The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-01-28 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

A marriage is arranged between the Hon. George
Eden, second son of Lord Auckland, of Edenthorpe,
Doncaster, and Amy Violet, third daughter of Colonel
the Hon. Charles Rowley Hay.
Lieutenant-General Sir L. Nicholson, Inspector-
Greneml of Fortifications and Director of Works, and
Major-General W. H. Goodenough, Inspector-General
of Artillery, accompanied by Major Jekyll, R.E., have
arrived at Malta from Gibraltar, where they have been
on a visit of inspection.
It is understoQd that the appointment of Colonial
Secretary of the Gold Coast Colony, which has been
vacant since August last, when Captain Knapp Barrow
retired, has been offered to, and accepted by, Mr.
Frederick Evans, C.M.G., the Colonial Secretary of
Lagos. Owing to the promotion of :Mr. Evans the
appointment
_at Lagos, worth £BOO per annum, becomes
vacant.

•
On MoiidaY ihoining the Archbishop of Edinburgh
and other Roman Catholic dignitaries left Edinburgh
for London en route for Rome, as part of a Scottish
deputation to the Pope, conveying to his Holiness the
congratulations of the Scottish Roman Catholics and a
Jubilee offering of over COO from the archdiocese of
Edinburgh.
The new contract for the conveyance of the mails
between this country and Australia was on Monday
concluded between the Postmaster-General and the
Orient Steam Navigation Company. The service
under the contract will be fortnightly, commencing
Feb. 1, and will alternate with a similar service to be
performed by the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
together making a regular weekly service both ways.
The payment will be £85,000 per annum to each of the
two companies, and the contract is for seven years.
Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, attended by Dr. Rolfs,
went from Coburg to Malta to spend the Christmas
with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. Three days
after his arrival at Malta he was attacked by chicken-
pox, which kept him from all the enjoyments of the
festive season, and he did not recover until the 10th
inst., when he was well enough to leave the island on
his return to Coburg. On the very day he left the
three eldest Princesses were taken with ' the same
malady, which confined them to their rooms. It is
stated in a letter dated the 18th inst., that they are all
recovering, and are able to take out-door exercise.
On Monday, at the sitting of the Examiners on
Standing Orders in the House of Commons, com-
pliance was proved in the case of several bills, in-
cluding West Surrey Water Bill, the London and
North-Western Railway Bill, the London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway Bill, the Newhaven Harbour
Bill, the Epping Church Bill, Lloyd's Bill, London and
Blackwall Railway Bill, the London and St. Katharine's
Docks and East aud West India Dock Companies Bill,
the Latimer-road and Acton Railway Bill, the London
Sea Water Supialy Bill, and the Bexley-heath Railway
Bill.
Lady Northwick has intimated to her agricultural
tenants at Ketton near Stamford, that, in memory of
her husband, the fate Lord Northwick, she will remit
to them the half-year's rent which became due at
Michaelmas last, and all arrears owing at that time.
Her ladyship's liberality also extends to the agricultural
tenants of all her other estates.
. _ _

