The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-10-31 00:00:00

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11,647 persona were committed to county mid
borouch gaols for debt or on civil process In the year ending
at Michaelmas, 1867-4t,056 men and 691 women This is
an fume:Lim ,dr 1,049, or 9'5 per cent over the preeeding Yesr.
Most of these persons were debtors imprisoned on county
Court orders.
1 -The wickedest man in New York" has ri, ale.
,I One or them has the shamelessness to complain in print that
1 Its house is as bad a place as ever was Allen's, that he Is
open to religious conviction, slid NM let his bar-room for
parpoges of prayer.
Advices from Calcutta, &tell September 2s, show
that there was at that time great reason to fear the exten-
sive prevslenve of famine. The authorities were, however,
furnished with full instructions as to the course to be fur-

sued.
Du Chaillu describes the costumes of the Court of
King Mops in the following manner -. 'The king wore a
dress coat -and nothing else : his first Minister wore a shirt,
without sleeves—and nothing else: the second Minister Wore
a necktie—and nothing else : the taint was adorned with a
hat—and nothing else: but the Queen vat b•il tne fashion by
nearing an umbrella—and nothing else " i his calls to
mind the old Texan ranger unitorm—a straw hat and a pair
Of spurs.
The All-England Eleven have again well a victory-
over the Philadell Mia cricket plisers, the score I wingiSl for
the "All- England," mei PSI tor the Philadelphians. This
game was won much mote easily than tile prey ions one.
The Queen will re-isle at Windsor Castle until about
the Istli of next month. and afterwards proceed to Osborne
to spend Christmas, and remain there until February. The
Court will then return to Windsor.
A young gentlenian committed hawing in Paris
whilst intoxicated ; his mother cut Mils down, when he ini-
mediately ran oil bathe next wine sit sp and liquored doe n
again !
We regret to hear that LAM Derby has again been
suffering from an att,ek .‘f gout ill the band, which confined
I him to his toed .41 one or two days last whet. It is to be
I hoped, for many reasons, that this attack is merely tempo-
rary, anti that he will be fully restored to
:health by the •,,ild
of November, the intended date on the arrival of the Prince
and Princess of Wales at Knowsley.
M. de Lamartins, who has been very unwell, is better.
The veteran poet and historian has just completed his 76th
year. Ile has given up writing, but not authorship, he
dictates constantly to all amanuensis.
Captain Roberts, of the 4th Foot, Nvaa the only
officer who was seriously wounded in Abysdnia. For the
gallantry with whit he led the two companies under his
command, 141 the occasio,l of the first meeting a ith Theodore's
troops, ('apt Roberts is to he appointed to the pat master-
ship of the hint Foot, after having been permitted to realise
the price of his present commisinon.
A man in the employment of a firm at Blackburn,
who asked for leave of alaence to enable him to establish his
claim as a voter wan refused. Ile, however, left his work
for a short time for tile purpose of 41. dog 50. Mid was die-
min:ed fr 1111 l hia situation He was afterwards summoned
under the Masters and Servant Act, and ordered to pay his
late employers five shillings as compensation. A gentle Man
has sent him £5 to pay the fine.
An action has been commenced against the London
and North Western Railway Company, in One Of the Irish
1 courts, for the recovery of the value of the paraffin oil lost
I on the occasion of the Abergele catastrophe.
Among the objects brought from Spain to Pau by
the Queen was a reliquaire of chased gold and Keetons
atones, inside of which is a dried rose, the history of which
Is AS bIUOWS ,—When King Francois d'Assise vidted the court
44 France, a few years since, the Prince Imperial sent a
natural rue to the Queen. The King had it eliclosed in this
relit] oat re, worthy receptacle of the gift which to-day occupies
the place of honour in the chateau of the eilled Queen.
"It is stated that the series of Mr. Gladatone's
election addresses Is closed, and the policy of the I Meral
Opposition is definitely laid before the nation. It begins tad
ends with Ireland."—Tintes.
The Paris Monde says that there is great excitement
In Madrid, on account of a conversation lately held het ween
\ an " illustrious personage " and Lord Stanley, the result a
a hich still acconling to the Monde would be to give the
throne of Spain to Don Ferdinaudo.—lt is also stated, on
"undoubted authority," that Don Ferdinand of Portugal
has never been offered tile Spanish Crown, and that he is
resolutely determined to declilie it under any circumstances.
A singular accident lately occurred to Lieut.. Colonel
Bivar, mmlniateling tlie light cavalry in Poona. lie was at
a children's fete, distributing presents from a Christmas
tree, when something fell upon his outstretched arm and
snapped the bone above the elbow.
A Yankee pallor says that an inventive genius in
Minnesota has '• got ups stove which saves three-fourths of
the wild, while the ashes it makes pay for the remainder.
A child named Gosdeling died at his parents' house,
Prompton, on 'lliursday, through having a wrong powder
given to him, being at the time under medical treatment for
ophthalmia.
On Monday morning a marries! woman, named
Elizabeth Dodd, met with a frightful deAll ill SIMW-hill,
Birmingham. As she was walking on the foot path, near to
Messrs. Sutton and Ash's warehouse, a wteg,on horne took
fright, and dashiog across the street ran near to the wall,
awl knocked down and crushed the unfortunate woman
with 011 e of the heavy wheels. She was killed Luskin-

