The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-02-04 00:00:00

VIII 100 n 4r, orresponbrul,
Vir• °eon, It eght to statc thot wo do oot at 01l thoca
.ciantify our,elr.A with c corremondont'S epluines j

The news that your journal will contain with regard
to the negotiation for the capitulation of Paris, and
the probable negotiation also for peace between
Prussia and France, will be as important as any news
. . . . . _

that bas bef n publiwhed wince the Outbreak of the war,

not excepting the capitnlation of Sedan and the

t=.of ria army.

When we bear in mind that

l'sris has been completely invested for more than five
months, and that her food supply has never had even

,
an infinitesimal increase from without while it has, of
course, been continually decreasing within, till at last
the inhabitants have arrived at starvation point; when
we bear in mind also that not a single sortie by the
. .

. --
garrison succeeded, and that every attempt to come to
the relief of Paris has been disastrously defeated ; when
we consider all this, co surprise can be expressed at
the news of the day. The only wonder is that Paris
has held out no long. Marvellous has been the con.
Croton' and the successive disasters and defeat
of the French, and there is not the slightest reason to
believe that, in the event of the war being still pro.
recuted, the result would be different; it would in all
human probability be a repetition of events similar to
those of the past. I', is quite time, therefore, that
ale French should accept "the situation" as it is, and
Its legitimate results, lest a worse thing befall them.
It is thought that on the last slay of the present
mouth the London Conference will have agreed on

,
conditions, relative to the Black Sea aff.dr, which are
to he submitted to the respective (lovernmeLt., and
that the (...rldriterence will conclude its labours on the 7th
of February. The latter date is suggestive. Perlis,
ment meets oh the 9%, &zid it is Lig:.ly prcbahle that
an effort will be made to bring the Cunference to a
elm, so that the Queen may read a pleasant Little
annonocement on the subject, but will the Queen
read the speech, or will her Majesty hard the docu-
ment to Lord ilatherly for the Lord Chancellor to
read? Not ..f touch c,nmequence, perhajo, as the
Queen will open Parliament in perPon, but still the
)untry would like to know that the Queen herself
will read the royal speech.

It is satisfactory to hear, on the authority of the
Lanett, that the health of Mr. Childers has consider.
ably Improved, but, rejoicing as we may at this on per.
local grounds, it is far from satisfactory, from a poli-
tical point of view to find that "the great remedies
are a certain amount of rea with the advantage of
change of air and scene." Occupying the post of First
Lord of the Admiralty, it is certainly very unfortunate
that the right hon. gentleman should be ill at such a
time as this. No dubt his illness has b-en partially
brought rill by the worry and work of office during the
war, and the natural lesson to be drawn from this is
that he must not be in a hurry to return to his official
duties; but on the other hand this is certainly
awkward at the present critical time.

I read that "a committee has been appointed to get
up a great denionstratim of unempl.,yed working !
men at the opening of Parliament, so that there may
be no mistake as to their real wants." Who this !
committee are, or by whom they have been ap-
pointed. is not stated, and the reader is left ,
to form his own conclusions. The general public,
I think, has become sick of these "great de-
monstrations," which usually verify the adage, "much ,
cry and little wool," and moat of which are undoubtedly
got up by people whose sole desire appears to be to
magnify their own Mt portance. With regard to this
particular demonetrar ion it may be asked, whatrerssible
good can come of it? Parliament c ulna employ the
people or feed them, and the waste land delusion will
not bear examination. It may be remrinbered that
when the Queen opened the Holborn Viaduct it had
been arranged that there ahouA he a great demonstra-
tion of unemployed working men, but wiser counsels
prevailed, and the scheme was abandoned. It ia to be
hoped that this threatened demonstration will also be
abandoned. Working men have now votes, and they
have a goodly number of friends in the House of
Commons, though as yet they have not (and do not
seem, by the way, to wish to have) any direct repro.
aentative of labour. And they, moreover, have
people's press which supports their interests and ad.
vocatea their claims. Let working men use the power
they have, and there will be no necessity for these
"great demonstrations."
An appeal is being made for money to complete the
Martyrs Memorial Church, near Smithfield. The
church itself is nearly completr d, but still money is
wanted, and till this is obtained the consemation of the
church cannot be performed. "The erection of an
additional church in any locality where it is needed is
always a matter of Hatiefaction, but, in this case 1(10
not think the church is needed. But there is a con-
sideration of more general importance. Is it wise to
erect martyrs' memorials at all? Moat churches have
had their martyrs' at one time or other, and if one sect
or patty erects its memorials, another might do the
same. The days of martyrdom have passed, and it
Is very injudiciouS, in my humble opinion, to erect a
lasting memorial which may tend to produce bad
feeling.
Pity the sorrows of a gentleman who is fond of the
opera, who has a wife who is ditto ditto, and who
(in the columns of the Daily News) laments that
to indulge in their "cultivated tastes is finch a
costly process. They both, be tells us, "like to
go in an agreeable manner to good places," and he
complains of the Increasing coat of stalls at the
opera and other pleasant places elsewhere. "It is
now rarely we can get to hear an attractive opera," he
continues, mournfully, "as we wish, much under
£3 its. ; so that we are often obliged to remain at home
unwillingly, and are deprived of indulgence in the
lyric drama." And he goes on to deplore the pro-
jected high prices at the Albert Hall of Sciences and
Arta, and to compare the alleged moderate prices of
seats in opera-houses abroad with our own prices.
Supposing his compel-son be exact, his woes are really
lamentable ! Poor fellow, his sufferings must be very
keen ! lint strange that he omits all mention of the
, Crystal Palace. Surely he forgets bow cheap is the
annual ticket for this charming resort, giving the
right of admission to concerts of the very highest

