The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-06-20 00:00:00

THE CAPTIVES AMONGST THE
SOUMALIS.

A memorial has recently been presented to the
Secretary of State for India, which states :

Having been long convinced that white men are in captivity
In the Soumali country, in East Africa; and further, that there
Is every reason to believe, from indisputable evidence, that
these are Englishmen, passengers and crew of the ship
SI. Abbe, with the wreck of which vessel in 1855, and sub-
sequent open sale of part of her cargo sold on the cost of
East Africa, we believe her Majesty's Government to be fully
acquainted, we beg leave to urge on her Majesty's Govern-
ment that these persons having lingered in e iptivity for
thin teen years, with vain attempts to obtain the dim assistance
of their fellow-countrymen to procure their release. some
effective steps may Inc taken to put all telld to their inkerable
captivity ; that while your memoralists gratefully aeknow.
edge the courtesy of the Mauritius Government on the first
spread of the rumour in 1809, they cannot discover that these
efforts have been followed up, or any active vigorous steps
taken; that now a generous offer having been made by Mr.
Henry Cavendish Angelo. a gentleman well acquainted with
the country and habits of the Somnalis, to gin in search for
the captives, we humbly and very earnestly beg that her
Majesty's Government ulli di, all In their power to Ecilityle
the exertions of Mr. Angelo in his search for the captises.
And your menioralista beg to add that the Geographical
Society, through whom Mr. Angelo's offer has been commu-
nicated, in recommending his services to the Government,
take on themselves the entire responsibility of his actions,
and that Mr. Angelo goes out merely as an English traveller
without any official rank or same. only to be authorised by
her Majesty's Government to offer rati,oin or reward for the
release of the English captives, her Majesty's Government
guaranteeing the payment."

THE BLACK CRICKETYRS.—The Blacks per-
formed on Friday and Saturday at Lord's. As an
exhibition of cricket, the match was a miserable
failure. Doubtless, however, it answered the ends if
its promoters, as there were some 4,100 or 5,000 people
present, and the grand stand was well filled. The
Marylebone Club won. Afterwards, Dick-a-Dick and
Co. went through their tricks.
Bf .•F A S: the 9th of this month
one of the seals (P/ors oil dint') at the Zoological-
gardens in London gave birth to ayoung one, which was
at first covered with an abundance of fine silky hair;
this, as the animal wriggled about on the ground, was
entirely shed, and formed a dense blanket or rug, on
which it lay. In less than three hours the young plum
GREAT LION AND ELEPHANT FIGHT. took to the water, and swain about actively, endeavour-
ing to sack as the mother turned on the side. Un-
fortunately, however, there was no supply of milk, and
Just after midnight, on Sunday morning last, the mother has since died in convulsions, since which
the inhabitants of Islington, in the vicinity of the
Agricultural Hall. wei• thrown into a state of alarm milk and ' time the young one has been fed by Mr. Bartlett on
by terrific roarings, proceeding from the part id the by a small portion of cod liver oil, administered
hall in which the menagerie of Mr. Rice is sitilitted. means f a feeding-bottle. The young seal at birth
wasA large crowd assembled outside the building, but was 32 in. lung, and weighed 2 Jibs
dispersed in terror on learning that some of the animals STOVES AND OVENS.BIaCk lead is a great
had broken loose, and were engaged in deadly combat, institution in this country, and probably few but cooks
The facts of the case, as subsequently ascertained, were, and housemaids would care to see its use diminished.
that the female elephant, Empress, broke loose from It certainly has its recommendations, but it can
her chain, and attacked a cage in which were four lions l'w--'lv be said to be ornamental, while it entails an
of oonoidorablo alas. TINI lions returned the attack ituuwass amount of labour on our mcvante, In Ger.

