The Pontypridd Chronicle and Workman's News

Illegally Retaining Toluateer Clothing. At Yatrad Police-court on Monday (before Mr. Ignatius Williams, Stipendiary magistrate, and Mr. John Davies, Brynfedwen), Samnel Bow was charged with retaining V olobteQr clothing in his possession, and refusing to gives it up. Mr. Wash- burne, Drill Instructor tor the Pentre detachment, said defendant had the clothes, and he refused to give them up. They belong to the government. The clothes belonged to a nuan named Parsons, who has left the neighbourhood. Defendant said Parsons lodged with him, and owed him still £1 odd for lodging. He left the clothes for the debt until he should return, when he promised to pay the amount due. Captain Tallis said be wished to press the charge. They had great difficulty about the clothes in men leaving the neighbonrhood, and he wished an example made as a warning to others. Ordered to deliver the clothes up, and pay 13s. 6d. costs, or to go to prison for a week. Defendant said he would go to prison for the wee, but considered it -very unfair. If the Queen knew it she would not approve ef it.

WOONMGJIT PORTH. COMMITTED »OR TRIAL. At Tetrad Police-eosrt on Monday (before Mr. Ignatius William*, Stipendiary magistrate, and Mr. John Davies, Brynfedwen), John Frederick Williams was charged with wounding John Lloyd on the head, by throwing a stone at him on Satur- day night. John Lloyd said at nine o'clook on Saturday night he was at the Portb Hotel. Prisoner eame to him and asked him to stand some driak or lead him sixpence. Told him not to bother me. Prisoner oaaght hold of a bine and tried to strike him with it twice. Someone prevented him. Caught hold of him and put him outside the door. He came to the door t.hl t'e times wanting him to go out to fight. Went to the door ef the bar and prisoner struck him with » stone in the left temple. The stene rebounded and struck another mnn. Piisoner was about two or three yards from him. He went to Dr. Lewis who dresied the wound. David Jones, ergine driver, said he was present, and corroborated the prosecutor. Dr, Ivor A. Lewis said between nine and ten o'clock on Saturday night John Lloyd came to his surgery. Found a punotared wound on the Wt temple down Go the bone. It might have been done by a sharp oorner of the stone produced. which must have been thrown with cons<dorab e violence. He dressfd the wound. It is not dangero. P C, Williams said h arrested j.risr.nei, who denied knowing Joi n Lloyd, a few minutes sfter he said, Well, I did strike him because he twk hold of me and shook me; it was nt> UL-e my try IIg to strike him with my net, because he was so strong.-Committed for trial at the Quarter Sessions.

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TOPICS OF THE WEEK. WHKN a single London firm lose twelve let- cer.i, eight of them containing cheques, postal orders, or other valuables, within four months, it neenjs to he time for inquiry into the way in which the Poet Office is conducting its business. Messrs. Carter and Co. have given a list of documents belonging to their house, lost in the |K\st since la^t October. In no single case quoted buve the authorities succeeded in recov- ing the missing papers. In five, the official reply is "Inquiry unsuccessful in four others no reply has been made to the firm. Several other correspondents complain of the loss of letters containing valuables within the same period, and all or nearly all of them observe that Iripguiar.ties of this kind are quite new in the service. The explanation of the Depart- ment will be awaited with anxiety by business uien. Two women in London have been convicted of the offence of fortune-telling. Their plan of operations was the old, old one of shuffling and cutting a pack of cards, and out of this simple machinery they supply to their customers, mostly women, a plentiful variety of excellent sweethearts, with hints of other great gifts from life's lucky bag. It invariably happens i that the simple-minded persons who consult such adventurers hav" a wealth of promise held out to them, and possibly the pleasure of anti- cipating a rise in life and means of overlook- ing all our enemies" is not dearly purchased at the price of sixpence. But the law regards the transaction as an immoral one, and Mr. Lush* ington, the