The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-01-18 00:00:00

filisctllantons
ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

DEATHS FROM COLD IN FRANCS—An old
man named Couturier, 103 years of age, has just died
at Roche-las Moliere, from the effects of cold. He
was well-to-do in the world, but no miserly that he
denied himself common necessaries, and when, upon
bring missed, his door was forced open, he was found
extended on his bed with only an old goat skin for
covering, and frozen to death. He leaves several
SHIP, the eldest of whom is more than eighty. Several
other deaths from the cold are reported. The rural
postman of Fontenay-sur-Bois, named Francois, was
found completely frozen in a field which he was in the
habit of crossing. He had all his letters and money
with him untouched. On the road from Sureties to
Nanterre a soldier belonging to the garrison at Mont
Valerien was frozen to death. He had got drunk and
laid down, and the cold killed him. A young man has
ate leen discovered frozen to death in a third.class
caniage at Clsoisy-leeltoy, the train goinz to o,leatis
Aa he could not be identified the body was brought to
the Morgue at Paris.

SHOCKING DEATH. —An inquest has been held at
Brighton on the body of William Tribe, a tailor, aged
52 who came by his death under the following annum-
:winces :

Ou riday morning, shortly before eight o'clock, he got up
and went into the back yard. and soon alter he had done so
his family thought they heard a noise there. After he hail
been absent half an hour his son made search for him, and
It WAR then seen that the cesspool at the hack of the house
had fallen in. On listening, faint groans could he heard
coming from beneath, but as the hole was GO feet deep and
of peculiar formation, immediate assistance could not be
rendered. At last a labourer, named Penfold, volunteered
to descend, at the imminent risk of his own life. He found
the unfortunate deceased dead at the bottom, in • sitting
posture, and all but completely covered with eewage and
water. It appeared that the crown of the well Awl been
gradually undermined by moiature, and It had, no doubt,
given way when deceased was passing over it. It was said
that deceased had drawn his landlord's attention to the sub-
sidence of the paving in the yard, but 110 immediate danger
had been apprehended.
The jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death."
Both coroner and jury highly complimented' Tenfold
upon the bravery he had displayed.
BABY-GANGERS.—Mr. Benson Baker, one of
the Poor.law medical oflicere of Marylebone, London,
has under his present charge one of the children who
survived the care of Mrs. Jageer. anti who, he PflyP,
in something over three years old (nays the British
Merlin? Journal). This child, three years old, was
employed by the proprirtren• as • gaffer err ganger over
the younger babiee. His duties were to sit up in the
'middle of the bed with eight other babies round him,
and the moment any one of them awoke to put the
bottle to their mouth; he was also to keep them quiet,
and generally to superintend them. This baby-gauger

has quite the appearance of an "old bind;" he is
imelligent beyond his yea" quite grave and thought-
ful. He knows all about • Mother Jagger" and her
dings; also about the "old babies" being i!?t in the
box, and " new babies" being brongld. by Mother
Jagger." When the baby-gauger wai qiit officially
employed, he was tied in a little chair (he cannot
walk) and placed beside the Ere. One day "Mother
Jagger" hail a "drop of gin," so his baby informant
tells Mr. Baker, and the baby ganger fell into the tire,
and as he was tied into the chair he wild wit crawl
away, and "Mother Jagger" was powerless to help
Inns. Ills pinafore caught fire, burnt the ends of
four of his lingem off one hand, and partially destroyed
the muscles on the innendile id the other arm. This
baby will thus be more or less in capacitated from ever
earning a living.
_

•
DIEITRESN IN FRANCIL—Very Sad tidings reach
us from every part of France. The trade and 1111M111-
factures of Lyons are paralysed by a variety of
causes, in which the uncertainty prevailing as to the
political future have no small share. Hunger and
destitution are making sad havoc among the opera-
tives at Nantes, Rosen, and Roubaix ; and even in
Bordeaux, where the mildness of the climate generally
does away with one cause of suffering, the destitution
is painfully manifest. So dense are the throngs of
famishing operatives that besiege the Hotel de Ville,
clamouring for bread or employment, that the guards
had to be doubled. At Lille starvation is endemic,
and no one who has visited that city, even in pros-
perous times, can remember without &shudder the caves,
cellars, abject dens in which the manufacturing "hands'
find a ref lige. In Paris the distress is very great,
but private and public benevolence is more active.
A Poou Phosruc-r !—The following lines on
hippophagy tome from the pen of that perennial
joker, Mr. Charles Matthews :
_

If horseflesh won't eutllve to feed the masses,
The next resource will certainly lie asses:
And Ilea,eti only knows where that will end !
Some people won't have left a single friend.

