The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-05-16 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY FRACAS AT A
LONDON CLUB.

Shortly after Saturday midnight four or five men
were forcibly ejected from the European Club, Percy-
street, Tottenham-court-road, London. They shouted
out that they had been swindled and assaulted, and,
a large crowd of roughs gathering, the windows of the
house were at once smashed with stones. The row
speedily attracted some constables, and they, seeing
the affair to be beyond their power to cope with,
hurried off one of their number to the nearest station
for reinforcements. A large body of police were
quickly drawn together, and marched to the spot.
The row was assuming the dimensions of a riot, and
needed some exertion to quell. Some of the officers
entered and made a search for the persons who were
accused with the maltreatment and cheating of the
men referred to, but they could not be found. It was
then asserted that they were escaping by a back door
into the mews behind. The police, accompanied by
the crowd, went round to the mews to stop all egress
from the end of it, and began a search within the
cul de sac. Finding no one, they, it is alleged,
jumped to the conclusion, without any justification,
that they had taken refuge and were being harboured
in the Social Democratic Club situated in the mews.
The officers tried the door, and finding it locked burst
it open and entered. The mob meanwhile smashed
the windows, and while the officers were pursuing
their search in the uppermost rooms, helped itself to
all the good things in the bar beneath. Cigars,
liquor, coats, and other property were carried off in
the confusion. The police found a crowd of men
upstairs all highly indignant at their club being
stormed in this fashion. It is needless to say their
search was not facilitated. The Social Democrats
protested and obstructed. The police, with their
staves in their hands, made short work of all who
stood in their way, and the end of a tremendous dis-
turbance was that about 50 or 60 men, mostly foreign
internationalists, were marched off to the police-
station some of them battered and bleeding in a very
shocking manner. The officers had also been roughly
handled, and were venting their maledictions on the
"Nihilists," as they termed those of their prisoners
who had been most intractable, About breakfast-
time on Sunday morning all but six or seven of tha
prisoners had been let off, after the surgeon had seen
to the wounds of the :most unfortunate. The rest
were detained on a charge of obstructing the police in
the execution of their duty.

At the Marlborough-street Police-court on Mon-
day the seven persons arrested were brought up
charged with riotous and disorderly conduct at the.
club, and with assaulting five policemen. Mr,,
Abrahams, on behalf of the defendants, applied for
summonses against the police. Mr. Newton reserved
his reply to the application, and after taking some
evidence adjourned the case, allowing the defendants
to remain out on their own reeoznisances.

"Every artist was once an amateur." This Is not
calculated to make art popular with the public, we
fear,

Biffin calls his wife and children "circumstances,"
because they are things over which he has no con-
trol.


ARRIVAL OF MR. CONDIE STEPHEN.

'On Tuesday afternoon Alr.Alexander Condie Stephen,
C.M.G., Second Secretary of the British Legation at
Teheran, who was attached to Sir Peter Lumsden's
staff for the delimitation of the Russo-Afghan fron-
tier, arrived in London from Afghanistan, having
travelled day and night, to deliver the despatches with
which be bad been entrusted. To a representative of
the Press Association he made the following state-
ment:

