The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-02-13 00:00:00

EPITOME OF NEWS:

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

The Re?. j. A. Bonser, vicar of Shillington, finding
that, owing to scarcity of work and poverty amongst
the parishioners, the children coming to the Board Schools
were insufficiently fed, has adopted the plan of pro-
viding, for all willing to accept it, a substantial
breakfast of oatmeal porridge and milk half an hour
before the school opens. Every morning between 60
and 70 hungry little ones assemble, and seem to ap-
preciate thoroughly the wholesome meal.
Despite official denials, it is emphatically stated that
the details as recently published of the discovery of a
Nihilist plot in St. Petersburg are perfectly true. It
was through this discovery and the seizure of papers
which followed, that some of the prime movers in the
Nihilist organisation have been traced and apprehended.
In St. Petersburg itself, whole families continue to be
arrested on suspicion of being connected with the
revolutionary organisation.
Mr. Chaplin has addressed a letter to a newsnaper
denying a statement which had been made to the effect
that he had declared that he did not believe in
allotments. He says that he holds quite an opposite
opinion, and believes that allotments would prove an
unmixed good to agricultural labourers. He does not,
however, believe that allotments would do anything
whatever to remove agricultural depression.
The New York tramcar drivers, after two weeks of
negotiation with the managers for a reduction of the
duration of their daily labour to 12 hours, finding that
they could obtain no satisfaction, struck work, and the
trams ceased running on several lines. Such a general
expression of public sympa4hy with the men on strike,
combined with complaints of inconvenience, followed,
that the managers quickly granted the men's dem -ad.
Some 1800 went out, but work has already been re-
sumed.
The body of a railway carpenter, named Porter, was
found on the lire rear Spalding on Friday morning
in a fearfully mutilated condition two legs and on'
arm being out off, and the head smashed and unre-
cognisable.
Colonel Clery has been appointed Chief of the Staff
of the British forces in Egypt, in place of 1111i.or- General
Flood, who has been transferred to the Divisional com-
mand at Poonah.
Public attention is much occupied in Melbourne with
the Franco-German agreement mentioned in the last
German White-book, whereby Germany undertakes to
do nothing to hinder the eventual taking possession by
France of the New Hebrides. The Victorian Govern-
ment has telegraphed to Mr. Murray Smith, its Agents
General in London, for further information on the sub-
ject, at the same time pointing out the necessity of
representations to France in order to obtain renewed
assurances from that country of non-intervention in
the New Hebrides.
The debate on M. Rochefort's bill for granting an
amnesty to all political prisoners came on on Saturday
in the Chamber of Deputies. M. Be Freycinet de-
clared that he could not agree to the proposal, and
appealed to the Chamber to express by its vote its
agreement with the views of the Government on the
subject. The motion to proceed with the discussion of
the clauses of the bill was ultimately rejected by 347
votes against 116, and the bill,was therefore lest.
- After a trial at Roinelasting four days, the prisoners
Marini, Albini, Demartino, and several others, charged
wish being concerned in a Republican conspiracy
to overthrow the Government, were acquitted on
Saturday.
The Portuguese Minister to France, on Saturday,
presented autograph letters from the King and Queen
of Portugal to the Count and Countess de Paris,
formally requesting the hand of their daughter, Prin-
cess Marie Amelie, for the Crown Prince of Portugal,
the union having already been agreed to on both sides.
The Count and Countess at once replied to their majes-
ties, giving their consent. The marriage will take
place at Lisbon.
The body of a farmer named Michael Creggan, who
resided at Forkhill, where the recent agrarian murder
I took place, and who disappeared on Christmas evening,
has been found in the Newry Canal. The body was
much disfigured, and there was a deep wound on the
top of his head, which leads to the belief that the
deceased met with foul play.
I On Saturday, at Listowel Sessions five persons were
convicted of riot and assaulting a bailiff at Bawnmore
on Jan. 7 last, three of them being sentenced to three
weeks' imprisonment, and the other two fined.
On Saturday, at the Herts Assizes, Frederick Bell,
tailor, who was convicted on Friday of unlawfully
wounding his daughter at Hitchin, on Nov. 25, 1885,
was brought up and sentenced by Mr. Justice Hawkins
to five years' penal servitude. At the same court,
Henry Johnstone, aged 60, who has undergone sen-
tences of eight and twelve years' penal servitude, was
sentenced to a further term of five years for obtaining
a cheque from Robert Fowler, of Waltham Abbey, for
£l2 10s. by fraud.
From Brussels it is reported that at Maxenzele, a
small Belgian village, a peasant named Buyy murdered
his wife, two of his children, his brother-in-law, and his
slate. in-law.