class. He and his musical wife can "go in an agree-
able manner to gond places" and one would think
that a couple of reserved seats on a fashionable Satur-
day would facilitate their enjoyment of the " culti-
vated tastes" which they possess.

Now that the railway companies have provided
smoking-carriages, it is only just that they should
strictly enforce theirregulation that no smoking should I
be allowed in the other carriages. lint the prosecution
of an American gentleman for smoking a cigar on the
platform of the Notting-hill railway station is carrying
the rigid regulations of the company rather too far.
The defendant (who ham been fined 40e. and 63. ens(s)
declares that he was not smoking, and that he only had
a "dead cigar" in his month ; but even if he bad a
live cigar, this ought not to be crnsidered an indict-
able offence so far as a railway platform is concerned.
It would have pleased him and would not have
hurt soy one else. The sight of people smoking
on railway platforms in as common as roseible.
By the way, I do not think railway directors
provide enough smoking carriages as a rule. The
proportion of smokers to non-smokers in greater
than that of smoking to nomprnoking carriages,
and would it not be well to make the smoking carriages
a little more distinctive,? Why not paint them a
special colour? In fact it would be well to have first,
second, and third'elnis carriages made easily recog-
nisable Oa glance, while it would be easy to designate
the smoking carriages in Finch a way as to preclude
that agitated rushing about to find or avoid one, and
hose constant disputes that now arise.
Our Palace of Justice, or New I,aw Court., seem
likely to have rather a lengthy hietory even before the
building is commenced, hearing in mind the lengthy
discussions in Pardament and Prne, the voluminous
correspondence, and the many schemes to which the
building ire ease bai already given ries. The
last event in connection with the forthcoming
(but very long in coming) institution is the
extraordinary discrepancy in the estimates for
" putting in the foundations." Twenty building
f rale have tendered ; the highest tender being
D'8,347, and the lowest £.16,755. Either one must be
much too high or the other touch too low —"that goes
without paying," as the French have it. Builders' esti-
mates as a rule vary considerably, "and when they do
agree their unanimity is wonderful ;" but such a mar-
vellous difference as this must be very rare.
Can it be true, as statel, that Dumas left the on.
published manuscripts of 23 novels and 14 plays?
Dumas produced an immense number of romancer,
itc., though it in said that he had 30Me sucking
novelists in his pay, who made cove's out of the great
author's skeletons, and that Darnall after wards; gave a
touch here and there, to make them Durnuean in tone
and style. But add 37 to the list of his works, and he
will become a voluminous author indee d ; and when
we make due allowance for the fact that each work
has a special individuality, it mast be admitted that
Alexander Dumas was a w aide doll ronaancist.

lAA week tbe annual rate of mortality in London I
salt eiretren ol her large t, am of the United King& m was
In the ratio 01 29 dea' he annualb to every 1,400 of the point-
loll, Norwich, Hull, aid Newrastte-imoh-TYRO each
ehnwed a desth.rele of 20, while In Liv,po. lit wss iss high
as 46. In Londen 2 318 births nrol 1,032 deaths were reni4-
treed, the former haring been 13 above and the latter 103
below the aversge. Zymotlc Ohmic. maid 396 deaths,
locludtha 151 from small-pox, r from measles, es; from
mcgr/et levee, o Wem diphtheria, 47 from II hooping.cough. 10
from tybhun, 15 from coterie bc t)pboid fever, and 5 from
m Pie cohllntied leo, r Nofatal accidents caused by hones
Of vehicles in the street, were returned.

THE EXTRAORDINARY JEWEL ROB.
BERY IN LONDON.

