The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-04-04 00:00:00

WITE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER,

—similar character. The vessel was towed by the
Atalunta, but this was not perceivable at a distance.
Three or four steamships and a large number of small
boats crowded with excursionists escorted the serpent,
and the people loudly cheered its progress, as did also
the occupants of the ships by which the monster
glided.
AtIgISTANCE TO THE WOUNDED TN BATTLE.—
The International Society for the assistance of the
wounded on the field of battle intends to give a file in
aid of its funds on the 25th April, at the Grand Opera
at Paris. A grand box of 80 seats will be constructed
on the first tier for the diplomatic body. The depart-
ments of War and Marine will furnish the flags and
trophies for the entertainment, in which will Join all
the Powers of Europe and of the two Americas. This
manifestation, organised under the auspices of the
Princess de Metternich, will thus be presided over by
the ambassadors of all nations. The price of admis-
sion is to be high, but the object in view and the
attraction promised assure an enormous receipt.

LIFE IN TEEAS.—We read in the New York
Times of March 18 :

Ore of the most delightful places In the world to live in
must be Blanco County, Texas. Though the registered vote
of Blanco is 112 white and 9 coloured, yet the district clerk,
In making return of the cues of crime in the county since
June, 1965, puts down "83 persons indicted for murder,"
5 assault with intent to kill," "20 robbery," 27 theft of
stock," and a fair show of other crimes. The 83 indicted for
murder have been thus disposed of:—" 10 acquitted, 40
indictments quashed, 31 continued for service, 2 dismissed."
The Texas paper, which contains thereon:fat returns, quietly
remarks :—'The number of murders probably accounts for
the small registration of voters."

CAUTION TO CLUBS.—You had better get the
Select Committee to smother Smith's Sunday Liquor
Bill. Those who live in glass-houses should not throw
stones.—Punch.

APPLICATION OF M. TRAIN FOR 1118 DIS-
CIIARGE.—An application was made on Friday in the
Dublin Court of Bankruptcy, on behalf of Mr. Train,
that the chief clerk should be directed to receive his
schedule. The insolvent stated in an affidavit that the
debt for which he had been arrested was contracted
before 1861, and that all his debts arose out of his
project of tramways or street railways. He stated
that in the course of the enterprise no less than six
joint-stock companies were formed. His creditors
were given equivalents in shares for the amount of
their debts. Counsel went into further explanation to
show that Mr. Train found it impossible to Het out in
his balance-sheet in detail the information which the
Act of Parliament required. Judge Miller said the
schedule was a complete farce. The insolvent debited
himself on one side with a certain amount, and, on the
other, discharged himself train it. "He might as well
have filed a sheet of blank paper." The schedule was
not received.

TTIE DANGERS OF RAILWAY BRIDGES.—An
inquest has been held in London, on the body of a
gentleman who was killed in consequence of his horse
taking fright at the whistling of an engine as it passed
over the Camden-street bridge of the North London
Railway. The deceased, it appeared, was riding a
spirited horse which had before exhibited signs of
impatience, lie had recovered his control over it,
however, when suddenly a train rushed across the
bridge with the whistle blowing, upon which the horse
started off, and in its headlong course stumbled and
fell with its rider under it. The unfortunate man was
picked up in a state of insensibility, and died from
fracture of the skulL The bridge parapet was said to
be so low as to permit the handles of the carriage doors
to be seen from the street. The jury returned a verdict
of Accidental Death, with a special finding as to the
unsatisfactory state of the bridge.

WITHOUT AND WITHIN.—He grinds his organ
in the street I grind my teeth in the house.—Punch.
AWFUL RAILWAY CATASTROPHE.—The COUT-
rier du Bai-Rhin gives an account of a dreadful railway
accident that took place on the 20th on a steep gra-
dient between Geisslingen and Amstetten in Wur-
temburg. A goods train, composed of 25 cars, was
coming down the incline, when a waggon if two slight
a construction, being the third in the train, suddenly
broke down. The locomotive, getting detached, pun
sued its course with the conductor and a stoker
towards Geisslingen, but the 20 carriages that followed
the fractured car were precipitated upon it with a
fearful shock, mounting over each other till a vast
heap of ruin was accumulated. Three persons were
completely crushed, a fourth was pierced through and
through by a hop stake, and several others were found
to be in so deplorable a state as to require to be taken
to the nearest hospital.

