TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 10243, 19 February 1897, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[From Opb Special Correspondent.] | LondoX, January 1. J A STRIKE AVERTED. When the mail closed last wet* the prospects of a calamitous railway strike were, to pnt it bluntly, extremely rosy, but, thanks to the ability of the directors of the London and North-Western Railway to appreciate a enag before running right on to it, the •danger is past and the travelling public are breathing freely again. The story of the trouble may be, told very briefly. Certain of the workers on the London" and NorthWestern Railway system were, and had "been for some time, dissatisfied with the conditions, financial and time, under whicli they worked. Those who belonged to the Amalgamated Saciety of Railway Woikers ventilated their grievances and their views at meetiugsjin various parts cf the country, and those who didn't belong to the organisation grumbled whenever a sympathetic ear ■was handy. Of course the directors of the company soon became aware that their men were discontented, and it seems that out of that knowledge they evolved a notion that a strike of imposing and disturbing dimensions was on the ta2>u>, a'nd that the union meant to measure strength with the company just at that most awkward period of the year, Christmas time. And the directors hit upon what they doubtless {"tubbed a "brilliant plan" to take the vuemy in the rear before the union's plan 3 were completed. Their process was simple. They sent their travelling inspectors abroad to smell out thoss men whose loyalty to their union would, when the pinch came, outweigh their loyalty to the company. The inspectors, of course, had different methods of smelling out, but the favorite plan was to get into conversation with a driver, stoker, or other employe upon any topic which presented itself, and tenderly lead the unsuspicious worker up to the question of wages aud hours of lahor. The question of strides would naturally crop up in due coarse, and a dialogue somewhat as under "would ensue:— Inspector: D'ye think there's any likelihood of a strike? Employe : Don't think so. Inspector: Well, I'm half afraid there's trouble ahead. Kmplojv: Maybe, maybe: tin I hope not. lusiK'cior: Are you uuio'i': Employe: Ye*. Inspector: Ah I And I suppose if a strike is declared—well, tww, what would you do, fjo out or stick to the company .- To this last vital question some men, smelling a rat, vouchsafed diplomatic answers, others replied that they would stick to the company, and others answered boldly that " if '.here was a stHfce they'd go out like the rest." The result of this crusade in search of loyalty to the company soon became apparent. Day by day men were dismissed from the service without explanation. Many of them were old servants of the company, without a black mark on their records, and most of them were unionists. All, without exception, had, however, had the privilege of a few minutes' conversation ■with an inspector. Mr Harford, the secretary of the Railway Woikers' Union, JUtcmpted to intervene at this point, assuring the directors that no strike had been contemplated, etc. ; but he was promptly snubbed. The directors refused point blank to acknowledge the union in any way, and the dismissals continued. Then the workers began to move. Indignation meetings became the order of the day, and very quickly Mr Harford's assurance assumed the appearance of being worth just the paper it was written on. It seemed also that if trouble ensued it would aot be confined to the Londoa and NorthWestsro system, but would spread to the Great Western, Great Northern, and the Midland liars. Ju.-t, however, when thing? begau to look very black, indeed, Mr Ritchie and the Board oi Trade intervened. What this intervention was really worth only the London and North-Western Railway directors can know. Theve is an impression abroad that these gentlemen had already seen the red light ahead, raid would have backed down without the aid of a third party. Back down they have in the bicest possible manner. _ The dismissed unionists are being reinstated, the company has consented to consider the men's grievances, and freely recognises the Amalgamated Society, which it has hitherto persistently ignored. The men have thus gained a most complete victory, and even if the company n:ico: grant all the demands of its employes as put" forward by the deputations from each diss, which the directors ha\e consented to receive, it is a moral certainty they will be ready to meet them more than hallway, sines the emergency scheme instituted some few years ago by the late Sir George Findlay with a view to possible has been proved to be utterly abortive in the face of any serious strike. Its success depended entirely on the "emergency men" being frea from the taint of unions, and