The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-04-17 00:00:00

ADDITIORS TO THE BRITISH
MUSEUM.

A new departure has been taken in those galleries
of the British Museum where the birds, inconve-
niently crowded, and set up for the most part in a
manner which has been eloquently condemned by the
marvellously realistic treatment of ornithological
specimens at-the Natural History Museum, were in
former times arranged. The birds have been re-
moved to the new home at South Kensington, and in
their place there has been opened to the public in the
British Museum a most interesting Oriental and
ethnographical collection. Mr. A. W. Franks, himself
in the first rank of modern ethnographers, has pre-
pared the galleries for their present purposes, and on
Saturday afternoon a number of visitors who had
been invited to a private view had the benefit of
that gentleman's personal guidance, to say nothing
of a welcome five o'clock tea, by way of refresh-
ment after inspection, in his official residence in
the Museum building. Lord Sherbrooke, Mr.
W. H. Smith, Sir F. Leighton, Lord Crawford,
Sir H. Rawlinson, Lord Cadogani the Bishop of
Limerick, Mr. Beresford Hope, and the Dean of
Windsor were amongst those who availed themselves
of the special invitations. The science of ethnography
is a systematic study of the different races of men,
of their peculiar characteristics, habits of life, and
manners past and present. From time to time frag-
mentary exhibitions to this end have been available
to the student, but in this country we have never had
so complete a collection as that to which the public
will henceforth have free access. It will be looked at
in two ways—by the casual observer who passes
through the galleries remarking the objects that
merely strike the sightseer, and by the informed eye
which discovers history and theories in exhibits that
escape- the attention of others. The exceeding
interest of the collection will satisfy the first,
and the admirable classification and wide diver-
sity of the things spread out in the cases will
amply repay repeated examination by the
second. The staircase walls are covered with
Ifindoo stone carvings. The first room is medimval,
and not the least curious of the cases at this end of
the gallery is that containing specimens of Old World
horology. A rich, if small selection of ivory and
other religious carvings, and display of early Irish
metal work are also there. The bulk of the ethno-
graphic treasures are in the long gallery beyond the
Oriental saloon. In numbers that will not admit of
detail in the space at our command, and in value too
great for more than passing notice, there are here
arranged, in intelligible order, wonders from nearly
every quarter of the globe—samples of the handi-
work of savages, and products of the thought and
industry of out-of-the-way people of whom, even in
in this age of travel, really little is known. With
the characteristic pottery of Japan and China
we are tolerably familiar, though it is not
often that specimens so rare as some of those
in the larger case are seen. Then we have a
liberal catalogue of object lessons in Buddhist and
,Hindoo mythology; and a grand lot of weapons,
,especially daggers, from Central Asia. One of the
;daggers was given by Ryder All to Sir Hector Munro.
Other cases are devoted to curiosities from Assam,
Anneal, Burmah, Siam, Borneo, and Ceylon. Froth
the last-named island are a set of cleverly grotesque
masks used by the Cingalese devil-dancers for the
'cure of various diseases. Advancing further into the
gallery we are brought into indirect contact with the
lovely archipelagos of far Eastern seas. The idols
from the Nicobar Islands are charmingly hideous;
and hard by is .a coat of mail, high tribute to the
industrial art of an obscure tribe of Indians in
the Phillipine Islands. The basket work from
Celebes is surprisingly fine, and the visitors' ad-
miration will be extended to the things in the
ease marked "Micronesia," and to the tortoise-
shell trifles from the Pellew Islands. These had
been lost for a long while, and were found
in the possession of a country clergyman. There is
nothing more curious in this quarter than the com-
Vete suits of armour made of cocoa-nut fibre by the
•,
ingsmill Islanders, and the spears of shark's teeth.
Handsome cloaks of Apteryx feathers, and typical
pieces of wood-carving, illustrate the habits and
customs of the Manna; and a row of heads, with hair,
teeth, and tattooing in perfect preservation, invest
the prows of New Zealand canoes and lintels of door-
ways with fresh interest. The canoes and weapons
from the Solomon Islands are an unusually typical
collection; and conspicuous in an exhibition where
much is grotesque are the garish wooden figures ob-
tained from a New Ireland temple by Mr. Romilly,
whose recently published book on the Western Pacific
has so largely increased our knowledge of the many
islands represented in the new gallery. Amongst
curiosities from remote parts of Africa are a set of
artistic ivory carvings supposed to have been executed
by natives of the Congo in the 10th century. The fur
dresses belonging to a tribe of Isquimaux discovered
by Rae in 1851 take us to Arctic America. Other
cases are devoted to Central America—notably that
of Mexican antiquities. A whole day might with
advantage be spent in studying them together with
the sauvinirs of ancient Peru, at the further end of the
saloon. Two heads of human beings will be noticed
amongst the rarities, and visitors will be certain to
linger long over the masks encrusted with turquoise
and obsidian, and the sacrificial knife with blade of
calcedony and handle studded with precious mate-
rials. These Oriental and Ethnographic galleries are
largely made up of the Christy Collection, which was
for years housed in Victoria-street. Mr. Christy was a
great traveller and archwologist, and he bequeathed
the results of his life-long researches to four
trustees (Dr. Hooker, Mr. Daniel Hanbury,
Sir John 'Lubbock, and Mr. A. W. Franks)
with power to give them to any insti-
tution. They decided on offering • the archmo-
logical and ethnographic collection they; by trust,
thus inherited, to the British Museum, and after a
lapse of 20 years a permanent gallery has been found
for them in that great national institution. To it
other collections have been added, and Mr. Franks
himself has contributed a large number of the most
valuable objects. Some of the African specimens
were; collected by Mr. Petherick. The unique
:Mexican antiquities were collected as a consequence of
a journey to Central America in 1856 by M.
. Christy and Mr. E. B. Tyler, the last-named gentle-
man.publishing an account of his travels in "Ana-
huac." The greatest care and labour ,ha been
bestowed upon the labelling of the curiosities in this
magnificent addition to the British Museum, but in
order that its educational purpose may be fully
achieved, a descriptive catalogue will be forthcoming,
•
.Miinister : "I am thinking of Otting a new Chime
for Olie 'elsurcb. ' What woeld you recom:.
'arishioner (who lives next door to the Sam
• edifice).; A pair of dumb-bells."

