The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-11-12 00:00:00


-
At Durnatn as! 1, Mary Ann Berapton, & fortune
teller, and Eliza Foxall were brought up to receive
sentence on the charge of having attempted to poison
Henry Foxell, the husband of the lastnnamed prisoner,
to whom she had been married two or three years,
on Augint 26 last. Mrs. Scrapton complained that
she had been made a victim by her fellow-prisoner, and
that Mrs. Foxell had given her to understand thit she
would be defended by Mr. Skidmore, who had, how-
ever, only defended Mrs. Fossil. On behalf of the
letter, Mr. Skidmore objected to sentence on the ground
that the count on whicb the prisoners were charged waa
one of having attempted to poison with intent to do
grievous bodily harm. This offence, he considered,
was not embraced by the English law. His lordship
(Lord Chief Justice Coleridge) was against Mr.
Skid MOZ-'5 c=tantLcn, but he adjourned the pasting of
the cox tc,noi.

The Queen has been pleased to approve the appoint.
rnent of Mr. Justice West, of the High Court at
Bombay, to be a member of the Council of the
Governor of Bombay.
A Cabinet Council was held en Monday it the
Foreign Office. The Ministers present were—The
Marquis of Salisbury, the Right Hon. W. H. Smith, the
Lord Chancellor, Viscount Cranbrook, Earl Cladogan,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Right Hon. 11.
Matthews, Sir H. Holland, the Right HOD. E. Stan.
hope, Viscount Cross, Lord George 11 amilton, Lord
John Manners, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, and the
Right Hon. C. T. Ritchie.
Prince Bismarck is again laid up with an attack of
rheumatism in the muscles.
News has been received of the abandonment of the
Dundee whaler Arctic in Cumberland Gulf.
A man named Pegg, in the employ of the Midland
Railway, was knocked down and decapitated by the
Manche:der excursion train,- at Derby Station, on
Monday morning. Deceased was crossing the line at
the time.

A Renter's telegram from Bombay states that the
Indian Government has invited tenders for the con.
struction of batteries at the principal Indian ports.
The objection to Mr. Sexton's right as a burgess,
which, if sustained, would disqualify him as Lord
Mayor, was overruled on Monday by the assessors.
Mr. bolt, a nephew of Lord Justice bolt, and late
Chief Clerk in the Registrar's Office, was on Monday
sworn in as a Chancery Registrar before the Lord
Chancellor, at the House of Lords.
At Merthyr Tydvil, on Monday, Messrs. Crawshay
Brothers, Cyfarthfa Steel Works, were fined £2O for
breach of the Factory Act by using unfenced
machinery.
It is said to be the intention of the London mem,
hers of the Irish National League to entertain Mr.
Wilfrid Blunt to a banquet shortly. Mr. Blunt has
also been elected Vice. President of the Metropolitan
Branch of the National League.
The negotiations between Baron von Fejervary,
Hungarian Minister of National Defence, and the
Imperial Ministry of War have resultPd in a decision
being taken in principle to establish a Hungarian
small-arms manufactory.
The body of a mechanic named Henry Hindle
Almond, aged 51 years, has been found in the Leeds
and Liverpool Canal, at Blackburn. Deceased left a
public-house at nine o'clock on Saturday night quite
sober, and in the storm which was raging is supposed
to hrive walked into the canal.

Mr. Kirby, County Court Judge, was on Monday pre.
sented with white gloves at Drogheda Quarter Sessions,
there being no prisoners for trial. His Honour re•
marked that this was the third time in succession he
had received the same presentation._

The Rev. Alexander i'uddicombe, Wesleyan minister,
was found dead in his bed at Buckingham on Monday
morning. Though he preached as lately as Sunday he
had been medically attended, and his death is attributed
to heart disease. He was 70 years of age, and had
been a minister for forty-four years.
The "Freeman's Journal" of Monday says: Mr.
Balfour's speech at Birmingham contained no indilca-
tion of a constructive policy of any kind; but no
doubt the stipendiary magistrate will take the hint
that he threw out as to the noninterference of the
Government with their discretion, and will sentence the
persons brought before them to cumulative terms of a
month each, which will not admit of appeal.
Yorkshire miners are summoned by Mr. B. Pickard,
1!11.P., and other Union officials, to hold pit-head
meetings at once, to appoint delega'es to the County
Conference to be held at Barnsley, on November 19th,
to decide upon action with regard to the limitations
of the output of coal, and to improve the miners' con-
dition. Their decision will determine the course to
be adopted at the Newcastle Conference.
In charging the Grand Jury at Nottingham Assizes
on Monday. Mr. Baron Huddleston commented upon
the remarkable diminution of crime shown by the de-
crease in the number of sentences of penal servitude.
During the five years ending 1869, with a population
of 21 millions, 1978 persons were convicted and son.
tenced to penal servitude; while in the five years end.
ing 188 E, with a population of 27 millions, the number
was 868. There was an extraordinary decrease in the
number of female convicts. His lordship attributed
this to the efficiency of the police system and the
careful magisterial administration of justice. Drunken-
ness was the cause of almost all the crime in England
now. . .

