The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-09-13 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

During the last fiscal year the number of passengers
carried on all the railroads of the country was equal to
six times the population of the United States.
Women and girls own nearly one-half of the deposits
in the savings banks of Massachusetts, having to their
credit 117,932,299 dols.
It is stated that over a ton of mushrooms are
despatched daily from Dublin Quay for the English
market.
The making of photographs in the United States
alone consumes annually about forty tons of silver and
three tons of gold.
The largest grain crop ever known in the history of
California has just been harvested by the farmers of
that State. _

_
A great fire has occurred at Temesvar, in Hungary.
The whole of the Ungar Strasse, including a large dis-
tillery and extensive cattle sheds, was burned to the
ground.
The returns of the Loch Leven &hing for the season
show the number of trout taken from the Loch by rod,
from April to the beginning of September, to have been
15,734, and their weight 13,5321 b. 10oz.
Paris advices state that w! eat has continued to droop
upon the French country markets, ..Ithough within the
last day or two a better tendency has prevailed. Very
little has been doing in wheat at Mi rseilles.
The French Acadenw ~f Medicine has adopted a
resolution in favour ot holding an administrative in-
quiry into the conditions in which cholera made its
appearance, the progress of the epidemic, its mode of
propagation, intensity, and duration.
In 18834 there was a falling off in the Indo-Austra-
lian tea-trade of £2,360,000, -s compared with the
previous year. This serious decrease is attributed by
the colonial agents to the undesirable quality of the
areater Dart of the tea sent to thPir market.
Early on Tuesday morning the roof of a building in
Ashton-under-Lyne fell in with a great crash. The
premises were formerly the Shakespeare Inn, but are
now occupied as a club by the United Order of Odd.
fellows. The curator and his family were sleeping in
an upper room, and had a very narrow escape. The
billiard table, piano, and other furniture were buried
under tons of debris. There would have been a con-
cert in the place the same night, at which about 200
were expected to be present.
Whilst a heavy goods engine, with a long train of
waggons attached, was crossing tLe pouts from one
main line at Driffield Junction on the Hull and Scar-
borough branch of the North-Eastern Railway on Tues-
day, the engine ran over and demolished one dead end
of a siding, snapped the metal, cut through the quick
wood hedge, and burrowed into the ditch on the other
side. The stoker was thrown off the engine, but he was
scarcely hurt, and the engine itself was not much
damaged.
An accident occurred on the Midland Railway near
Desford, Leicestershire, on Tuesday, in consequence of
a traction engine, which was crossing the line by a
private level crossing, getting caught in the metals. A
goods train came up, but, the obstruction having been
noticed, although the train ran into the engine, no
damage was done.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
reading of the barometer last week was 29.47
inches; the highest reading was 29.68 in. at the be
ginning of the week, and the lowest 29.23 in. on Thur-
day morning. The mean temperature of the air was
57.6 deg., and 2.2 deg. below the average in the corre-
sponding week of the twenty years ending 1868. The
mean showed an excess on Sunday, whereas it was
below the average throughout the remainder of the
week. Rain fell on six days of the week, to the aggre-
gate amount of 1.85 inch. The duration of registered
bright sunshine in the week was 188 hours, against 189
hours at Glynde-place, Lewes.
The number of Bills of Sale published in England
and Wales for the week ending Sept. 6 was 228. The
number in the corresponding week of last year was
237, showing a decrease of 7, being a net decrease in
1884, to date, of 595. The number published in Ireland
for the same week was 15. The number in the corre-
sponding week of last year w 12, showing an incl.( ase
of 3, being a net decrease, in 1884, to date, of 570.
The Paris Municipal Council have voted 3000 francs
to enable a delegation of Paris carpenters to go to
Sweden and Norway for the purpose of finding out how
it is that ready-made doors and windows frames from
those countries can be delivered in Paris at less cost
than the price in that city of the unwrought material.
The French Revenne Returns for the month of
August last show a falling off of four million francs, as
compared with the sum set down in the Budget. The
diminution is principally observable in the sums derived
from the Customs duties and registrations.
The railway station at Chilham was broken into a few
nights ago, and in gold and a quantity of bronze
stolen from the booking office. Two lads, named Laker
and Crocker were arrested on Monday evening on sus-
picion of committing the offence. They admitted their
guilt to the police.
On Tuesday morning a seaman, while aloft on the
fore-top gallant yard of her Majesty's ship Defence, off
Holyhead, fell on to the deck, and when picked up was
found to have sustained serious injuries. He lingered
until
_noon, when he died, without having recovered

At Winterbourne, about a mile and a half from
Forton, near Salisbury, on Tuesday morning, a woman
was run over and killed by the 6.20 down goods train.
She is supposed to have been a schoolmistress. Shortly
before she was seen to leave some of her clothes in
the road, and to walk apparently right in front of the
train.

