The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-04-18 00:00:00

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FO: .1:' 3N, MID COLONIAL

A FRENCH SUICIDE.—A suicide muter rather
retuatliabfc circumstances has just taken place at
Andurge, Vraeoe. A young married woman named
Gerraisea4ed eighteen, who worked in the cotton mills
((f ru. Beruard, had been on terms of intimacy with
the son of -her employer. Three evenings back they
were met, when walking together, by the husband of
the woman, who, after upbraiding her with her in-
fidelity, forbade her to return to his house. The wife
and the young man then resolved to commit suicide,
and a pair of pistols having been procured, Bernard
first blew out his brains, and the woman attempted to
do the same, but the arm having been badly directed,
the ball lodged in her cheek bone, only inflicting a
dangerous .wound. Some persons passing near an
(dive plantation at about 100 yards from the factory
h,rd groans, and on searching found the woman
.ying by the side of her paramour's body. She is still
, In a critical state.

FASHIONS IN NEW YORK.—A Boston paper
says:
Wednesday was "Opening Day" in New York—that is,
the day of the season when the modistes display for the
first time their srrine fashions. The streets were thronged
with ladies, ant all the principal establishments were
crowded with their patrons, who criticised what they con-
sidered "a sweet thing in bonnets," and called this article
of dress " hateful," and that'' perfectly splendid." The
salient points of the new styles appear to tie that bonnets
are ,1111111,r and more flimsy than ever, that the Bellaible
fashion of wearing short street dresses is to he continued,
and that evening dresses may he cut in almost any way,
prodded they he furnished with a trail long enough.
One reporter tugs that there never was a time when greater
latitude ms allowed in full dress toilets, but he evidently
means longitude, for he adds, " Provided the train is long,
and the shirt narrow, the rest of the dress may be left to
Providence " And when the fashions have come to such a
pass as this it is quite certain they are no longer proper
subjects for newspaper discussion.
. .

SERIOUS ATTENTIONS.-A maiden friend of
mine who has been wooed eleven times, anti knows a
good deal about it assures me that the only attentions
to be taken notice of, and relied upon, are those that
touch the pocket (remarks a writer in Thr Argosy for
April). 'When your Platonic friend," she says,
"begins to offer gifts, costly according to his means,
depend upon it the affair has become a businebs with
him, AA well as with you." The American missionary,
Judson, possessed a valuable watch, which he
bestowed an succession before marriage upon each of
his three wives; when he offered it to the third object
of his affections he stated that it had the desirable
property of always returning to hint, bringing the
beloved wearer with it. Be sure the wise anti prudent
man would never have parted with his watch unless
he hail been firmly persuaded that he was making a
good investment, safe to bring him in large and clear
returns. When a costly offering is laid upon the
shrine, the offerer means worship.

-
ODD SURNAMES. —But the number of oddities
left unassailed is nevertheless exceedingly large. We
have before us a long list of such oddities the origin of
which would offer to the curious a wide field for specu-
lation (we are quoting from the Coin/till Magazine). I
What, fir instance, is the precise value of a Cypher !
amongst titles? How can we dispel the uncertainties
winch encompass the cognomen Doubt? Where does
Going come from, and whither will the investigation
of Igo lead us? What are we to think of such sur-
names as Left, Moist. My, Nil, Ox, ruddle, Seraphim,
Secular, Temporal, Trash, and Truly, which, with
multitudes more as startling and ludicrous, appear on
the pages of our indexes?
FATHER IGNATIUS IN WANT OF FUNDS.—
Father Ignatius is anxious people should not think
he is "making his fortune" out of the offertories at St.
Edmund's Church, in Lombard Street, London.
Writing to the Church News, he says :
This is far from being true. lam sorry to say. Seldom
does the offertory amount to £5, although collected from so
large and rich a congregation: certainly alter we have been
suaject to a Protestant attack lathe Hanover Square Rooms
the amount has considerably risen, and for this cause we
, wish the Protestants would attack us oftener, slit were not
for the large amount of guilt they incur by the innumerable
falsehoods they tell. The collections which I receive I
have to ilisnense in many ways, for I have many many calls
upon my very slight motley power. I no sooner get the
money Moll it goes, bee Anse I obtain to little, compared
vv.th the strong claims upon illy synipatLy sill Christiaii
day. The maintenance of the monastery and Ohl Men's
Home, aml many other cases if frequently recurring need,
, are alm st entirely Ilepetident icy exertions. lam not
alile to take any respite from my continual labour, because
I then even the small supplies consequent upon my preaching
, would fail. _

