The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-01-25 00:00:00

AN UNFORTUNATE YOUNG WOMAN.


rtm STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER

Watkins after his arrest that she would remain with his
parents mai the was set at liberty, and then they would be
married. She was not afraid to marry him : fli what he
had done tc her. She could not tell why he had acted so
cruelly to her, for she had never refused to iflurry him or
given nim cause for jealousy. She was with his father, who
is a jeweller in London, at the time of the trial, and she
went abroad, but could not say where she went to. Watkins
was convicted of attempting to murder her, and sentenced to
twenty years' penal servitude. She had never been a trader,
nor had she carried on any business of any kind, having
lived with her father all her life until this occurred.

in circulation about Newark for some time past with regard s
to the matinee up and carryings clot these advanced
spiritualists of the " higher plane," but nothing definite
W 56 known to the general public relative to the pecu-
liar forms of their worship until New Year's night.
The dawn of the year leG,s, it appears, was designated
by the spirits as a good time for openly promul-
gating the new revelation, and accordingly the obe-
dient and faithful few made preparations fur the event
in a manner which the uninspired pen could scarcely at-
tempt to describe, hut which may, nevertheless, be suf-
ficiently comprehended from what follows the scene
selected for a public display of the new rites was a dwell-
ing house on the corner of Chestnut and Pacific-street, occu-
pied by a widow lady named Reeves, with a family of six
children the eldest • daughter of nineteen, and a Scotehman
named McEweu who has figured as a prominent spiritualist
ill Newark for some years past. About nine o'clock on New
Year's evening the street pedestrians who had occasion to
pass Mrs. Reeves's house were rather more astonished than
delighted to behold 111• Ewen standing in front of the open
window clad in the habiliments of Adam before the fall, while
the fair form of Miss Reeves. personating Eve, was seen to flit
to and fro under the gaslight like a fawn gamboling in
the garden of Eden. It is due more to the amszement than to
the curiosity of the citizens of Newark that such a spectacle
as this should have speedily gathered a huge crowd
around the premises. Anil yet why not? The spectacle
was gotten up ou purpose to be seen, and if there hail
been no spectators the new revelation of spiritualists
could not have been promulgated to the naked eye, and the
citizens of Newark would have continued to see through a
glass darkly, and to imagine all sorts of evil against the dis-
ciples of the new faith as they have been in the habit of
doing. At least so thought M'Ewen, for when he now the
multitude gathered in front of the howse he bade them walk
Is, "come one, come all, without money and without price."
They all went in. When they had all got within the temple,
the high priest NI 'Ewen, standing in the centre of the room,
like &Roman orator without his toga, expounded to them the
mysteries of the new creed. Unfortunately, there was
no stenographer present to take down the literal words
of the inspired orator; but from what our reporter was able
to learn from those who listened to the harangue, the lead-
ing doctrines of the new sect are substantially as follows
They believe that they have reached a "higher plane" in
this sublunary existence, which leaves them entirely irres-
ponsible fur what they may do, and utterly without sin
that they are in the same condition as Adam anti Eve before
the fall, and wholly cleansed from all the lust of the world,
the flesh, and the deviL They ignore human institutions,
lava, and customs, and act solely from the promptings of
the "spirits of just men made perfect." While WY:wen
was giving his exposition of the new faith, Miss Reeves re-
mained standing IR the costume before hinted at, and did
not appear at 4,1 Sashed at the scrutiny of the crowd of
unbelievers. Mrs. Recta was also habilitated in the same
fashion aa luirdaughter, a ppcaredettuuhlYinidltferviltto the
gazed the multitude. The show was repeated again the next
evening, and by this time the tidings had begun to spread,
and there was loud talk among the wicked and lawless almut
" tar and feathers." The police, too, got wind of the affair,
and on Friday night Chief Clark made a raid upon the
Temple, and took the inmates into custmly. trEwen was
foumul at the headquarters km the engine-house before
mentimmeml, and lie and Miss Reeves were taken to the
lock-up. Mrs. Reeves was allowed to remain in the house,
as she has a large saintly of young children to take care of,
hut she will be closely watched. Several of the leading
physicians of Newark examined the parties and gave
it as their opinion that they are insane. The judge,
who has the matter in charge, has signified his intention
to act upon the opinion of the doctors, and, on Monday
next, will send them to the Insane Asylum at Trenton.

The Registrar said that as she was not a trader he
could not deal with her petition at present, and as far
as he two concerned she would have to remain in gaol
until March next, but she would come before him at
the February sitting, and he would then see what
could be done for her.

