The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-12-26 00:00:00

riVe them it right to state that we do not at all tiraell
Uenttly ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

"A Merry Christmas!" This is the phrase
which is being framed by a million lips at this
time of the year, a time which by common con-
sent hvs Come to be called the festive season. It
is a phrase which embodies a thousand good
wishes, and it is one the very sound of h-laich is

refreshing to the ear. Cynic; and hypocrites, and
other unpleasant folk may cast discredit upon
this as upon any earthly institution, and still it
survives to bring a lesson of peace and goodwill
to all men. And it will survive as time rolls on,
and those who now utter the honoured old phrase
aro gathered to their fathers, and the place
which knows them to-day knows them no more
for ever. Christmas, as a festive time,
.has grown
into our very nature, and has become part of our
national life. It is hailed with enthusiasm
by boy and girlhood, and it loses none of its
charms with the old. True, those who are

descending the hill of life may not be able to
join as jovially in every seasonable amuse-
ment as their younger friends, who still
view life as unclouded by care. But the spirit
of good-fellowship is all-pervading. Families
meet under the old rooftree, who at no other
time can find opportunity so to do; friends,
whose feelings may have cooled by reason of in-
frequent contact, ha-e the old affection
brightened by a Christmas chat; and charity,
always active, is never so extensively practised
as at this time. Despite all our changes
Christmas remains the happiest and the holiest
season of the year.
Coupled with the Christmas greeting is always
given us "A Happy New Year," and the corn-
biried good wish is ever pleasant to receive, even

though it be from a stinger's lips. The com-
bination seems r-ti once so natural and so felici-
tous that it CP.. !% somewhat astonishing reflection
that only during the lA.st ccntury and a
quarter has it been able to be used
with strict effef;t. Until 1752, when England
adopted the Gregorian calendar, the opening of
the year was not on the first of January but at
Lady Day, the beginning of March thus Always
falling in one year and its end in the next.
This is the reason for an arrangement in our
histories which has puzzled generations of school-
boys and which is not always clear to adults.
-When it is stated, for instance, that Charles I.
was beheaded on January 29, 1648-19 it conveys
to some folks the idea that there is a doubt as
to the exact year in which this event occurred;
and that idea is likely to be confirmed if they
turn to any official record of the time and see the
date given as 1648, and if they then consult a
chronological table of to-day and fled it set down
as 1649. If once it were understood that
previous to 1752 the official year did not begin
until March 25, and, that a date such as 1618:19
simply means that the first part is the official and
the second the actual date, a good deal of mis-
apprehension might occasionally be a,voie"ed.
Visitors to London just now, who may happen
to go tlu.cugh the leading thoroughfares of an
evening, can scarcely fail to notice the pictur-
esque appearance which is given to some of them
by the lighted Chinese lanterns, displayed as an
advertisement by the itinerant vendors of these
wares. The vendors themselves are far from
picturesque, but they exhibit a wonderful faculty
of foreseeing what articles the public are likely
to purchase at any particular season. At Christ-
mas-time Chinese lanterns are in demand, and
they are consequently supplied in large numbers.
Matches at six boxes the penny are wanted all
the year round, and there are of course always
a plenty of them to be bought. But Japanese
fans are only for hot weather, and it is surprising
how a sudden and rapid rise of the temperature in
summer-time will bring hundreds of vendors of
these articles into the streets. Their sale at such a
period is to be numbered by the ten thousand,
and the effect of a city full of business people
industriously "raising the wind" with penny
fans, has a strong leaning to the ludicrous. But
with a fall in the thermometer the demand elks
away,- and other articles likely to sell are speedily
put forward. Walking sticks and medicine
glasses. chimney ornaments, and lead pencils,
volumm of Dickens, and children's dolls are
among the most constant appearances on the
hawkers' trays; and the amount which is
weekly spent on these penny. articles must be
very great, or such a large number of sellers
could not find it worth their while to continue
in the streets.