At the Jarrow Police-court on Monday, Edward
Grady, an elderly man was brought up on a charge of
fraud. Superintendent Scott said the prisoner had
been wanted since October for obtaining money by
false pretences from clergymen and solicitors in North-
umberland and Durham. At the office of Mr. Lamb,
solicitor, Jarrow, he produced a book from the War
Office, containing the names of deceased soldiers. He
pointed out the name of a man named Burke, whose
father he stated himself to be, and asked Mr. Lamb to
make application for Burke's effects. Before leaving
the office he obtained a shilling from an employe, and he
had never been near the office since. Mr. Lamb
wrote to the War Office informing them of the case,
and he received a reply stating that several similar
letters had been forwarded to them. The prisoner was
remanded.
The Small Farm and -Labourers' Land Company
having received applications for small holdings from
several labourers in the neighbourhood of Broughton,
Northamptonshire, who are shareholders in the com-
pany, and owing to the company not having at present
any land there, representations were made to Lord
Wantage by Mr. Samuel Insull, the secretary, with the
result that his lordship divided some land on his estate
at Orlingbury, known as "Spencer's Farm," about
half a mile from Broughton and two miles from the
town of Kettering, and has let to two of the applicants
a little over 30 acres, each at 20s. per acre. The land
is partly grass and partly arable.
Charles Hone, fisherman, Staines, succeeded on Sun-
day morning in capturing alive a fine male otter, weigh-
ing about 271 b. It was taken in a trap on the Surrey
side of the Thames, and the work of transferring the
animal from the trap to a box was attended with con-
siderable difficulty. The otter, is on view at the Pack
Horse Hotel, Staines, and is an object of much interest.
Hone recently lost two other's' one of which got away
minus portions of its fore feet. An effort is being made
to secure these, and also others known to exist at
Penton Hook and Sunbury.
The Sheffield Guardians held a special meeting on
Monday, to decide on exceptional measures for sup-
pressing the outbreak of smallpox. Dr. Barry, Local
Government Board Inspector, was present. It was
resolved to divide the town into districts to appoint 24
additional vaccination officers, and to make a house-to-
house visitation to secure universal vaccination and
revaccination. The Sheffield clergy also held a meeting.
Special prayers are to be used in the churches, and
parochial organisations utilised for the emergency.
Two brothers named Hockings, of Betty, •Camborne,
started on a rabbit hunt •on Monday afternbon taking
with them Richard Jones, of Forest. Whilst Climbing
a hedge at Penpondo a gun exploded in the hands of one
of the Hockings, and the charge entered Jones's bowels,
blowing at the same time a ferret to atoms that he was
carrying in his coat pocket. Jones was conveyed home
in a cart in a precarious condition. He is a poor miner,
aged 50, and has a wife and three children.
An explosion of coal gas occurred on Monday on
board the Russian schooner Martin and Michael, lying
in the West Dock, Cardiff. The vessel was laden with
coal, and ready to put to sea,when, about eight o'clock,
a violent explosion occurred, bursting open the deck
and hurling four of the crew into the air. One of them
in his descent fell upon the deck of another vessel in the
• dock. They are all very seriously injured, and it is
feared that they cannot recover.
Mr. W. H. Grenfell, of Taplow Court, near Maiden-
head, on Monday offered a further reward of five
hundred pounds to any person who will give informs,:
—tion that will lead to the conviction of the burglars
*ho'recently broke-into his residence and the recovery
of the valuable jewellery stolen therefrom. The case
•is in the hands of Superintendent Dunham, of Slough,
and Inspector Andrews, of Scotland-ydrd. No one has
yet been apprehended.
The wife of 'a mechanic named Thonias Ashton, em-
ployed at the Cheshire Lines Engineering Works, War-
rington, has given birth to three children, two boys and
• a girl. The mother has since died. The Queen's
bounty of £3, which is only granted in cases where the
children survive and the parents are in indifferent
circumstances, bas been f,pplied for by the vicar of the
. • ,

At Kirkwall, N. 8., on Tuesday, in the ['cathedral of
St. Magnas, a couple, whose united ages tell 140 years,
were married, the bride, who belongs to Orkney, being
a great grandmother.
Between the Ist April and the 21st instant the
Exchequer receipts were £65,937,316, as compared
with £66,738,551 in the corresponding period of the
last financial year; and the expenditure £70,217,184,
as against £72,838,048. On Saturday last the Treasury
balances amounted to £1,656,601, and the same date
last year to £1,792,266.
In London last week the death rate per thousand
from all causes, which had been 22.8 and 23.6 in the
two preceding weeks' rose to 24.4. The deaths from
whooping-cough and diseases of the respiratory organs
again exceeded the corrected average.
Prince Ferdinand and his mother reached Philippo-
polis at five o'clock on Monday afternoon. All along
the route from Sofia large crowds attended to present
addresses declaring their fidelity, and at the end of
their journey the Prince and Princess received an en-
thusiastic welcome.
Under the presidency of the Lord Mayor of London,
a meeting was held at the Mansion House on Tuesday,
in futherance of the International Exhibition which is
to be ',opened at Brussels in May, under the patronage
of the King of the Belgians.
The Gazette announces that the Queen has been
pleased to appoint Sir Edward Henry Sieveking, M.D.,
LL.D., Physician Extraordinary to her Majesty, to be
one of her Majesty's Physicians in Ordinary, in the
room of Sir George Burrows, Bart., M.D., deceased.
The Queen has also been pleased to appoint Richard
Douglas Powell, Esq., M.D., to be one of her Majesty's
Physicians Extraordinary.
Information has been received in Liverpool that her
Majesty has been pleased to confer the honour of
Knighthood upon Mr. George Baden-Powell, M.P., for
the Kirkdale Division of Liverpool, who is at present
engaged, with Sir George Ferguson Bowen, at Malta,
in a Government inquiry into certain points con-
nected with the reformed Constitution granted to that
island. . .