At Nottingham Assizes on Friday, Elizabeth Harris,
wife of a collier at liirbp-in-Ashfield, was ordered .by
Justice Manisty to be detained during her Majesty's
pleasure, she being insane and unfit to plead to an in-
dictment charging hor with the wilful murder of her
infant, whom she placed before the fire and slowly
roasted to death.

_
On Saturday afternoon the Duke and Duchess of
Connaught and the Princesses Louise and Beatrice
visited Bagshot to be present at the unveiling of the
east window of St. Ann's Church, which they have had
filled up with stained glass depicting the Crucifixion,
"to the glory of God and the memory of the Duke of
Albany.' The Duchess of Albany was likewise present,
as well as a large congregation of the leading clergy
and laity of the district. The officiating clergy were
the Rev. Pendarves Lory, the vicar, Canon Duckworth,
and the Dean of Windsor. After the religious cere-
mony the Duke of Connaught unveilad the window.
The Dean of Windsor then delivered an appropriate
address.
On Saturday night a most alarming fire occurred in
the extensive flour mills belonging to the Incorporation
of Bakers, Glasgow, situated on the left bank of the
river Kelvin. Before the fire engines arrived on the
scene, the flames had a complete hold of the building,
and although there was a copious supply of water, both
from the main pipes and the river, the firemen could
not subdue the flames until the once four-storey mill
was a smouldering heap of ruins, the walls having
fallen in. Several firemen had some very narrow
escapes. The glare of the conflagration was seen over
the whole of the city. The mill was stocked with flour
at the time of the outbreak, and the damage is esti-
mated at between £25,000 and 00,000, covered by in-
surance. _

Returns for the last month show a serious diminu-
tion in the quantity of coal sent from Yorkshire col-
lieries to Hull-84,872 tons having been despatched as
against 100,686 tons in January, 1885. The quantity
exported from Hull, too, was only 25,208 tons, as com-
pared with 34,911 tons in the corresponding month of
last year.
During the past few days there has been a most un-
usual departure of grouse from Yorkshire. Within
three hours as many as 500 birds were seen in the
neighbourhood of Leeds, the severity of the weather
being supposed to cause their migration. Many dead
ones have been picked up on the North-Eastern Rail-
way, evidently haying been killed by the telegraphic
wires. The direction taken was from N.E. to S.W. A.
ft w were shot.

In charging the grand jury at the Liverpool assizes
on Monday, Mr. Justice Day said the calendar,
considering the population of the district in which the
assizes were held, was a creditable one. At the same
time, crimes of violence, particularly on children of
tender age, were becoming very frequent in populous
places, and his lordship regretted that judges had not
power of imposing corporal punishment for those
offences, instead of being compelled to send offenders
to prison for very long terms.
The men on strike in the Pennsylvania coke region
created a riot at Broadford, attacking the Henry Clay
Colliery, where some miners were working. The latter
were driven off, their foreman was fatally wounded and
others were injured. The buildings were fired and
partially burnt. An " ugly " feeling is prevalent
throughout the coke region.
An Englishman, suspected of a serious fraud in
Australia, was arrested at Stuttgart some weeks ago.
He now turns out to be the secretary of a wcrkman's
bank at Adelaide, who had embezzled a sum of 250,000
marks. The authorities in England have applied for
his extradition.
M. Aksakoff, the well-known journalist and leader
of the Slavophile Party in Russia, died the cther
day.
Mr. F. J. Williamson, of Esher, has finished the bust
of Princess Beatrice which he was commissioned to
execute for the Queen, and has repeated it on a smaller
scale for the Princess. The former will probably ho
placed in Buckingham Palace.
The sale of the Rev. Paxton Hood's library has been
concluded by a firm of London auctioneers, about £620
being realised for the 1038 lots, averaging about 20
volumes each.

