The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-09-19 00:00:00

THE SHOCKING MURDER OF A CHILD.

The particulars of the murder of a little girl, Ann Swankie,
daughter of a fisherman at Arbroath, which was perpetrated
on Thursday in last week, ace given
The man who has been arrested and charged with
the murder is William Cargill, a fisherman, of Amt.
ruithie, who lodged with his wife in a back room ad-
joining a small public-house in Larlybridge-street,
Arbroath, occupied by Mrs. Vannet. Shortly before
four o'clock on the day in question the mother of time
murdered child was passing along the street, carrying
a sick infant, and having her daughter Aim by her
side. They went into Mrs. VanneCti public-house,
the mother wishing to get a drink of water for the in-
fant. It seems that after this Mrs. Swankie had been
standing for a little time speaking to a fisherman
named Thomas Cargill--no relation of the prisoner- -
and that meanwhile her daughter Ann had gone a step
or two along the street. Whether the prisoner had
decoyed her into his room or whether the child, seeing
the door open, hail wandered in of her own accord,
is not known. The first thing that attracted attention
was the sound if blows, and on some women—
one of whom was the child's mother—looking in
at the open door, they were horrified at seeing
Cargill heating the poor child on the head with a
poker. The woman raised the cry of "Murder!' and a
number of men were speedily attracted to the spot.
The scene that presented itself was a most horrible
one, the floor and the walls of the room being covered
with the child's M. srd. The mother was at the door
with other women, in a terrible state of grief and
excitement, and the men appeared to have been inti-
midated by the frenzy of Cargill for a time. At
length a carter, named Higgins, rushed in, followed
by a man named Gibson, the latter receiving a severe
blow from Cargill with the poker. Gibson then
made a spring at Cargill's throat, and he was secured
and earned to the police office. On his way he made
no resistance, and when asked if he knew what lie had
done, he said he had "killed his father's sled!."
At the police-office Cargill was very excited. He
was phIC• d in a cell, ironed, and during the night he
was alternately whistling or singing and then depressed
and dull. On the following day a warrant for his
committal to prison for murder was signed, and
he was removed to Dundee in charge of the police.
There does not appear to be any motive for this
horrible crime. Cargill's conduct of late has been lie-
: collar ; he had been part owner of as herring boat, but
his partners being afraid to go to sea with him they
I had agreed to sell :the boat. On one occasion lie is
said to have cut away the nets and told his comrades
to jump in after them, an] from his conduct generally
he is supposed to be insane.