The Commander-in-Chief has decided that the new
force of Mounted Infantry to be organised for the
First Army Corps for foreign service shall be placed
for training under the command of Major Hutton, of
the King's Royal Rifles, now acting as Deputy Assist-
ant Adjutant-General to Sir Archibald Alison, at
Aldershot.

The Board of Trade have awarded a binocular glass
to Captain J. Rousseau, master of the French barque
Indien, of Marseilles, in recognition of his kindness
and humanity to the shipwrecked crew of the barque
Syren of Aberystwith, which foundered at sea on the
13th of November last. _ .

Lady Mary Fitzwilliam and children are passing the
winter with the Duchess of Edinburgh at San Antonio
Palace, Malta.
Mrs. Fox, wife of Quartermaster Fox of the Ind
Connaught Rangers, who died at Portsmouth on
Sunday, was, by special permission, buried with full
military honours. The deceased was dangerously
wounded at Brunker's Spruit, in the Transvaal, where
she was taken a prisoner of war by the Boers on the
battlefield. In spite of her serious injuries, she nobly
devoted herself to alleviating the injuries of her fellow-
prisoners, for which she was afterwards awarded the
decoration of the Royal Red Cross by the Queen's com-
mand.
The trustees of the Bolton Infirmary had handed to
them on Tuesday the sum of £3500 from the executors
under the will of the late Miss Alice Lowe, of South
Shore, Blackpool, but formerly of Rivington, near
Bolton. Besides that sum, the deceased lady bequeaths
to the Bolton Infirmary the residue of her estate,
amounting to £4500, which is payable on the death of
a person aged 45.
The Speaker gave notice in Tuesday night's Gazette
that at the end of six days he would issue his warrants
to the Clerk of the Crown to make out new writs for
the election of a member for the Walton Division of
Liverpool, in the place of Mr. J. G. Gibson, now one
of the Irish judges; and for the election of a member
for the University of Dublin, in the place of Mr.
Serjeant Madden, now Solicitor-General for Ireland.
The Birmingham police are investigating a serious
assault on Miss Milly Hylton, who is playing a promi-
nent part in the pantomime at the Prince of Wales's
Theatre in that town. She was returning home with
her brother after the pantomime when she was stopped
by two roughs and five women. The two men attacked
her brother and beat him till he became insensible, and
the women dragged Miss Hylton to the ground, kicked
her several times, and nearly strangled her. They also
stole her fur tippet, her hat, and a parcel. Her cries
brought assistance, but not before her cowardly assail-
ants had decamped. There is some reason to suppose
that Miss !Hylton had incurred the enmity of gallery
roughs, because she had refused to give them money
for applauding her. Police protection has been pro-
cured for the performers.
During the fogs which existed towards the end of
last week, it appears one of the convicts undergoing
penal servitude at Portland Convict Prison succeeded
in getting away from his gang. He climbed a wall and
got into the road. He then rushed into a house of a
prison official, pushed past a woman standing in his
way, and made his exit into some fields in the rear.
Some one seeing a convict running gave an alarm, and
an officer who happened to be in the vicinity gave chase,
and in a few minutes captured the man, who offered no
resistance, and was led back to prison. There is a
