The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-14 00:00:00

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Aved. Mr. Stammers stated that the face and head
When lie first saw the body on the sands presented a ter-
'appearance. Not only had decomposition set in, but
nose was completely smashed, the temple's and the
left side of the face battered and bruised, while a
'terrible abrasion extended behind the left ear. There
was also a wound of the size of a shilling on the
throat. Marks were distinguishable on either side of
'the neck, which at first favoured the supposition that
Mr. MiNeill had been strangled. The clothes on the
deceased were all buttoned up. By this time the
Commissaire-Central, who is the head police authority
in-Boulogne, and his colleague, the Commissaire of
the Second Arrondissement, had put in an appearance,
and their subordinates proceeded to search the pockets
of the deceased. It is stated that none of these had
previously been disturbed or interfered with in any
way; but no money or valuables of any kind were
found on the body. It has been ascertained that
M'Neill, when he started for the Continent,left his
watch and chain and the turquoise ring of which so
much has been said behind him at home.

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MR. M'NEILL'S FUNERAL.
The body of the late Mr. M'Neill, accompanied by
Mr. Hector M‘Neill, brother, and Mr. Wellcome, arrived
at Charing-cross Station from Boulogne shortly after
11 o'clock on Monday morning. Mr. M'Neill was very
popular in London press circles, and a large number
of his journalistic and Masonic friends who were un-
able to proceed to Birmingham for the funeral took
advantage of the temporary presence of his re-
mains in the metropolis to pay a last tribute of
respect. So large was the attendance that barriers
had to be erected to prevent undue crowding on
the mortuary car. The coffin, which was of oak, with
brass mounting, was carried from the train to the
hearse, which was in waiting on the shoulders of half-
a-dozen railway employes, nearly every head in the
crowd around being uncovered. The hearse was
driven at once to Euston, en route for the Midlands.
In the train by which the body was conveyed to Bir-
mingham a number, of. the deceased's professional
friends also travelled. Messrs. Chapman, Burnside,
and Wellcome represented the Savage Club, and there
were several members of the Gallery Lodge of Free-
masons, the staff of the Sportsman, and other London
and Local newspapers and press agencies. The
service was read by the Rev. R. Green, superintendent
of the Wesleyan Circuit.
THE INQUIRY AT BOULOGNE.

i all I

The inquiry before the Juge d' Instruction at
Boulogne on Monday simply took the form of a con-
sultation between the Commissaire Central, the Par-
quet de Procureur, Mr. Lennard, and M. Madaro, the
French avocat representing the Sportsman. There is
nothing fresh of any great importance. A man who
has been in prison Sor theft since December 27
was suspected, but the witnesses confronted with him
say that he is not the man who was at the café with
Mr. M'Neill. The police, who now think a crime has
been committed, are seeking for an English tout and
interpreter who has gone to England with a woman.
Both of their names are known, but no positive evi-
dence connects them with Mr. M'Neill's disappearance.
The person who returned the banknotes has not yet
been discovered. The police profess to have clues,
but are reticent. Witnesses from England are re-
quired, including some of those who travelled from
Paris and can swear to articles upon Mr. M'Neill's
person.

It is widely supposed that Mr. M'Neill was decoyed
to the west-end of Boulogne (says a Times correspon-
dent) by the man who was acting as his interpreter;
that he was induced to enter one of the many houses
abounding in the neighbourhood; that during his stay
he incautiously revealed the fact that he had a con-
siderable amount of money upon his person; and that
on starting at a late hour to catch the steamer he was
followed, collared, and assailed near the shore, ren-
dered insensible by a succession of heavy blows
inflicted with a stick or bludgeon, robbed of his
money, and then carried down to the western
sand and thrown into the sea. Madame Tcrond.
the proprietress of the Caf6 Forny, has a very
distinct recollection of seeing Mr. M'Neill, who she at
once identified by a photograph, sitting in the place
some few days before Christmas. Mr. M'Neill had
with him as a companion an evil-looking fellow who
as very short in stature. Ile had on a small round
sat, and was wearing a long dark-blue rough plush
overcoat, which seemed to be old add worn. The first
impression that struck Mdme. Torond, according to
her story, was how such a gentleman as Mr. M'Neill
could be in the company of such a shabby fellow?
The man had a thin oval face noticeable from the
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,le and sickly colour of the skin and the large
eyes. He was a Boulognais beyond all ques-
tion, and Mdme. Torond asserted in the most positive
manner that if she saw him again she should recognise
him at once. . •
f WitertAms RAW)
AN ARREST.9:i"
NM r,a
The following letter from the Home Office, addressed
to Mr. Hector M‘Noill, reached Boulogne on Tuesday ;
"Whitehall, January 9.