Colonel P. Fitz. Roy, who took part in the relief of
Lncknow by Lord Clyde in the Indian Mutiny, has been
selected for the command of the Ist Battalion

Northumberland Fusiliers.

The pastorate of the important Welsh Calvinistic
Methodist Church, in New Jewin.street, London, so
long vacant by the removal of the Rev. D. Charles
Davies, M. A., to Bangor, has at length been filled, the
Rev. J. E. Davies, M.A., B.Sc., of Llanelly, having
accepted a call to the pastorate.
At an early hour on Tuesday morning a tradesman
named Wood, residing in the neighbourhood of Hanley,
Staffordshire, was awakened by hearing a disturbance
in his shop. On going down with a light he was
attacked by three burglars, one of whom he courageously
seized, but receiving a severe blow on the head in a
desperate fight he was compelled to liberate him. A
passer-by, coming to his rescue, was similarly treated.
The men escaped, but were pursued by the police, and
one arrest was made.
The bayonets in use by the troops at Dover Castle
were tested on Tuesday morning, the result being
that a large number were found to be defective. Some
of them, it is stated, completely doubled up when the
test was applied.
A despatch from Guayaquil states that President
Caamano was attacked by his political opponents at
Yaguachi on the night of the 6th inst., when one of
his aides de camp was killed. The President himself
succeeded in escaping to Guayaquil, where a fresh
mêlée ensued, in which the chief of the police and
three men were killed, and several others wounded.
A dense fog prevailed over the Metropolis on Tuesday
morning. Gas had to be used in nearly all the places
of business and private dwellings, and vehicular traffic
was carried on with much , difficulty, while the steam-
boats belonging to the London Steamboat Company
were unable to run. Several of the trains on the
suburban lines were slightly behind their time on their
arrival at the City and West-end stations.
Joseph Baines, who was sentenced to death at the
recent Lancaster Assizes for the murder of his wife at
Barrow-in-Furness, was hanged on Tuesday morning at
eight o'clock in Lancaster Castle.
A colour-sergeant of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers,
named Williams, stationed at Fermoy, has shot him-
self in the barrack•room. The bullet passed through
his chin and head, and his rifle was found near his
body.

The Home Minister at the Hague has suspended a
clerk in his department for propagating the views of
the Social Democratic party.
Early on Sunday morning there was a subsidence in
the main line of the North British Railway near Pres-
tonpans. The East Coast train from London, due in
Edinburgh about six o'clock, was detained for nearly
an hour and a half till repairs were made.
A memorial tablet to Carlyle, consisting of a medal-
lion portrait and inscription, was fixed at 49, Cheyne-
walk, Chelsea, on Saturday. Carlyle's house in
Cheyne-row is now in Chancery, and difficulties in
setting up the tablet there were accordingly ex-
perienced.
The serious fall in the revenue of the Gloucester
Cathedral has necessitated an official announcement
from the dean that there will be an offertory at the
close of all Sunday services for the maintenance of
the cathedral.