The following graphic account of the inauguration
of the Simphot Railway is from the Special Corres-
pondent of The Times, written from Sion, hearing
slate the 7th inst., .and the courteous recognition of
England, and the "English Press," invest the pro-
ceedings with more than ordinary interest to every-
one who is desirous that "peace and good-will" may
link together the people .4 every natis on :
Sarcastic remarks have been made on the English custom
of celebrating everything hy a dinner. Unfriendly critics
have gone the length of saying that if London were sleatroyed
we should. commemorate Use event in some newly-found
Freemasons 'Pavers], or go down the river and condide with
earls other over a dish of whitebait at Greenwich or black-
wall. It must be owned that with us public dinners are an
institution ; lout it is 0 fact that on the Continent they have,
if not exactly the same kied of thing, somthing analogous
to it They go much greater lengths than we do In connect-
ing pleasure with business. A Isle is with them an inevitable
concomitant of sissy commercial or social movement in favour
of which it may be desirable to secure taiblic approlrit is M.
If we open a hundred miles r two of railway, the directors
invite a company to be passengers by the first train, a dinner
is given at the terminus, and there tsar. ens, of the whole
business of inaugaration. To day ten new miles of ass lion
way have been opened in the Canton of Valais, and the
fetes to celebrate the event commenced on Friday night, and
will not terminate for some slays to come.
It is right, however, to at once premise that those ten
miles form part id an undertaking of even more than
European importance. They are a partion of a line which
Is to give a tired railway communication between Paris and
Milan via the Simplon Railway, and which, its projeetors
state, will form pert of the highway between England and
our Indian empire. The scheme has the approval of M.
Lessens, the projector of the Suez Canal, who regards it ass
supplement s 4 his own plan for shortening the overlansl
route to India, and I think I have seen enough within the
last few slays to warrant nte in saying that the Simplon
Railway is not regarded with arty disfavour lw the French
Government. . . .
The ompany whhn has undertaken this work is styled
° La Nouvelle Couipagnie Anonyme dela Ligne Internationale
d'ltalie par is Simplon." For some time it haa been fit pos-
session of a line well known to tourists in Suitzerland—the
railway from liouveret, oil the satth-east extremity of the
Lake of Geneva, to the town frns ri hien I now write. From
hers, tire company intends ties, ry the line through the slis-
triet between this ps•int and Brig, thence th: oath the
Simplon, and on to Aron., in Italy. . . . . Henceforward,
travellers to the Simplon or to Zermatt may go ten miles
Maher lw rail, that being ee in English measure-
ment from Sion t,• Sierre. Bring it sync twenty-three miles
beyond the point to which the railway s mow been carried,
and Griett must be reachesl before the Swiss end of the
Simplon can lie entered upon. Already there is a railway
over Mont Cods, and sone is being tunnelled through it. For
a long time an iron way through thy St. Gotthard has teen
talked of, and now we have this plan of one by the
Simplon
The slirectors of the company were very liberal in their
invitation to the inauguration feex, which. according to
. their letter, were to commence at Geneva en Satmday fore-
noon, immediately after the arrival of the express from Paris
due in the former city at eleven o'cli leg. Very many 44 the
invited had left Paris sm "Fltursslay or early on Friday Morn-
ing ; last, perhaps, no larger number of ',croons ever departed
from any station its a train of exclusively first-class carriages
than that which assembled at the Paris [cretin. of the Lyniss
Railway iin Friday evening. Geneva in a favourite spot with
tourists about to enter Switzerland, tied Ilse season Ism Salsa
, tostra is now at its height. There was, therefore, a rush of
,r4linary travellers on Friday night and, in mishit bus, there
was aonte hundreda of the invited coming to Mishit at the
fetes The train watt if immense length, hot all Use nassen-
' gees were seated without noise mr coalusion by twenty
minutes to nine, the hour of ilepai tore. We got sit to the
minute, and arrived at Macon at six o'clock oil Saturday
morning, only a very few minute:l hchind the time at which
we were slue there. but there tsar a rather ludicrous circum-
stance in connexion with arrival and apppearance at
Macon. The night had been very hot, and one window at
least in every carriage hurl lteen left open When we
entered the refreshment-room at :Macon everyhmly hegan
to stare at everylmtly else, and every one to laughs
at his ocher neigisitoiir, hail we descended from chimneys
we cloth' not have heels much more sooty. We los sited like
a monsto party of sweeps nut I. r a holiday. The fuel used
All night lw the locomotivea which ilrew the train must have
been sof the snost almminal•ly dirty character We discovered
that it had done the nsischief. Probably the Lyons Company
hail been trying an experitnent witti sonse stew kind sof
charism. It so, it is to be hoped they will not repeat it
without slue notice to passengers.
;We reached Geneva at eleven o'clock. Geneva time, which
Is nearly twenty minutes in advert, of that of Paris ; and it
was arranged that the whole of the invited ahntilsi leave for
Bouveret at half-past twelve. Precisely at that hour the
steamer which was to es•nvey thesis left the north quay. The
, point 44 departure was el-se to the splendid Midge called
after Mout Mane, and near the Isle ssf Jean Jacques
Rs•usseau. The Sisortnn,the steamer titled up for the .scca-
During the last six months upwards of 3,000 miles of skin, was radiant in brills...sit flags and strew ners, and as she
railway have been officially decreed in Austria and iliingarY, left her itioiailigs and got out into the middle of the lake she
Involving an outlay of L 60,000,000. was saluted by a long and continuous cannonading from the

SAMS FOR Doos.—We ( Land and Water) call
attention to the advisability of protecting the feet of
sporting dogs against the injuries caused by short stiff
stubble. We have had some experience in using dog
sleighs in North America, and have frequently found
it an absolute necessity to place leather moccasins upon
the sleigh dogs' feet when the "crust- upon the snow
has been rough and sharp. If through negligence this
precaution were omitted, the dogs would not travel !
two hours without becoming severely, if not hopelessly,
lamed. We see no good reason why a similar system ,
might not be adopted with reference to sportingl cs, now
that the corn is cut MO close as to make the stubble fear-
fully destructive to the dogs' feet. Perhaps some of
our correspondents will give us their opinions upon
"dogs' shoes."
A CHILD KILLED BT AN EAGLE.— t Tippah
county (Miss.) school teacher writes to the Woman
Democrat: • -
A sad casualty has occurred at my school. The eagles
have lieen very troublesome in the neighbourhood for some
time past, carrying off jigs, lambs, ke. No one thought
that they would attenipt to prey upo on children ; I out on
Thursday, RI recess, the little boys were out some distance
from the Louse, playing marbles, when their sport Was olis-
turloed by a large eagle swooping down and picking up little
.leramie Kenner, a booy of eight years, and Hying away with
him. The children cried out, and when I got out of the
lonise the eagle was SO high that 1. could just hear the child
screaming. The slarm was given, and from screaming and
shouting in the air, (Fe.. the eagle was induced to drop his
victim but his talons had been buried in hint so deeply, and
the fall was so great, that he was killed; or either would
have been fatal.