The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-12-07 00:00:00

afflictioN.

The Rev. C. H. Sporgeon did not preach at the
Metropolitan Tabernacle last Sunday morning, as was en.
pected, but before the service a letter was read from him
expressing his nil at regret at not being able to meet his
th.ek S and also remarking that had it not been for a severe
attack of rheumatism caught while at Cannes he would
hate been in his place that morning.

American

There are in Austria twelve prisons for men aml six I
icr women. The number of prisoners at the end of last
year N,13 10,422 of both sexes The number of person. who I
died in prison daring the )ear was 552. Every prisoner is
obliged to attend school regularly, and popular lecture. are
inlivered to the prisoners on Sundays and holidays.
On Saturday night a woman who keeps a stall in the
neighbourhood of St. John's Market, Liverpool, stabbed a
boy who it is alleged, took an apple from her stall. Th.
woman was taken before the magistrate on Monday, and
remanded. Subsequently the boy died, so that the charge
will be one of murder.
An impudent robbery was effected the & her morning
at the hotel de Louvre, in Paris. 'I he Countess de Plancy
w. about to enter her carriage when several individuvls
pushed against ht r as if by accident, end although they dia-
pers.] in different directions on her calling for assistance,
one of them had snatch. d from her hand a leather bag con-
taining money awl securitios for a value of 19,0001., and got
clear MI with his booty. None of the party could be over
taken.
It would appear from our Madrid telegrams that the
recent disturbances in Spain were of a somewhat serious
chxraoter, as it is stated that 33 persons were killed at
Murcia lin4 23 at Malaga. Forty arrests have been made at
• liejar. Fresh insurgent bands have been repulsed in the
1 neighbourhood of Malaga with considerable loss. A Carlist
baud has been defeated in the province of Toledo, with a loss
of seven killed and twenty-three prisoners, and other en-
counters are reported.
On Saturday morning a terrible accident happened
at the morpeth railway station to a young woman named
JAM! Wilson, 27 years of age, belonging to Acton. She was
going to Mornetu to be married. While the train was
drawing up at the station one of the bridal party jumped
out and she followed. She was thrown down between the
train and the platform, and crushed. She was removed to
Newcastle infirmary, and it was found that her spine was
. . . .

