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

I BETRAYED BY A RABBIT. I A gang of coiners has just been discovered in singular circumstances at Vorsselaer. M. Jespers, the sheriff of the commune, went out shooting with a friend, and wounded a rabbit, which, how- ever, managed to get back to its hole. The rabbit escaped, but at the entrance of its burrow M, Jespers found a coiner's apparatus and numerous spurious coin. The authorities at Turnhoub were immediately informed. An inquiry was instituted, and two residents in the commune were arrested. In their homes a number of coins were found similar to those discovered in the burrow.

PHOTOGRAPHER'S BIG CLAIM. 1 At Glasgow, on Monday, Charles Sweet, a photographer, sued the Gla.sgow Record and Mail for publishing a photograph of Lord Bute, of which he had the copyright. He C'& med L-IC for each copy of the publication, and stated that at least 25,000 were issued. The Sheriff, in dismissing the action, said that it was not the intention of the Legislature to give a Summary Court the, right to decide on a claim for a quarter of a million pounda without right of appeal.

DEAR BEER. The inland revenue authorities prosecuted a man named Henry Page, of Edmund-street, Camber- well, at Lambeth Police-court, for selling beer on his premises without a license. It was alleged that men assembled in the defendant's parlour on Sun- day mornings and drank beer, which was served from a four and a half gallon cask on one occasion, and later from a nine gallon cask. Sixpence per pot was/charged. The defendant said that he got the beer in for his friends, and none of it was sold, but this statement conflicted with the evidence of the revenue officers. The defendant was lined jE20 and costs.

I VtCAR; MISSING. I Dragging operations £ or the recovery of the j body ot the Moule^vic^r oi- Bozeufc, j near Kushden, afia .nephew of: the Bishop of Durham, are still proceeding, but they have so far been unsuccessful. It is six weeks since Mr. Moule's clothing was found on the river bank, where he had gone to bathe. I

I A FAITHFUL DOG. I An inquest was held on Monday evening at Rostrevor on JMr. David McCullough, one of the best known auctioneers in the North of Ireland. He went to inspect his sheep on the mountain, and was found dead with his dog standing and whining over him. A verdict of Death from apoplexy was returned.

EXPLOSIVES STOLEN. I Alarm has been created by the discovery that thieves have carried off almost the entire contents of the magazine in which explosives were stored near Birmingham. Twenty pounds of Nobel's ammonia powder and two hundred detonators for blasting purposes are among the property missed. The robbery is a matter of great concern on account of the risk involved in such a quantity of highly explosive material being handled by people who may be inexperienced.

I YELLOW FEVER RIOTS. I A HOSPITAL ATTACKED. A mob of Italians at Patterson, Louisiana, attempted on Saturday to burn the yellow fever hospital there, and had to be repulsed by the local militia. Feeling runs very high among the Italians because so many of their relatives have died in the hospital,, where they were taken when seized with the disease. A mob of two or three hundred began their attack by hurling stones and breaking the win- dows of the hospital, the doors of which were immediately locked against the storming crowd. When they approached the building to set fire to it the hospital staff poured pails of hot water upon them from the windows. The mob dispersed upon being threatened by the militia, who came in considerable force with loaded rifles. The townspeople of Patterson are furious against the Italians, and no doubt the ringleaders, if they can be caught, will be lynched.

I SPITE ENDANGERS A TRAIN. j 1 A strange story of the consequences of ill-wil among railway workers was told at Chesterfield when an engine cleaner named William Overton, employed by the Lancashire, Derbyshire, and East Coast Railway Company, was charged with placing sand in the axle-box of an engine with the view to obstruct the locomotive. The evidence showed that a certain inspector was disliked, and that the cleaners had made up their minds to "do" him. He was to have worked the engine to Lincoln, and the defendant put the sand in the box with the idea of making the axle hot, and so getting the inspector into trouble. It was stated that with the sand in the box the train might have been upset. As it was it was pulled up several times after runs of about three miles each. There had been seven cases of a similar kind in a week. The defendant was tined; £ 2 and 30s. costs.

