adhered to their recognition of the prisoner as the person whom they had seen, while other witnesses were not nearly so strong on the score of identification.

A housemaid at the Royal Hotel, Ramsgate, testified to the request of the prisoner, after his return from London, three or four days after Christmas, for some turpentine and a clothes-brush, and to the fact that a great deal of turpentine was used; while a laundress deposed that, out of a number of handkerchiefs given to her to wash for Dr. Hessel, six or seven were stained, and one was completely saturated with blood.

For the defence an alibi was set up and established to the satisfaction of the magistrate, Mr. Vaughan; Whollebe, Hessel's companion, being the principal witness to prove that he had never left his hotel on the night of the murder. After he and others had been examined, Mr. Vaughan said, "To my mind it has been conclusively shown that Dr. Hessel was not the companion of the murdered woman on that evening. The evidence of the witnesses for the prosecution examined at the court at first undoubtedly pointed to Dr. Hessel as having been in the company of that unfortunate woman, and therefore the police were perfectly justified in taking the course they did. This case has been most fully investigated here, and the witnesses on both sides have been subjected to a close and searching cross-examination, and I am satisfied that the witnesses who have spoken to the identity of Dr. Hessel are entirely in error. But, even supposing that their evidence had been stronger and free from discrepancies, I should have considered that the case on the part of the prosecution had been entirely destroyed by the evidence of the witnesses for the defence. It is therefore my duty, and a duty which I discharge with great satisfaction to myself, to state that the prisoner is released, and, as far as I can see, I can say that he leaves this court without suspicion."

Dr. Hessel was indemnified for his sufferings by a very large subscription.

31. THE STRIKE IN SOUTH WALES continues. An attempt made, by a proposal of Mr. Brogden, M.P., to bring about a settlement of this dispute, which has stopped the work and wages of 70,000 persons in the collieries and iron furnaces of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, meets with greater opposition than was foreseen, as the plan of "the double shift," which would admit of an economy in management that might allow the masters to continue the late scale of wages, is disliked by a large part of the colliers, and more especially by those employed in the steam-coal district, who, though not yet on strike, are the main support of the union. An opinion seems to prevail among these men that it is for their interest, as a class, to limit the amount of coal produced from the collieries by a given number of hands, and this notion has prejudiced them against the system of the double shift, which proves satisfactory where tried in the north of England. The men in the iron-works, far more numerous than the colliers, are unable to get to work again while

B

the latter refuse to supply coal for the blasting of the iron ore. Severe distress begins first to be felt among those classes of labourers who are least responsible for the strike, and who are connected with no trade union. One of their miseries is the want of fuel for household use, as their wives and children can no longer get their baskets filled at the pit's mouth for a few pence; but there is also much want of food, and a free soup-kitchen has now been established at Merthyr Tydvil by a charitable committee, with the Marquis of Bute at its head. The clothes and furniture of many poor families, whose cottages were respectable and comfortable a few weeks ago, must soon be carried to the pawn-shop. The money of those who had deposits in the savings' banks is already gone. It is said by those best acquainted with the district that the vice of drunkenness was terribly common, as shown by the statistics of convictions in the local magistrates' courts.

FEBRUARY.

1. TERRIBLE GALES.-A storm which recent observations at the Meteorological Office showed was coming, reached the southern part of this country this (Saturday) evening. The wind then began to rise, and during the night it blew a hurricane. This moderated towards daylight on Sunday morning, and then came a heavy fall of snow, which by night covered the streets of London to the depth of several inches. In some places where the snow was drifted by the wind it was more than a foot deep. The wind blew keenly during the day from the north-east, and the thermometer standing from four to six degrees below freezing-point, the snow remained firmly on the ground.

From all parts of the country reports are sent as to the gale and snowstorm. On some of our coasts great damage has been done to the shipping.

Mount's Bay, Cornwall, presented a dreadful scene on Sunday, and there was a tremendous sea. A French vessel, "La Marie Emilie," of Lorient, went ashore, and the sea rolled over her. The "Richard Lewis" lifeboat proceeded to the wreck, but was twice driven back by the heavy rollers, and had seven of her oars broken. Still her crew persevered, notwithstanding that the boat was actually hurled by the rollers twice on the wreck itself. On the third attempt she succeeded in saving the whole of the shipwrecked Frenchmen. Mr. Blackmore, the chief officer of the coastguard, particularly distinguished himself on board the lifeboat.

