Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham Part 25

being at that time reduced to 1d. In politics it was Liberal, and a staunch supporter of the Dissenters, who only supported it for about two years.

_Radical Times_.--Came into existence Sept. 30, 1876, but being too rabidly Radical, even for "the 600," whose leading-strings it s.h.i.+rked, it did not thrive for long.

_Register or Entertaining Museum_.--With the prefix of the town's name, this monthly periodical lived one year from May 10, 1764. This was one of the earliest London-printed country papers, the only local portion being the outside pages, so that it suited for a number of places.

_Reporter and Review_.--Princ.i.p.ally devoted to the doings on the local stage, and published for a brief period during June, &c., 1823.

_Sat.u.r.day Evening Post_.--A weekly "make-up" from the _Daily Post_ (with a few distinctive features) and came into being with that paper; price 1-1/2d. Originally issued at noon on Sat.u.r.day, but latterly it has appeared simultaneous with the _Daily_, and is known as the _Weekly Post_, its price lately having been reduced to 1d.

_Sat.u.r.day Night_.--First published, Sept. 30, 1882.

_Sat.u.r.day's Register_.--Another of George Edmunds' political papers, which appeared for a few months in 1820.

_Spectator_.--A literary and dramatic monthly, of which seven parts were published in 1824.

_Sunday Echo_.--First number came out May 21, 1882.

_Sunday Express_.--Started August, 1884, and died August, 1885.

_Sunday Telegram_.--Started May, 1883.

_Sunrise_.--Rose Nov. 18, 1882, at the price of one-halfpenny, and lasted a few weeks only.

_Tattler_.--April 1817 saw the first appearance of this t.i.ttle-tattle-tale-telling monthly tease to all lovers of theatrical order, and August saw the last.

_Theatrical Argus_.--Of May and following months of 1830. A two-penny-worth of hotch-potch, princ.i.p.ally scandal.

_Theatrical John Bull_.--Published in May, 1824, lasting for the season only.

_Theatrical Note Book_.--Rival to above in June, 1824, and going off the stage same time.

_Town Crier_.--This respectable specimen of a local comic appeared first in September, 1861, and it deserves a long life, if only for keeping clear of scandal and scurrility.

_Warwick and Staffords.h.i.+re Journal_.--Though printed here, the town was not thought capable of filling its columns; a little experience showed the two counties to be as bad, and subscribers were tempted to buy by the issue of an Ill.u.s.trated Bible and Prayer Book sent out in parts with the paper. The first No. was that of Aug. 20, 1737, and it continued till the end of Revelations, a large number of copperplate engravings being given with the Bible, though the price of the paper was but 2d.

_Weekly Mercury_.--Commenced November, 1884.

_Weekly News_.--A weak attempt at a weekly paper, lasted from May to September, 1882.

~Newsrooms.~--The first to open a newsroom were Messrs. Thomson and Wrightson, booksellers, who on Aug. 22, 1807, admitted the public to its tables. In 1825 a handsome newsroom was erected in Bennett's Hill, the site of which was sold in 1858 for the County Court, previous to its removal to Waterloo Street.

~New Street~ once called "Beast Market." was in Hutton's time approached from High Street through an archway, the rooms over being in his occupation. In 1817 there were several walled-in gardens on the Bennett's Hill side of the street, and it is on record that one house at least was let at the low rent of 5s. 6d. per week. The old "Grapes"

public-house was pulled down just after the Queen's visit, being the last of the houses removed on account of the railway station. Though it has long been the princ.i.p.al business street of the town, New street was at one time devoted to the ign.o.ble purposes of a beast market, and where the fair ladies of to-day lightly tread the flags when on shopping bent, the swine did wait the butcher's knife. New Street is 561 yards in length; between Temple Street and Bennett's Hill it is 46-1/2 feet wide, and near Worcester Street 65 ft. 4 in. wide.

