The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-09-03 00:00:00

Blisttilantous
ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

THE NEW Lew ON FORGERY.—The new set
on forgery makes some important alteration.. It is to
be c listrued se one with the 24th and 25th Vic., C. 98,
and to extend to the United Kingdom. For forgery,
or uttering fork:. d stock certificates or coupons, to
defraud, the tau i•hment ie to be from two years' im-
prisonment to penal servitude for life, and a like
punishment for perronating the owner of stock, for
engraving plates for stock 'certificate., fourteen years'
imprisonment, and for forging certificates of transfer
of stocks from England to Ireland, &c., the punish-
ment to ha from two years' imprisonment to penal
servitude for life.

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DISesTII F LORD SOMI, RVILLE —We have to
record the death of Aubtry J. ho, l3h Baron Somer-
ville in the peerage of Scotland, which occurred at
Somerville A-iton, near Evesham on Sunday afternoon
last. His lordship was born at Barford, of which
village his father wee net( r, in 1833, and in 1868 sue-
o -eded his cousin, who was killed by being thrown
from his boom in the hunting field, in Leicestershire.
The deceased at the time be succeeded to the peerage,
was a squatter in Australis, where be had an extensive
sugar nianufactwy. Oa Friday last be returned home
from a dinner party uowell, and was attacked by bron-
chitis and Miser motion of the lunge, from the die its
of which he died. _

RJUGH SP,MtT !—The Times of India states
that some of the yottop officers at N usseera'Aut have
taken to ehooting b Op nris ont of I r Ape
at a place called the her PAW, about three miles from
Ajoiere, is situated a small edlave, the inhabitants of which
were to troubled al,h leoparda that they un.structed tome
stone buildings resembling big mouse traps, and baited them
with live gust.. Trey eozeeded in catching two fine leo-
tigress A party, coneletirg of Captain Murray, S'aff Corps,
Dr. Royle, It A., and L.ettenant Montgomery, R.A , went
out to dsepat h the ler,pards. The flint brute, on being let
force, went gaily away fl about ;4 yards, when a bullet
throuah both shoulders effmtually .topped him Toe second
came out with a roar, and In two bounds was on tile ah.kar
party. Captain Murray was struck on the right shoulder,
and his right hand was tors op-n. tilt mon nut the brute
had charged right on to a spear (held straight by a plucky
native), which went lest tie chest and rant out nem the
tail. But for this it ter 1.141 have fared badly with the shi-
karrea The I. °part', losornhatandlng that he wan trans.
tx,d, contrived to get away about 40 yards, biting furl-
omly at the spear, and then was finished of With the
guns."
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COCIOIESIISM IN TH6 COUNTRY.—ht
I say, what sort of a 'OWLS will do for a Fowl 'Ouse 7-
2nd Cockney. Lor' blear 3er, Honey 'Ouse.—Puoril.

A Comrasomrriow.—The following letter has
been addressed to the editor of the Figaro :—" Paris,
August, 27.—While you were inserting in your num-
ber of the 24th and 256 articles et.titled "Treason," I
was removing from the Tuileries in consequence of the
death of my mother, Me Countess Tascher de la
Pagerie, 'lite Princess de la Leyeo. This fortuitous cir-
cumstance has served as an aliment for malevolent in-
sinuations, presented in a manner too transparent fir
the public to misunderstand them. This being so, I
must in my own name, as well as that of my sister-in-
law, the Duchess de la Pay rie, protest energetically
against the alb us and mendacious suppisotions to
which your articles have given occasion, and I hereby
give an absolute denial to all charges of the nature of
thoso which you have caused to weigh upon us.
COUNTESS ETEPHANIE DE TASCHEII DE LA I'AGERIE."

