The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-12-17 00:00:00

CUTTINGS FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

A Kentucky girl was struck by lightning and killed
while dressing for her wedding. There is such a thing as a
girl being toe attractive

A fashion magazine says: "Steel trimmings are no
longer the style." That settles it. Lay aside your bowie
knives.

Thirty sportsmen of Oxford, Me., claim to have
killed 32,500 squirrels in one day last week. This is a
refreshing relief from the monotony of fish stories.

A Peoria toper justifies hitwelf in this manner ;
" I am fond of long life. Joviality and good feeling pro-
mote long life. Whisky engenders joviality and good
feeling. Hence I cultivate whisky."
"Few people," says a writer, "realise what a
ondei fully delicate structure the human ear is." It is a
remarkable organ, that's a fact. Ask a man for the loan of
10 dots , and the chances are that his ear won't hear you.
Softly whisper, "Come up and take something," and the ear
manifests an acuteness that is truly marvellous.
A Yankee stranger dined at an hotel where they
had apple dumplings with sauce for dinner. He got through
with the sauce, when mine host kindly inquired, "'Will you
have some more dumplings, sir? "—" No thank'ee," was the
reply; "but I will thank you for a little more of the
'intnient."
An Arizona girl shot her lover, and then nursed
him tenderly till he died. His last words were, "I forgive
you, Mary; you did it with an ivory-handed pistol."

-
A young Philadelphian, threatened with a breach of
promise suit, says :—" Sue away; contracts made on Sunday
ain't legal.

A New York paper says that a favourite hotel is to
be kept this season at one of the watering places "by the
whiow of Air. Jones, who died last summer on a new and
improved plan."
Some days ago we said that unless the hunters
brought us some of the game they bragged , about, we would
not publish their fabulous tales. The following afternoon a
man brought in eleven blackbirds, and a mule that he had
shot by mistake, and laid them at our feet. We do not
insist on documentary evidence now any more. A good
honest man's word is good enough for us. Chicago
Trumpeter.
A man at a Washington hotel in a loud tone of
voice called his friend hack just as lie was leaving the
dining-room and then whispered to him, "How far would
you have got if I hadn't called you back ?" The other,
straightening himself up, replied in a tone loud enough for
all to hear, "No, sir, I won't lend you 5 dols. I haven't got
it and if I had I wouldn't let 3 on have it until you paid me
what you borrowed two months ago." His friend will never
call him back again in a public dining-room.

AN ENGLISH LIEUTENANT AND TWO
SEAMEN DROWNED.

According to information received from Sydney,
New South Wales, an accident has occurred at the
Fiji Islands which has resulted in the drowning of a
lieutenant of her Majesty's surveying vessel Alacrity
and two other seamen. It appears that the unfortu-
nate men, together with two other seamen, left their
vessel in a small boat for the purpose of surveying
the island of Yedna. They had completed their
operations and were returning to their ship when
the boat capsized. Two of the sailors regained
the upturned boat and clung to it, but the re-
maining two and the lieutenant, whose name
was Phillips, struck out for a reef some distance
off, leaving the boat to drift with the current.
The three were very good swimmers, and the
two sailors reached the reef in safety, but Phillips
sank some distance away. His companions were at a
loss to understand his sudden disappearance, and
could only suppose that he had been taken under by a
shark. The remaining two seamen held on to the
boat for a long time after the disaster, but were
finally washed off and drowned. The two men who
gained the reef were afterwards taken on board the
Alacrity, and on telling their story search was made
for the boat and the bodies of the unfortunate men.
The latter, however, were not recovered, and it was
not until two days afterwards that the boat was
found.