The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1869-09-04 00:00:00

THE STOURI3RTDGE OBSlrinVElt

and went back to Miss Cox. He asked her why I
she opened his box, and if she would return th se
papers, whioh were very valuable; if so, no one should
know anything about the matter. Miss Cox said she
had taken the papers, but had not got them, as she had
given them to her papa. Ildhs Cox's aunt was p• esent,
and said, "I told you at the time that you would get
yourself into a mess. This is a crime.' As Miss Cox
was answering him her father drove back to the station
and said, '' salt answer him." Witness went to her
aunt's residence and she said that Miss Cox had done
it when ehe was in a fit of excitement.
Crw-s-examined : He never left his box open, and
was never scolded by Miss Cox for !saving the key in
his box. It was kept outside his bedroom door, but no
one passed by it. The house was now under repair.
Colonel Jeakes said the damage cl-ne to the diploma
was I:15, and the credentials would coat more, there-
fore he hal no jurisdiction in the case.
Mr. Poncione, jun., said he would withdraw that
summons, and indict Miss Cox for the offence.
The servant, Mary Ann Jacobs, and Mrs. Cox, the
aunt of the defendant, were called for the prosecution,
and they distinctly swore that thoy had no conversation
with Dr. Berson about the breaking open of the box.
Mr. Poncione, sen., then addressed the magistrates
on behalf of the defendant. Mr. Cox was a gentleman
well-known in The neighbourhood of Fincbley, and was
introduced to Dr. Berson by his assistant-maiiter, Mr.
Groom, who wanted to pass at the examinations at
Oxford, and Dr. Berson was chosen as his tutor, De.
Berson visited the school and fell desperately in love
with Miss Cox, who was only seventeen years of age, and
after some time was accepted as her affianced husband.
He wrote letters to her on the day that he was at Ox-
ford, and said in one of them that he would like to come
and throw himself at herfeet and kiss the dust that her
feet had trod on.

Mr. Poncione was about to read some of the letters,
when Colonel Jeakes said he had better confine himself
to the case.. . . . . .

Mr. Poncione then argued that the case must he dis-
mists 1 against his cliet, as the witnesses had contra-
dict, d the prosecutor in most important points.
The court was cleared for a few rnittutes, and on its
re-aesembling, Colonel Jeak es said he bad no alter-
native but to dismiss the case, with costs, as the wit-
nesses bad contradicted what Dr. Berson stated.
The decision was received with evident satisfaction
by a crowded court.
Mr. Poncione, sen., asked the magistrates to protect
Miss Cox, as Dr. Berson was a violent and jealous
Mail, and she was afraid he would do her some bodily
harm. .

Colonel Jeakes said he would grant a summons if
Miss Cox could swear she was afraid that Dr. Berson
would do her bodily harm.

The defendant, who was allowed to be seated during
the examination, which lasted over two hours, then left
the court a it h her friends.

men's houses ?—Prmoner: I did not know the hour.
end I re pped at their hospitable homes to get sonic
grub."
Witness: Have you tried to get work at Cork ?
Prisoner : I have .ought it, but found it not. I may
add that I have wielded the sword, and sought tb,
bubble reputation.
Mr. Humphreys : Even at the "cannon', mouth
—Fri:diner: Yen; I have been 14 years in the army.
Mr. Humphreys: And "did the state some pervic: ?''
—Prisoner: Yes, for which I was discharged withuu:
a Wetcn.onstab'e Geales : From which you may infer
what his service was.- Prisoner : It was a piece of
national ingratitude.
Mr. APNamara : We will put a nominal hne on
you, and recommend you to conduct yourself properly.
—Prisoner: No money, no choice. In the seclusion of
my cell L shall, like another Raleigh, compass round
this gl: he, and give the world a history; but if any
"gent" in court would stand a bob to pay the hue, I
would much prefer it.
This appeal passed unheeded, and the votary of the
Nine was sent to gaol.