ARISTOCRATIC PIGEONS—An amusing inci-
dent occurred the other day (says a Birmingham
paper) which revealed a fact: not generally known,
that most of the favourite birds bear aristoeratiz titles.
A landlord having threatened his small tenants with
legal consequences if they kept birds—which greatly
destroy property—found one morning on the roof of
his cottage a number of pigeons, who, like Old Kas-
par, were " Bitting in the sun." The landlord vainly
demanded the name of the owner. The tenants were
mute. At length he shot at the birds, and as one or
two favourites fell the anxious onlookers, forgetting
their professed ignorance on the subject, exclaimed,
almost in tears: "0, mon, stop, wilt; you'n killed
the Duke o' Malakoff an' Queen Mary„ an' winged the
Emperor Napoleon's cock-eyed hen ! ' The landlord
was horrified at the apparent enormity of his deed, and
went home in a reflective mood.

CURIOUS CUSTOM AT New ROMNEY. —OR
Lady Day, Captain Cobb, RN., wag chosen Mayor
at the tomb of Richard Stuppennye "according to the
ancient usage time out of mind." The officers and
jurats of the corporation were then elected, and the
bell was tolled for claimants to come in and claim their
freedom. In the good old times it wits the cuetoin of
time c0n,,,,,ti0n to invite the trsdeonen of the town to
a dinner to celebrate the evez.t ; but these times have
gone by, and the election is now no more than an ordi-
nary meeting.

ANOTHER MURDER WEAPON !—A French paper
thus describes the Mitrailleuse, a new instrument of
war, partly invented by the Emperor. "Imagine a
coffee mill half a yard in height, with an opening at
the top half a yard in diameter. Into this the car-
touches are shovelled, and by means of a wheel turned
by a handle, the soldier who works the imtrument
lets a single cartouche fall into each of the eight
barrels of the mitrailleuse: These barrels are about
a yard in length. As the trigger falls n the cap it
closes the barrels, the shots are fired, and the wheel in
turning reopens the barrels, recocks the trigger, and
lets other cartouches assume the places of those dis-
charged. This instrument, worked by a single soldier,
discharKes from fifty to fifty-five shots a minute, and
is effective at 1,700 yards."

• -
INSCRIPTION FOR AN OLD CLOTHES SHOP.—
" Nothing New."—Punch.
ARTIFICIAL SALMON CULTURE FOR THE igs.s.
—An apparatus for the hatching of salmon ova has
been adopted by Mr. Wilson, 8, Varrer-street, Stock-
ton, which promises successful results. The apparatus
is simple in construction, being merely a series of boxes
arranged one over the other in staircase fashion. On
each of these stands is placed an earthen vessel, filled
h ilf with pebbles and half with water. The salmon
ova are placed on the pebbles. A continual supply
of cold water is necessary, and this is obtained by
having a tap placed over the top vessel. When the
water is turned on, the overflow from the top vessel
descends to the one beneath, and this again to the
vessel below it, and so on, to the bottom one of all.
Mr. Wilson has deposited some 600 ova in these
vessels, and a great quantity of those ova have been
metamorphosed into the next stew° of fish existence,
and may be seen by any one curious enough to inspect
the apparatus. Mr. Wilson intends trying the experi-
ment on a larger scale and anticipates by-and-by
enriching the Tees with some thousands of young
salmon.

ALL THE DIFFY.RENCE.-111 the future disen-
dowment of the Irish Church, among other diffi-
culties, there will be the case of Mr. Guineas, who did
no much for St. Patrick's Cathedral. So, at the out-
set, the question is in this instance less of pounds than
of guineas. —Punch.
AN APPEAL FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB.—
There are 21,000 deaf and dumb persona in this king-
dom, and it is suggested by a warm advocate of their
case that in any proposed scheme of national educa-
tion they ought no longer to be neglected. Mr.
liammick in 1862 pleaded that a portion of the large
grant of public money already set apart for the pur-
poses of education might well be bestowed in this
direction. Mr. Hammick, in advocating their claims,
now states that in France most of the schools for them
are assisted by the State, and are under the protec-
tion of the Minister of the interior. And a law obtains
there, as in Belgium, Austria, Prussia, and several
other countries, making it compulsory to have every
deaf and dumb child (if of sound intellect,) educated
at the public expense. In America, although educa-
tion is perfectly voluntary, every possible encourage-
ment is accorded to them by the Government, about
300,000 dollars, or £60,000, being liberally appropriated
annually to the thirty-two schools for the deaf and
drool. poor.