many, whore • stove and sort of kitchen range is con-
tinually to be found in the common sitting-room of a
respectable family, the unsightlineee seem] to have
been felt, and a suggestion has been made to do away
with the black lead, and paint the stoves and ovens.
Oil paint, of course, cannot be employed, but water
glass (aillicate of potash) coloured with pigment to
match the paint of the apartment, is the material
recommended. Before this is applied the iron must be
thoroughly cleansed from grease, and all rust spots
must be rubbed off with a scratch brush. Two or three
coats of the paint may then be put on and allowed to
dry, after which the tire may be lighted without fear
if injury to the colour, which may, indeed, be heated
to redness. Grease or milk spilt over the paint has no
effect upon it, and it may be kept clean by washing
with soap and water. Dutch ovens and like utensils
may also be coated with the same materials, and the
labour spent in polishing be saved. A good coating of
the paint, the author says, will last a year or two.
THE HIDDEN HANDS OF HELP.—How little is
known of the private history of great statesmen,
orators, and writers! How few of them have revealed
the secret influences, the little helping hands that
. 'taped and uplifted the lives of their genius If the
truth could be known, doubtli ss it would be found that '
every one of them, as he struggled upward, fixed his I
eyes upon some one's human face, and knew by its I
smile when he had won a success. How many have
reached heights they never would have attained had it
not been for little White hands which the world never
saw, that were extended to them when the beetling
cliff of difficulty seemed to bar their upward way!
The subtle liens of sympathy are more invisible than
the threads which sunbeams spin through mid-air.
Those between sympathetic hearts, finer than the finest
tissues of light, have fed great aspirations to glorious
strength and issue. We know what they did for
many of the old masters. Dante had his Beatrice, '
and Petrarch his Laura, and Thompson his Countess I
of Hertford, as a better and purer inspiration to his
genius. These were not hidden hands; for each poet
revealed the one that helped him. But what they
were to these great writers, other hands the world never
saw have been to men of every rank of distinction.
Mau Burrites Fireside Words.

THE GENUINE ARTICLE !—Four young men—
Reynier, a commissionaire, Guieux, waiter at a café,
and Maiffret and Depauli, labourers—have just been
tried at Marseilles on a number of charges of robbery
by garrotting. Their mode of proceeding was to throw
a noose with a running knot over the head of the
victim. Several such cords, to one of which some hairs
were still adherent, were produced, and caused a most
painful sensation in court. Iteynier was sentenced to
hard labour for life, Guieux to ten years of the same
punishment, Maiffret to ten years' imprisonment, and
Depauli to eight.

'To THE DEATH r'—There have been many
duels in Italy since 1860, often for frivolous causes,
and usually ending with very slight injury to the
parties engaged. But an encounter of unusual fierce-
ness has just occurred at Parma between a lieutenant
of Bersaglieri and an ex-Garibahlian. The duel was
to be "to the death," and commenced with pistols, but
apparently the combatants were poor marksmen, for
they fired four shots each without any damage being
done. They then took to sabres, and the Garibaldian
received seven wounds, none of them dangerous. The
Bersaglieri was wounded in four places, and two of the
wounds, in the head, are said to be dangerous. The
luel had to be suspended. A lady is reported to have
been the cause of the quarreL

A HOPEFUL APPRENTICE—At Portsmouth, on
Saturday, William Fleming, a painter's apprentice,
sixteen years of age, was committed for tnal upon
four charges of burglary. The prisoner resided with
his uncle, a man named Jerome, and on his lodgings
being searched a large quantity of stolen property was
discovered, as also a pair of pistols, some skeleton
keys, a powder-flask with shot in it, a dark lantern, a
sword, a dagger, a chisel, and a screw-driver. When
placed in the dock the prisoner treated the charge
with the utmost indifference, and evidently looked
upon himself as a kind of hero. He had intimated to
his companions that he intended to become as famous
as the renowned Jack Sheppard!