- -
INCOMPATIBILITY oF TEMPER.—The reports of
difficulties between Senator Sumner and his wife are
fully confirmed, and they have finally agreed to
separate. The New York Home Journal says :
The direct cause of this separation is simply the certainty
—discovered only too late—that there exists between the
parties an incompatibility of temperament mr.: opinion upon
certain social questions which precludes the possibility of
their living happily together as man and wife.

BRIGAND BARBARITIRS,—A man named To-
masa° Guiliani was captured last week by the band of
Angelone and Fontana. The unfortunate individual,
for not having paid the ransom demanded, has been
barbarously wounded and mutilated. One evening
when the band was drunk or asleep he managed to
escape and to return to his family at San Stefano. He
had one ear cut off, two nivolver balls in his arm, and
various cuts on his neck and breast, besides bruises all
over his holy. lie had been kept constantly on
Pontifical territory, between Subteen and Cervaro,
where the band received all kinds of supplies in money
and victuals.

A SAD END !—Mrs. Milliard, the wife of an
old member of the Hereford police force, has been
strangled by an apron string at the Abergavenny Joint
Counties Lunatic Asylum, of which she was an inmate.
An inquest has been held at which an attendant said
she found Mrs. Mullanl strangled in bed when she
went to take her tea; her forehead was also bruised.
The house surgeon said he found a rib broken and a
double mark round the neck from two cords. It was
also stated in evidence that the apron found on Mrs.
Mullard's neck belonged to another patient. who said
that, hearing Mrs. Mullard "praying to God,'" she
thought she woul I send her to Him at once." Medical
evidence proved that the pour woman could not have
strangled herself, but the jury returned a verdict that
" deceased died from suffocation, but how caused there
was no evidence to show."

TIIE PUFF DIRECT —The following grand,
eloquent hit of puffing is being banded about all over
Lyons

Angels of the Hearth ! Soldiers, Defenders of
France Do you wish to shine, polish, brighten—easily—
your helmets, breastplates, saucepans, and kettles? Then
take the Chemical Tripoli—nothing but Chemical Tripoli
Name and address annexed.

Iffie coupling of the "angels of the hearth" with the
"defenders of France' is ifideed a master-stroke, and
it is certainly hot the cooks that will find fault with it.
THE WET BLANK ET.—lt is in the power of one
individual of this species to spoil the fun of as many
as half.wdezen comfortably-disposed guests; for it is
in small assemblies that his power is so terribly felt
(remarks the Cornhill Magazine). When he makes
one of a large party it does not matter so much, al he
can then only exercise his clammy influence over one
or two sufferers in his immediate vicinity; but in a
small gathering the presence of such a one is positively
fatal. It is curious to observe' on such occasions, how
gradually but surely he affects the spirits of those with
whom he is brought in contact. He is always tacitly
at variance with the rest of the company. Si °nines
COO ?ton amine to be his motto. If they laugh, he is
as grave as an undertaker. If they are interested, he
is bored. He will not talk, neither will he listen; or,
if he does, it is with many unmistakable indications of
apathy and unbelief—a quality, this last, which he
seems, indeed, to take every opportunity of making
manifest. He sneers when other people talk, and if
he does open his mouth at all it Is generally to colt.'
traffict. A terrible personage this, who would be
sufficiently formidable even if he came single•handed
into the social field; but he seldom does so, being
generally accompanied by a wife, who takes her tone
from her husband (being much afraid of him), and so
manages to diffuse, as it were' the moisture which
comes from the original blanket, and assists materially
in damping the spirits of the assembled company.
A NEW YEAR'S letter from Rome
says that Count de Sartig,.a has received for a New
Year's gift from some anonymous friend a fine en-
gras lug, representing Germany in the form of a woman,
guarding the banks of the Rhine. Below is the seal
of the Roman municipality in black wax, and the
following inscription :
The first day of the year.
To his Majesty Napoleon 111, Emperor of the French,
The It.lll/0111
- -

