Potter's Electric News

THE WAR IN GERMANY. THE BATTLES IN BOHEMIA. VIENNA, June 29 (8.15 p.m.) The following official despatch relates to the battles of toe 28th inst. P ARDUBITZ, June 29. The Prussians were yesterday completely defeated by the Austrian forces under General von Gablenz. Leaving behind 1,000 killed and wounded, they withdrew to Prussian territory towards Gla' z, After occupying Jicin yesterday the Prussians were attacked by the cavalry division of General von Edelsbeim. They were driven out of Jicin, and repulsed towards Turnau. In consequence of ihis defeat the Prussians last night evacuated Melnik, Daubs, and Leipa, and withdrew in great haste to Niemes. The Prussian lveses by General von Edelsheim'a attack were enormous. The strategic operation of the Austrian army was completely successful. The junction of Prince Frederick Charles with the army of Silesia was prevented. The Austrian loss in the battles of the last three days is estimated at nearly 2,000 killed and wounded. The Prussian loss is at least equal. BERLIN, July 1. A great number of workmen have left here for Dresden, to erect entrenchments. The following official despatch has been received from the head-quarters of the Crown Prince of Prussia: 4 The result of the three days' fighting in which the 5th Prussian Corps has been engaged cannot be too highly estimated. On the 27th it was opposed by the 13th Austrian Corps under General Ramming. A letter was found addressed by the latter to General Benedek in Josephstadt, which affords complete proof that the forces under his command were thoroughly exhausted. He therein requested General Benedek to send him two fresh brigades, in order that his troops might bivouack under their protection, and acknowledged that tltey would not be able to fight on the following day. The 5:h Prussian Corps was therefore opposed on the 28th and 29th by the corps of the Archduke Leopold and I General Testeties. 4 The fighdng on these two days extended over a much greater line than on the 27th. The Austrian corps under General Gabler.z was completely broken up. Besides innumerable prisoners, twenty guns, five colours, and two standards belonging to the corps of General Gablenz fell into the hands of the Prussian troops.' VIENNA, July 1. The following official telegram, dated Prague, June 30, has been published here to-day 4 Engagements took place yesterday at Kost, near Turnau, and at Chwalkcwitz. between Kalitz and Xonigehof, in the district of Jung-Bunzlau, which resulted favourably to the Austrians. Bobmnisk and Xamnitz hare been evacuated by the Prussians. The latter were also defeated while flying from Flicin by the combined Austrian and Saxon forces. They left their dead and wour.ded on the field.' The Its Austrian Army Corps and the Saxon Corps were repulsed yesterday by the Prussians. In consequence of this repulse the Austrian army fell back in the direction Konigsgratz. REICHENBERG, July 1. The Prussian army in Bohemia is making victorious progress. The fifth and third divisions took Gitalin by storm on the 28th ult The Prussian loss wag not inconsiderable, the enemy's position being very strong. The loss sustained by the Austrians is estimated at about 4,000 men. PESCHIERE, June 1. The Austrian cavalry have made a reconnaisance from Ogito to Chiese. They drove back the Italian outposts and took several prisoners. Two Austrian gunboats have cannonaded the encampment of Volunteers on the shores of lake Garda. The Volunteers dispersed after sustaining considerable loss. BERLIN, July 2. The following official announcement has been made here:—'In consequence of the successful storming of Gitschen, the junction of the armies under the Crown Prince and Prince Frederick Charles is looked upon as completely effected. Notwithstanding the recent severe and sanguinary fighting the Prussian army is in ex- cellent spirits.' FRANKFORT, July 2. An Italian regiment forming part of the troops des- patched by Austria to strengthen her contingent with the 8th Federal Army Corps, has arrived here. MEININGEN, July 2. The report of the arrival of the 4th Bavarian Infantry division in this town is unfounded. HUNGARY. PESTH, July 2. The Hungarian episcopal body have voted 2,000 florins for the relief of the wounded in battle. Three Hungarian Magnates have proposed to raise and equip a corps of volunteer cavalry. One thousand wounded soldiers arrived here yester- day. PETROLEUM FOR ASTHMA.—A correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes to that jjurnal'I have a son, six years old, that had the asthma in the most dis- tres3ing form for three or four months, when he was one or two years old. We tried everything we could hear of without getting relief, till we were told to rub his neck and breast with petroleum, and we used it both crude and refined, experiencing very speedy relief and a final and permanent cure, for he has not since had a return of it, and is now a very healthy child.' MURDER AND VOLUNTARY STARVATION OF THE MURDERER.—The town of Cozes, France, has just been the theatre of shocking crime. A young woman, the wife of a young man named Gaudonin, has just been murdered by the husband's father, who after stabbing her with a knife six times inside the house, followed the poor woman, who had managed to drag herself outside, and there, in presence of several spectators attracted by her c ies, killed her by a seventh blow. He was instantly srrested, but from that moment refused all food, and died of starvation in prison. The cause of the crime was a simple quarrel. A RAILWAY TRAIN ON FIRE.