------•
While engaged at the Royal Small Arms Factory,
Enfield Lock, on Tuesday morning, in proof firing, a
man named Roper was accidentally shot by the other
man. The charge entered the man's side and passed
through him. He was taken to his home, where he lies
in a precarious condition.
In consequence of the prevalence of cholera the fol-
lowing decree has been issued by the Italian Minister
of the Interior: "In the interest of public safety, the
coral t sher7_9D the banks in the near neighbourhood of
Sicily is closed for ilacilear. Within five days from to-
day's date (Sept 2) the boats employed in coral fishing
must leave the banks and return to their own homes."
The Prefects of Trapani and Girgenti are charged with
the execution of the decree.

_
As the steamer Fenella, of the Isle of Man, was
leaving Menai-bridge on Tuesday with about 200 excur-
sionists, she ran on a rock a short distance from the
landing stage. The passengers were disembarked in
safety, but in the evening the steamer had canted, and
was lying in a very dangerous position.
An inquest was held at Salisbury on Tuesday respect-
ing the death of Mrs. Wilmot, of that town, who
threw herself before a train and had her head literally
cut in two. She had previously developed a suicidal
mania. A verdict of "Suicide whilst insane" was re-
turned.

From the Ist of April to the 6th inst. the Exchequer
receipts amounted to £32,882,708, as compared with
£34,883,647 in the corresponding period of last year.
The expenditure has been £33,713,241, against
£36,733,075. The balance in the Bank of England last
Saturday was £3,733,551, and in the Bank of Ireland,
£1,151,342.
A sad fatality has occurred at Halton Holgate, near
Spilsby. A livery groom named Handsley was acci-
dentally shot by the rector of the parish, the Rev. T.
W. Sale, who was out shooting. Handsley died in-
stantly.
Two Highland fishermen have been arrested in the
Shetland Islands on suspicion of having murdered an
old half-imbecile man named Thomas Moar, who was
found dead on the road with a ghastly wound on Lis
head. Moar had been purchasing whisky in a neigh-
bouring parish, and it is said some of it was found on
the accused. The latter have been lodged in Berwick
gaol.
A telegram from Naples gives a striking account of
the King's visit to that city and his passage through
the various wards of the Canocchia Hospital, where
the worst of the oholera cases are lodged. King Hum-
bert personally visited every patient, taking their hands
and bidding them be of faith and courage. The effect
of his Majesty's visit infused new life into the sufferers,
and created immense enthusiasm amongst the popu-
lace, his reception being the greatest ever witnessed
there.
On Tuesday a labourer named William Walton of
Misterton, was taken into custody at Retford, Notts,
under most serious circumstances. The previous even-
ing he was fighting with another labourer named George
Farr in the yard of the crown Inn. Stockwith, a neigh-
bouring village. Shortly after the fight was over,
Walton went behind Farr with a large clasp knife, and,
before he could be prevented, stabbed him violently in
the back of the head. One of the wounds is sin. lcng
and 2in. deep. Farr is in a most precarious condition,
and is not expected to recover.
In London, on Tuesday, a serious case came under
the notice of the medical staff at St. Thomas's Hos-
pital. It appears that on the previous day, while Police-
constable William Pillow, 436 P, was on duty in the
Walworth-road he attemptei to arrest a deserter from
Her Majesty's ship Impregnable, stationed at Devon.
port. The prisoner tripped the constable up, and he
fell heavily to the pavement on his head. The deserter,
however, was eventually captured, and on Tuesday
morning, while Pillow was at Lambeth Police-court, he
suddenly became unconscious. He was seen by Dr.
Farr, the divisional surgeon, who ordered his removal to
the hospital, where he lies in a precarious condition.
In London last week 2574 births and 1529 deaths were
registered. Allowing for increase of population, the
births were 73 below, whereas the deaths exceeded by
115, the average numbers in the corresponding weeks of
the last ten years. The annual death-rate from all
causes, which had declined fram 21-2 to 20.0 per
thousand in the three preceding weeks, further fell
last week to 19.9. The 1529 deaths included 11 from
small-pox, 16 from measles, 18 from scarlet fever, 31
from diphtheria, 36 from whooping cough, 1 from
typhus, 20 from enteric fever, 1 from an ill-defined
form of continued fever, 178 from dlarrhcea and dysen-
tery, and 2 from choleraic diarrhcea and cholera.
Considerable 'alarm was created in London on Mon-
day by an infuriated ox which had escaped from the
Islington Cattle Market, and which, after charging
Madly along several of the roads in the vicinity of
Regent's Park, and knocking down a policeman, the
animal entered by the lodge gates on to Primrose-hill,
where it charged a butcher who was endeavouring to
stop its progress. By luckily dodging the beast behind
a friendly tree the man escaped with nothing more
serious than some severe bruises, consequent on a
partial butting and fall in consequence, the animal per-
mitting him to get up and make his escape. Eventually
a keeper from the Zoological Gardens despatched the
brute with a carbine, and the carcase was quickly re-
moved.
A fete—sadly marred by unfavourable weather—was
held on Monday at Downhill's,West-green, Tottenham,
in aid of a charity, organised by the district Post-office
servants, for providing for the orphans of those who die
in the service. A field was placed at their disposal by
Mr. W. Hudson, and the men arranged an excellent
programme of outdoor amusements, including a cricket
match, athletic sports, a banner contest, in which Odd
Fellows, and other benefit and temperance societies,
who came in possession, exhibited their banners for
prizes, and a torchlight procession. In spite of the
rain there "as a fair attendance. The accession to
the funds, however, fell far short of what the Went
deserved.