.......
In the name of the patriots massacred at Rome and Mentana
Lower down are these words:—" Exoriare aliquis
noatria de oasibna triton"

AN IRISH DIVORCE SUIT.— A suit for a divorce
on the ground of adultery and cruelty has been insti-
tuted by Mrs. Selina Elizabeth Bastahle, against Mr.
Henry Bastable, a solicitor, who lately lived in Bagged-
street, Dublin. The parties were married in 1856.
It appeared that he got into some pecuniary difficulties,
and, proceedings having been threatened against him
by a firm in Belfast for whom he was; acting as town
agent, he left the country and went to America. On
examining the papers which he left hurriedly behind,
his wife discovered a correspondence which ishow, d
that an intimacy existed with a lady residing in
Dublin, and evidence was given to prove that he fre-
quently visited her house. The Court pronounced a
decree dissolving the marriage.
HEAT WITHOUT COAL—Recent scientific dis-
coveries should do much to lessen the alarm of those
who fear the exhaustion of our coal-fields. Mr. Pond,
of Newark, U.S., remarks that economists have
speculated on the poseible discovery of some method of
producing heat independent of coal, and the decom-
position of water has been regarded as a probable ex-
pedient. With our present knowledge and appliances
it appears not to be difficult to realise this proposition,
even in competition with coal—at least in a small way.
The agents az e obvious— wind-power, a magneto-
electric machine, oxygen and hydrogen gasholders, and
the electrolysis of water. The result would be that
oxygen and hydrogen would be available for the pro-
duction of heat which would be required. For use in
the arts the oxy-hydrogen furnace would, of course,
I for advantages far above any other known, and re-
sults could be reached impossible with the lower tem-
perature of the coal tire, while the flame would be free
from deleterious substances common to coal. Owing
to its gaseous form, and the intensity of its heat, this
fuel would be manageable in tuaztywaym impracticable
with coal. For instance: seams could lai hard-soldered
with great rapidity with the jet of the compound
blow-pipe, and it is probable that the joints of steam-
boilers could be heated for welding in a suitable oxy•
hydrogen jet.

PRINCKSS SALM-SALM.—The New York Herald,
of the 28th ult. has the following

Princess Satre-Palm leaves New-York to-day, we under-
Storni, by the cleanser Ville de Paris, to rejoin her hmsband
in Europe. the life of this lady boatmen so full of incidents,
and in late years so eventful, that if she were to write and
publish her "Memoirs " they would rival those of the most
celebrated penonagea. Aside from the interest that would
attach to the recital of her experiences in ilavanisah, New
York, and Washington, there would be an historical value to
her stories of camp life in the army of the Potomac during
our late civil war, and especially to her atones of court life,
camp life, and prison life in Mexico So tragic were the
events with which she was intimately associated during the
closing scenes of the Mexican empire, and such noble,
although unavailing, efforts did she make to save the life of
the Emperor Maximilian, and so effectually did she labour
to secure the releaae of her husband and of other Imperial
°Meer., that her name has become prominently familiar to
the public on both sides of the Atlantic.

BEING TAKEN CARE OF !—SOIIIO time ago it
transpired that the boilers of a steam engine at the
Sheffield workhouse were placed under the charge of a
lunatic. It came out last week that the infants at the
Wigan workhouse are nursed and 'taken care of"
by an imbecile. The revelation was made at a
coroner's inquest. The imbecile, a girl of seventeen,
had mashed an infant of nine months in scalding hot
water, and had literally wiped its boiled flesh off with
a jack•towel. The child of course died, and a coroner's
jury have returned a verdict of manslaughter—not
against the workhouse authorities% but against the
haplesi imbecile. It was explained during the inquiry
that there were three other nurses in the " House
two of them old women of eighty, and the other a girl
who "was not right."
KILLED IN WAR.—The American Surgeon-
... • . ••

General reports to the 'Minister at War that the pre.
else number of white soldiers officially known to have
been killen on the Northern side during the Civil War
is 244,747, besides nearly :10,000 negroes. Moreover,
208,000 soldiers are known to have been wounded and
disabled in the war. According to the calculation
given, based on the French conserivtnin, the able
bodied men in the North between 20 and 40, and tit
for war, number just 2,000,000. One-eighth of these,
therefore, were killed, and nearly another eighth
wounded and disabled.