~Nonconformists.~--The so-called Act of Uniformity of 1602 deprived nearly 2,000 of the clergy of their livings, and a few of them came to Birmingham as a place of refuge, ministering among the Dissenters, who then had no buildings for regular wors.h.i.+p. There were many doc.u.ments in the lost Staunton Collection relating to some of these clergymen, who, however, did not find altogether comfortable quarters even here, one George Long, M.D., who had fled from his persecutors in Staffords.h.i.+re, finding no peace in Birmingham, removed to Ireland; others, though they came here by stealth to minister, had to reside in country parts. A Central Nonconformist Committee was formed here March 3, 1870.

~Nonjurors.~--Among the name of the Roman Catholics, or "Non-jurors,"

who refused to take the oath of allegiance to George I., appeared that of John Stych, of Birmingham, whose forfeited estate was, in 1715, valued at 12.

~Northfield.~--Four and a-half miles from Birmingham. There was a Church here at the time of the Norman survey, and some traces of its Saxon origin, students of architecture said, could once be found in the ancient doorway on the north side of the building. Some forty years ago the psalmody of the congregation and choir received a.s.sistance from the mellifluous strains ground out of a barrel organ, which instrument is still preserved as a curiosity by a gentleman of the neighbourhood. They had an indelible way at one time of recording local proceedings in matters connected with the Church here. The inscriptions on the six bells cast in 1730 being:--

Treble.--We are now six, though once but five, 2nd.--Though against our casting some did strive, 3rd.--But when a day for meeting they did fix, 4th.--There appeared but nine against twenty-six.

5th.--Samuel Palmer and Thomas Silk Churchwardens.

Tenor.--Thomas Kettle and William Jervoise did contrive To make us six that were but five.

~Notable Offences.~--In olden days very heavy punishments were dealt out for what we now think but secondary offences, three men being sentenced to death at the a.s.sizes, held March 31, 1742, one Anstey for burglary, Townsend for sheep-stealing, and Wilmot for highway robbery. The laws also took cognisance of what to us are strange crimes, a woman in 1790 being imprisoned here for selling almanacks without the Government stamp on them; sundry tradesmen also being heavily fined for dealing in covered b.u.t.tons. The following are a few other notable olfences that have been chronicled for reference:--

_Bigamy_.--The Rev. Thomas Morris Hughes was, Nov. 15, 1883, sentenced to seven years' penal servitude for this offence. He had been previously punished for making a false registration of the birth of a child, the mother of which was his own stepdaughter.

_Burglary_.--On Christmas eve, 1800, five men broke into the counting-house at Soho, stealing therefrom 150 guineas and a lot of silver, but Matthew Boulton captured four of them, who were transported.--The National School at Handsworth, was broken into and robbed for the fifth time Sept. 5, 1827.--A warehouse in Bradford Street was robbed Jan. 9, 1856, of an iron safe, weighing nearly 4cwt., and containing 140 in cash.--A burglary was committed in the Ball Ring, July 5, 1862, for which seven persons were convicted.

_Coining_.--Booth, the noted coiner and forger, was captured at Perry Barr, March 28, 1812, his house being surrounded by constables and soldiers. In addition to a number of forged notes and 600 in counterfeit silver, the captors found 200 guineas in gold and nearly 3,000 in good notes, but they did not save Booth Irom being hanged.

Booth had many hidingplaces for his peculiar productions, parcels of spurious coins having several times been found in hedgerow banks and elsewhere; the latest find (in April, 1884) consisted of engraved copper-plates for Bank of England 1 and 2 notes.--There have been hundreds of coiners punished since his day. The latest trick is getting really good dies for sovereigns, for which Ingram Belborough, an old man of three score and six, got seven years' penal servitude, Nov, 15 1883.

_Deserters_.--On 24 July, 1742, a soldier deserted from his regiment in this town. Followed, and resisting, he was shot at Tettenhall Wood.--A sergeant of the Coldstream Guards was shot here while trying to capture a deserter, September 13, 1796.

_Dynamite making_.--One of the most serious offences committed in Birmingham was discovered when Alfred Whitehead was arrested April 5, 1883, on the charge of manufacturing nitroglycerine, or dynamite, at 128, Ledsam Street. Whitehead was one of the Irish-American or American-Irish party of the Land Leaguers or Home Rulers, who entertain the idea that by committing horrible outrages in England. they will succeed in making Ireland "free from the galling yoke of Saxon tyranny"

and every Irishman independent of everybody and everything everywhere.

