The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-08-17 00:00:00

fflisallancous lintritigente,

ROME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

AN INTERESTING RELIC —Dean Milman, in
his Annals of St. Fouls Cathedral, mentions a fact
which is not generally known. Speaking of the build-
ing of the cathedral, he says :—" The architect himself
had the honour of laying the first stone. June 21,
1675." The mallet which was used by Sir Christopher
Wren on that memorable occasion is now the property
of Mr. C. J. Freake, of Bank-grove. near Kinston-on-
Thames, and on Wednesday next it will be used by her
Royal Highness the Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck
in the ceremony of laying the foundation-stone of the
new church schools at Kingston, Mr. Freake having
lent it for the occasion.

"ONE TOUCH OF NATURE."—An American
gentleman writing from Vichy says :

- While alluding even in this letter to the gratifying posi-
tion now occupied by our country before the world, and to
connect for a moment higher subjects with what, in com-
parison, is trivial, there is something to American van which
can varcely adequately describe, so elevating is its in-
fluence and touching its sympathies in the manner in which
the land to which all our affections point is remembered here
every Sunday from the sacred footstool of prayer In the Dig-
lish Church, the venerable rector supplicating in the Caine
breath with his humble petition for Dgland," the blessing
of Heaven "fir Ainerica,” our sister nation, for the Pron.
Pent of the United States, and all the magistratt s of that
land." I can hardly tell yon. and am not ashamed to own,
how those few and simple words fell on my heart.

AN INCIDENT AT TROUVILLE.—Tho other day,
in cornier, out of the Hotel des Roches-Noires, the
President' of the Republic was caught in a heavy
shower of rain. He had no umbrella, and as he wanted
to return home without delay, perceiving a carriage
near the hotel. be asked the coachman to drive him
to the Chalet Oordier. The man looked twice at the
person who made the request, and then, tmehing his
hat, consented. The driver in a few minutes deposited
M. Tillers at the gate of the Chalet; but before then
the President had terceived that he was in a taivat
carriage, and not a hired one. On alighting he asked
to whom the equipage belonged', and was much vexed
to learn that it was the property of Count Moltke, the
Swedish Ambassador, nose at Trouville. The same
evening he addressed, with his habitual benhomni, a
few words of excuse to the owner, promising in future
to examine well all vehicles before getting into them.

CRUSHED IN A MINE.—The Chicago Tribune
says:—

Last week a boy employed in a mine near Carbondale, Pa.,
was crushed under a mass of coat It took two hours to ex-
tricate him, and he died during the day. Hs had been
dumb from his birth. Nevertheless, the exquisite agony he
endured gave him the power of speech. During the whole
time he tallied 'lneptly and distinctly, man g the men to
give him speedy relief, and praying God to spare hie life.
Only half-a-dozen such instances ate known in the annals of
medicine. Ile effect of extreme excitement in instantly
destroy ing physical obstacles to speaking, hearing. walking,
aka, is an I lusts-sties of the truth of that theory of tin, com-
plete correlation of mental and physical forc,s, which is
slowly winning its way to credence.

THREE DANGERS.--Several of the Frebch
papers state that M. 'riders was in conversation a few
days back with some deputies, when reference was
made to the number of embirrassmenf s in the present
political situation of France. "There are three
dangers," said the President, with a smile, "and three
only—Radicalism, Bonapartism, and my death. The
first I do not think very menacing ; the second requires
to be watched over carefuhy ; and as for the third,
there is no question of it."

TER HARVEST IN FRANCE.—" The year 1872,"
says the Constitution nel, "wins remarkable in France
for its abundant harvest, which is calculated at present
at 35,900,000 hectolitres (2.1 bushels each), representing
a capital of 1,500,000,000 francs. It exceeds by one-
third the average of the ten preceding years, which did
not exceed 24 millions of hectos. Hitherto the yield in
France has not sufficed for the consumption, and she
was obliged to have ecourse every year to foreign im-
portation. She obtains her corn from the Black Sea,
and as she has no commerce with those countries, is
obliged to pay annually in gold a sum of 450 Or 500
millions of francs. This year the yield will more than
suffice, and thus that large 8110,1 will not have to leave
France."

