Denbighshire Free Press

EPITOME OF NEWS. AT THE BRISTOL POLICE-COURT, Albert West, a young man of respectable appearance, who said he was a London solicitor, was charged with making a false declaration as to the loss of pawnbrokers' duplicates. Defendant had been staying at the Beach Hotel, Portis- head, and the duplicates, which were for a gold watch and chain, were given at his request to the landlord of the hotel as security for his account. Defendant after- wards made declarations upon affidavit before the magis- trate that he had lost the tickets, and redeemed the articles. He was committed for trial, but admitted to bail. AT THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING of the Leicestershire County Chamber of Agriculture, held at the Bell Hotel, Leicester, Mr. J. C. Bassett, was elected pre- sident for the ensuing year in the place of the retiring president, Major-General Burnaby, M.P. A satisfactory report was also presented by the chairman. AT THE POLICE-COCIIT, Mai ton, John Davi- son, a labourer, and Samuel Wardell, alias 11 Dancing Sam," a wold-ranger, and formerly of the Manchester police force, were charged with attempting to murder Mr. John Sellers, farmer, of Thorpe Bassett, near Malton. On the night of the attempt, the prisoners were ap- parently on a poaching expedition, and, when challenged by Mr. Sellers, the prisoner Davison, it is alleged, deliberately fired a gun at him, the full charge lodging in Mr. Sailers' face and head. Both prisoners were re- manded to York Castle, the prosecutor being unable to leave his bed. AT THE COUNTY PETTY SESSIONS held at Stafford, Enoch Beardmore, of Wolverha.mpton,was com- mitted for trial on the charge of obtaining a quantity of hay, worth £46, from Mrs. Theodua Colieins, Sandon Bank, by false pretences. A SERIES OF LECTURES, bearing chiefly upon the expected Liberal measures of the future, has just been brought to a close at Stamford, they were largely at- tended. DURING LAST WINTER the town of Nottingham was in a state of constant disquietude owing to a series of burglaries being committed in the district known as the meadows. Considerable excitement has been caused by a police-constable, named Ellsworth, being charged at the Town Hail with committing two or three burglaries. Ellswurth is the officer who apprehended the man Brown, executed recently fo: the murder of a woman named Caldwell. The prisoner was remanded. THE Cork Cotistitution newspaper has been Bold before the Master of the Rolls, to Mr. Tivy, of Cork, for £5310. AT ROCHESTER the county magistrates have fined Samuel Joseph West, a prominent member of the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination League, the full penalty (LI and 9s. costs), for neglecting to cause his child, Hume Rothery West, to be vaccinated. Defendant asked to be sent to gaol, but the Bench declined to commit him. CAPTAIN PRESTON, who has been staying on a visit at Bobbing Court, Sittingbourne, the residence of Major Knight, his father-in-law, has had a very narrow escape. He was out shooting with other gentlemen on the late Mr. James Lake's laud at Wychling, when lie walked into an old draw-well, 26ft. deep, the existence of which he had not suspected. He fell oil his back, and fortunately sustained no serious injury. The other members of the party speedily procured a long ladder, and Captain Preston lost no time in emerging from the un- pleasant quarters in which he had so unexpectedly and suddenly found himself. His escape was a most mira- culous one, as he was carrying a loaded gun, with both barrels cocked, on his shoulder at the time be fell into the well. EDWARD MARCHBANEB has been charged at Snnderland with assaulting Police-constable Wrathmall, and breaking that officer's leg. The assault took place late on a Saturday evening in October, near Bodleweli- lane Police-station. Mr. Bowey, deputy town clerk, pro- secuted and Mr. Bentham defended. Prisoner was sent to gaol for three months with hard labour. A DINNER in celebration of the birth of a son and heir to the Earl and Countess of Rosebery has been held in the Royal Hotel, Edinburgh. The chair was occupied by Mr. Dudgeon, and there was a large atten- dance of the tenantry on the Dalmeny estates and others. A letter was read from Lord Rosebery, dated from LallS- downe House, London, stating that he could not but be exceedingly gratified for the kind feeling shown by the tenantry connected with his estate who desired to cele- brate the birth of his son. If he dared to form a wish for the baby, it would be that he might live to tread in the steps of his great grandfather. AT THE COUNTY POLICE-COURT West Hartle- pool, several more cases of smuggling have been decided, and fines inflicted. AT THE COUNTY POLICE-COURT, Derby, John Middleton, Elijah Allen, John Brassington, Herbert Bull, William Bull, Henry Bembridge, and Dorothy Potter, were charged with being concerned in an extensive robbery of boots while in transit by the Great Northern Railway, between Egginton and