The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-02-11 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS,

A decision of the County-court judge at Derby, that
a person who had been attacked and injured by a bull
could not recover damages unless it could be shown that
the owners were aware of the vicious character of the
animal, was upheld in the Queen's Bench Division on
Saturday.
Count Sohouvaloff, the Russian Ambassador in Berlin,
who is about to return to his post, is said to be the
bearer of fresh pacific assurances from the Czar.
On Saturday a raid was made on the gardens at
Souakim, close to the water forts, by some mounted
Arabs. The mounted patrol was driven in, and in the
skirmish whhh took place there were several killed and
wounded. On the approach of a company of cavalry
the enemy fled.
It stocking fatal accident occurred at Sheffield on
Monday morning to a table-knife grinder named John
Mason. He was using a new grindstone, and was
smoothing its surface with a bar of steel, which was
pointed at both ends. The stone was being driven by
a band. Mason was throwing off the band with a bar,
when a seam in the band caused the bar to swerve. The
other end then entered his chest. Death resulted in a
few minutes.
The annual dinner of the British Chamber of
Commerce in Paris took place on Monday. Lord
Lytton was present, and spoke in reply to a toast. He
said that we had been accustomed to regard the
political condition of Europe as dependent upon the
relations between five Great Powers. He thought
that the condition of the whole civilised world de-
pended almost conclusively upon the relations between
three Great Powers only. They were: Capital, Labour,
and Credit.
In the Queen's Bench Division, London, on Monday,
it was decided that the head master of the Falmouth
British Schools for Boys could not recover compensation
from the local sanitary authority for loss of emoluments
sustained during the compulsory closing of the schools
during au epidemic of measles last year.
Robert Harding, a young man who had chained him-
self to a lamp-post in Trafalgar-square, in order to
maintain the right of public speech in the square,
applied at Bow-street Police-court, London, on Monday,
for a summons against Inspector Peters, for detaining
some chains, padlocks, and a manuscript. Mr. Bridge
thought that the police were no doubt making inquiries,
and referred the applicant to civil proceedings.

Ernest Charles Fouoert, a Frenchman, was re-
manded at the Marylebone Police-court on Saturday
charged with publishing a libel concerning a young
lady named Gertrude Cross, with using threats towards
her, and also with publishing a libel concerning Mdlle.
Lawrence Pous. The evidence was of a somewhat
singular character.
Major Kildare Burrowes, of the 11th Hussars, was
accused before the magistrate at Westminster, on
Saturday, with assaulting Lord Howard de Walden at
his residence, Eaton-place, S.W. It was stated that
Lady Howard de Walden was seriously ill, that if the
prosecutor had forced his way into her room the conse-
quences would no doubt have been fatal, and that
Major Burrowes, as her brother-in-law, endeavoured to
prevent him from visiting her. The magistrate ac-
cepted the defendant's recognisances to appear on
remand.

The brother of a Miss Lamond died at Scarborough,
leaving by a will made two days before his death his
property, about £22,000, to his cousins. Miss Lamond
disputed the will; but the suit was compromised, the
sister receiving £2OOO. With this she was dissatisfied,
and brought an action against her solicitors for alleged
negligence. This was on Tuesday tried by a special
jury in the Court of Queen's Bench, who found for
the defendants, for whom Mr. Justice Hawkins gave
judglnellt. _ _ _

Ji-butler named Wennhak brought an action against
his late master, a Mr. Morgan, for libelling him, and
writing across a testimonial he had received from a
former employer that he had been dismissed for staying
out all night and leaving the house open. At the trial
Mr. Justice Mathew held that there was no evidence of
publication. This decision was on Tuesday upheld by
Mr. Baron Huddleston and Mr. Justice Manisty, who,
however, ordered a new trial on the ground of the
defacement of the testimonial.

