Blackheath, was
charged with permitting drunkenness in his housa,
on the 15th inst. Mr. Waldron prosecuted and Mr.
Shakespeare defended.—Thomas Hill said that on
the above date he went to the Handel Hotel at
aSolit 8.30 in the morning and remained till 4 in
the afternoon. He was with a man named Brien.
At 4 o'clock he was going out of the house, when
he was stopped by the landlady who s iii he should
not go out of the house till he had paid for the
ale. He offered the woman his watch to keep till
Monday when he should pay for the ale. She re-
fused to take it and kept him there till 6 o'clock.—
Cross-examined by Mr. Shakespeare: He hid
about 2 quarts of ble. Ile was very drunk when the
policeman came, but not so drunk but that he
knew what he was doing. On Monday he paid
for 10 qua ts of a'e that he and Br'en had had.—
P.C. I.?adbitter said he went to the Handel Hotel on
the sth inst and at about 10 minutes to. 6 saw
a man named Hill9tandingin:thepassagt and he was
drunk. The landlady was present when he was
talki-g to Hill, and she said" You have been drink-
ing all the afternoon and promised to pay for it all
together." He saw Hill go out.and stagger up the
road towards Old Hill. The same night about 9,30
he saw Whit,...house and asked him if he had got the
man's name and he, not having it, he gave it to him.
Whitehous3 then said "They've been here to
reckon and me being away they got on, and
blame my wife for letting thens."—Sarah Hill said
that on the sth inst her hw,band came home quite
drunk.—Mr. Bassano said he did not think it was
a bad case, but he wanted the publicans of the dis-
trict to retn_mber that the houses were only open
for refreshments and not for men to go there think-
ing hour after hour and should only fine I;im 100
and costs —Joseph Partridge, landlord of the Red
Li in, Cradley Heath, was charged with keeping
his house open during prohibited hours, on the
11 di inst. Mr. Coiksey defended.—P.C. Dunn said
he visited the defendant's house on the above date,
at 16 minutes past 11 at night an I found a man
there drinking. The landlady said the man had
been talking about their friends and had not noticed
the time. She hoped he would look over it that
time. He saw the man drink twice out of a pint
cup.—Mr. Bassano said the case was only a trivial
one and they should dismiss it on payment of costs.

KIDDERMI STER TOWN COUNCIL.

The monthly rn-?etizi, of th,a Council was
on %Velze day ; th,) 1%173-or (Mr. D. W. Goodwinlj,
pritsiding. _ _

A lett-er was r. ad ft in the curator of the Towl
Hall, stating that rather than dissatidaction semi;
exist about his helping to make out the rate book
he would give up the latter work. This was -
matter on whirl' a strong requisition was presentel,
to the Mayor recently, asking him to convene
public meeting to consider the subject, a.nd th
Mayor said he hoped the letter would be satis
factory to those who had bean taking exception t..
the arr °moment now given up.
A lett, r was read from the ex cutors of the lab,
Mr. G. Turton, stating that they could not tak.;
less for the land for the proposed new road to Par'..
Lane than was named by Mr. Turton himself i
1870. This was £1,000., while the Council at tilt
timp offered £l,OOO, The letter was referred to ti
Improvement_ Committee.

On the reading of the drainage and waterworl
report, some discus-ion arose as to the limited stir. •
ply of water in some of the higher parts of th
district, and the subject was ultimately referred t
the committee to consider.
The Improvement Committee, inter alia, recom,
mended the erection of a mortuary and room fo
post mortein examinations on land to be provided b.
the Burial Board, and they recommended the
purchase of land for improvements in Park Lane.
The report was adopted.
The Medical Officer reported a death-rate of
21'4 per 1,000. There had been 57 eases of small-
pox to the date of the report, and 4 deaths from
that disc ase. Many of the cases were of the
mildest description, and werenovv convalescent, but
some cases of a severe type had occurred. Every
effort had been made to prevent the spread of the
disease, and the temporary hospital was approach-
ing completion. The report of the sanitary inspec-
tor (Mr. West) was for a period a fortnight later
than that of Mr. Corbet, and it stated that the total
number of small-pox cases had been 65 since the
beginning of the outbreak, of which 8 had died and
35 recovered, the rest being in a fair way of re-
covery. There had been no fresh cases since
Friday. Mr. Jefferies, the chairman of the
Sanitary Committee, said he believed that the
infectious hospital would not be required for smell.
pox cases. The last case was that of a child three
weeks old, and he believed that was the finishing
up of the small-pox. The contract for the hospital
was reported by the Sanitary Committee as £325
10s, and there had been additional buildings costing
.2112 15s,
The Baths Committee recommended that the
local architects be invited to send in competition
plans for the proposed new swimming baths. Some
members of the Council thought the approximate
cost of a complete set of baths should be obtained,
and not merely that of swimming baths; and the
part of the:report regarding the new baths was re-
ferred back to the committee, to bring up a new
report.
On the reading of the report of the Free Library
Committee, Mr. Greaves, the chairman of the com-
mittee, mentioned the crowded state of the news
room in an evening, and said there would have to
be some better provision made after a time. Mr.
Grosvenor said the committee who had in hand the
election of the school of science, seeing the site
adjoining that on which it would be erected be-
longed to the Corporation, had given instructions
to the architect to make the front elevation of the
Science School of such a form that if it should ever
be the pleasure of tho Corporation to build a free
library adjoining it, there would be a complete
block of building for the free library,the school of
science, and the school of art, and they would have
art, literature, and science combined, (Applause),
Mr. Greaves thanked Mr. Grosvenor for his remarks,
and said he believed they would be appreciated by
the public as well as by the Council.
The Watch Committee reported the resignation of
Superintendent Haigh, and they recommended a
superannuation allowance be made him of 25s a
week. They also recommended that he be retained
in his office till his successor was chosen. Mr.
Jeffeiies thought the sum named was an excessive
sup2rannuation, but he was informed that the com-
mittee were unanimous in their recommendation
and the report was adopted. Mr. Talbot moved
that the Council, with the view of dividing the
borough into single wards, do petition the Queen
fur an alteration of the number and boundaries of
tae present wards. A discussion ensued, and ulti-
mately the notion was withdrawn for the present.
There was a somewhat warm discussiun as to the
question ef the chairmen of committees being en-
titled to special shats in the Council, and a retsolu-
tion was passed that Mr. Constertline-Chadwick be
informed that a seat he had been occupying was
alloted to Mr. Herring (the chairman of the In-.provement Committee).