DARDMU O.OMM AS A SURGICAL DRESSING IN
WAR —so many advantages ars possessed by carded
oakum sea surgical dressing that we (Lancet) expect it to
be largely employed in the military hospitals of France
and Germany during the present war. At., however,
its qualities are not yet so widely known as they should
b., it may be useful at the present juncture to refer to
them. The mater:al is simply old rope shredded
in prisons and workhouses, and carded by ma-
chinery. It is of a bright brown colour, with the well-
known tarry fragrance. A dttle of the oakum is
roughly drawn into a suitable shape for covering the
wound, then wetted and applied to it. All discharge
is absorbed by the dreasmg, and any bad odour is
effectually destroyed. By dipping it into hot water,
and covering it with oil-silk, a convenient antiseptic
poultice is formed, easily made, very light, and answer-
ing perfectly its purpose. It thus supersedes the use
of lint, ointments, and linseed.meal or bread poultices.
It is easily burnt—no small advantage in a crowded
hospital, where bad.socelling applications are a fertile
source of disease if not quiekly destroyed. Its simplicity
of applicatioo saves much time and labour—a great con-
sideration where the nureing staff is overtaxt d, as must
always happen titter serious engagements. Its cheap-
ness is another great advantage. Carded oakum can
be procuted, we believe, for something like 91 per
lb, about • fifth or sixth of the cost of lint. In
America, during the civil svgs.., carded oakum was
largely employed. It has also been in We for some
years at the Children's Hospital in Great Ormond-
street, and at St. George's during the last twelve-
month its use has supetseded other dressings in the
hands of several members of the surgical staff.

PRUSSIAN FIPLD TEL/CI:MASI:HA—A correspon-
dent of the Opinion Nationale girt./ the following
scc.,unt of the Pi-Us/RAS field trkgrwidis

I found there the field telegraph, which extends its tines
In the rear of th. troops, accerdlog as they advance in the
errantry eurapted by the Germa•is. A division of pioneers
stretchos he line in • few hours along • distance of several
leagues. It the lines follow the line of guest f ousts, the
telegraphic engineer follows closely ur,on the area of the
pioneers, who cut off the IA riches in the way of the wire.
The ,ampalcu police, whose eyes are never shut, an I whose
Iron 11.1218 know no lotion • n'ch durirg the executbra of
these week. of the war rose/due. Front time to time you
may see two or four tall strong men on horseb.ck, 'acerb g
the un.form of gendarmes, rise as it were from the earth sad
disappear as Rudd mly. those hrr•emen lielocg to the
Campaign police. They have the whole police regulations of
the c imp, lit their charge during the war, arid is cue of
need, the police regu'a ion of the hostile cow& ies occupied
by the German armies"

A DESIIERATO7I.—What France wants, more
than anything else in hr Chatnher just now, are
"Deputing, of the Right "—sort—Punch.

A HINT TO TIILVELLESS TO FRASER.— OD
Friday m timing, in last week, a young gentleman, Mr.
Owen Seth, a etudent at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, went
on board the steamboat at Dover, shout nine o'clock in
the morning, and at eleven entered the port of C. 11418.
The passengers, as they passed on chore, sheored their
pawiports to the officials and were allowed to land. Mr.
Seth also showed his, but was toll to stand Mid.", and
was asked why his passport was not vied I by the
French consul in England. In a few minutes a mob
gathered round and great exci•ement ensu,d. It was
in vain that he pleaded ignorance of the law, which re-
quired that passports should be vitt< I ,• he was seined
by two gendarmes and marched off to a dark hole,
where he was locked tip, after having been thoroughly
sear bed, and was kept there, hungry and seasick,
until the dep irture of the next boat for Dover, into
which he was thrust without ceremony, and in the
evening found himself again at the place from which he
had started in the morning.
A MISSISSIPPI WEDDING.—An unusual event
hiss occurred in the United States in the marriage of
the Hon. A. T. Morgan (white), a distinguieffid Re.
publican senator in the Mississippi L-gislature, to
Mies Carrie Higate Cc 'loured). The ceremony was
performed by a coloured minister, arid the touple left
immediately for Cleveland, Ohio. Morgan's former
home was Louisville. The affair naturally creates a
sensation in the community. Morgan is a lawyer of
some abdity, of temperate habits, and was colonel of a
Michigan regiment during the rebellion. The bride
is of a decidedly dusky hue.
A THOEGHT ON THE TWELFTH.—Just DOW
some peonle are thinking of the Teutons, others of the
Gauls. and a third and not inconsiderable nuu-ber of
the—Moors.—Punch.