From Falmouth we learn that during a gale on Saturday night a steamer, "Clan Alpine," belonging to the River Baramo Steamship Company, went ashore at the Blackhead. There was a tre

mendous sea running at the time, and she went to pieces almost immediately. The rain fell in torrents at the time, and the force of the wind is described as fearful. Eighteen of the crew were saved, but Captain Nelson, Captain Burnett, the company's overlooker, as well as the first officer, chief steward, cook, and others, amounting in all to thirteen, perished.

During the early part of Saturday night a portion of the sea-wall near Penzance was blown down, and about eighty yards of the road between Penzance and Newlyn were washed away.

Late on Saturday night the schooner "Sarah," of Runcorn, was sighted in distress off Balbriggan. The Skerries lifeboat proceeded to her assistance with a crew of coastguards and fishermen, numbering eleven hands. The lifeboat, however, capsized, and seven out of the eleven men were drowned. The lifeboat was lost, and the schooner was dashed almost to pieces on the Carrabates rocks. The crew, numbering seven hands, were lost.

sea.

On Sunday morning the schooners "Rambler " and " Mary Ann," and the brig" Francis," all of which had brought up in St. Ives Bay on Saturday night, drove ashore near the harbour. A strong gale from the E.N.E. was blowing at the time, accompanied by a heavy After great trouble, on account of its being dead low water, the lifeboat "Covent Garden," belonging to the Lifeboat Society, was launched, and proceeded to the wreck. The first time the boat was driven ashore at Porthminster Beach. At once another volunteer crew mustered, and the boat was again launched. That time she was successful in saving the crew of five men of the schooner " Mary Ann," together with another man who had been washed from the other schooner. Two of the crew of the "Rambler" were washed overboard and drowned before the boat could reach the vessel. The lifeboat, however, succeeded in rescuing the remaining man. It then returned to the shore, where a third crew was organized, and they made a gallant but unsuccessful attempt to rescue the brig's crew. The boat was driven ashore by the force of the wind and sea. The men in her were quite exhausted, and a fourth crew was obtained, there being fortunately a sufficient number of men at hand. The lifeboat, though with great difficulty, being once more launched, was then enabled to save the six men on board the brig, making altogether thirteen lives she had saved in these most gallant services. Murphy, the coxswain, deserves great praise, for he was in the boat on all the four occasions. When the lifeboat failed, in the first instance, a message was despatched to Hayle, the adjoining station, for the institution's lifeboat " Isis," and in three quarters of an hour from the receipt of the message that boat was got to St. Ives, by which time, however, she was not needed, the other lifeboat there having rendered the required service.

FREE OPENING OF KEW BRIDGE. The well-known stone bridge of seven arches over the Thames at Kew, which was built above eighty years ago, is now open to all passengers free of toll. The opening ceremony took place to-day. It was attended by the

Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, and by Colonel Hogg, M.P., official chairman of the Metropolitan Board of Works. This bridge was private property, vested in trustees, and is the fourth bridge across the upper district of the Thames that has been emancipated within the last few years, mainly by the application of the coal and wine dues of the City of London and the metropolis; the trustees in this case receiving, by way of compensation, 57,3007. Kingston Bridge was the first that was freed from toll, in March, 1870, when the venerable Lord St. Leonards, then in his ninetieth year, rode on horseback in the procession, as High Steward of the manor of Kingston. Since then the bridges at Walton and Staines have been emancipated, and it now only remains to free the bridge at Hampton to complete the work in the upper part of the Thames. The watchword in the surrounding districts has of late been "Free bridges for a free people," which on Saturday was displayed on banners. By a bill introduced by the Government in May, 1868, it was originally intended to continue the coal and wine duties until 1889 for the purposes of the Thames Embankment and certain City improvements; but that being strenuously opposed by the inhabitants of districts bordering upon the Thames, as the bill then stood, a clause was inserted to the effect that the duties should be applied in the first instance to the freeing from toll the five bridges of Kew, Kingston, Hampton Court, Walton, and Staines.