CAUSE AND EFFECT.—The want of coal has
compelled the Great Western Railway Company to
close their rail mills at Swindon, and also the steam
hammer shop. Some 500 men are thus out of employ.
Labour for the harvest is, however, so scan e that a
majority of the men have gone to work for the farmers,
18s. to 20s, per acre being paid tor ratan.' wheat. It
is stated that the men employed in the company's
locomotive and caniage works intend asking for an
increase of 10 per cent, in their wages.
FIFTY-SEVEN SAILORS EATEN BY CANNIBALS.
—The Pekin Gazette contains an account of the ship
wreck of two vessels' belonging to Loo Choo, off the
coast of Formosa, near the point inhabited by can-
nibals. The captain, officers, an I crew of one of the
vessels were saved by a Chinese merchant vesseL The
other ship, containing 60 men was dashed upon the
rocks, and 57 of those who escaped death were in a few
days barbarously killed and eaten by the cannibals of
Mouton Formosa. An account has been seat up to the
Throne by the Viceroy of Che Kiang and Fu Kien
provinces, in the form of a memorial. The Emperor
replies : 'Let the sufferers be rewarded according to
the will of the memorialiat. Let the civil and military
officers make speed to examine and punish the
cannibals, that it may be seen we cherish the people
in our bosom.'
AN AMERICAN TRAGEDV.—The New Yt k
papers of August 1 report a terrible tragedy which had
occurred at Rochester on the previous night, One
Hetzier lived until a few weeks ago with his wife in
Main-street, Rochester. She recently procured a
divorce from him on the firound gif adultery, and has
since been receiving the visits of one Jaarb Goetznaaa.
God : saran was about taking his leave of her ' • and they
left the tedroorn, and proceeded through the sitting.
room, in which the gas was turned down low, hit° a
ball leading through the kitchen, to a rear entrance
The divorced husband was lying in wait, having
climbed through a window, taking off his boots sod
coat to move lightly, He raised a trar-dcor in the
kitchen floor, and waited in the dark with a revolver
in his land ; and as his wife and her paramour came
through the hall into the kitchen, he struck Goetzman
a fearful blow in the face with some weapon, and at
the came time fired, the ball piercing his victim's
breast. Goetzuaan staggered back into the hall, closed
and bolted the door between himself and his murderer,
and then expired. The woman fled out through the
passage, and made her escape. Hetzler then shot
himself, the ball passing through his bosom, and fell
on his back dead.
STEAM WHISTLES AND STEAM TRUMPETS.
By an Act of Parliament printed on Friday (35 and 36
Vie., c. 61) it is enacted that no parson shall use or
employ in any manufactory or any other place any
steam whistle or steam trumpet for the purpose of
summoning ordismissing workmen or persons employed
without the sanction of the sanitary authority, and
every person offending shall be liable to a penalty not
exceeding £5, and to-a further penalty not exceeding
40s. for every day during which such offence continues.
The Act is not to extend to Scotland.

"Dig HOLY HdND."—At last week's meeting
of the Wigan Board of Guardians, a case was brought
forward relating to an extraordinary superstition in
Lancaster. '['he assi,tant-everseer of Ash toudieMaker-
field had sent to the Wigan Workhouse a woman who
gave the name of Catherine Collins, and who had been
sitting all day on a doorstep, and was wholly &Adage.
She stated that she had come out of Salford Work.
house, on leave, to have the holy hand applied to her
paralysed side. Mr. Clarke, one of the ,tuardians for
Ashton, stated to the Board that hundreds of persons
visited the township for similar purposes. The l'oly
hand is kept by the It iman Catholic priest at Gars-
wood, in Ashton township, and is preserved with great
care in a white silk bag. Many wonderful cures were
said to have been wrought by this saintly relic, which
is alleged to be the hand of Father Arrowernith, a
priest who is said to have been put to death for his
religion at Lancaster. When about to suffer he desired
his spiritual attendant to cut off his li;ht hand, which
should then have the poaer to work mirsoulons cures
on those who had faith to believe in its efficacy. The
story of the unbelievers is that Arrow/smith was found
guilty of a foul crime, and that the tale of his martyr
dom and miraculous attestation to the truth, for which
he suffered, was contrived for the purpose of prevent-
ing scandal upon the Church. The hand was formerly
kept at Bryn-hall, now demolished, the ancient seat of
the Gerard family, the present representative of which,
air Robert Gerard, rd.e at Garwood.

