County Observer and Monmouthshire Central Advertiser Abergavenny and Raglan Herald Usk and Pontypool Messenger and Chepstow Argus

MISCELLANEOUS. --+-- FATAL ACCIDENT TO A THIEF. A thief has just met with his death at Montmartre in a singular manner. A young man residing in the Rue Ramey had returned home late on New Year's night, and was surprised to find in his room on the sixth floor an individual engaged in rifling his drawers. The stranger seeing himself discovered rushed head foremost at the other and butted him so violently in the stomach as to knock him down a flight of stairs, fortunately without doing him any serious injury. Assistance was obtained, and a search made for the thief, who was found to have escaped by a window, leaving his hat and coat, and to have succeeded in gaining the roof. The pursuing party followed him, and were soon on his track. A chase then commenced over the tops of the houses, but suddenly the fugitive disappeared, and was sup. posed to have got clear off; but the next morning the body was found lying in the court-yard of one of the houses. He had fallen from the roof. THE HEATHEN HINDOO.—A tragical episode of Hindoo domestic life (says an Indian paper) oc- curred in the city of Mirzapore recently. A native woman, upwards of eighty years of age, had been very ill, and believing that she was about to die, gave over all her money and jewels to her son, and crept to the riverside, intending to breathe her last in sight of Gunga's sacred waters. After she had been at the river side for some time, to her great surprise she recovered, and at once returned to her son's abode; her son refused to admit her, and de- clared that by the Hindoo law she was, to all intents and purposes, dead; that he should consider her as such till a punchayet had restored her to the rights and privileges of the living. Maddened at this in- gratitude and unfilial conduct on the part of her son, the poor old woman tore her hair, beat her breast, and crying out Eh Ram Eh Ram jumped down a well which stood near. Her affectionate relatives do not appear to have made the slightest effort to extricate her, and it was not until ten a.m. on the following morning, when the police were informed of the circumstance, that the dead body of the unfortu- date woman was fished out of the well. EXPLOSION OF A LOCOMOTIVE.—A very serious accident has occurred near the Fochabers Station of the Highland Railway. When the goods train which passes Elgin about 9.30 a.m. was about a mile to the east of Fochabers Station the boiler of the engine burst, and one man was killed instanta- neously, while two others were injured-one of them dangerously. The man killed was the breaksman of the train, named John Gerrie, who was travelling on the engine for convenience in shunting at the different stations. His body, which was found lying beneath the tender, was fearfully mangled. The engine-driver, William Ross, and the stoker, D. Bruce, were found lying one on each side of the bank, about 30 yards from the place where the explosion occurred, and it is supposed they were carried this distance on the engine, which did not leave the rails, but ran forward a distance of fully a quarter of a mile. The nose of the explosion was heard for miles around, and frag- ments of the engine were strewn in all directions. As showing the force of the explosion it may be men- tioned that the iron roofing which sheltered the enginemen was found lying in a field about 500 yards from the scene of the accident, having been shot this distance through the air, passing over the farm-house of Orbliston in its flight. GREAT SEIZURE OF FORGED BANK OF IRELAND NOTES.—An important arrest has been made in Limerick. A young man of respectable appearance went into the restaurant of Mr. O'Connell in the city, and had some refreshment, for which he tendered payment with what appeared to be a Bank cf Ireland one pound note. The shopkeeper noticing something suspicious about the paper, examined it. The young man manifested a good deal of uneasi- ness, which induced the shopkeeper to send for the police. The note was found to be forged, and the young man, who gave the name of Williams, on being searched, was found to have several bundles of notes of the same description in his possession. His lodgings were also searched, and in a port- manteu were found several more bundles of forged Bank of Ireland notes; the total number repre- sented nearly < £ 40,000, and are, no doubt, some of the same description as those which were announced to be in circulation a couple of months ago. Williams has the appearance of being an American, and he has been in Limerick for the past few days spending money rather freely. A CLAIMANT FOR JERSEY AND GUERNSEY. -At the Jersey Criminal Assizes, Richard Mills, a fisherman, was