"I started from Meshed at almost an hour's notice,
with orders to travel with all speed to England. In
pursuance of these instructions I left Meshed on
April 23rd for Sharood, being conveyed by what is
called Persian post—that is, by relays of horses at
given distances. The whole distance was about 300
miles, along moderate roads. I reached Sharood on
April 27, after four days' bard riding, in
which I covered seventy-five miles a day from
early morning to late at night. The horses,
which were all hired for the journey, were of the
Turcoman breed, and extremely good. From Sharood
I started for Asterbad, a distance of 140 miles, still
on horseback, the horses being hired along the road.
This journey was accomplished in two days at the
rate of seventy miles a day. At Asterabad, after
having been six days in the saddle, there was a welcome
change, as I caught the steamer, and crossed the
Caspian from Chikishlar to Baku, where an hour
after my arrival I fortunately caught the train which
runs to Tiflis. I was most lucky, and after twenty-
seven hours' continuous railway travelling I reached
Tiflis. I have to thank the Russian officials for further
speeding my journey, as they assisted me in every
way possible, and enabled me to drive across the Q4u-
casus toVladikavkas. The road, which is in extremely
good repair, is 130 miles long, and I covered it in
twelve stages, some of greater length than the
others, according to the nature of the country.
I arrived at Vladikavkas sixteen hours after
leaving Tiais, having passed through a snow-
capped mountainous country. The little horses
that I had were splendid animals of the Karabagh
breed, able to undergo all kinds of hardship; the
road was well kept up, and the post service generally
was admirably conducted. I continued my stages by
train by Rostoff, Kharkoff, and Dunahurg, where
luckily I caught the train from St. Petersburg to
Berlin. I arrived at the latter city yesterday morn-
ing after ceaseless journeying, and came on without
delay to London. All along my route through Persia
and Russia—particularly in the latter—l was treated
with the greatest courtesy and kindness by both
officials and inhabitants. At Tiflis the acting governor
did everything that lay within his power to accelerate
my passage over the Caucasus, and his assistance was
most acceptable. He was good enough to order by
telegraph from Tiflis all the stage-keepers along the
route to have horses ready for me when I should
arrive, and thus when I reached the end of one stage
fresh horses were ready to cover the next stage. At
every town on my route the Russian authorities lent
me assistance." _

In answer to an inquiry as to the effect of the
fighting at Penjdeh, Mr. Condie Stephen said: "It
was a complete mistake to say that the Afghan
defeat at Penjdeh brought about the retirement to
Tirpul of the British portion of the Delimitation
Commission. We certainly did leave Gulran after
the battle of Penjdeh ; but Sir Peter Lumsden had
made arrangements a considerable time previously
to move the camp of the British Commission to
Tirpul. The Commission started for Tirpul on a
very cold, misty morning, immediately after the
Penj.deh fight. When we approached the Paropa-
misus hills, it commenced to snow. The wind
rapidly rose and blew with great violence. When we
got well into the Chesmenchz Pass a terrible fall of
snow took place. The snow lay very deep aftcr a
short time, and the wind blew with exceeding keen-
ness, so that the Commission made but slow progress.
Some of the camp followers were lost in the storm,
as well as a considerable number of mules, the sno w
being so thick and deep that they could not get
along."
Answering a question as to whether any of the
Afghans retreating from Penjdeh, after the fight,
passed, or were passed by, the Commission, Mr.
Stephen said :
"The retiring Afghans went by another route, via
Meruchak and Bala Murghab." Mr. Stephen added:
"The Penjdeh Valley, or Khushk Valley, is a most
fertile oasis, a lovely country covered with grass of
good growth, excellent, I should think, for the breed-
ing and rearing of young horses, just the country
suitable to the Turcomans, who are noted for their
breed of horses. In spring the whole valley, which
embraces a large tract of country, is covered with
flora the ground being like the many-hued carpet of
Persian manufacture. Dr. Aitchison, who conducts
the botanical section of the scientific portion of the
Commission, is delighted with the country. He has
made a very large and valuable collection of flora.
Besides flowers the valley abounds in game, and phea-
sants are to be found in thousands between Meruchak
and Karaout-Khana, and we killed over 1500 while
in the neighbourhood, bringing down over 150
a day. The Murghab abounds in water-fowl,
th i11.at..-siand ftre catocikaa with gazeille,
antelope, and a kind of wild sheep. Wild pig
gave us giany a good day's riding." In the course
of a further conversation Mr. Stephen said: "The
Afghans were always most kind and friendly towards
us. They did their very utmost throughout to pro-
vide us with food and comforts, and they had hard
work to do this, as the difficulties of supply were very
great, the country being almost entirely uninhabited.
Here and there were a few mud buildings inhabited
but rapidly falling into decay. There were not want-
ing signs that the country was once otherwise, for
there were ruins of ancient towns to be seen, mostly
of mud, but with a few brick ruins. I left all the
members of the Commission in excellent health and
spirits. The military escort was also in good health,
and the behaviour of the men throughout was most
exemplary. I have read that Sir Peter Lumsden is to
return at once to England, having seen it stated in
the Russian papers. I have also gathered from the
same source some slight knowledge of what has trahs-
pired since my departure from Meshed, but myknow-
ledge is not sufficient on these points to give an
opinion, as my information is of a most fragmentary
kind."