"SANDING THK SCGAR."—The Washington
County Pout says that a denizen of a certain village,
with whom he is acquainted, having had sanded sugar
sold to him, inserted in the weekly paper the fol-
lowing :—"Notice--I bought of a grocer in this village
a quantity of sugar, from which I obtained one pound of
sand. If the rascal who cheated me will send to ray
address seven pounds of good sugar (Scripture measure
of restitution), I will be satisfied ;if not, I shall expose
him." On the following day nine seven-pound
packages of sugar were left at his residence from as
many different dealers, each supposing himself the one
intended.

INCIDENTS OF THE " DERBY."—MSHV curious
anecdotes are told of the vicissitudes of fortune arising
out of the great racing event of the year. At Dept-
ford, for instance, a monster sweepstakes is got up
every year by the instrumentality of shilling tickets.
The prizes this year were—for the first horse £5OO, for
the second £2OO, for the third £lOO, and £5O for the
next horse "placed" by judges. A baker's boy in
Windmill-street, Haymarket, invested 1,, and drew
"Lady Elizabeth." A sporting publican offered the
little fellow £155 for his chance, and his friends wisely
advised him to "close on the tin," which be did. The
publican subsequently refused £4OO for the ticket, and
as Lady Elizabeth was "nowhere" in the race, he lost
his money and temper. Another person in humble
life drew "Blue Gown " in a sweep, and having vainly
endeavoured to get rid of his prize for a £5 note, found
himself the winner of 11200. A kitchen-maid at one of
the West-end clubs has cleared £5OO, and the waiters
at Tod Heatly's tent, who had got what is termed the
" straight tip," won so much money that they all
intend to retire into private life, which with them
means to keep a public-house.

-
PLAYING WITH LIFE.—An American paper
states that boys Oz. the West are in the habit of' ying
between the rails of a railroad track and letting the
trains pass over them ; they consider it brave. A boy,
nine years old, was killed recently near Springfield in
making this crazy experiment. A Detroit man is pre-
paring an india-rubber boat, in which he means to
" shoot Niagara." The boat will be air-tight, and he
will be shut in with twenty minutes' air. Several
persons are to be stationed below the Falls to tow the
boat to shore.
RIDDLE MADE "Os THE Gaourrn."—Why are ,
Cricket Matches like the backs of Cheap Chairs?
—Because they're " Fixed to come off."— Punch
MONSTROUS BIRTH. —The Berlin Journals give
an account of a remarkable monster of which the
wife of a joiner at Schkeudnitz had been delivered on
the 26th of May. It was a still-born child, apparently
of normal length, but with a somewhat large thorax.
Between the shoulders two well-formed and shaped
heads are to be seen, covered with hair; the features
are well wrought, each head being on a rather long
but strong neck, and between the two necks a third
arm projects, which is somewhat bigger than the two
normal arms ; the hand of that arm has two thumbs
in an opposite direction, producing the impression of
two arms having been united in one. The mother had
borne several healthy children, and in this instance,
too, the time of pregnancy was perfectly normaL
SHREWSBURY SHOW.—Shrewsbury show, which,
with the exception of the Guild at Preston, and the
Lady Godiva procession at Coventry, is the only
festival of the kind extant, was celebrated on Monday,
with the usual travestie upon its ancient pomp. The
show of former days was, according to records dating
as far back as the 16th century, a somewhat solemn
procession of the tradesmen of the borough to Kings-
land, a trans-Severn suburb of the town, where,
having duly asserted the wealth and dignity of their
several guilds, the members, in company with their
wives and families, were wont to give themselves up
for the rest of the day to feasting and drinking, m,sic
and dancing. The " show "of the present day is
simply a procession through the principal streets of the
town of a number of men, grotesquely arrayed, who
lead the way to Kingsland, where the real business of
the day is commenced, and is carried on in drinking
booths and dancing-tents. The festival, as heretofore,
, attracted a large number of visitors to the town,
excursions having been arranged by the railway com-
panies, at low fares, from Manchester, Birmingham,
Liverpool, and all the lesser towns in the district
around Shrewsbury. Excursions from Shrewsbury
were also advertised and largely patronised, it being
the custom of the more respectable portion of the
inhabitants to give the town up to the visitors whom
Show Monday annually brings.