charged with having committed a series of depredations at the residence of Captain Johnson, commander of the gunboat Dasher, on the night of the 26th October, on which occasion John Bishop, a Royal marine, lost his-am by the accidental discharge of a gun carried by Captain Johnson, as previously reported. The property destroyed belonged to her Majesty. The defence set up for the prisoner was that he was of unsound mind, and had been heard frequently to say that the residence of Captain Johnson belonged to him, and that he could do as he liked with his own. He had a grudge against Captain Johnson, and every captain of the gunboat Dasher, on account of his having been detected by the vessel whilst engaged in a smuggling transaction. He was the subject of hallucinations, and amongst strange utterances laid claim to the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, which he said were his property. A plea of insanity was set up, and the jury, accepting the plea, returned a verdict of not guilty. On the appli- cation of the Attorney-General, the court ordered him to be sent to the lunatic asylum. HYPOCRISY AND CRIME.—A very bad case of joint hypocrisy and crime came before the Middlesex Sessions on Tuesday-a case so bad that the Assistant-Judge felt called upon to express a strong opinion about it. The prisoner was a shoe- maker, who was also a preacher in a chapel, and some time ago he gave a man into custody for stealing some books. It turned out that he himself was the thief. He went to Mr. Catlin, the well-known mis- sionary, professed himself a remorseful sinner, and repaid the services rendered him by the missionary with gross ingratitude. Pleading guilty to having stolen some pairs of boots and other articles, he said he had formerly been "in trouble," but since then -he had shown his repentance by going about "doing good, aplea to which the Assistant-Judge replied by awarding him two years' imprisonment with hard labour. It is impossible to over-estimate the amount of mischief which a scoundrel of this sort may accomplish. DEATH OF MR. JOSEPH GILLOTT, Mr. Joseph Gillott, the eminent steel-pen manufacturer, has died of pleurisy, at his residence, Westbourne- road, Edgbaston. He was the first to use machinery for making steel pens. Originally a grinder at Shef- field, his first employment was that of steel toy or tool making. His attention, however, was soon directed to steel pens, which were then made by hand in very limited quantities, at a cost of about 3s. 6d. each. The present annual production at Mr. Gillott's factory is estimated at 150,000,000 per annum, and the number of work-people employed 450. Mr. Gillott was a liberal art patron and col- lector, and leaves behind him one of the finest private galleries in the country, valued at from < £ 80,000 to < £ 100,000. Mr. Gillott leaves eight children, who are all arrived at manhood, and a large fortune chiefly invested in land and real estate. AMUSING SKETCH.—A French journalist gives the following amusing sketch of Colonel Schoelcher, the ex-Republican artilleryman, who z; C dressed the Chamber the other day in favour of the abolition of capital punishment:—M. Schcelcher, Deputy of the Seine—dark, lean, long, dry yellow, funereal, bony, wrinkled, bent, hollow, with a long riding-coat closely buttoned, falling down to the calf of the leg, and not allowing a vestige of linen to be seen. M. Schoelcher resembles a platonic mute or an honorary gravedigger. His head is bald, his eyes hollow, his cheeks cavernous, his jawbones prominent. He is an Apollo of the cemeteries, an Antoninus of the Necropolis. His voice appears to come from the bowels of the earth he looks like a De profundis dressed up, and his long coat sits on him like a wind- ing-sheet." A WOMAN MARRYING A WOMAN.—One of the officers of the county police was recently sent to Greenock to bring a prisoner through to Edinburgh. The prisoner is a young woman belonging to Inver- ness-shire, who has been" wanted" by the police for some time back on the charge of personating a man. Last year she worked for a considerable time as a labourer in the neighbourhood of Kirknewton, and so masculine was she in appearance that none of her fellow-workers suspected her of belonging to the softer sex. By and-bye she fell in love with a young woman, a native of Ireland, and the two were ulti- mately married. For a while they lived together, happily, it is said,; but a quarrel having taken place, the wife informed the police of the true sex of her husband." The latter did not want a visit from the gentlemen in blue," and at once made good her escape from the neighbourhood. She was not hear d of until the other day, when she was apprehended at Greenock, where she had been working as a labourer. DR. Goss, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Liverpool, in the course of a sermon, referred to the late home rule meeting in that tewn, saying that home rule might be very good in its proper place, but he would urge his flock to let Irishmen achieve their own independence, or whatever it was they wanted, and not neglect their duties as British citizens to attend meetings that led to no possible good to Irishmen in Liverpool. DISALLOWANCE OF PROSECUTION EX- PENSES BT THE TREASURY.