The Earl of Iddesleigh has complied with a request
of the Edinburgh University Conservative Association
to allow himself to be put in nomination in Noven,ber
next as a candidate for the Rectorship of the ULii.er-
sity.
The emigration from Europe of those aspiring to the
Mormon faith has practieally been stopped by toe
hostile legislation against Brigham Young's folio sets
undertaken by Congress.
A girl, named Margaret Brown, aged 15, residing with
her parents at 17, Ceylon-road, Hammel smith, L
committed suicide on Sunday morning. At three
o'clock in the morning a brother found the deceased in
a closet in an insensible condition, with a bottle
containing carbolic acid solution by her side.
A policeman was called, and she was con-
veyed to the West London Hospital, where
she died about a quarter of an hour after she wail
admitted. The deceased had been out later than usual,
and the family, becoming alarmed at her absence,
searched the house, with the above result. It is
supposed that she had slipped into the house when the
inmates were asleep.
While thiee boys were playing in a small boat on
the Suir on Sunday, one of them named Cloglan, aged
about ten years, fell out into the river, and a comrade
named Walsh, in attempting to rescue him, also got
into the water. Both were drowned.

A constable on duty in the Kennington Park-road,
London, was attracted to No. 7 on Sunday morning,
about nine o'clock, by seeing a woman climbing out of
the top floor front window. The officer immediately
ran to the house, but before he arrived the woman
threw herself out and fell to theground. She was picked
up insensible, and having been placed in a cab was
taken by him to Guy's Hospital. On being examined
by one of the house surgeons she was found to be dead,
having sustained fractures of both legs and several
ribs, besides having received severe internal injuries.
Her son states that he discovered his mother a few
minutes previously trying to get out of the window,
but prevented her, and it was during his temporary
absence to tell his father of her attempt that she
leaped out.
Prince Alexander Torlonia, head of the rich banking
family of that name, is dead. He drove out on Sunday
afternoon, but owing to;the bad state of the weather re-
turned home by three o'clock. Five minutes later the
Prince expired.
A farmer named Hayward was charged at Sleaford,
on Monday, with corrupt practices, by discharging
from his employ a labourer named Beckett, for voting
for the Liberal candidate for the Sleaford Division.
The case was withdrawn on the defendant paying com-
pensation.
The unveiling of the statue of the eminent physiolo-
gist, Claude Bernard, took place on Sunday morning at
the College de France. A lady dressed in mourning
testified to her connection with the Society for the
Prevention of Vivisection by hissing, and she was
quietly turned out by the ushers.
A singular fatal accident occurred on Sunday morn-
ing to Charles Jones at St. Peter's Church, Stanton
Larey, near Ludlow. Whilst ringing the church bell,
the rope of which he had twisted round his wrist, he
was drawn up to the ceiling and dashed down again to
the floor. The bell overturned, and the unfortunate
man was again drawn up. He died on Monday morn-
ing from his injuries.
Frank Rowley Hawker, 19 years old, was sentenced
to 15 years' penal servitude, at Nottingham Assizes' on
Monday, for wounding Maria Rose, with intent to
murder her. Prisoner and the girl were sweethearts,
but had quarrelled. When out walking they arrives
near Rose's home. Prisoner wished her good-night,
and seizing her round the neck began cutting her
throat with a razor, inflicting a wound four and a half
inches long from which, however, she fortunately
recovered.