U.-Timber -of visitors tO the Internationai Health
Exhibition for the week ending Saturday last was
143,043, the total since the opening having been
2,501,720.
The bodies of two men, supposed to have been
strangers, who visited Swansea on the occasion of the
Liberal demonstration on Saturday, were picked up
early on Sunday morning. One was on the beach, and
the other floating in the north dock.
At Youghal a detective who went on board a vessel
which entered the harbour on Saturday, in the perform-
ance of his duty under the Explosives Act, was assaulted
in a serious manner by one of the seamen. The sailor
was arrested, and the vessel was detained in the mean-
time. _

A-little boy, named Archibald Campbell, residing with
his parents in Lyle street, Greenock, was playing with
three other members of the family on Saturday, when
his clothes accidentally caught fire, and he was so
dreadfully burned that,he died shortly afterwards.
The oldest college in the United States (With the
exception of '.larvard)—viz., William and Mary College,
Virginia—has been compelled to close its doors, having
but one student at the beginning of the present school
year. It was founded in 1693, and has had amongst its
eminent alumni Washington, Randolph, Tyler, Brecken-
ridge, and General Scott.
Intelligence received at Sofia states that bands of
brigands are overrunning the districts of Kuprili and
Prilip, in Macedonia' and forcibly collecting the taxes
from the inhabitants, at the same defying the autho-
rity of the Sultan. It is added that forty-five persons
have been massacred by the brigands.
The oldest and largest tree in the world, so far as is
known, is a chestnut near the foot of Mount Etna. It
is hollow, and large enough to admit two carriages
driving abreast through it. The circumference of the
main trunk is 212 feet. The Grizzly Giant, monarch of
the Mariposa Grove, measures 92 feet.
Last week's receipts of cotton at all United States
ports were 16,000. bales; since Ist September, 15,000
bales. Week's exports to Great Britain, 12,000 bales,
ditto to Continent, 5000. Total since Ist September,
17,000 bales; stock at 611 ports, 112,000 bales; stock
at interior towns, 12,000 bales.
The French railway companies are about to adopt an
electric gate opener. A catch connected with an elec.
tro-magnet keeps a gate closed. When a train ap-
proaches it closes the circuit, releases the catch, and
the gates fly open. The last car on the train as it
passes through opens the circuit and the gates are again
closed. The same apparatus rings a bell violently on
the approach of each train.
A handsome income is made by a Frenchman at
Berlin, who has introduced the Parisian system of
window cleaning by contract. He charges 2s. a month
and has 6000 customers in the German capital alone,
where he employs 40 men. He has now branch es-
tablishments in Homburg, Frankfort-on Main, and
Breslau.
A return relating to lunatics was issued last Satur-
day, which shows that in 1882 there were 1142 lunatics,
from whose estates £20,479 was drawn, while £22,687
was expended upon them. From 1873 to 1882 the total
number of lunatics was 10,220, from whose estates
£183,991 had been drawn, while there had been ex-
pended upon the lunatics £21,639: leaving a total
excess of expenditure over receipts amounting to
£34,648.
A New York telegram states that the visible supply of
wheat on Sept. 5 was 18,200,000 bushels, as against
18,700,000 bushels the previous week. Visible supply
of Indian corn, 4,500,000 bushels, as against 4,800,000
bushels the previous week. The export clearances of
wheat for Europe during last week amounted to
3,070,000 bushels; the export clearances of Indian corn
for Europe during the week amounted to 250,000
bushels.

