The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-07-20 00:00:00

A PRlSOlfilea PROMIni TO A JUDGE I—At
the Assizes held at Chelmsford, a prisoner who pleaded
Guilty to a charge of breaking into a church to steal,
delivered to the dodge a brief written address, which
commenced with this appeal :-•
"My Lord,—l have been over eighteen weeks a prisoner
waiting for my tral. I I it impreoses soar tied judgment in
my favour I shall be ever thankful, and I will bring you as
floe a bird for a present as ever was brought from India next
voyage."
The reading of this excited, of course, inch merriment.
It VMS evidently meant in all simplicity, and the Judge
laughed as heartily as any one. The learned Judge
sentenced him only to three months' imprisonment, ob-
serving humorously, But, mind, you must not bring
me that bird," (Laughter.)
A FREleull WILL CAUSE.—The Civil Court at
Caen has been engaged recently in the trial of a euit
relating to the will of one Antonio Melletio. The
testator was one id two eons of a well known jeweller
in that part of France, from whom he inherited con-
siderable property. He declined to join his brother in
continuing the busineas, and for some time pursued a
very free course of lie mg. 'Upon his mother's death,
however, Antonio Melletio was stricken with remorse,
determined to separate fisdn a mistress whom he had
seduced from her husband, and then in his deepair,
after burning all his letter., he voluntarily thrust his
hands into the tire, causing eush injuries that lie h,st
the use of them for ever afterwards. From that time
he devoted himself to acts of charity, and at last
I terminated his existence by suicide. After his death
two wills were found by which he left all his property
to be divided between Anna Debacker, his former mis-
tress, and the community of the Faithful Virgin, 1111
institution for providing for poor orphan children. The
total amount of the property thus dieposed of was about
1,100,0001. The relatives of the deceased disputed the
will upon the ground of insanity, sensual and religious
mania. The Court decided that there were no giounds
for annulling the will, and therefore gave judgment in
favour of its validity.

Tun BOSTON JUBILEE.—The sympathies of
all New England (says the Ntw Yorkrinte,), were pre-
sumed to be enlisted in the Jubilee, by the employ-
ment of hundreds of country church choirs to swell the
chorus of 20,000 voices. The managers naturally ex-
pected that every New Englander who could, woad
conic to the Jubilee. !Info' tunately they forgot that
a chorus of 20,000 and an orchestra of 2,000 would
produce a volume of sound that the wooden walls of
the Coliseum could not na.nopolize. The result has
shown that the choral and orchestral MUSIC Can be
heard outside the Coliseum quite as well as inside.
The astute New Englander has profited by this fact,
and laying out a small part of the price of adiniesieu
in peanuts and gingerbread, has returned the remain.
der to his pocket. Instead of imprisoning himself in
the stalls of the Coliseum, he has wandered around the
outside of that building, regaling himself with the
frugal luxuries already mentioned, and enjoying the
musk quite as much as though he had entered the show.
The number of these judicious rand persons, who
have thus converted their share of the Jubilee into an
inexpensive, moveahle feast, is no large as to greatly
lessen the receipts which the managers had confidently
anticipated.
MATR/MONIAL A DVERTISEMSNT.—The follow-
ing advertisement is going the round of the Paris
Papers ;--
- •- - •• - -

_ _
After a war as disastrous and the total dislocation of
French fortunes, it would be easy to reconstitute one's for-
tune by a brilliant marriage under the most desirable con-
ditions to reach this difficult end the mediation of M. tie
F. will be found et pecially valuable in these critical times.
After such a chaotic condition of affairs, to rem,ml.l such an
administrati.m as his is an ardous and costly task—so much
so, indeed, that a man must be actuated by a sincere love for
his profession, and must be borne up by the experience of
forty years' success to continue the cats:or. Sunni varying
from SO,OOO francs have often been paid down by M. de F. to
cu intermediary for his assistance in arranging the marriage
of a widow era young lady. This reJle, generally only com-
mitted to men versed in busine,a, may now be undertaken
by ladies ht society who may only have a secondary aptitude,
as,they,!vill always be guided by
.the counsels of M. de F.,

who will, however, always remain in the background. "
The name and address are given in full, and desirable
parties are requested to app,y early.