Those who have occasion just now to go to
the terminus of the North London Railway at
Broad-street or to its immediate neighbour, that
of the Great Eastern system in Liverpool-street,
cam scarcely help noticing a great improvement
which is being completed at the entrance to
Broad-street in the widening of the thorough-
fare. And if their attention is attracted to the
snot where this has taken place, they cannot
avoid being struck with the massive appearance
of a building which has sprung up there—a
building which they will be told upon inquiry is
part of the improvement recently effected at the
Stock Exchange. Previous to this time, no part
of that well-known institution had shown a face
to the street. The name of Capel-court was
familiar to all interested in business, even if they
had ne-eer seen London; but the locality was by no
means so generally known. It was as if the
Stock Exchange felt so jealous of the Royal
Exchange, with its fine situation and magnificent
frontage right in the heart of the business
portion of the metropolis, that it wrapped itself
in a mantle of secrecy, and refused to be seen of
men. But the requirements of its members
grew with their number, and when an extension
of the building was found to be necessary, it was
determined that some portion should face the
street. This resolve has now been carried into
effect; and the general public will not in the
future, remain in the same ignorance of the situa-
tion of the Stock Exchange as they have done in
the pad, .
i'ven, however, though the situation of this
important institution should be better known,
there is no password, no "open sesame," by
which admittance can be obtained. Strangers
are most rigorously excluded, and tradition
asserts that should any intruder be discovered
he is instantly a bonnetted "by the irate brokers.
The honour of admission to any who are not
raemhers is reserved for men of world-wide fame
who =nay visit .England. Garibaldi and General
Grant, for instance, were welcomed with an
entlin-iasm which was wonderful as being dis-
play-el by business men of mature age. But
although the English Stock Exchange is so ex-
clusive, the like objection to the presence of
strangers is not entertained in similar institutions
elsewhere. Anyone, for instance can go into
the galleries of the Paris Bourse during business
hours, and the,sight which will meet his gaze,
and more especially the sounds which will salute
his ears, will well repay him for his trouble. Even
on the days when nothing is stirring in the
political world to cause stocks to fluctuate to
any large extent, the scene is striking. Brokers
are shouting the latest prices, and their oilers to
buy and sell, clerks are rushing to and fro
making the apparent confusion worse con-
founded, and telegraph boys, with shrill voices,
add noise to what, Without their aid, would be
sufficient din. It puzzles the outsider to under-
stand how a business, involving so many delicate
calculations, can be transacted in the midst of
such a'rush and bustle and volume of sound; but
if it puzzle him on what is known as a quiet day,
how much more would it do so at a time
-when the death of a sovereign, the out-
break of a war, or the uprising of a
people upsets all political calculations and
causes stocks to tumble down in prices with
a velocity which to their holders is nothing less
-than appalling ? A visit at such a period to the
Paris Bourse would give the spectator a strong
idea of the strain which a stockbroker must
always be prepared to bear.
The reference to the French capital is a re-
rainater that visitors to. Paris during the coming
year. will observe one of the most familiar
" sights" in process of repair. It would be im-
possible to go and not to bring away a memory
Of the-Pont Neuf which crosses the Seine at no
great distance from the Cathedral of Notre Dame;
and itrnust have startled many English people,.
who had regarded this structure as the soundest of
all the Seine bridges, to read that a part of it had
given way. The Pont Neuf is noticeable not
only by reason of its site—bridging, as it does, the
two streams into which the river divides at the
Ile de Cite—or of its fine bronze statue of Henry
Quatro, but of its historical associations.
Carlyle, in his greatest history, has told of the
scene on this bridge when foreign armies
threatened the French frontier, when the black
flag was hoisted with the inscription "The
-entry in danger," and when volunteers
.ded to tho Pont Neuf to enroll their names
ng those who were to die for their
vo land. It is of interest, therefore, not
to, dwellers in Paris, or even in France, but
large number of Englishmen, to know that
tie brislge is not se seriously damaged, but
it can speedily be put in good repair.
discussion has taken place in the London
a 3 to the name that ought to be given to
new thoroughfare which stretches from
IY-circus to Holborn. Various appellations

crow

ELIM
flat
onl,
to
thi

dis fine
hat:

Some

pre;
tho

Ficcadill'