THZ TEMPLE OP DIANA. —The largest and
most important of the fragments of the carved column
dug up by Mr. Wood at a depth of 23ft. on the sup-
posedsite of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, has
been set up in the Grieco-Roman morn- at the British
Museum. It measures about 6ft, in height, and 18ifa
in circumference, and is supposed to have formed
portion of the first drum of one of the 36 lonic carved
columns, which with 91 others supported and adorned
the edifice. Portions of Use base and capital of the
column were also found close by. On the side of the
drum, which has sustained comparatively slight in-
jury, there are five figures of considerable beauty, but
all more or less mutilated. Of only two of these can
the identity be determined—namely the figmes of
Mercury and Victory. Ile former ie perfect with the
exception of the face (which is slightly muti'ated), and
is regarded as a work of considerable merit.

S uICIDE BY ST&KVAI Tile Biala James
Flynn, who was sentenced to death at the last Man.
chester Assizes for the wilful murder of Johanna Nairn
at Oldham, in April last, with great brutality, has
committed suicide in the county prison at Manchester
under very peculiar circumstances. He has from the
first refused to take any food whatever, and has been
persistent in his refusal up to the time of his death,
which occurred from exhaustiost at a quarter to three
o'clock on Monday afternoon. On the morning of the
third day of his imprisonment since he was sentenced
to death the surgeon, seeing that all attempts to persuade
the man to eat were futile, determined to bring into use
the stomachpump. When he appeared at the door
of the cell in which the man was cantined. Flynn seized
a stool and threatened to knock the brains out of the
first who entered. He was secured and the instrument
inserted in his throat, but he wriggled his head so
much that the interior of his throat was lacerated to
such an extent that the surgeon decided not to again
attempt the use of the pump. The governor (Captain
Mitchell), the Roman Catholic chaplain, and all the
officers of the prison had endeavoured to get the man to
eat, but he bad refused, and when tea and bread and
butter were procured for him merely moistened his
lips.

CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.—A Parliamentary
return shows that in the year 1859 there were 113071
trials of criminal prose,utions in England and Wales;
2,071 at the assizes, 9,854 at county quarter sessions,
3.028 at borough quarter sessions, 16,645 under the
C. iminal Justke Act, 2,748 under the Juvenile
Offenders Act, and 928 at the Central Criminal Court.
The total expenses of these prosecutions was £228,301;
of which £153,442 was paid by the Treasury, leaving
£74,159 not paid by the Treasury. The attorney's
costs and allowances amounted to £30,421; the couns4l's
fees to £25,649. In Scotland there were 8,257 trials
of criminal prosecutions • the expenses amounted
to £19,634. There were also 2,517 miscellaneous in-
quiries, in which there were no trials, lines, &c., and
there were 2,628 inquiries into cases of sudden death,
accidents, &c. ; the expenses of these two classes of in-
quiries amounted to £5,816. The Treasury paid
£24,681 towards the expenses, leaving £796 expenses
not paid by the Treasury. The procurators fiscal are
paid by salaries. In Ireland there were 5,557 trials of
criminal prosecutions. The expenses of prosecutors and
witnesses pail by the counties and boroughs, and re-
paid by the Treasury, amounted to 15,277 • the salaries
of Crown solicitors amounted to £22,300, and the
counsels' fees paid by them to 1:13,425.
EARTHQUAKX IN SCOTLAND. —The Ncotrmon
Faye that a shock of earthquake was felt last Thursday
afternoon (Bth), about ten minutes past four o'clock, at
Bridge of Allan. The shock was not confined to
Bridge of Allan, however, but was experienced over
a considerable extent of country. At Braco and Kin-
buck panes of glass were broken, and slates were
shaken off Ardoch-house. In Dunblane and Bridge of
Allan a number of houses were severely shaken, and
glass was broken on sideboards. At the Fame time the
shock was felt in Stirling at Allan-Park. Gladstone-
villas, and other places, and was attended with a loud
rumbling noise like thunder. One person who felt the
shock compared the sensation to that caused by the
passing of a railway train. A lady residing in Bridge
of Allan described the noise as resembling that caused
by a carriage being taken from the adjoining coach-
house. No such shock of earthquake has occurred in
Scotland since 1839, when the shock passed from Lisbon,
through France and Great Britain, to the north-west
of Scotland.