TERRIBLE RAILWAY I N ACCIDENT. CROMER EXPRESS WRECKED. I TEN KILLED AND 44 INJURED. I A terrible railway accident, involving the loss ot ten lives ajid injury to many others, occurred o% Friday at* Withiam Junction,' near Chelms- ford, on the Great Eastern Railway's main line. An express train for Cromer, leaving Liver- pool-street at 9.27 a.m., ran off the rails at Witham. Solne of the carriages mounted the platform, and crashed into the buildings. A, porter and nine passengers were killed, and forty-four people injured, some very seriously. The accident, the cause of which is at present unknown, occurred at the point where a branch line joins the main track. The train to which this terrible disaster hap- pened is one of the fastest expresses to Cromer and other Norfolk watering-places. It is tho general favourite with holiday-makers, ard it left London on Friday morning at 9.27 with a heavy load of passengers. They were nearly all people on their way to the seaside, family parties loaded with baggage, and happy in anticipatioR of the pleasures of the seaside. Women and children formed perhaps the majority. The first stop was at Chelmsford, nine miles from Witham. By the time this little roadside station was reached the express had gained full speed, and was travelling at a great rate. Half-way down the platform is a footbridge. Just before this was reached the third carriage of the express, from some cause as yet unex- plained, was jerked off the metals. The couplings were broken, and the engine, with the first two carriages attached, rushed on some little distance. Then it wa-s pulled up, and finally came to a standstill, the two carriages turning over There was only one person in this part of the train, and he was uninjured. In the carriages behind most terrible stwnes were witnessed. The third carriage mounted the platform and ran into the station buildings the fourth and fifth dashed into it and were telescoped, and the sixth fell over on its side at the end of the platform. The wreck was appalling. In all the hideous record of railway disasters in this country, the horror of the scene has hardly been surpassed. The debris of the wrecked station mingled with that of the shattered carriages, and beneath were imprisoned the unhappy passengers. A moment before all was merry as a marriage bell. Now ten human beings lay still and life- less amid the welter of ruin others, maimed and bleeding, gave forth shrieks of fear and agony others were too baaly hurt to cry out. and "lav where they were thrown, silent and unresisting. Then the horrors of fire were added. The gasometers beneath the carriages emitted their gas, which caught light and set the wrecked carriages blazing. 0 There was but a small staff at the station, and, the foreman porter had been killed by one of the carriages which dashed into the porters' room. Several others were also buried in the debris. But the members of the staff left free worked gallantly to extricate the hapless passengers from their awful situation. LIST OF KILLED AND INJURED. The following is a list of the killed and injured 0 KILLED. James Doole, foreman porter, Witham Stati ou. Mrs. Sewell, The Cedars, Great Baddow, Chelmsford. Mrs. F. Clark, Rosentine, Roehampton, S.W. Mise. E. Drawbridge and Miss M. Drawbridge, I»&burnum.-h^u|p,. ,Qu £ eir*s-road, Buckhurst-hill. Mrs. 51ill>ank, Ray Fa,rm, Ingatestone. Frank G. R. Wood, 189, Broomwood-road, Clapham-common, S.W. H. Taylor (female), about 25, dressed in ,black, clothing marked. H. Rood (female), about 40, wearing silver brooch, of a Chinese character, clothing marked. A man unknown, about 35, initials W. H. on clothing. INJURED. Sergt.