At Heanor, Derbyshire, on Monday, a young man
named Henry Houseley was bound over to keep the
peace for sending the following letter to a female
" captain " in the Salvation Army, named Eliza
Elliott: "Dear Captain,—l just write to ask you a
favour. I want to know if you will marry me, as I
have taken a fancy to you. If you do not agree with
my favour it will be worse for you. I either mean to
marry you or murder you. If you say no, I mean to
do for yon • so you can order your coffin at once. I
know I shall have to be hanged for it, but I don't want
to go to hell by myself. I want you to go with me.
Prepare to meet your God.—From your comrade, Harry
Houseley."
A serious gunpowder explosion took place at Monday
at Bridgewater. Two young men, named George
Davies and George Corner, were engaged in preparing
fireworks to be discharged at the Guy Fawkes carnival
to be held the same evening, when the powder by some
means became ignited and eight loaded squibs, together
with a large quantity of loose powder, the whole weigh
ing 251 b,, exploded. The roof of the wash•house in
which the explosion took place was blown off and the
two young men badly burned about the hands, arm.,
and face. Davies and Comer were wrapped up in
blankets and conveyed to the infirmary, where they
were both detained.
Great surprise was occasioned on Monday in South
Staffordshire when it became known that the directors
of the New British Iron and Stee3 Company (Limited),
Congreve, and owning works and collieries at Ruabon
and Swansea, had issued circulars to the shareholders
advising voluntary liquidation: The company employ
altogether four or five thousand bands, and their
finished iron is known in all foreign markets. The
directors declare that the concern cannot be carried on
at a profit without heavy expenditure in modern iron
and steel plant, and they have no power to borrow.
The position is wholly unexpected.
One man was killed and another severely injured on
Monday morning by an explosion at Kennall Vale
Gunpowder Factory, at the village of Ponsanooth,
between Truro and Penryn. William Dunstan was
the only man who bad not gone to breakfast. His
body was blown out of the building a considerable
distance, and he was, of course, killed,- Another man
was backing a waggonload of powder into the house
when the explosion occurred, and his arm and leg were
broken, but he will probably recover.
riTbe Royal , yacht Victoria and Albert arrived at
Portsmouth on Sunday night, having conveyed the
Duchess of Albany from Flushiog to Queenborough.
On the vessel anchoring at the buoy she was boarded
by the Custom House officers, who discovered in the
hammock room a considerable quantity of cigars and
tobacco. The matter was reported to Captain Fuller-
ton, who stomped the leave of the crew. On Monday
three men claimed the goods, and they will be pro-
ceeded *prima.
Work was suspended on Monday morning, and
about 700 men and boys thereby thrown idle, at Monk
Britton Colliery, near Barnsley, by the breaking of a
conductor. After the men had been let down, and
were working, drawing coal commenced. The cage,
containing two corves of coal, by some means fouled
the conductors near the pit bank, breaking them, and
destroying the communication. The miners were
drawn out by another shaft. No one was injured.
Great consternation was caused in Dowlais and
Merthyr on Monday on its becoming known that Lord
Wimborne. chief proprietor of the Dowlais Iron and
Steel Works, had taken a large tract of land in the
v:ciniky of Cardiff Docks, whereon to erect steel works,
preparatory to the removal of the Dowlais works.
Almost the entire population of Dowlais-35,000—are
dependant on the works, and the news has created a
perfect panic.
_ _

. .
One of the pits at Loanhead, near Edinburgh,
belonging to the Shotts Iron Company, caught fire on
Monday forenoon while 160 men were below. They
were all rescued by one of the shafts which remained
free from the fire, but several ponies were suffocated.
The shafts have teen choked with sand and ashes, but
the 6re is still in progress. By the disaster nearly 250
men and boys will be thrown out of wolk, probably for
weeks.

- -The Portsmouth magistrates on Monday visited
the theatre in that borough, to ascertain that certain
alterations which were ordered when the license was
conditionally renewed had been carried out. Arrange-
ments have been made for flooding the stage in the
event of an outbreak of fire. The magistrates certi.
fled that the required alterations had teen made.
Mr.. William Wilds, architect and surveyor, one of
the oldest inhabitants of Hertford, met with his death
on Monday under shocking circumstances. In strik-
ing a light in his bedroom Mr. Wilds, who was some-
what feeble, set fire to his nightshirt, and he was so
terribly burned that he died shortly afterwards. He
celebrated his 811th birthday on Saturday.
.At the general meeting of the minefresolFei,fiet
was
Olackmannan, held on Monday at Dun tmin
rational scheme of
unanimously agreed t.o approve of a
restriction of output by working not more than eight
hours per day, taking a holiday each wey all over the in in districts,
and one week's holiday usl
United Kingdom.
(eaNs a Vienna correspondent) tnd eot
ph
t tia e Hungarian
noth
been
t o
the
taste of the Court f
Delega-
tioneoun Kalnoky's speech
Petersburg. The telegram
Russia,
of the revivelmoufrdNeirh.ilism in
SPope's interference in the Irish
account rumour
of
theo
Tvr e eadf°id
returns justtiessuimed.
ssia, a contains
a notice
t,as Accordingandt: BCoardo.f of fi
been a considerable increase both in
h
q u esti on, nti
the re ..
t and the exports. During last month the
im-
ports
declared value of the imports was nearly a million and
a half sterling more than in the corresponding month
of last year; whilst the increase for the first ten
months of this year was nearly nine and a half
millions. In regard to exports the augmentation for
the month was over half a million, and for the ten
months over four millions.
The Queen has forwarded £25 to Mr. Jas. Lees, of
Goole, who in the Jubilee celebrations there was
much injured by the explosion Of fireworks, and whose
injuries have resulted in the loss of his eesigbt. A
relief fund is being raised locally,
The Nizam of Hyderabad has received a telegram,
dated Moscow, from Dhuleep Singh, declaring that
His Himliness was mistaken in making his recent gift
of 60 lakhs of rupees to the British, because India will
be taken by Russia
A battle has been fought between a party of Crow
Indians, who had left their reservation in Montana,
and a detachment of United States Government troops.
Five Indians and one soldier were killed,