BRADSHAW AND SPIRITUALISTS. —Mediums,
who profess to obtain correct information from tables,
have been entirely baffled by the Railway Time
Tables. They have tried thew, and found that they
don't answer.—Pusch.

ADVANCE IN RAILWAY RATE.III. AND FARES.
We (Railway News) understand that at a nteetiug of
the representatives of the leading railways of the
'United Kingdom, it was resolved, in view of the
greatly increased cost of working the railways, to raise
the passenger faresas well as the rates for the convey-
area of goods and minerals. No definite rate of in-
crease in fares wan agreed upon, it beiug und,ratood
that each company is to make each alterations as they
consider expedient and necessary. A general re-
classification of goo ls is to be made for through traffic
on all the railways. The alteratioas are to come into
effect on the let September.

A Cumous Emu.— The traveller in the
United States who visits Mount Vernon, on the
Potomac' the home and the last resting place of
General Washington' will see there a curious relic,
telling him of a great event in European history. On
a table in the hall of the modest, old-fashioned, and
unpicturesque Virginian dwelling, he will see among
the cheap photographs and other trivial memorials
which are to be Rohl there something that cannot be
bpught, and that m y, in historic sense, be termed
priceless. It is My a large and runty key. Rut it
will attract and to,ld the attention of all visitors, even
of American visitors, at the home of W. shington ; for
it in the key of the Bastille, sent by la.f eyette to the
leader of the American Revolution. There might have
been w ntiment in the gift, but it was unkindly non-
valuable, and no doubt that in the reason the key has
hcPri lying so long and so safely on that United States
table.

SHORT AND SWEET.—Lizzt, the celebrated
pianist, fell in love with a jeweller's daugh:er. A
Prague journal thus describes the courtship :
"One morning the Jeweller, coming to the point witli
German [...knees, said to Liszt, 'Slow do you like my
daughter?' bin moo angel.' What do you think ot mar.
risen ? ' • I think so well of it that I hays the greatest nos
Sibiu inclination to it.' What would you say to a fortune of
thies million francs ?" I would willingly accept it ' Well,
ne understand each other. My daughter pleases you you
please my laughter, her fortune is ready—be my sootti-
law !" wits all my heart,' The marriage was celebrated
the following week."

FREE CLWRCH SEATS.—The Act to provide
for the free use of seats in certain churches has been
printed. The Ecclesiastical Commissioneis may ac-
cept a church site under a grant in which it is de-
clared that the pews or seats in the church, or some
specified porti.n of the same pews or seats, shall not be
let for any payment of money, and thereupon it shall
be unlawful to let the Caine for payment'of money. In
every case in which it is no declared a sufficient endow-
ment or stipend of not less than £lOO a year shall be
secure I to the incumbent by or to the satisfaction of
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and in every case in
which a portion only of the pews or seats may not be
so let, an en lowinent or stipend of such amount as the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners may determine, regard
being had to the proportion of pews or seats, which may
not be so let, shall be in like manner seemed.

99 C 9 EST EGAL."—A libel caste extraordinary
against the Liberte has just been tried by the Cor-
rectional Tribunal of Paris. That journal stated a year
ago that an Auvergruit, named Francosse. the 'show
man of a cow with five legs, and who, thanks to
Government patronage, had succeede i in preventing
his phenomenon from being eaten during the siege,
subsequently became a delegate of the Minister of
Agriculture under the Commune, and that he had lately
been arrested. The story of the Liberte was incorrect,
and it does not appear that there is any such person
as Francosse. But another Auvergnat, named Cypi ire,
who at this moment is exhibiting a cow, which he
alleges to be the only one in the world with live legs,
brought his action for an attack upon his " hcnonr and
consideration" in representing that he was a member
of the Commune. The name of Francosse wait, he
pleadeds a thin disguise for himself. Cyprien, who,
being the sole owner of the cow in question, must, by
just legal inuendo, be considered to have been pointed
at, demanded 2,000 f. damages. Eminent counsel
appeared on either side. The Court dismissed the action
with costs, but Cyprien, while going down the stairs
of the raisin de Justice, was heard to exclaim, " Chu
ejsat. I have got a good advertisement for my cow."