The Mexican Government continues still to pay pen.
sions to descendants of Montezuma, amounting to
7,113 97 dols.—viz., 3,805 14 dols. to Count Miravalle
and his three sisters, and 3,308 83 dols. to Mariano
Ortiz de Zarate, and Dofia Carmen Garcia Trevilla.
The descent of these persons from the last Mexican
Sovereign is as clearly ascertained as that of any
princely house in Europe.
In the Chancery-court at Manchester on Monday an
order was made for winding up the: Liverpool Zoolo-
gical Gardens Company. This company was started
many years ago with £200,000 capital, but the liabilities
now exceeded that sum, though the assets are estimated
to pay the debts in full. The Court was aked to pro-
vide maintenance for the animals, whose sale had been
stayea, and the Vice Chancellor ordered the liquidator
to maintain them, remarking that they must not starve
in Chancery.
A burglary of more than ordinary audacity was
perpetrated at the residence of Prince Anton sad-
zivill, Aide•de-Camp of the Emperor, in this city, on
Friday night. The thieves carried off fourteen dozen
articles belonging to the silver services of the Prince's
household, besides a number of large silver plates, of
which they had to throw several away on acc..unt of
their being too heavy to carry The house ef Prince
Radzivill is in the Paris Place, Unter den Linden, near
the Brandenburg Gate, where there is a guard -hoxse
with sentinels always on duty day and night. Only
four days ago the house of another of his Imperial
Majesty's Aides-de• Camp, Count Albedyll, vas the
scene of a similar burglary and robbery.
An actor named Coventry Davis, whilst pla, ing at
Chatham Theatre on Saturday night, in the final scene
of a piece called "Justice at Last," rushed forward to
stab one of the other actors: In the struggle which
ensued, Davis was thrown violently to the ground, and
an examination proved that he had fractured one of
his legs.
On Monday the Danish Parliament was closed by the
King owing to the continued conflict between the
Folkething and the Government.
Whilst Mr. Justice Chitty was trying a ca.,e on
Monday morning, a loud crack was heard from the roof
of the Court and a portion of the plaster fell up :n the
top of the canopy which is placed over the bench. His
lordship made the observation, "Fiat justitia, ruat
ccelum," an observation which naturally created roars
of laughter.
Inquests were held at Kendal on Monday on two
men in the Lake district, who were drowned whilst
skating on treacherous ice. One of the two (John
Rogerson) was an outdoor servant; the other (Robert
Watson) a labourer. A verdict of "Accidental death"
was returned in each case.

Mr. John Walbanke Childers, uncle to the Right
Hon. Hugh Childers, M.P., has died at his scat, Cantley
Hall. Mr. Childers was son of Colonel Childers, was
born 1798, and married, 1824, the only daughter of Sir
Francis Lindley Wood, Bart. For some time he repre-
sented Cambridgeshire in Parliament.
An explosion took place on Monday night at Shrews-
bury Theatre Royal. Just prior to opening the doors
some men were employed setting the scenes, when the
gas exploded, blowing down the scenery and the men
employed, besides destroying all the glass in the win-
dows. A man and a boy were seriously cut by broken
glass, and some of the planks on the floor of the stage
were torn up. Men at once got to work, and a per
formance of the pantomime was given at a later
hour.
Mr. J. Morley, the Chief Seer& ary for Ireland, in
addressing a meeting of electors at Newcastle, devcted
his speech exclusively to the Irish question. He
asserted that the late Government had only listened to
the views of their eighteen fellow par isacs from
Ulster, and discredited the wishes and the. napi ations
of the other 85 representatives of Ireland. The
Government of Mr. Gladstone wished to try a policy of
conciliation, whereas he insinuated that the po'ily of
the late Government was one of civil war. It w,mlrl be
the aim of the new Government not alone to it s• ore
order in Ireland, but to build up such a system of order
as would be ba-ed on the affections of the pope of
Ireland.
The inquest was resumed on Monday as to the death
of Mr. E. J. Bartlett, partner in a firm of grocers at
Herne-hill and elsewhere, who died in Pitnrco on New
Year's Eve under peculiar circumstane,s. Dr. Leach,
a medical practitioner. who had atteeded the deceased
gentleman, read a written statement of the cony,- rsa-
tion he had with Mrs. Bartlett after the death of her
husband. In reply to a question, Dr. Leach s4id he
saw no tendency to sui-ide in Mr. Bartlett. After
lengthy evidence as to the condition and syrnet OMS of
the deceased, the case was adjourned, the jurors and
witnesses being bound over to appear, as wav Mrs.
Bartlett who, the coroner remarked, was under his
jurisdiction, having been served with notice as a wit-
ness.
Mr. Mundella, addressing a meeting at Sheffield, said
that the great question to which Ministers must now
address themselves was that of Ireland. He, for one,
was weary of penal legislation for Ireland, and he
trusted that we were coming to an end of it. The
result of it had been to raise up a hostile elerrent in
Parliament, while it rendered government almost
impossible. He trusted that the Government would
deal with it openly and manfully in such a way that
the supremacy of the Crown and the integrity of the
Empire should be not only maintained but streng-
thened.
The Roumanian Chambers have voted in favour of
the plan for the fortification of Bucharest. The works
are to he finished in 1690, and the preliminary cost of
building is to be covered by an issue of 6,000,000 f.
rente.
A shocking discovery has been made at St. Michael's
Vicarage, Coventry. The vicar had been away from
home for several weeks, and the female domestics
having also been away the house was left in charge of
an old man-servant. For nearly a week nothing had been
seen of the old man, and suspecting something was
wrong the police effected an entrance, and found him
in the house, dead. From the appearance of the body
death must have taken place five or six days ago, and
the domestic animals in the house were in a starving
condition.
A boot-riveter, named Riegelhuth, aged 25, went on
Monday morning to a house in Cooper-street, City-
road, London, where his wife had been living since
Saturday, and shortly after being adraitted to her
room, stabbed her fatally. Later in the day he was
charged at the Worship-street Police-court with wilful
murder, and after some evidence had been taken, a
remand was ordered.
One of the last official acts of Lord John Manners as
Postmaster-General has been to sanction the introduc-
tion on Ist March next of an improvement in the
postal service which will confer no little benefit upon
Londoners and their correspondents in the country. A
new collection will be made at midnight from the
pillar boxes, and letters for the country posted up to
that hour will be despatched by the early newspaper
trains, and will be delivered in the forenoon of the
following day in many provincial towns.