SLEDGES IN PAR—IS.—The Paris correspondent
of the Morning Post says:—
.

•- Sledges have units this winter been more numerous than
formerly; some of them are fantastic and even artistic in
thcir deceiratiOns. The demianonae, as usual, take the lead
in this locomotive novelty their sledges are sometimes
adorned with • carehilly.modellel swan, flying cupids,
grotefique dragons, and such conceits as appear to have their
Ongin in Ruesian models. The lair drivers adopt coquettish
hats and expensive furs, and certainly obtain the main object
In view, namely, conspicuous notoriety. The carriages of
Site aristocracy, drive round the frozen waters, and in ele-
rod. toilettes the ladles walk down to the borders of to
he and watch the animated scene. The Emperor and the
orurt visit the Beni de Boulogne daily. The Seine cintiones
to preent the same so,, v•white aspect, and the thickness of
the ice has considerably increased.
A SEAMAN'S DKATII.—Mr. Swaineon, the Ad-
miralty coroner at Portsmouth, has lido an rithuini
, inquiry on board her lkfaj..sty's ship Minotaur, along-
side Portemouth dockyard, into Ole gauss of the demi,
of Witham Brook, a seaman of that ship, who died
from injuries received by falling on the ship's upper ,

, deck folio aloft From the evidense taken, and in
paricillar from that given by the captain of the main
I top, it appears that one of the ratlines oti the lower
main rigging. had been earned away by the main
sail yardarm in lowering the yard from aloft. When
, the men afterwards came down on deck from the mam•
top, the ileceitarod followed next to Cuniiiiighaui, the
captain .of the top. The latter saw the ratline gone
from the shrouda, and avoided the gao, but before he
had time to warn the man following him the deceased
was falling through feet forene it, and fell on the
upper deck, a diataner of forty feet, striking the deck
first with his feet in the position in which he-feli,
thr• ugh the gap in the rigging. He died in little more
than an hour from the time of the accident, from
shock to the spine and concussion of the brain, The
Jury returned a verliet of "Accidental death." It is
a remarkable fact that not a bone was broken by the
fall, nor any outward marks visible on the body. The
deceased was one of the smartest of the Minotaur's
fine crew of seamen, and was universally ',Triter' by
every officer and man in the ship. He had taken no
leave ashore since the return in the ship to Fortamouth
from her summer's cruise, but had obtained leave tor
fourteen days, to commence in about a week's time,
for the purpose of being married.
_

Flt-MEI-NO" IREILA-ND.-111 a recent speech at
Boston, United States, Mr. G. F. Train said :

Mr. Powers Is on the stage, one of the rescuers of Kelly,
who has just arrived from Manchester. I ask li m, are there
more men ready to t tke his place ;meaning the places of
O'Brien, Larkin, and'Allen; ? Yes, 300 as ready to die. Look
at Clerkenwell ; what if twenty innocent people tied? We
killed a million for the negro. (Cries of "That's sn.", Let
them die man by man so that Ireland is free. Avers..
POOR GIRL !—A singular case of neglect has
been the subject of inquiry at the Devon County
Lunatic Asylum. It appears that on Saturday last •
young woman was observed at the St. David's Rail-
way Station, Exeter, acting in a very singular manner.
, The officials questioned her, when she stated that she
hail been an inmate of the County Lunatic Asylum,
and was then on her way to her home at Crowys
Morchard. She was brought to the station in a cab,
accompanied by a 'keeper." The, latter, however,
had left her alone on the platform. stating that he
would come back directly, but he had not fulfilled his
promise ; she was penniless and knew not how to reach
her home. She also stated thatthe keeper had accom-
panied her from Dawlish. If she went to the work-
house she would be sent to the asylum where she
would not get her discharge till the visiting justices
met. The station officials and the cabmen believing
the woman's story, subscribed sufficient to pay her
fare to Tiverton, 2s. 7d., and to put 24. into her
pocket. She appeared quite incapable of taking care
of herself, and a porter was sent with her to her
journey's em!.
EASY WAY OF EARNING MONEY! The
Philadelphia correspondent of The Times writes :