-Instructor El C. Smith, Uxbrjdge, injury, to back. Wife also injured, suffering from cuts about the head. Daughter, 18 months, cuts on hand and leg. Douglas Dalm,ore (or Delamore), of Broad- water, Waddon (or Wootton), Surrey, collar bone fractured, head and back injured. John Milbank (husband of dead woman), com- pound fracture of shoulder and injuries to head. Arthur Millbank, farmer, Hopewell, injuries to head. Kate Whitly, nurse to Mrs, Sewell, injuries to head, very serious. Miss Redgrove, 187, High-road, Streatham, S.W., injuries to head!. Miss Alice Davis, Tuttleby-lane, Epping New. road, Buckhurst-hill, collar-bone broken. Mrs. Sidney Heard, Patchin-hall-lane, Broom- field, Chelmsford. Miss Annie Heard, shock. Private Pryke, 4th Battn. Rifle Brigfdfl, slight injury left shoulder. Miss Daine (or Daynes), 198, Northampton- street, Norwich, injuries to back and left arm. Charles Booking, 1, King's-road, Tottenham, injuries to back. Mrs. Ingram', sister to Charles Booking, sliock. Mrs. Sewell's two children, dang-eroi-islr injured, not expected to recover; third child slightly injured. Maud Bantinck, maid to Mrs. Sewell, dan- gerously wounded, he,ad. Lottie Millbank, Corksmill-green, Roxwell, seriously injured head and back. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, 35, Great Marl- Jborough-street, London, slightly injured. Mr. G. Wilson, Cromer-road, Romford, slightly injured. I Mr. Cumbers, 84, Springbank-road, Hither- green, injuries probably slight. Canon A. T. Hulton, the Vicarage, Great Waltham, injured in the back and legs. Harry Frisby, Copthall-green, Waltham Abbey, seriously injured. H. J. Powell, son of a verger at St. Paul's, slight injuries to the head. Mrs. J. Trongi, 218, Westminster-bridge-road, left leg broken and injuries to back. Mr. J. Trongi, broken leg. Miss Booking, shock. David Christy, justice of the peace, Chelms- ford, rib broken. fr. Jones, Southminster, Essex, slightly injured. Dr. Nicholls, Glencoe, Cromer, injured in the back. Mr. Whitby, The Limes, Westborough-road, W,pstcliff. slightly injured. Mrs. Wallace and three children, 75, Beadow- road. Chelmsford; Mrs. Wallace, injured in the back the children only slightly injured. THE INQUEST. The inquest on the bodies of the victims of railway disaster at Witham was opened on Satur- day, but only evidence of identification was taker, an adjournment being made. THE QUEEN'S SYMPATHY. On Monday morning Lord Claud Hamilton, chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Com- pany, received the following telegram — Balmoral, Sept. 3, 2 p.m. I am commanded by the Queen to convey to you the ,expression of her Majesty's extreme sorrow at the sad news of the appalling accident which occurred on the Great Eastern Railway, at Witham Junction, on Friday last. Her Majesty begs you will convey her sym- pathy to those who have lost relations in this terrible disaster, and also to the injured, of whose state her Majesty is anxious to have further particulars, and for whose speedy re- covery her Majesty most earnestly prays. DlGHTON PROBYN." Lord Claud Hamilton replied as follows:- Have just returned to town, and have re- ceived your telegram conveying the Queen's gracious message,. "Will you please thank her Majesty for the j same, and assure her that, it shall be promptly J ^conveyed to the eufferers and to the relatives of those killed in the accident? Will inform you as to condition of sufferers in the course of the day. CLAUD HAMILTON." Later in the morning Lord Claud Hamilton sent the appended message to Sir Dighton Probyrt: — Am pleased to be able to inform her Gracious Majesty that the ■passengers injured in the Witham accident are progressing favour- ably.

