AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3654, 7 November 1874, Page 3

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

SHOCKING OUTRAGE, The ‘ Mmrurundi limes’ of a recent date repoi s:—“ One of the most horrible occurrence;. that we have ever chronicled was br ought under our notice this week. A man named D*niel O’, onnelly has been admitt d into the hospital, t© be treated for injuries receive'! during a quarrel among his family connections. It appears that a number of acquaintances bad m> t together, when a dispute arosr betw en one of the men and his wife, to whom < >’; mnnedy in related. The altercation hecoiuinu O’Donnelly interposed in dHence of the weaker party, when the infuriated hj sband attacked him wi hj a bottle coutauiim' a q antity of rum, smashing the bott e, inflicting a number of wounds upon his face and spilling tha liquor oyer the clothes and parson of the unfortunate obj ct of his wrath. Not oontent with this, he threw his victim upon a fire which was buring out-ide the house, when the spirits caught the flames in an instant, and the man was enveloped in fire. Unable to release himself from the grasp of his insatiate assailant, who was also badly burned, the miserable man was only saved from an excruciating dea hj by another of the company, who came to his assistance. He now lien in the hospital a bruised and wretched object of compassion ; and months of torture to himself and labor to the officers of the institution must elapse before complete recovery from the effects of this inhuman deed.”

HUSBAND AND wife. A ' ( : ’astlemaine) reports the following strange affair “ Some twelve or thirteen years since there lived a family m this neighborhood consisting of husband and wife, and two sons—thu later from ten to twev years of age. A separation took place Mr icttmo tak ng the two children with him. and leaving the wife to do the best she could al ne () ne of the sons came oaok, but for upwards of r.we J ve y» ars no tiding were heard of Mr Totting or the other boy. I ecently she got hold of a copy of a local journal, and one of the first paragraphs which caught her eye two that a young man of the same name as her son had met with an accident m a mine, from which he was not likely to recover. She felt convinced that this was her sou, went to the institution where he was, and saw the matron, who gave her what information she could. In a few ramutes she was introduced into No. 4 ward and opposite the door lay the object of her search. With a rush she ran to the bedside f.,™ maimed young man, exclaiming, That amy son—that’s my son ! I know it 1 iji ■ ttt , t^. e P at mnt only looked at her coldly, and m a singular tone as ted her how she came to think so—she must be mistaken. She then told the young fellow certain circumstances in his life, vhich quickly brought him to a knowledge that he was speaking to his mother j but still be treated her with cool indifference. She attended to his every want. In about an hour after that an elderly man walked into the room and took up his station at the bedside of the sufferer. The astonishment of Mrs Totting may be guessed when she discovered that the incomer was her lone lost husband. Although a mu-ual recognition took place, yet the breadth of the bed on which lay their son was kept between, and no word of reconciliwas passed. Side by side they daily wa’ch the progress of the paralysis, which must *ooner or later depr-ve them of one of their o spring, yet they seem to be incapable of forgiving each other.”

»rr*«ELLAI*EOUS. A fine nugget weighing 930z. 17dwt. 6ir was discovered on the Btb of September last, by some Chmamen—Ah Fee and party—in the old workings at Mosquito Gully, near Spring hill, Creswick. The estimated weight •n pure gold was 84oz Odwts. 12gr., and the value was about 1.340 The nugget was lying alongside some timber, which must nave been placed there several years ago and the gold was partly discolored by contact with the decaying timber. The first cage has been tried in Tasmania under 34 Viet, cap, 33, sec. 11. The charge was that of obtaining credit under false pretences. Complainant said defendant came arm told him he had bought two hj( uses of a r Clark, having given LIOO in cash and LJij on mortgage for the premie s, and that, on the strength of this statement, he had repaired the premises. He had not yet been paid for his work. It turned out during the hearing rf the case *hat be learnt defendant had deceived ‘him while the repairs were being effected, but that he did not cease work, and that overtut es of payment bad been made, but not accepted by complainant. Defendant was committed for trial. Captain Blackham,. of the Bendigo rifles, recently in practising at a 200 yards range, made the highest possible score of twenty, mght, with seven c--nseeutive bull’s eyes, a feat that had only been accomplished once at the late W imHedon meeting, rU present attending St. Saviour’s Church for the Deaf and Dumb, at Hobart Town, is a young person, deaf, dumb, and too blind ro see anything on the fim-ers of anyone, bowever near to her. A deaf and dumb friend JrJ*t ner - antl taking the right hand of the blind person, whatever the minister (the ev ’ ’With) speaks on his fiugi-rs, she transfers to the fim-era of the other, and so much does she appreciate this aid, that in a letter to Mr Smith she says, “ I cannot tell you how sweet the word-; sound when they pass over my fingers ” The ‘ Tribune ’ savs she was not hom d-af or blind, and has therefore an idea of sound. Mr Motqn Moss, of Melbourne, who was arge y mixed up with the Launceston failures aud who the other day himself compounded with his creditors, is reported to have lo?.i, L/ 2,000 in two years. Eush does not intend to row again unless ho is matched by a competitor from England or America. He will then give LoUO as a prize.

A well organised gang of forgers has been discovered in Melbourne, all the signatures being forged by one m>n from models ohtamed by another, and the uttering is done by others.

A novel kind of assault, by some youno was committed at Albury, New - jouth Yales, the other day. It consisted u> ho’ming a girl, nine year- old, on a neat of miil-dog ants, and beating her wich nettles. 1 ..c fa ners of the defendants were ordered to pay L‘2 9s 6d each

r -A volcanic eruption on a range near Q ueeil3,aTir l. is reported ; but the truth of the report is very much questioned . * population of South Wales has increased 10,<09 during the last half-year, *«•* ’".now 570,000. ,dr <-ret«nwood, of Coburg (Victoria), lost five oauL’htera in a coup e of weeks—three <ied from Hi htheria. one from croup, arrl one from the .ff rj s 0 f The weather was intensely amfunusually ho- m Australia fra few days towards the end o October, and at Syduey a death occurred from sunstroke.

Mr Justice Fellows, in lecturing lately on A peep at old times through law-books,” gave it as his opinion that while our ancestors were more credulous than ourselves they were also more honest. He also touched upon witchcraft, and pointed out that paany innov oman had been put to death on evidence which only tended to show the ipsanity of the witnesses. But while he admitted the greater eßli|hteß»eat pf the present day, he

very wisely added that while thousands now believe in the marvels of spiritualism, we cannot afford to sneer at the superstitions of an earlier age.