Is the following:—" Invitation.—Th• proprietor of the
A.lmitate respectfully invites all who may be in arrear
with their accounts (their name is 'legion ' ) to call
upon hini at his office and square up." A striking if
not an elegant announcement. We hope it proved
effective. A concise summary of news is set forth as
follows, under the heading "Arrival of the Overland
Mail: "—"Fenians attacked Pentouville Penitentiary
to rescue Burke—blew a hole in the wall with powder
--four killed—several wounded—thirty thousand spe-
cial constables enrolled—a Fenian privateer seen in
Channel—ships after her—Martello Tower, near
Queenstown, attacked and anus taken—Wool, best
sorts, one halfpenny better." They lease flocks of
sheep in the Cape. Cotterell and Quin announce that
they will offer for public competition "A lease of
WO sheep, for three years, at a yearly rental of £4O
per annum, payable half-yearly." Another auctioneer
advertises for sale "A comfortable spider, with
harness."

A WIFE' BOUGHT FOR ONE SHILLING—Them
was a case on Monday at the Wakefield Court-house,
before Mr. Gurney Leatham, in which it appeared that
a wife had been bought from her husband fora shilling.
A woman of about tweoty-seven, named Sarah Jane
Ellis, was found, on Sunday night, in the belfry of
Sandal Church, and she was taken charge of by the
police. A man named George White now asked thaa
she Might be allowed to go &Ely with him. H
kept, he said, the" Beckett Spa," at Barnsley, and the
woman had been living with -him as his housekeeper
since 1864. He then met with her at a public-house at
Barnsley, when she told him that she was starving.
At his request she went with him, and after she had
been with him sixteen weeks her husband came to his
house, and offered to give her up for one shilling, which
he (White) paid, and it was spent in drink. The
woman had been living with him since, and she was
subject to tits. If she were allowed to go away with
hiss Ise would take care of her if she were ill. The
woman expressed a desire to go with the man, and she
was released.

A LADY'S INQUISITIVENESS. —One of the
Chinese dignitaries who has arrived at New York
with Mr. Burlinghame, the Chinese ambassador, is
Tung. The New York Herald, in describing the visit
of the Celestials to a shop in that city, says :

-
Near the doorway to the street on their exit, a number of
ladies stood to scrutinise them, and while the carriages were
being drawn up, a temporary halt on the side walk was made.
A lady standing near the rather handsome form of Tung,
forgetting good breeding in her desire to acquire hirsute
knowledge under difficulties, very deliberately took in her
ungloved hand his long and elaborately plaited cue, black as
coal, and almost as coarse as the hair of a big login," and
critically examined it. Tung eyed the "lady for a moment,
a smile illuminating his broad flat face as he glanced at her
own coiffure, and then bowing saia, 'All none' all mine
The inquisitive feminine retii ed In disgust. and Mr. Tung,
the smile on his dark face deeper and broader than before,
entered the carriage with others of his compatriots, and was
presently rolled up Broadway.

ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVE YEAR, OLD.—
On Sunday last (says the Cork Examiner) a woman,
named Margaret Roche, died at Buttevant, having
reached the authenticated age of 112 years. Mrs.
Roche was, for her age, of quite remarkable physical
vigour, and had been, up to the access of her brief
death sickness, engaged in customary domestic duties.
She retained entire possession of all her faculties to
the last, and died calm and collected. Her reminis-
cences extended into the middle of last century. The
principal events at this period she held in intelligent
remembrance, and hived to converse on. The memo-
rable year 'B2, with the national agitation which
attended the volunteer movement, she remembered
distinctly, and of '93, the events of the Great French
Revolution, and of '9B, she talked as if thee had only
ended last January. Of the latter convuldon, she re-
tained an inexhaustible fund of anecdote, lmoving been
an eye-witness of some of the chief incidents which
mark it. Mrs. Roche was in receipt of a pension from
the family of Sir D. J. Norreys, for services rendered
three quarters of a century ago.
THE MAGNITUDE OF THE TELEGRAPHIC SYS-
TEM—Some interesting facts in the history of tele-
graphic communication are given by Herr Neumann,
in an official report recently published in Vienna. It
appears from this report that a Russian telegraphic
agency exists at Pekin, through which messages are
transmitted from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
The line is now being carried to Behring's Straits, by
Okhotsk, and if the plan of the United States' Govern-
ment, to establish a telegraph through the territory
lately ceded to it by Russia is carried out, there will
soon be an uninterrupted line of telegraphs round the
earth. The longest line in the world is that between
San Francisco and St. John's, Newfoundland, a dis-
tance of 900 geographical miles. Herr Neumann an-
nexes to his report some statistical tables, showing
that the total length of the European telegraphs is
53,340 geographical miles; of th.ise in America, 14,239;
of those in Aia. 4,;36 ; of those in Australia, 1,842;
of those in Africa, I,so4—exclusive of submarine
lines. There are in all 1,200 telegraph stations, and
the number of persons employed in them is about
38,000. The total weight of the wires is calculated at
1,300,000 cat, and there are about 7,500,000 telegraph
posts, which it costs £200,000 a year to keep up. The
capital expended in the construction of the various
telegraphs is £17,500,000,

A GOOD MARRIAGE, NOTWITHSTANDING.
In the Court of Divorce, on Tuesday, the Judge Ordi-
nary gave judgment in the cause of Holmes 17. Simmons,
which was a suit promoted by the guardian of the
husband for a decree of nullity, on the ground of un-
due notice, and the suppression of the Christian names.
At the date of the marriage, which took place before
the Registrar at Oxford, the husband was little more
than fifteen years of age. His father and mother
were dead, the offer of marriage came from him, and
the notices at the registry office were also given by
him. In those notices the full I 'hristian names were
suppressed, but the name by which the parties were
generally known were given, and there was no inten-
tion to deceive. Moreover, even supposing that there
was suchintention, it did not appear that the wife, who
was nearly ten years older than the husband, had any
knowledge of it. Under these circumstances the Judge
Ordinary held that the marriage was valid, and de-
creed accordingly. "
•

TIIE LEPER'S- Is THE EAST.—The present social
position f the poor mendicant leper generally through-
out the East is a most deplorable one,.and it is not
surprising that he is often subject to the most inhuman
treatment. Psi the recent report Isn leprosy prepared
by the College of Physicians, great prominence was
given to the cruel neglect of the leprous outcast, and
the necessity and humanity of decent lodging and
housing him, instead of allowing him to live on more
like a wild beast than a human being. It is to be
hoped the Government will not lose sight of the point.
The Indian papers tells us that the practice of burning
lepers alive is still carried on in Rajpootana. It is an
easy and short method of getting rid of the afflicted.
The Rao of Serohi has issued a proclamation forbidding
the practice under a penalty of ten years' incarceration;
but the prevention of the act is difficult. One means
to this end would be the provision of a suitable
lazaretto at rfr near Serohi. The expense would be
comparatively trifling. —The Lancet.
_

ABini DANCE OF RABBITS. —The Gardeners'
Chronicle says :

We recently saw in a field of wheat adjoining the park and
grounds of a Cheshire landowner a perfect swarm .4 rabbits
—so that the whole surface was alive when they were dis-
turbed—and no that for go or 70 yards into the field the
wheat, nearly coming into ear elsewhere, was eaten down,
to the certain destruction of the crop. To demand a rent hi
such a case seemed to us at the time a great injustice; but
It now appears that a tenant having taken a lease of land by
which the game is reserved to the landlord, has no claim
even for the amount of damage done in such a case.