Barton. Evidence went to show that the truck containing the boots had been I plundered. and that portions of the property had been traced to all the prisoners. A remand was asked for and granted, bail being refused. ALEXANDER M'LAY, a farmer's servant, has died in the Royal Hospital, Belfast, from injuries received at Ballymure Station on the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway. It appears the deceased man was watching the departure of the train on the down- line, when he was struck by a train on the up-line. The poor fellow was knocked down, the wheels of the engine passing over beth his legs. REPLYING to the Rev. A. Starkey, vicar of Ryton, near Coventry, with reference to the relations between England and Ireland, Mr. Bright writes I am afraid we must wait long before we see what we so much desire-a cordial union and friendship between the two countries. The intelligent classes, the wealthy and the Protestants, are friendly, but there is material for agita- tion and disturbance of which evil and ambitious men make use for their own distinction and advantage. I believe, however, a better time is before us." WITH reference to the recent railway accident near Wimbome, a communication from Colonel Rich, of the Board of Trade, was read at a recent Local Board meeting, stating he had examined the sixty-four miles of railway between Bath and Wimborne, and had found the permanent way in very good order. This single line was, however, worked by block telegraph instruments only. He considered this dangerous, and strongly recommended the company to adopt the train staff system in addition, or apply to the Board of Trade for permission to use that employed on the Oban branch of the Caledonian Railway. BUSINESS AT the recent Anglesey assize, before Lord Justice Lindley, was limited to a solitary pri- soner-a young woman charged with abandoning her child by leaving it on the doorstep of the house where its putative father lived. THE POLICE have just taken from the' canal near Lower House, Burnley, the body of a collier's wife named Duxburv. The woman had a cut half an inch in length on the forehead, one deep cut on the back of the left ear, and three small cuts on the back of the-head. She had been Jiving apart from her husband, but had recently gone to live with him. ON HOSPITAL SUNDAY, the usual collections for the Hastings medical charities were made in the several places of worship. Churches and chapels alike had large congregations. AT THE HERTS CHAMBER OF AGRICULTURE the following resolution has been agreed to, demanding a re-adjustment of the incidence of taxation. Complaint was made of the continuance of the nuisance of offal from the metropolitan markets being sent into the country, and it was agreed to call the attention of the authorities to the matter. A FEW EVENINGS AGO, at the Adelphi Theatre, London, while the overture was being played, Mr. James White, one of the dressers, was taken suddenly ill, and died in the dressing-room, in consequence, it is presumed, of his having burst a bloodvessel. The deceased was an especial favourite, having been an actor in his time, rep- resenting such parts as Brahiatio, &c., with Mr. Mac- ready, and having also distinguished himself with Mr. Robinson at the Olympic, and Mr. Buckstone, at the Paymaiket.. A MAN NAMED WILUAM DAWSON, employed at the Midland works, while grinding chisels some days ago, was cut on the wrist by a piece of the broken metal, and died from blood-poisoning. A YOUNG FELLOW, named Newcombe, who has occupied a very respectable position in society, has been sent to prison for three months for stealing a watch from his lodgings. THE BISHOP OF EXETER has presided at a tea-meeting and subsequent public gathering in aid of the temperance movement. A LAD, AGED 15, in charge of a weighing machine on Haggerstone platform of the North London Railway, while waiting for his wages, stood on the edge of the paving looking over on the line, when an engine coming suddenly along caught his head and killed him on the spot. His mother, it is stated, has gone out of her mind in consequence of the accident. AT THE CITY SESSIONS, Salisbury, two men in the employ of the South-Western Railway Company, named King and Marshall, were committed for trial on a charge of stealing four watches, value £ 15, from the parcels offices of the company. A LETTER has been received at Southampton announcing the acceptance by Prince Leopold of the presidency of the local executive committee of the British Association, which holds its meetings at South- ampton in August next, under the chairmanship of Dr. Siemens. AN INQUEST has been held at the infirmary, Southampton, on the body of a young gentleman named Frank Montgomery Wright, aged 29, living with his parents at Grove-place Hammersmith, who was found lying on one of the seats on the shore, suffering from a shot-wound in the head. A verdict of Temporary in- sanity was returned. A SINGULAR AFFAIR has occurred at Bed- worth. While a young lady named Meakin, possessing