, A man named Louis Ludin, and three others, were
brought up at the Marlborough-street Police-court,
London, on Tuesday, charged with carrying on and
using a place called the United Club, Whitfield-street,
as a common gaming-house. The police stated that
games of cards were carried on in these premises for
small stakes until two and three o'clock in the morning.
The magistrate convicted Ludin, the owner of the club,
and fined him £5O. The other men were discharged.
It was announced that the premises had been closed.
Mr. Herbert Lawrence, brother of Lord Lawrence,
was thrown froai, his horse while hunting with the
Bicester hounds on Tuesday. The animal fell upon
Mr. Lawrence, and his injuries were considered to be
of a serious character. He was removed to Shilswell
House, the residence of Mr. Sclater Harrison, and his
wounds, which included a bad cut on the head, were
dressed by Dr. Death, of Buckingham. He was after-
wards taken to Chetwode Manor, the residence of Lord
Lawrence.
Sir John Puleston, M.P., in reply to inquires at the
Admirlty, on Tuesday, received the fellowing from
Lord Walter Kerr: " I am desired by Lord George
Hamilton to inform you that there is no foundation for
report as to the contemplated reduction of hands at
Devonport Dockyard. He knows of nothing that can
have given rise to the report, nor can he see the object
of its being worth any one's while to invent. The report
is without foundation."
The death is announced, in a Reuter's telegram from
New York, of Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes, wife of
the well-known American writer.

Captain Scott Baugh, of the Madras Infantry, has
been appointed Brigade Major of the Second Brigade
of the Burmah Field Force.
The Master and Fellows of Magdalene College,
Cambridge, have conferred the vacant Rectory of Great
Farnsham, Norfolk, on the Rev. G. Preston, late
Fellow of the College, and now Headmaster of the
King's School at Chester.
Lord Wantage has issued a circular to the men
employed on his Lockinge and Ardington Farms, in
which he stated that the accounts having been duly
audited and a valuation of the stock made, there re-
mains a moderate profit, after allowing for the claims
of rent, tithe, rates, and taxes, and interest on the
capital invested. Part of this profit Lord Wantage
proposes to share amongst the men who have been two
years and upwards continually employed, and to whose
industry on the farm and care of thn stock, under the
management of Mr. Eady, the profit made may be con-
sidered due. The proportion to each of the 80 labourers
employed amounts to £2.
An inquest was held.at Matlock, on Tuesday, on the
body of a young man named Eli Frost, who was
drowned at Matlock-bridge on Sunday. It appeared
that he went to the boathouse from the Old English
Hotel. A companion left him for a few minutes, and
on returning he had disappeared through a gap in a
stone fence skirting the river, and the body was found
on Monday. The jury returned a verdict of " Acci-
. dental death," but censured the owners of the wall for
not keeping it in proper repair.
Sir Stafford Northcote, addressing a Conservative)
gathering at Glasgow on Tuesday night, said the Con-
finental situation was such as to give much uneasiness
to their rulers. They could not but feel anxious when
they saw the enormous and daily increasing armaments
on the Continent. As the greatett interest of this
Empire was peace, it was the duty of her Majesty's
Ministers to take every possible step to secure an
alliance with any Power that had also the means of
making its wish for peace felt.
A Post Office sorting clerk, named Rothwell, was
remanded at the Liverpool Police-court on Tuesday for
abStracting from a letter to a gentleman at Bath a gold
signet ring. On Rothwell's house being searched, a
large number of packages were found containing pic-
tures, porcelains, plirses, handkerchiefs, cigar holders,
prayer books (Protestant and Catholic), a purse con-
taining jubilee coins, a gold wedding ring, and other
articles which the postal authorities wanted the owners
, to claim.
It has been ascertained that the postal mail bag
which was stolen while en route from Manchester to
Rochdale at midnight on Saturday contained nearly
20001etters, of which under 150 only have been recovered.
Among the stolen property was a Post-office despatch,
containing £4.00 worth of stamps. The loss of postal
order, and registered letters has been heavy. The
thieves have not yet been found.
Information has been received at Canterbury of what
was supposed to be an outrage on Mr. Peter Day, who
had made himself so prominent in the collection of
tithes in Kent and Wales for the Rev. W. Peterson.
Mr. Day was at Biddenden on Monday afternoon, hold-
ing a conversation with Mr. W. Field, a miller and
farmer of Biddenden, in the highway between that
village and Benenden. They were discussing the
subject of tithes, when suddenly a gun was fired from a
wood by the roadside. Two of the shots penetrated
Mr. Field's face—one just above the right eye, and the
other by the side of the nose. Mr. Field -immediately
jumped from his cart, and rushed into the wood, but
failed to discover any trace of the person who fired the
gun. A later account says the affair is regarded as an
attempt to frighten the agent.
Dr. Forbes Winslow visited Wakefield on Tuesday in
order to report on the mental condition of William
Taylor, who murdered his son and the superintendent
of police at Otley, in November last, and who is
tried at the coming assizes. Dr. Winslow ha\
examined the prisoner, expnesses his belief that he was
not responsible for his action at the time of his commis-
sion of the crime, and is of unsound mind at the present-s
moment.
The Duke of Abercom, the Earl of Lathom' the Earl
of Londesborough, Lord Herschell, and Lord C. Beres-
ford were present on Tuesday at the meeting of the
Savage Club Lodge of Freemasons (when Sir J. R.
Somers Vine was installed W. M.), and also attended
the subsequent banquet. The Prince of Wales pre-
sented to the lode the ivory gavel which was used by
the Queen in laying the foundatioh-Stope of the Inl-
pe;ial - _

