The Dewsbury Chronicle, and West Riding Advertiser. — 1895-04-24 (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England)

HOME.  Henry Dagwell, 17, porter, has been killed by an express train at Basingstoke station. His body was horribly mangled. The Glasgow steamer, Severn, for Swansea, collided on Saturday near the Mumbles Head with a tug boat believed to be the Wasp. The latter sank with all hands, five in number.  The body of a man, found on the railway between Aber and Bangor, has been identified as that of Mr. William Bottomley, a gentleman farmer of Rugelev. Inquiries point to suicide. A respectably-dressed man, who gave the name of laidrews, was, at Bedford, sentenced to 14 days' hard labour for attempting to pick the pocket of a gentleman named Anderson, of Northampton, at the recent Bedford Steeplechases. Prisoner refused to give his address. At Chesterfield an old man named Scamon, who was stated to have spent 30 years in gaol, was charged with stealing a mare, and committed for trial. Prisoner is said to be well known all over the country as a horse stealer, and at Portland worked side by side with the Tichborne claimant.  At Doncaster Patrick Moran, collier, was charged with firing a stack, the property of Messrs. Cliffe and Hall, hay and straw dealers. Prisoner was seen walking near a stack which was soon afterwards discovered to be in flames. He was followed and arrested, matches being found on him.—Committed to the sessions.  The pos•masters throughout the country has been notified that the present date stamps are to be replaced by stamps which will shew the time of despatch of the mail on the postmark. Following the system adopted in the United States, the time will be stamped in plain figures and not in the regulation code letters as was originally intended.  The oil boom in America has more than doubled the price of petroleum in Liverpool, where the trade is enormous. Most Northern counties derive their supplies from Liverpool, and if the high prices continue, several articles into which it enters in manufacture must necessarily advance in price. American refined is quoted 91d. to and Russian Elid. per gallon.. An inquest was held at Sheffield on Saturday on the body of Henry Sparling, works manager, who was found by his grandson near a revolver with which he had shot himself in the head. On removal to the infirmary two bullets were extracted. Deceased had recently been much depressed at the loss of some money. Verdict, suicide whilst temporarily insane. At Manchester, James Ryan, ticket-of-leave man; John Pearson, a notorious character; and Roderick Connor have been sent to gaol, the two former for three and the latter for two months; for attempting to pick pockets. They were observed by a detective to attempt to pick the pockets of six ladies before he could obtain the necessary assistance to secure them. At Manchester, Richard Newton, secretary of the Friendly Society of Ironfounders, whose headquarters are in London, has been remanded on a charge of embezzling certain moneys of the society. It was alreged that the prisoner, in conjunction with another official, had appropriated about £l,OOO which had been received by him for sick allowances, superannuation grants, &c. At Cheltenham on Saturday the wife of MajorGeneral Frazier was crossing the railway line, and when a train, travelling at a good speed, rushed along she became confused and stepped into its track. An official shouted to her to lie down, which she did just as the train reached 1&. When about half its length had passed over her the train pulled up, and it was found that, although unconscious, she had escaped uninjured. At Curranstown, near Clonrnel, on Saturday, a sheriff's party and force of police attended to carry out an eviction for non-payment of rent, against a tenant farmer named Fahey. The house was strongly barricaded, and was held by a numerous party, who threw boiling water and lime on the sheriff and his men when they endeavoured to effect an entrance. Two of ihe bailiffs were seriously injured. The eviction was abandoned.  A shocking case of suicide is reported from .the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich. William Bowen, aged 34, who played the bass drum in the Royal Artillery band, was in No. 231 room, Centre-road, R. A. Barracks, when he was seized with a sudden fit of mental aberration. He accused his comrades of having put a ladder up to one of the windows with the intention of throwing him out, exclaimed, "Oh, my God!" and drew a knife across his throat, made a gash in his wrist, and stabbed himself in the breast before he could be overpowered. He died in a few minutes.  An outrage of a violent character was reported from Blackfield, a remote village of the New Forest. It is stated that a lonely house there occupied by a widow, named Limbuna, was broken into and a sum of money in a purr stolen. The person who effected the burglary is alleged to have then attacked the widow in a violent manner. She is lying in an extremely critical condition. A seaman named Marck, who is stated to live near Southampton, has been arrested on the charge and brought before a local magistrate, who remanded him in custody to Winchester gaol, remarking that the case was very serious.  James Shutt, 22, was charged at Marylebone police-court with being concerned in a robbery at 7, Kilburn Park-road, the shop of William John Mitchell, a jeweller. Two men have already been convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment for participating in the robbery. One of the men was seen to cover the window with a sticky substance, and then he struck and broke it. That done, another of the trio snatched up watches and rings to the value of £lOO, and all three then made off with their booty. Two were afterwards caught and convicted. Shutt was identified by the man who witnessed the robbery, but he protested his innocence, and was remanded.