The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-12-08 00:00:00

Our Fon* Grasp Ont.

[We deem it right to state that we do not at all timez
!identify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

The trials at the recent session of the Central
Criminal Court recalled to some extent in public in-
terest the dingy associations of the Old Bailey in
former years. It is not often that a bank manager at
£1,500 per annum yields to the temptation of robbing
his employers to the tune of nearly of £150,00J, but
this was the story told in the case of George Warden,
long the confidential servant of the London and River
Plate Bank. Seldom, too, is it that so vast a sum is
so totally and irretrievably lost in rotten speculation
that not a shadow of it remains. Warden might as
well have thrown the whole of it into the Thames
so far as any enjoyment of the money was con-
cerned. Instances have been recorded of fraudu-
lent officials vho lived in grand style, enter-
tained much company, and bad a few years of
thorough-going pleasure, so that when in prison there
was nothing but the gloomy companionship of their
own thoughts, they could at all events sigh over the
nights and days of splendid ease that they had passed
upon the proceeds of their gigantio thefts. But Warden
always lived very quietly in a batchelor's lodging near
Regent's Park, and when the crash came his confede-
rate in guilt had to give him £2OO to enable him to
take that temporary flight which proved to be so use-
less.

Then there was the trial of O'Donnell at the same
session under circumstances of a very different
character. The crime for which he was tried was
c3mmltted some thousands of miles away on the
high seas, the witnesses were first examined in
South Africa, then in London, at Bow•street, and
last of all in the grim pile of black stone which,
standing in the heart of the City and within a stone's.
throw of St. Paul's Cathedral, has witnessed so many
memorable trials. The chief interest was naturally at-
tached to the evidence cf Mrs. Carey, who seemed to
convey the idea that she was very anxious that justice
should be done to the assassin of her husband. Then
there waR her son, a youth with one of the most pro.
nounced Milesian brogues ever heard in an Englii,h court
of justice, and whose crees-examination at the huffs
of so able and astute a Queen's Counsel as Mr. Charles
Rusell was followed with much anxiety. For several
hours on Sattird.y afternoon and evening the dingy
thoroughfare ktown as the Old Bailey was filled with
a dense crowd waiting for the verdict, which was not
delivered until nearly nine o'clock. The result was
that which had been generally anticipated, and it was
felt that justice had been done by the decision that
O'Donnell was guilty of the premeditated murder of
Carey.

The citizens of London often ask when they will be
relieved of the presence in their midst of that great
eyesore cAlled Newgat.e. It has long ceased to be even
a prison of detention, and occupies a site enormously
rich, increasing in value year by year. If it be the
aim of an architect to convey by the appearance of
the building itself an idea of what it really is, then
Newgate is as complete a piece of architecture as any
in the metropolis. Its frowning walls tell the spectator
at once what it is; but as Horsemonger-lane Gaol was
long ago got rid of, there seems no reason why New-
gate should not follow, and discontinue the cumbering
of the ground in the centre of the,busiest city in the
world.

Mr. Gladstone has felt compelled to decline the
invitation of the working men of Derby to visit their
prosperous borough to receive a set of beautiful porce-
lain. So the presentation will accordingly be made
at Hawarden, late in the present month. The
Premier pleads that he is compelled to husband his
remaining strength now that he is seventy-four years
of age, which, indeed, he will be on the 29th in-
stant. The working men of Derby quite under-
stand a plea of that kind from a man who enteral
Parliament more than fifty years ago, and began his
officiAl career as a Lord of the Treasury as far back as
1834. Lord Palmerston, however, at 81, Lord Russell
at 74, and Lord Beaconefield at 75 held the seals of office.
There is no doubt that Mr. Gladstone has always
taken remarkably good care of his health, and that he
is as well preserved as either of his predecessors at the
same age. He could not undergo the physical exertion
which he accomplished four years ago in Midlothian,
but with care there is little doubt that he is good for
many years yet.