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Job Durra,n, described as a carpenter, was sum-
moned before the Westminster magistrate on Monday
for unbecoming behaviour in St. Paul's, Knightsbridge,
during divine service. It was said that the defendant
had frequently during two years past forced his way
into rented pews and otherwise acted objectionably.
He had several times been fined, and Mr. d'Eyncourt,
remarking that people could not be annoyed for ever,
now sent him to prison for 14 days.
The Dublin Court of Queen's Bench on Monday
quashed the conviction of Colonel Pearse, who was
fined five shillings by the Limerick magistrates for tres-
pass, he having on the 27th November last, whilst in
command of the military and police at the celebration
in commemoration of the execution of Allan, Larkin,
and O'Brien, ordered the removal of flags draped in
mourning from the front of the Mechanics' Institute.
The Court held that the section of the Act under which
he was convicted did not apply.
Queer accounts (says the London Echo) come from
Cairo as to the proposed new Egyptian Loan. It is
occupying serious attention of both English and Egyp-
tian officials. It is considered necessary for paying off
the ex-Khedive's "claims." But somehow the autho-
rities have come to the conclusion that the payment of
these claims will not involve any addition to the
National Debt, because the loan will reduce the Domain
Loan by an equal amount of redeemed stock. The
ways of financiers are wonderful and not easy of com-
prehension.
At Bow-street Police-court, on Saturday, the hearing
of the charge against Mr. James Davis, editor and pro-
prietor of the Bat, of publishing a malicious libel upon
the Earl of Durham, was adjourned for a week. The
summons against Mr. J. C. Durant was withdrawn, as
Mr. Macrea had taken the responsibility of having
Printed the paper containing the article complained of.
The work of repairing the Betchworth tunnel,
between Dorking and Holmwood, is now almost com-
pleted. The lunnel collapsed last July, and since that
time through ttaffic on the direct London and Ports-
mouth line of the Londor and Brighton Railway
system has beat suspended. The tunnel, which is
nearly half a mile in length has been entirely recased
with brick, and the rebuilding has been carried through
in egg shape, so as to secure additional strength. The
contractors have almost completed the work, and it
has been determined to reopen the line for through
traffic on the Ist of March. The cost of rebuilding the
tunnel will probably be found to be not far short of
£20,000, and in addition to this large outlay, its
collapse has, of course, resulted in a considerable loss
to the company's revenue by the interference caused to
the traffic, much of which has been diverted to other
lines, although the service of trains has been kept up
via the Redhill and Horsham route to Portsmouth.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday a sad fatality
occurred at Brighton. A. man named Joseph Trill, who
had for several years been a bellringer and stoker of
St. Matthew's Church, Kemp Town, left home with a
younger brother, named Alfred, a cripple, to attend to
the furnaces of the church. As they were away longer
than usual, the wife of Joseph and another brother
went to the church. On entering the furnace crypt
they were almost overcome by the fumes. The cripple
brother was found lying close to the entrance. He was
dragged out in an insensible condition and was taken
to the hospital in a critical state. An alarm was then
raised, and the man Joseph was subsequently found
lying on his back in the crypt. When brought out he
was dead.