Well supplied with funds from New York, Whitehead quietly arranged his little manufactory, buying glycerine from one firm and nitric and sulphuric acids from others, certain members of the conspiracy coming from London to take away the stuff when it was completely mixed. The deliveries of the peculiar ingredients attracted the attention of Mr.

Gilbert Pritchard, whose chemical knowledge led him to guess what they were required for; he informed his friend, Sergeant Price, of his suspicions; Price and his superior officers made nightly visits to Ledsam Street, getting into the premises, and taking samples for examination; and on the morning named Whitehead's game was over, though not before he had been watched in sending off two lots of the dangerously explosive stuff to London. There was, however, no less than 200lbs weight found still on the premises. The men who carried it to London were quickly caught with the dynamite in their possession, and with Whitehead were brought to trial and each of them sentenced to penal servitude for life. The distribution of rewards in connection with the "dynamite outrages," so far as Birmingham people were concerned, was somewhat on a similar scale to that described by the old sailor, when he said "prize-money" was distributed through a ladder, all pa.s.sing through going to the officers, while any sticking to the wood was divided among the men. Mr. Farndale, the Chief of Police, was granted an addition to his salary of 100 per year; Inspector Black was promoted to the rank of Superintendent, adding 50 a year to his salary, and was presented with 100 from Government; Sergeant Price, became Inspector, with a rise of 41 12s. a year, and received a bonus of 200; Inspector Rees' salary was raised to two guineas a week, with a gift, of 50: while Mr.

Pritchard, to whom belonged the conspicuous service of having given the information which led the police to act, was rewarded (!) with 50, having lost his situation through his services to the public.

_Embezzlements_.--In 1871, W. Harrison, the Secretary of the Birmingham Gas Company, skedaddled, his books showing defalcations to the amount of 18,000. When the company was dissolved, 100 was left in a bank for Mr.

Secretary's prosecution, should he return to this country.--July 12, 1877, the secretary of the Moseley Skating Rink Company was awarded twelve months, and the secretary of the Butcher's Hide and Skin Company six months, for similar offences, but for small amounts.

_Forgeries_.--In the year 1800, seven men were hung at Warwick for forgery, and with them one for sheep-stealing. The manufacture of forged bank-notes was formerly quite a business here, and many cases are on record of the detection and punishment of the offenders.--June 28, 1879.

the Joint Stock Bank were losers of 2,130 through cas.h.i.+ng three forged cheques bearing the signature of W.C.B. Cave, the clever artist getting ten years--Nov. 15, 1883. John Alfred Burgan, manager of the Union Bank, for forging and uttering a certain order, and falsifying his books, the amounts embezzled reaching 9,000, was sentenced to fifteen years' penal servitude.--On the previous day Benjamin Robert Danks was similarly punished for forgeries on his employer, Mr. Jesse Herbert, barrister, who had been exceedingly kind to him--Zwingli Sargent, solicitor, was sentenced to five years' penal servitude, April 28, 1885, for forgery and misappropriating money belonging to clients.

_Fortunetelling_ is still far from being an uncommon offence, but "Methratton," the "Great Seer of England," _alias_ John Harewell, who, on March 28, 1883, was sentenced to nine months hard labour, must rank as being at the top of the peculiar profession. Though a "Great Seer" he could not foresee his own fate.

_Highwaymen_.--The "gentlemen of the road" took their tolls in a very free manner in the earlier coaching days, notwithstanding that the punishment dealt out was frequently that of death or, in mild cases, transportation for life. The Birmingham stage coach was stopped and robbed near Banbury, May 18, 1743, by two highwaymen, who, however, were captured same day, and were afterwards hung.--Mr. Wheeley, of Edgbaston, was stopped in a lane near his own house, and robhed of 20 guineas by a footpad, May 30, 1785.--An attempt to rob and murder Mr. Evans was made near Aston Park, July 25, 1789.--Henry Wolseley, Esq. (third son of Sir W. Wolseley, Bart.), was robbed by high-waymen near Erdington, Nov. 5, 1793.--Some highwaymen robbed a Mr. Benton of 90 near Aston Brook, April 6, 1797.--The coach from Sheffield was stopped by footpads near Aston Park, March 1, 1798, and the pa.s.sengers robbed.--The "Balloon"

coach was robbed of 8,000, Dec. 11, 1822, and the Warwick mail was robbed of no less than 20,000 in bank notes, Nov. 28. 1827.