"Sir,—! am directed by the Secretary of State to
acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 7th
inst., relating to the circumstances attending the death
of your brother at Boulogne-sur-Mer, and I am to
inform you that the Marquis of Salisbury has been
requested to instruct her Majesty's Ambassador at
Paris to represent to the French authorities the desir-
ability of a thorough investigation of the matter, with
a view to clearing up the mystery at present sur-
rounding it.—l am, sir, your obedient servant,
" GODFREY LITS GTON.
"Mr. Hector Boulogne-sur-Mer."
A telegram received from Boulogne on Tuesday
night said: The man who was with M‘Neill at the
Café Fourney has been found and arrested. His name
is Vermersch, not Dubois. He professes not to speak
English, but his acquaintances contradict this. He
lenies that. he was with M'Neill, but Madame Veuve-
monde, proprietress of the Café Fourney, is quite
iitive that he is the man.
,
HENLEY (who has entered the undertaker's by mis-
ke, thinking it is the piano dealer's next door) : "I
something nice in the upright style. What
tve you got ?" Undertaker (nonplussed, but cool) :
Excuse me, sir; are you going to bury the deceased
t a well ?"
"1 HAD a great surprise this morning. It has upset
'my calculations for the day," said Bagley. "What
, happened ?" asked Bailey. "A bicyclist came up
iddenly behind me on the side-walk." "And he hit
?" "No ; went by me safely—that was the
rise."
A Boston jury has decided that a cigar is a drug,
,refore, that a druggist can sell one on Sunday
it violating the law.
The number of German emigrants last year, up to the
November, was 97,247, or about 20,000 more
_ in 1886, but 7700 fewer than in 1885.
A labourer named Ward, of Bedford, felt aggrieved
Jecause he could not gain admission to the workhouse.
Hying a Lucifer in his pocket he—to remove his annoy-
ance—set fire to a straw rick, valued at £3O. The man
gave himself up.
20
jTheeardllea.laisatannouneed of Mr. J. Byrne, who has
been secretary to the Newspaper Press Fund for nearly
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THE AGITATION IN IRELAND.
COMMITTAL OF MR. BLUNT.
Mr. Thomas Rice Henn, Q.C., the County Court
Judge, d( ;livered judgment at Portumna, on Saturday,
in the appeal case of Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, and confirmed
the decision of the Court below. In the course of
his remarks his Honour said: The law as to unlawful
assemblies is clear and indisputable. The Execu-
tive Government has not only an inherent right
but it has a duty cast upon it which it dare not
neglect, to forbid and, if necessary, to disperse by
force, all public meetings which, be their purpose
wful or unlawful, and be -ey addressed by gentle-
-0
they
en, few or many, it has sufficient reason to believe
ie likely to produce danger to the peace and the
tranquillity of the neighbourhood; nay, more,
the law as to such meetings is so jealous and im-
perative that it says magistrates are criminally negli-
gent in not putting down such meetings, and they are
OVA tcrpnasecution for their neglect. Now as to the
beafficiency.a. thereasons which compelled the Lord.
Lieutenant first to proclaim, and subsequently,
through his executive officer, to forbid the meeting
convened by Mr. Blunt on Oct. 23, this is how the
matter stands: The district in whichthis meeting was
-convened was a district in which the National League
had been proclaimed as a dangerous association. That
is calling public attention to the fact that there was a
body within it whose words and actions were a standing
menace to both law and order. But still more—
after ' this proclamation had been issued, in-
deed only two or three days before Mr.
Blunt gave notice of his intended meeting,
in the immediate neighbourhood of this intendeti
meeting there had been violent resistance to the
Queen's writ, and the peace and tranquillity had not
merely been endangered, but violently broken; and
seven days before, in the very place in which the meet-
ing had been invited to assemble, an illegal meeting
had been held, at which the people were openly urged
to resist the law, and the Lord-Lieutenant's proclama-
tion, the proclamation of the deputy of her Majesty the
Queen, was burned in the pre,sencenf a vast crowd of
people in open ostentatious defiance of his authority—.
