The Dewsbury Chronicle, and West Riding Advertiser. — 1872-01-27 (Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England)

DISTR.IJ3UTION OF RELIEF IN  CHICAGO.  From the Christmas report of the Chicago Relief Society, supplemented by an interesting account in the, New York Tribune, we gather that the total number of persons receiving relief in Chicago on the 230. December, the date of the last return of the Committee, was 9,375, showing a decrease of nearly 6,000 on the return for the previous month. At the outset 18,000, families claimed the assistance of the committee, who undertook to .provide them with "something to shelter them from the weather, something to lie on something to sit on, something to eat from, something to cook with, and something to cook." With req. ect to shelter, houses have been devised measuring 16 ft. by 20 ft. and 12 ft. by 16 ft., the one for families .of five or more, the other for families of three or less. The houses are well made of timber battened on the outside, lined with felt-paper, with a well-fitting door, a chimney, a panelled door, three windows, arnd a partition, to be fixed according to the choice of the occupants. The cost of the materials is about 100 dollars, and, the joists and boards being furnished put to the proper lengths and ready for putting together, any man with a slight notion of joinery can speedily run up his own house. To every man or woman who owned or leased a lot before the fire such a house was given, either free of cost, or upon his or her written obligation to refund threefourths of its value within a year free of interest. About 6,000 of these houses have been built, the western section of the north side being nearly covered with them. Thirty thousand people are thus housed, and it is anticipated that before the end of next month an additional 10,000 will have been provided for in the same way. The poorer class of citizens who owned no land, and had, therefore, nowhere to build on, have been housed in barracks in different parts of the town, where, under stringent sanitary and police regulations, they are made as comfortable as the circumstances permit. Each family has a separate apartment, and about 5,000 are thus sheltered, being on the whole, perhaps, better off than when dependent on their own resources. By way of furniture, the Committee supply 'their tenants with a stove, a mattress, a pair of blankets, a chair or two, a table, a bedstead, and a little crockery. In the matter of food the arrangements made are on a liberal scale. rations, calculated on the basis of a Each family receives at every distribution of provisions family of two adults and three children. sions one week's comprises 31b. of pork, 61b. of beef, 141 b. ssuupephlyaufpOrrity of flour,it peck of potatoes, ill). of tea, of l lb. rice, sugar, 31 lb. beans, 11 lb. of soap, 11 lb. dried apples, and 3 oz. of fresh beef. In addition the committee supply coal at the rate of a ton every three weeks per family of five.  • _ THE STOCKWELL MURDER Before his respite reached Horsemonger-lane Gaol the Rev. Selby Watson wrote a. letter to the Home Secretary, desiring to remove from his mind a possible misapprehension of the purpose for which he ordered the Packing case. Mr. Watson asserts that the article was intended for no other purpose than for holding a few printed books, a large quantity of manuscripts, and a great number of letters, and that there is not and has not been the least foundation for representing that it was intended for any other object. The chaplain, in sending the letter to the Times, believes the box was really ordered by Watson for the purpose he states. The act is perfectly consistent with all his behaviour antecedent to the crime. It is one of a series of methodical acts, culminating in the attempted' suicide. The chaplain adds that Watson is anxioua that the impression that the case was designed to contain the body of his wife ihould be dispelled.