The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-11-08 00:00:00

MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF A YOUNG

GENTLEMAN.

The Birmingham and Brighton police are investi-
gating a mysterious case concerning the death of a
young gentleman, at present unknown, but believed to
have come from London. About a fortnight since
deceased went to a house of ill fame at Severn-street,
Birmingham, kept by a woman named Sarah Johnson
and a man named William Muir. There he met a
girl named Nelly Howe, with whom he went to a dis-
orderly house in Clarence-square, Brighten, also kept
by the woman Johnson. Two days afterwards he
returned, accompanied by the girl, and stayed
with her in Severn-street, Birmingham, until
his death, which occurred on Sunday night at the
house in question. He had been very ill since Thurs-
day night. The evening before the death the woman
Johnson changed a fifty-pound note, which she states
to the police deceased gave her shortly before his
death. It was almost by accident that the man was
not buried before identification or the knowledge of
the police that the death had occurred. Arrange-
ments had been made to bury the deceased, and a
certificate of death had actually been obtained from a
Birmingham medical man, although the proper name
was not known. The deceased, who told the girl
Nelly that he came from Norwood, is apparently
about thirty years of age, sft. 10in. high, and was
dressed in a black coat and vest, and grey check
trousers. He had in his possession a gold watch and
a gold pin inlaid with pearls.

SICILY RUINED by the QUARANTINE

A correspondent writes to the Secolo from Ragusa
as follows :" The strick blockade so desired by us, and
strenuously carried out by the Government ships,
assisted by a numerous private flotilla, kept by the
provinces and large cities of the island, has indeed
kept us safe from the cholera, but in avoiding Scylla
we have fallen into Charybdis. This violent and
absolute isolation of Sicily from the Continent has
cut the nerves of our commerce. Commercial life
has completely ceased in our ports, especially the im-
portant ones of Messina, Catania, and Palermo. There
is no more coming and going of ships, no loading
and unloading of merchandise. The thousands of
persons who gain their living from commerce are
Everything is stopped like a watch of which
the spring is broken. Innumerable families, especially
in the coast towns, are plunged into misery, while the
counter-stroke of the cessation of commerce is felt
to the innermost parts of the island. Many firms
have temporarily suspended business, others have
closed altogether, and the retail trade of the country
may be said to be ruined. Our principal articles of
export—oil, wine, wool, and sulphur, the only wealth
of the island, lie undemanded and heapea up in
the warehouses., and the damage may be easily ima-
gined. There is only one remedy which can Prevent
an economical disaster, and that is the immediate
raising of the blockade. Rome, though in constant
connection with Naples, has no cholera; nor has
Milan—for one swallow does not make a summer—
although Milan lies in the centre of an infected dis-
trict. There has been no cholera at Turin, so near
Genoa, Spezia, and Busca, in spite of the small but
constant intercourse of people from all parts of the
country to the exhibition. If the blockade of Sicily
is not soon raised, we shall suffer more than if we had
had the cholera."