a proceeding, in my opinion, more suggestive and more
demoralising than any language could have been. The
meeting, therefore convened for Oct. 23 was most pro-
perly forbidden by the Executive as an unlawful as-
sembly. Well, I would aak The Mae Dermot will he tell m e
what freedom is? Ito. Then Iwill tell him, and I will
tell it in the words of one whose youth was the admi-
ration of my own boyhood, and whose manhood and
whose age have the admiration and reverence of all
classes of his countrymen—the most profound jurist
of our time a truly pure and upright statesman, the
Roundell Palmer of his earlier career, the great ail d
good Lord Selberne of to-day. And how does he
define it? He tells us that the supremacy of the law
is of the very essence of freedom. I have taken down
the words as he uttered them, and one of his distin-
guished successors, the present Lord Chancellor of
England (I have taken down his words also), has
recently declared that "respect for the law, while it
is a law, is the very foundation of civil
society." This, then, is the freedom which
Is the birthright of every Englishman, and
it is the basis on which the greatness of this great
country rests reverence for law. And why?
Because obedience to the law, as Englishmen have
been taught from generation to generatioia, is what
Scripture says it is—the Law of God. I cannot,
therefore, and I will not believe that a gentleman who
has so little respect for the law while it is the law,
and has so widely departed from the principles of
freedom, would, in reality, if he had been allowed to
hold his meeting, have done good. He does not come
into court with clean hands. I cannot say of such a
man that he had not what the magistrates declared
he had, "deliberate and premeditated intention of
defying and resisting the law," and therefore with
pain, with the deepest pain, I am constrained to con-
firm the sentence which they have pronounced.
The decision was received in silence in court.
The police, having spread the report that Mr. Blunt
would be taken to Ballinasloe on Saturday evening,
suddenly changed their plans, and drove to Woodlawn,
a small station some miles nearer Galway, where they
joined the ordinary train to Galway. Mr. Byrne,
R.M., had Mr. Blunt in custody, and occupied an ,
ordinary first-class carriage. Lady Anne accompanied.
them to Galway. At Athenry the police endeavoured
to prevent the public getting upon the platform, but
the force was quite inadequate, and a great crow.d.
with torches and drums assembled, and cheered for
Mr. Blunt. The train waited about twenty minutes,
during which time the cheering was incessant. !dr.
Blunt seemed cheerful, and none the worse for his long
drive.
Mr. Blunt arrived at Galway at half-past nine on
Saturday night, attended by a large escort, and as the,
train entered the station cheers were raised by some
thousands of people who had gathered there. Cheers
were also given for Mr. Parnell, Mr. William O'Brien,
and Mr. Gladstone, whilst groans were given for Mr.
Balfour and Lord Salisbury. A carriage, escorted by
a large body of police, was in readiness to convey the
prisoner to the gaol. At first the carriage was driven
off without the prisoner, as a ruse to clear off the
people; but it failed. Half an hour later the prisoner
was taken to the gaol in a drag, driven by a police-
man. The police charged,the crowd with swords and
bons, wounding several people with the latter. One
policeman was severely cut in the face by a stone.
The town was much excited, and thousands of people
thronged in the direction of the gaol. The feeling is
that the police had no reason to charge in such a
violent manner.
After being taken into custody, Mr. Blunt was in-
terviewed by a correspondent, to whom he said: "I
wish all my friends to be of good heart about me. I
am quite happy in the prospect of a two months' re-
treat from the world and its affairs. I have thus time
and leisure given me as a great privilege, and I hope
I may come out of it a better man—more worthy to
plead the cause of liberty, which is the only one in
this world worth suffering for."
Before the opening of the court on Saturday morn-
ing Mr. Blunt was in ssented with an address from
the people of Portumna, and in acknowledging it
referred to his trial, saying that he did not suppose
there would be an acquittal, but the end would be