f;a-lieously.
Hr. Atlay, Bishop of Hereford, has, by the death of the
Bishop of Peterborough, become entitled to a seat in the
House of Lords. Or. Atlay has only been consecrated a few
weeks, and it is vehicle that a new prelate succeeds so soon
to a seat on the bench of Bishops.
The Geneva convention, providing for the care of the
wounded in battle, will probably be extended to the sufferers
in maritime warfare. To effect this object, an international
committee has just met at Geneva.
A Minnesota editor says that a man came into his
office to advertise fir a lost dog, and such was the wonderful
power of advertiiing, the dog walked into the office while he
was writing out the advertisement.
An hospital for incurables is to be founded in Oxford,
at a probable cost of £50,000.
An English church erected in Constantine,ls by
public suliscription, to the memory of the British soldiers
and sailors who died in the Crimea. has just been consecrated
by the Bishop of Gibraltar. The Greek Patriarch sent his
vicar ant a Mein p to be present at the ceremony, a compli-
ment which is described as " unprecedented."
It is said that the English Government knew of tho
Intended revolution in Spaiu two months ago.
A woman died at Halter!, last week. from a doze of
oxalic acid which her little daughter gave her in mistake for
Epsom salts.
Three maps of Europe will be published next week,
under the auspices of the Emperor of the French.--(Three
we presume, past, present, and f uture )
The King of Hanover is "piling up the agony"
daily, by sending documents of complaint to the Emperor of
the French.
A fruit merchant in London advertises fruits to let
for ornamenting grand dinner tables.
According to advices from New South Wales, the
Colonial Secretary at Sydney has promised to furnish Parlia-
ment with the details of a plot for the assassination of Prince
Alfred, which has recently been di.,Colered.
Professor Jevons has been again calling attention to
the exhaustion of our coal supplies.
The Journsl de Paris mentions al-wont. that Queen
Isabella has been in Paris incognita for two days.
According to General Deligny. the Deputy Governor
of Algeria. not less than 500,000 Arabs have died of starvation
during the present year.
Extensive reductions are making in the dockyards.
In the Customs department, permanent clerks are no longcr
engaged. Temporaly writers are employed for extra
business, who are discharged when no longer required.
A terrible disaster occurred on Friday morning, in
last week, off the Land's End. The Government lighter perm
was driven on to the Brisson Rocks, and almost immediately
went to pieces. Sixteen persons were drowned, only one
man escaping.
On account of the increased price of everything in
Paris the Government has decreed that fries! the Ist Oct,dler
each soldier in Paris is to receive an increase of pay of three
centimes, and in tile baulieus two centimes.
The Nourciliste de Rouen mentions a caseof quadruple
birth at Neueville-Coppegueule. A woman there, named
(Milton, has just given birth to four female children, three
of whom are now alive. The mother is tws nty4wo years of

reprosenta.

