The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-04-05 00:00:00

increase
'to

...... - - _-
be picked up before their little remaining strength was minims torreenewa- .
gone. The st,ewardeas seems to have been • woman of
vnamolgaitiparrtri... imwriessm hi.
....:.--s-u-Tcsaumnd
th,,
t euiarkably 'groin. coestitution ; she had now survived regraded as morally unfit to mai a wilt
all but Captain Wrap and the one remaining sailer. not ratty to say that the queellora whether he
The steamer Tropic, which had been detained five tame was thus decided. He bad certainb
days by adverse weather from entering Magellan's enough to manage his property hi his own lid
S traits on the Pacific side, had come about 50 melee end el his lit e. His correspondence with his
through the Straits whim she saw a boat oantainiag.two
L'haterllie was al least cohtucted on the
men and a woman, who signalled ietilelp, and were
„ be expecwteuell of hie' fur dthdel'rue :it c amtiOo ; --
olomptly taken on board, after 71 days spent in the elven them moderate allowances and had from
boat. captain Wren, hies:tiler, and the stewardess speak time to Woe made them pre.. uts of money. His
in the highest ternis of the kindnes, shown them onboard i .irrespondenee, it vas urged, showed complete capacity
the steamer. As soon no Mr. Evans, the ship purveyor for dealing with business, with family matters, and orditudy
of Montevideo, heard the ieelasicholy details hettranfe tihPait anyll'itaheerpti ito 'sherasitt se e
his ctoontellronils Votameretdy
i ff a oomplete outht for each of the Itlrvivors whb left
the same evening Inc the Tropic for Ev gland. " if. dicanrtgd twit, €tz...:ud:l77:::', Bho'Kwc7v..ll-wi1.`;""...1 t re,ft":.
acienti, 1 c men" (says ins Montevideo correspomlest of in his habits, was tessnable of a:bossism( his real mind and
the BMWS A presMenderd) "could devise some nseana iesking a deliberate oral/
of guiviing against such cases of coal combustion on sea
eilflhg2Ttit'advoe,ticoTatt ,I,lel7,lL",74',2l:•4';:lictrtherii
as we have just recorded, it would be of great service. Inauwhe behaves In Ids lifetime with the enmity, childish.
No fewer than 20 vessels with Cardiff coal have bees, and caprice displayed by the Testator in this case has.
perished in this manner near our coasts within the last at least, no right to complain if lffs wishes are disregarded
few years. after his death. The Judge. moreover, expressed an opinion

might

.it least be
But it was
was legally

-rtah!ly,,

, been -Doe
Iterest to the
i sons, it was
supposition
leh as soak:

d
i'hgonltt-
,I.— I lnet tifit4t4

issuer acti--lor respotisibillty of crime, for
Marry, for capacity to contract, for eispacity
to give evidence—he had no hesitation in telling them
that the highest degree of all was required in order
to constitute capacity to make a testamentary disposition."
Such a doctrine, indeed, leads to some curious anomalies. It
meet be a matter of comparative unimportance to society
• bother property is left to one set of mile persons or another
set. Beta concerns society very nearly that property should
be at esthete ander the ooairol of ak Insane person. If a man
may marry, contract, and give evidence whEe labouring wider
such a degree of incapacity as to be unfit to make a
Will, It seems to follow that he may inflict the most
grievous injuries on others during Ids life, and be
prohibits,' only from continuing them after his death.
The injury, certainly, in the latter case may be
more irremediable, and we in DO way dispute the Judge's di.
reetion ; bat it obviously leaves the determination of a Tes-
tator's mental soundness subject to the opinion of Juries Ina
greater degree than in ordinary questions of legal sanity.
The Judge, however, was distinctly of opinion that this is
desirable. nl7 his °Makin that question leas an eminently
practical one, .be be decided by the good sense of men of
the world rather than by legal detinithms." The
old rules respecting the existence of delusions, the
absence of a discernment of right and wrong, or a
lack of distinct eciracioumets, May, it would seem, be here
suppemenfed by the practical sense of a jury. It must be
owned, indeed, that, hard as it may be to lay down a legal
definition of madness, there are few things less doubtful in
practice than the fact of a man being mad. A real
madman, however his alienation may be temporarily con-
cealed, has characteristics which, as we are at once
sensible, separate him completely from his kind But
the Judge seems to remove the question from this ground
when he says "it is one of degree." Such a view
seems, in short, to render the inquiry • very different one
from the investigstion of a criminal's sanity, thong h, perh spa,
there has been a tendency of late years to leave even that
question similarly open. It may be a good thing that
Testators should have before them the fear of such a
practical judgment being peeped on their conduct, but the
doctrine may impose upon Juries some grave perplexities.