.10&%1

A man with long hair and pants tucked in boots
may be either a Texas cowboy, a quack doctor, or a
poet.
A scientific wonder has discovered that "in another
thousand years we shall be bald." Well, in another
thousand years we shan't care if we are.

THE MYSTERIOUS LONDON POISONING
CASE.
THE WESLEYAN MINISTER ACQUITTED.
Before Mr. Justice Wills, at the Central Criminal
Court, London, on Monday morning, the trial *as
commenced of Mrs. Adelaide Bartlett and the
Reverend George Dyson, wha were charged with the
wilful murder of Edwin Thomas Bartlett, the hus-
band of the first-named pilsoner, on or about
December 31, 1885, by administering to him chlo-
roform.
The Attorney-General (Sir Charles Russell), Mr.
Poland, Mr. R. S. Wright, and Mr. Moloney ap-
peared for the Crown; Mr. Edward Clarke, Q.C.,
M.P., Mr. Mead, and Mr. Beal defended Mrs. Bart-
lett; and Mr. Lockwood, Q.C. and Mr. Charles
Matthews appeared for Mr. Dyson.
The Attorney-General said the Crown had come
to the conclusion that there was no case against
Mr. Dyson, and that therefore after the arraignment
no evidence would be offered on the part of the
prosecution.
The Judge said that he would express no opinion
until after the case against the other prisoner had
been opened.
The Attorney-General, after the jury had been
sworn, said that he offered no evidence against the
prisoner Dyson ; and
The judge directed the jury that it was therefore
their duty with regard to Mr. Dyson to say that he
was not guilty.
This was cone; and the judge saying that Mr.
Dyson was entitled to his discharge, he left the deck'
amid considerable sensation.

