The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-08-01 00:00:00

EXPLOSION OF A TORPEDO AT
PORTSMOUTH.
An accident of an extraordinary character, and which
has resulted in a lamentable loss of life, occurred at
Portsmouth on Friday afternoon.

e
It appears that Lieut. the Hon. Herbert George 1 whether the °mime— „.
, country is not eyeing to their eggs having been deposited in
Philip Alessi°, R.N. the fourth son of the Earl 01 1 guano—their transformation into insects taking place when
Clanwilliam, G. C.H., possessing inventive talent of a ever the summer is intensely hot.
high order, had for some time past devoted his atten- All the fish ponds wmai once belonged to Netley
tion to the production of a gun id peculikr censtruetien, Ald,ey are LOW dried up, excepting one. This, which has
for which a patent was about to be obtained, and also existed for handreds of years,.,it: it.is
filmutSuLa,Lel-ti.,,ri.m
over
of a particular description of temedo. About six par ly eoverel,
the,al: I
xiiire. covered with foxglove and
weeks since Lieut. Meade engaged two rooms in a Its So'ilT,stelidal I
private house in Union-street, Portsea, where, assisted "."
' On Monday evening Inspector Hill, who has been
by Sergeant Dare of the Royal Marine Artillery, and
William White, a fitter in the dockyard, Inc was for three year's clerk to the chief constable of Hull, was
found dead in the water-closet adjoining the office. having
engaged in the manufacture of the destructive missiles.
. shot himself in the head with an old pistol. the has been
All went well until Friday of tgrnoon, when at about twelve years in the force, andenjoyed a good character. Ilv,
four minutes to five o'clock, an explosion, like the was formerly a private ill the Dragoon (wards, and leariv„ a
roar of artillery, and which shook the houses in the wife and tea, eliddren.
immediate cieinity, indicated that an accident had A failure was announced at Liverpool Una 'week of
happened. Lieutenant Meade and White were on a foreign firm who have been speculating itt 'cotton of
the 4,-nnind Hot a-, Dare being. in the room im hi
mediately wch they hold almo hales , and whose liaidy ties are ex-
overhead. On hearing the exploshm Dare ran down pected to reach Lifshoea.
stairs, at found Lieutenant al eagle lying in one Tim Btrlin journals state that the por,ailatitm of that
wner of th r m near the wow elide% iisigw,e.,,,lmiii.,eithr fithount;itos:rit ;,,irg the
fae 00, ind, weltering in journeyman
blood, and White, a short distance from him also
will cease working on =Let% if ituleliar
bleeding profusely. tayste;s tint they
employment is not almlished ant the inmWer of hands
The effect of the explosion was observable in all ii„.,,esea.
directions Every pane of glass in the window had The entire restoration tif the cathedral of Notre
been blown out, and the contents of the room were in a Dame, commenced twenty years ago, is at this moment
state of great confusion. liemg terminated by fixing a railing all round it to protect
Assistance having been obtained, Lieutenant Meade the siteitii,-,encolleiiko„n its extent. This is the last opera-
, utelerMktu.to give this magnificent
wild White were removed into another room, and Dr. l l.'
tii:nitling the ph;-sio,monly unfelt it po.ssessed when first
Arthur Garrington, Dr. Rowe, and aeyeral other erected in 1447.
medical gentlemen were speedily in attendance.
At a balloon ascensiati, at Macon City, Mobile, on
Lieutenant Meade's injuries were of such a serious
the 4th of July, the balloon took fire and tell half a mile,
character as to preclude the slightest chance of his re- lodging in the top of a tree. The remnant, Professor Yard,
cevery. He had a very extensive laceration of the who fell with it, was not seriously injured,
abdomen, the intestines protruding, and a compound The directors of the London and North-Wtestern
fracture of the left fore-ann, with extensive laceration Railway one of the largest corporated bodies in ragland ,
of the muscles of the right arm. The unfortunate with its 30,000 officers and workmen, have made sue',, arrange.
officer received every attention
hfrom the medical m
their empl t
erits for the conduct of Sunday k
".-- will l' liable every
gentlemen and a number of broter officers, but he man in eoy o attend wchurchl at
gradually sank, and expired three-quarters of an hour
brother, sai,idaY
'At Melton, on Saturday, theatteueig nceo'fltartm:eciest:::
later, just premensly to the anival of his elder
Captain Lind tithed, EN., and other relatives. was large. There was an entire Gene a
• the time slit at s opearance being WV the Irish hamster,
White was taken to the hospital at Landimrt, and it when tine h e arvest will be nearly ores.
was found that he hatl sustained a compound cmnnii- were from the milting d „istricts, v‘ir a fivtilight distant,
e TliA lielsk (eliofintl,ne men
fluted fracture of the right arm, and amputation at the eellent wages were obtained, but ie
~so.ly for three week's only
shoulder joint was considered necessan-. The operation instead of the customary mono,.