THE MURDER OF AN AMERICAN LIDY.—A cur.
respondent of the Swiss Tines states that a Polish
student at the University of Zurich, had been for some
time past at Gersau in the hope of meeting an American
lady to whom he was attached, and who, with her
mother and three sisters, had been staying in a neigh-
bouring hoteL The mother and the friends of she young
lady were unfavourable to the engagement, but the
young people, nevertheless, met daily in secret. On
Sunday afternoon, the 4th instant, the American lady
was walking with her parents, sisters, and three
friends on the road towards the Kindlistuord. The
Pole aLio war walking in that direction, and meeting
them, talked for some time with the supposed more
favoured lover, and spoke of a duel, &c. The prominent
idea was that the Pole was required to give up his pro-
tensions: thereupon he demanded to have an interview
alone with the young lady, which request, after being
at first refused, was eventually granted, when both of
the young people went op the road, and the others re•
mained at a distance. Boon afterwards two pistol shots
were heard, and both of them were found bathed in
blood, the girl having been shot throngh the right
temple, and the student through the left. The latter
still held the revolver in his hand.
LUGGAGE ROBBERIES.—A Correspondent writ es
to The Times to Ray that a family left Paris oa Sunday
evening for Boulogne, on their way to London, and
registered their luggage through. On arriving in town
one of the ladies discovered on opening her basket,
which was locked and doubly strapped, that a nearly
new silk dress, a laige black lace shawl, a cap, and six
pairs of new gloves marked with her initials, had bten
taken out from the tray of the basket, and poso,ly
other things also. Phe basket was not opened by the
Custom-house office., and the things could only have
been stolen between Paris and Boulogne. Another
correspondent states that on Monday, the sth inst., be
travelled from Paris to Neuchatel by way of Dijon
and Poutarlier. On arriving at his destination he found
that a box belonging to his wife balbeenbroken open,
and a portion of the Yock removed; but, as the box
merely contained articles of clothing, nothing had been
taken. The lock of an uniform case of his own was
broken, and much violence had evidently been used to
force it open.
THE WORKING OF THE BALLOT.—The Car/leis
Patriot states that at a municipal election in the
smallest ward of that city, on Thursday last, although
everything was der. by the town clerk with the view
of informing the people how to make out their papers,
out of 172 votes eight were rejected on account of in-
formal marling; while 26 voted under the illiterate
clause; so that out of 109 people who voted without
receiving any assistance eight were deprived of their
votes owing to mistakes in making out their papers,
and seven of these were disqualified for having written
their names opposite those of the candidates they
wished to support, instead of making a crows.

NUM

AN INTERESTING MEDAL.—The director of
the Berlin Museum purchased, the other day, a gold
medal, smaller than a sovereign, for the considerable
sum of IMO francs. On one side is the head of Marcus '
Brutus imperator, and on the other that of Junius
Brutus, first consul, according to the inscriptions on
the medal itself. This medal was no doubt struck,
says the Gazate de Cu!vile, soon after the battle of
Philippi, which overthrew the triumvirs and the ancient
Roman Republic, and set up the new empire. If this
coin be tudque, the price given for it is not remarkably
high.
Woman°, MIRACLES !—A correspondent in
Rome draws attention to an occurrence which has just
taken place at Torre del Greco. The Bishop of Ischia,
a native of the place, recently died there. As his
body was being conveyed to the cemetery, just, in-
deed. as it was about to enter the gates, messengeis
hurriedly came from the town to announce that the
deal prelate was working miracles. The lame had
been made to walk ; the dumb to epPak ; and so on.
The funeral procession at once turned about, thecotfin
was carried back to Torre del Greco, and the people
along the line of route were urged to bring forth
their sick that they might be restored to health.
When the corpse was at length deposited in the church,
so convinced were the crowd that the miraculous
powers of the deceased attached to every shred of his
clothes, that they soon stripped the dead body of all
its ecclesiastical vestments, and left it entirely naked !
It was in vain that the church dignitaries endeavoured
to restore order. The people would not listen. At
last the church bells began to ring violently.. The
crowd rushed out to inquire the cause, the building
was closed, and soon after troops came and prevented
all further disturbance.