I A POLICE RUSE. Two police officers who gave evidence at the Leeds Police-court in a of assembling for betting. stated that they watched their man from the belfrv of Christ Church, Meadow-lane, by the aid of field-glasses. I •

I WAR OFFICE RIFLE ORDER. I The following order has been issued by the War Office :-The question of the pattern of miniature rifle best suited for shooting on miniature ranges. and for drill purposes in the case of cadets and lads, was recently considered by a conferecoc held at the War Office, at which the National Rifle Association and the Miniature Rifle C!Llh were represented, and it was decided to designs with a view to the adoption of a standard pattern.

I. THE WAYS OF BEGGARS. I Albert Edward Groves was charged on remand at the Guildhall, London, with his wife, with begging and exposing his throe children in the streets for the purpose of procuring alms. It was stated that after the couple had returned to their lodgings from a begging expedition the man would dress himself respectably and go to the local theatre. The excuse made by Groves was that he was in bad health and was unable to obtain work. He was sentenced to a month's imprisonment, but, taking into considera- tion his ill-health, without hard labour.

J FATAL CARRIAGE ACCIDENT. I While a party of visitors were returning from their holidays at Lisdoonvarna Spa their horse shied at a passing circus van, and two young ladies were thrown violently out into the road. One of them, a Miss Walsh," living in Limerick, was killed, a.nd the other was badly hurt.

I SAD SUICIDE. The body of Mr. F. G. Faleeby. a single I gentleman, residing at Elm-park-road, Winchniore- hill, was discovered in his bedroom with his throat j cut, and a surgical amputating knife lying by his side. Mr. Faleeby was of good parentage and of independent means, and is said to have suffered II from fa.iling eyesight.

At the village of Bottesford, in the Vale of Belvoir, winch is famous for its beautiful I church, in which for centuries the Dukes of Rutland were iburied, the ancient custom of ringing the curfew hell is still observed. The day of the month and the month of the year are also tolled1 on separate bells every evening. "Experience shows that it is not the person who gets drunk who dies it is generally the reverse," remarked the- C'lerkenwell Coroner, reverse," remarked the- C'lerkenwell Coroner, ,&-t an inquest on a. man, whose widow declared he was a temperate person.

FATHER IGNATIUS'S ABBEY. I IMPRESSIVE CEIZEMONY. I An impressive ceremony was witnessed at Llanthony Abbey, the Welsh home of the well- known Father Ignatius and hid community of monks. Many pilgrims, congregated at the abbey with the monks, witnessed the unveiling of a statti-e of the Virgin Mary, with all the solemnity of hymn and prayer. One must go back twenty-five years to find the origin of the ceremonial. On August 30, 1880, it is said, an appirition of the Virgin appeared in the abbey church. After vespers the same evening a great light appeared, in the midst of which a vision of the Virgin could be seen. On September 14 of the same year the monks and some visitors awaited) in the meadow its re-appearance. Suddenly the figure of a woman, with hands upraised in blessing, could be seen. ) As she descended Ignatius could plainly per- ceive the face of the Virgin. That portion of the meadow was afterwards railed off, and it was on that spot that the statue to "a vision" was unveiled.

A FATAL MEAL. I After partaking of a hearty meal of tomatoes, George Hughes, of Clerkenwell, became ill and u, die,-I. lt was shown by a doctor who gave evidence at the inquest that the tomatoes had distended the stomach, and pressing heavily I on the heart had produced syncope.

ADULTERATED MILK. I In defending a summons for selling adul- terated milk, William Dunton, of Plaistow-road, said at the West Ham Police-court that for fifty-four years he had lived he had a blameless character, and he hoped his Worship would not e the first to put a blemish on it. Upon being informed that defendant had pre- /iously been fined! 20s., Mr. 1. Iiatcliffs-Cousins said: "You have told a deliberate untruth. I was going to dismiss this summons, but for this untruth you must pay £ 1 and 18s. 6d. costs.

I LANDSLIDE NEAR LOWESTOFT. f The inhabitants of the village of Pakefield, near Lowestoft, have again been startled by a landslide, and many houses in the vicinity of the cliffs are threatened with destruction. Thousands of tons of shale have swept into the sea. The cliffs have been crumbling away for some years, and a barley field and several buildings once situated between the threatened houses and the sea. have long since been demolished.

BABIES NOT WANTED, I A numiber of parents of the children who until now had attended Stanley-rood Schools, Notting- ham, invaded the school buildings a* a protest against the decision of the education authority, who have been compelled, owing to lack of ac- commodation, to exclude infants who have not passed Standard I. A committee of parents to oppose such exclu- sion has been formed, and the school inspectors and teachers only succeeded in dispersing the crowd oy permi'tC^g the children to remain dur- ing the morning.

