Scotch News.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 892, 27 March 1877, Page 3

Scotch News.

. ■ . . . . • . — — A man fell dead in a public house in I Ayr while remarking upon the steadiness of his nerves after three days' hard drinkThe ' North British Agriculturist has reason to believe that in Ross-shire alone there are at this moment no fewer than 600,000 acres exclusively under deer. Henry Dillod, a young actor, has died at Kirkcaldy from a sword-cut received while performing at Dunfermline. Lockjaw caused death. For displacing some of his wife's teeth by a stroke from his wooden leg, William Calder was sentenced to thirty days' imprisonment at Edinburgh. At a poultry show in the South of Scotland the other day, it was discovered that the tail of one of the most beautiful birds exhibited was a work of art, not of nature, the feathers being fastened on by means of gum. The « Pall Mall Gazette points out that Sir Wm Stirling-Maxwell is the first Commoner on whom the honor of Knighthood of the Thistle has been conferred since the revival of the Order by James the Second ia 1687. John M Allister, scavenger, Edinburgh, was sentenced to two months' imprisonment for thrashing his wife, to whom he bad been married only two months. It was elicited in evidence that he had beaten her on the night of their marriage. | A few days ago a shopkeeper in Forfar left on his shop door the following announcement for the information of his customers : — " Gone to a wedding. Business will be resumed to-morrow at eleven o'clock." Early one morning a milkman on his usual rounds rang the door bell k of a house ia the Esplanade, Greenock. No answer was returned by the maid, Catherine Anderson, who was subsequently found sitting in a chair quite dead. She had been in her usual health the previous day. A gentleman, supposed from letters to be John Combe, Trinity Crescent, Edinburgh, was alighting from the Peebles train at Waverley Station, when he fell between the footboard and platform, and was injured so that he died in a few minutes. The question of bridge accommodation was discussed recently by the Glasgow Town Council. There was submitted the engineer's report for widening the Glas gow Bridge to the west at a cost of ■ £42,000 & Of this sum £25 000 would be met by tbe Caledonian Bailway. The ' Guardian ' says that the St. Andrew's Day annual address in the nave of Westminster Abbey, was offered to Dr Duff, of the Free Church of Scotland, well known by hia long connection with Indian missions. His engagements in the missionary services to be held that day in Edinburgh, much to his regret, prevented him from accepting the offer. Tbe ' Elgin Courant ' says that on account of the snowstorm having blocked up the roads, the congregation of a church in the upper district of Banffshire, ou a recent Sunday, consisted of three individuals, one of them being the precentor, As the pastor did not put in an appearance there was no service, but the important legal ceremony of proclaiming the banns of a couple about to be united in matrimony was gone through in due form. The new bridge of Ayr has exhibited symptoms of giving way bptvveeo the second aud centre arches, and it is feared that the structure will bave to be rebuilt. Tbe ' Scotsman ' says that the taunt which Burns puts into the mouth of the " auld brig when addressing the new is soon likely £o be verified — " Conceited gowkd puft'd ug wi' windy pride ! This mony a yeas I've stood tbe $ood snd £id.c - f And tho' wi' crazy eild I'm sair forfairn, I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!" A runaway horse knocked down Mr John Irvine, tailor, Newton-Stewart, in one of the streets there, ffe vyas caught between the gig shaft aud the horse, and hanging in this position was dragged through the streets to Creebridge, where, falling to- the ground, tbe wheel passed over him, injuring him so severely tbat he died at midnight. The piercing cries of tbe poor fellow as the horse galloped through the streets caused great excitement. Two men were knocked over in attempting to, stqp ti}B animal. A farm ■" servant; at Alichrqw, Elchies, Morayshire, met with a melancholy acci^, dent, which had a fatal termination. Ije had been sent to a mill in the neighborhood with a horse and cart for meal, and when returning with it he had, it is supposed, fallen asleep. Before he could ■reacfy fche farm he had to go along a narrow road, and this^ road, jit appear*,the horse followed a part of the waft but had afterwards turned on io a moor some diefcanpe from the place ? and upset* the •• cart, with all the weight of the sacks, on the poor fellow. The servant's prolonged abeeppeled to a search being made for, him, andhe was found, about nine o'clock in the evening, lying under the cart quite dead, with his head sticking out beneath •the load. He was a quiet young man of about twenty year^ of age. f ..: Itia understood tfyat iv there are already three persons in the field claiming! to be %e\T9 of the /phi 'maii named Stjratton, who, it i appear^ had left *Kirkfeal<Ji some jSO years ago for America, i-fb^Fe be amassed £be sum of £30,000 jby J'iiiT miserly habits. On© of iheae rppjregejirts* himself to be a brother of the deceased, the ; -tiecbnd is* sup"poae<i J to be a jjcousin, and the tlii^eiaimihg^r is a woman residing near Aberdeep. A wo^an, $rbo represents herself; to be ftrp§egt resides in GUsg^^has^so ppt forward ..her claim. iU&irA A. XX-A. : X | 4i thp Sheriff Criminal Court three men were charged wi£h pop*^nittjng a breach of the peace on Sqndak 17 th Depemberj in Kemnay Chapel, by! throw-

ing . " sweeties," laughing, and Bmoking daring divine service. They all pleaded guilty to laughing and throwing sweeties, but not to smoking, and it was stated on their behalf that the preacher was a very eccentric man — sometimes he would while preaching, descend from the pulpit, and at other times be would disappear in it altogether ; and even the gravest of persons, seeing the service for the first time, could not but be amused. They were each fined 10s. An interesting address on Scotch banking was delivered at the opening of the recent session of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland, by Mr J. S. Fleming, Cashier and Manager of the Royal Bank of Scot- J land. Towards the close of his remarks, Mr Fleming said that in regard to the eight larger banks he found that, at the selling price of 1844, the value of their capital of under 7i millions was about 12^ millions. The value of their present capital of 9 millions was upwards of 25 millions. The average price of their stock in 1845 was 183£ per cent. ; now it was 283 per cent. I may add that at the close of 1876, the balance-sheets of the eleven Scotch banks showed that their total liabilities to tbe public amounted to £93,946,769, being £510,971 more than in 1875. The deposits and note circulation amounted alone to £86,564,558. The order of precedence, taking the magnitude of the liabilities as the standard, was as follows: — Bank of Scotland, National, Eoyal, Union, Commercial, City of Glasgow, British Linen, Clydesdale, North ot Scotland, Aberdeen Town and County, and Caledonian.