MADahflt LTI4 CH AND THE COURT OF SINSION.
Mainline Lynch, who is described as sometime resid-
ing in Paraguay. and presently in London, has raised
an action in the Court id &sentry E iinbitrgh, against
Dr. William Stewart, who was sonic months ego meld-
Inc in Scotland, for the ricovery of £14,456. The
plaintiff alleges that in 1868 she gave a quantity of
specie to the respondent, who undertook to transmit it
to this country, to lodge the proceeds in the It iyal
Bank ef Scotland in his own name, and hold them for
her behold ¶1 he sum claimed by the plaintiff is the
amount of the proceeds of the specie grhieh al,e main-
tains be!ones to her. Mrs. Lynch is also ennui Mr.
Geurte 1). Stewart, Buenos Ay rel., and his brother,
Dr. W. Stewart, as the granter and endorser resoec.
tively of a promissory mite for £23,963 12e. 61. given
to her for a large quantity of yethis, or Paraguayan
tea.

A SAD AFFAIR !—Charlotte Elliot, a single
woman, aged twenty-seven, left her situation a week or
two, ei neeand went to Liverpool last week with her mar-
ried sinter, Mrs. Butcher who was about to sail for
America to join her husfiand. On Friday mornirg Mrs.
Butcher having left her eiettir in the bedroom for about
two hours, went upstairs and found the door fastened.
It was open 41 in about five minutes by her user, who
looked very ill. There was a table knife on the flour,
the handle covered with blood, and there was blood on
the siOnlitteel hands and clothes, and on the friar. Elliott
faiuteel,and Mrs. Butcher called up the landlady, and as
the t wo were puttied; her on the bed they found the body
I.f a newly-born child wrapped up in a petticoat on the
mattress, with its throat cut in several places. At
the inquest the surgeon who had examined the betty
said that he was of opinion that the &did was born
alive' and bad lived for some time before it Was de-
stroyed, the cause of death bsing sj nc tire from 10-s of
blood. The jury returned a verdict of 'Wilful
murder " against Charlotte Elliott.
READY? ET RRADT ? —Forewarned is not fore-
armed, or the Volunteers would be now practising
with breechloaders. Catch a weasel asleep, and pop
goes the weasel. Pop a'ao goes the Volunteer. Ile
might as well go pop with a pop-gun.—Punch.
PIOEONS CJATRABAND or WAR.—The national
pastime of Belgium, the great pigeon races from the
sonthern provinces of France, has been abruptly put •
stop to by the war. The French authorities have very
naturally interdicted the entry of Belgian pigeons into
France. When it is borne in mind thet there are
10.000. trained pigeons, any one of which could convey
intelligence from Paris to the frontier towns of Belgium
in which they are located in the space of five or six
hours, we cannot be surprised at the French anthem '-
ties interfering with this pastime. The strategic in-
formation conveyed by a single pigeon might lose a
battle or an empire. At the same time we sympathise
with the Belgians in the derangement of their favourite
amusement. In England we have little irks of the
fervour with which this sport is pursued by them.
Coniiours from the extreme south of France, in which
1,000 or 1,500 pigeons take part, and in which the first
Prize is a service of plate given by his Majeety the
King of the Belgians, are not uncommon; and minor
races of from 300 to 400 miles are of every-day oc-
currence in the season. During the continuence of the
war the Belgians contemplate starting these pigeon
races from this country.—The
QUARTZ IN New ZFALARD.—As an illustration
of the extraordinary richness of some of the quartz in
New Z aland (says • New Zealand paper), we may
m-nei,n that a few days ago, at the melting-houses of
the Union Bank, 30 ounces of gold were obtained from
107 minces of picked stone from a Coromandel reef.
At this rate a ton avoirdupois would yield 9,158 ormciss
troy of gold, worth £25 000 sterling. The process em-
ployed was that of fusing at a high temperature the
entire mass with a flux that canverted the silica into a
floid glass, through which the gold sank to the bottom
of the crucible by reason of its greater specific gravity.
Pax-OccUPATlONA—Minister Chestreau, in the
French Chamber the other day, said, in answer to M.
Gamhetta'e questions as to the state of things at the
seat of war, that Marshal Biteable was too much occu-
pied to he able to s. nd reports. Query, whether the
occupation of Metz had not more to do with the
Marehal's silence, than the occupation of the Marshal?
—Punch.