NNE

___, _

have been suggested, a very general desire being
expressed that the one chosen should be
worthy of so fine a street. It is singular
what a paucity of invention has been displayed
in the naming of our London thoroughfares.
There are George-streets, and King-streets, and
John-streets, and Charlotte-streets almost with-
out ma, to the constant trouble of the seeker
after friends, and to the frequent loss of those
who want to send telegrams in these days, when
every word of an address has to be paid for, and
it is necessary to make it perfectly clear. But
though there are so many commonplace names,
our great historical, or literary, or philanthropic
characters have been very generally ignored; yet
among these are many whose names would
sound well if applied to streets. This is one of
the things which they decidedly manage better in
France. The most renowned men in their annals
are there commemorated in the name of boule-
vards, avenues, and streets, and there seems
no good reason why the same course should not be
adopted in England. Even if the sentimental
ground—that of doing honour to the illustrious
dead by perpetuating their names in the very
midst of us—be put on one side, there is the
practical one to consider. And the practical one
is that by using the appellations of Shakespeare,
Milton, Cromwell, Bolingbroke, Nelson, and a
host of others of our greatest souls, we should
be lessening the number of merely commonplace
names of streets which now are an infinite
puzzle to postmen, telegraphists, and the general
public. A. F. R.

ATTEMPTED PRAIA') ON THE BRITISH
PUBLIC.
The intended Geneva watch and lottery fraud is
considered by the Scotland-yard authorities to assume
importance not simply by reason of the ingenious alio
daring nature of the camel*.' but because its ori;i-
nators are already very sell known to the metro-
politan police. Mr. Monro, the Assistant-Commis-
ioner, who is charged with the duties formerly per-
formed by the director of the Criminal Investigation
Department, states that three of the men concerned
were implicated in the celebrated De Goncourt, or
great turf frauds, which, it will be remembered, 0111-
inately led to the trial of certain of the inspector
detectives on the charge of conspiracy t defeat tee
ends of justice and as accessories after the fact to
forgeriee committed by Kurr and others. The three
men who are known to be in Geneva, where they
are attempting once more the resuscitation
of the confidence trick on a grand scale, are
William Kurr, or Kerr, Frederick Kurr, and Edwin
Murray. They were all convicted in 1877, haying
been tried for frauds committed upon the Countess
De Gencourt, who was entrapped into a series of
' sham turf speculations to the amount of £lO,OOO.
The two Kurrs were sentenced to penal servitude for
10 years, and in due course were granted tickets-of-
leave. Frederick Kurr at the present moment is
"wanted " for failing to report himself, as license
holders are required to do. Murray received a sen-
tence of 18 months' bard labour, which he served.
In the De Cemcourt frauds the prisoners made u-c
not only of a circular, but a chain newspaper, called
'Re Sport, which related the wonderful success
which had been achieved bya Mr. Hugh Montgomery,
the inventor of a new mode of betting, which had
brought him in £575,000. Since the release of
the Kurrs, from "information received" the detec-
tives of 2cotland-y ard have kept a constant watch upon
their movements, and for many mouths they have been
uuder this surveitlance. Had their seat of active
operations been anywhere in England Scotland-yard
would have quietly waited developments, and when
proof of actuul fraud committed in this country had
been obtained arrests would speedily have followed ;
but, aware of the risk they ran at home, and assured
of greater safety abroad, the plotters selected Geneva.
Ths Swiss police have rendered great assistance, but
the difficulty of securing a conviction upon the Conti-
nent, when witnesses from this country would be
required to support the charge, was taken into
account, and mainly led to the adoption of the pre-
cautionary plan followed by the Scotland - yard
officers, with which time publie-. is now acquainted.
Mr. Monro having been apprised that 200,000
circelars setting forth the trap had been posted
from Geneva, immediately put English people
to wheal these plausible invitations were addressed
upon their guard, so as to prevent the success
of the scheme, which it doubtless would have
secured. The circulars were posted on the 16th, and
were probably delivered in London on Friday and
Saturday. In that case the receivers will be able to
identify them by comparing them with the following
special details. The circular in question is a four-
