The Express.
London, England, 1866-10-06 00:00:00

ASPIIALTZ ROOTINO PELT.

031 erirVi per I;Sire irT.,a.
CROGGON and Co., Manufacturers.
ea' New Earl-street. } London, RC.
24, Bread-street,
60, GeOrge-isquare, Glasgow. 2, Gorse-plums, Liverpool.

FIELD'S PRIZE MEDAL PARAFFIN
CANDLE.% (the Original:, la. Bd. per lb. Yield's Marble
Spero Candles, la. per lb. To be had of all dealers In town and
country.

THE SUNDAY GAZETTE ; containing all the
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the neighbourhood of London by 9 o'clock.

SUICIDE OF A STATION-MASTEIL—An inquest
was held yesterday at the Virginia Water station, on the
South Western Railway, respecting the death of iTescpb
Stokes. The evidence showed that the deceased, who was 65
As old, had been in the service of the South Western
way Company for abw.t twenty years, and had been
station-muter at Virginia Water for about half that
time. A short time since he received a note from Mr.
Scott, the traffic mamger , stating that be was required to
move from Virginia Water to Fulwell station, on the
Thames Valley line. Deceased wrote hi return, stating that
his eyes were bad, and asking that he might have a boy to
assist him at Fulwell. To this the traffic manager replied
that deceased was unfit for the duty at Virginia Water,
and if he thought himself unfit for that at Fulwell he
(Mr. Scott) must report to that effect to the directors.
This so affected deceased that on Tuesday night, instead
of going to bed as usual, be sat in a chair in the bedroom
and dozed there a little. At an early hour the next morn-
ing he picked up his razor and cut his throat in such a
way as to cause almost immediate death. The jury found
that deceased had committed suicide while in an unsound
state of m'nd.

THE " QUESTIONABLE CONVICTION " 07 A SER-
VANT GIBI. Ix Yoaz.—The conviction of Elizabeth Long-
burst by two York magistrates last week, on a charge of
stealing a box, the property of Mr. Lowrie, the governor of
York Cutts, with whoa she had lived as a domestic ser-
vant, has produced a considerable amountof excitement 'n
this city. Popular op'nion seems to be strongly in favour
of the girl, on the ground that she took the box as a thing
of no value, and without any felonious intention, and, con-
sequently, subsci:ptions have been commenced for the
Tree nof "tliinii a small provision for her when she is
purpose of "iu*kin a amall provision for her when she as
discharged from prison." The Marquis Townshend, who
accidentally passed through this city at the commence-
ment of the present week, and who heard of the affair, has
instituted inquiries, and forwarded the same to the Home.
office, with a view to the prompt release of the girl from
prison. Mr. Walpole, we are informed, has already placed
himself in communication with the committing magistrate.
—York Herald.

RAILWAY TRAFFIC RECEIPTS:—The traffic re-
ceipts of railways in the United Kingdom amounted for
the week ending the 214th of September, on 12,688 miles
to 773,151/., and for the corresponding week of last year,
on 12,350 miles, to 757,112/., showing an increase of
216 miles, and of 16,0391. The gross receipts on the fol-
lowing fourteen railways amounted, in the aggregate,
on 9,121 miles to 647,836/. and for the correspond-
ing week of 1865 on 8,964 miles, to 635,424/. ;
showing au increase of 157 miles, and of 12,4121. The
increase on the Great Eastern amounted to
4141. ; on the Great Northern to 1,1122!. ; on the Great
Western to 1,872/. ; on the Lancashire and Yorkshire
to 2,135/. ; on the London and North Western to 2,304/. ;
on the London and Brighton to 39/. ; on the Man-
chester, Sheffield. end Lincolnshire to 1,2741. ; on the
Midland to 2,931/. ; on the North British to 1,7491. ;
on the North-Eastern to 2,7461.—t0ta1, 17,386/. But
from this must be deducted VOL, the decrease on the
Caledonian, 1.075/. on the Great Southern and Western,
881/. on the London and South Western, and 2,738!. on
the South-Eastern, leaving the increase, as above, 12,412/.
The goods and mineral traffic on those lines amounted to
344,618/., end for the corresponding week of 1865 to
327,397/., showing an increase of 17,221/. The receipts
for passengers, parcels, Ac., amounted to 303,218/., against
308,027/., showing a decrease of 4,809/. The traffic re-
ceipts on 52 other lines amounted, on 3,567 miles to
125,315/., and for the corresponding week of last year, on
3,486 miles, to 121,6881., showing an increase of 81 miles
and of 3,6271. The total receipts of the past week show
an increase of 16,5371. as compared with those of the pre-
ceding week, ending. the '.2nd of September.
A STRANGE STORY."—A young lawyer, who
had chambers in the Temple, had a nodding acqnaintance
with an old gentleman living on the same staircase. The
old man was a wealthy old bachelor, and had a place in
the c•yuntry, to which he went for a week every Easter.
His servants had charge of the place while he was away—
an old married couple who had lived with him for twenty-
!seven yeas s and were types of the fine old English domes-
tic. One ears,
Tuesday the young lawyer was astonished
to find the old gentleman on his Temple staircase, and
made some ransack about it. The old man asked him into
his rnom, and said he had received a fearful shock. He
bad gone down as usual to his country place, had been re-
ceived with intense cordiality, had found his dinner cooked
to perfection, and everything as it had been from the be-
ginning. When the cloth was removed hie faithful butler
put his bottle of port on the table, and made the cus-
tomary inquiries about master's health, hoped master was
I not fatigued by the journey, had enjoyed his cutlet, and so
! on. The old gentleman was left alone, his hand was on
the neck of the bottle of port, when it suddenly flashed
across his mind, " Here I am, a lonely old man ; no one
cares for me ; there is no one here to help me if anything
should happen to me. What if my old servant and his
wife have been cheating and robbing me all the time?
What if they want to get rid of me, and have poisoned this
; bottle of wine?" The idea took hold of him so strongly
that he could not touch his port. When the man came in
again he said he did not feel well, would have a cup of tea ;
no, he would have • glass of water and go to beet In the
morning he rang his bell, end no one answered. He got
, up, found his way downstairs ; the house was empty, his
; two faithful old servants had vanished. And when he
I came to look further he found that his cellar, which ought •
to have contained two or three thousand pounds' worth of
I wine, was empty, and the bottle they had brought him last
night was poisoned.—Cornkill Magazine for October.
I INVOLUNTARY ACIION.—It 18, I believe, a known
fact, that impressions very often renewed come at last
Ito renew themselves involuntarily. There was a clever
little caricature by Bertall lately in a French illustrated
paper. He imagined a lecture given to an audience com-
wsed of concierins. A bell rings, and immediately, from
I habit, all the concierpu lift up their hands to pull the cordon
which in Paris opens the street-door. The idea was scarcely
an exaggeration. An absent gentleman, whom I know,
was particularly subject to involuntary action. When he
had to drew in the evening to go to a party, he sometimes
I went to bed instead, quite involuntarily. A drunkard
I with a brandy bottle within reach will, if be does not
1, exercise conscious resolution, drink brandy. For sober
men it requires a conscious exercise of will to mix a grog
I and drink it ; for the drunkard, all that does itself some-
how unconsciously ; the active business for him would be
to refrain. The same law holds good with reference to
good and praiseworthy habits. Mr. Lake, I suppose, when
In a state of non-effort composes pictures involuntarily :
for me to compoee
_a picture would require conseiont effort.
' On the other hand, I often catch myself COM
mons involuntuily.—Mocasiiiaa's blagazisse for October.