August 1875 News – Fire, Theft and Struck by Lightning
Headline News
Fire in Derry – The Londonderry Journal 11th August 1875
Following reports of a fire in the hardware premises of John Cooke & Co in Waterloo Place, Head Constable O’Connell and a number of his men hastened to the scene from Shipquay Street.
It was thought that no-one slept on the premises and that the key holder was some distance from the scene. Accordingly, on the arrival of the Corporation and West of England engines, the door of the building was forced open to allow those attending to tackle the flames and contain the fire to the ground floor. Luckily there was “a plentiful supply of water, which was thrown unceasingly on the flames“.
One moment of panic was caused when gas pipes on the premises melted and the fire intensified substantially. Ultimately, the fire was extinguished after 90 minutes of frantic activity. No injuries were reported though the contents of the shop were destroyed with “several of the articles having been melted down into shapeless masses“. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Robbery in Enniskillen – The Londonderry Journal 27th August 1875
The Londonderry Journal 27th August 1875, covered “One of the coolest robberies that have ever come under my notice was committed on Tuesday morning sometime between the hours of two and five o’clock a.m. at the premises of Messrs. P. and J. Maguire.” These gentlemen own a large wholesale and retail draper on Enniskillen’s main street.
Around 6am a domestic servant starting her daily shift noticed a long ladder leaning next to a window in the warehouse. She promptly informed the proprietors who hurried down to the shop and found that thieves had apparently entered by the ladders and casually exited through the front doors with their ill-gotten gains.
Initially it was thought that little had been taken however shop assistants commencing their work soon reported that stock had been taken from each of their departments.
The Royal Irish Constabulary were informed of the robbery and shortly after “a couple of active and intelligent officers of the force appeared on the scene, and having taken in the situation, set out on a voyage of discovery”.
To the rear of the drapery premises there was a large house that had been untenanted for a considerable time. The report notes that “From information they received (its wonderful what a lot of information these gentlemen get) the constables paid this building a visit”.
On entering one of the rooms the constables discovered
“two nymphs who have lately been leading a sort of nomadic life in this neighbourhood, luxuriously reclining, like oriental maidens, on cashmeres, velvets, shawls, rugs, and articles of a similar soft and comfortable nature.
The officers rather ungallantly disturbed the peaceful repose of the young ladies, and took both them and their trappings in tow. It struck one of the gentlemen, when under weigh, that some of the boards of the room appeared a little loose, and being of a rather inquiring turn of mind, he determined on lifting them, when his curiosity was rewarded by the discovery of an extensive and select stock of drapery goods, amounting in value to upwards of £100.
Messrs. Maguire confirmed that the drapery items had been taken from their premises.
Later that day a local youth was arrested on suspicion of being an accomplice in the burglary. The trio were brought before Justice of the Peace, Mr Smith, who remanded the prisoners to next Petty Sessions Court. The report concluded that “The police certainly deserve much credit, as they had the whole affair ferreted out and the booty secured in about an hour after they got the first intimation”.
A New Explosive at Bangor – Belfast Morning News 2nd August 1875
Unwary residents of Bangor, County Down (‘a retiring little watering nook‘) were startled by a series of loud detonations on Saturday Evening. While most of the residents, and the majority of visitors, were fully aware of the planned explosions they still delivered a considerable shock among “stragglers not a few, philandering valetudinarians and others, considerably shocked by the re-echoing bruits“. ( Dictionary time! 😊)
Inquiring about the cause of the noise they were informed that “Mr. Thomas Dineen, P.R.G.S., of the firm of Dineen, Son, & Co., 6, College Street, Belfast, had undertaken to perform a series of interesting experiments along the rocky shore with the new explosive known as the patent cotton gunpowder“.
A large number of Belfast visitors had travelled to Bangor to witness this unusual event aboard the twelve o’clock and three o’clock steamers. They and the curious locals were certainly not disappointed.
