The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-29 00:00:00

THE LATE MR. HIGGINS.

Ampos of the late Mr Higgins, better known by his 910 M
de phone of "Jacob Oninium," the Paris correspondent of
the Telegraph tells the following story—
Most Parisians," he says, " knew bv sight the
giant' who, at least twice a year, walked about the
Champs Elys&s. Not many years ago he went to see
the hunting at CompiZsgne, and a French gentleman
offered to buy son Mammal petit rob, which was
a horse seventeen hands high, but which looked like a
pony under the crushing weight of the giant whom
the then colonel of the Life Guards refused to receive
as a cornet, saying simply that 'it would be cruelty
to chargers.' But the best anecdote of him was his
going to see a French giant. He WM the first of the
audience who arrived. Presently a family came in.
lam swindled,' said the father, who had paid ; why,
I saw him this morning in the Champs Elysjes!' There
is a nephew of Mr. Higgins frequently in Paris,
and he is several inches taller than his uncle, who
was six feet seven. This gentleman Ls an Italian,
Signor Pandola."

The Pall Mall Gazette says :—His moral and physical
character was tolerably well described by the name
tinder which he passed, many years ago, amongst the
English at Rome -the "Gentle Giant." His great
stature, six feet eight, of itself made him a remarkable
man ; and it was fortunate that one, whose presence
when he entered the most crowded assembly could
hardly fail to attract notice, was endowed by nature
with a countenance of singular comeliness, intelligence,
and benignity. His altitude was the frequent subject
of his own pleasant humour. One incident connected
with it he used te recall. Meeting a little boy in the
street carrying a load on his shoulder, and looking the
other way, Mr. Higgins gently put his hand on the
burden and prevented the collision that was about to
take place. The urchin, thus overruled, looked up into
the tall man's face, and, nothing daunted, said in tones
of shrillest displeasure, "Now, then, can't you mind
where you're going, you great overgrown beggar!"
With his friend Thackeray Mr. Higgins went to a
show to see a giant. At the door Thackeray pointed
to his conipanion, and whispered to the doorkeeper,
"We are in the profession ;" so the pair were admitted
without paying. "Rut," as Thackeray used to end
the story, "we were not mean, and paid our shillings
as we came out."

We learn from good authority that the late Mr. M.
H. Higgins ("Jacob ()minium") was received into the
church before he died. Mr. Higgins was married to a
Catholic lady, his children have all been brought up as
Catholics, and he was always well inclined to the old
faith. Some days before he died he desired to be re-
ceived into the church, and died a Catholic. R.I.P.—
IVcckly Register.

Under the signature of "One who was Near," a
correspondent of the Pall Mall Ga:ette writes :
_ . _ . . .

In the interesting notice of the life of Mr. Higgins, which
appeared in last night's Pall Mall Gazette, one point
illustrative of his character is wholly omitted, which ought,
think, to be put on record. Mr. Higgins was one of a
small party of gentlemen who undertook gratuitously to
distribute the add afforded to the starving Irish by the
British Relief Association in the fearful st ring of 1847.
Three-quarters of a million was given away by tins charity
through their agency, in addition to the enormous sums
poured out by the government. In one of the most remote
and desolate towns of the remote and desolate county of
Mayo Mr. hi iggins for many months carried on his labour of
love and mercy, living in the midst of typhus fever and the
other ills that walk in the train of famine, giving his whole
time and means, mid risking his own life to alleviate the
sufferings of the poor fishermen among whom he had
stationed himself.

REJECTED ADDRESSES;
OR, THE OLD DON AND THE YOUNG DISSENTER,
(Revectfully dedicated to DR. PESET and the Methodic
Minixtry in Conference accembled.)
"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
" I'm going to Conference, Sir," she said—
" Sir," she said—
" I'm going to Conference, Sir," she Bahl.
" Shall I write you a letter, my pretty maid ?"
" Just as it pleases you, Sir," she said—
" Sir," she said—
" Just as it pleases you, Sir," she said.
" Shall we make one of it, my pretty maid ? "
" Name your conditions, Sir," she said—
"Sir," she said—
" Name your conditions, Sir," she sail.
" low about Oxford, my pretty maid?"
"The less met the better, Sir," she said—
" Sir," she said—
" The less oat the better, Sir," she said.
" As ltwixt me and Coleridge, my pretty maid?"
" Of the lets, Mr. Coleridge, Sir," she said—
" Sir," she snid—
est the two, Mr. Coleridge, Sir," she said.
"Then I've nothing to say to you, my pretty maid,"
"Nobody asked you, Sir," she said—
Sir," she said—
" Nobody asked you, Sir, she said."—Punch.