it has now transpired that most of the man are In the Amalgamated. The scheme, which oonsistad iu training the men of one grade in the duties of another, cost the company some thousands But though it has failed to meet the particular emergency for which it was primarily conceived, the money spent has not been wasted, as certain foolish shareholders and newspaper editors appear to think. In the midst of epidemic sickness, accidents, and minor emergencies such as must continually crop up in connection with big railway systems like the London and North-Western, the scheme which enables a porter to take up the duties of a guard, a brakesman to become a signalman, or a station-master an engine-driver, must be valuable. THE BEGINNINGS OF lIROOKS. Before finally dismissing Brooks of Halesworth to the limbo of forgotten frauds " Labby" furnishes some further facts—four columns of them, in short—anent that remarkable individual's genesis and adventures. With the latter I have already dealt fully, but a word or two as to the man's beginnings may be of interest. He is, as * Truth, sa\'3, a human document of far more note than any of his books. Originally a Lancashire mill-hand, Brooks was of far too pushful and self-assertive a disposition to remain in that obscure position, and, in the fulness of time, he became a Dissenting preacher and minister. He got on so well in this line as to become pastor of a chapel in the West End of London with an income of £3OO a year. He then quarrelled with his congregation conscientiously, it may have been, but in all human probability from the sheer force of his bumptiousness and vanity. Next he became a contributor to ' Truth,' distinguishing himself chiefly by gibbeting the failings of clergy and landlords. He wrote a truculent pamphlet under the snggestive pseudonym of " Cassius " (who also, it will be remembered, was suspected of " an itching palm "), denouncing Mr Balfour's Irish administration. I should think that no man ever was called so many names in the same space as Mr Balfour was called in this volume. Previously to this "Cassius" had been to Midlothian as an agrarian agitator, and had obtained no less than £330 for his services in that capacity from a farmer named Russell —the old gentleman whom he put into the witness box last week, and who was certified to be insane a few months after he paid Brooks this money. During his "Cassius" pjriod Brooks also started a mission hall as a speculation of his owu in South London, but it was not a success, and his connection with it landed him in the Bankruptcy Court. His liabilities were about £6OO, and his assets nil —for his household furniture whs protected from his creditors by a bill of sale. This was the low water mark of Brooks's career. Now mark how the tide turned.

It was suddenly " borne in " upon Brooks (to use one of his own conventional phrases), shortly after the time when he emerged from the Bankruptcy Court, that Radicalism was a mistake, and that a wise man would be better employed in defending all existing institutions, more particularly the landlords, the rights of property, the Aet of Union, and the Established Church, than in attacking them. He seems, like many others, to have found Liberal- Unionism a convenient stepping-stone, but, like the others, he did not rest upon it long, and, with a hop, skip, and a bound, he was soon over on tbe other side. The results were most gratifying. Liberal-Unionism had only brought him £lB (the price of a pamphlet), hut Toryism proved a gold mine, and I should say be has pretty well worked the mine out. He began by appealing to prominent Unionist* (in the capacity of a poor

'minister desirous of upholding the Constitution) for money to otf his bill* of sale, and he gob the amount required, With about £BO to spare—£3l9 at the first *iwdop. Doubtless this C6ty> revealed* to him at once the vast possibilities wU&hi his reach. His furniture freed, his liftlJlli- . ties discharged by bankruptcy* and anal&hce | of ready cash left in haiidv he moved straight away to Haleswttfth and started in liusliealS' as the man Who had co'ffle 't'6 tJMria society from Socialism. $V6m this point the opera/ turns of Mr Brook»> Which culminated in the famous Oovernment grant, are familiar to yon. Surprise is expressed in certain garters that so many public men should have been taken in by such a sorry rogue. As a matter of fact, however, the victims were very carefully selected, nearly all being of tne staunch old Tory school, to (vhom a Radical is pestilential beyond words. Gentlemen like this.Readily'(indeed, eagerly) swallow auy trash about political opponents. It i> a fact Brooks, of Halesworth, has even now good friends remaining who, despite all that came out in Court, persist in believing him the victim of a Radioal conspiracy engineered by "Labby," to go* rid of an influential propagator of