SINOWLAII CALM& OF DEATII.—A trooper of the
name of Thomas Dust, in the 2nd Lite Guards,
quartered at Windsor, has met with his death in the
fAlowing extraordinary manner. On Saturday, the
21$t inst., he complained of pains in his stomach. On
the following Monday, the pains continuing, he
c msulted the hospital surgeon, who had the man
br eight into the hospital. On Thursday evening he
WJA suddenly seised with vomiting blood, and died in
less than two minutes At a post-mortem examination
which took place on Friday, to ascertain the cause of
this.naysterious affair, it was discovered that he had
swallowed a splinter from a bone of beef, hot more
than an inch and a half in length, and an eighth of an
inch in thickness, which had pierced the gullet and
was found sticking into the heart. The young soldier
bore an excellent character in his regiment, which he
entered only in October last, at the age of 22.
A COSTLY SINT OF DIAMONDS. Madame
Musard, the beautiful wife of the celebrated band-
master and concert organiser, whose magnificent
equipage and four bays, ridden by poetilione wearing
the liveries of the King of Holland, attracts so much
notice in the Bois, in Paris, last week paid £24,0011 for
a suit of diamonds recently cold by a crowned head,
called the "Diamonds of the CrORN" because the
central ornament of the necklace consists of an eller.
moos diamond, on which is engraved a cross. The
stones composing this suit are of the purest water, and
by connoieseurs considered unequalled in Europe. The
cheque which paid for these splendid jewels was on a
Dutch banking-house.

THE RESULTS OF A STRIKE. Serious dis-
turbances {which have since come to an end, 15,000
workmen having resumed work) have taken place in
Belgium, in the coal districts of Charleroi, in con-
sequence of a strike of the colliers. At Chantelineau
a lieutenant of the gendarmerie was seriously wounded.
At Montigny ten or twelve rioters were killed or
wounded.--A letter in the Inalipendanec Beige draws
a very gloomy picture of the scene of the recent dis•
turbances. It says :
This rich lad splendid country of Charleroi has for the
Moment an aspect of terror and desolation. For an extent
of several leagues the coal mine., factories, and furnaces
which ordinarily giva prnrligiOUS animation to the district are almost ai.andone,j. l'he lsliotjrsng population has laid 551,10 4.
working dress for that of leisure ; and, 'HIVE,' In the wine
shops or grouped at the corners of the roads, they regard with jeering or hostile looks toy persons whose appearance
indicates the middle class. Beside., the whole piece has the

aft of a camp. Patrols are to be met on every route here Is
to he seen a mounted chasseur, his carbine in his hand:
sentries in every direction; a detachment of foot soldiers
bivouacking in the mud : a squadron of horse—the men
shivering , for the weather is str,,,done ; gendarmes smoking
St the doors of tho pubic-houses, turned into posts for the
troops. Everywhere, in floe, the too faithful inuq;e of a
country handed over to military occupation. -

I, A DESPERATE BRIGAND.—The capture of a
redoubtable Spanish brigand, known under the name
of Tramuseret, has been effected near Valencia, in a
singular manner, and under painful circumstances.
He had escaped from prison in 1865, hut hie person
was well-known in the neighbouring districts. Some
-days back he paid a visit to his sister at Alboraya and
at eleven at night he encountered on the road the
alcalde of the commune. The latter recognised and
endeavoured to seize him, but the man took to flight.
Ou entering the village he called to the watchman of
the night, and asked to be conducted to the alcalde.
The latter was in a raft, at the door of which they
knocked. The proprietor opened, and the moment he
appeared Tramuseret, thinking it waa the alcalde, fired
at him, one ball wounding the unfortunate man
mortally, and the other narrowly missing his wife.
The assassin was then seized.