/n Saturday Martha Torpey was brought before the
magistrate sitting at Marylebone Police.court, London,
for further exemination, charged with being conc rued
with her husband in stealing jewelry, valued at £2.5...1,
from Messrs. London and Ityder, otat jewellers, No.
17, Now Bond-street.
The circumstances of this daring and skilfully.
executed robbery have, to judge by the large crowds
who blocked the narrow approaches to the court long
before the arrival of the prisoner, excited great in.
terest.
About noon, the prisoner, a small, slender woman,
bearing an infant six weeks ill in her arms we. placed
in the clod:, where she was allowed to remain seated
during the subsequent proceedings. A week's impri-
sonment had made a considerable alteration in Ler ap-
pearance, and she appeared on Saturday to be about
28 years of age, as she had stated to the police. To-
ward, the end of 1889 she married Michael Torpey,
who, it is said, was educated for the Church of Lame.
He, however, disappointed the hopes of his friends by
refusing to enter the priesthood, and obtained a
situation in one of the manufacturiee towns of York-
shire. He had risen to the past .d caehier when his
employer became a bankrupt, end he was thrown out
el employment.
Mr. George Lewis, jun., conducted the prosecution;
a clerk from the office of Mr. R. Haynes, solicitor,
defended.
Mr. Lewia in opening the case, said that the
prisoner's husband, who had absconded under the err.
cumstances related last week, had not yet been appre.
heeded, nor had any considerable portion of the stolen
property been recovered. On this and future occasions
he would produce evidence to show that the prise.. er
and her husband, who had assumed the name of
Tyrrell, had laid a plan to rob, not only Mr. Ryder,
hut also several othrr jewellers. Torpey catne to
Londen on the Bth inst., from Leamington, where he
bad during the last six months been living, and went
to hisrxell's Hotel, in the Strand. Ile then endeavoured
to induce one .sr two jewellers to send him asiortments
of jewelry. He next went to • Mr. Thomas Flight,
who is owner of several houses in Upper Berkeley.
street, and, representing that he was a stranger in
London, and had only just left Paris, where he bad
been obliged to leave all his furniture, stated that
he wanted • lamps at once and would willingly pay
two or three weeks' rent in advance. An agreement
was made, and it was arranged that a servant who
had been in charge of the premises should stay in the
bonen to look after the furniture. Torpt y took pos-
session of the house on the 12th inst., and at once sent
the servant on errand which kept her out of the svay
until the evening. lie next went to the shop of
Mem s. London and Bydee, and induced /hem to send
certain articles of jewe'ry by an assistant to the house
he had hired. What happened to the rseWtan f would
be given in evidence. Since the prisoner had been on
custody a letter from her husbata bad born received
and delivered to her at the House of Detention, en-
closing £35 i.. note. beyond drub.: a portion of the
proceeds of the sale c. diamonds st on from Nlessra.
Lunds n and I; der. Her husban I weal, there was
evrry ressidt to bel:eve, have been in ceptody by this
time if ench y nad not teem given to the
exami-atitm iii ne eefore toe magistrates at
I.eamingten. Torpey, who on Monday la.t woo in
Amsterdam. intendins to rim .in tilers until Tuesday,
learning that his wife ird areri arrested, suddenly
disappeared before be coed be apprehended.
Mr J. I:. Parkes. assistant to the pruecetore was then
called, and deposec foils wa:--1 ha a been ilve year. with
my present employers. On the 12 hef JenUary a men, who
gave the name of ferret] cams so Mr Ryder's :eep and saw
one of the assistant., woo ale we one some jewelry. He
selected several artie ea, and, watlng 0a... he wisued to make
a preseet to his wits, regent.] Met ari soot truent of
jewelry mlgbt be met te his Louse No 5, Timer Berkeley.
street, in orcer that the lady rue.,:te choose for heraeU.
About half past five IL the atternoou went to the address
he had given with a qemulity of diem,: ornane.nts, which
I carried In a sm. Ii on, anti which were worth eltegether
between £5,000 and &IWO. The front door was epened by
'Tyrrell, who made some excuse for the absebce of his
servant. Ile invited me to go upstairs, and conducted me
leto the drawing-room. The prisoner wait there, 'Mime by
the tire There were no chairs at that end of the room
where I was. let-sod at one side of the table. Tyrrell toed
immedietely opposite to rue, and the prisoner close to
him. I opened my bag and took out the tire cases of dia-
mond ereaments which Tyrrel had sten in the shop, leaving
the rest silts j,welry lei the bag, which I placed at my feet
beneath the taste They expressed their edmiration as they
examlued the varioua articles of which I told them the
prices. At last Ty reel said he should like his wife to have a
ecklaee valued at £1,105, or a smaller eecklace valued at
ith a diamond pendaut worth £lO5, and enter one
or two rings valued respectively at Lese and £6O, and re-
marked to the primmer that he thought her sister had better
see them previously ti their do:heron bring made. Ile then