elements oi beioty, there exitited in the world ,
ther elements of beauty beebles these ; and one
.f three elements, perhaps the most important
..f all, was light. In coneleding his lecture the
tirofessor said : "Generally, it may be rail that
the sublime s distinguished from the beautiful by
he mere presence of lower ; great intiuuttibin are sub-
lime because they overwhelm us with the sensation of
wonder at the Ogantic power of physical nature
which they express. Bet Imre power is wt a quality
that can be allowed to control art; for which rearm we
ree that the wiblimest mountain scenery—such as that
the Cechullin it ills in Skye, or of Gime-toe. or
..f Ben Mitre, and the Lot-h Baa mountains in Mull
is largely tempered with these elements of colour and
form a which constitute beauty. As to the humorous,
.t must be enough on the present occasion to say that
it it a pleasant play of sportive emotion in the soul,
:rising from the perception of the incongruous and the
absurd. It belongs to the doitrine of beauty, therefore,
merely as the reverse of the coin, and may be considered
rather as a defence of the soul against what is not
beautiful, than as a function einpltiyed in the recogni-
tion of what is beautiful. In a various world, neces-
sarily full of all sorts of insufficiencies and imperfec-
tions, and where A man is sometimes forced to walk
through a perfect Vanity Fair of incongruities, it is a
great consolation often to be able to smile, when, if we
, could not treat the matter sportively, we should cert.
' tainly be compelled to weep.
I ,
.I,LOPttMI:I6T SPOILED.—A most delightful
sensation was nipped in the Lud the other night at
Saratoga (says an American paper). A lovely and
charming blonde whose father was cruelly obinrate,
had nearly escaped through the window to join her
anxious sweetheart who had arranged everything for
an immediate wedding. As she put her dellcate foot
through the window upon the first rung of the ladder,
ales ! alas! her crinoline caught upon the bell handle
by the fire place, and the poor girl, unable to advance
or retreat, was detained until a chamber-maid acci-
dentally entered the room and released her from her
perilous position. Of course, the bell ci sated an alarm
which reedered elopement impossible.
FittecePr AND PRACTICE.— General Sherman, in
a recent speech at West point said,—" I have often-
times been asked by friends familiar with Xenophon,
Hume, and Jotuini, in which of these books I had
learned the secret of leading armies on long and dif-
ficult marches, and they seemed surprised when I
answered that I was not influenced by any of them.
I told them what I now tell you in all simplicity and
truth,—that when! was a young.lieutenant of artillery
I had often Muted deer in the swamps of &heti), the
Cooper, and ihe Santee; and I bad seen with my
own eyes that they could be passed with waggons;
that in the spring of 1844 I had ridden on horse-
back from Marietta, Ga., to the Valley of the
Tennessee, and back to Amulets, passing in my
course over the fields of Altoona, of Keneshaw,
and Atlanta, where afterwards it fell to my share to
command armies, and to utilise the knowledge thus
casually gained. Again, in 1849 and 1850, I was in
California, and saw arrive across that wild belt of
2 000 miles of uninhabitable country caravans of emi-
grants composed of men, women, and children, who
reached their destination in health and sirength, and
when we used to start on a journey of 1.000 miles, with
a single blanket as covering, and a coil of dried meat
and a sack of parched cornmeal as food. With this
knowledge fairly acquired, in actual experience, woo
there any need for me to look back to Alexander the
Great or to Marlborough for examples?"
•