great
it t,

oN hears
tinder s•-rint__
lug the fseilitiee
the crews engaged in
men hsving been pc
lug t,f their terms?

toning
_ NI have
of withdraw-
accorded

.1189 COlllO

, these gentle-
. in the keep-
thiP, and to the

sprung

ihoug)

either

continued altogether,' or should, at any rate, be
tranderred to the Henley course.
A MONBTER.—Tho Court of Assizes of the
Rhone has just tried a retired tradesman named
Montagny, aged 63, for the murder of his female
servant. The accused, who had acquired an
dependency as a sillimlercer, was a man of most
depraved morals, and had seduced several young women
who had been successively in his service. His last
domestic, named Ennemonde Martin, was far advanced
ia pregnancy by him, and, to avoid the embarrassment
of another illegitimate child, he made an appointment
with her to meet him at a relAred spot at some distance
fr.,m his house, and there cut her throat with one of
bio own ranowererbieb lie left by her side. When the
body was discovered he pretsinded that she had com-
mitted suicide. The trial lasted three days, and
ended in the man being sentenced to hard labour for
life.

IN TERROGATING • POST-- PIL LAE. —AtDurnfries
the other day, a young woman, evidently "from the
country," was seen standing with a very perplexed
air at one of the pillar letter boxes. She was observed
to knock several times on the top of the iron pillar,
and obtaining no response, she passed round to the
opposite side, and, raising the cover of the slit in
which letters are placed, she applied her month to the
apertme, and called out (or in), "Can ye let me bee a
postage stamp, if ye please ?"
ON THE SQUARE.—" An American," says
the Neie York Herald. "has discovered the means of
squaring a circle." 'We might doubt this, but that
Americana are thought to have squared is tebuigle—
not far from the Lake of Geneva.—Psosek.
EXECUTION OF • PARRICIDE.—Oztyard, the
young murderer, who killed his father in order to be-
corns a sole son of a widow, and thereby escape military
liability, has been executed at Limon, 'France. Up to
the last he was in hopes of a commutation, at the same
time stating that if the sentence was carried out he
would astonish the executioner and all by his resigna-
tion and composure. After dressing on the fatal morn-
ing he attended Divine service for his mother, wife,
and child, the two latter of whom died since the crime.
After the usual toilette he marched from the prison to
the scaffold with the most unprecedented calmness, and
made the executioner's work so comparatively pleasant
that Monsieur, an old nand at it, said henever bad such
a well-behaved patient. The wretched man was bare.
footed. Wbile under the scaffold, with a black cap
drawn over his face and a white shirt over his dress,
the sentence of death was once more read to him. He
then kissed the crucifix and bade all those present
farewell, expressing his hope that he should not "laud
in bell" on arrival. In less than one minute the aveng-
ing blade fell.
A MODEL MOORISH HOUSE FOE VIENNA.—
A letter from Tangier to the Gibraltar Chronicle
says
"On the 16th inst. Mr. fichaddl, the Mastro-Hungarian
Consul at Tangier, snipped from this port a model Moorish
house for Vienna, where It will douOtless form one of the
attractions of the Exhibition. The building Is of wood, 27
feet square by 20 feet high, and contains, in addition to the
entrance and the patio, or Moorish court, six rooms. It has
been most ingeniously designed by Mr. Schmidt, who had
many dilliculties to contend against; portions of the work
were executed at Fez and Tetuan; the time allowed was
lamentably insufficient: the workmen gave great trouble,
and, not contented with higher pay than is mar given In the
town of Tangier, actually resorted to a strike at a time when
Me loss of even a day was of vital importance. The minute
and delicate tracery in colour Is the handiwork eta painter
from Tetuan, Salmon Benshelrad, of whom Mr. Schraidl says
that his ingenuity and prolific invention are only equalled
by his steady application and unexceptional conduct. The
model is not intended to represent an ordinary Mood."' town