strong opinion expressed in Portland that it is not
desirable for convicts to be allowed to work outside the
prison establishment in foggy weather.
A meeting, attended by many of the principal cattle
dealers in the kingdom, was held on Tuesday night at
Wakefield. Mr. Frank Johnston, of Sutton-on-Hull,
presided. It was resolved to form an association to
be called the Cattle Dealers, Graziers, and Butchers'
Association to protect the interest of the trade, with
headquarters at Wakefield. A code of rules was
adopted and officers were elected. It is hoped by
co-operation that many grievances, particularly with
reference to the transit of cattle by rail, will
,be
remedied.
An extraordinary case is reported from the neigh-
bourhood of Alresford. The wife of a labourer had
for a considerable time past been suffering from a
disease which had reduced her almost to a skeleton,
medicine being of no avail. Her medical attendant,
on being summoned at midnight, found the poor
woman in a sinking state. As a last resource he
extracted four ounces of blood from his own body, and
injected it into that of his patient. The operation
was successful, and the womaa is now in a fair way of
recovery.
At the Liverpool Local Marine Board on Tuesday the
Mayor presented to Captain Benn, of-the-steamer York
City, a valuable gold chronometer and £5O, the gift of
Messrs. Richardson, Spence, and Company, agents in
Europe for the Inman and International Steamship
Company. Captain Bonn rescued the passengers of
the City of Montreal when she was burned in August
last. He was also presented with the gold medal and
diploma of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane
Society • • -
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Mr.
Farrell, of Wootton Bedford, who has been missing
since last Friday night, was solved on Tuesday. All
search had proved fruitless until Monday night, when a
hat was found in the river Ouse, near Kempston
Church, and,: when further search was made, the body
of the unfortunate gentleman was recovered from the
water.
The long continued absence of rain for snow is begin-
ning to create.grave apprehensions in the West Riding
of Yorkshire, particularly in the principal manufactur-
ing centres. Many of the largest reservoirs contain a
smaller quantity of water at•present than at any period
since their construction; the .rivers are very low, and
springs and wells are dry.
In consideration of the depression of the hop-growing
industry, the Vicar of Henfleld, Sussex, has surrendered
the whole of the extraordinary tithe. This action on
the part of the vicar has rendered unnecessary any in-
auiry by the Land Commissioners under the Tithe
Redemption Act of 1886.
It was reported, to the Gloucester Board of
Guardians on Tuesday that 340 persons in two districts
of the city had refused to have their children vacci-
nated, and the officers asked for instructions. The
Board decided by 18 votes to eight that none of the de-
faulters should be prosecuted.
Lord Brassey has made an abatement of 30 per cent.
on the year's rentals of his Sussex tenantry. Mr.
Granville Leveson-Gower, another, extensive land-
owner in Sussex, • has remitted to his tenants ten
per cent. on the half-year.
Mrs. Whitaker wife of a bricksetter, residing at
Organ-street4Leigh, Lancashire, has given birth to four
children, all girls: three, however, were stillborn. The
mother and the fourth child are doing well.