DUDLEY.
A SAD CAREER.-At the Police Court on Wednee-
day, before G. Bagott and J. Bateman, Ens ,
Margaret Sloane (45), ma-ned woman, Netherton,
was charged with being drunk and disorderly the
previous night in Castle Street, Netherton, P.C.
Spraggs proved ths offence, about which the de-
fendant appeared to be utterly oblivious. Chief-
auperientendent Burton said she was Buffet jug frem
a week's drinking, and she seemed to he drinking
her brains away. Her husband was ill in bed at
the present time. Defendant, who not long ago was
before the Court for a similar offence, was fined lOs
and costs; in default, 14 days, with hard labour.
ALLEGED THEF'T FROM THE GASWORKS.-- Joseph
Darby, Red Hill, and Henry Blower, landlord of the
Prince of Wales Inn, Springs Mire, were charged
the former with stealing the latter with receiving
201bs,weight of coal, the property of the Dudley
cias Company. Mr. Ward, who appeared for the
defence, applied for an adjournment, intimating
that one of the men's wives, who was in a very
delicate state of health, had become very ill eicce
the prosecution had been instituted. Mr. Hooper
(Mes-rs Stokes and Hooper), who prosecuted,
offered no objection, and the prisoners were re-
manded on bail for a week.
THE EMPLOYERS AND WORKMEN ACT.— Tobias
Bees, Thomas Parker, George Hobbs, John Hamp-
ton, and Williamiliinseo, all workmen in the employ
of Messrs. Crawford and Barrs, fender manufac-
turers, Red Hill, were summoned for the recovery
of damages for absenting themselves from work on
the 15th inst. It appeared that defendants on the
date named left work at eight o'clock in the morn-
ing, and thereby caused the whole of the mill to
come to a standstill. It was stated that Bees, who
was the engine man, went away and left hi a engine
going; Parker pleaded that he had to walk from
Bilston, and that he did not arrive at the works
until nine o'clock, when, finding the other men gone,
he, too, went. Only nominal damages were asked
for, and the Bench ordered Bees to pay 10s,
damages and the costs, and the other defendants is
each and the costs,
A RUFFIANLY ASSAULT.— Joseph Wocdall, a
p.iwerfully-built young man, residing in Cross
Street, and who, in reply to the Bench, said he did
nothing tor a living, was charged with assaulting a
girl named Ann Elizabeth Westwood. On Sunday
night defendant met the complainant in the:Street,
and because she refused to go a walk with him,
he deliberately struc:c her in the face and blackened
her eyes. The Bench sentenced him to one month's
hard labour.

ALL IWED EMBEZZLEAIENTUNDER SINGULAR ClRCUM-
sTexcEs.—George Wbittnore, carter, Cross street.
was charged with havinz embezzled a sum of money
b-dongin,,c, to; William Whitmore, fruiterer and butter
dealer, Hall street. On the 29th of Df.cember de-
fendant was in the employ of the prosecutor, an cl
was sent by the latter with 12lbs of butter to sell to
customers at the rate of is. 7d. per lb , or 16s. for
the lot. In the evening he returned and handed
over 193. to his master, but it afterwsris tran-
spired that a Mrs ilingley, of Woodside, one of the
prosecutor's customers' vr h purchased B.bs, of the
butter, had paid him at the rate of is. Iod. per lb
tor it—ln cross-examination, Mrs. Ifingley ad-
mitted that she had never seen the defendant pre-
vious to the date in question, and that no men-
tion was made of prosecutor's name during the tran-
saction. She had, however, asked a neighbour to
tell prosecutot's man t) call upon her, and if she
had not believed he was prosecutor's servant she
would not have dealt with him. In another instance
defendant sold 21b9, of butter to a Mrs. Greenfield,
at the rate of ls. 10d, per lb, and the latter said she
knew he was prosecutor's servant, and she believed
at the time she was dealing with him as such. In
the absence of a material witness, defendant w.as re-
mandtd on his own bail until yesterday.