satisfactory to him, whatever it might be. Soon
after the sentence was announced, a deputation from
the Clanrlcarde tenantry waited upon Mr. Shaw-
Lefevre, M.P., and presented him with an address.
In the course of hiAreply he said he should have been
proud to stand by Mr. Blunt in the dock, and even
now in the prison. Mr. Blunt's ()Ilea in calling the
meeting for which he had be'efi sent to prison was to,
express sympathy with the Clanricarde tenantry.'
After careful inquiry pn the spot he (Mr. Shaw-
Lefevre) confidently believed that the tenants had
been suffering under great wrong and injustice
during the last two years, and this wrong might
be traced to a single man—Lord Clanricarde. (Hisses.)
The only way of compelling that man to do what was
right was by bringing the pressure of public opinion
to bear upon his proceedings and upon the proceedings
of the Government in supporting him as they were'
now doing not only by all the power of the common
law backed by ' the police and the forces of the
Crown, but by all the great and exceptional power of
the Coercion Act of last year. It annoyed him that
after the recent disclosures as to the management of
the Clanricarde property the Government did not
drop the prosecution of Mr. Blunt. In the evening
the inhabitants of Ballinasloe also presented him with
an address. e. • r r ,
Another correspondent telegraphed: "A constable,
who was sitting on the carriage which was waiting
for the prisoner, was struck by a stone, being so much
injured that another had to take his place. A man
In the throng, whilst running towards the carriage,
received bayonet thrusts from sane of the mounted
police. Mr. Evelyn, M.P., protested to Mr. Lyster,
R.M., against 'the wanton conduct' of the police.
The carriage containing the prisoner was hurried away
to the gaol, and left the people behind; but, at
the prison, the police again met the crowd, and,
when Mr. Blunt was lodged inside the constables
charged. Several persons received bayonet wounds,
and about half a dozen were treated by
local doctors chiefly for scalp injuries. One
man was conveyed in an insensible condition to the
infirmary, his shoulder being dislocated. He is be-
lieved to be in a serious state. Mr. Feely told the
magistrate in charge that he would hold him ac-
countable if the man died. Mr. Blunt has not to-
day put on the prison dress, but intends to do so
if required, under protest." zaa oaaastiveas eerie g
-------1' ' • -.' ' ' - .it* -4
ANOTHER M.P. ARRESTED.
Yr. W. J. Lane, M.P. for East Cork, was arrested
ern .Saturday in Cork. Mr. Lane, after his arrest,
was conveyed to Cork Gaol, and subsequently
brought before Captain Stokes, R.M. He was charged
with having incited tenant p -to resist the execution
of the decrees of the Court in a speech delivered
at Watergrass-hill in November last. He was ad.
mated to bail; the Mayor and high sheriff giving
security. The charge against him will be investi-
gated at Riverstown-
CONVICTION OF MR. T. HARRINGTON, M.P.
At Tralee Court House on Monday, the trial of Mr.
Timothy Harrington,
M.P., secretary of the Irish Na-
tionAl League, which had been adjourned from Decem-
ber 19, was proceeded with before Mr. Cecil Roche
and Colonel Persee, resident magistrates. Defendant
was charged under the Crimes Act with having
published in the Kerry Sentinel, of which it was
alleged he was one of the proprietors, reports of
the proceedings of the National League branches
in Kerry which had been suppressed by
order of the Lord-Lieutenant. Great public interest
was manifested in the proceedings. The case for
the prosecution had closed at the first hearing, and
evidence for the defence was now taken. The principal
witness was Mr. E. Harrington, M.P., who deposed that
since 1881 the defendant had no connection with the
Kerry Sentinel, and did not control its management in
anyway. Since then witness had been the sole editor
and. proprietor. Mrs. E. Harrington deposed that her
husband signed the document which made himself
and defendant proprietors without reading its con,
tenth. This concluded the evidence. Defendant was
sentenced to six weeks' imprisonment. An appeal
being granted, defendant was liberated on ball.
P
Wilzig may a clock be said to conceal itself ?
When it gets behind time.
MosT men like to see themselves in "print," bub
~.-
womenidpn't: They prefer silk or satin:, sae- a•ei it
_