_Horrible_.--The bodies of eleven children were found buried at back of 68, Long Acre, Nech.e.l.ls, where lived Ann Pinson, a midwife, who _said_ they were all still-born, July, 1878.

_Long Firms_.--A term applied to rogues, who, by pretending to be in business, procure goods by wholesale, and dispose of them fraudulently.

W.H. Stephenson, of this town, a great patron of these gentry, was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude, Nov. 22, 1877, for the part he had taken in one of these swindling transactions, according to account by far from being the first of the kind he had had a hand in.

_Next-of-Kin Frauds_.--Many good people imagine they are ent.i.tled to property now in other hands, or laid up in Chancery, and to accommodate their very natural desire to obtain information that would lead to their getting possession of same, a "Next-of-Kin Agency" was opened in Burlington Pa.s.sage at the beginning of 1882. The _modus operandi_ was of the simplest: the firm advertised that Brown, Jones, and Robinson were wanted; Brown, Jones, and Robinson turned up, and a good many of them; they paid the enquiry fees, and called again. They were a.s.sured (every man Jack of them) they were right owners, and all they had to do was to instruct the firm to recover. More fees, and heavy ones; the Court must be pet.i.tioned--more fees; counsel engaged--more fees; case entered for hearing--more fees, and so on, as long as the poor patients would stand bleeding. Several instances were known of people selling their goods to meet the harpies' demands; clergymen and widows, colliers and washer-women, all alike were in the net. It became too hot at last, and Rogers, Beeton and Co., were provided with berths in the gaol. At Manchester a.s.sizes July 18, 1882, J.S. Rogers got two years' hard labour, A. Mackenzie and J.H. Shakespear (a solicitor) each 21 months; and E.A. Beeton, after being in gaol six months, was ordered to stop a further twelve, the latter's conviction being from this town.

_Novel Thefts_.--A youth of nineteen helped himself to 128 from a safe at General Hospital, and spent 13 of it before the magistrates (Jan.

15, 1875) could give him six months' lodgings at the gaol.--Three policemen were sent to penal servitude for five years for thieving July 8, 1876.--Sept. 19, 1882, some labourers engaged in laying sewage pipes near Newton Street, Corporation Street, came across some telegraph cables, and under the impression that they were "dead" wires, hitched a horse thereto and succeeded in dragging out about a dozen yards of no less than 33 different cables connecting this town with Ireland, the Continent, and America. Their prize was sold for 4s. 6d., but the inconvenience caused was very serious. Henry Jones, who was tried for the trick, pleaded ignorance, and was let off.--At Quarter Sessions, Ernest Lotze, got six months for stealing, Dec. 12, 1892, from his employer 87lb. weight of human hair, valued at 300.

_Personal Outrages_.--Maria Ward was sentenced to penal servitude December 18, 1873, for mutilating her husband in a shocking manner.--At Warwick a.s.sizes, December 19, 1874, one man was sentenced to 15 years, and four others to 7 years' penal servitude for outraging a woman in Shadwell Street.--George Moriarty, plasterer, pushed his wife through the chamber window, and on her clinging to the ledge beat her hands with a hammer till she fell and broke her leg, May 31, 1875. It was three months before she could appear against him, and he had then to wait three months for his trial, which resulted in a twenty years' sentence.

_Sacrilege_.--In 1583 St. Martin's Church was robbed of velvet "paul cloathes," and also some money belonging to the Grammar School.-- Handsworth Church was robbed of its sacramental plate, February 10, 1784; and Aston Church was similarly despoiled, April 21, 1788.--A gross sacrilege was commuted in Edgbaston Church, December 15, 1816.--Four Churches were broken into on the night of January 3, 1873.