The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle. — 1885-05-09 (Stourbridge, West Midlands, England)

EPITOME OF NEWS.  BRITISH AND FOREIGN.  On Saturday at the Liverpool Assizes, Henry James Jackson, solicitor, Dukinfield, pleaded guilty to misappropriating £950, trust money, and was sentenced to five years' penal servitude. _ _ _  'Die officer commanding the volunteers of the Dover district has received private instructions from the authorities that in the event of war the volunteers will be permitted to be embodied or to go on active service. Messrs. Cassell and Co. are preparing for issue a series of popular standard works which they will ptiblish in monthly volumes under the title of " Cassell's Red Library." The same firm will open their annual exhibition of original drawings in black *aid white at Belle Sauvage-yard early in June. The forthcoming dinner of the Newspaper Press Fund on Saturday, the 16th inst., at Willis's Rooms, promises to be of more than ordinary interest. Dr. William Howard Russell will preside, and will be most influentially supported. A loving cup used on this occasion, lent by Sir Sheraton Baker, will be that presented to John Wilkes in 1772 by the Corporation of the City of London.  The Royalty Theatre has just passed into the hands of Mr. Andrew Levey, the well known musical director oi the Lyceum Theatre. The new vcanagement will be inaugurated by the production of a new and original English comic opera, entitled "The Doctor," composed by Cotsford Dick and written by Mr. Colnegli. The dead body of a man named Peter Robinson was found lying on Sunday on a grave in Kirkdale Cemetery, Liverpool, in which his daughter lies buried, and a bottle containing laudanum and carbolic acid was lying by his side. In his pocket was found a letter stating he had walked all the way from Perth to die on the grave of his daughter, who also committed suicide a few months shortly after his wife died, and his mind became unhinged. The body of Dr. Phelps, of Exeter, was found on Saturday wedged between two rocks at Ness, Teignmouth. Re had been at a picnic with his wife and family, and left them to walk home. It is supposed he was suddenly seized with heart disease. The Guiou steamer Abyssinia, which was partially disabled whilst going from Liverpool to New York, arrived off the Mersey at four o'clock on Saturday morning in tow. She had on board about 700 passengers.  On Saturday at the Liverpool Assizes, before Mr. Justice Smith, Daniel Murray O'Hara, an assistant doctor, pleaded guilty to sending menacing letters to Jane Amelia Griffiths, demanding money, and was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude. The Antwerp Exhibition was opened on Saturday by the King of the Belgians, who expressed his gratification at the realisation of a great work in the success of which he and his brother took a profound interest. The Hungarian Exhibition at Pesth was opened on Saturday by the Emperor, who remarked that so important a festival furnished a proof of national advancement. - _ _  Vesuvius is in a state of active eruption. On Saturday afternoon two new craters opened with great noise about a third of a mile above the station of the little railway. The streams of lava which issued therefrom flowed towards Pompeii. A fire occurred in New York on Saturday night, which resulted in the death of nine persons and injuries to a number of others. The Prince of Wales, who was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, on Saturday opened the new Subway from the South Kensington Railway Station to the Exhibition buildings. Mr. Justice Manisty bad before him on Saturday an action in which an ex-Secretary of the Bank of England, named Gattie sued Mr. Grenfell, who was the Governor of the Bank in 1883, for damages for slander. Mr. Gattie had been connected with a man whose proceedings led to a criminal charge against the plaintiff, upon which be was acquitted. Mr. Gattie, however, lost his situation and his pension, and when a question was put about him at a General Court, Mr. Grenfell made a few remarks, and upon these the present action was based. The judge held that the occasion was privileged, and the jury returned a verdict for the defAndant.