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THE BRITISH MISSION TO

ABYSSLNLI.

REMARKABLE ADVENTURES.

The following details given by Mr. Portal as to his
journey in Abyssinia will doubtless (remarks a
Standard correspondent) be read with interest.

The mission consisted of Mr. Gerald Portal, Major
Beech, an Abyssinian youth sent out from England as
interpreter, an English servant, mule drivers and native
servants. Mr. Portal and his companions were re-
ceived as spies, and Ras .Aloola would not listen to
any remonstrance, declaring that they had come in
league with the Italians and merely to gain time. A
large hut, enclosed in a zareba, was apportioned to
them, and a guard set round it, and if ever Mr. Portal
was allowed outside, he was attended by two or three
soldiers. As he insisted the whole time on being
allowed either to proceed or return, and was met
invariably with the same categoric answer, "You
shall neither go on nor go back," matters began to
look serious. Ten days passed in this fashion, when
peretnptory message arrived from the Negus that
the mission was to proceed at once. Much against
the grain, Ras Aloola was forced to comply, and on
November 19 the little party started in pursuit of the
King, who was vaguely supposed to be somewhere
between Debr Tabor and Ashangi. Ras Aloola would
not permit them to take the road they wished, but
sent them down his own route under an escort, who
evidently had instructions to throw every obstacle in
their way and to raise every village against them.
They were obliged to skirt Adwa, leaving it on the
left on their journey south, and after a fortnight's very
hard travelling over mountain and plain and river,
they reached Sokota, which has never been visited
before by any European except a French priest.
Here they had news that the King was near Ashangi,
and, striking off eastwards, they reached Lat, where
they heard the King was one day's journey ahead of
them. On December 4 they caught up the Royal
camp at Wofila, and on the sth Mr. Portal had an
audience, and presented the Queen's letter. He was
very well received, the King, however, keeping his
face Covered with a shawl. He was surrounded by
his Ministers and officers of State, and possesses a
great deal of native dignity. At each fresh camping
ground on the march he has a fresh hut built for him,
alongside of which is his tent, a large embroidered
'•marquee, the whole being surrounded by a fence,
covered with bright crimson cloth. Ras Aloola,
on the contrary, lives in one of three huts, which
-stand in the middle of the Asmara Camp, raised
60 feet high on a pyramid of mud, a sort of eyrie nest.
On the sth Mr. Portal marched on with King John to
Ashangi, and In the 7th had a long conversation and
arranged to leave next day. In the morning he re-
ceived commands to wait on the King, but shortly
afterwards the interpreter arrived with the following
message: "The King has changed his mind. He has
heard that an Italian force has occupied Sahati, and
wants you to explain how you can dare to come hero
as a mutual friend while such things are done." Mr.
Portal very naturally answered that he was in no way
responsible for the movements of the Italian troops;
but from that day the former cordial relations ceased,
and he continued to march with the King up as far as
Cheliltot.
On the 16th, however, the King appears to have
made up his mind, in answer to a letter from Mr.
Portal, to let the mission go. Accordingly he sum-
moned the English delegate, and received him well,
giving him two letters for the Queen. Mr. Portal was
then taken into a side tent by some high Court func-
tionaries, and dressed with robes of honour, the whole
costume being completed by a lion's mane, studded
with silver and gold bosses, thrown over his shoulders,
in which dress he shook hands and took leave of King
John, who also presented him with a sword and shield
embossed with purple velvet and gold, and a Royally-
caparisoned mule.
On the night of the 17th, however, a most unplea-
sant incident occurred, which for a short while placed
the whole mission in a very perilous predicament.
Towards midnight it was noticed that some soldiers
were wandering round the camp, which was pitched
under a huge tree at Beleyssa. Shortly afterwards
a ring of watch-fires was lighted, and it was
evident that once more the mission was impri-
Soiled. No notice was taken till daylight began
to appear, when the camp, which had been
struck at about 3.0 a.m., prepared to march. The
soldiers then at once came forward, and the
officer at the head bluntly told Mr. Portal he
should not go on. He, however, produced the letters
to the Queen, bearing the King's seal, which was
recognised, and the soldiers fell back. Thereupon
Mr. l'ortal advanced a yard or two beyond the
watch fires on his mule, when he heard a clicking of
rifles, and a shout from his followers not to go on.
At the same time, in the half-light he could just make
out one of the soldiers, three yards off, lying in the
bush taking the most deliberate aim at him. He
shouted for the interpreter, who came up and said
-that though it was too dark to see much, he could
hear the men saying in Amheric, "You take this one,
and I will take that, and so-and-so will take the
other," and that they really were bent on mas-
sacring them all. Having called on the officer,
this latter appeared, and said he had told them not
to go, and on Mr. Portal's asking if he had given
his men orders to fire, he answered that he
had, and meant it. At this juncture Mr. Portal
got off his mule and said he would send a letter to
the King. A young Abyssinian was accordingly de-
spatched, but returned about four o'clock with a mes-
sage that the King did not need to read the letter, but
that they would be allowed to proceed. The real truth
was, however, that before he had gone a hundred
yards he had been seized and tied to a tree, where he
had spent the day, and had only been released on con-
dition of his telling the above story. Mr. Portal then
decided to send Major Beach with a second letter, and
this was safely delivered. The King was in 'furious(
passion on hearing the news, and sent a' peiemptory,
message to the Governor of the District, that if the
Mission were molested in any way it would cost him
his head.