The-Attorney-General then opened the case against
Mrs. Bartlett. He said that, although there were
circumstances of some suspicion against Mr. Dyson,
the prosecution had concluded that there was no real
ease which would justify them in asking the jury to
hear any evidence against him. As to Mrs. Bartlett,
she was charged with the murder of her husband on
the 3 let of December last. In going in some detail
into the circutnstances of the life of the prisoner and
her husband, the Attorney-General said that she was
born at Orleans, and her maiden name was Tre-
mouille. She married the deceased on the 9th of
April, 1875, and for some time afterwards she went to
school at Stoke Newington, living with her husband
during the vacations. Later on she went to a convent
in Belgium. In 1877, she returned to live with her
husband, and took up her residence at one of his
shops at Home-hill, and lived there until 1883.
At Christmas, 1881, she gave birth to a still-born
child, and soon afterwards appeared to have convinced
herself that she would have no more children. In
1885 she became acquainted with Mr. Dyson through
attending his Wesleyan Chapel.. On the 3rd of
September, 1885, the deceased made his will, by
which he left. all he possessed to the prisoner, and
made Mr. Dyson and a solicitor named Wood his
executors. By that willsif the prisoner married again,
the benefits to her would be lessened. In December
following both the prisoner and Mr. Dyson knew the
contents of the will. There was no evidence of any
between the prisoner and the deceased although
she did not seem to get on very well with his relations,
especially with Mr. Bartlett, senior. Reference was
then made to the health of the deceased generally,
and especially just before his death, the Attorney-
General stating that although on the 19th of Decem-
ber last his illness had alarmed Dr. Leach yet that
passed away, and deceased became practically con-
valescent. On the 24th of December, and on the 28th he
went out fora drive. On the previous day the prisoner
applied to Mr. Dyson to procure for her a considerable
quantity of chloroform and he did so, and she had it in
her possession. She said that she had before used
this drug successfully for her husband's internal
ailment, which ailment she alleged had previously
caused him violent paroxysms, which she had relieved
by chloroform. There was no ground for the sug-
gestion that he was suffering from any internal corn-
plant or that she had—as she said—previously ob-
tained chloroform through the agency of Annie
Walker. On the 30th of December the deceased
appeared, to have gained his usual health, and the
prisoner was on particularly good terms with him on
that day and the next. The deceased on the 31st
took his meals with unusually good appetite, and made
arrangements for his breakfast the next morning. On
the night of the 31st, about half-past ten, the pri•
sonar told the servant that she need not come
again to the room. On that day Mrs. Bartlett
made inquiry of Mrs. Doggett as to the effects
of chloroform. Mrs. Donett did not go to bed
until midnight, and before four the next morn-
ing the household was aroused by the prisoner
and it was discovered that her husband was dead.
Having spoken of Mrs. Doggett's evidence as to the
occurrences of that night, he said that Mr. Doggett
deposed that when he heard of the death and went
into the room he noticed a smell suggestive of chloral
ether, and that the fire was well made up. Being
registrar of births and deaths, he very properly
declined to register the death until there was a post-
mortem examination. The prisoner was asked if it
was possible that the deceased could have got hold of
any poison, and she replied in the negative. On the
2nd of January the post-mortem was held, and the
examination was taken part in by Drs. Green, Murray,
Dudley, and Leach. The first thing which attracted
their attention was the overwhelming smell of chloro-
form, showing that chloroform had somehow got into
the deceased's stomach comparatively recently. They
came to the conclusion that there was nothing in the
most remote degree to account for death in the condi-
tion of the heart or the lungs or in any of the physical
conditions of the man, There would, be thought,
be little difficulty in the jury coming to a conclusion
that the deceased's death was caused by chloroform.
The serious and real question in the case would be—
How come the chloroform in the deceased's stomach?
The Attorney-General then spoke of the conjugal
relations that existed between the deceased and the
prisoner. The real question for the jury, however,
was, having, as he believed they could not help doing,
cpute to the conclusion that there was chloroform in
the deceased's stomach—how came it there? He
believed that they would dismiss the suggestions that
be took it intentionally, or that. it was taken or given
him accidentally. The probability was that it was
given intentionally by a third person; but the jury
ought not to find the prisoner guilty unless the result
of the evidence, weighed dispassionately, brought
home to their minds the conviction of guilt beyond
any reasonable doubt.
The evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution
was then taken, and was the same as that given before
the coroner, of which we gave an ample report at the
time. Most interest was aroused in the examination
of the Rev. George Dyson; but in his evidence in chief
there was no material addition to his statement before
the coroner. He was cross-examined by Mr. Clarke.
In reply to him witness said there was no secret
understanding between the priecner and,kitnself apart
from her husband. T. ere never was any impropriety
between himself and the prisoner. Whatever rela-
tions were between himself and the prisoner were
known to Mr. Bartlett. He might have mentioned tsi
the prisoner the time at which he could marry. Mr.
Bartlett, who had peculiar ideas on the subject of
marriage, asked him if he thought the teaching of the
Bible was distinctly in favour of a man having only
one wife. Mr. Bartlett's idea was that a man should
have one wife for companionship, and another for
service. By that he meant the general control and
management of the household. Mr. Bartlett thought
one wife should be intelligent and educated, and one
in whom a man could have confidence, and make a
confidante of.
By the Judge: Did you think this was unwhole-
some talk, or did- he ever suggest which one should
share his bedroom with him ?