reel lence, but one of the country villas inhabited only by the
wealthy livers, such as may be seen on the outskirts of
Tetuan, Fez, and Morocco"
HORTICULTURE AND HYMEN.—" AS you have
made your bed, so you must lie upon it." "I shan't,"
replied the youthful bridegroom, to whom this obser-
vation was addressed by an aged relative. "I'm a
gardener."—Pu nch.
SHOCKING TRAGEDY IN MDMISSIPI. The
Vicksburg Herald, of the Bth of March, says :—" The
steamer R. B. Hurl arrived yesterday, and her officers
bring further particulars of the Rolling Fork flre and
bas of life. The store of Messrs. Bing and Moore was
destroyed by lire on Tuesday night. On Wednesday
morning the charred remains of Jesse Moore and Mrs.
Moore, Mr. Goodhue, and a child named Billy Jones,
were taken from the debris. The ekull of Mr. Moore
had been broken in across the forehead, evidently with
an axe, and the head of Mr. Goodhue had been almost
severed from his body, apparently also with an axe.
The bodies of Mrs. Moore and the child showed no
evidence of any wounds. Mr. Joe Tyng has been
missing, and it Is feared also that he has been foully
dealt with. The murdering of four or five persons and
the burning of a house te conceal the crime is enough,
of course, to arouse all sections of the country adjacent,
and intense excitement prevails."
AGED, BUT AFFABLS.—A Lady asked Mr.
Scrudgells it he liked children. "Don't know, Ma'am."
answered that crabbed old gentleman; "never tried
'em: am not an Ogre." On another occasion,
Sc udgelle remaoked that infants were not innocent..
"Quite the reverse," said Scrudgella. "A baby is a
crying evil"—Punch.
VERY STRANGE disagreeable phenomenon
has occurred in Virginia, and is described by a cone.
spondent writing from Matthews's Court house to the
Norfolk Journal with reference to an announcement
which appears in that paper of the death of Mrs. Silla
Summers. It seems that during the last momenta of
this lamented lady a few of the neighbours were sitting
in a lower chamber of the house consoling Mr. Sum-
mers, who was confined to his bed by rheumatism.
Mr. Summers was lying with his face towards the fire,
when Inddenly, with a faint smile, he asked his friends
to look in the fire and tell him if they observed any-
thing remarkable. They gazed, and one and allettered
a cry of astonishment, for there, on the face of a
charred log, was plainly traced in letters of fire, the
name of " Sills." With anxious looks the group
watched the log in silence, some hoping, some fearing
the significance of the omen. Soon one letter went
out, then another and another until the last disap-
peared, when simultaneously with Its extinction
there arose a burst of wailing from an upper chamber.
The last spark of life in Mrs. Sills. Summers went out
with the last letter of her name. This incident has
created much sensation in the neighbourhood, where
Mr. Summers, who still suffers severely from rheu-
matism, is highly respected.
ROSE CULTURE ON THE PEGGING-DOWN
Sesame—This system is eaaily understood. The shoots
made last summer are pegged down in spring near the
surface of the earth, while those thnt flowered last
summer are cut clean away. In like manner, the
pegged-down shoots that will flower throughout the
coming Benson will be cut away at next pruning time,
and the young shoots made this year from the central
parts of the tient will be pegged down in their turn.
By this system flowers and shoots seem to spring from
the leaf covered earth, and the pruning is !simplified ;
we have merely to cut away the old shoots that flowered
in the past year and peg down the young one', sborten •
ing and thinning these last as each variety may require.
This gives us a totally new set of fresh vigorous flower-
ing shoots every year. By the old system we had no
such advantage, and it was quite common to so badly
prune roses, by hacking away at old and new wood •
alike, that they hardly paid for root roone—le. E. B,
in the Garden.
SUICIDES IN PARIS.—The list of suicides in
Paris in one day is appalling. A lady in the Rue de
la Bapiniere strangled herself with a cord at eight
o'cleck in the morning, leaving every one in ignorance
