EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH NEWS PAPERS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 27, 5 April 1866, Page 3

EXTRACTS FROM ENGLISH NEWS PAPERS.

Great Snow Storm in London. — On Thursday morning, 11th January, an immense fall of snow took place in and around London. The storm commenced about midnight, and continued till nearly mid-day. The great weight of snow (it was a foot in some places) broke down the telegraph wires in all directions, and completely destroj-ed telegraphic communications with the provinces. Traffic was quite suspended on steep gradients. A thaw set in during the day, and London streets were in a frightful mess, ankle deep in slush. The telegraph wires fell across the streets in many places, and formed a complete barrier. Several horses and one bus driver ran the risk of being strangled by wires that got entangled round their heads and necks. One man was dragged into a canal by a wire. Along the railways miles of wires and posts were torn down. On the different lines of railway leading into and out of the metropolis, the snow had such a blinding effect upon the firemen and drivers, that they could scarcely distinguish the signal-posts, and in many places fog signals were used. The guards upon the Mid-Kent and South- Western lines assert that during their experience, trey never encountered such a fearful snowstorm. Taking the river Thames jfrom Teddington locks to Battersea bridge, the eye could detect aIL sorts of small craft sunk in the water, and only held together by their ropes ; and even coal barges had been forced under water by the weight of the snow and sleet that had fallen into them. At Manchester a good deal of iuconvience was experienced owing to communication with London being interrupted. Cdiuous Freak of a Robust. — Whilst two young ladies were playing duets on the pianoforte at a farmhouse near Chester, a robin, who seemed to take great delight in the music, came hopping into the room through the window, and after listening for a short time he flew on to the piano and sang with all his might along with the performers. He also took great delight in viewing himself in a large pier-glass, fancying of course that he had there another robin as bold as himself. - The second day robin came again for more music, and this time became docile, would fly on a stick held out to him, sufler himself to be carried about the room, and did not object to a dance by being tossed up and down — robin taking great care to hold fast on to the stick. Cribie in France. — A poor little boy, scarcely three years old, was murdered at St. Denis by two workmen, after the perpetration of an act to which we cannot allude. Strange to say, in the house of police commissary, opposite the Ministere de Plnte rieur, a girl's throat was cut by her lover, who ap pears to have done the same to several of his other mistresses, after robbing them of their money and jewels. A husband threw his wife out of the window of a house iu the Rue Myrrah, and has been condemned to twenty years of the galleys. To this we must add the assassination of a naturalized Englishman, M. Lavergne, who having made his fortune in India, wished to spend the remainder of his days in Paris, and unfortunately met in the Calais steamer a certain Poncet, with whom he formed an acquaintance. Poncet overwhelmed the old gentleman with civilities, and invited him, two days after his arrival, to drive with him to the Bois d'Argenteuil, near Neuilly, where the poor old man was next day found murdered and stripped of his money and watch. His Indian servant gave evidence that his master had the habit of carrying on an average the sum of £40 in his spectacle case, which he wore attached to a chain round his neck. Poncet proved to bo an escaped convict, and has been condemned to death. So great was the excitement of the mob to catch a glance at the wretched culprit that a company of infantry had some difficulty in preventing the crowd from breakinto the Tribunal de la Cour d'Assise, Euc S. Pierre. Mormons AMD tueir " Wives."— The Courrier des Etats Unix publishes the following family statistics concerning Brigham Young and the chief elders of the Mormon, community •. — Young himself has 185 wives; Silas Boeder, his second in command, has 129 ; Jeremiah Sterd, 111 ; Job Billison, 93 ; Julius Hoffman, 92 ; Gideon Euffin, 84 ; and Habakuk Croatzy, 81. The eldest of Brigham Young's wives is 49 years of age ; the youngest, 14. He has lost by death 2S wives. Silas Roeder, being unable to remember the names of his 129 wives, has numbered them. His ISo. lis 59 years of age ; his No. 129, 17. Almost every member of the Mormon church has two or three wives. Young has had 215. children, of whom but 85 boys and 12S girls survive. Nine of his daughters are married to Jeremiah Stern, and three to Silas lioeder. Assassination of a French Bishop is China. — Keceut accounts from Shanhae state that a Christian village north-west of Pekin had been burned down, and that the Catholic bishop who resided there had been assassinated. On learning this melancholy intelligence, the representative of France addressed an energetic note to the Chinese Government, which promised that measures should be immediately taken to punish the authors of those crimes. How to Make Gold. — M. Frantz a metallurgist, and M. Henri Faure, editor of the France Medicate, have just announced to the learned world that they have discovered a method for transmuting silver, copper, and mercury into gold, " which, " they say, " are only one and the same metal iu different dynamic slates.". A Wealthy Beggar. — An old man residing at Neuilly-sus-Seine, France, who has been living there on charity for more than 20 years, died and was buried at the public expense. On removing the fewarticles of furniture in Ms wretched lodging, several rolls of gold coins were found in an old cupboard.. A minute search was then made, and in the stuffing of chairs and other .hiding-places were discovered bank-notes and securities amounting, with the gold, to £1,600-