Reports from British Columbia state that arrange-
ments are to be made for the placing of a line of
steahiers upon the new route from the terminus of the
Canadian Pacific Railway, on the Pacific Ocean, to
China and Japan. This line will, it is said, be in full
operation in less than two years.
The arrivals of live stock and fresh meat at Liverpool
during last week from American and Canadian ports
amounted to 3549 cattle, 3335 sheep, 6153 qrs. of beef,
and 350 carcases of mutton, and the figures in com-
parison with those of the preceding week show a some-
what large increase in the imports of both live stock
and dead meat.
Early on Saturday morning the dead body of a man,
attired as a sea-going eng:Reer or fireman' was found
hanging from a tree on the farm of Mr. Charles Lamb,
of Seaton Carew, near West Hartlepool. In one of the
pockets was a discharge note from the post of fireman
on board a steamer. The man was suspended by a
handkerchief, and his toes touched the ground.
On Saturday afternoon David Renton, aged 27, a
carter, drove his horse and cart into the Firth of Forth,
at Leith, for the purpose of cleansing it. He drove too
far into the water, and the cart floated away. Renton,
becoming alarmed, jumped out, and was drowned. The
horse and cart floated about two miles into the firth
before they were secured.
A special meeting of the Loughrea Board of Guar-
dians was held on Saturday in connection with the
death of a woman in the workhouse. It was stated
that she was shockingly neglected, having been left
without food, clothing, or attendance until she died.
The guardians resolved to ask the Local Government
Board to order a sworn investigation.
On Sunday John Baxter, a travelling tinker, was
taken into custody by the Edinburgh police on a charge
of wife murder. Along with a daughter, Baxter and
his wife had taken up their quarters on Saturday even-
ing in a lodging-house in Grassmarket. They subse-
quently had some drink at a publichouse, and on
returning to their lodgings had a quarreL Baxter
knocked his wife down and kicked her several times,
and she appears to have died almost instantaneously.
Dnring last week the number of actual shipwrecks
reported increased nine (to 29) over the previous week,
while for the corresponding week of last year the num-
ber was 79, showing a decrease of 50. The total for
this year is now 9131, against 1257 in 1883. The vesseis
fOit for the week comprise 16 British-owned vessels
and 13 !deign-Owned; seven (six British and one
German) sinking off Great Britain. Twenty lives were
reported lost, while two British vessels lost the whole
of their crews, number unknown. Three vessels (two
British and one American) were,estrckid by fire.
Four were lost through collisim •
For the fifth time in three years and the second
eight days, Mr. Phillips the magistrate at West Ham
Police-court, was presented, on Saturday morning, by
the clerk, with a pair of white kid gloves, there being
neither charge nor summons to be brought before his
worship.
A Paris correspondent says that Madame Sarah Bern-
hardt has just concluded an arrangement to make a pro-
fessional tour of one year in North and South America
in 1886, at a salary of 1,500,000 f, or £60,000.
The Guion Line Mail steamer Alaska from New York
arrived at Queenstown, at 5.23 p.m., on Saturday, and,
after landing mails and passengers, proceeded imme-
diately for Liverpool. Passage 6 days 22h. 39min, Daily
runs 344, 360, 386, 407, 399, 394, and 94 miles.
The Board of Trade returns shows a considerable de-
crease in emigration compared with last year. During
August 30,586 passeners left the United Kingdom,
compared with 38,574 in the same mouth last year;
while the respective numbers for the eight months
ended August were 223,355 and 298,290.
Early on Monday morning a number of out offices
were burned down at the residence of Mr. Kenny, of
Longford Castle, near Portumna, late a sub land com-
missioner. The fire is believed to be the work of an
incendiary.
One of the inmates of the Dumfries Asylum on
Monday escaped and afterwards committed suicide by
placing his head upon the rails before an approaching
train, which ran over and killed him.
A young man named Cotgrove, living at Leigh, near
Southend, was drowned on Monday morning while
drawing his shrimping nets into a smack. It is related
as a singular coincidence that Monday twelvemonth the
father of the deceased met his death in a precisely
similar manner.
At the Mansion House, London, on Monday, Alder-
man Sir A. Lusk remarked upon the great inconve-
nience caused by the stopping of omnibuses in front of
the Mansion House. This inconvenience had, he said,
been somewhat lessened of late, owing to his previous
observations on the subject, and he hoped the police
would keep on using the words " Move on." He sug.
gested a plan by which the block, which was, he said,
caused by the growth of Londos, might be further
diminished.