of the cause of her fatal determination. At the same
hoar a man precipitated himself from the Austerlitz
bridge into the Seine. A printer followed his example
later on in the afternoon. Then a young man adopted
the strange method of throwing himself under the feet
of omnibus horses, and was, of course, mortally in-
jured. Two cases of death by deliberate guff( cation
took place, one being by a young man croesel in love.
The saddest of the eight deaths was, however, that of
two girls, young and poor, who, after dancing all night
at the ball of the Parisian "Florists," agreed quietly
to put an mid to their existence. One of these, Ange.
lique Lachenly, died f.,r the very ample reason that
she was tired of life. The other, Eugenie Hardy,
committed suicide from chagrin caused by &disappoint-
ment in love. Both these girls were only fifteen years
old.
INCLINING TO THE MERCIFUL !—lt seems im•
possible to get • murderer hanged in New York
(remarks the correspondent of The Times). Foster,
the " cer-hook " murderer, has been reprieved, and
such a strong pressure has been brought to bear upon
the Governor that his sentence will probably be con:-
invited. Stokes, !sentenced to be hanged also, ha. hsol
his execution stayed, and hie neck will be saved by
legal quibbles. Scannel was tried last week for one of
the neat brutal murders of the time—he butchered
Loma:tie, his foe, in the street in a manner that has
made him notorious on both sides of the Atlantic.
lusaeity, as usual, was the defence; and, as usual, the
Jury would not agree. Ifere are three murderers,
guilty. of notorious crimes, whose lives at the tires
of their commission of the offence seemed tel be tontine
monody demanded as the only atonement for the out
!aged law, and whom wilful intent to kill their victims
is not even new doubted, yet none of them is to Ins
hanged. In I'oster's cam, the widow of his victim is
among those suing for mercy at the feet of Governor
Dix. The New York Tribune has been urging the
abolition of capital punishment in New York. Some
People think it is already abolished.
AN F. e n su wom see 's EXPERIENCE IN AN
A eleTtledti CAR. —Journeying fro om Bleton t 0 Washing-
ton, t he authoress had her berth made into a bed, and,
divesting herself of her outer garments, retired behind
the certain and slept till daybreak. (We are quoting
from Harper's Werkly.) "I knew," she proceeds,
"hat at each end of the sleeping car there was a
toilet-room, white marble biomass, end washing para-
phernalia. I put my head out between the opening
of the curtain to Bee if the plane was tuaoccupied, when,
to my amazement, what should meet nay eye, all the
way up and down the narrow corridor, but stockinged
—no, I mean socked—feet struggling into boots of the
most decidedly masculine persuasion.' As I was CAM-
teinplating the possibility of threading my way through
this novel, living hedge, 1 came to the knowledge that
I was the only lady in the car, and that, unknown and
unprotected, I had been passing the night in the most
I ignorant and reckless security with about twenty inen !
In any other country tub; discovery would have been
horrifj ing in itself, and extremely disagreeable in es
results • but, short as my experience of American
I elevate; had been, it was quite suflicient far me to
krow that I had ablsolutely nothing to feel uncom-
fortable about. Most of the gentlemen did me the
honour to ignore my presence completele, thereby
making me feel very much assured; theme that did set
neither stared nor spoke; but, as Shoe-train slackened
at the Jersey City Station, two ef -them helped me
clown the eteps and platform, and, one tailing my
shawl, and the other my band-bag, and, 'Allow me,
11 madam, to ern you to the ferry,' whither they lICCJITIs
I parried me, and bowed themselves off."— efarner''
Weekly.

-/ViTot unreaArb-le THE num D Dom—The Mon
apparently Inane Post hears that the heads af the two Universities '
,t at lea",
-a, 8. dons consideration the propriety of wits
which have hitherto been A'
.(t in the annual boat.rate,
permitted great latitude
s. Having regard to this
betting which has of late
;IA 0 'e should