A meeting of subscribers and gentlemen interested
in the continuance of the Fitzwilliam Hunt was held on
Saturday at Peterborugh, to receive the resignation of
the master, Mr. George Fitzwilliam. There was
a large attendance of hunting men, those present
including the Marquis of Huntly, Lords Esme
and Granville Gordon, Lord Burghersh, Mr. Tom
Fitzwilliam, Mr. George Fitzwill*m, and Mr. H.
Wickgam. Mr. George Fitzwilliam said his retire-
ment was due to his entering the army. The hounds
could be kept at Milton, and he would provide a kennel,
huntsman, and whips. Mr. Wickham agreed to take
the hounds for one year, and a committee was ap-
pointed to arrange the details.
The report that 8000 rebels at Sanas are advancing
their forces is discredited at Cairo, though largo masses
of rebels are undoubtedly on the march in search of
food, as the Soudanese are in a desperate condition.
Friendlies report skirmishing with numbers of rebels
who are starving.
An English gentleman lately at Constantinople
noticed in the Imperial Treasury a portrait of Lord
Nelson. The admiral wears the aigrette given him by
the Sultan Selim 111. The present Sultan has not
seen his way to give the original picture to the English
nation, but has ordered a copy of it to be presented
to England.
M. Laveleve, an eminent Belgian publicist, writes a
letter to the Secolo of Milan in which he condemns the
Italian expedition to Abyssinia as an enterprise without
issue, and more irrational than the French expedition
to Mexico. He urges the Italian Government to follow
the example England set in the Transvaal, and to make
peace with the Abyssinians without further expenditure
of blood and treasure.

The Nottingham Town Council decided on Monday,
on the recommendation of the Financial Committee,
to convert the present floating debt of the Corpora-
tion into Nottingham Consolidated Stock. In 1881,
and again in 1884, the Corporation issued a million
pounds of Stock. The present floating debt amounts
to £631,460, and there are liabilities to be provided for
in the immediate future estimated at £129,840,
making a total of £761,300. The Finance Committee,
therefore, recommended the issue of stock of the
nominal value of £BOO,OOO, the minimum price to be 94
or such other sum, in advance, as the Committee,
acting under the advice of the Bank of England, shall
determine; the stock to be redeemable at the expira-
tion of 60 years at £l.OO per cent., and the Sinking
Fund to be provided for its redemption to be invested
only in the purchase of the stock. At the Council
meeting on Monday the recommendations of the com-
mittee were adopted, _ _ _

At the meeting of the Liverpool Water Committee
on Monday, the Chairman stated that there were 3700
million gallons of water in stock in the Rivington
reservoirs this time last year, as compared with only
1015 million gallons at present, so that nothing could
be more serious than the position of the Liverpool
water supply. It was, therefore, of the utmost im-
portance that every inhabitant of the city should exer-
cise the utmost possible economy in the use of water.
At the same time he did not wish it to go out that they
were entirely dependent on the supply from Rivington.
A small committee had been appointed to consider the
obtaining of a temporary supply from other sources, and
they had reason to hope that they would be able to
prevent a water famine. They had several sources of
temporary supply under consideration, and were
already taking measures to draw from some of these.
The Lord Chief Justice, in charging the grand jury
at the Berkshire Assizes, at Reading, on Monday, said
it was undoubtedly true that the intervals between
assizes were too long in some of the vast centres of
population, but it was a mistake to treat the whole of
England in one way. The judges had reported unani-
mously in favour of three circuits only in a year, except
in the great counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire ;
and they were endeavouring to place the county-court
system on a better footing. They had the difficult
problem to solve of giving every prisoner and every
suitor an opportunity of being heard as quickly as pos-
sible, and yet to maintain a sufficient staff of judges to
deal with the town business. He did not see, as long
as there were only fifteen judges, how that was to be
done.