INEXPLICABLE FRAUD AND FORGERT.—On
Saturday, at the Bristol Assizes, Edward Howard
Richmond was indicted for forging a cheque for the
Payment of £95, at Bristol, on the sth of December,
with intent to defraud. The prisoner had ordered a
quantity of wine to be sent from Mr. Fisher's wine
stores, at Bristol, to Mr. Harris, head master of
Harrow School. He gave a cheque in Mr. Harris's
name for the above amount on the Bank of England,
but it turned out that Mr. Harris had no account
there, and had given the prisoner no authority at all
iii the matter. The object of the prisoner did not
appear very clear, and he could derive no benefit either
from the wine order or the fictitious cheque. He
pleaded that it was a foolish act, and that no one had
suffered. He was found Guilty, and sentenced to
twelve months' imprisonment.

CARRYING THE JOKE TOO FAR!
At the assizes held at Liverpool, John Wilson, 18
David Hsrris, 18, Walter Ford, 17, and Henry
Jackson, 22, were placed at the bar charged with
feloniously assaulting Adolph Kneel, with intent to
rob him, at Liverpool, on the 24th of February last.
Mr. Leofric Temple and Mr. Gardener were the
counsel for the prosecution.
The prisoners were charged in different courts of the
indictment both with assault with intent to rob, and
with assault with intent to do grievous buddy harm;
and Mr. Torr applied to the Court that the prosecu-
tion should, at all events, be compelled to elect on
which charge they would proceed.
His Lordship said be would not allow both even-
tually to go to the jury, bat would defer insisting
upon an election until after the evidence had been
taken.

Dr. Cummins also applied on behalf of Jackson to
have him separately tried, on the ground that the
statements made by others in the case would pre•
judice his chance, but his lordship said he would take
care that the jury should take the statements of the
different prisoners as evidence only against those who
respectively made them.
The case was that of the attack on the Liverpool
wins merchant, which has created so much interest in
Liverpool, and with the main features of which the
public are already familiar. The court was crammed
in every available corner, a large portion of the
audience consisting of women, and some of them were,
it is said, the relatives or friends of the prisoners. The
latter were all of them small, smooth-faced, young
lads. Mr. Kneel appeared in the witness-box with his
right arm in a sling, and with a black silk cap covering
the whole of the top of his head. He was pale and
weak looking, requiring to be accommodated with a
chair; but he gave his evidence in a remarkably calm,
clear, and accurate manner, besides showing great
moderation in his tone, although most of the cross.
exgroination tendered to him was with a view to show-
ing ill-feeling between himself and the prisoners, which,
however, he utterly denied. The history of the case is
doubtless fresh in the memory of our readers, and
therefore we will not recapitulate it. It came out in
cross-examination that NS ilson's connexions in Liver-
pool are very respectable, and I hat some of the femine•
Ins garments he Was dressed in belonged to his sweet-
heart, while the skirt, which WM brown satin, was
proved by Jackson's mother herself to belong to her.
In Wilson's father's house was found rope correspond-
ing with that found on Harris, and from which,
indeed, it had evidently been cut; and the body of a
dregs corresponding with Mrs. Jackson's skirt was
also found in Wilson's house. Ford returned to the
office at 2 o'clock, and was taken into custody and
charged with taking part in this outrage. He then
said :--
I was first introduced to Harris and Wilson about five
months ago by Jackson. This affair has been talked of for
some tinie past. It was arranged to come off lad Saturday,
but Wilswi could not get away it was then put off until
to-day. About 10 minutes past 11 I saw them in the passage
down stairs, and told them Mr. Kugel was in it was all
right. They went rip stairs, and I followed them. It was
arranged I ass to lock the door, but I dhl not lock it. I
don't know whether Jackson did or not. I then went as far
as the Custom-home. I had no idea they were going to
aasault him as they have done. It was only arranged to gag
him awl tie his hands and legs, and get as much money as
they mild, which was to be divided among us. After the
affair was blown over they were going to New Zealand, and I
was going to follow.