[The above snm of £4O has since been raised by
public subscription, and Matilda Griggs is thus freed
from that legal denaand which might have kept her a
prisoner for an indefinite period of time.l

axed t;i:,,lerfi:r.:.i)r.„„,.
~,,:i.,pduttilet
spent in dissipation. His mother reimbursed the
very good
iiia„idatha.at,!h:eht.ioo:
amount, but the son lost his place. He then remained
for some time without, occupation, and at length re- ti
°Nir- P. Tetrithierrhen
solved to go to the Isthmus of Suez, in the hope of there was one matter
getting some situation there. To procure the resources attention to. Great numbers of the poor prisoners were
necessary for his voyage he went, on the 20th of brought in covered with vermin In a terrible manner. They
Not ember, to his sister, who, although she had not said that the prison was the only place they store ever cleaned
been on friendly terms with her family for some time, in. An apparatus bad been fitted up, at a cost of only klO,
consented to receive him. He then declared that he week khlnebe..f question c
iltlei:ieLhew,ptiol nr;r:d;:nho.di doubt
vb a ...
'Lilt i yzie nwsei,lfe lt,eioapint,etliaTtli,gehelc,,lzati,.se.rditsti: c I twi thzs,i
had robbed his employers of 2,0001., and asked her to be an end to the offence of tearing up clothes. besides, it
give him that sum to replace the money abstracted, was is the workhouse rather than in the prisons, that the
At this moment the 2,0001. had been already paid by poor ought to be cleansed.
the mother. The marquise hesitated, not believing An official said that some of the prisoners were brought
her brother, and then said that she would go during in !tom time to time in sacks. When being sent out, the
prison officials felt unable to let them go,to.e.sreete
the day and place the amount to his credit at the such a condition, and they gave them or i otthh ttom I.
Comptoir d'Escompte. He, however, insisted on her them decent.
giving it to himself, and on her refusing he drew a Mr. Weatherhead said that Sir Richard Carden who had
revolver from his pocket and fired four shots at her, committed the deceased at the Mansion.bouse had corn.
wounding her in the cheek and shoulder. He then
.munenriesabtaecilkstiotltehheiirur
parishes
es: ii,
nd itt sonic
terry.
.thesitlxftteve.,,:oy,
young
upnrig.
discharged the contents of two other barrels at him-
self, but only inflicted very slight injuries on his cheek 2:reaadzmettohegau...l 0! this iiirhortnth Fat iti:acurrei,,,
and nose. The Marquise a'Orvault, although more London to get work, and when we could get nose we were
seriously hurt, entirely recovered in about three weeks. starving, and did not know what t, do."
Schninacker was immediately arrested, and very coolly The Coroner said that the case disclosed a very sad state
remarked to the police that it was only a family affair. or things These people begged laths street, and that sac
After the reading of the indictment NI. Lachaud, the illegal. IL was very naturalfor theui tu prefer begging to
prisoner's counsel, applied for a postponement of the i,i,t, a, rostottlof
punishment.beneeeidl=s7exnlyt;veaLl=l.l,yd
trial on account of the absence of the Marquise died haul been in one cue cured by a glass of brandy. It
d'Oreault, who was the only witnem of the assault. The was to be regretted that the surgeon had not ordered better
court refused to accede to the application on the ground nourishment in the present case. lint when there were
that by French law a sister could not be heard upon titty-olie persons all more or less in the sante condition, what
oath in favour of her brother. The prosecution had was to be done? To give them all wine would he to cause
the privon to be crammed lie could not help thinking that
not thought fit to summon her, and although the pri- ' -
the workhouse eras hospital, and not a prison, would have
soner's advisers had served a summons at her house been the best place for the deceased There the surgeon
at the last moment, there was no probability that she would have been under no regulation& to prevent his ordering
would appear at another sessions any more than at anything beyond bread and gruet lithe jury could suggest
this. The prisoner, a tall young man of thirty, rather any say of mitigating the sufferings of these poor people
well-Licking, and with a full chesnut-coloured beard, sorj:nre,v,rou.bii,tlilm.tactir, indebted to them.
ppr h ded by the
admitted the forgery which had occasioned Lis dos- police they were keavir,erms it'w' twelve to were
rnhours with:
missal from the Comptoir d'Escompte. He admitted out food when they hail no money to buy it. To a starving
the purchase of a six-barrelled revolver, but said he man twelve hours' additional fast in a cell must be a terrible
only intended to commit suicide with it. He alleged punishnient.
The Jury returned a verdict .' That the deceased died In
that while wandering about, after having loaded the
revolver, it suddenly occurred to him that he was near 01;q1,7,1,'xt",:,T5ma..,„,"1.-'it tnuetleurbridtuf.emt",l
his sister's house in the Rue Royale, and he went in to add that they cotisider it would. be advisable' that the
ask her for some money to enable him to leave the governor of the prison should have the power of altering
country. He asserted that if he shot at her he did not the diet of prisoners whenever he sees a necessity for doing
know what he was doing. This system of defence, so"
notwithstanding M. Lachaud's efforts, did not succeed.
' The jury found Schumacker, junior, guilty of forgery
and attempted murder, with extenuating circum-
stances, and the court sentenced him to twenty years'
imprisonment with hard labour. Oct this sentence
being pronounced a shrill scream wan heard from the
small space partitioned off for the public at the bottom
of the court. The shriek proceeded from Madame
Schumacker, the unfortunate mother of the prisoner.
She was carried out of court and placed in a cab at the
station in front of the ralais de dust ice. The driver

not being to be found, Sehumacker, senior, a cabman
by trade, got upon the box, and drove the wife home
to the family hovel at Montroupe.

As a fitting pendant to the above, we now read that
the Marquis de Maubreuil d'Orvault has just com-
menced a suit against his wife, Catherine Schumacher,
to obtain the annullation of their marriage, on the
grounds that it took place in the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg, and that the civil officer by whom it was
performed was incompetent, as the husband had
neither domicile nor residence in the country.