-—Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir Massey Lopes, Earl Fortescue, Sir John Duck- worth, and Earl Devon, took part, on Tuesday, in a discussion at Devonshire Quarter Sessions, on the disallowance of prosecution expenses by the Treasury, which was denounced as frivolous and vexatious. A petition to Parliament having been adopted, it was decided to appoint a committee of magistrates to co- operate with other counties in endeavouring to get an alteration of the present system. It was sug- gested that these costs should not pass through the county rate at all, but go direct to the Treasury. Subsequently the present rates of pay to the con- stabulary were discussed, and it was resolved to in- crease them by sums varying from a penny to a shilling a day, according to rank, in consideration of the increase in cost of provisions. It was decided to send delegates to the Congress in July next for discussing the treatment of criminals and prison regulations; and it was also decided to obtain for the county a legalised set of metric weights and measures. DEPARTURE OF THE MEDICAL ATTENDANTS FROM SANDRINGHAM.—The necessity for assiduous attention to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is now so far relaxed that Sir William Jenner has been enabled to leave Sandringham House, and Sir James Paget has also left. Dr. Gull, who has never left the house or its immediate vicinity throughout the entire period of the illness of his Royal patient, remains for the present. Dr. Lowe also attends for the requisite period daily, but is not now in constant residence at Sandringham House. Not only has the local affection near the hip subsided, and ceased to retard the Prince's recovery, but his Royal High- ness's strength increases daily, and he has been able more than once to leave his bed. He has even been permitted to hear for a short time the reading of a few of the innumerable kind and loyal expressions respecting him which have appeared in the news- papers, and has been deeply touched by these evi- dences of the unbounded sympathy and affection of the people. DISAGREEABLE NEWS."—In commenting on the recent speech of Mr. Vernon Harcourt at Oxford, the London correspondent of the Manchester Courier remarks that it is the learned gentleman's ambition to lead the Radical party, and adds :—" There was a good story current of Mr. Vernon Harcourt just at the time when Mr. Bright first retired from the House. Meeting Mr. Bright's private secretary one day, he asked after his health, and desired him to tell the absent statesman not to be disquieted about public affairs, because he (Mr. Harcourt) had taken possession of his seat below the gangway, and meant to take the line on every important topic which he knew Mr. Bright would have taken in that position. The secretary replied drily, I'm sorry I can't do that, because Mr. Bright's physicians have strictly enjoined that no disagreeable news shall be told him." AN UNFORTUNATE FAMILY.—On Saturday an inquest was held at Kentish-town on the body of the infant son of Mr. Houman, a surveyor. There was a New Year's party at Mr. Houman's, and just as dinner was served an alarm of fire was given. On rushing to the spot the bed on which the deceased was sleeping was found to be on fire, and he was so much injured as not to survive more than twenty- four hours. The nursemaid confessed that she ac- cidentally set the bed on fire. Verdict, "Accidental death." Dr. Lankester, in the 'course of the proceed- ings, said that Mr. Houman had been singularly unfortunate with his children, having lost three previously by accident, viz., two by drowning at Oxford and one by being run over in the streets. THE NEW GOVERNOR OF CEYLON.