Thames Police-coart magistrate, decided to send the fortune-tellers to prison for three months with hard labour. MR. COMMISSIONER KERR, who presides in the City of London Court, is either a wag or able to find out the cheapest markets in the world. Yesterday he had to bring an action in which a Mr. Komain, jeweller, claimed damages against a Mr. Russell, pawnbroker, for. selling bim three lockets which were represented as made of gold, but which in fact were made of 11 very inferior metal. The sale took place at in auction, and- Mr. Kerr having read the con- ditions observed that these did not amount to i warranty. He went on to remark that if you go into St. Paul's Churchyard you can buy J gold watch for a penny." We intend to pay visit to that place of sepulture, were gold watches are evidently so cheap. There is a remote probability of one's being paid half-a- rown to carry the moderately-priced timer iway. Mr. Kerr, having had his little joke at the expense of the plaintiff, informed him that be should non-suit him, inasmuch as he, a jeweller, ought to have known whether the lockets were gold or brass, and that at auctions the maxim of cavaetemptor had as much force u elsewhere. THE Bill for "extending the hours within which marriages may be lawfully solemnized," just printed, will, if it becomes law, effect a complete revolution in wedding festivities. It provides that from and after the passing of the proposed Act it shall be lawful to solemnized a marriage at any time between the hours of eight in the forenoon and. four in the after- noon, aud repeals the existing law, under which persons are liable to punishment if they solemnize matrimony" except between the hours of eight and twelve o'clock in the fore- noon. There cannot be a doubt that great in- convenience is caused by the existing arrange- ment under which marriages are solemnized before noon. There are few more dreary enter- tainment than that know as a "wedding break- i fast ;"it interferes with comfort and indigestion, costs a considerable sum of money, and gives pleasure only to those who make a profit out of it. When marriages take place in the after- noon the breakfast" will probably be replaced by a five-o'clock tea on a large scale, which will answer all purposes, and cause far less misery and fidget. Weddings, hke funerals, stand solely in need of reform, and the sooner they are placed on an improved footing the better. If the truth were known it would perhaps I e found that many persons are at present deterred from entering the bonds of matrimony not sc much from a fear of undertaking the obliga- tions of married life as from a dread of the preliminaries attending it. 0 SIR ANDREW CLARK'S definition of health is a very delightful one. He says it is that state in which the body is not consciously pre- sent to us; in which it is a joy to see, to think, to feel, to be; the state in which work is easy, and duty not over-great a trial the state in which one goes forward on the journey of life, getting and giving joy. And this is the state in 'which we all ought to be—for we all ought to be healthy. There seems to have been no exception on account of climate and thus, on this February morning, with new rigours of winter about us, we have to reproach ourselves —at all events in the main-if we cannot, each one of us, start out for the day unconscious of our bodies, and only conscious of the joys of being and of giving joy to others. It is a de- lightful ideal, aud we dare not say that it is not a true one, though we fear we start upon the day with an objectionable conviction that it i not going to be realised by many people. But it is something to look at and to work towards. Those who wish to begin this work well must be ready to recognise two very solid truths Si) Andrew Clark enforced. The first, which i. also a truism, is that if we are not healthy it i> because we break the laws of health. As to tht «econd, here are his own words: "The most solemn truth which my profession has taught me in that nature is implacable she never for gets and she never forgives." This is a bar truth; especially to the young. It has for it; companion the pleasanter truth that the nm ment we resolve to pay the price of good health —to deny ourselves, to obey the laws of health —everything begins to go right."