Whilst the Hamilton Caledonian passenger train was
one mile from Glasgow on Monday morning, and run-
ning 20 miles an hour. the gearing of the engine fell
down; and catching the rods of the points the couplings
broke, and the eight carriag s":went off the line. The
passengers walked into Glasgow', no one complaining of
injury. Some delay was occasioned in consequence of
the trafflc having to be carried on by a loop line.
Nelson's flagship the Victory having been inspected
by officials of the Admiralty, orders were on Monday
received at Portsmouth directing the removal of all old
rotten timbers below the water-line. No decision has
yet been announced respecting the upper Parts of the
vessel.

At the Warwick Police-court, on Monday, George
Timms, aged 52, a labourer, was committed for trial,
charged with the wilful murder of his wife, at Ems-
cote, on Thursday in last week. The evidence showed
that after battering in the back of the woman's skull
while in bed, he gave himself up to the police, saying
the devil had tempted him to do it.
Mr. George Smith, a seed merchant of Ayr, dis-
appeared in a mysterious manner at Girvan, 20 miles
from Ayr, on Saturday night. He went to catch the
midnight train from Girvan te Ayr, and has not been
seen since. His hat, waterproof-coat, and travelling-
bag were found, near the harbour, on Sunday morning.
Mr. Smith was known to have £5O and a gold watch
about his person.
The Duke of Norfolk, during his stay at Rome, has
had interviews with several cardinals and other high
dignitaries at the Vatican. His Grace has, however,
made no statement justifying the supposition that
he was charged with a political mission to the Pope.—
Reuter.
On Monday afternoon Lieutenant-General New-
digate, C.B.' met with an accident near his residence
at Arbury, Nuneaton. The gallant officer was out
riding, and while returning home jumped a fence. The
horse stumbled and fell, the result being that the
General was thrown heavily and broke his left arm,
the unfortunate gentleman was conveyed to a cottage,
where, medical aid
.being obtained, the injured limb'
was set.
Mr. Onslow Ford, who was elected, last week, '
Associate of the Royal Academy, is engaged on a statue
of the late General Gordon, to be erected at the head-
quarters of the Royal Engineers at Chatham. The
figure will represent the hero of Khartoum, seated on a
cam?sl. and thus recalls the of the most striking acts of
his life, •the celebrated ride across the desert on his last
journey.to the Soudan. Mr. Ford is also preparing a
relief for Westminster Abbey, and ideal statues for the
banqueting-hall of the Maharajah of Durbungah.
The Duke of Northumberland has withdrawn his
name as President of St. John's Hospital for Diseases
of the Skin from the official list of that institution, in
consequence of the refusal of the meeting of governors,
held on the 18th inst., to sanction an inquiry into the
rulto and management of the hospital.,

RATeRDAY, JAN. 28-,-1888.

A Vienna correspondent, writing on Sunday nigh:,
drew attention to the massing of Russian troops on t
frontier in Asia Minor, and to the organisation 91
widespread conspiracies by Muscovite agents In
Armenia. A movement there is to be expected ja
June.
The "Florence incident," according to a
Paris
correspondent, has been closed satisfactorily, and 3
revival of a good understanding between France an
Italy is likely to follow. Another outrage on the
Franco-German frontier is reported.
On Saturday afternoon the British Ambassador to
the Court of Madrid presented his credentials to the
Queen-Regent, who replied in very cordial terms.
Destructive fires have occurred at Montreal and licor
Havre.
Fines of £lOO and DO respectively were imposed bY
Mr. Partridge, sitting at Westminster Police-court CO
Saturday, in two Excise summonses against Henri
Robertson, of 10, Holden-terrace, Pimlico, for dealing
in wine without a license. The defence was that the
business was carried on under an " entry "of mein-
ber of the Vintners' Company, and that therefore a
license was unnecessary.
Evidence was given at Marylebone Police-court, On
Saturday, in a charge of assault against two brothers,
showing that there had long been bad feeling between
their family and the prosecutor. The defendants wero
committed for trial, bail being refused.
Three men were brought up on Saturday at Lambeth
Police-court for loitering with a horse and cart for the
purpose of committing a felony, and Mr. Chance 50'
tenced them to three months' hard labour each.
Mr. Parry, president of the North Wales Quarrymen ,
Union, has come forward for the vacancy in Liverpool
as a Gladstonian and Labour candidate.
Sir Robert W. Carden died suddenly last week at
London residence. He was 87 years of age.
The French Government have refused the application
of M. de Lesseps to be allowed to issue lottery bonds
in furtherance of the objects of the Panama Canal