paged illustrated document printed in Geneva. It is
headed: "A 600 (150,0001.) prize; 1900 smaller
prizes. A free gift of the chance of winning a for-
tune in a Government lottery. Not a lottery organised
by private individuals, bet the authorised Govern-
ment lottery of the State." There is also prominently
displayed as a frontispiece the woodcut of an exten-
sive and imposing factory of four floors, with a
great number of windows te each. This building
is placarded "Henry Williams and Co." in huge
letters. Beneath the woodcut there are, on the
first page, two columns of letterpress, and this small
type matter is continued upon pages 2,3, and 4,
setting forth elaborate and plausible answers to the
queries, "Why this free gift ?" "Why this great in-
ducement ?" Here and there the compositor makes
use of capitals in order to draw attention to such lines
as these: "The Reader of this circelar can make £lO
a week by co-operating with us ;" "To show the value
of a watch that we are selling for £2, these have been
pledged in a London pawnbroker's shop for £2 10e."
Of the four illustrations, two ale diagrams of watches,
and one is a fac-simile of a numbered pswn ticket,
dated Dec. 4, 1885, the pledger's name being given,
and it is certified that he received £2 108. for "a
gold keyless watch." The circular adds "We are
likewise informed that six of these watches realised
£l4 at a public auction in Glasgow." On the
last page there is the following "Recapitulation,"
as it is termed, of the points of the pro-
posals: "1. We have cheap and good watches.
Help us to get them known—you will be
paid by the opportunity of purchasing the cheap
sample watch. 2. You will also receive a ticket
which entitles you to a chance of winning a fortune In
the Government lottery. If you remit at once, you
will be in time for an early drawing, near Christ-
mas. 3. The cost of the watches is £1 and £2 respsc-
tively, carriage paid to the purchaser's house, 1 for
the imitation gold watch (keyless and perfect time-
keeper), and £2 for the lady's gold keyless watch—not
imitation, but gold, gold, gold. The cost of the gen-
!
tleman's is £5. 4. See the extraordinary proof of the
cheapnees of the gold watch actually pledged for ten
shillings more than we charge for it." There are also
appended very full directions as to "how remittances
should be made,' by which it appears that 20s. postal
orders, 50fr. notes, or £5 Bank of England notes are
preferred. A list of bankers follows, and the whole
is signed by "henry Williams and Co., Geneva."
to whom all written communications are to be
addressed. The author of this prospectus therein
constantly invites clerks and other persons to become
agents for the sale of watches among friends "in n
quiet, unobtrusive manner?' and the State lotteries
, mentioned are the Grande Loterie Coloniele
Francaise, the City of Antwerp, and the Loterie Lor-
raine.
A coupon for either of these is promised
"with each watch that we sell for one month from the
date of the circular," and in the event of any pur-
chaser drawing a nrize "Henry Williams and Co."
undertake instantly to notify the fact to the for-
tunate individual, and they ask, "Can we say fairer
than this? Any person who buys a watch from us
may win a fortune of £6OOO, or £lOOO, or £5OO, or
! With regard to this circular, Mr. Munro states that
"Henry Williams and Co." is the alias of Murray,
one of the three men above-named. He went to
Geneva a fortnight ago. Time watch was really pledged
as described, and so far as the pawnbrokers were con-
cerned it was no doubt a perfectly fair and bona-fide
transaction. Probably that particular article was well
worth the money. It has since been redeemed, but
not by the person whose name appears on the pledge
ticket. It is known that a few good watches were
sent out to the parties interested from London to
Geneva, and it is believed that these would be used
as "samples," the object of the schemers being under-
stood as lying in the direction of victimising dealers
who might be induced to order quantities, and not so
much the realisation of small profits on the sale of
single wa ches. That fraud was intended is considered
further to be proved by the pawnbroking incident, and
it is observed tbat if it were possible to make a profit
of 10s. on each watch by pledging it, " Henry Wil-
' hams and Co." are not the kind of philanthropists to
give away such a source of income to time English
public; and with respect to the prizes in the lotteries,
supposing the coupons to be genuine, there would be
a remote prospect indeed of the holder of any winning
number benefitting by the proceeds of the prize, were
it to depend upon the bonil fides of the same enter-
prising" firm.'

¼.