Blandford, Wimborne and Poole Telegram. — 1876-01-21 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

TILE TELEGRAM,  FRIDAY. JANUARY 21, 187“.  NOTES OF THE WEEK.  Those who have read that extraordinary book, Thomas Coopet.s " Purgatory of Suicides"—a volume, we suppose, now out of print, and which he will not have reprinted, as he very considerably changed his religious opinions after writing it--must have been struck by two things —the number of celebrated men and women who have committed suicide, and the variety of modes of self-murder. We doubt, however, whether, all things considered, a much stranger mode of killing oneself was ever adopted than that which was employed by Ellen Cosgrove, a married woman of 41—an age too great for sickly romance, and too early for mere weariness of life. She hanged herself to the railings of Soho. square. It seems that she must have taken some trouble to destroy herself, and that she died lingeringly. And yet, though her body was hanging to the railings of a square. in a densely populated neighbourhood, patrolled by police, it was not discovered for hours after the act of self-destruction. This is one of the mysteries of London.  It will be remembered that some time ago the papers were filled with tragic accounts of a fearful affair at sea. A crew mutinied during the night and threw overboard the mate and an other. They afterwards lay down in their cabin, and the Captain having securely nailed up the doors commanded them to surrender. This they refused, and he then commenced firing upon them with his revolver; when they were all but wounded to death they gave in. They were brought to England and then sent to America, and two are now lying under sentence of death at Boston. Another crew of the very same vessel, the Jefferson Borden, commanded by the same man, have refused to re-join the ship at Dundee on account of his ill-treatment ; and it is a significant fact that some two years ago both he and his brother were tried at Bristol for causing the death of one of their crew, but they got off. The crew of this vessel have now telegraphed to Boston with the view of attempting to stop the execution at that port on Friday of George Miller and William Smith, sentenced to death for mutiny. The cargo of the Jefferson Borden consists of 800 tons of fish manure, which is now in such a state of putrefaction that the Aberdeen Sanitary Authoriries have ordered its removal from the harbour.  It is quite understood that the bill for the compulsory closing of the public-houses all over Ireland on Sunday will be brought forward and pressed as vigorously as possible in the coining session. The Home-rule members are almost unanimous in supporting it, and an agitation has been set on foot on this aide of the Channel with the view of influencing English opinion in its favour. We are told by the former that English legislation for checking intemperance has proved a signal failure, and, therefore, that we had 'b et te r give Ireland the liberty allowed to Scotland of dealing with the evil after her own fashion. There would be more force in this suggestion if it could be shown that the Scotch experiment has proved successful. Unhappily, it is too true that, although the public-houses in Scotland are closed from Saturday night to Monday morning, there is no perceptible diminution in the cases of drunkenness on Sunday. Thb inference is that while the public manifestation of the vice is as grievous as before, there is also a considerable increase of private drinking.