Company.
The Presidents and Vice-Presidents of both House
of the Prussian Diet have been received by the Ern'
peror William. In addressing them his Majesty eV
pressed the hope that peace would be maintained.
A despatch from Toulon states that great activit.9
prevails at the arsenal there, and that everything 15
being done to place a squadron of ironclads in readloes3
for sea.
It is officially announced that the salt tax has bee/
raised to one rupee per maund in Lower Burm, nnti
to two rupees eight annas per maund in other parts o'.
British India, except west of the Indus.
The Right Rev. Bishop J. W. Bequett, of Georgia'
United States, has arrived in Vienna, on his return+
after a journey in Palestine and Egypt, to AMeriCa,
London.
At Clerkenwell police-court, Joseph Bowdon, a fis.ll
hawker, has been sentenced to three and his wife to st't
months' bard labour for scandalous neglect of their
child, eighteen months old.
The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee nf
the American House, Mr. Belmont, says that no
posal to admit Canadian fish free of duty, such as the
Fisheries Commission apparently awaits, Will be
approved by the committee.
The promoters of the abortive Railway Jubilee in
France who found dupes even abroad, have been now
victed of swindling. One was sentenced to six months',
a second to three mouths', and three others to nne
month's imprisonment.
An entertainment on behalf of the sufferers by the
fire at the Grand Theatre has taken place in London,
under the presidency of Lord Londesborough. A larg,.°
number of members of the Savage Club were present'
and entertained the company with songs and recitations.
At an informal rateting of the electors of Aldersgate
Ward, the choice o'f a candidate for the vacant alder'
mlnic gown has fallen on Mr. Joseph Renals, a member
of the Common Council of the City of London, for 0.1;
Ward, but it is understood that Mr. George Sims
also present himself. .
A grammar school for girls, erected at a cost of £4O
out of funds of the Rochester-bridge Trust, has beeldi
opened at Maidstone in the presence of the Mayor an
Corporation and a large company, including Sir John
Lubbock, M.P.
An accident has happened to Mr. Birch, the emillel!t
sculptor. He was riding near Hammersmith when bit!
horse stumbled on the wood pavement, and Mr. 13trem
was thrown on to the roadway. A passing cart ran
over his leg, but happily the bone was not broken.
During a football match at Winchester, between the
Hants Depot and the Rifle Brigade, under 'Associatio;
rules, Captain Hornby and Lieutenant Westmorlann
came into collision violently, with the result that the
captain's leg was broken a few inches above the ankle.
5
The Rev. Hugh McNeile Cumming, a clergyman, I?,ah
been charged under a warrant at Plymouth ,11`1
assaulting an elderly Presbyterian minister linin,e`„
Armstrong. Cumming was bound over to keep
peace for three months.
The Queen has conferred a Companionship of till
Order of the Bath upon Mr. G. H. Portal, Sear.
Secretary in her Majesty's Diplomatic Service;
Companionship of the Order of St. Michael and °v.
George on Mr. J. R. Beach, attached to the EgYPti3°
army, in recognition of their services in connection
with the recent mission to King John of Abyssinia.
Francis Daly and Arthur Wood, charged with being,
concerned with another man in stealing three gold airt
enamel snuff boxes, value £250 have been again brengui
up at Marlborough-street Police-court, and conamitteu
for trial on this and other similar charges. Previnus
convictions were proved against Wood.
Mr. Hector McLean, of New College, Oxford, 13,t_e
captain of the Oxford University Boat Club, died tn°
other day at Guilford from typhoid fever. Mr. McLet'n
had rowed for two years in the University boat raent
and was elected captain of the club for the PFesen.
term, but as he could not come up another captain w 3"
elected.
John Sedgwick, of Walthamstow, in the service nif.
Messrs. John Lawley and Arthur Wynn, of SPita
fields Market, has been charged at the Worship-stree'

Police-court with embezzling money received by 111',7,
on their behalf, and further with forging endorsemeru:
to cheques payable to their order. The defendan"
who reserved his defence, was committed for trial. ,a
The conduct of Mr. Hebb, assistant architect to tit;
Metropolitan Board of Works, in writing to Mr. 'Tarr'
asking for orders of admission to Drury Lane Theatrr
has been again discussed by the Board. Ultimate /
the members adopted the report of a committee;
recommending that the justice of the case would be Me
by the Board condemning Mr. Hebb's action and Pr°;
hibiting such practices in future under pain of lost°
dismissal. boa,'
At Sevenoaks an inquest has been held on the - a
of Mr. G. H. Ballard, manager of the Sevenoaks
Westerham branches of the London and 'County nail
who shot himself through the head. The cvidellei;
showed that his accounts were in every respect ;:11
satisfactory condition, but that he had been in faills
health. A verdict of "Suicide whilst temporal.'
insane" was returned by the jury. j.
An appeal from the decision of the Somerset nil
trates sitting at Bishops Lydeard, who had refuse
°_,,o
convict a tenant of an offence under the Ground Glu",,t,
Act, has, been on .for hearing in the Queen's nen-Dt
Division. The question at issue was whether a teos
farmer had a right to set spring traps on the 13na
which he occupied elsewhere than in rabbit holes, an
the court allowed the appeal.