The Ward of the Tower, after having been repre-
sented in the Court of Aldermen by one man for the
long term of 36 years, has now to select a successor to
Mr. Thomas QuestedFinnis, who has died atthe mature
age of 82. He was the senior member of the Court,
a distinction which now devolves upon Sir Robert
Carden, M.P., who is very nearly as matured as his
deceased brother Alderman. Mr. Finnis was Lord
Mayor in 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny, and his
brother, Colonel Finraia, was the first officer killed by
the Sepoy a in that formidable rising. He was on
horseback on the parade ground at Meerut, and was
shot in the back by one of the treacherous soldiery,
dying instantly. The deceased Alderman was very
generally liked by the circle in which he moved; he
was never the essence of poittposity or self-importance,
and was the very type of a London Alderman, who,
according to the late Mr. Robert Besley, enjoy them-
selves on turtle soup and smoke the very best tobacco.
The contested election at Ipswich is probably the
last of the present year, which has not witnessed many
changes so far as these bye political struggles are con-
cerned. When a vacancy in the representation of an
important town occurs out of the Session there can be
no doubt of the very general interest which attaches to
the result. When Parliament is dissolved there are
,558 members to be chosen, and no one place in
parecular can expect much notice in such a universal
scramble ; but it is different in the recess, when an
election takes place only once in a few weeks on an
average. For irretance, there was the Liverpool elec..
on just twelve months ago, the contest at Sheffield
four years since on the death of Mr. Roebuck, and
others which might be named. "The eyes of England
are upon you" is a hackneyed saying, but under the
circumstances it is a true one.

It is not expected that there will now be any more
Cabinet Councils until after Christmas, or rather until
the middle of January, when the order of business for
the session can be better settled than in October or
November. Many of the Ministers have made im-
portant provincial engagements during the next few
weeks, and there can be no doubt that these utter-
ences are regarded with considerable interest. They
are read between the lines to ascertain if peradventure
the Cabinet is united in this or that particular ques-
tion, and discussions are often assucced upon grounds
which are not always substantial. No Cabinet of
whatever political complexion can include twelve or
fourteen men prominent in the councils of their party
who are completely in accord upon every question that
comes before them, As a rule Cabi-,et Ministers are
egen of independer.t judgment and force of character,
and It by no means follows that the declarations of one
are invariably re-echoed by those of another.
The Princess of Wales, who has now been amongst
os more than twenty years, celebrated her birthday
on Saturday, when she entered her fortieth year.
There is all the difference between that and the bright
and beaming face which won all hearts as the Prin-
cess rode through London on the 7th March, 1863 ;
but there is none whatever in the sentiment with
which her Royal Highness is regarded by the English
people. It is not to use the language of exaggeration
to say that the Princess of Wales is the most popular
lady of the Royal House, and it is a pity that she
stands no chance of celebrating a jubilee as we all
hope to do in connection with the reign of her Majesty
three or four years hence.
The great show of cattle at Eingley Hall, Birming-
ham, Zs always the precursor of that at the Agricul-
treal Hall, Islington, and that again very nearly
precedes Christmas. Vast as London is there are
certain parts of it which always denote Cattle Show
week in the mcst unmistakeable way. There is for
Instance the Upper-street in Islingtuo, where the ruddy
faces of the farmers may be seen in large numbers, the
healthy appearance of the tillers of the soil strongly
contrasting with the sallow aspect of many a smoke'
dried Londoner. And how the metropolitan resident
who meets these worthies in the City restaurants envy
them their appetites. Go into any of these establish-
ments, and the spectator cannot fail to note at once
the different way in which the Londoner attacks his
chop or his steak, from that of a firmer. The former
too frequently cuts off and places upon the edge of his
plate every particle of fat, but the worker in the Beide
is by no means so fastidious. It does the heart of the
observer good to witness the way in which the visitor
from the country enjoys his refreshment. His condi-
tion of health is such as very few Londoners, shut
up in their smoke and fog, ever succeed in reaching,
the conditions of the daily life of the twain are alto-
gether different, and quite account for the variation in
tastes and habits.

A distressing gun accident is reported from Forfar
shire. On Sat,rday last, as William Alexander,
coachman, at Bellevue House, near Arbroath, was
driving borne a gentleman who had been out shootir g,
a seagull fllw past the vehicle. The gentleman rabed
his gun, but belore he could get a proper aim the gun
went off, and the contents lodged in Alexander's left
shoulder, causing injuries which resulted in death.

On Monday a respectable-looking woman, about 40
years of age, ascended the steps at the south front of
St. George's Hall, Liverpool, and, climbing the balus-
trade, leaped into the street below, a distance of 30
feet. She was taken to the hospital and died in a few
minutes,