The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-06 00:00:00

ILLUSTRATED JOURNALISM.

.1 Monday evening, a very interesting lecture was
,vevd in London, at the City and Spitalfields
tool of Art, by Mr. W. Simpson, the special artist
he Illustrated London News. Sir Sydney Waterlow,
M.P., occupied the chair, and among those pre-
t were Mr. George Cr uikshank. Mr. Ingram, Dr.
C. Bennett, the Rev. W. Rogers, M.A., and Mr.
Purdy (the chairman of the school).
Jter a brief introductory address from the Chair-
a, Mr. Simpson commenced an interesting narra-
r, which carried his hearers back to the earliest date
which an illustrated newspaper was produced. It
stated as a curious fact that a print of this kind
published during the civil wars, the date 'being
3 or 1644, and later on, a paper called the Observer,
ch furnished occasional illustrations of events
special interest, was produced with the best
,us which the primitive art of that epoch could
ply. After glancing briefly at the various
res through which the art had passed, the
drew attention to the degree of merit it
attained in the journals of the present day.
A ' daily illustrated journal, he thought, would
soon be a familiar sight in the metropolis, owing to
the: enterprise which existed in that branch of the news-
paper press. Passing on to the subject of artists, Mr.
Simpson gave an account of the manner in which a
sketch is taken, then prepared for the block, and finally
placed in the hands of the engraver. The concluding
portion of the narrative was devoted to an amusing
account of the lecturer's personal experiences and ad-
ventures in various parts of the world, and a vote of
thanks, heartily endorsed by the audience, was given
him on the termination of his remarks. Dr. Bennett
moved a similar vote to the chairman, and after one or
two subsequent addresses, in which Mr. Cruikshank
took part, the proceedings were brought to a close.

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SUICIDE OF AN OXFORD UNDER-
GRADUATE.
On Saturday afternoon an undergraduate of Uni-
versity College, Oxford, Mr. William Ernest Keats,
who only matriculated last Term, left his rooms after
luncheon with the object, as was supposed, of taking a
walk. At seven o'clock in the evening the Master of
University received intelligence that his body had been
found on the London and North-Western Railway, at
Goiford, a few miles from Oxford, in a frightfully
mutilated state. In his pocket was found a few
hastily-written lines, directing that his remains should
be borne to University College.

The inquiry respecting the death of Mr. Keates was held
on llonday afternoon by one of the University coroners, Mr.
F. Symonds, in the hall of University College.
john Lee, an engine-driver on the London and
North-Western Railway Company's line, said he
drove the 2.30 train from Oxford to Bletchley on
Saturday, the 27th of February. About four miles
from Oxford he saw the deceased on the up line about
50 to 90 yards distant. The train was then travelling
at, the rate of 30 to 35 miles an hour. Witness blew
his whistle, but the deceased stood quite still, with his
back towards the engine. He was struck by the
buffer and thrown forward, and the whole of the train
passed over the body.
The Master of University College said that he
knew the deceased well. He was extremely reserved
and shy, fond of solitude, of blameless character, very
studious, and a regular attendant at chapel. Witness
had no suspicion that his mind was affected. In a
letter written by the deceased to his mother on the
same day he said that "nothing could alter it," and
that "life had become hateful to him." Deceased
had been reading hard, and was subject to tits of in-
tense depression. He was greatly attached to his
mother. He was not pecuniarily embarrassed.
A gauger, in the employ of the Railway Company,
deposed to seeing a sealed packet and four small cards
near the body. On one card was written "Take me
and this packet to the Master of University College,
Oxford."

The coroner said that this was ene of those cases in
which there must have been what is called tubercular
disease, which had been slowly but quietly going on
for a long time. Had it attacked the chest instead of
the brain he might have died of consumption. The
jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while of unsound
mind."