The rest of the journey was devoid of much inci-
dent. On the 23rd they arrived at Asmara, and Mr.
Portal, in his Royal robes and lion's skin, called on Ras
Aloola, and asked for guides to be sent on at once. Ras
Aloola, however, was loth to let them go, and posi-
tively refused to allow them to proceed that day, being
so insulting in his manner that Mr. Portal cut the in-
terview short. The next day, however, they resumed
their journey, towat.ds Massowah at eight a.m., and,
taking advantage of the bright moon, went along day
and night, arriving at the Italian outposts a couple of
hours after daybreak on the 25th.
A CHINESE SOLOMON.

The Chinese of Shanghai are lost in amazement at
the wisdom of their district magistrate. A man
brought before him charged with stealing a table
denied the charge, alleging that he was so feeble
from ill-health that it was physically impossible for
him to commit such a crime The magistrate listened
gravely to the tale, and professed his sympathy and
sorrow for the poor man in his misfortune. "Go home
and get cured," said he kindly, "and as you are very
poor take that bag, which contains 10,000 cash, as a
present from me." The prisoner made obeisance,
threw the heavy bag of coin over his shoulder, and
departed. He had not gone far before he was re-
arrested, brought back and found guilty, the magis-
trate remarking that a man who could carry off a
heavy sack of cash could have no difficulty in stealing
a light table.
REFUSING INSTRUCTIONS
FROM GOVERNMENT.
At Dungannon, before Sir Francis Brady,
County-court judge, an appeal has been heard against
-the decision given at a Crimes Act Court, by Messrs:;
-French and Nagle, resident magistrates, on the Bth of
November, when Patrick Kelly was sentenced to six
months' imprisonment for, as it was alleged, taking
illegal possessim. Mr. Dickie, Crown solicitor, said
his Worship had power, under the County-court Act,
to issue a warrant for the arrest of Kelly, if convicted.
The judge said ho would consider the question when
the case came on for hearing, but he would not take
instructions from the Government in the matter. The
defence was that a child was left in the house. His
Worship decided that the law had not been properly
l'arried out, and that the eviction was not complete,
''eand reversed the decision of the Court below.