Mr, Russell Sage, the famous New York millionaire mtser, has offered £2 reward for the return of a pet cat, Tourists are now leaving Switzerland in large numtiere. Snow has commenced to fall in the Vailaia Canton,

-A flSLIYS OINTMENT 0 a" such :i8 Scurvy, 1 i., ^ru''r!on#, Inflaaieil Kyea, Sor« r ,Ti'.r.0r,U: fir V ,Wr- ?Vl»- Taylor wan cured hy u»in* STX bojesafrersnfferinsSSyew* and si'eiidinif over £ n:<) with dorfnr*. MOTHER WESLEY'S OINTMENT costs lf\\ pev box, post freo in scamps from JToIdroyd's Medical Hall, Cleckheatoii, York*. n i n m nm IMIII ILS iRWieirs Home- DA If! Ijp Best made IJAliiiiy Bread, World MSkwes pnmnrp and Pasties. rUlf IIlII

LOSS OF A STEAMSHIP. A Board of Trade inquiry was held at Cardifl into tho loss of the steamship Aberporth, of Car- diff, in the Black Sea, in June last. The Court found that the vessel was navigated with proper care, but that the master's omission to mako some effort to save her disclosed a lamentable lack either of courage, resource, or desire to save, highly discreditable in an fficer or the British mercantile marine. The Court was satisfied that the value of the vessel was between S:8,000 and £ 9,000, and it was clear that she was insured for at least P.5,000 in excess of her value.

I^TYLDESLEY& HOLBBOOK^j (Lancashire and All (22 years' experience in ffil England, Elevens.) the Sports trade.) Si PfactScaS S&os°ts Ostifitiers* If FOOTBALLS-, i Sole Makers of the Special Lines, 5/- and 5/9. League Matoh :| RECISTERED N 57.088. 6/6 Special Value Knickers, white or navy, per pair, post free, 1/3 w 1/9. 2/6, 3/2. I S Boots per pair, post free, 5/4, 5/11, 6/11, 7/11, 8/11. v Special prices for quantities. i M All Football requisites at cut prices. | <B. Illustrated list FREE. Send for one; it will pay you. | g TYLDESLEY & miBmm, g 109, DEANSCATE, Ml AM GIBES YOi!.

BOY RAIDERS. The heroes of the most exciting beys' romance could not have been guilty of a more daring deed than that of which two little Nottingham boys have been accused. The youngest of this precocious pair is Willie Dickens, aged seven years. His bold companion, Frederick Shaw, has reached tha comparatively mature age of thirteen. According to the evidence given before the Nottingham magistrates, these two children stola two headstalls and then raided a field with the object of securing two horses. After a long chase round the field they captured one horse, and galloped off. They rode several miles before being cap- tured. Shaw was remanded and Dickens admonished.

THE SALVATION ARMY. Officers of the Pentonville, corps of the Sol- vation Army have been enabled by the facilities which publicans in the neighbourhood, afforded them to collect money on their premises, and by the generous aid of the licensed victuallers themselves, to give an outing to many poor children a.t Tunbridge Wells. The Pentonvillo Salvationists are enthusiastic in praise of the publicans' kindness.

Cross-examining a constable, w'ho evidence against two women at the Guwhall, (the defending solicitor asked "Have you made inquiries aa to who the husbands' and wives of itihese women are?" Mrs. Glad more, who was born at Wimbledon, and has lived there for neany sixty yearst has just travelled to London for the tuvsit time in her life.

— I. MELLIN'S ..40 IIIU- FOOD j iccs the troubles and dangers of infantile ailments, OP /I:. Samplt Frew on application to FOOD, I:td.. PECKHAM. LONDON. ¡,I