—A considerable amount of property was destroyed by fire on the 28th inst., on the Great Western Railway. In the afternoon a goods train was running between Pangbourne and Reading, and when near the Roebuck cutting it was discovered that several truck loads of hay had ignited. The flames raged most fiercely, and the train was brought to a stand-still at the West Junction on the Berks and Hants JBraneh. The burning trucks were detached, and mes- sengers being sent to Reading, Mr Peach, the station- master, and a number of men proceeded to the scene of the conflagration. Fire engines from the Reading Police Station were sent to the spot, and played upon the burning mass until the flames had been subdued, but not before the whole of six loads of hay and four trucks bad been destroyed, and two other trucks much damaged. The trucks belonged to the London and North-Western Railway Company, and the loss is esti- mated at nearly £ 1,000. ALARMING INJURY TO THE AQUEDUCT ON THE ArnE FISO CALDER CANAL.—Great fears are entertained in Barnsley and the neighbourhood that serious permanent injury and damage has been done to the aqueduct near that town, owing, as is believed, to the coal having been got in the immediate district, and thus interfering with the foundation of the arches to an alarming extent. The canal has burst on three different occasions recently iear the aqueduct, and greatly interfered with the traffic, besides putting a stop to several collieries. The valley of the Dearne at this point is crossed by five massive arches of stonework. During the last few days a large crack has been discovered from one end of the structure to the other, and in one of the arches there is also an immense crack from top to bottom. Several workmen are busily employed drilling through the stonework for the purpose of inserting massive iron bolts in order to strengthen the arches as much as possible, Should the structure give way it will interfere with an i immense canal traffic, besides putting a stop to several important collieries.— Zwrfs Mercury, i < SHOCKING DEATH IN A DRAIN.—On Thursday night, about eleven o'clock, three men entered the Maida Drain, Hastings—which is made of iron-for the purpose of cleansing it. They had made considerable progress, when there was a fearful rush of water, caused by the heavy fall of rain. Two of the men, with great diffi- culty, and after much exertion, effected an escape but the third, named Henry Winter, a young man twenty- nine years old, was either drowned or suffocated. His body has not yet been found, and it is supposed tha' either it has been carried through the iron trapping out to sea, or that it is lodged in some part of the drain. The authorities are opening the drain in several places in the hope of recovering the body. THE LAND AND SEA FORCES OF EUROPE—The Journal du Havre gives the following statistical table of the land and sea forces which all Europe can now place on a war footing. France, 903,617 men Prussia, 650,000; Italy, 424,193; Russia, 1,200,000; Spain, 271,900; Portugal, 64,118 Holland, 92.000; Sweden and Norway, 139,000; Denmark, 41,490; England, 365,000 (including 230,000 volunteers) Austria, 651,612; Germanic Confederation, 406,361; Turkey, 541,580 Egypt, Moldo-Wallaehia, Montenegro, and Servia together, 152,000 Belgium, 198,291; Switzer- land, 80,650; Roman States, 12.000. All these figures added up give a total of 5,9ï5,262 officers, sub-officers, and soldiers. In taking account of the sick and incapa- ble, there still remain upwards of 4,000,00') of armed and able-bodied men. A NEW MODE OF REVENGE.—An outrage of a very brutal description has just been committed on a farm in the neighbourhood of Dublin, it is supposed by per- sons who bad a grudge against the owner in consequence of bis having taken possession of land from which another farmer bad been ejected. Thirty-five sheep belonging to the incomer, Taylor, were found dead or dying, without any visible cause of death or sign of disease. The matter seemed so unaccountable that the Government Veterinary Department was communicated with, and Mr Ferguson went to the spot and made a post mortem examination of fivo of the animals. He denies that they died, as had been supposed, of poison. On opening them he found great effusion of blood in the region of the throat, and stomach, with wounds in the lungs, liver, and other organs. On examining the skin it was found unpierced in any part. The wounds, how- ever, could be traced internally from the chest back wards, and led to a large puncture in the rectum, through which some long, sharp, narrow-beaded instru- ment had been driven to cause death, and leave no ex- ternal mark of violence, A reward is to be offered by the Government for the apprehension of the perpetrators of this barbarous outrage. A PARISIAN GHOST STOUY.