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

EPITOME OF NEWS.

SATURDAY, JAN 26 1884

The Queen, on the advice of Mr. Gladstone, has
conferred a pension of £l5O a year upon Mr. F. J.
Furnivall, for his services to English literature.
Requiem masses in commemoration of the death of
Louis XVI. were celebrated on Monday morning in
five churches of Paris.

A memorial, praying for the reprieve of Billings,
who was recently sentenced to death for the murder of
his wife at Plaistow, has been presented at the office
of the Home Secretary, when it was stated that a ro.
prieve was in course of preparation, and woubne sent
to the governor of Chelmsford gaol in due course.,
The sentence of death is commuted to penal servitude
for life.

Her Majesty's ship Canada, with Prince George of
Wales on board, has been reported by the Commander-
in-C3hief of the West India and Pacific Station as being
at Martinique, all well. Thfi Commander-in• Chief is
taking the Prince on board the Canada on a tour
round the different places of interest on the station.
Mr. Mandella, M.P., in presiding at a meeting of
the Boys' Public Day School Company, spoke of the
great progress that is being made in elementary edu•
cation, and of the great need that there is of more
efficient and cheaper schools for the education of
children of the middle classes.

An inquest has been held at Portland touching the
death of is convict named George Webber, aged 31,
sentenced In February last to five years' penal Beni.
tude. One day last week the deceased was taken ill
while at work, and died within a few hours, having in
the meantime vomited a quantity cf vegetable matter,
which was afterwards found to consist of poisoncus
roots picked up and eaten by deceased while at work.
The doctor attributed his death to the influence of
these roots, and a verdict was returned to that effect.
On Monday the Truro magistrates committed for
trial August Johanson, a Swedish sailor, charged with
stabbing a labourer named Thomas Penrose, in
street quarrel on the night of the 9th inst. The two
men had, it is alleged, been drinking together, and
during an altercation about a woman Joharreon is
stated to have drawn a knife and inflicted a severe
wound. Prisoner said he did it in self.defence,
Penrose having knocked him down three times with.
out provocation.
A deputation of 115 persons, who played a promi-
nent part in the lato Servian rising, arrived at
Belgrade recently from Alexinatz, to express to the
King their regret for the past and to give assurances
kr their future loyalty.
The " Court Circular" states that the Queen is
able to take short walks out of doors, but cannot stand
beyond a very few minutes. Her Majesty's health is
Lot otherwise affected.

A Vienna telegram says that the ladies of Goertz
have presented to the Countess de Chambord a painting
of Castagnavieza Church, where rest the remains of
the last of the Bourbons. The picture is in a richly
CI: vd wooden frame, and bears the autograph of the
late Count de Chambord, and the date of his death.
Thomas Thompson a hanger-on at Morley Main
Colleriee, near Dewsbury, was descending the shaft on
Monday with a man named Marshall, when two corves
full of coal were pushed too far and fell on Thompson
as the cage was passing the second seam, killing him
instantly,
A death from hydrophobia has taken place at She&
field. An old man named Warren was bitten ty a
small terrier about six weeks ago. The bite was not a
severe one, and the wound healed. A few days ago
F 3 mpterns of hydrophobia manifested themselves, and
in spite of the efforts of a surgeon, Warren died on
Sunday.
Thomas J. F. Chrispin, a sailor, who had been
charged on suspicion with the murder of Emily
Novell, in Artillery-square, Westminster, again
appeared at Bow•street Police, court on Monday,
wben it was stated that no evidence had been
obtained against him, Mr. Flowers dismissed him,
characterising the charge as absurd, and saying that
he left the court without a stain on his character.

The Rev. Groville Phillimore, rector of Ewelme,
was found dead in his bed on Monday morning. The
rev. gcntleman had been slightly indisposed, but was
well enough to conduct the service at his church on
Sunday. Mr. Phillimore was only presented with the
living about six months ago.
A 'Wier explosion occurred on Monday at the
Defiance Printworks, Welbeckstre et, Kilmarnock.
Tbe boiler-shed was blown to pieces, and the adjoin-
ing buildings damaged. Mr. Peter McLean, one of
the proprietors of the works, and two female workers
were injured.

The Copenhagen correspondent of the Standard
writes :—I am in a position to state positively that
the reports which have of late been so rife respecting
a plot against the life of the Emperor of Russia and
his son are entirely devoid of foundation.
On Monday a young man, named Murphy, a re-
spectable farmer's son, was found dead on the road
near Inchigreelagh, about eight miles from Macroom.
He was lying in a pool of blood and had several
wounds, He is supposed to have been murdered.

Under the presidency of the Mayor of Brighton an
influential meeting was held in that town, at which
it was unanimously resolved that it was desirable that
the Easter Review of Metropolitan Volunteers should
again be held at Brighton, notwithstanding the recent
memorandum of the Duke of Cambridge.
The annual ceremony of the baptism of the Holy
Cross, or the blessing of the waters by the immersion
of the Crucifix, adopted by the Greek Church in coin-
memoration of the baptism of Christ in the Jordan,
wss duly solemnised on the 18th inst. at Cons:an.
tinople.
In the Queen's Bench. Dublin, on Monday, an
applkation was made to have admitted to bail the six
prlsoners charged with being connected with the Mayo
murder conspiracy. The Court refused the applies.
tiou with regard to five of the men, and granted it in
one case.

Captain Lawrence and five men comprising the crew
of the schooner Evelyn, of Fraserburgh, for Caucale
with coal, were landed at Dover on Monday. The
captain reports that shortly before four o'clock that
morning, during a fog, his vessel was run into while off
Dungeness by the steamship Cleaveden, of Newcastle.
The schooner sank almost immediately after the col-
'hien, and it was with great difficulty that the crew
saved themselves by clambering on board the steamer.
GREAT FIRE AT LILLE.—A large fire has occurred
at the tannery of M. Franchon-Becue, leoaher
curriers, at St. Maurice-lea-Lute. The working-men's
quarters were in part destroyed, and some fifty
families rendered homeless. A workman named
&alitlet, who was the involuntary cause of the
disaster, had his hands and valets burnt. The roofing
cf the tramway de; est and of the two neighbouring
houses was totally destroyed. The lots is estimated
at 350,C06f.
DEATH FROM A "PRACTICAL JOKE,"—On Morday
four tradesmen of Banwell, Westen-euper-Mare, were
committed for trial on a verdict of " Manslaughter "
at a coroner's inquest concerning the death of Richard
Thomas, bricktnaker, on Sunday week. It is stated
that Thomas, when worse for liquor, created a dis-
turbance in the street, and his death is alleged to have
resulted from a ducking in the millpond, to which he
was subjected as a practical joke. It is further alleged
that he was drowned in four feet of water in the
presence of numerous spectators, none of whom inter-
fered. The four men are identified as having taken
an active past in the affair. The committal caused
great excitement in the district.
AMERICAN SIIIPPOG.—From official documents pela
liehed in the United btates, it appears that of the I,IIJO
steam vessels which last year crossed the Atlantic,
carrying 44,205,0,9 huehels of grain, the United States
cannot claim even one; while of the 166 sailing vessels
carrying 4,252,936 bushels, two of the very smallest
cargoes, representing in the aggregate only 25,650
bushels, were all that were carrisd in American
bottoms. Of all the nations the United States is the
last in the list, although so recently as 1880 that
country was ahead in this respect of seven counttier,
including Franca and Russia. By far the largest
number of steam vessels in the grain trade of course
belonged to Great Britain.