Commencing the proceedings, on entering the harbour, Mr. Dineen threw a cartridge from the steamer into the water. This exploded with the sound of thunder forcing a giant column of water into the air startling those Bangor residents oblivious to that evening’s entertainment. The sizeable crowd of onlookers, gathered near Pickie Rock, gathered to hear Mr. Dineen “briefly, but lucidly and intelligibly, explained the nature and effect of the patent invention”
Gentlemen, this is a new explosive now largely used for blasting in quarries, for well, shaft, and tunnel sinking, making of railways, as well as by landowners for clearing land of old tree stumps and boulder stones, for which purpose it is specially adapted. It has been introduced into this country by myself a few months ago from England, where it is largely used.
We claim for this powder properties which we believe no other blasting powder possesses We believe it to be without exception the safest, strongest, and most useful blasting-powder known. It is manufactured in Faversham, in Kent, from cotton mixed with chemicals which have no means of ignition in themselves when combined. The patent cotton gunpowder, on the contrary, is perfectly safe, which I will show you presently, and does not explode, except when a cap or detonator specially provided for it is inserted with a lighted fuse attached.
He went on to detail the growing demand for this explosive in England due to its safety and ease of transport as it contains no nitro-glycerine nor dangerous compounds of any kind. On exploding there is no smell, no smoke, no poisonous fumes. In short, its use is “so simple that an ordinary labourer can use it, after three minutes instructions.”
To underline his point, Mr. Dineen cut a cartridge (it is supplied in cartridges) into 3 parts.
The first he lit with a match and held it aloft to demonstrate that it would not explode when subject to flames. He inserted a piece of fuse containing gunpowder into the second part, lit it and showed it blazing away without exploding. The third part with cap and fuse inserted was demonstrated to shatter a number of large rocks, to the amusement of all attending.
A further demonstration, detonating the explosive under a small vessel placed on the sand, saw a shower of timber fragments thrust high into the air. The crowd cheered wildly.
A series of further detonations drew much applause from spectators although plans to demonstrate the explosives to shatter a rock “obstructing the bathing-place opposite Mr. Glenn’s house” was cancelled due to heavy seas. (Mr Glenn’s reaction to this is not recorded).
The explosive spectacular successfully entertained the audience. Mr. Dineen concluded, reporting that he was now appointed sole agent for Ireland for this cotton compound.
Limerick Railway Explosion – The Londonderry Journal 23rd August 1875
A serious railway accident was reported on the Limerick Line as a train was leaving Ennis. The train consisted of one composite carriage, two third-class carriages, a guard’s van and two trucks containing pigs. The train had progressed without incident until, within some 200 yards of the large bridge spanning the Shannon, “a tyre of the front driving wheel suddenly snapped, and in a few seconds the locomotive and all the carriages had been off the rails“.
Those in charge of the engine applied the breaks and turned off the steam but the train barely slowed in its journey off the rails. Just yards from the runaway train ran an embankment containing a river, 20ft-30ft deep. This seemed their likely destination.
The locomotive dragged the carriages on for about a hundred and sixty yards, until about fifty paces from the bridge, when it ran down an incline of 18 feet, but providentially without pulling any of the carriages off the roadway. The coupling, connecting the locomotive, broke, while the bar, connecting the coal tender with the locomotive, was twirled about in the most fantastic form. The truck next the engine had three of the wheels knocked off, and the timber stove in in all directions.
Amazingly none of the passengers were injured though all were badly shaken. Several of the pigs were injured with one pig not surviving the crash. Broken wheels, coupling, and debris, were scattered about in all directions.
A large team of workmen set to work immediately, clearing the debris and restoring the rails with the expectation that the line would re-open later that same day.
News From the Courts
BELFAST PETTY SESSIONS – Belfast Morning News 9th August 1875
DRUNK and DISORDERLY
An old woman named Ann McLean was convicted of being drunk and disorderly in York Street on Friday. She had 70 previous convictions against her for similar offences. She was ordered to find solvent bail for her future good behaviour, or in default to be imprisoned for three months.