Might 61111 S 111111 continued
was very successfailly pert. orint..d by in. Simiason as I drouAts have made harve,st le dere], and .11 prolnises to he
stated by other menibers id the medical staff ; but the 'at ''h' "n° °I tha eariirax. rat also the shortest on record."
—LIM* Mereetry.
shock to the system was so severe that the poor fellow
expiredat mien on Saturday, It appears tliat on Friday . AtslatfilicV 'with ayeerdiar phase of mailness was
afteninon Dare was employed in filling the torpedoes ' r '
i)toorgf to:mistimes on Friday. The
11y-stairs, and he then took them down to the deceased, the
1 i 0 sesiebsZ rh`T it(
' ::InaSrt:ElZe:Face. er
t,'i.; Yf i6iiTi s' ifilthtmheetrob,cow,xis
White putting on an iron cap, and Lieutenant Meade madly getti.„, astray, and he appears to have spent a con-
then sealing the torpedo with gutta-percha. Six of giderable ',onion of his life in looking for them Passing by
ard the tithca. slay be saw two hens which he felt
these missiles were to be completed for the purpose a farnes;
d on board her Majesty's ship Excellent c c itsere a permit aMs lust stud:, and in the presence
of being trie, eita
in 4
had b Portsmouth harbian, on the following day. Five erIWU. 1 ooking mt he gave chase to the fowls,
ttureiilhothienitii, NU a COOIIY 11alked off with one under either
een finished, and White had affixed the cap to
lees insanity being proved, he was sent to a
the sixth, and handed it to Lieutenant Meade, who i 4,
nilaue asyheaw-
melted some gutta percha by means of a candle and "Alpha 'e ,',Tame. . .
, to the Time:, wishes to know how
applied it to the ead of the projectile. to stated it
6 tho
with a fall of some Ms. to 121. per euarter for
that be had turned his head for
,a second when he was wheat during the last two months, bread has only been
alarmed by the explosion. The iron tube was shattered redur-0i id. per gallon. He well observes that the country
and some of the pieces struck both Lieutenant Meade pew', people, scattered as they are, can do nothing to help
and White. It would seem that after the iron cap Ikemselveg in this matter, and that it therefore becomes the
duty of those in authority to establish some system, by
had been fitted the missle was not air-tight., in (muse-
quence of which the heated gutta berths, came in eor„ itre.,,.,:iali
v.e- Ilpiact 0 toh;,
i,3rel -.12-I,:zhitir:,,.....lfaz,,totegokrnilt!
tact with the explosive substance with which the c,,,,,. every week—say at the police stations throughMit the
jectile was filled. kingdom.
An inquest on the body if Lieutenant Meade WM 1)r. Robert Sullivan, late of the Irish National
opened on Saturday at Portsea, when Lord Gifford Board, who died a fine days ago In Dublin, aud whose pro-
identified the body as that of ins brother, who, lie petty was the fruit .if the sale of the school-books which he
stated, was born in February, WI. He knew that compiled for the Connnissioners, by his will has left £4,000
the deceased was experimenting with a aun, but not to the ()item's Cf illeges for the endowment of Sullivan
Scholarships, and several thousand pounds ti National
With torpedoes. schools at Holyw nod near Belfast, his native place. Dr.
Lieutenant Philip Parker, R.N., deposed to having Sullivan was see don; advocate and an efficient administra-
received a message from thedeceased after the accident', tor of the "mix al system" of education of Ireland.
in consequence of which he proceeded to the house in A curious railway case Ina been before a jury of the
Union-street Portsmouth, and saw the deeeased, -nine county of Antrit a, aethe Assizes. The plaintiff, a fireman in
said to him, " While I am sensible I what it to be the employment of the Belfast and Northern counties Bail-
publicly known that it was nothlag «inflected with my way, sustained F Severe injuries "bile driving an engine near
gun that caused this lewdness ;it was nothing but the Bailymena. Ti. e engine ran off the line and down an era-
heat from the melted panto percha that exploded some braLiksment ; and the allegation was that the accident occurred
f the hail c indition of the permanent way. There was,
of Schultc's wood powder. He was very anxiims that by consent, a S vedict for the plaintiff, who hail lahl damages
his gaitshoulcl not be blamed for the accident, as he was at Eidam, tor Gooe and costs,
very much wrapped up in it, The deceased said that Among the interesting objects shown last year at
White was to be providail for out of his (Lieutenant the Paris Expositiow was a rifle ball, of very curious eon.
