The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-07-12 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

American crop advices are very favourable. The
grain belt promises the largest harvest ever known,
with a large surplus of wheat for exportation.
The Revere Rubber Works, at Revere, Massachusetts,
have been destroyed by fire. The loss is estimated at
500,000 dole.
A shoal of whales were seen in the vicinity of Stron-
say, Orkney, the other day, when a large number of
boats set off in pursuit of them. After an exciting
hunt, the whole shoal, numbering 40, and averaging
about Bft. in length, were captured.
The report of mercantile failures in the United States
during the past half-year shows that there were• 5510
failures, with a collective liability of 124,391,282 dols.,
as against 4637 failures, for 66,189,034, during the cor-
responding portion of last year.
Mr. Frank Merrivale, a medical student from Edin-
burgh, was drowned on Saturday while bathing at
Rowardenen, Loch Lomond. He was seized with cramp,
and the efforts of his two companions to save him
proved fruitless.
His koYal Highness the Prince of Wales presided at
a meeting of the executive committee of the Frere
Memorial Fund at Marlborough House on Monday,
when it was resolved that Mr. T. Brock, A.R.A., be
asked to execute a statue of the late Sir Bartle Frere,
and that the Metropolitan Board of Works should be
asked to grant a site for the statue on the Embankment,
near that of the late Sir James Outram.

Intelligence received at St. Petersburg from the
Caspian territory states that a virulent epidemic has
broken out near Kerbalai, on the frontier of Persia,
Turkey, and Russia. Precautionary measures have
been taken to prevent the introduction of the disease
into Russia.

On Monday an inquest was held at Parkhurst Prison
on the body of the Rev. John Selby Watson, convicted
in 1872 of the murder of his wife at Stockwell, his sen-
tence being commuted to penal servitude for life.
Evidence showed that on the night of June 29 he fell
out of his hammock, and sustained injuries from the
effects of which he died on Sunday morning. A verdict
in accordance with the medical evidence was mtlirnod
At Ryde on Monday an inquest was held on the body
of Mary Ann Maxwell, a domestic servant, who met her
death by burning. On Saturday morning, in order to
make the fire burn quicker, she poured upon it some
paraffin oil. Flames suddenly leaped up, causing her
to drop the jar containing the paraffin' and about a
gallon of the oil therePpon caught fire. The girl was
shockingly burned, and died on Saturday night. A ver-
dict of" Accidental death" was returned. ,

Great anxiety is felt with regard to the crop
prospects in the Bombay Presidency owing to the want
of rain.

The "Baku Gazette" states that the Mollah Sadyk,
the principal chief of all the Persian robber bands on
the frontier, was killed on June 23, near Surrah, by
Cossacke.
The steamer Orcadia, returning from Kirkwall to
North Isles of Orkney, on Saturday, from a volunteer
review, with about 150 volunteer and civilian passengers,
struck on Jack's Reef, Stronsay. The passengers were
landed by fishing-boats that were returning from her-
ring fishing.
The Board of Trade returns issued on Tuesday show
that the imports for June decreased £7,686,379, and
the exports decreased £1,385,768, compared with the
similar month last year. The imports for the first six
months of the present year decreased £18,204,301, and
the exports decreased £1,345,732, as compared with the
corresponding period of 1883.
The yacht Kara arrived at Lerwick on Sunday even-
ing from Jan Mayen Island with five bottle-noses,
yielding five tuns of oil.
George H. Wade, of New York_ issues a challenge
to the world to swim any one for 200 a side and
the title of Champion of the World, from one to ten
miles.
Elizabeth Goode, a married
street, Wednesbury, went home
night, and during her husband's absence she went into
_
medical
aid
could
tained. The deceased had been a confirmed drunkard
e extraordinary
cir-
cumstances.bleed.Monday
most
Theshocksecreted
compounds
causedthevillagenitro-
glycerine. sightßue, andbledParis,
before
Saturday,
He had been ill, and fell into a , state of
ooma;:which his friends mistook for deatb. An under-
taker was sent for and came with a coffin, but just as
the man was about to be placed in it he opened his eyes
and
of the funeral preparations was so great that he was
seized with delirium and expired a few hours later.
It having come to the knowledge of the police at
Hanley
Bucknallz a search was made on Monday night which
resulted in the discovery of a considerable quantity of
gelatine,lookedhona
that
reooxfuvrid him.ivtl
the
esna e
t dangerouse
glycerine. The owner had absconded.