-Mr. Gregory (says the Observer) will take his departure by the mail leaving Brindisi on the 21st inst. By his retirement from political life the House of Com- mons will lose a member whose varied knowledge, high attainments, and well-earned reputation make him an authority upon many questions which are somewhat out of the range of ordinary Parliamentary statesmanship. Few men will be more generally regretted by his fellow-legislators than the member for Galway and the popularity enjoyed by Mr. Gregory amid politicians of all parties in Parliament affords strong reason to hope that he will discharge the duties of his new position with satisfaction to the Europeans residing in Ceylon, as well as with advan- tage to all classes of her Majesty's subjects in the great Cingalese dependency. THE PERMISSIVE BILL IN THE ISLE OF MAN. -The Isle of Man (the Liverpool Mercury) aspires to be the first place in the kingdom to adopt a Per- missive Bill. A keen struggle has for some time been going on between the publicans and the tem- perance party in the island, the former seeking a re- laxation, and the latter a further tightening, of the pretty close restrictions already placed on the insular liquor traffic. The temperance party now seek to clinch their arguments by getting a Permissive Bill passed by the House of Keys, so as to to make it illegal to issue licenses in any part of the island against the will of two-thirds of the inhabitants of the district in which the application may be made. The bill is to be introduced by Mr. W. Dalrymple, one of the members for the Middle Sheading. WORKING MEN'S CLUB PROSECUTION. — The Excise prosecution against the keepers of a so- called "Working Men's Club," at Peckham, for selling beer and spirits without a license, has been heard. It was alleged by the Excise that this was not a bona-fide affair, like a West-end Club, but that the building had been intended for a public-house, for which a license could not be obtained. A good deal of evidence was given to show that the Alex- andra was a real club, and Mr. Straight, M.P., who appeared for the defence, argued the matter ably, but in vain. Mr. Ellison held that the case was proved, a,m1 fined the defendants £10 and costs. WILLS AND BEQUESTS.—The will of Don Ysideo BeiBtegin, of Faenbaya, Mexico, was proved in London under £50,000 personalty in England. The will of Captain Henry James Ramsden, Esq., J.P. and deputy-lieutenant for the West Riding of Yorkshire, who died at his residence, Oxton Hall, radcaster, October 19 last, aged 71, was proved in London, on the 15th ult., under £70,000 personalty. The executors are his relict, the Hon. Frederica Selina, daughter of the first Lord Ellenborough, Lord GJhief Justice of England, the Hon. Henry Spencer Law (testator's brother-in-law), and Charles Rams len, Esq. (testator's brother). The will is dated A-pril 5, 1863, with two codicils, 1864 and 1871. By ihe will of his father, the late John Ramsden, Bart., ihe dividends arising from the sum of £ 150,000 Fhree per Cent. Consols were left to the testator's mother, and after her decease the interest of £25,000 bo testator for his life; this he has divided into ;hree parts-one to his wife, one to his daughters, ind one to his sons (excluding the eldest surviving). The testator bequeaths a sum of £56,000 Three-and i-Half per Cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, one-third )f the dividends to his wife for her life and the principal to his children. He bequeaths all the jewels to his wife, also the plate; the latter after her iecease to his eldest son to each of his daughters £3,000, except where previously received; to each )f his executors £100. He leaves an annuity of X30 to Mary Groom, formerly governess to his children. The residue of his personal estate he Leaves between. his sons equally. The furniture and effects at Oxton Hall he leaves to such one of his sons or grandson as shall first become entitled in possession to the Oxton estate, as well as the property under the will of his late sister- in-law, Lady Annabella Ramsden. The will of the Very Rev. Danell Rock, D.D., who died Nov. 28 last, at his residence, 17, Essex Villas, Kensington, aged 73, was proved in London, on the 28th ult., under < £ 3,000 personalty, the executors being the Right Rev. James Danell, D.D., of St. George's Cathedral, Southwark, Roman Catholic bishop, and the Very Rev. Canon John Crookall, D.D., and grand vicar. The will is dated Oct. 11 last. He has left numerous specific bequests to friends; amongst them is the Marchioness of Londonderry, to whom he bequeaths a small figure of Pope Pius IX. To each of his servants he has left liberal legacies, in addition to one year's wages and mourning. He appoints his executors residuary legatees. The will of Thomas Fisher, Esq., of Norman House, Buxton, Derby, was proved at Derby under £ 80,000 personalty, by which he has left the following charitable bequests :—To the Shef- field General Infirmary, Sheffield Public Hospital and Dispensary, Wesleyan Foreign and Home Mis- sions, each £ 100 and X50 to both the Boys' and Girls' Charity Schools in Sheffield. The will of Robert Alton, Esq., of Taunton, St. James, Somer- set, dated August, 1871, was proved at Taunton, under £ 7,000, and contains the following charitable bequests:—To the Life-boat Institution, £800, to be applied in placing a life-boat on some part of the Devonshire coast; to the West of England Institution for the Blind, the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Exeter, and the Cancer Hospi- tal, each £500; and to the Taunton and Somerset Hospital a share in the residue of his property. The will of Maria Dowager Lady Dalyell, relict of Sir William Cunningham Cavendish Dalyell, Bart., R.N., Commander of the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, was proved in London, on November 17 last, under £12,000 and that of Dame Emma JaneLucretia East, under £1,000 personalty in England.