taiuin

mittee

seriously injered.
The late Baron James de Rothschild, in his last
moments, expressed a desire to devote the interest of one
million of francs to the foundation of a charity in aid of
indigent families of Paris, without distinction of religion, for
the payment of their rents. The heirs of the deceased, with
the slew of not delaying the execution of their father's
Intentions, have jast placed the revenue in question at the
disposal of the Bureaux de 'BernieDance, Im l'aris. It is well
known that the baron in his lifetime was in the habit of
putting large supplies of bread, coal, and money at the die-
posal of the poor.
A Berlin Correspondent writes state of Prince
Bismariee health miutnmes to furnish matter for disquietude
in the highest circles and grave rumours, which I decline
to reproduce, have been current for the last three days re-
epecting his present condition. It appears to be per-
hotly understood, however, that he will rot resume his
political latmurs, under any circumstances, until next spring.
If then--I am rejoiced to say that the latest account. of the
Crown Prince's progress towards convaleacence are in every
respect encouraging.
The American Manufacturer says that a valuable
discovery has been made at the American mission at Cairo,
of a Hebrew Me, of portions of the Bible. It was found in
a synagogue in the neighbourhood of that place, reported to
have been built 45 years before the second temple was des-
troyed. It was caret ally deposited in a niche in the wall,
ten feet above the ground, and had to be secured by means
of a ladder. Portions, at least, of this MS., which still
awaits proper examination, are supposed to be very old.
With the exception of Portsmouth, which had a
death-rate of only 19 per 1,000, London was again last week
the healthiest of the large towns In Britain. The rate was
19 per 1,000, against Birmingham, Leicester, and North-
ampton, 22; Hull, Sheffield, and Bristol, 23 ; Newcutle and
Liverpool, 24; Leeds and Manchester, 29 ; Oldham, 32; and
Sunderland, 34 The most serious epidemic in the large
towns Is scarlet fever. In the metropolis the births registered
were 2 303, and the deaths 1,221. Five deaths and" 6G cases
of injury and maiming" resulted from street accidents.
An inquiry was held in London, on Monday, to
inquire into the circumstances attending the death of Sir
Donald at'Leod, which took place from the effect of injuries
received at the Gloucester-road etattim on Thursday evening
Intact week. 3he evidence showed that Sir Donald's death
was the result elan accident through an attempt to enter •
train after it had been fairly and properly started. The jury
returned • verdict accardiosly, adding a recommendation
that the raaway company shou!d place gate, at the feet of
the stairmicce a it make an improvement in the footboards
by which the carriages are entered.
President Grant'a message to the Forty-third Con-
Arm gives a pr .milient place to the acts of arbitration with
Great Britain. He Is pleased to think that the judgment at
Geneva and the decision ot the Emperor of Germany leave
the two Governments without a shadow upon tnelr friendly
relations. With regard to the distribution of the indemnity,
which has I een a groat deal discussed in America since the
loosed, the Ertsident recommen. the appointment of a
Commission to sift the claims between this and the date
when the money will lie paid by her Majesty's Government.
President Grant acknowledges sea grateful duty the prompt
. and [spontaneous removal of the British troops from the San
• Juan territory as soon as the award was made,
The mission of Sir Bartle Frere bas awakened, great
interest In Germany. It is an act," Karl Blind says In the
Sew Freie Preset, "which greatly redounds to the honour
of England. It I. at last, again, a leaf from the book in
which the names of Clarkeon and Wilberforce are gloriously
entered. That for which Livingstone, the valiant pathdnder.
has so often raked his veice, is now being accomplish° I by
the English Govern..trt with a greater degree of decision
than has been shown for some yearn poet, when the mistaken
position which Enisaind had occupied towards the United
States of America left its Ca:. also in the question of the
repression of slave-trade."
In the Guildhall, at Plymouth, on Monday. the
Mayor of Plymouth presented to /Samuel W. stlake—the
drlver of a passeemer train on the Cornwall railway, who
recently, by his cum.su and presence of mind, adverted a
collision with a mineral train descending an incline on the
same pair of rails—a purse containing fifty guineas. A like
nascent was at the same time shared among five other de.
serving officials ; while two others who leaped off the train
receives' nothing. The congregation of the Baptist Chapel
opieo, ented the public aubscription by the gift of a Bible
and a purse of money to each man in recognition of the
escape of their pant ir, the Rev Aldis, formerly of Lon-
don, who was lathe trate
The German Correspondent says :—The
deportment of the general staff having ascertained beyond
doubt that the first French eagle was captured, la the cam-
paign of 1879-1871, by the third battalion of the Fusilier
Guards at the battle of Sedan, the patriotic prize offered for