NEWS OF THE WEEK IN BRIEF. The Queen, accompanied by all the members ex the huyal Family now in bcotland, attended service on Sunday at Crathie Church. The Prince of Wales returned to Abergeldie on Saturday, having concluded his visit to The Mackintosh of Mackintosh at Moy Lodge. Trcgedies and Disasters. Clearing out a beer tun at Cork, two men were overcome with the fumes. They lie in a pre- carious condition. Falling out of the train, on Monday, while on the way to Yarmouth, the four-year-old son of Mr. Ed. Williams, of Kiiburn, was killed near Thorney. _AT> an inquest held OIL Monday at Netherton, near Dudley, it was shown that a boy named Bertie Holloway had died from burns sustained through failing on a bonfire made by lads on a piece of waste land. While cycling near Hastings, Frederick Mewen, a groom, who had been through the siege ot Laelyoinith, collided -with a young man on the road, and, being thrown off his machine, fractured his akull. He died in hospital on Sun- day. Accidents and Offences. Knocked down by. an electric tramway-car at Nottingham on Saturday, Joseph Caiman, a miner, was so seriously injured on the head that he died at the hospital two hours later. The news that he had come into a legacy greatly excited George Huckham, a timber tsalesman, living in Peckham, and be died sud- denly at his work the day before he had ar- ranged to draw the money. Running over an elderly man named Lewis King near Pontypool, an unknown lady cyclist rode off without waiting to see if the man was injured. King died on the following day, and the police are endeavouring to discover who the lady is. Cases in the Courts. For driving after dark without an offside light, a inctor-car owner was on. Monday fined by the Bromley (Kent) magistrates. The defendant was under the impression that his one large centre light was sufficient. Several motorists charged with driving to the public danger appeared before the Oakham magistrates on Monday, one being fined £ 20 for travelling at the alleged rate of forty miles in hour. The total fines amounted to about A remarkable case of supposed witchcraft was brought to light at Taunton, where a grotesquely attired woman was charged with threatening to stab another woman. After 'being examined by a doctor she was removed to an asylum. He never does any work, except going out with a tin whistle with an unemployed' pro- cession," said Mrs. Blane, a-ccused at North London of assaulting her husband. She was bound over, the chairman remarking that she could leave her husband if she desired to. The summonses against Jacob Popp, tobacco- nist, and his assistant, at High Wycombe, for trading against the Lord's Day Observance Act of Charles II., now reach a total of nearly 200. For the last two offences, on Saturday defen- dant was fined the proverbial half-crown and a crown costs. A man, named Bell (ordered a month's hard labour at Worship-street on Saturday) seized a pedestrian on Rosemary Branch Bridge, and stole some money out of his pockets, but a crowd of factory girls closed in and prevented the thief Z;i from escaping. The World of Sport, Two teams of ladies engaged in a cricket match on Saturday afternoon at Cumberland Lodge, the home of Prince and Princess Chris- tian, in Windsor Great Park. Only eight ridera competed for the one mile cycle championship of the London Centre at the Crystal Palace on Saturday. In that small field were the very pick of the metropolitan speed section, and, contrary to expectation, the final heat saw the defeat of the holder, H. D. Buck, by V. B. Casey and A. E. Wills, of the Putney. Naticna and Political. Mr. W. Moore, M.P., will be the Conservative candidate for North Antrim at the next general election. Sir H. Ca/m pbe 11 -Baniierman has written a. let- ter from Marienbad in support of the candidature .of Mr. John E. Sutherland" for the Elgin Burghs. Music and Drama. Mr. Tree opened the autumn season at His Majesty's Theatre with "Oliver Twist," in which the actor-manager appeared as Fagin. The play was well received. The Mermaid Theatre began its second season ,at the Great Queen-street Theatre with ''The Late Mr. Costello," by Mr. Sydney Grundy. Naval and Military. Nearly 40,000 Volunteers will take part in the Royal Review at Edinburgh on Septem- ber 18. The