The Express.
London, England, 1868-02-10 00:00:00

ME REV. B. SPREE.

It appears that the police were first apprised
of the fact of the Rev. B. Speke 's having relatives in
Queen's-square by a letter which appeared in the Times on
Friday last. Mr. Spoke's hat was discovered opposite to
the steps locally known as " the Cockpit Steps," Birdcage-
walk, and within a stone's throw of the Birdcage-walk
entrance to the house No. 11, Queen-square, the town
residence of the missing gentleman's married sister. Queen-
' square, on • winter's evening, is • very retired spot. The
house was at the time under the guardianship of only one
woman servant. It is a large, old-fashioned mansion.
Letters appear in our contemporaries, almost daily,
referring to missing relatives or circumstimen re-
called to the writers' minds by the case of Mr. Speke.
The Rev. H. \nit., of Savoy Chapel, describes another
puzzling incident in his own experience, which happened
to him two years ago. It relates to some woman who
asked him one evening to go to her home and baptise
her sister's dying child, and his search for the
place, which was recognised by the police to be
an sbode of thieves. No child was ill, and the people
in the house knew nothing of the woman. " Until now,"
says Mr. White, " I have never again thought or spoken I
of this accident. The dismal fate of Mr. Speke has revived
my recollection of it, and only in deference to opinions
more weighty than my own do I now offer it to your ser-
vice and discretion."
Another correspondent, signing himself " W.," describes
• mysterious incident which occurred to himself. In
March, 1867, he left • City omnibus near the
Elephant and Castle between 5 and 6 o'clock in the even-
ing, and rereemblrs nothing until nearly midnight, when
he was awakened to consciousness, in what appeared to be •
coffee-shop, by the words addressed to him by • man, who
said, "We are going to close," and " You must go, sir."
Shortly afterwards he found himself sitting in a cab, ten
miles away from his home, which he did not reach until
between 4 and sin the morning. He had lost his gold
watch, and nearly eight pounds in gold and silver;
but other property upon his person, including 40/.
in notes, was perfectly safe. If. had not drunk anything
to cause this mysterious stupor, nor had he apparently had
anything given to him, such as beer or spirits, and he is
utterly at • loss to account for this strange incident,
although, upon his coat, which was otherwise unsoiled,
there was the imprint of • woman's hair net. He sug-
gests that Mr. Speke's experience was of the same kind ;
but with a fatal result.
Lieutenant• Colonel H. C. Sandys, who is on the Bengal
retired list, narrates the case of his nephew, Lieutenant
Mecredy, of the Bombay army, who left his lodgings on
the 4th February, 1864, with the avowed intention of pro-
ceeding to Dublin, and has not since been Meld of.

Dr. W. B. Cheadle writes to the Times, com-
menting upon the extreme probability that there are at
the present moment Englishmen held in captivity or
slavery in the Somali country to the south of Abyssinia.
Burnouts of the kind have been in circulation since 1859.
Dr. Cheadle supposes that these unfortunate men are sur-
vivors from the wreak of the ship St. Abb's, which was
east ashore rear Magdesbo, on the Somali coast, and that
they may also include amongst their number the crews of
two boats from H.M.S. Penguin, who were attacked by
the Somalia, and for whose alleged death eight men were
beheaded by the Somali sultan. " That a small party,"
writes Dr. Cheadle, " may venture among the Somalia in
safety the success of that in search of the Baron Vender-
decken is sufficient proof ; and, indeed, some years ago an I
Englishman (Mr. Angelo) lived for years among these
natives, and travelled through their country, I believe,
entirely alone. Bat, in any case, with 10,000 troops in
Abyssinia, • fleet of transports in Anemia Bay, and a
squadron of men-of-waron the coast, there can be little
difficulty in getting the truth out of the Somalia."
Mr. Kitts, government mining surveyor to the ,
colony of Victoria, who is in England for a few weeks on
leave of absence, says there are in the colony thirty-nine
dividend•paying alluvial and sixty-five quartz mines,
giving in the aggregate a profit of 1.289,9971. per annum,
and that these do not constitute more than ore-half of the
dividend mines in Victoria. " I know," he says, "no part
of the world where • working man may do be tter- Miners'
was range from V. to 21. 10s. per week. Such an income,
where beef is 2d. per lb., and mutton 14d., and where •
hanging( 5 to 80 ease of land rosy be obtained by selection
Ware wormy, is more valuable than doable the amount in
"
Tii Taurus.—The water has bean improving
ha mention this week. and some attempts have beta made
by the anglers, bat without any pest seONOL The river
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bags hem ham by the bask smokes la the
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now haw " team ses" trout.
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malks- the Ise el Aprn et whin Sims is hoped the
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writ lethal's.= warild hemi%
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bees tang neat tsar deem dime deny. Clomp
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et yen deser-Wed norm Mom
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Rev. Mr. Ming las begs iggps minor men et
Manor la megniga to lbe Rev. L Man