Before the ceremony to day there was a procession of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, in their state carriages, from the Gunnersbury station into the village of Kew. The line of route was filled with people, and the windows on both sides were crowded. The approaches to the bridge were spanned by triumphal arches, composed of evergreens, and banners floated from both sides throughout the entire length. On the Lord Mayor and Colonel Hogg, with the Sheriff's, arriving at the northern entrance to the bridge, they alighted, and were received by Mr. Mason, chairman of the trustees. Advancing towards them, Mr. Mason handed the Lord Mayor a finely-worked mediæval key, highly polished, and ornamented with masonic emblems. The Lord Mayor asked Mr. Mason if he and his co-trustees had received the purchase-money for the bridge, 57,3007. A reply having been given in the affirmative, the Lord Mayor, amid rounds of cheering and booming of cannon, unlocked the gate. The firemen rushed forward, and, raising the gate from its hinges, bore it in triumph to a brewer's dray, decked with evergreens and flowers, and drawn by a pair of white horses, driven by a man in a red cap. The firemen having mounted the dray, which became a conspicuous object in the pageant, the journey was continued along the bridge, amid salvos of artillery, and round Kew-green, returning eventually by the bridge to the "Star and Garter," at the north end, where a luncheon awaited the chief persons who had taken part in the cere

mony.

10. DR. HESSEL.-To-day, at the German Consulate-General, Dr. Hessel was presented with the testimonial raised to compensate

him, so far as such means can avail, for his connexion with the Great Coram-street tragedy. The funds collected in other quarters, and through the medium of the Daily Telegraph, amounted to 12257. 11s. 8d., and the proceedings culminated in a touching request by Dr. Hessel that 2007. of the money, along with a handsome silver cup, which formed part of the testimonial, should be sent to his sorely-afflicted father in Germany. The cup, which is of classic form and design, bears the inscription-" To Dr. Gottfried Hessel: a token of English sympathy and respect. London, January 30, 1873." The date is that of Dr. Hessel's release from detention.

The Queen contributed 307. to this testimony of national feeling as a token of her Majesty's individual regret. Thus consoled, Dr. Hessel was entertained in the evening by the German Gymnastic Society.

18. TERRIBLE COLLIERY EXPLOSION.-On this (Tuesday) after, noon a fearful explosion, resulting in serious loss of life, took place in the colliery known as Talk-o'-the-Hill, a pit situated about four miles from Tunstall and one mile from Harecastle station. The scene of the present disaster is one that is already well known in the annals of colliery catastrophes. At the Talk-o'-the-Hill Colliery occurred, on the 13th December, 1866, an explosion which occasioned the loss of no less than eighty lives. It appears that the explosion occurred in the eight-feet seam, where twenty men were working. What caused it has not yet been ascertained. There is a conjecture, however, that the firing of a shot was the destructive agent. None of the unfortunate miners escaped. Efforts were immediately made to recover the bodies, but without the slightest success. It appears, indeed, to have been quite impossible to get to the workings, the roadways and supports having been destroyed by the explosion, and blocked the passage. A portion of the works took fire in consequence of the explosion, and only with difficulty, and after the lapse of considerable time, were the flames extinguished. The men who went down the pit were quite unable to remain in it long, on account of the after-damp. At the pit mouth there was, as may be supposed, a very distressing scene. It appears that a number of workmen engaged in the seven-feet seam at the time of the explosion were affected by it, but did not suffer seriously,

Up to four o'clock on Wednesday but fourteen bodies had been recovered, the state of the pit rendering it impossible for the present to penetrate to the places where the others are thought to be buried, The first that were found lay in a group. One hundred men have been busy exploring the workings under the direction of Mr, Hunter and several mining engineers connected with the collieries in the locality. Several slight explosions have occurred, but they have not been attended with serious results. The work of clearing away the débris has being going on without intermission since the accident occurred, and the obstructions are being removed as rapidly as possible. The bodies brought up are fearfully burnt, and some of them much mutilated. So disfigured, indeed, are three of the