DRUNK IN CHARGE OF HORSES AND CARTS
James Semple, farmer, was put forward on a charge of being drunk while having a horse and cart under his care on the previous day in Carrick Hill. He was fined 20s and costs.
Another farmer named Spiers was fined 40s and costs for a like offence on the Antrim Road.
Opinion/ Correspondence
The Pace that Kills – The Londonderry Journal 16th August 1875
On the 16th August 1875 the Londonderry Journal published this commentary (abbreviated but with the substance unchanged) on the lessons that wives should learned from married life:
In taking unto himself a wife, in marrying that lovely and simple creature whose beauty and whose virtues swiftly filled the one corner in his heart still unhardened by competition, the man has taken unto himself a conspirator with the pace that kills. It was quite true; she was young, she was lovely, she was virtuous, and she was simple-and she is all four still. But she is a woman. She is born with an instinct for the good things of life.
The advocates of Women’s Rights will tell me it is so because we shut them out from all the active and other competition of life; and that therefore they must compete with each other at home, in their houses, in, their dress, in their carriages and horses, in their style of living, and the rest of it.
They love their husbands. Verily they do; and a vast deal better, I dare say, than most of these deserve to be loved! Of course women are not material in the rude sense that men are material.
Men care for dinners, women for dinner-giving. A man wants a good dinner, not necessarily handsome to look at, but good to taste, every day of the week. A woman wants a banquet, once a fortnight. Not that she wants to eat of it herself! Not in the least… She wants to look at it, and others to look at it, and go away and talk about it, and come back the next day and tell her how successful it was, and how much better it was than those of others.
And who pays for all this? The husband that is getting on; the husband that at 30 is 37, that at 40 is 50, that at 50 – well, let us not ask what he is at fifty. We might have to make a melancholy journey if we pursued his getting on to the bitter end.
How many such dinners do you give now, O woman, once young, lovely, virtuous, and simple; now in a widow’s cap, and seven children all to bring up and put out in the world on a pittance? The pace has killed with a vengeance.
Temple Bar for August.
American Women – Belfast Morning News 5th August 1875
The Belfast Morning News carried an opinion piece on American women, noting the difficulty encountered in trying to identify the true American woman:
There is the widest possible difference between the Amazons of the West and South-west, who look so amazingly like the red Indian painted white, and the gay pleasure-hunting belles of New York.
There is also marked difference in physique between the pretty, but puny and spectacled women of Massachusetts, and the dark-eyed, hot-tempered, canny, and diplomatic Southern women.
Despite the great variety of physical characteristics amongst the women, a number of common traits are noted:
One of these striking features is the defiant atmosphere in which the American woman lives. She wears this air in the streets, the drawing-room, and even in the church… It is not wonderful then that Mrs. Cady. Staunton and Miss Susan B. Anthony should have so large a following in their efforts to obtain woman’s rights and to rescue their sisters from the thraldom to which man and a misguided civilisation have reduced them.
The desire for talking is said to be so common in the sex, that it may seem superfluous to say that American women are not slow of speech. There is, however, talking and talking… Having views upon every subject acquired by reading and a quick perception of things, the American woman dispenses them freely in railway cars, steamboats, and drawing-rooms, and often in a tone of voice of much louder pitch than one is accustomed to in the gentle sex of other countries.
In their quest to be ‘the best dressed women in the world‘ it is presumed that these woman must forego many of the ‘common necessaries of home life‘ as “the American milliner and dressmaker are as expensive, at least, as the butcher, baker, and grocer put together”.
Other News
Doctor vs Doctor – A dreadful conflict between two physicians – The Londonderry Journal 18th August 1875
A report from the town of Serbin in Texas told of a shocking feud between two local physicians.
Doctors Mallette and Manning were both practising physicians in the same neighbourhood and had lived there for years. The two doctors initially carried out their duties independently in a spirit of mutual toleration but over time a growing professional jealousy escalated their rivalry. Dr Mallette then began to talk of his rival in derogatory terms, questioning his medical competence and undermining him socially in an effort to isolate him. He also questioned the character of a female relative of Doctor Manning.