A LADY SHOT WITH A REVOLVER.— OR Satllr-
ty morning a fatal accident happened to a lady at
Lenno near Warrington. About nine o'clock Mrs.
j ,
I lriTharn, tile widow of the late Dr. Brigham, residing
at It 11;.1',.. eli, was in the lmeakfast room in company
with her M. Henri Perreon, a French
consul. M. Perreon was cleaning a revolver, and Mrs.
Brigham expressing a desire to see how it was loaded,
he handed the revolver to her, at the same time de-
scribing the way of loading the weapon. Mrs. Brigham
then returned it to M. Perreon, and had no sooner
done so than the weapon went off. The ball entered
the left temple of the lady and killed her instantly.
The unfortunate lady was ids oit starting fir London,
in company with her son-in-law and daughter, who had
just returned from their marriage tour.
PLAIN OR COURT DRESS ?—The American Cor-
respondent of The Times, writing on the 31st ult.,
remarks that the course of Mr. Adams in recently
j declining to appear at the English Court in the plain
' dress prescribed by Congress for American diplomatic
I representatives abroad has occasioned some comment.
Mr. Adams's conduct is generally approved, and it is
understood that his course is sustained by the Secretary
of State. Senator Sumner, however, who is the
author of the Act which passed Congress relative to
this matter, with Senator Chandler and some others,
are indignant that Mr. Adams should, as they term
it, have disregarded the law of Congress. It is pro-
bable that, were not the impeachment trial so pressing,
something would be said upon the subject in debate.
Mr. Adams is secure in the general approval of his
countrymen, for there is no trait of the American
character more developed than that which teaches
. them when abroad to do as others do, and not to rink
j insult by aping a factitious simplicity.
A CeiNTßADicTios.—One of Mr. GladatOße'S
constituents has called the right honourable gentle-
man's attention to the fact that he has been represented
in a London paper by " One who ought to know," as
having promised to destroy the Irish Church and es-
tablish Popery in Ireland. Mr. Gladstone replies in
the following terms :-
1 lieg to thank you for your communication, enclosing a
sclodalous letter, which purports to be extracted from the
London Standard. lam truly sorry if any journal has been
build ready to dishonour itself by becoming responsible fir
the publication of such a letter. So fir as it concerns me,
there is not one word of troth is it from the beginning to
the end. If you think it has caused any uneasiness in Lan-
cashire, perhaps you will be good enough to send to ally of
the local journals this contradiction.

•
A PROPER PUNISHMENT FOR THEM !—At the
Central Criminal Court in London, on Saturday, four
prisoners were tried for garotte robberies. In one case,
two of the ruffians attacked an aged man, and treated
him very roughly. They conducted themselves with
unusual effrontery in court; but when sentence of
penal servitude was pronounced, including the pre-
liminary punishment of 20 strokes with a cat-o'-nine-
tails, they veiled their fears in imprecations, and were
dragged with difficulty from the bar, to which they
clung as to a friend. In the secona case, the brutality
of the robbers was even greater, the prosecutor being
left insensible on the ground, and the punishment was
ten years' penal servitude, with 25 strokes of the cat.
Three of the prisoners were but 19 years of age, and
the fourth only 1S ; and yet they were already old and
hardened offenders.

PAT AND THE EMPERORS.—A story is going
the rounds to the effect that when the imvereigns were
in Paris last year, the Emperors of Russia and of
Austria, and the King of Prussia went out for a stroll
inc.,. aml lost their way. They applied to a well-
dressed Irishman, who readily and courteously showed
them the way. Before leaving they asked the name
of their guide, but Pat insisted first on knowing theirs.
To his astonishment he was given their royal titles.
He concluded at once that they were tricking him.
They then reminded him that he promised to tell them
who he was, and after some hesitation and mysterious
air if confidence, Pat, putting his hand to his month,
whistwreil, " I am the Imiteror of China, but don't
tell anybody."
STRANGE. OCCEIRRENCE IN A CAURCFL—On
Sunday week a strange incident occurred in the Pro-
testant church of Lishellaw, county Fermanagh. It
irs that a little boy, about ten years old, came
into the church during the evening service, and sat
down in hne of the side pews. lb, there fell adeep
and continued so during the service, nor was he dis-
covered by the sexton When locking up the church.
At a late hour in the night some one was heard by the
inhabitants of the village breaking the windows of the
church in a very violent manner. Thinking it might
be burglars, they at once went to the police barracks
and brought an armed party of constabulary. On
operiihg the church door the boy was found inside.
The police tied, him in charge, and supposing hire to
be an instrument in the hands of burglars, by whom
an entrance could be effected, with the object of plun-
dering the church, brought him before Mr. Pomeroy,
J.P. This gentleman ordered him to be confined in
the barracks till morning, when, after having tho-
roughly investigated the case, and finding that no
charge could be sustained against him, he was dis-
charged from custody.
FATALITIES 155 INDIA.—Major RUXIOn has
been killed, and Major Hoste and Lieutenant Mackin-
non slightly wounded in an encounter with the
Bitzootees, on the Peshawur frontier.—The Sindian
announces the death at -iealk to, on the Ist March, of
Ensign Robert Smith, of the Stith Regiment. It was
occasioned by his accidentally falling down an un-
protected well while returning from duty at midnight.
—'rhe Pionerr regrets to hear of the death, on the 6th
ult., at the Officers Hospital, Fort Willism, of Major
R. Stothert, of the Bengal Staff Corps. He gas
buried the next morning. Major Stothert's death pro.