the conemeet of this trophy aud deposited la the al utiatry of
War has been adjudged to ex-Lance Corporal Goblacker, of
the 11th company, and Ceder-Officer Basch, of the 10th
company. Of the entire sum-670 thalers—the former re-
ceived 256, and the latter 214 Orders. The remaining 200
thrslers were, according to the intention of the donor, in cue
of rival claims being advanced, to be awarded by lot.
Fusilier Goidacker was so lucky as to win these 2600111 am
Du, in the true spirit of comradeship, he immediately pre-
sented one half to Under-Officer Busch.
The newly-arrived stranger at the Zoological Gar-
dens, in London—" Guy Fawkes," as the public unani-
mously call him—is now nearly five weeks old. He is
thriving excellently, and continues to hold his levees daily
without any distal hence being caused thereby to himself or
to his •' matereal parent." Last Sunday afternoon a very
large number of fashionable visitors who were present in the
Zoo!. gical Gardens were amused by seeing him take first
Lila bath, afterwards a walk about the house with hie enamel.,
not lastly his dinner. The mother hippopotamus, too, is act
nearly so short tempered aa she was, and. in fact, has beannie
comparatively reconciled to the visite both of her keeper and
of stranger..
There died at Naples on Friday, in last week, in her
ninetieth year, Mrs. Mary Sommerville—a brave and gifted
emitchwoman, whose labours in departments of science
seldom invaded by her eve were sufficiently remarkable to
make her the associate, atel in some matters almost the
equal, of such non vs her illustrious townsman Sir David
Brewster, of Lord Brougham, and other eminent students of
physical pliilosophy. She wan perhaps most popularly known
he hor " Physical Geography," as slietwon her !debut eche,
title fame by her translation of the " Mechanism Of the
Heavens."
The German Moniteur, in reply tonumerous gnerista
who state that they have wagers to he deckled on the sub-
ject, gives the following statement with regard to the stature
of the Emperor and Princes of Germany :—The Emperor's
bele. is 5 feet 10 inches 3 lines ; tbat of the Prince Im-
perial, 6 feet 11 inches ; that of Prince Charles, 6 feet 9
inches; of Prince Frederick Charles, feet 7 inches 1 line;
of Prince Albrecht, jun., 6 feet 4 inches, the late Prince
Albrecht having been 6 feet 11 inches. Prince von Bis-
marck is also, it Is stated, 6 feet 11 inches in height.
Sunday, (the lot) was the birthday of the Princess
of Wales, and the joyous event was celebreted at Sandring-
ham with considerable festivity. After attending service in
the morning, the Prince and Princess, and a circle of dis-
tinguished guests, including the Premier and Mr. Forster,
M P.. paid a visit to the Mews in which the school children
of the surrounding parishes were regaled with a substantial
tea, and received divers winter gifts. It has been usual to
light an Immense bonfire on Sandringham Heights, but on
this occasion (apart from It being Sunday) the faggot weed
was reserved for the cottager..
A recent calculation relative to the principal
European languages show, that English Is spoken by ninety
millions of persons, Inhabiting Great Britain and Ireland,
North America, the Bermudas Jamaica, Cape of Good Hone,
Australia, Van Dieman's Land, Newfoundland, and the Kest
Indies ; Germen by fifty-five millions. In their own country
Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Russia, and North and South
America, La Plata, Australia, and the Fad ladies; Spanish
by fifty-five millions In Spain, Cuba, Mexico, the repu Mice of
Oath America, Mann's, &c. and French by forty-five
mnhllr,ns iii France ,Belgium Switzerland, Canada, Ceyei.ne,
and North America
On Saturday at 10011 all the power-loom manu-
factories in Barneley, with one exception, were Closed, the •
hands Bionic received a week's notioe, which then expired.
Thesis tin remit of a strike against one irro f r an advance
of 15 per c' et on the existing pricea, arid if it had been con-
ceded wag to be followed by a etrike at all the others From
1,6e0 to 1,100 ha,da are consequently thrown out of employ-
ment in enenection with the manufactories, whilst a number
of the bleachers and dyers it is expected will ale° be thrown
out of work. The masters it is understood are prepared for
alone stand, as the stacks held by them are unusually large,
and the trade la in • very depressed state.
A coupler for railway care has been invented by •
Chic aro genVeman, for which great advantagen over the old
sty trace claimed, which may be stated DA 10110.. =First, it
Is very simple, consisting of only two principal pieces besides
the itrawisar and 104, and employing no syringe and books
like the other relf-couplers. Secondly, It Is therefore cheaply
Thirdly, it works readily with old-fashioned couplers,
employing the ordinary link and pin. Fourthly. It obviates
the poesibility of stealing pins and links, • fruitful source of
loss. Fifthly, it Is certain and unerring in its operations. It
has been subjected to a thorough trial on one of the roads
centring in that city, with such good manna that the others
are about to adopt it. It Is said that there is less danger to
life and limb with it than with any other kinds now In am.