asked the prisoner to call her sister. She left the room. In
abent two minutes I heard her return. Ohs silo her sister
would be there in a few minutes. See came quickly behind
me sad placed a handkerchief satureted with romething over
my nose and mouth. As she did suite man rushed at me and
clasped me round the arms, while the woman contieued to
hold the haudkerchiel in my lice. I managed to get free toe a
minute and got the hand kerehiet all'ay The neer ielzed me by
the thr at. lie sista nothing. The woman, gettir behind its.
again applied the handkerchief to my lase. I togas to feel
a selling ...non The man =detained his hold et me,
although I struggled to get away. In the rinl I was over-
powered and forced down on a sofa. Outing all this time
he did not call the woman by name. I suppeae that I then
became inicouselous. When I came to my senses I 1 onnd
my arms strapped across my cinit, ameher strap rc tied my
wenn., lastenieg my hands together, arid a third strap
round my lege Tyrrell was standing over me. its said
that If I moved he would murder me I heeged him to
loosen the strap across my chest, as the pain wets so great
Ile uneld the strap and lot it out by thi space :ietwet a two
of the holes. I struggled td set ',pelt in a sitting
posture to look at the table, which was behind me,
lit order to see what was being done wish the
jewelry. Tyrrell forced me down and tied a hataiker-
chief ever my eyes. Ile said if I was spitet some one would
he sent to me to ten minutes. I heard him leave the room,
hot I did not hear the prisoner go out Before Itevlng the
room, he said, Q.11,-k, Lucy, qutck ' bring my hat." I
cannot say bow Imig I lay there. I heard the street door
slam Bed directly made an effort to rise, and when I had,
with my teeth, unf istened the strap round my hands, I re-
moved the other straps, and with a poker broke a win-
dow and called for asststance. In a few mlnutee some one
came. The three straps produced .stvut luggage straps
about an inch wide) and this pockeOnendkerchief were In
Ito roe m. I found that the j,welry which I had placed on
the table, with the exceptien of a small gold coats, had
disappeared. The leati.ern cases had bees left lhe
jewelry which I had not taken from the bag was safe. I have
no doubt that the prisoner lathe woman who was cegaged in
the robbery. She was not dressed as she is now, but ill a
touch more fashionable style. The photograph produced
(afterwards identified by &neither witness as a portrait of the
prisoner's husband) Is a liketiess of the man who called him-
self Ty rrel. Ile la a mail of gentlemanly manners and good
appeararce, and was well dressed. I supposed him to be a
resident in Ferkelepstreet. It is riot an monitorial thing '
In our business to carry jewelry out to • customer's house.
Cross-examined : At the time of the robbery the woman I
wore either a light brown era gray dress. I draft know I
which. She hail a ladylike appearance. I picked the pri-
soner out at Leamiegton Jr m among five Cr six other
wernen of the middle el iss, who were not domed as I should
expect to Mei theohimatea of a prison. I know her by the
odour and peculiar expression of the eyes. She seems to be
perpetually unewy.
Re.examimd: These two diamond pendants ;prod need by
lespector Barris, of Southampton) are the property of 31r.
Hider, and were stolen from me in Berklepstreet. Together
they are worth £2BO.
Ml,, Emma Jane Goodrich, of upper Queen's-terrace,
Seuthampton, was next called. She said she knew the pri-
soner Her real name was Martha Torpey. The photograph
produced was a portrait of her husband, Michael Torpey
On the 16th of January witness received a small parcel and
a letter, which ha. already been published. Witness did
not open this packet, but on bearing of the priaenere
prehension on a charge of being concerned ii, the Joe el
robbery delivered it to a magistrate, In whose presence It
was opened by Mr. Harris, inspector of the Southampton
pollee.
Mr. Lewis said that upon that evidence he should
aelc for a further remand.
The solicitor's clerk who appeared to defend the pri.
eerier complained that certain statenaents prejudicial
to the prisont r and her husband ha I been circulated in
the De 6vapaperr, to the effect that it was probable they
had been cencerned in the roLbery of one of Mews.
Il.rnetee clerks, frem whom a large sum in bank.
notes was stolen in Fl Lruary last year. There MIA no
foundetion for aria statement, wheih lippeared to refit
upon the following sentence in one of the letters
a.ldre.sed to the prisoner by her hug and The
more I think about the notes, the less I fear them,
even if they think of them. I believe now that they
can never trace them from the first source." Now,
this really haul re ference to the transaction between
lorpry and Mr. Flight, from whom he hired the bones
in Bet keley.street, and to whom he gave some notes in
paying the rent. With reference to the charge againat
the prisoner Ire urged that, as she was acting under her
husband, she was by law exonerated from the comm.
queue.s of her act, supposing her to have taken part,
as had been alleged, in the robbery'.
The magistrate remarked that if this waa the law
Mess. Manning was most unjustly hanger!.
The prisoner was then again remanded.