The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-07 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Frau Frieb,Blumaner, the celebrated actress of the
Court Theatre, Berlin, died on Saturday.
O'Donovan Ross a declares that the dynamiters are
now preparing, having remained silent pending the
issue of Mr. btone's Home Rule Scheme.

An innkeeper at Fordwick, named John Watson,
was on Saturday summoned for selling rum which was
adulterated, being 3.33 deg. below the legal limit. A
fine of 10s. and costs were imposed.
The steamer Isle of Hastings, of Newcastle, from
Sulina via Constantinople and London, arrived in the
Tyne on Saturday. The captain of the vessel reported
at Shields Shipping Office the drowning of an Armenian
lady who was a passenger on board. The deceased
joined the vessel at Constantinople, and was Eoing to
London, thence to New York to her husband. When
the vessel was near Gibraltar deceased was missed,
the only trace left being her slippers, which were
found on deck near the stern.

The large shoe factory and warehouse belonging to
Messrs. Stead, Simpson, and Co., Leicester, were on
Friday night destroyed by fire. For a long time after
the outbreak it was difficult to effect an entrance, and
then it was found that the clickers' room was thoroughly
in dames, and so rapid was the spread that the main
part of the building was destroyed. Over 1500 hands
have been throwa out of employment, and the damage
is estimated at £50,000.
On Saturday some men were fishing in the Preston
and Lancaster Canal, about six miles from Preston,
when one of them, in attempting to recover the end of
his rod, fell into the water. He could not swim, and
another man, seeing that he was drowning entered the
water to save him. The drowning man clutched him,
and, after a severe struggle, they were both drowned.
Both men leave families.

Walter Williams, an excursionist of Walsall, was
drowned in the river Avon at Stratford on Saturday
afternoon. Deceased was canoeing, when a pleasure
boat, containing four persons, ran into his canoe,
capsizing him. Williams was unable to swim, and
struggled for a long time in the water in sight of some
fifty people who had rowed to the spot and others con-
gregated on the river bank.
The Archbishop of Canterbury laid the foundation.
stone of St. Luke's Church, Bromley-common, Kent,
on Saturday afternoon. The church, when fully com-
pleted, will cost about £9OOO. It will seat about 700
persons.
Mr. Hunter Blair, eldest son of Sir Edward Hunter
Blair, Bart., was ordained to the Roman Catholic
priesthood a few days ago in the Abbey of Fort
Augustus. Mr. Hunter Blair made his vows as a Bene-
dictine monk in 1884.

Shortly before eight o'clock on Saturday evening a
man, name unknown, supposed to be a visitor from
London, while attempting to enter a train in motion at
Gravesend, fell between the platform and carriages, and
was instantly crushed to death.
It is stated that in the debate on the Address it is the
intention of the Irish members to direct attention to
the present condition of the land question, and to the
number of evictions which are threatened in the course
of the winter.

On Saturday at Dieppe four men were killed and
three seriously wounded by the explosion of a boiler
connected with the dredges used for reducing the level
of a part of the port, to enable vessels to pass the new
basins. The poor fellows were horribly mutilated.
The restoration of the old collegiate church of the
Holy Gtoss at Shrewsbury, which was connected with
a large monastery destroyed by Henry VIII , is to be
at once comrrenced, an anonymous donor having given
£lO,OOO for the purpose.
The Conservative journals of Paris publish a letter
written by General Boulanger in May, 1880, thanking
the Duc d'Aumale for having proposed that he should
be raised to his present grade in the Army. The
"France," however, declares the letter to be a forgery.
Nevertheless more letters addressed by General
Boulanger to the Due d'Aumale in the years 1879 and
1880, expressing unalterable devotion, and soliciting
his aid to obtain promotion, are published in the French
papers. The War Minister continues to deny the
authenticity of the previously published letters.
The centenary of the Phcenix Lodge of Freemasons
was celebrated at Portsmouth on Saturday, when, in
the absence of the Prince of Wales, the Earl of Lathom,
Deputy Grand Master, attended, and the past masters
and officers were introduced to his lordship.
The meeting of the High Court of Foresters opened
at Leicester on Monday, Bro. Hudson, High Chief
presiding. The delegates numbering about 530
were received by the Mayor. The High Chief
Ranger' in his opening address, said he hoped that a
decided opinion would be expressed on Canon
Blackley's proposals. In the afternoon there was a fete
in the Victoria-park.
An inquest washeld on Monday at Marylebone touch-
ing the death of Sergeant Petersdorff. It was stated
that the deceased had fallen down an area at the back
of his house in Harley-street and fractured his skull.
A verdict of "Death from accidental causes" was
returned.

At Shoeburyness the Volunteer Artillery competi-
tion opened under unfavourable circumstances on Mon-
day. In various parts of the country volunteers have
gone into camp for a few days of continuous military
training, _ _

Senor Lopez Puigcerver has been appointed Minister
of Finance in Spain in place of Senor Camacho.
The King of Portugal left Lisbon on Monday for
.Plymouth, intending to pay a visit to the Queen at
Osborne. On leaving England his Majesty will pro-
ceed to the Hague and Copenhagen.
• Six persons were killed in a fire at Nantes on Sunday
evening.
On Saturday a violent storm of hail and rain, accom-
panied by thunder and lightning, broke over Kirkby
Stephen, Westmoreland, causing the river Eden to
swell to a serious extent. A boy, named Birtle, aged
nine years, was swept away and drowned. The farms
in the district are suffering severely, the out grass
crops lying rotting in the fields.
At an early hour on Monday morning a fire was die.
covered at the Greenock Industrial School. The flames
were first observed in some presses in one of the dor.
mitories, whence they extended to the dormitory above.
The Greenock Fire Brigade extinguished the flames.
The origin of the fire is unknown.
The Royal Cambrian Academy of Art was opened on
Monday to the public at Conway. The exhibition is
held in Plas Maur, which is a very ancient building,
being one of the ancestral seats of the Mostyn family.
A man named M`Donnell was bathing in Tramore
Bay on Monday evening when, apparently, he was
seized with cramp. He was drowned before assistance
reached him.
The remains of General Reilly, which arrived at
Shorncliffe by rail 'on Thursday from Portsmouth were
interred at noon on Saturday at Cheriton, Sandgate.
with full military honours. The corpse was guarded
during the night by military at the station.
A prize fight took place on Sunday morning near
Forth, in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales between
two young men named respectively John Ames and
Evans Evan. After 32 rounds Evans was severely
punished and carried to his home, where he died.
At a conference ai Bury, on Saturday, of delegates
of co-operative societies connected with the North,.
western section of the Central Co-operative Board, it
it was reported that nine societies in the district bad
devoted nearly £2500 towards educational purposes
during the year.