At the Middlesek Sessions held at the Guildhal!,
Westminster, on Saturday. Mr. W. Booth appealed
against a rate made by the parish of St. Leonard, Shore.
ditch, on the Grecian Theatre and other premises.
After hearing the evidence the court allowed the
appeal with regard to the Grecian Theatre prover, and
disallowed it as to the other plemises, each side to pay
their own costs.
At Worship street Police-court, London, on Saturday,
several men were summoned for aerears due in their
payments for children in industrial schools. Several of
the defendants showed that they had been out of work
and had pawned everything they possessed on which
they could raise money. In many cases time was
allowed to pay arrears.
At Marylebone Police-court, London, on Saturday
evening, Captain James Ewing was charged on an
adjourned summons with an assault on Richard Poyser,
his coachman, whom it seemed he had beaten severely,
tearing his coat and blackening his eyes. A cross
charge had been made by the captain, and the case
came on cross summonses. After hearing the captain's
evidence Mr. Cook said it was evident he had lost his
temper, and fined him £3, with Bs. costs, and £2 for
the damage to the coat.
Mr. Abraham Smith applied to Mr. Bridge at the
Southwark Police-court on Saturday for a summons to
compel the Southwark and Vauxhall Water Company
to supply water to a block of workmen's dwellings.
They were at present supplied by the Lambeth Com-
pany, who charged 7-1. per cent., while the other
company only charged 5 per cent. Mr. Bridge said he
had no power, as the houses were already supplied; but
if Mr. smith would find a clause in the Act giving him
the power he would grant a summons.
Members of Parliament are always entitled to seats
in St. Margaret's Church, which is the Church of the
House of Commons.
The father of Sir Claude de Crespigny, by his will
authorised the trustees to raise five thousand pounds
for the purpose of purchasing for his son promotion in
the army. Sir Claude, who holds a commission in the
Yeomanry Cavalry, and has been offered a captaincy
attached to the regular army, sought to raise the five
thousand pounds, and the trustees were willing to
advance it. Mr. Justice Pearson refused to sanction it,
and on Saturday his decision was upheld Iv the Court
of Appeal.
The Lord Mayor of London had before him on
Saturday another summons in connection with the,
dispute between Messrs. Waterlow and their
compositors. The complainant, an apprentice, alleged
that he was in the compositors' room with other
apprentices, that the workmen turned them out of the
room, and that one of them, John Donald, struck him,
giving him a black eye. This statement was denied by
several of the compositors. The Lord Mayor dismissed
the summons. This was the last of several summonses
arising out of the dispute.
M. Waddington presided on Saturday at the annual
dinner of the French Hospital and Dispensary, and
made a strong appeal for ten thousand pounds to
enable the Institution to be provided with a new build-
ing, owing to the lease of the Hospital in Leicester-
square being about to expire.
A project is on foot by which the Pennsylvania Rail-
road Company will guarantee the issue of a hundred
millions of new Four Cents by the Philadelphia and
Reading Company, to redeem its bonded and floating
debt, and says the great rise in American Stocks last
week is ascribed to the reports of this scheme.
A case of importance to railway companies, as affect-
ing their liability in regard to the carriage of goods
of an offensive character, was dealt with on Saturday
by the St. Augustine's Bench of magistrates at Canter-
bury. The clerk to the Bridge Board of Guardians
(Mr. Allen Fielding) attended in support of a complaint
laid by that body, exercising the functions of a rural
sanitary authority, against the South-Eastern Railway
Company, the allegation being that the respondent
company had committed a nuisance by permitting a
truck-load of fish-manure to remain at the goods siding
Chartham Station, the recurrence of which should, it
was:asked, be prohibited. The case for the prosecution
was so far back as 1874 the nuisance in question was
gomplained of, and had been the subject of correspon-
dence from time to time since. Evidence having been
adduced, the Bench made an order prohibiting the
recurrence of the nuisance, with costs against the cons-
'Any. A case was applied for, but refused.
After an absence of some eight weeks from London,
_ _ _