LIABILITY OF RAILWAY COMPANIES. —At the
Rochester County Court, an action, " Rams:len v.
the Loudon, Chatham, and Dover Railway," was
tried a few day a since. The plaintiff, a hannaid,
claimed Ss. as compensation for loss sustained. She
had come by the defendants' line to Chatham, in Feb-
ruary last, but her box, containing wearing apparel
and other articles, did not reach her until April, and
then the lock wau broken off it, and fourteen yards of
silk, a gold chain, and other articles had b..eu ab-
stracted. Witnesses were called to show that when
the box was given into the custody of defendants'
seri:silts it was securely fastened. Judgment was
given for the plaintiff, with full coats.
FATAL IG.Nolutts GIL—A ec,ious accident has
just occurred at Sehaerbeek, Belgium. The boiler of a
steaniergine exploded in the indiarubber factory of
M. (joethals. The machinery had only lately arrived
from Manchester, and the engineer, BOUChtri, a.sei,ted
by ho son, was t.! yirg it, when all at Slier the con-
denscr barst, and ths fragments killed the younger
man, the father being so seriously injured that little
hopes are entertained of his recovery. An inquiry
into the circumstances has been commenced, but the
idea is that the men did not fully understand the
management of the apparatus, and they certainly tried
it without any authorisation.
MATICIAWNLIL CILANCES ! From the Man,
Mesta. Exlininer):—
" Advertiser (25) In business, wishes to correspond with a
Catholic lady, with a view to matrimony."
"(lentleman !gill wishes to correspond with a respectable
ady, with a view to niatrimohy."
'Advertiser. 35, Roman Catholic, In business, income
shoot 4:300 per year, wishes to correspond with a Catholic
lady with a view to matrimony."
Mairimeny.—A gentlemen, 28 years of age, well edu-
cated, and of independent means, seeks a partner; she must
be pious, under 35 years m age, and have a fair income."
"NI blower (29), fair, good-looking, well-c.mneeted, and
good home and position, tend of home, and, for reasons
which will be explained, wishes to correspond with an eller-
, lion:n.3 and danesticated lady, with a view to marriage •, as
I this Ira genuine thing, the utmost coundence may be relied
upon."

DEATII FROM HYDROPHOBIA—AII inquest has
been held upon the body of Cornelius Hollins, an Ex-
cise officer, 24 years of age. It
.was stated that about

seven weals ing'o the sleCa-sed pails visit to his Parents
at Accrington. While there hefrequently played with
a little Scotch terrier dog, which they kept. After he
had left, the dog, in the words of his mother, "got all
wrong," and the deceased, after he returned to Liver-
pool, became ill ant low-spirited. His appetite failed
him, and whenever liquid in any shape was offered to
him he was observed to shudder. If he hasl been bitten
by a dog, he said, he should think he was suffering
from hydrophobia, but as it w„iis, he was at a loss to
asccount for his illness, unless it was caused by Mania-
tion. He several times told his landlady's daughter to
go out of the room, or he ws,uld bite her, and he said
to his mother, who woo sent for, that he was: afraid
Bobby (the name of the terrier) had been the cause of
his illness. A doctor as called to him, who pronounced
him to be suffering from hydrophobia. He died shortly
afterwards. Verdict, "Died from hydrophobia, caused
by the bite of a dog."
IRON AND COAL. The accountant to the
South Stafford Trade Conciliation Board declared his
award on Monday afternoon. He makes the average
price of Stafford bars obtained in the past three
months by the twelve selected Sims Ell lie. 7d.
Pudillers' wages will therefore be 12. a ton, and
millmen's wages will be raised 20 per cent. Upon this
wale the men will be paid to the close of the year.
Higher wages were never known in the iron trade.
Further advances in iron are feared as the result alike
throughout Staffordshire and elsewhere. This award
is being looked for in every iron.making district, for it
will affect them all. It gives the South Staffordshire
puddleris 15d. a ton more than is being received by the
North of Eneland puddlers, win, before were ahead of
all the rest. The men employed at the blast furnaces
in making the pig iron will also have to be raised, so
likewise the price of pig iron. A meeting of delegate
colliers he rejected the coalmasters' terms. Support
will be given by the union in a strike for tid. a day.
LETTER OF THE QUEEN Or ENGLAND TO THE
KING Or BURMAN. -The following is said to be the
text of the letter from Queen Victoria to the King of
Burmah which has been delivered to the latter with
mach pump and ceremony :

