Brighouse & Rastrick Gazette. — 1892-12-17 (Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England)

THE PRINCESS AND THE COSTER.  Members of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will read with special interest and satisfaction the following :amusing incident which is communicated to the Pally Telegraph upon the authority of an eye witness: On Friday a costermonger belonging to Hammersmith was driving in his donkey barrow homeward along the Barnes-road. The animal was being urged along by repeated heavy blows with a stick when a smart equipage, containing two ladies, drove up from an opposite direction. One of the ladies, whose attention had been directed to the coster, instructed the coachman to pull up, and, after vainly expostulating wi:h the dealer in fruits and vegetables, commanded her footman to descend and take the stick from him. The footman obeyed with alacrity, and the lady then severely lectured the coster,who had ii,come athisive, and threatened that if he did not forthwith cease his cruelty and promise to be kind to his donkey in the future, she would give him in charge without more ado. The irate costermonger, turning to the footman, declared that he would summon him for asault and for the theft of his stick, and, addressing himself to the lady, vowed that he would apply for a summons against her also for "aiding and abetting." In an insolent tone he then demanded, the name and address of the "woman," and the information was at once vouclriated. Then came a sudden charge in the countenance of the owner of the donkey, and, falling upon his knees and addressing the lady as "your 'lghness," besought her Royal pardon, admitting at the same time that his "Jack" had been a good old friend, and confessing that he had "served him bad," adding with suppliant cry, "I'll never hit him again, no, so help me taters I won't." A constable appeared upon the scene in the midst of the coster's prayer, and chserving who was the distinguished lady occupant of the carriage,immediately produced his pocket book for the purpose of entering a report. The lady, however, with a gracious smile gged that he would allow the coster to depart, and after reading him a homily on unkindness to animals, directed the stick to be returned to him. The coster brcke it across his knee as a guarantee of good faith,and the Princoss—for such is her title —after reminding him of his promise, and begging the policeman to say nothing of the matter or make mention cf her name, bade them both "ood day," and drove away in the direction of Richmond. Though the name of the Princess may not be mentioned, such a kindly and noble act on the part of one of exalted rank ought not to go unrecorded.  mercnant named bmitn, of Mount Sterling, Kentucky, lately missed one of his store keys. Thinking it had been stolen by burglars, Mr. Smith and his clerks agreed to watch. About midnight three men entered the door by watts of the stolen key. Mr. Smith and his clerks fire,' their revolvers at the burglars, killing one of them. The oiler two were captured.  Telegrams received from Tashkend, in Russian Turkestan, announce the assassination of MajorGeneral Droszgovski. This officer ha,l been acting as president of a court-martial in the trial of a numerous band of Nihilists, the greater part of whom were sentencel to various punishmentg. The remaining conspirators resolved upon killing him, and succeeded in promptly carrying out heir murderous design.  An extraordinary incident, says the Times of India, has recently occurred at Government House, Bombay. Lord William Beresford was dislodged from his rooms by a swarm of bees. They were eventually got rid of by a native expert, who appeared on the scene with a good-sized sack, and carried them off in it.  On Monday General Lord Roberts, V.C., Commander-ifi-Chief in India, completed 41 years of military service, having received his first commission as Second-Lieutenant in the Bengal Artillery on December 12th, 1851, at the age of 19. Lord Roberts has been concerned in most of the warfare in India since that date. He was present at the siege of Delhi, the operations at Cawnpore, and the capture of Lucknow, and gained his Victoria Cross during the Mutiny campaign.