Glasgow Courier. — 1855-01-09 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

GERMAN SUPPLIES FOR OUR ARMY AND NAM—A letter from Berlin says :—We hear here that our Government has concluded contracts with timber dealers in Styria and Bohemia for the delivery of considerable quantities of boards, scantlings, &c. One of these 'Bohemian proprietors of saw mills is described as being about to despatch down the Elbe, via Hamburg, to London, above 2,000,000 of boards which are to be forwarded thence to the Crimea. It is mentioned, also, that large quantities of shipbuilding timber are being exported from Bohemia to England for our dockyards. The supplies are derived from the forests of oak and pine at Kruman, Budweis, Moldauthein, &c., belonging for the most part to Prince Schwartzenberg. Orders have also been given at Frankfort for 160,000 portions of compressed vegetables for the consumption of the officers in the Crimea. By the process of compression al water and air are eliminated from the vegetables and they are packed and hermetically closed in canisters without being cooked. On being boiled they regain all their pristine succulence and freshness.  EXTRAORDINARY SUICIDE irt THE LIVERPOOL BRIDELL --An extraordinary attempt at suicide took place on Monday morning, the perpetrator being Frederick Hill, a young man about 23 y-are of age. On the preceding Sunday, Hill was given into custody by his employer, a Mr. Williams, the agent for a Bristol distillery, on a charge of embezzlement. He appeared quite cool and collected, and was brought up before the magistrate od the following morning, when he wan remanded. On being conveyed along a subterranean passage under the Sessions House, his master and a friend came to speak to him, and, as he was shaking hands with the latter, he suddenly put a pistol to bin head and fired it. The ball lodged in his skull, whence a portion of the brain protruded, but, as life was not extinct, he was conveyed to the Northern Hospital, where he now lies in a hopeless state. Strange to say, when he was searched in Bridewell on Sunday, no pistol was found concealed about his person; and since his attempt at self destruction, no powder, ball, or caps, have been discovered in any of his pockets. A letter was found plaeed in his breast, dated Saturday, in which he says that, if found out, he will not survive the disgrace, and gives direction as to the disposal of various articles belonging to him.  DISAPPEARANCE AND DEFAULT OF MAJOR KNATeItBULL—The public of Worcester were astonished last week by the arrival at the offices of the county and city sheriff of an extent from the Crown against the property and person of Major Knatehbull, the officer and paymaster of the pensioners in this district. It soon became known that the major himself was not to be found, he having left his residence on Wednesday week, and not since returned. To what amount his defalcations have reached cannot be ascertained at present, but it is alleged that for years past he has been receiving the annuities supposed to be due to several pensioners who have long been dead, but whose names are retained on the books. Some of the living pensioners, moreover, it is said, have not been paid. The county sheriff issued his summonses for a jury to inquire into the amount of the major's property, and they met at Whitehall on Monday, John Tymbs, Esq., Under Sheriff, presiding. There was no plate found upon the premises, and amongst the schedule of articles we lit upon the following curious items :-28 canary birds, 16 ring doves, 6 put dogs, and a great number of Cochm China fowls. There were 24 cats on the premises, but they were not considered seizable. The jury returned the value of the major's property at £305 ss. 6d.— Worcestershire Chronicle.