This katenient of Ford was afterwards read over
to the other two in custody (a proceeding which his
Lordship caulemiled), when Harris said that it
was correct, and Wilson that Jackson was to
have all the money. In the meantime it was
fount that Jackson hrol collected emie I:3 lb. of his
buts,et'e tli t beauibg and gone off straight to Lon-
don, and, as the best mode of getting a clue to him,
the police watched the letters delivered at his father's
house. Very soon one was intercepted, which came
from the son, and was dated and ran as follows :
26, London-strest, Paddingten, Loudon, Feb. 25, 1889.
_

„
Dear Ma,—By this time you must have heard that I have
got in)self into a scrape, which, after all is only a huge Joke.
It, however, compelled me to act like a bird and fly, and not
wait until they put the salt on my tall and caged ma My
Intention of coming here was to try BIM get as a captain's
clerk on some large steamer, a place that would just suit
me, hot Ido not think I will be able to succeed. I will stay
at the above address until I hear from you, which I hope will
be soon. At the some time send mu my red shirt, singlet,
stockings, and pocket handkerchiefs, which can le put in a
paper pas cel and sent 0 the Globe parcel-office in North
John street. l'erhapa Will Barlow will leave them there as
he goes to the office, bid tell him not to disclose my address
to any one. I arrived here last night at eleven o'clock, after
a tiresome journey of more than seven hours, and same into
this place, which was the first that I saw, and got a cup of
coffee and a bed. When I awoke In the morning I was ex-
pecting your call, but was sadly disappointed at finding
myself In a strange place, with neither friends nor relations.
'Me place I am stopping at is a very respectable one, and
reasonable. I have my wages in my pocket, and • few
shillings extra of linsers, which I will return to him when
convenient. I cannot say any more until I hear from you.—
Your affectionate sou, Ibsen JAOI:6ON.
In consequence of this letter a detective was despatched
to London, who apprehended Jackson at the coffee-
house where it was dated, and he then made a state-
ment as follows :

It was intended as a joke, but waa carried too far. Ford
and I had agreed with Wilson and Harris that Mr. /Cusel
should be bound in the office and remain in that state until
he or I returned, because he hati been using insulting lan-
guage to us when we came late, or did not do things quick
enough, and we had no other means of retaliating on him
without getting ourselves discharged l'nere was no inten-
tion hi steal the money out of the safe, or, in fact, take any-
thing front him. I went out that morning to collect, and
received .£3 15s from Mr Keet, Great George street. On
my return to the office I found the door locked, and I opened
it with this key. I then saw a large quantity of blood on
the walls arid In the office, and was told by Mr. Hoppe
clerks that Mr. Kesel had been almost murdered so I en-
tered the £3 1.5 s In the each-took, but kept the money in my
possesaion, as K 3 I es. Would hake been due to me for salary at
the end of the month. I then went across to Woodside and
took the 340 train to Paddington. When I took flight I had
no intention of evading justice, and thought the matter was
not so serious as Mr. Hoppa' clerks had represented it to
me, and that it would blow over in a few days.
. . .

Mrs. Jackson, when in the withes.-box, gave her
son an excellent character as a quiet and studious boy,
and it seems Wilson was a cashier in a confectioner's
shop. ,
The prieohere were all found guilty. Mr. justice
Mellor said he should take time to consider hie verdict,
as the circumstance. lif the cage were no peculiar. On
Monday morning the prisoners were placed in the dock
to receive sentence. His Lordship said the pnsoners
had been convicted of having committed the ortrege
under circemsteneeio so peculiar in character, and so
audacious, that he could not do otherwise than pass a
sentence which would have the effect of putting a stop
to such proceedings for the future. The assault was
committed upon Mr. Kneel in the middle of the day,
and in his counting-house, where, if in any place,
he ought to be assured of perfert safety: He
regretted; oh hccritiot a the youth of the pri-
sonere, that he had to pass a severe sentence, but he
had anxiously considered the cage with a view to dis-
cern any reasons which would justify him in passing a
slighter sentence, hut there were none. Ford and
Jackson had not actually committed the violence, but
their conduct wee even worse tnah that of the other
prisoners, for tbey had betrayed their master, who
should have been protected by them, and gave in-
formation to and conspired with their confederates.
There was no distinction in the case, and each of the
prisoners mtist be sentenced to five years' penal
servitude.