SEWAGE EXPERIMENTS.— An important experi-
ment is just now being made at Bradford with the
view ,4 purifying the polluted streams of the neigh-
bourhood, and those who have seen the Bradford
stream will admit that if the experiment succeeds
there; it need fail nowhere else. Works have been
erected by Mr. Holden for deodorising and utili-
sing the sewage; and it is stated that under the
operation of a combined chemical and mechani-
cal process, of French invention, and at present under
the superintendence of two French gentlemen
practically concerned in the invention, the sewage
water is completely deprived of its impure and fierid
matter, which is retained for some useful purpose,
while the apparently pure water from which it has
been removed is sent forward on its natural course.
The outlay in plant for the purification of 2,5 .0,000
gallons of sewage per day, including the price of the
10,000 square ya-de of land required, the cost of tanks,
necessary buildings, engines, tools, and everything
necessary to carry on the process, would, it is calcu-
lated, be about £14,000. The cost of conducting the
process afterwards would be about id. per 1.00 gal-
lons per day, or, for a town sending down 2,500,000
gallons of sewage, £lO Be. 4d. a day.
CONTEMPT OF CoUßT.—While Thad. Stevens
was a young lawyer he once had a case before a bad-
tempered judge of an obscure Pennsylvania court.
Under what he considered a very erroneous ruling, it
was decided against him ; whereupon he threw down
his books and picked up his hat in a high state of in•
dignation, and was about to leave the court-room,
scattering imprecations all around him. The judge
straightened himself to his full height, assumed an air
of offended majesty, and asked Thad, if he meant to
"express his contempt for this court." Thad, turned
to him very defferentially, made a respectful bow, and
replied in feigned amazement, "Express my contempt
for this court ! No, sir ! I am trying to conceal it,
your honour ;" adding, as he turned to leave, " but I
find it hard to do it."
A "To Quogne."—One of the clergy of a large
Scotch town having been ruralising lately, was return-
ing home from a day's piscatorial enjoyment, his rod
across his sh.,ulder, when he met a youth with whom
be Was slightly acquainted, who happened to be carry-
ing a bridle in his hand. The divine, thinking to be
witty, even at the risk of being personal, pointed sig-
nificantly to the fri lie, and, with a shake of his head
and a smile, remarked in passing--"A bridle for the
ails!" to which the young master, nothing daunted, and
poin,ing at the fishing-rod over the clerical shoulder,
instantaneously rejoined—" And a rod for the fools
back, all the world over !" It is perhaps superfluous
to say that both parties passed on without further
greeting.
THE ALBERT ASSURANCE SoctsTv.—A meeting
of the Albert Assurance Company was held last Satur•
day. A report exhiniting the decline and fall of the
concern was read. It appeared from this that up to
the end ,4 1861 the company was conducted at a profit
ot over £50,000. 'Diener was a levied of lose., which
seem to have accumulated in a geenietrieal ratio. From
1862 to 1866 they amounted to L'281,000 odd, and from
1867 to 1869, to 4:1,016.630. The report, issued did not,
of course, show the real state of affairs. The dis-
cussion on this report, and the replies of Mr.
Price to the questions of the shareholders, ex•
plain pretty clearly how this deficiency is
to be accounted for. The amounts paid for
amalgamations show a curious process of making
pleasant all round— except to the shareholders
and policy-holders of the Albert. Besides the large
sums paid as compensations, there was, it seems, a loss
since 1855 of £94,397 in respect of the assets of the
companies taken over. The uncalled-up capital s
nearly £322.000, but the liquidator values it at £l5O 000
•.t.ly, and when that is included there remains a defi-
ciency of 071.837 2s. Zl. being nearly double the
whole subscribed capital of ale company and more than
five times the amount paid-up. Another meeting is
to be called shortly.
A WEALTHY PAUPER.—At the last meeting of
the Bethnal-green guardians a singular case was men-
tioned. Among the pariah paupers in Colney-hatch
Woe a Mien Martin, who for the last eleven years was