for the benefit of his health, the Rev. 0. H. Spurgeon,
who appeared to be in perfect health and spirits,
officiated on Sunday at the Metropolitan Tabernacle,
Newington-butts.
A tragedy took place at Birmingham on Saturday
night in a court in Pertly» e-street. A tailor named
John Meere, about 70 years old, went into the house of
a neighbour in search of a woman named Annie Jones,
to whom he had been paying attentions. Meere, after
some words, cut the woman's throat with a razor' and
then inflicted a gash in his own, which proved fatal in
a few minutes.
Speaking at the annual presentation of prizes to the
Central London Rangers. at Gray's Inn, on Saturday,
Major. General Gipps (commanding the Home District)
said that the volunteers would learn more by the
operations intended to be carried out this Easter at
different places 0.1.1.0 by one la:s;e review.
A seri..m. pitteidult occurred late on SAtureav niOat
at the Day. •=', Ilion of the Ilighlatid Railway, when two
trains Cuiit 1. Two drivers and two firemen were
seriou,ly injured, and the trains were almost wrecked.
At Breutford Petty Sessions on Saturday, Frederick
Greenway was charged with making a false statement
in his attestation for the 3rd Middlesex Militia.
Prisoner stated that he had never served in her
Majesty's service previously, whereas it was now
proved that he had served 12 years in the Grenadier
Guards, and received his discharge. The Bench re,.
gretted that the law compelled them to send him to
prison' the extent of the punishment being three
months. They sentenced him to a month's confinement,

with hard lab-our.
On Saturday an inquest was held at Liverpool on
the body of a girl named Williams, aged nine years,
who was struck in the back of the neck by a snowball
as she was coming from school. When she reached
home she complained of pain, and had a fit the same
night. She remained ill for several days, and (lied from
inflammation of the brain. The jury returned an open

verdict.
The Admiralty is at present engaged in making some
important changes in the classification of her Majesty's
steamships. The Brightside ships, which for many
years past have done service in the Channel and First
Reserve Squadrons have been transferred to the Fourth
Steam Reserve to make room for the turret ships
similar in class to those employed in the Mediterranean
Squadron. These changes, it is understood, are one
result of the naval experiments off the coast of Ireland.
Nine new torpedo cruisers are being built, six at
Glasgow, and the remaining three at Devonport and
_Barrow-in-Furness. They are all to be completed this
year. Twelve armoured ships are also being built.
A man, believed to be the murderer of M. Barreme,
Prefect of the Eure, has been arrested, and is said to
have been recognised by some of the employes of the
Western Railway. His name is Dubois, and it is stated
that he expressed his intention of seeking revenge
against the Prefect.