age.
The Court of Rome has notified through the Nuncio
at madrid that it Is opposed to the establishment M religious
liberty in Spain.
A hymn, very popular with the religions negrers
of
America, commences--" The devil and me, we can't agree
1 tout like him, and he tout like rue."
. An eminent photographer has just taken a portrait
of an illustrious person, which shows the proees, oi giving
one of her children a ride on her bark in the orthodox
fashion of childhood.
An interesting discovery has just been made at
Paris of a portrait of Marie tie Medici., of the date lof 10,12,
when the Queen was twenty-eight years of ave. Iler Muje,ty
is represented in the ff aid style of Rubel's, with shkrge collar
of guipure on her Stock, half covering a necklace of white
pearls, to which is attached acres iii brisilit steel over stark
silk moiree dress, with a hand get Wail iireelOng BOW ground
the waist The tolond hair is crisped and rolled round the
head, and eurnitainted with a small black cup. The treat-
ment of the accessories and the execianni of the work leave
no doubt that it is the production of the younger Poems.
At a sale of old plod in Bristol, the other day, 1704
fetched tilt., 1817 Ws., and 1851 635. to cea. Its dozen.
There are in Spain about 40.000 favinmunes, each of
which possesses thanks to the muoiticence of the late
Government at lest two hosts of the (Meer, Isabella. Koh
lmst contains not lets than forty litres of material, winch
represent more than a million of laid., for me thousand
relies of composition or plaster. At the present moment all
these little images are reduced to small fragments, and it is
calculated that if her foninT subjects were to collect and
tranouit them to her ex-Nlajevty, there would he suflicieut
material to construct a very pretty chateau, and led by
any means a chateau d'Espagne in the usual sense of the

plM'are.
The people of Madrid burnt on Monday a .ff,a,l
on the public square where executions have hitherto taken
place, as a demonstration against capital punishments.
The Nonconformist papers state that the Wesleyan
Conference I.as refused to allow a request, made by the
Canadian Church, that the Rev. \V. M. Punshon hssnll 1,0
the president of its nest assembly, the rev. gentl mien I wing
at prevent in Canada. His name is also to be dropped from
the " legal hundred." This condemnation is to be carried
out in consequence of Mr. Punslion having, on leaving
Engl.& married his deceased wife's sister.
On Monday afternoon, the explorers of the Oaks
mine recovered five more hialios from the workings of the
above mine. They were conveyed to the dead-house for
identification, and although tiny have been seen by many
of the relatives of those not yet recovered, they were in
such a shocking state that it is almost impossible to identify
them. .

The Czar has forliiihlen Polish ladies wearing the
Polish toquet, and interdicted the importing of Paridan
books of fashion. This is the right Imperial style—and so
gentlemanly.
The Spanish :%linister of Finance has resolved to
adopt the metrical system of money, taking as unit tho
peceta, if the same weight sod alloy as the franc, ant
divided into 100 centimes. This improvetnent places Spain
in a commercial connexion with France, , Se itzer.
land, Italy, and Rome, as far as coinage is concenmAl.
At Lewes, the other day, a notorious poarher,
charged with snaring a pheasant. Defendant said lie had
not been right for the last two months, mat °mild 1330 1.3 313
going aft, a pheasant. lie was tined Li and LI to.
costs; to default, six weeks' hard labour. imu 1,, arin 11,
Be [ince, he very coolly remarked that if I e WNA ii I
"nine night" he Would lie able to pay. The magistrate., hew
ever, could not see this, and sent hint to prison.
The CA-pounder, 95 cwt. cast-iron gun, lined with is
steel tube, and rifled by Mr. Parsons on the Ilan advocated
by him, in opposition to Major Palliser's method of Ind.:
with a coiled iron tube, split on Saturday morning si bile
undergoing its endurance test, at the proof butt, Itcyc.l
Arsenal Woolwich. The split took place at the thirty-third
mind of its endurance te,t—the charge being 301 b. of large
grained rifle powder, and VOW. shot.
Last Saturday night a serious collision took place at
the Workemlen Junction on the Great Northern Railway.
The lines there cross each other, and a passenger train at full
speed struck a goods train which was going over the cross
line at the moment. Several of the goods carriages w ere
shattered to pieces, and others with the engine were toppled
over the embankment. A sandier of paseengers were
seriously hurt, but no deaths have been retorted.
The following item appears in the Mexican news
received by the last West India steamer :—" Ixtaucihautl,
one of the Puebla volcanoes w bleb laos been to long silent,
• woke up iin the 21st of July last. A crater burst stalin, from
which there issued NS ith great force a uoluniu of air mingled
• with water, mud, and enormous masses of rock. It may im
3 supposed that, a passage being now opened up, we shall soon
have an eruption on a grand scale." Ixtacchautl (the white
• woolen line, Iron! finale immemorial, preserved the silence in
charactei naitti tine .hrouded figure which its snowy outline