fine, flowing hair, was looking in a shop-window, a lad, aged eight, went up, struck a match, and deliberately threw it on her head. The young lady's hair and bonnet were speedily on fire, and it was only by the timely assistance of a passer by that she escaped serious injuries. AT AN INFLUENTIAL MEETING at Newbury Rectory, the Rev. Edward Gardiner, rector, presented a grand pianoforte by Broadwood to Mr. James Godding, for fifty years organist in Newbury and the neighbour- hood. AT THE POLICE-COURT, Newcastle, John M'Queen was remanded charged with having caused the death of his son, Joseph M'Queen, by cutting him on the head with some sharp instrument. AT PENTRE (RHONDDA) POLICE-COURT the stipendiary magistrate committed William Powell, a collier, of Treherbert, to gaol with hard labour for three months for a breach of the special rules under the Mines Regulation Act. The defendant had opened his safety- lamp, and was in the act of smoking in the mine. He had imperilled the lives of 297 men. AT REIGATE, before the justices, George Green was charged with converting to his own use pro- perty of which he was the bailee. Prisoner pawned the articles from his furnished lodgings at Red-hill. His wife had been in the workhouse infirmary for some time past. The magistrates passed a sentence of one month's hard labour. As Miss ANNIE SWIFT, a teacher at the Fisherton Church of England Sunday-school, Salisbury, about 22 years of age, was engaged in teaching the young women's Bible class, she suddenly fell down, and expired in the presence of her class. The rector and a doctor were summoned, but she was dead when they arrived. A SERIOUS AND FATAL ACCIDENT occurred some days ago near Shekoabad Station, on the East Indian Railway. A goods train was overtaken and run into by a mail train. Several native passengers were killed and injured. The accident is officially ascribed to the foggy state of the morning, rendering the sign lIs invisible; but it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that there was culpable negligence in allowing one train to follow the other so closely. MR. HENRY CROSFIELD, a well-known Liver- pool merchant, and member of the Society of Friends, has just died from the effects of a self-inflicted wound. He had been in ill-health, and went to London for medical advice. This was not favourable, and he fell into a depressed state of mind. A few days ago he went into a closet at his house and cut his throat. He was found alive, and lingered three days. He wrote a message on a slate previous to his death, stating that the act was not premeditated and that he regretted it. MR. GRAHAM has held an inquest at the Blue Bell, Fulwell Village, Sunderland, upon the remains of a human being, unknown, which were found on the top of one of the Fulwell limekilns. The remains were not identified, and an open verdict was returned. THE ANNUAL DISTRIBUTION of prizes in con- nection with Dr. Morgan's school, Bridgwater, has just taken place at the Town Hall, the Mayor presiding, and the prizes being distributed by Mr. E. J. Stanley, of Quantock Lodge. A RESPECTABLE MECHANIC, Thomas Hall, aged 42, who recently met with a severe accident, was charged on a warrant with obtaining 10s. from the Brighton Charity Organisation Society, by falsely pre- tending that he was a member of an Odd Fellow's Lodge, the funds of which were in- such a low state that he was unable to obtain the sick allowance. He was sent to prison for a month. AT A MEETING at Cardiff of the infirmary governors, the report of the building committee that the contract for the erection of a new infirmary at a cost of 122,720 by Messrs. Clarke, Burton, and Co., of that town, had been accepted, was agreed to. The building is to be completed within twelve months. Among the subscribers to the fund are Lord Tredegar and Mr. Ware, each 1000 guineas. AN EXTRAORDINARY ELOPEMENT. A ludi- crous scene was witnessed at the High Level Station, Wolverhampton, a few days ago. A couple of persons who booked to depart by train for the north were a young man, about 30, apparently of the miner type, and a grey-haired matron of corresponding social rank, but his senior apparently by some quarter of a century. Soon after their arrival at the station they were joined by three men, who turned out to be the husband and sons of the woman, and who soon made those around know that the would-be railway passen- gers were a runaway couple who had hitherto borne no closer legal relationship than landlady and lodger. A dispute for the pos-ession of the faithless mother soon commenced between the sons and her companion, and in the hustling of her about she received a blow which caused her mouth to bleed. After declaring in defiance of some females, who mercilessly chaffed" him, that he would run away with the old woman yet," the lodger re-exchanged for cash the tickets which he had taken, and disappeared. The disappointed dame was subsequently taken by the members of her outraged family to a cocoa- house in the neighbourhood. The parties hail from Bloxwich. AT THE STOCK AND SHARE AUCTION COM- PANY'S SALE, held this day at their sale room, Crown- court-buildings, Old Broad-street, the following were amongst the prices obtained: Pure Beverage Co. j61 shares, 9s 6d.; New Zealand Bapanga Gold Mining £1 shares fully paid, lis.; Egypt Pref. 87i (for money) 2 Unified 62f; Rhodes Reef Gold Mining El shares. 