The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser. — 1890-02-18 (Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England)

NEWS NOTES.  A young man of 23, who has dissipated a fortune of £30e,000 in two years, is still pursuing his chequered career. The latest variation is a sentence of three months imprisonment for issuing drafts when there were no assets to meet them. Ernest Benzon, "Jubilee plunger" is in danger of becoming a knave. Ihe magistraLß who passed sentence was very lenient with the accused, and convicted him of a "contravention of the law," and not of a crime. The only defence set up was that the Jubilee Juggins (a te-rra which gave much concern to the French interpreter) was more fool than knave. It was sti”ely a work of superogation to prove Benzon a fool. He insisted long ago on the world knowing the fact. This is what the Public Prosecutor said of him after the English witnesses had been called to prove that the accused was un imbecile :—" He qualified Benzon as debauche—one who chose the path of vice in preference to leading a family life. Addressing Mr. Benzon he said: "A few days ago you were an  Elegant of London,' now you are nothing but a thief. You came to the end cf your tether at Mentone and Monte Carlo, and then you came to exploit Nice. You pretend to be a fool. You are vicious, but sane." There is a charming frankness in the address of the Public Prosecutor: let us hope that it will not be lost on the reckle-s spend-tbrift and. gambler.  The latest London horror very nearly approaches no Whitechapel murders in the intensity of its v illainy. A girl of 15 named Jeffs, of West Ham, goes on an errand and is seen alive no more. Her body is subsequently found in the cupboard of an empty house. The girl had been outraged and murdered. The worst feature of the Case is that West Haut has an unenviable notoriety in regard to the dis.  appeatances of young women. Have these girls really been decoyed abroad for the white slave trade, or is the ease of Alice Amelia Jeffs the repetition of former undiscovered atrocities? In the seething population of the great metropolis a mysterious disappearance is a common occurrence, and it is only revelations like this which give a clue to the fate of the missing ones.  The Unionist party are just recvering from the blow of the report of the Parnell Commission. The Times gave the cue, and the Unionist cry is to be that the charges formulated by the accusers of the Irish National platy have been proved. The Unionists decline to admit that they have been beaten. The worst case of political double-dealing we have yet seen is that of Mr. Elliott Lees, M.P. While the Tories believed in the genuineness of the forged letters, this gentleman said in (Sect that Mr. Parnell and his party would stand or fall by those documents. The forgeries were placed beyond doubt, yet we see that Mr. Lees declared on Saturday tint the charges against the Parnellites had been proved to the hilt! That is a typical case of Unionist political fairness. Happily the people of this country have closely studied the whole facts, and they find it established beyond doubt that Mr. Parnell, against whom this tremendous indictment was mainly levelled, has conducted a social revolution in a more constitutional manner than any known to history.  A big struggle is threatened in the coal trade. Within the last fortnight the masters have decided to resist the miners demand for a ten per cent advance in wages. 'lle men have again met and resolved to abide by that demand. No doubt the recent rise in prices justifies the colliers in asking for more wages. • Ths miucuwners on this occasion, however, show more signs of combined resistance. Fortunately the prospective strike does not begin until the end of March when, we hope, the worst of winter will be over, and the necessity for coal fur house consumption less than it now is. The inevitable result of the struggle mu,t LK' to run up the price of (cal, when no dotii,t ti,e masters will make the concesiit 11:c.a is now rtasonably asked of them. As mual the Er:ash public will pay the