—The following ghost story finds a prominent place in most of the Parisian journals-—• A Russian lady of rank died lately in Paris., and her husband sent for a barber to arrange her hair as is usually done with the Russian dead. The barber took his young son with him, and, to pnnish the lad for some indiscretion which he had committed, brutally compelled him to read aloud Mon Voisin Raymond,' whilst the hair of the corpse was being dressed. The boy was terribly frightened at the task imposed upon him, and returned home almost delirious. But the cruel father's turn was to come, and on the following night, and for many nights afterwards, did the appearance of the Russian lady sit by his bedside reading aloud to him improper novels. At last the poor barber's black hair turned white under the well deserved infliction he was undergoing but soon after the fair Russian had ex- exhausted her repertoire of light literature, and appeared to him no more, he was fortunate enough to discover a dye, which completely restored his hair to its original thickness, colour, and gloss, which he now sells at the extremely low price of ten francs the bottle. Apply to Mons.Rue-, No.— This is the last form of a French sensation advertisement. SHOCKING TRAGEDY.—A VOLUNTEER SERJEANT SHOT DEAD.—An inquest was held at Hartlepool Wednesday on the body of Serjeant Gilbert Kennedy, of the 15th Durham (Hartlepool) Rifle Volunteers. The deceased had for many years acted as storekeeper to Messrs. Richardson, Denton, Duck, and Co., at the Middleton Iron Works, and had attended to his duties up to the day of his death. It appears he left his employment about eight o'clock on Tuesday night, when he went to his residence at Middleton. After tea he took down his rifle for the purpose of cleaning it. His wife had just gone out of the door when the report of firearms was beard, and her child came rushing out of the house into the street. On going back a shocking spectacle was presented. Her husband lay on the floor skull entirely blown off, his brains scattered about the ceiling and walls of the room, the rifle lying at the side of the disfigured corpse, and a bole in the ceiling show- ing that the bullet, which had gone through the man's head, bad passed up into the apartment above, occupied by another family, but all of whom escaped injury. The jury returned a verdict that the deceased had died from a gunshot wound in the head, but whether acci- dentally or otherwise there was not sufficient evidence to show.' Deceased was a native of Ayr, Scotland, and was 43 years of age. SINGULAR AND VIOLENT HAIL AND THUNDERSTORM' On Wednesday the 27th ult., localities in the vicinity of the metropolis were visited by a singularly severe storm, accompanied by hail and thunder, while the cen- tral parts of the metropolis were quite free from any- thing of the kind. Hailstones as large as marbles feft at Windsor, amidst the flashing of lightning and the roar of thunder, and did considerable damage both to dwellings and the crops. At the village of Cricklewood, and between that place and the Edgware-road station of the North London Railway, an immense quantity of panes of glass was broken by enormous hailstones. A large tree was broken short off by the violenco of the wind, and there was an unusually heavy fall of rain. In the same neighbourhood—viz., Willesden-green, Neas- d6n, Kensal-green, Hampstead, &c., this peculiar storm was felt with almost equal severity, but so sharply was its course defined, that while it was raging in one place it was perfectly fine weather a few fields off, where the hay-makers continued their work uninterrupted by the weather. From Newport, acoounts have been received describing a most fearful storm there on Wednesday, said to be the most severe ever experienced in that locality. It commenced after five o'clock, and con- tinued with the utmost fury for one hour, hailstones of from two to three ounces in weight falling, and rain de- scending in torrents. A great deal of glass was broken, and more than 100 houses suffered from the flood caused by heavy rain. The standing crops have also been greatly injured. At Bristol the storm, which com- menced about a quarter before ,six o'clock, raged with little or no intetmission till about eight. Although it was broad daylight the lightning was intensely vivid, and the thunder boomed and crashed in a manner which caused, in the minds of timid persons, no small amount of alarm. The ordinary channels for draining the public thoroughfares in some of the lower districts proved un- equal to the carrying off of the floods of water which descended from the hills, so that locomotion in some parts of the city was rendered for a time exceedingly unpleasant and difficult. We shall not be surprised to hear of much damage having resulted to the wheat crops in the district, and some accidents are reported. About six o'clock Charles Abrahams, in the employ of Mr Baker, contractor, was riding on a horse at the bottom of Clare-street, when the lightning struck him, being attracted by a saw which he was carrying in his hand. The poor fellow fell to the ground, was picked up in a state of insensibility, and removed to his home. At Sherborne Villa, the residence of Mr Jones, a chimney- stack was struck by lightning, part of the masonry was precipitated to the ground, and the remaining portion of the stack bulged out considerably. An alarm of fire was given, but it was soon ascertained that very little damage had been done. The telegraph wires in some places have sustained damage, and the electricity in the atmosphere prevented the sending and receiving of mes- sages. The bells of the instruments in the various police stations were constantly ringing, and gave no little trouble at first to the officers, who were unler the im- pression that some information was about to be sent to them,