12s. 6d.; A undydroog Gold Mining 11 shares, 10s.; Oriental Telephone El shares 10s., paid 9s. 6d.; and other miscellaneous securities fetched fair prices.—January 31st, 1882. THE REV. CHANCELLOR SWAYNE has been unanimously elected, at a meeting of the Salisbury chapter, held in the cathedral, to represent the diocese in the Lower House of Convocation. CONSIDERABLE DISCUSSION took place at a recent meeting of the Hawarden Board of Guardians with reference to the case of Henry William Wilson, the young man who annoyed Mr. Gladstone at the Hawarden Rent Audit Dinner, and who was afterwards committed to the workhouse by the Mold magistrates. The guardians con- sidered the Bench had no right to send him there, and that the prisoner ought to have been discharged. Some expense had been incurred, and the clerk was instructed to write to the magistrates demanding the amount the man's maintenance and removal had cost the ratepayers. THE HEALTH of Mr. Bulkeley Hughes, M.P., has greatly improved. THE WEATHER in North Wales continues remarkably mild, there being no frost or appearance of snow even upon the highest mountains. WITH IIEGAIID TO THE WING which is being added to the Jesuit College at Hales-place, near Canter- bury, the building operations are rapidly proceeding towards completion, and when finished accommodation will be afforded for a much larger number of students than are now in residence. In celebration of the top brick" being placed on the additional structure the fathers of the college have given a dinner to 200 of the workmen, and at the suggestion of one of the rev. gentle- men the festive proceedings terminated by the whole company singing 11 God save the Queen." OFFICIAL RETURNS published at Norwich as to the foot-and-mouth disease in Norfolk show that it has disappeared from the county as regards sheep and pigs, and that the number of cattle attacked during the week had declined to 87 as compared with 224 in the pre- ceding seven days. The Earl of Leicester has notified, through his agent, that in consequence of the great diffi- culties against which British agriculture has had to contend of late, and especially in consequence of the unfavourable character of the last harvest, he pur- poses to remit a portion of the rent due from his tenants up to Michaelmas, 1883, inclusive. FOR OYER A WEEK the body of a whale has been lying off Rottingdean, a few mrtes east of Brighton, in an advanced stage of decomposition. A day or two ago itwas found to have drifted towards the Chain Pier. Some fishermen then began to tow it away, but probably thinking they could obtain something for the remains, they landed it on the beach towards the centre of the town. Here they took out the principal bones, carrying away the greater part of the blubber and flesh to sea and burying the rest. The whale was 18ft. wide and between 50ft. and 60ft. in length. A DISASTROUS FIRE broke out between five and six o'clock in the morning at Hurstpierpoint, about nine miles from Brighton, by which some grocery, drapery, and wine stores were entirely destroyed. Shortly after the flames were discovered a quantity of gunpowder stored in a room exploded, blowing off the roof. A second explosion then took place, doing great damage to the adjaocnt buildings. The fire was got under about eight. The loss is stated to be over £ 10,000. SPEAKING AT THE ANNUAL MEETING of the Liverpool Diocesan Association, the Bishop of Liverpool remarked that many said with regard to the Church Building Society that it was no use asking people for money, as the churches at present in existence were not full. He did not understand such reasoning at all. In other parts of Lancashire, when any one built a cotton mill and created a population it appeared to be thought a matter of duty to build a church, and he had yet to learn why the men of Liverpool should not do the same. LORD DERBY recently presided at the annual meeting of the County of Lancaster Rifles Association held at Manchester. He said the accounts showed a deficiency of £ 500. During the last eleven years there had been a considerable decrease in the subscriptions from the outside public, who had no immediate connection with the association, but were favourable to its objects, and supported it as a thing of general utility. There was always a certain falling off when a society ceased to have the charm of novelty, and perhaps it was intelligible in that c:ise. THE Calabria has just anchored at Spithead with the 2nd Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders, the N Battery 5th Brigade Royal Artillery, the 7th Company Royal Engineers, and the 9th Company