—Illus- trated London News. "THE BEST BRANDY.The Echo says:- A dealer in Connecticut lately sold a bottle of the best brandy," which was handed to Professor Silli- man, of Vale College, for analysis. He found it to be concocted on a basis of whisky, with additions of alum, iron, sulphuric acid, an essential oil of some kind, tannic acid, cayenne pepper, burnt sugar, lead, and copper, all of which appear to have been found necessary to produce the peculiar Cognac flavour so much admired. In this case it is quite clear that the most poisonous ingredient was not the alcoholic basis. Indeed, the whisky must have had a most saving quality if it could prevent the drinking of the mixture from being followed by instantaneous death. And yet there are people who say that alcohol is a poison. The most curious thing of all is how any- one can become an habitual drunkard on such an abominable compound as this "best brandy." A TELEGRAM states that while the Petty Ses- sions were being held in the village of Killyclogher, in Leitrim, the floor of the court-house gave way, precipitating about 300 people into the ground-floor, a distance of 18 feet. The extent of the injury is not yet ascertained, but 30 persons received serious hurts, some of which, it is stated, will prove fatal, though no death has yet occurred. Many are maimed; some have arms, legs, or collar-bones broken; others have received internal, spine, and scalp injuries. The part where the magistrates and attorneys sat did not fall, as the bench was separated from the crowd by a railing. The last-named gentlemen escaped through the windows by ladders, which were brought to the scene. KILLED ON THE RAILWAY.—Mr. W. J. Payne, the deputy coroner for the City and South- wark, has held an inquiry at Guy's Hospital, touching the death of Benjamin Greaves, aged 46 years. It appeared that the deceased was foreman over the locomotive department of the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. A few days ago he was standing on the platform at Balbrough, in Sussex, when a goods train came along and stopped at the station. The deceased, who was close to the trucks, leant against them, and while he was doing so they were pushed on and he fell between them and the platform. The wheels passed over his legs, and he was removed to Guy's Hospital, where he died on Tuesday from the effects of his injuries. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. THE LONDON DIRECTORY.— The 73rd annual publication of Mr. Kelly's famous London Directory has been recently issued. The new volume is bigger than ever, and the amount of information, indispensable to men of business, com- pressed into its multitudinous pages, is really as- tonishing. The Directory is distinguished for ac- curacy,' and the industry and vigilance required in keeping it free of mistakes can only be appreciated in full by those who have been engaged in somewhat similar work. The introduction, giving a brief epitome of the multifarious contents, and pointing out the uses to which they may be applied, is in- tended for the convenience of persons who are not in the daily habit of consulting the volume. If the great tome be thoughttoo bulky, it can be had in two volumes, and in this latter form it is much more manageable. CURIOUS RECOVERY OF A DRAFT FOR £ 195.— On Monday Fanny Nutter, 30, of Liverpool, was charged at the Lancaster Quarter Sessions with stealing a banker's draft for .£195, a post-office order for .£21, and a coat the property of James Garlick. The case was a rather remarkable one. Garlick had been entrusted to post the letters containing the draft and order by a porter in the employ of Mr. Booth of Lancaster. On going to bed Garlick left his coat containing the letters upon a chair near the front door, which was not locked, and the next morning the coat was missing. Prisoner, who had only just been liberated from Lancaster Castle, was seen leaving the town with the coat on her arm, and she was subsequently apprehended at Liverpool, but none of the missing property was found on her. Shortly afterwards, however the missing draft was picked up in a street in Liverpool along which the prisoner had passed on her way to the lock-up. Prisoner, who had been "in trouble" no less than 45 times, was sentenced to 18 months' hard labour.