new armoured cruiser, Roxburgh, was (manned with a full lcr.env on Monday, at Chatham, and ordered to join the first cruiser squadron, replacing the Kent. The first day of the Army and Navy Boxing Championships at Aldershot produced many interesting bouts. There were 180 entries in the four classes. The new scheme for the reorganisation ;1 the cavalry of the Line is explained in the September Army Orders. The idea has been to give the cavalry an organisation which should be elastic, and unaffected by the dis- tribution of regiments at home and abroad. The battleship Dominion broke from her moorings in Portsmouth Harbour on Sunday, and damaged the gunboat Ant, the royal yacht Alberta, and a private yacht, before it drifted on to a mud bank. Four tugs were needed to tow the ship back to its old quarters. From Other Lands. An extensive colonisation scheme is already being carried out by the Japanese in Manchuria. Seven lives were lost in the wreck of the steamer Sevona on Lake Superior. A Mcscow physician is reported to have discovered a medicine possessing wonderful curative properties in cases of cancer. The situation at Baku is again extremely serious. Fierce conflicts are taking pla' between the Armenians and the 'Tartars, p:id the latter have attacked the troops. Grave low of life is already reported. Married to Mrs. McCredy, a wealthy widow, only last November, Mr. James B. Duke, the millionaire president of the Tcibaeco Trust, is now instituting proceedings for a divorce, and has named Mr. Frank Hunlon as the co-respon- dent.. a}1ü1 iieporiB from German East Africa enow tnas tjhe, situation is becoming more. critical. The revolt is extending over wide areas, and the handful of German troops is unable to cope with ilbd situation. Native sorcerers are reviving snake worship amongst the natives, and urging fthem to exterminate the Europeans. Serious floods have occurred in Shanghai and ,v. the eurroundin, count-, Many lives have been lost. 0 Owing to the spread of tae choiera epidemic an West Prussia and Galic-ia, a strict surveil- lance is being exercised in. 'the caee of Russian !lB. felt in Berlin to .the proximity of the disease. The Third Congress of Freethinkers was opened in Paris on Sunday. General. From Sheringharn. Grand Hotel on Monday over £ 100 in not and gold, besides other pro- rpertv, were stolen. William Pickard, while taking part in an angl- ing com'petifcion m the river Severn, near TV or- ceeter. had a fit, and, falling into the water, was drowned. f H <:> The Marcliioness^of Headfort WAS thrown from a moLar-car near Rsiia, county Meath, but es- caped uninjured. In hie will, Mr. Edward Childers, of Bath, bequeathed £ 600 to his servant, George Sher- win, and the residue of his estate, the total of which is valued at F,4493 to Mrs. Fernie, who had n his landlady for trwenty-four years. Weighing over half a ton, a porpoise was re- cently stranded at Filey, Yorkshire, and its car- tage had to be cut into four pieces before the coestguards could haul it up the cliff. A new motor (train service was inaugurated on Sunday 'between Brighton and Worthmg owipg to a stiibisicleiioe of the Carlton Colvilla swing-abridge, which prevented it being properly closed, traffic to Lowestoft on the Great Eastern R vilway on Saturday had to be diverted by way of Haddiscoe. The death has occurred at Totnes, Devon, of a farmer named Edwin Shinner, one of the oldest tenants of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. He died fat ithe farm where he spent fifty] years of wedded life. He was present at fifty-nine conse- cutive May fairs at Totnes. Two coaches attached to a train at Darling- ton "jumped the metals" on Saturday night, ibuit luckily the couplings held, and tthe occu- pants, a party of excursionists, escaped with a severe shaking. Owing to the large number of Kidderminster children who are suffering from defective eye- sight, the local Education Committee have taken steps to have the scholars' eyes periodically tested. Apparently the trouble is hereditary, many of the parents, who are engaged in carpet weaving, being similarly afflicted. Local GofcwMiment, The Local Government Board has issued in- structions with regard to the precautions to be ta.ken to prevent the introduction of cholera into this country.