Meade's) private weans. He was very anxious about struction. Sin the corn se of experiments made in the French
this, and as to the nature of White's injuries. capital during the summer a bullet of this kind was fired
into the middle of an oak plant eight inches in thickness,
By this sad event the farnillea of the Marquis and
Marchioness of Ailesbtny, Lady Herlx-rt of Lea, &c., Vetere it Inest,.separ_ding into five fragments, and tearing,
will be placed in mourning. When her Majesty re- raiseTaittet4 eVf.lcuie'in vAengra'Otfiesttilua'p''rir°i;elXe .Z.leills'eii:-
ceived intelligence of the accident she forwarded a servga thanks', or whether the use of Ins bullet ought to he
telogeam to the Port Admiral inquiring as to the con- reaciaucea by all civilized nations!
ilitiim of the sufferers, Lieutenant Meade, uho A sukeide under peculiar cirenmstances occurred at
attained that rank in February, 1807, was an officer the vinage id Soulliury, near Leighton Buzzard, int Saturday
of great promise, and his untimely end has created a uterine. It worm that a lad named Stone was fighting in
profound feeling of regret among his brother officer& the. street on Thursday, when the father, John Stone, came
White, who was thirty-seven years of age, was a very nat and took Ids wails part ~who was getting the wor4 of it,:
respectallle and industrious man. Ile has left a kicking his anZagonist in a vital part of the liody. The Ist)/
widow and two children, for whom, it ia stated, amply laeoZlPlTatiel itnilrilua'ttlfea:,:ellali.,..Tris7 gee Y:alte'ru-
provision will be made by the relatives of Lieutenant closet. Ile sins sixty-live years of age.
Meade. Our readers will be glad to know (gays the
A thenceutit t hat her Majesty has very generously consented
to give up tt, the nation the great and valuable series of
documents co anocted with the Duchy of Lancaster. These
papers—the private rcperty of the crown—are of the
highest inter, at fir hastoncal purposes ; and ills of great
importance that they slion'd be placed in the Reeord-oM,,
RIM rendered. accessible to students. The Queen could
hardly have done a. more gsxfcions and patriotic thing than
place these wipers under the ;rational control.
A few days ainae a well-known Parisian jeweller in
the Palais Royal was waited upon, by an Englishman, who
asked permifsion to sees watukt s-smitten) at 20,0001. Having
seen it and 1 ,xpresso,l his admiration, he asked permission to
look at another equally valuable. %Vast the jeweller's back
WilStunied our enterprising countryman, extracted the watch
and subst'Autell an imitation one. Fonunately there was a
looking-a lass through which the shopkeeper witnessed the
episode. Ile was at once seized, but adroitly dropped the
watch, awl escaped in a crowd of persons surrounding a
ndlitary, band
The.Tlishop of London, on Monday afternoon, opened
a tor pinery iron church at Clayton. A correspondent of
the I tell Mal/ Gazette, who was present, writes—'' I hay two
of Hie litany clergy present were even the least eccentric, Cr
childish, in their dress ; one wearing a short Week petticoat
beneath his surplice, and the other not only a petticoat,
hut,, small black tippet, with bow and strings behind. The
last clergyman referred to came late, and seemed to amuse
thee congregation, especially the younger members of it, as
he glided up rale ouu-en. It is 11 curious fact that nearly all
the clergy who aim at eccentricity in dress are not members
of our universities, but very generally persons who have
gained access to the church through St. Bees, or otherwise.'
At a fashionable watering-place in Normandy a
gentleman, dressed in a somewhat scanty bathing costume,
was observed by the nrsdarmes to enter that part of the bath
prohibited. The gentarmes invited him to return, but the
gentleman declined. He was then asked to produce his
papers. "31y papers ! I cannot carry my papers with me
when I go bathing. There are no pockets in this costume."
The gendarmes insisted upon having his papers, and as he
could not produce, them he was marched off to the hotthe of
the mayor.