hi4orical

Beron,Rt?thechild, of Framkrort, is fond of

American

Victor Emmanuel delights in circuses, s^ rays an
=Mew paper.
The prettiest tomb in the Persia Chaise Cemetery.
t Paris, is that of Helen Adrianoff, a Russiau dancer
The Sheffield Town Council have appointed is corn
ttee on the subject of the water supply.
A decree has been signed by the Emperor of Ger-
many, appointing twenty-five now peen, chosen front among
state officials, geuerals in the army, and lauded proprietors.
The obituary of The Times of Thursday last recorded
the deaths of nine persons, whose united ages were 770 years,
giving an average of over 861 years to each.
An open air Republican meeting was held in Para-
Mae-square, Sheffield, last Sunday. Several thousand people
were present, and the meeting was orderly.
Among the tenants on the Marquis of Downshire's
estate at FAsthampitead, is William Willis, who fetish{ ha
the 52nd Regiment of Foot at Waterloo.
Two little Italian boys were found wandering desti-
tute in Greenock last week. They had been forced by ill-
treatment to ran away from an itinerant musician to whom
they had been leased by their father, near Naples.
Several provincial assemblies in Russia have decided
to grant an allowance to jurymen for each day they are
obliged to attend. At Odessa jurymen now receive fifty
kopeks Ile CI) • day, and their travelling expenses when
necesearily incurred.
Colonel Akroyd, M.P., has decided on presenting
o the town of Halifax a park and recreation ground of from
fifty to sixty acres. The site late be forthwith laid out as •
recreation ground, In which there will be ample room for
cricketing.
The Choir says that a new edition of "Hymns
Ancient and Modern," or perhaps it should be described as
another appendix, is likely to be issued, although probably
twelve months or more will elapse before It makes its spear-
sure.
The Dublin Exhibition, which was opened by His
Royal Rieman the Duke of Edinburgh, under very *min-
gles. circumstances, on the 6th of June last, was closed last
Saturday, with a comparatively unpretending, but still
plaited,* ceremonial, carefully prepared, and most success-
fully carried out
The Sanitary Commission at St. Petersburg has
lamed an order with • Mew to preventing the further exten-
sion of the smallpox. According to this regulation is M-
elees are to be attached to all the ptblic baths in the city,
and no person of either 'ex will be permitted to bathe with.
out first undemoing • medical examination.
In London, the other night, a young woman aeet•
dentally overturned a naphtha lamp, when, In a few momenta
the carpet of the room was • Meet of flame. When the le
was put out the deceased was found to be quite dead. The
doctor called in was of opinion that death was due toe sudden
failure of the action of the heart, caused by fright. Verdict
accordingly.
A learned pundit has, it is said, formed an association
In Benares for Witching the young men of India navigation
and shipbuildieg, and sending quiet and well conducted
youths to England for educatiou. This, if correct, is mse of
the greatest marvels of the time. If once caste can be solar
set nude as to allow Ilindone crossing the sea, you will soon
have lidelligeut "heathen" in abatudance in Loadon. Times'
Calcutta Correspondent.
A large meeting of silk operatives was held at ('oog-
leton on Mondry night, to consider what steps should he
taken in reference to the strike. It was stated that 2,000
were out of employment. The operatives demand a shilling
per week increase in the rate of wages. It was eventually
decided to request the mayor and town clerk the latter
having called the meeting) to wet' upon the masters, with a
view of securing arbitration.
A daring robbery was committed at the Church.lane
Branch Post-office, Dublin, on Monday afternoon. The post-
master had just made up his parcel for transmission *oth.
General Yost-office when a thief came in, and breaking a glass
partition, seined upon a bundle of notes, amounting to £192,
with which he ran off, seed has eluded pursuit. The notes
bear the stamp of the branch office.
A story is current of an eminent living statesman
whose favourite hobby is the collection of old china. Looking
upon literature as a relief from the fierce encounters of party
politics, he was gratified, after having published a book from
which he expected no return, to receive • cheque from his
publisher for nearly five hundred pounds. Carried away
with excitement at the sight of it, our statesman waved the
cheque triumphantly, and exclaimed, "What a revel I shell
have in Wardour-street and the old china shops !"
During the gale on Monday night the brig Fort unalo,