SAGACITY OF A DOG.—A correspondent of the
Bristol Post states that on Friday evening some
boys were playing about the timbers at Mardyke,
when one of them accidentally slipped into the water
and suddenly disappeared. For a moment no signs
could be seen of his whereabouts, but it was quickly
ascertained from a movement amongst some timbers
that the unfortunate boy was struggling in the water
beneath them. The timbers were secured too closely
together to admit of the youngster being pulled up
between them; but the owner of the dog mentioned
above succeeded in attracting the animal's attention to
the spot by throwing a atone underneath the timbers.
The dog immediately plunged beneath the wood, seized
theboy by one of his heels, dragged him from his perilous
position, and then, catching old of him by the nape
of the neck, brought him safely to shore, On previous
occasions the dog has saved two or three persons lives,
for which his owner has received medals, and it is said
that on Sundays the noble animal may be seen with
his breast decorated with the Humane Society's medals,
which he has so richly earned. The dog in a Lothian
water-spaniel.

A PRoTECTIoN AGAINST FRAUD. -- A very
ingenious machine has been specially adapted and
patented for Messrs. Marcus, Bebro, and Co.'s ticket
register, which was recently noticed by a con-
temporary. The ingenuity of the invention consists
in the fact that a continuous strip of paper, represent-
ing 5,000 tickets, may be passed through the machine
and delivered, perforated, within two minutes and a
half. The tickets are numbered consecutively from
I to 20,000, and each ticket bears four distinct num-
bers, the object being to perplex the minds of such
persona as omnibus conductors, or the ticket takers at
pla,.es of public amusement or resort, and whose much-
talked of temptations to dishonesty, the new machine
is specially designed to prevent.
AN Imeomso SPECTACLE.—The Fete-Dieu was
celebrated on Monday in all the churches of Paris with
great pomp and solemnity.. The Archbishop of Paris
himself carried the Holy Sacrament in the procession
in the cathedral of nitre Dame. At the Madeleine,
where alone in Paris the proceedings are seen outside
the building, all the wide passage under the colonnade
was magnificently dressed up with crimson hangings,
ornamented with gold lace. Round the sacred edifice
wound slowly an immense cortege, consisting of a great
number of priests, richly attired ecclesiastics belonging
to various communities, women in religious costume;
young girls in white, and men bearing a rich dais, the
cordons of which were held by persons in high political
positions, and the Abb4 Deguerry carrying a golden
remonstrance. The band of the Guard of Paris was
heard alternately with the religious music of the
church. At the top of the steps facing the Rue
Tronchet an altar was erected, and an immense crowd
filled the wide apace in front. When the Cure gave
his benediction from this spot all knelt down, and the
drums beat a salute. The whole proceedings were
exceedingly imposing.
FATAL GUN ACCIDENT.—At the farm of Mr.
Honeyburn, near Sherborne, a youth named Hussey
was playing with a gun. He pointed it at a seri ant
girl named Ann Lacy. He was told that it was loaded,
but persisted in saying it was not, and put a cap on.
He snapped the cap, but the gun did not go off, and
then, according to the dying statement of the girl, he
put on another, which he also snapped, and which
likewise did not explode the charge in the gun. A
third time he put on a cap, and then pointing the gun
at the girl, said, "Ann, I'll shoot you." Ile pulled
the trigger, and the charge entered the deceased's
shoulder. She immediately said, "Oh, dear!" and the
boy, when he law what he had done, put his hand to
her shoulder, and withdrawing it covered with blood,
started off. She lingered till about nine at night, when
she died. At the inquest, a verdict of "Manslaugh-
ter" was returned against the boy.
CAPE OF Goon HOPE ADVERTISFAIENTS.—The
Cape of Good Hope newspapers often present us with
Curlews examples of colonial journalism. We have
before us a recent copy of the Fort Beaufort AdrrrtUar.
The first advertisement which attracts our attention