Mr. Charles Dickens evidently has confidence in the
American 5-20 Bonds. Mr. Dolby, his agent, has been in
Wall-street lately, investing considerable sums in these
bonds—the profits he has already secured from his American
readings. Mr. Dickens reads in New York this week. Ilia
welcome is as enthusiastic as ever, and all the seats for every
reedit,: now announced are sold, lie can crowd the largest
halls in the country for an interminable period with admiring
listeners, and were he to stay five years in America, could
earn at least 8,000 dole. net profit every week. Mr. Dickens
himself is pleased with the welcome given him, and says it
has surpassed his most extravagant expectation..

A MELANCHOLY EVENT. —A story is told of a
lady being very nearly buried alive at Pansy laet week.
She was a young married woman, and was far
advanced in a pregnancy during which she had been
ILL On Wednesday in last week she Wan seized with
a lethargy which terminated in apparent death. She
wag laid out in a coffin, and a hearse was at the door
waiting to convey her to the cemetery, when her hus-
band said he was not satisfied that she wag really
dead. In consequence of his determined opposition to
the interment three medical men were called in, and a
physician of Auteuil. They found that her heart was
beating, and moreover that she wan making efforts,
though they were weak and almost imperceptible, to
give birth to a child. In their presence a child was
born, but dead. The coffin and hearse •were sent
away. The poor lady, howeyer, never aecovered con-
sciousness. The physicianetvio justified the despair-
ing doubts of a fond husband by certifying and proving
that she was alive remained to certify her death, and
she wan buried at the Auteuil Cemetery, a great
crowd of the inhabitants of Pasey attending the
funeral.

ILL-TREATING A CHILD.—A wealthy farmer
Mr. Joseph Hankins, and his wife, who live at
Almely. in Herefordshire. have been fined (including
costs, £9 19a. 6d.) for assaulting and beating Sarah
Ann Baker, a child twelve years old, who was taken
by them out of the Wcobley workhouse in March last.
The child, in giving evidence, said that during hay-
making time Mr. Hankins beat her with a horsewhip,
and lett severe marks- At apple-picking he again beat
her with a riding-whip, cut her head against the stair-
post, made her nose bleed, and she had run away from
him six times through his cruelty. On another day
he pulled her hair, kicked her on the hip, and knocked
her over the pump trough. During haymaking time
Mrs. Hankins struck her on the head with a shoe
brush and made the blood flow. She then cut her
across the shoulders with a holly stick. Another time
her mistress put her to bed, and heat her with a lady's
whip. • Charles Hankins, had heat her
with a birch in an indecent manner ; his mother told
him to do so. Sarah Ann Morgan swore that she saw
tile child put in the pump trough and Hankins was
going to pump on her.

ONLY TO FRIGHTEN HIM !—A great COMORO-
Con has been caused at the Paints de Justice, in Paris,
by the attempted ateassination of M. Rety, a well
known avow (atturnte) It appears that, tome
months ago, this gentleman was employed by one of
his clients to take certain legal measures against
B—, a retired baker. On the affairs being decided
against the tradesman, he conceived an inveterate and
determined dislike to M. Rety, lodged sonic ridiculous
and unfounded complaints against him, and never let
pass an opportunity of insulting and menacing him.
One morning, having called at the attorney's office,
and not having obtained admission, the vindictive
baker went to the Palais de Justice, where he was seen
looking about as if in search of some one, then out
again on to the bridge, where he took up his stand.
In a few minutes M. Rety came across with one of
his friends, and B ruched behind him, discharged
a two-barrelled pistol at him, but, fortunately missed.
The man, who was instantly surrounded by the by-
standers, and taken into custody, persists in declaring
that he only wished to frighten the attorney, and that
the pistol was not loaded with shot; however, that
seems doubtful, as both barrels had burst.

TOMBSTONE COMPLIMENTS !—We expect to see
a pereon's virtues enumerated in his epitaph, but the
following unheard-of virtue appears on a tombstone in
the Montmartre Cemetery :