_
The Witness: No. Mr. Bartlett had peculiar
views, and he thought him very old with regard to
views relating to marriage, but he never supposed for
a moment that he really desired to have two wires.
When at Dover, the deceased said that he was not the
strong man he used to be, and he attributed his failing
health to overwork. Once Mr. Bartlett spoke to him
about his marrying the prisoner after his death. That
would be in October of last year.
The Judge: What did Mr. Bartlett say? The
witness: It came about after Mr, Bartlett had been
finding fault with the prisoner, not in anger, but I
simply correcting her for something. I then told him
that if ever she came under my care I should teach
her differently, or some such words.
The Judge: You ought to recollect the exact words,
as I do not suppose that it is within the experience of
any man in this court that a man should state he
might at some future time have the care of another
man's wife.
The Witness: That is all I know.
Cross-examination continued: Mr. Bartlett called
upon him at Putney, and told him that witness had
been appointed executor of his will. Witness then
told him that he was becoming attached to the pri-
soner, and that he wished to tell him about it.
Mr. Bartlett then said, "You have been of great
benefit to her; she likes your prea4ing, and in this
way you have helped her." •He was then shown a
letter the prisoner had written her husband from a con-
vent, and Mr. Bartlett said to.him, " I should like you
to get her into that frame of mind and disposition of
the heart." He also told the witness that he hoped he
would have many pleasant intercourses w:th his wife.
It was true that he had told the prisoner of his' feel-
ings towards her prior to making a statement to that
effect to Mr. Bartlett. He bad not the faintest idea
when be purchased the chloroform that it was to be
used for an improper purpose. He threw the chloro-
form bottles away because they were hateful to him,
At the time be said he. was a "ruined man" he
thought it was possible that the chloroform had
caused Mr. Bartlett's death.

By the Judge: He would not defend himself for
saying that he wanted the chloroform to take out
grease spots. • He-wanted to avoid an explanation,

A clergyman of our acquaintance will have a good
joke to tell a well=known brother of the cloth when
next he Meets him. Riding, with,strangers, he over-
heard a lady expreSsing herself, honestly, no doubt,
but with exuberant warmth, in favour of her beloved
,Ritstor (the
.hrother; aforesaid), .capping the cli way by
saying, "He is goad everywhere, and on all occa-
sions, but at,funerals bo takes the cake." . •
One of his neighbours once went to ICasir Eddin
and asked the loan of a rope, asir Eddin went into
his house, and after a delay of several minutes re-
turned, and told the borrower that the rope was in
use, tying up flour. "What do you mean ? " asked
the neighbour. "How can a rope be used to bind
flour?" "A rope may be applied to any use," replied
"when I do not wish to lend it."