~NEWS IN BRIEF." A crematory is shortly to be built in San Fran cisco, The Archbishop of Canterbury has taken up his residence at Lsunl>eth Palace. I- t Ik: entire staff of clerks aud carriers in tilt Urcxiklyu 1'ost Office have been vaccinated. A fruit insurance company is likely to be an out come of the late destructive frosts in Florida. A gas well has been struck in the Ohio gas field.. that yields a supply of 100,000 feet a day. Fourteen and sixteen years are the itges respective ly of a girl and lad married in New Bedford recently An attempt is being made in Chicago to enforci the law requiring the closing of liquor saloons a midnight. Hather than begin the year on a Friday, aGardei City (Kan.) daily deferred its first publication foi 1886 until the 4til ult. It has just leaked out that a gentleman in Nev Haven who promised his wife a Singer machine fo Christmas put her off with a canary bird. Henry Shorrock, clerk to the Town Clerk 0: Darwen, has absconded. It is alleged that he ba eiiibezzled XM, which has been lent to the Cor- poration. Small two-storey houses are being put up by con tractors in South Brooklyn. Each house is design- ed to accommodate, or, rather, to contain tw families. itM Kuciiiiitie Tows Council tiav* dwifca, by a mxjority of one, to open their Free Library on Sun- days. The extinction of tlie "dude" is announced by the AVJC York Heia/d, which editorially rejoices tliere- at. Four hundred coachmen attended s hall the other niglit in New York. The grand march I vgan at midnight The acclimatisation of codfish in the Gnlf of Mexico is to be attempted by the United Stated Fishery Com mission. A seventy-year-old citizen of Connecticut has won a race against a professional bicyclist in New Haven. The Court of Common Council of the City of London have voted a Hum of 100 guineas to the Volunteer Forces Benevolent Association. Cayenne pepper sprinkled upon hot flannels, sayi one who has tried it, will afford instant relief to persons troubled with neuralgia. A new Wosleyan chapel has been opened at St. Peter's Park, l'addington, by the Rev. Dr. Hig^ and the President of the Conference. Resurrectionists are so active in and around Ata- Ianta that it is reported unsafe to have a frosidy-ba. ried corpse unguarded in cemeteries in that vic nity. .w York theatrical managers are again talking of adopting the English stock company system, by which the nucleus of a coiuptny is engaged for the a > Uncollectable accounts in the hands Ot a number of merchants in Western New York are hereafter to be sold periodically at public auction to the highest bidder. It is believed bad bills will decrease in number under the system. In a trap baited with a lire goose, a farmer is Harnett County, N.C., recently captured a bald eagle, whose wings measured 10ft from tip to tip. The bird had been ravaging the vicinity for many weeks, carrying off large numbers of poultry and sheep. At Messrs. Whitham's mill, Burnley, a twirstees 1 labourer, named Samuel Waller, was being hoisted up into an upper story of the mill, when his head came in contact with ooe of the intervening floors, and he was killed almost instantly. The prevalence of swine fever in East Yorkshire has again necessitated the closing of markets, and the placing of restrictions upon the removal of pigs. The disease, which is almost entirely confined to itore animals, now exists in about three-fourths of the English counties. H. H, Merrin, alias Martiel, was charged at the Guildhall, London, with being coiteerned in steal- ing, from the Post Office in Gracechurch Street, a black bag, containing a cheque- book and other arti- cles, and with uttering three cheques taken from, the book. He was committed for triaL At the Derby Police Court, Joseph Reed, in the employ of the Derby Hide and Skin Company, has been charged with fraudulently obtained £ J0 from the company's cashier, Barker, who is at the pre- sent time undergoing a term of imprisonment for embezzlement, and was remandhd on bail of C200. The Loyalists of Ireland are making extensive arrangements for a campaign not only in that coun- try, but in England and Scotland. Meetings have been arranged for in various parts of Ulster, and the Kev. Hugh Hanna, D.D., has promised to at- tend a Loyalist gathering to be held in Edinburgh on the 17th inst. A tailor in Boston, the Transcript says, has just completed an exceedingly expensive overcoat for a gentleman of that city. The value of the coilt is said to be 4,000 dols., though it is declared that the garment could not be duplicated for a much larger sum. It contains sixty-nine Russian sable skins of the finest quality. A meteor of extraordinary size and brilliancy has been observed in the neighbourhood ot Great Grimsby. It was rocket-shaped and of unusual