A destructive fire broke out late on Sunday night on
the farm of Mr. H. .S. Barnes, at Ospringe, near Faver-
sham. A large barn was first found in flames which
spread with so much rapidity that a valuable bull and
about thirty pigs were burnt to death, and a man sleep-
ing in the barn with difficulty escaped. Large quantities
of oats and fodder were destroyed, and the flames spread
to four corn stacks, which were adso consumed.
Two boys, Parker Noble and John Rymill, were
charged at the Sheffield Town Hall on Monday witt
placing a sleeper on the railway at Nunnery Colliery,
near Attercliffe-road. Evidence was given showing
that had not the sleeper been discovered a serious acci-
dent might have ensued. The Mayor characterised the
offence as very serious. The fathers of the boys were
bound over, and one of the lads, Noble, was ordered to
be whipped.
In connection with the late accident on the Lynn
and Ffunstanton Railway, a serious accident occurred
on Monday. One of the labourers, who was engaged in
righting the engine which was thrown into the pond
between Wootton and Wolferton, had without orders
removed one of the supports, when the whole weight,
some 50 tons, fell upon him. When the engine was re-
moved, much to the surprise of his fellow workmen,
although seriously injured he was still alive, the earth
in which he was embedded having become softened by
the previous wet weather. He was removed to the Lynn
Hospital, where he lies in a critical state.
In London on Monday while Mrs. Bonser, residing at
35, Larkham-street, Walworth-road, was walking along
Brandon-street, Newington, she was seen to suddenly-
stagger and sink to the pavement in an insensible con-
dition. Dr. Phelan was sent for, but on his arrival the
woman was found to be dead.
Mr. Henry Wicks, aged 66 years, lately residmg at
9, skipka-road, Balham, died of shock to the system on
monday morning at St. Thomas's Hospital, London.
The deceased, who was awaiting the arrival of his son
at Bs.lham Station at two o'clock on Sunday afternoon,
fell from the platform, and the wheels of the train
passed over him. Both legs were much cut. He lived
about ten hours after his admission to the hospital.
At Bridgwater, on Monday, an inquest was concluded
on the body of a young man named Robert Chedzev.
who died suddenly in the surgery of Mr. Henry Brook.
He was suffering from an ulcerated throat, and went to
Mr. Brook, who injected a solution of carbolic acid.
The young man died within half an hour, and as the
result of a post-mortem examination. Dr. Parsons and
Mr. Stoddart, analyst of Bristol, stated that death was
due to poisoning. After hearing
r.
Brook. the jury returned a. verdict
,
adventure.
f colliers wh
At a mass meeting o o have been on strike the
oefviddecanthe7boyf mis-
adventure.
ten weeks against a reduction in wages, held at Coseley
on Monday, it was resolved that the question in dispute
be referred to a court of appeal; and, further, that they
resume work unless it was decided that
N3vsou:l3ccli. notbe paid
per day, which is 4d. more than tha
eniployers are willing to give. It is ' estimated that
8000 are on strike.