of Naples, was last on Galloper sands, and the captain,
mate, pilot, and two of the crew drowned. The ship struck
at about ten o'clock, the weather being thick at the time,
and began to gel. pieces immediately. The five men who
perished took to one of the boats, which was smashed by the
sea ; otter seven of the crew, after drifting about for an
hour said a half, and hailing one vessel which took no notice
of them, were picked up by the Welsh schooner Betsy, and
were landed at Bernal/tete.
Having considered Mr. Macpherson's letters of the
22nd and 26th November, with regard to the punishment in-
flicted on hisses at Winchester, and also a letter from Dr.
Ridding, declaring his anxiety for an inquiry, the governing
body of the school have decided on institeting an investiga-
tion. This task, however, they undertake "not so much
with the object of pronouncing sentence on past transaction.,
as of laying down rules for the future managenteet of the
school in reference to the authority of the prefects."
A woman was killed on the Metropolitan Railway
on Tuesday night at Chad-lug-cross Station. She had, doubt-
lens. endeavoured to get out of one of the third-class
carriage, at the front of the train bet we it stopped properly,
as her forehead was battered in and there were marks of blood
on the wall at the entrance to the tunnel, while her blood
and brains were scattered about. She had no ticket on her
person or anything to lead to her identification. She bore
the appearance of a respectable mechanic's wife.
The India papers of the lltn ult, state that great
preparations were making in Bombay for the reception of
the Viceroy, and for the imposing ceremonies which were
about to take place In connection with his visit_ Many of
the native Princesand Chiefs who had been invited to meet
his Excellency had already arrived. The Times of India
says that bungalow rents had risen enormously in amuse-
queues, £l,OOO a month having ill several instances been
asked and obtained, and that the hotels had retied theix
tariffs.
The Paris 1, igaro, anticipating the dog der, tens us
of a wonderful safeguard against hydrophob*
d.pube, recently patented by a French doctor. 'this con-
nista simply of an umbrella or cane, which, els pressing •
spring, turns by an ingenious contrivance intot small ladder.
Thus, if a mad dog rushes along the boulevards, the happy
possession of Ckhelie.drophobe has only to touch his um-
brella, and presto, a ladder appear., and, running up to the
top, he can get safely out of all danger.
His Royal Highness Prince Leopold has, since taking
up hia residence at Oxford, visited many of the colleges and.
objects of intereat at that ancient University, and on Satur-
day, accompanied by his private tutor, Mr. Collins, M.A. of
Lincoln College, inapected the Bodlelen Library. His Royal
Highness entered hie name in the students' book, and sub-
acribed to the rules and regulations of the library, and, we
understand, Intends to avail himself of the opportunities of
research afforded by the treasures at that excellent indite.
tion.
Mr. Henry M. Stanley, the discoverer of Living-
stone, has been entertained on his return to America by the
Loins Club of New York About three hundred members of
the Club were present, as well as a number of distinguished
visitors. Mr. Stanley in the cosine of some remarks exulted
laughter by his account of the "cold hath" he met with at
Brighton. He expressed the belief that the Club would at
some future day have the pleasure of welcoming Dr. Using-
e,4r
,t'.ne more heartily than his discoverer. In conclusion, Mr.
Stanley called upon his hearers, lathe name of Livbigatone,
to help the
su
i) "herowektraevne:llienrg udav o
last, 55 msin biarttihn:
the la
rviemt trade.the
" iii
:he r errk of ite
and 3,107 deaths were registered in London aril twenty
other large cider and towns of tbe United Kingdom. The
mortality from all mums in these towns was at the rate of
22 deaths annually to every 1,000 persona estimated to be
living. In the metropolis 2,303 births and 1,221 deaths were
register« d. the former having been 33 more, and the latter
527 less than the average number. Eight persons died from
small-pox, 15 from measles. 13 from scarlet fever, 4 from
diphtheria, 27 from whooping-cough, 19 from different forms
of fever, and 21 trim diarrhsea The deaths from these seven
diseases were in the aggregate no less than 224 below the
corrects average number in the corresponding week of the
laid ten year.. Diseases of the respiratary organs and
plithisla caused 408 deaths, and e 7 persons died from different
forms of violence. l'he mean temperature at Oremiwieh
during the week was 48 degrees, or more than six degrees
above the average.