length. When it first came in sight the prevailing colour was blue, but it changed to red, separated into two parts, and tlwnrsuiialie(L The body of a railway carpenter named Porter has been found on the line near Spalding, in a fearfully mutilated condition, two legs and one arm being cut off, and the head smashed and unrecognisable. The unfortunate man was identified by the contents of his pocket. Nothing is known of the accident. The iiiiin who was picked up dead near Hather- sage, on the Derbyshire moors, having perished in the snowstorm, has not yet been identified. In his pocket was a joiner's rule and a book with the name Stacey, Battersea," written in it. The deceased, who was well dressed, appeared about thirty-five years of age. A serious omnibus accident has occurred on the Pont des Saints Peres, at Paris. One of the heavy three-horse omnibusses plying betwesri Batignolles and the Oddon was just turning on to the bridge when the hind wheel of the vehicle came off, and the large vehicle lurched over. Several of the out- side passengers were throw off and injured. At Salford, George Henry Stone has again been charged with attempting to murder his wife, whose story was that he had several times put Bulphide of zinc into her tea or stout, and that his motive must be to get her insurance money. Prisoner said the charge originated in his wife a fancy. There was no truth at all in her story. Prisoner was discharged. Mr. Cornwallis West, M.P. for West Denbigh, lowered the rents of several of his farms two 01 three years ago. Lately he has reduced the re- mainder, and the deduction averaging from 10 to 2C per cent. The farms were moderately rented be- fore but in consequence of the depression in trade the rents of the whole have been reduced. A breach of promise of marriage case, Hancock v. Clifford, has been heard before Mr. Justice Stephens, at Bristol. The plaintiff was a cook, (45) and the defendant a small farmer, (63), the latter having been twice previously married. The parties met in an omnibus, and it was described as a case of love at first sight—The jury found for the plaintiff, awarding 95 damages. Newton, Long Island, has adopted a new method of raising revenue—that of levying a tax of one dol- lar for a permit given at each burial in a cemetery within the town precincts; and, as there are several cemeteries there in which the daily burials from New York are very numerous, the income is cor- respondingly large. From the burials in a single graveyard (Calvary) in one week the revenue was 700 dollars. A few nights ago the Dublin" black gang," an organization composed of boys from fourteen tc eighteen years of age, made a daring raid on the south side of the city. A draper's shop was entered when the owner was in the rear premises, and some clothing carried off; and from the shop of a provi- sion dealer the till was stolen. A number of other robberies have been perpetrated by the gang. Penalties amounting to upwards of X15 liave been inflicted by the Wingham magistrates upon twc gamekeepers, named Hray and Corbin, who, while in the employ of a former tenant of the Broome Park estate, were alleged to have laid down poison in various coverts. The prosecution was instituted by the Master of the East Kent Rant. According to the evidence, the keepers stated that their inten- tion was to kill foxes, two of which were, as a mat- ter of fact, found poisoned. A shocking suicide has occurred at North Shields. James Burton Bavidge, School Board officer, was found by his wife head foremost in the rain- tub in the yard, and dead. He had got out of bed, gone into the yard, and deliberately committed suicide. Deceased had been an officer for the School Board from its formation. lIe was also secretary of the North-Shields Co-operative Society. Deceased was aged fifty-seven, and had been in a low state of mind for some time. A meeting, convened by the Sheriff of Devon. has been held at the Castle of Exeter, at vdiieh it was resolved that a testimonial, to take the form of a statue of Lord Iddesleigh, be erected in some public place, in token of regard and admiration of the people in Devonshire for the noble earli Amongst those present were the Earl of Devon, Earl Fortescue, the Earl of Mount Edgeonibe. Lord Poltimore, and Sir John Kennaway, Colonel Waldron, and Mr. McIver, members of Parliament. At the Nottingham Assizes, Elizabeth Harris, wife of a collier, at Kirkby-in -Ashfield, was ordered by Justice Manisty to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure, she being insane and unfit tc plead to an indictment charging her with the wilful murder of her infant, wlJOm she field before the fire and slowly roasted to death during the absence of her husband. The unfortuuate woman had beea desponding for some time.