The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-10-12 00:00:00

KIDDERMINSTER.

SUDDEN DEA= OP TH3 WIFE OF A KIDDERMENsTER
PCBLICAN.— lIIE FUNERAL oF MRS. BENNETT.—The re-
mains of M.'S. Elizabeth Bennett, wife of Edward
Bennett, of the Coach and Horses Inn, Mill Street,
were interred in St, John's Chnrchyard on Sunday after-
noon last. An immense crowd assembled outside the
house whilst the hearse was waiting at the door, and
indulged in groans, hooting, and other demonstrations
The son of the deceased, a 1)..)y of about ten years of
age, was put into the mourning coach, and the funeral
cortege moved on without any other person getting in the
vehicle. The father of Mrs. Bennett afterwards got into
the coach. No one was permitted to enter the grave•
yard but those immediately connected with the funeral ;
but a throng of people crowded the road outside the
gates. Meanwhile the p,rsons outside the Coach and
Horses continued to groan, Ste.; and had it not been
for the police it is certain that violence would have been
attempted, and one or two stones were, in fact, thrown
13 the door.

ASSAULT ON A SISTER.—At the Borough Police Court,
on Monday, before Messrs. T. Banks, W. Green, and
W. Boycott, Charles Pitt was charged with assaulting
his sister, Mary Pitt. Prisoner returned home on Satur-
day night intoxicated, and his sister remonstrated with
him. He struck her a very violent blow, loosening her
teeth on one bile of her face, and causing severe bruises
—The case was ILA severely pressed, and the Beech
cautioned him, and inflicted a fine of 103 and costs, or
fourteen el tys in default.

BOARD OF kiIIARDIANS.—A meeting of the Board was
held on Tuesday last, Mr. J. Kitefey presiding.—The
amount expended in out-door relief in the Boroug4
during tha past fortnight has been £59 108 3d; and iu
the Foreign £5B 14s 41. The number of paupers in the
house is 219, as compared with 237 in the correspoadi”g
week last year.—Two applicants for the situation of
sch )olmaster attended the meeting, and aftet they had
been interrogated. Mr. Arthur R. Haines, of Erdington,
as unanimously elected.

THE EE-OPENING OF THE FREE LIBRARY.—The Free
Libra-y is now open for the admission of the public.
The chess room, which has been utilised for this pur-
po.e, has been comfortably and appropriately fitted up
with nandsome reading desks, the fhOr has been covered
with linuleum, and the room painted and ventilated.
Valuable popular works, to the number of 240, have als,>
been added to the library, which no doubt will be largely
patronised.

A.• LECTURE —The Rev, G. Hunsworth, M.L, gava
a lecture on " A Three Weeks' Tour in Switzerland."
at (ho Old Meeting School Rooms, on Monday night
lag. Mr. Thomas Lea presided, and there was a large
att4mdance.

Tait Canxzw's SEISLTER.- On Thursday morning last
Mr. John Bunton formally presented a cabmen's shelter
to the Mayor and Corporation, for the use of the cab
drivers in the town. The presentation took place at the
bottom of High Strett, where the shelter is for a time
placed. Mr. Brinton. in some remarks which he made
on the occasion' said he ventured to think there were
few servants of the public whose duties were more exact-
ing, whose cornfor:s were so few, and who were unfor-
tunately, exposed to so many temptations and irregu-
larities as cabmen. Hurried and uncertain meals too
often led to irregularities and indulgence which the
public, in mistaken kindness, sometimes fostered. The
cabmen's shelter was intended to provide in some
degree against these evils, and he hoped it would be a
lengthener of the life and a smoother of goad temper
among the cabmen. The cab drivers in other towns had
told him that if there had been these shelters years ago
many lives and much illness would have been spared to
men of their clasi. He trusted this one in Kiddermin-
ster would coutribule to their comfort and health—
Three cheers were given for Mr. Brinton ' • and the
Mayor, on behalf of the Corporation, tendered thanks to
Mr. Brinton for his kind gift of the shelter. He
felt sure such an act woald b 3 appreciated by the
cabmen and the public. That was not the first time
Mr. Brintan had come forward to supply a public want,
and he hoped his example would be more generally fol-
lowed.