° Balmoral Palace, Sept. 23, 1,71.—T0 his Majesty the
King of Burmah.—My Nriend,—l have received with heart-
felt gratill.ition your Majesty's most acceptable letter. I
have heard from time to time with much pleasure of your
Majesty's friendly inclinations, mid .4 the enlightened
manner in which you have encouraged coma:media
intercourse between your two and the British Pro-
vinces, and otherwise. by your own amicable disposi-
tion, atni your wise policy, have contributed to flm niain-
tenance of peace, and the extension of otvilization. By such
interchanges of good feeling between sovereign States the
prosperit y vi empires and the happiness of stations are much
promoted, anti it will always Inca satisfaction to Me to re-
ceive tidings of the continued welfare of your Majesty awl
of the people who are subject tla your rule. Hoping that )tm
may long be spared to govern the country committed to your
care by the Almighty Disposer of events,—l are your Majesty's.
sincere friend, VICTORIA, R."

FRANCE ADITZEING TO A REPUBLIC.—At the
official opening of the lyorpi Exhibition by the
Minister of the Interior, M. Victor Lefranc, the
uiayor of Lyons, M. barodet, WM more explicit than
the member of the Government in adhering to the Re.
public. France in peril has admirably understood
(aid the Mayor) that her salvation is in the Republic.
hhe is tirad of restorations which have never restored
anything except princes and their followers, to the
detriment of the country. She knows now what she
would have gained by keeping the Republic in 185 l ;
and as to this city of Lyons, so often misunderstood
and calumniated, chat ged with fomenting disorder And
revolution, I am happy to be enabled to ray before a
Republican Minister that she is, on the contrary, es-
sentially Conservative in the real sense of the word,
and profoundly attached to the Government of the
Republic."

CONSUMPTION OF SPIRITS IN THE UNITED
KINGDOZ—A parliamentary return has been issued
showing that out of the 24,163,644 gallons of British
spirits charged with £12,081,822 of duty for consurnp.
tion in the United Kingdom in 1871, 5,671,477 gallons,
charged With 1:2,835,738 101., were retained for
consumption in Scotland. The quantity consumed
in Ireland was 5,617,435; and in England, 12,874,732.
In the same year 45.123,969 bushels of malt, were
charged with duty in England, 2,728,574 bushels in
S:otlaud, and 2,871,554, bushels in Ireland. Duty
was also charged for 4,055,968 gallons of foreign and
3,716,352 gallons of colonial spirits in England,
360,718 foreign and 307.574 colonial in Scotland,
and 343,495 foreign at d 144,656 colonial in Ireland.
Last year there were 836,181 gallons of British spirits
exported to foreign parts from Eng1and,i753,282 gallons
from Scotland, and 17,595 gallons from Ireland. Since
1868 there has heeo an increase i 3,155,010 gallons
(763,766 gallons in Scotland) in the quantity of British
spirits charged with duty for bon, consumption. of
1,020,186 bushels (353,465 in Scotlael) in the quantity
of undtigharged with duty, and if 735 gallons in the
quantity of foreign spirits imported. There te a de-
crease of 156,266 gallons in the quantity of colonial
spirits imported into the United Kingdom, of which
decrease 37,578 gallons applies to Scotland, where the
importation of xcreign spirits also has fallen off by
114,544 gallons. Compared with 1563, there is 11611 in-
crease of 72,909 gallons in the quantity of British
srints ea- oorted from
itod La in. geotaand, arid of 242,906 from the
Uagclo