confined there as a hopeless lunatic. Mr. Collins,
chairman of the board, by some means lately discovered
thatshe was entitled, all the time, to several thousand
pounds, which were in the safe keeping of the Bank of
England. The unfortunate lady immediately become
the object of uncommon interest, and proceedings in
Chancery were at once instituted with a view to the
establishment of her rights. The suit WWI successful,
and the happy result is that the parish receives a sum
of £4OO as compensation for her maintenance during the
eleven years, and 126. a week from the dividends of her
money for her continued support.
WHAT NEXT!—Fraud in India has now gone
as the manufacture of wild beasts, for the purpose of
cheating the Government. It is known that premiums
are paid by the Indian Government for slaying wild
beasts; so tigers, bears, and leopards are made to go as
far as they can. First, the skin is sent in, with a
skull of wood fitted into the head ; secondly, the real
skull is brought forward; and sometimes, as a third
resource, the real tiger or bear is dispensed with, and
the skull of a hog or jackal is tendered, provided with
false teeth, and covered with pigskin, moulded on a
real tiger's head. We must therefore have had un-
trustbiorthy statistics of the abundance of wild beasts
in India. Some of the monsters were beasts of straw.
The skulls are now ordered to be smashed and the
skins to be sold.
FREIsCIi CoNVICTS.—Among the favours distri-
buted in France on the occasion of the centenary of the
First Napoleon was the pardon granted to thirty•four
forcats confined at Toulon. As every reader of the
" Miserable,'" knows, these convicts are allowed, and,
indeed. encouraged to empl .3, their spare time in the
manufacture of different objects, such as toys, frames,
baskets. &c., which are sold for their benefit, and the
proceedsof which are handed to them at the expiration
of their sentences. On the present OCCarioll the sum
paid to the thirty-four liberated prisoners amounted to
no less than 26,000 francs, an average of about £.30 per
man. A sailor who had been nine years in confine-
ment, and was famous for his skill in the construction
of model ships, received for his share nearly £lOO. It
appears that the various sums due were formerly
handed to the prisoners immediately on their being set
at liberty, but it has been found preferable to deliver
their earnings to them in mandate payable at the pre-
fectures of the different towns appointed for their fu-
ture residence, as, under the old system, those known
to have received the largest sums were generally War
laid and robbed by their lees fortunate comrades.
AN INTELLIGENT INDIAN.—The Alaska Indians
are becoming Americanized under the influence of a
newspaper. The Alaska Times says :
•‘ An intelligent-looking Indian came into our office and
wished to know the price of our paper. We told his: very
with
spea
pkt,ri.pagr,
prdostt?a,
14;r:nI:
t:hagi
naked
iknectee,
hoed white gmdde nplregsaeldi 'You
sever friendly, and felt somewhat anxious to know what he wanted
ay
tmw‘rieielp:dt'igpi
plihreliii:Ecieythhoilmyfi rasher
nothing,udehr ae r
and. How much the
with a copy of the Abiska Times. Lie dui sot feel satisfiedand ,
instantly paid for ten copies, but h.
tee
He stWthehenatvotoll
silted.)uhim a :deresiWhite of
h
rues
enough of fur, t esr
ryoinb
estlhri mwmeoen tphhaasy,',
es". umbselle'r'!.np t
gavenp nhikitee:
ns clownee

rHE FRIO CH COLONEL SIBTHORP.—There is a
Marquis de Tillanaourt in Paris, who occupies much
the same position in the Legislative Body as the late
Oolonel Sibthorp in the House of Commons. He is
'till of splrita, very popular, and wonderfully fertile in
sayings; but it must be admitted that his celebrate,
sa) ingg are very small, and would be scarcely worth
quoting, but as a continual reminder of somethint
oleaswit—a lively Frenchman woorn every one likes
o, have a word with. Tile French papers are alwa
looting him, and perhaps our readers may like, once,.,
way, to have &specimen of his chaff. When the nes
French Ministry was appointed, every one naturally
said it was the old Router Moiis!ry without Itl
Rouher. "It is a Ministry without a head," raid M.
de Tillancourt—" le ca,iinet du decapPe parlant."
When some of those who are called Arcadians, that
is, the Extreme Right, the followers of M. Rouher--