I STRANGE MANUSCRIPT. I James Greening, journeyman upholsterer, a visitor to Chichester, has been missing since July. Among some papers he left at his lodgings is the following manuscript, headed iNlisfortanes If misfortunes have befallen you by your own misconduct, live and be wiser for the future; if they have befallen you by the faults of others, live —you have nothing wherewith to reproach your- self if your character be unjustly attacked, live, time will remove the aspersion if you have spite- ful enemies, live, and disappoint their malevolence if you have kind and faithful friends, live to bless them; if you hope for immortality, live and pre- pare to enjoy it." After this was written, 11 Will yod look to Jesus to make you straight—the Man who shall stop tho drift."

I DENMARK'S REMEDY I Denmark, from Septembers next, will apply tha persuasion of thell cat" to her hooligans. Anv persons between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five who is guilty of violent assault upon defenceless persons will have an opportunity of experiencing the deterrent effect of a sound thrashing. The law has been passed as tha result of a petition signed by many women.

) SPURIOUS CROWN PIECES. I For a long time spurious' crown pieces have been in circulation in Christiania, the police not being able to find the coiners. Recently they found a clue, which pointed to a doctor as the coiner. On his house being searched appliances for making money were found. The doctor asserted that he had simply been experimenting with coins, and that he had never put spurioiis money into circulation. An investigation, how- ever, proved the contrary. The doctor, who does not possess a practice has been forced to coining through poverty.

I DRIVEN INTO HIS BODY. I Mr. Heathcote. clerk of works at Browhead. Win- dermere, was riding down a steep hill from Trout- beck to the main road, when. in turning the corner at the bottom, he collided with a cart and the handle bar of his machine was driven into his body. He was carried into a house and medical aid was called, but there is little hope for his I recovery.

GIFT OF £ 100,000 FOP CHARITABLE PURPOSES. I Mr. Edgar Speyer announces that lie has been entrusted by Mr. E. G. Bawden, of the Stock Exchange and Clapton, with a sum of about £ 1.0-0,000, to be applied for purposes of charity and benevolence. Mr. Speyer has decided, with Mr. Bawden's concurrence, to apportion this sum, in the form of capital to be vested in trustees and known in each care ac, the Bawden Fund, among a variety of objects, as follows £ 16,000 to com- plete the £ 200,000 for the incorporation of University College in the University of London, £ 8,000 to the Charity Organisation Society, Y-2,1000 to the Whitechapel Art Gallery, £1,000 to the Swanley Horticultural College, £ 10,000 to the East-end Emigration Fund, £ 2,000 to the United British Women's Emigration Associa- tion, C,5,000 to King Edward's Hospital Fund, £ 26,500 to various London hospitals, £ 10,000 to the Children's Country Holiday Fund, £ 2,000 to the Women's Holiday Fund, £ 2,000 to the Factory Girls' Holiday Fund, zzlo,ooo among seven convalescent and other homes, and £ 10,500 among six institutions for homeless and crippled children.

I DISTRESS AT WEST HAM. j I Four thousand men have placed their names on the unemployed register at West Ham, and there are signs that the troubles of the unemployed in this iand other districts is rapidily growing more and more a,cute. All over the metropolis the needs of those without work are becoming pa.infuj.ly apparent. At Lewishain and Catford the first sitting of the committee has produced 150 names. Distrens i3 increasing in Poplar, Tottenham, Edmonton, and Woolwich. Marylebone, PRddington, and Lambeth are considering starting unemployed I t registers. Labour leaders estimate that there will be ( between, forty and fifty thousand unemployed :n I London by the end of the year, and in m-ny parts of the provinces the state of affairs is nearly as bad- In "West Ham 100 men are threatening to demand admittance to the workhouse in a body, and the workhouse is already overcrowded. I {

ONLY TWO ALIVE. I Although she has been the mother of twenty. two children, Mrs. Bridget Little, the wife of a labourer of Heaton Isorris, admitted to tha coroner there that only two are alive. The youngest died a few days ago, and the jury returned a verdict to the effect that it had been accidentally smothered. The woman said she never had a cot, and had to sell her cradji some time ago when her husband vaB out of work. She ia forty-one years old. "What would have become of them if they had lived?" said the father. "One-half would have eaten the other half up."

MR. J. BURNS AND THE BIRTH RATE. Mr. John Burns declares that a slightly reduced birth rate may be a blessing and not an evil, the result being a net gain in tha numbers and quality of those children who survive. Far more important than securing higher birth rate is the duty of diminishing the heavy infant death rate-heavier where women do men's work. For this end,, and, to secure a physically and! mentally stronger people, better conditions of life are needed—sobriety, better housing, higher wages, a redistvibutioa of wealth, fresh air, good food, reasonable work, and no wars.

BOYS IMPISH TRICK. While approaching Kimberley, near Nottinham, the engine-driver of a Great Northern train noticed a boy lying across the rails. The whistla was blown and the brakes were applied, and when ,the train was pulled up a few yards from the boy ,the latter jumped up and ran away. A number of his companions, who were playing on the side of the line, then threw stones at the driver. The sequel to these foolish escapades was the appearance of James Clifton, Harry Goss, Walter Beeson, and Samuel Oldknowe at Nottingham Police Court on Saturday, when they were each fined half a crown.