bon were lodging at a beerhouse kept by a person named ,
Knott. On that day the boy had committed some little I
fault In picking some lead from off one of the up-
stairs windows. Mrs. Knott complained at this to the
prisoner, and gave him notice to suit Ile expressed him-
self in terms of anger, and Bald he should beat the boy on
his return home. When he did return he gave him a blow
on the hew, and when reproved for this he said he had a
mind to throw him down soil jump his young head dr. The
boy returned home about one o'clock. The prisoner told him
to go and wash himself, and he then gave him POMO bread
and bacon br his dinner, telling him it would ho the last he
would have there, mire should take him ti the Union. About
three o'clock the prisoner and his eon left the house, and
they were seen together at a 'dice not far from the cattle.
market. They were not seen again until they reached a
Place Called Rudgway, near Stapleton, about three Mile"
from the cattle-market. They were going in the direction
of the Union, which is called Stapleton Union. That was
about five o'clock. The prisoner had said he should tell the
boy he should take him to the Union merely to tighten
him, but that he did not intend doing se. There was
i a lane leading from the spot where the prisoner and
the boy were seen which led to the river. About nix
o'clock the prisoner returned to Knott's house, but without
the boy. Mrs. Knott said, "Well, Illackmore, you are come
home have they taken the boy In?" The prisoner replied
that he knew they would not take the boy in unless he went
in himself. Mrs. Knott then said, " Have you lost the boy
then?" The prisoner replied he had; that he had gone to
his sister's at the cattle-market and told the boy to wait
outside for him, and that when he came out he could not
find the bey. The prisoner had not a sister living there )
Mrs. Knott asked him if he had given notice at the police-
station, and he said he hail been to them all. It appeared,
however, that he had not given any such notice, the pri-
soner after tide conversation went out and returned in an
hour, and he then went to bed. The next morning the pri-
soner went out very early, coming back about 12 o'clock in
the day. Ile was then asked if he had heard anything of
the boy. Ile end yes, he hail been picked up and was
drowned. He was next Interrogated as to how he knew it, and
he said he had been told bv a boy in Ho. admead ; and on being
asked where he was picked up lie said near the pomp,
that he was seen on the wall by two little boys, and that he
had fsllen Into the river. Early that morniug the prisoner
had been seen looking into the river at the spot where the
body was afterwards found, and It was suggested hat he
then must have seen the body. The police made all possible
inquiries. Air inquest was held and the prisoner was pre-
sent, lie was asked by a policeman when he know the
death of the boy, and he said that the boy had come home
the day before about three o'clock, that he took his tea and
then went out, and he had not seen him since. That was a
palpable falsehood. Shortly after this the prisoner was
taken into custody, and, in answer to questions put to him,
he said he had given notice at all three police offices. When
he was charged with the murder the prisoner said "God knows
I did not do it," and he then said he had lost the chili in
the street. The theory of the prosecution was that the pri-
soner bad never shown any affection for the child that he
, had left Knott's at three o'clock, saying that he was going
'to take the boy to the union, when, in fact, he hail
no such intention that he was In the vicinity of the
river, and near the spot where the body was found that
he shortly afterwards returned home without the boy, that
Instead of giving a reasonable account for the absence of the
, boy, he had made a variety of statements which were false,
and that he endeavoured to show that the boy had fallen
Into the river It could not be supposed that the child had
wandered three miles from the cattle-niarket to the river,
and, moreover, there was a wall 31 r. high between the road and
the river; the spot there was thickly populated, aild!if he had
fallen into the river there he most have been seen. It was
urged that all these facts pointed conclusively to the prisoner
as the person who had committed the murder.
Severel witnesses were called to prove the above facts,
and were very strictly cross.examined by Mr. Collins, chiefly
on the depositions taken before the coroner's jury.
It was elicited In cross examination that a little boy was
seen playing on the wall of the river near the pump that
afternoon

The counsel for the prisoner made an able address
on hie behalf, and the judge, having Bummed up, the
jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.