For the past fortnight the inhabitants of a village on
the outskirts of Shrewsbury have been nightly terrified
by the dangerous pranks of a "ghost." On Sunday
night, however, 50 villagers set out with sticks and
missiles and succeeded in effecting a capture. It was
then discovered that the offender was a Welsh farmer,
who had recently gone to reside in the locality. His
captors chastised him severely, and had it not been for
timely interference, he would probably have been
lynched. He had a very narrow escape, and was
released only on handing over .£5 to the Salop Infirmary
as a penalty for his folly.
A scene of an extraordinary character was witnessed
in the Godstone Police-court on Monday. John Lang.
ridge, of Westerham, who had been convicted of tres-
passing for game and assaulting the keeper and his
assistant, was being removed to the cells, when a com-
panion named Nightingale made a determined attempt
to rescue him, and violently assaulted the police. He
was overpowered with difficulty, and, being brought
before the magistrates, was sentenced to two months'
hard labour. Mr. Leveson Gower, the chairman, said
he had never witnessed such a scene during the 26
years he had sat on the Bench.
A man named John Phillips, of Chirk-green, was, at
the County Magistrates', Court,' Wrexham, on Monday
committed for trial, charged with assaulting Harriet
Daniels, a young woman of Cefn, in a railway carriage
on the Great Western Railway. The prisoner followed
prosecutrix into a first-class carriage at Wrexham
Station. He assaulted her, and then jumped from the
train, sustaining injuries to his face and other parts of
his person. He was not apprehended, however, for a
considerable time. -

About seven o'clock on Monday night cries were
heard of a man at the east side of the new pier at Kirk-
wall. A number of fishermen ran down the pier and
saw a man in the water. There being some bundles of
hoops near at hand one was thrown to him but when
he put his hands on them they ran round and round. A
life buoy was obtained, and a young lad, John Hercus,
was lowered over the pier. He swam out to the man,
who by this time was a considerable distance from the
pier. A line being fast to the buoy, they were hauled
lback to the edge of the pier, a ladder secured, and both
were got up. The stranger is a commercial traveller
from Edinburgh, very short-sighted, and, not being ac-
quainted with the place, this being his first journey, had
missed his way. Hercus is only 16 years of age, and a
compositor's apprentice.
On Monday afternoon Thomas Maloney, a pensioner,
was charged at Dudley with maliciously wounding his
mother, Hannah Maloney, lodging-house keeper. On
Saturday night prisoner went to his mother's house
drunk, and, upon his mother remonstrating with him,
he picked up a heavy bench, and dealt her several
violent blows, causing her serious scalp wounds, and
rendering her insensible. The prosecutrix is upwards
of 70 years of age. Prisoner was remanded.
Superintendent Scott stated at the Jarrow Police-
court on Monday that Ann Warrener, 72 years of age,
died on Sunday night from injuries alleged to have been
inflicted by an engineer named John Evans, who is
stated to have thrown her downstairs and fractured her
thigh at Christmas. Evans is in custody, and will be
charged with causing the woman's death. Substantial
bail was refused.

At Sheffield Polioe-court on Monday George Daven-
port, formerly relieving officer, was charged with steal-
ing money belonging to the Sheffield Board of Guar-
dians. It was stated that whilst under remand the
accused attempted to commit suicide. Davenport was
an official in whom the Guardians had exceptional trust,
and during the year had the handling of between £5OOO
and £6OOO. He was sentenced to three months' hard
labour.
At Croydon on Monday the man Dounton was
brought up on remand, charged with setting fire to a
dwelling-house at King-street, Croydon. The fire was
of a dangerous character, the inmates of the house
being aroused only just in time to escape. It being
stated that the prisoner was irresponsible for his
actions, the magistrates reduced the charge to one of
wilful damage, and sentenced the prisoner to 21 days'
imprisonment,

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