On hearing of Mallette’s actions Doctor Manning confronted him demanding an explanation for the unjustified aactions and demanding an apology. The argument escalated to the extent that the doctors decided that the matter could only be settled by a fight. The ensuing confrontation proved shocking to all who witnessed it. This was not to be settled by a bout of fisticuffs.
Both doctors visited a local store and each purchased a butcher’s knife before taking their conflict outside. What followed can only be described as carnage as the doctors fought fiercely and bloodily. Onlookers risked their own lives to separate the two men before a mortal blow was struck. Each, though, had inflicted terrible wounds on the other with Manning’s injuries particularly life-threatening.
The combatants slowly recovered from wounds. Manning’s neck had been nearly severed from his body and in his recovery he became fearfully deformed, his head being drawn, by the severing of the muscles, out of its proper position.
Manning sought to convalesce in Serbin, Bell County. No sooner had Manning settled in his new home than Mallette came to town with a loaded gun determined to end the feud for once and for all. He approached Manning’s door and attempted to shoot Manning as he opened it. The outcome was not what he expected as Manning immediately shot him in the heart and watched his fatally wounded rival fall to the ground. Manning too had not forgotten the unsatisfactory outcome of the feud and the subsequent vows of vengeance and had prepared for Mallettes visit. The feud was finally ended.
Struck by Lightning – Impartial Reporter 26th August 1875
The New York Times recently reported on Mr. A Castle, a farmer in Whitewater, Michegan who was recently struck by lightning when putting his horses in the barn. The lightning strike killed the horses and left him unconscious. When asked to describe his feelings during this experience he described the sensations…
Upon opening his eyes, the whole sky seemed to be ablaze. Searing pain centred on his lower limbs and for the first hour he felt as though he was being held over naked flames. The pain was so intense that, at first, he resisted his wife and daughter’s efforts to carry him back to the house so that he might die where he lay in the few minutes left to him.
Instead, his strength slowly began to return. He was taken to the house and helped into bed. Another 10 hours passed before he was unable to move his lower limbs – the left leg seemingly more affected than the right. Fears that his bones were shattered gradually subsided though a slight lameness remains along with “The mark of the lightning from the shoulders to the calf of the right leg, in the shape of a broad, irregular strip, from which the skin has peeled off as thought it had been scalded“.
Varieties- Wit and Wisdom
Light wines sometimes make a heavy head.
A man recently knocked down an elephant, a lion and a rhinoceros. He was an auctioneer.
A California grand jury has decided that pistols are not deadly weapons in the hands of ladies.
“My son,” said a stern father to a seven-year-old hopeful, “I must discipline you. Your teacher says you are the worst boy in school.” “Well, papa,” was the reply, “only yesterday she told me I was just like my father.”
An idle worship = A magistrate on his holiday.
Money will not procure health, content, or respect.
We may say there are three “gets” in a working man’s life – getting work, getting paid, getting drunk.
What is the difference between love and a fighting man? One breaks heads, and the other breaks hearts.
“Truth lies at the bottom of a well.” We are told to “leave the well alone“- that is how we don’t see much of truth.
“You don’t understand your business, landlord; did you never have a gentleman stop with you before?” “No, not if you are one.“
The proprietor of a rope-works says that what makes it hard on ropemakers is that at least fifty men die daily of natural causes who ought to be hanged.
“Doctor,” says lady to her physician, “don’t you think the small bonnets that the ladies wear nowadays hove a tendency to produce congestion on the brain ?” “No, madam. Where you see one of those bonnets there is no brain to congest.“
A barrister, not over young or handsome, examining a young lady witness in court, determined to perplex her, by saying “Miss, upon my word, you are very pretty!” The young lady very promptly replied, “I would return the compliment, sir, if I were not on oath.“
Link to Previous Monthly News
Previous monthly news stories can be viewed here Monthly News of 150 Years Ago
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