of the Com- missariat and Transport Corps, from Natal. A public welcome was accorded to the Highlanders on landing and proceeding to their barracks at Portsea. THE MOST INTERESTING ADDITION to the Crystal Palace electric exhibition has been that of the War Office, which has sent a collection of submarine wires, torpedoes, &c., as adapted to electric contact, and a number of batteries as used in field service for tele- graphic purposes. The field and mountain telegraph system is also illustrated. The concert-room is now lighted up every evening by the Edison system the even- ing organ performances taking place in that hall in place of the central transept. The Hammond Electric Light and Supply Company have commenced the lighting of the iailway corridor leading to the Low Level Station, so that a very large proportion of the Palace is already elec- trically illuminated, and other exhibitors are on the point of following suit. CANON FARRAR'S ST. PAUL."—The First Part of the Illustrated Serial Edition of Canon Farrar's Life and Work of St. Paul'' has just been issued by Messrs. Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co., and the appropriate engrav- ings with which it is illustrated, its large type and fine paper, will commend it to alL The illustrations are not only pleasing as pictures, but valuable as authentic rep- resentations of actual places and scenes, Mr. G. L. Sey- mour having been specially commissioned by the pub- lishers to visit the East to make original sketches for the work. The countless readers of Canon Farrar's Life of Christ" will doubtless hail with no small satisfaction the opportunity now afforded to them of securing this great work, whilst every family will be glad to obtain it for their book-shelf. BETWEEN two and four o'clock in the morning the steamer Oakdale and the steamer Ambrient, of Sunderland, collided in Blackwall Reach on the Thames, both vessels' bows were slightly damaged. No one was injured, and the vessels proceeded. The Clemenlea, Captain Watts, from London for Demerara. whilst lying at anchor off the Chapman in the Thames, was run into by the barque Lesseps of Grimsby, and had jibboom, cutwater, and figurehead carried away. The damage to the latter is unknown. A LLOYD'S TELEGRAM states that a westerly gale broke out at Hammcrfest, and increased to a hurri- cane between midnight and twelve a.m. It then some- what abated, but continued over the next day, when, at eleven o'clock, a warehouse, situated at the extreme west of the roadstead, was destroyed, with its contents. Next came the turn of two stages, with the warehouses upon them; several stages were loosened, and two of them drifted away, carrying off the custom house platform, and afterwards striking against a steamet in the harbour, which was with difficulty saved. Besides four or five warehouses, there was also destroyed a train-oil boiling house, with 100 casks of oil, and the church spire was blown down. The vessels in the harbour sustained only slight injuries. The damage is estimated at 300,000 kroner. THE SUSSEX BRANCH of the Farmers' Alliance have held a meeting at the Town Hall, Brighton, and the Mayor, Alderman Ilallett, took the chair. The principa speaker was Professor Hunter, who explained the objects of the alliance, and on the motion of Mr. Hollond, M.P., a resolution was agreed to approving of the programme of the association. AT THE COUNTY POLICE-COURT, Bridgwater, Harriet Norris, a respectably-dressed young woman, aged 17, was brought up in custody, having been apprehended the same morning, charged with attempted suicide by taking poison. According to the evidence of Superinten- dent Jeffs, the prisoner, when charged with the offence, said "My father and mother grumbled with me for being out on Sunday night. I caught up the bottle (containing ascetic acid in a concentrated form) and drank it. It was done in a passion." She was remanded on bail. MR. G. O. TREVELYAN, M.P., Under-Secre- tary of State, replying to representations made as to the grievances of the Welsh farmers, writes: I have always been of opinion that if a landlord has rio wish to play the great man, to influence his tenants politically, to worry them about gain, and if his affairs are in a state to enable him to regard his rents as a business income which cannot be larger than the state of business will allow, he may live in comfortable and agreeable relations with his tenants even in these days of agricultural de- pression, but to what extent these principles are specially applicable in Wales I am quite unable to say. I think a good bill to allow a life-tenant of a landed estate to sell for the purpose of paying off mortgages and improving the incomes of himself and his successors in the entail would place land in the hands of people who could afford to deal handsomely and freely with the farmers while a County Franchise Bill would do more in five years to make our country population independent and self- governing than could be done in half a century without j it."