Sound Tory doctrine. THB HOLIDAY AFTERMATH. To judge by the number of oases of the " drunk and disorderly " kind settled at the various police court* *f the metropolis on Boxing Day and tnat eH3uing, one must conclude thai either London is becoming sober or that tha guardians of the peace are learning to look more leniently on the failings of their fcliow-men at holiday times. From personal observation I cannot say that I think there was any appreciable diminution in the tale of drunken men in the street during the holiday just ended. Indeed, I don't think I ever saw more obfuscated human beings in the space of twelve hours than on Boxing Day. And on Christmas Day it was painfully evident to anyone walking through the London streets in any of the densely populated areas that the fact that Sunday hour's ate observed by the public-houses did not prevent wholesale drunkenness. Vet the charge-sheets at the metropolitan police courts were very light for both days, lighter by far than they were last year. The aftermath of Christmas Day was represented at Bow street by thirty cases, at North London by sixteen, at Worship street by thirty-five, at Clerkenwell by thirtyeight, and at Southwark by ftJrty-nine. At West Ham the policS had run in fifty-two persons, but ftfc Stratford the magistrate had only si*t cases to dispose of ; whilst at Highgftte two "drunks" only were dealt with. Neighboring Hampstead had a clean sheet. Out of about 300 cases disposed of on Boxing Day fully 90 per cent, were simple drunks, and the remainder were for the most part common assaults and petty thefts. In many cases the magistrates were able to dismiss the evildoers with a caution, and in Very few instances Were either imprisonment or remaud deemed necessary. The aftermath of Boxing Day was, of course, heavier, but still, corfeldering all things, wonderfully light. The fact that the day was wretchedly wet and cold had naturally an influence for bad. Thousands of working men who would have put in the day at the Crystal Palace or at one of the big football matches were driven by the weather into the "pubs," and Stayed there till closing time. One of the Christmas charges at Marlborough street arising out of the effects of too much Bass or other liquor created a good deal of amusement. The prisoner, a young Swiss, was charged with impropriety towards a respectable West End householder's wife, but the charge was uot upheld. It appears that on Christmas morning Mr and Mrs Wilson returned from an overnight function, retiring to re3t at about four o'clock. They slept the sleep of the just till shortly after eight, when Mrs Wilson awoke. A3 her eyes opened ti:ey lit upon a face upon the adjacent pillow which was not that of her husband, nor of any person known to her. For a moment she judged herself to be the victim of an hallucination, born perhaps of much plum pudding to many mince pies. But hallucinations do not snore, and this particular intruder did. So with a shriek and a shake Mrs Wilson woke her husband, who, taking in the situation at a glance, promptly shot the interloper on to the floor, and, falling upon him, punched out an explanation. This was not at all satisfactory to either husband or wife, so, dressing hastily, the former bundled the intruder off to the station. To the magistrate the Swiss explained that he hadn't the least notion as to how he came to be in the home of the Wilsons. All that he knew was that he got drunk at the " Rome Club" next door on Christmas Eve, and came to his senses to find himself being belabored by Mr Wilson. The magistrate took a lenient view of the foreigner's escapade, and, in view of the thrashing he had already received, let him go with a caution not to get drunk again. EI.OPI.VG WITH A PRINCESS. The elopement of the Princess Caraman Chimay, a Belgian lady of great wealth, beauty, and august lineage, with a Hungarian gipsy musician named Rigo has afforded Paris society a delicious morsel of full-flavored scandal. The affair eventuated some time ago, but, both Rigo and the Princess being married, the latter'* relatives kept the story quiet till it were Been if a divorce were feasible. Apparently the Pope and the courts have both proved complaisant, and the Princess now meditates a legal union with her lover as soon as formalities allow.

The 'Standard's' Vienna correspondent says that the Princess speut Christmas Eve in the mud hut of her future parents-in-law in the suburb of Stuhlwcissenburg. She has prescuted them with a pretty house and afield of several acres. On the Friday gipsy bands serenaded her and her lover, aud refused payment, declaring that they did it out of respect for their comrade and his noble fiancee. The.' Figaro' says that Rigo resembles a barber's assistant, with the disadvantage of having deep traces of smallpox on his countenance, and is a married man with two children. Soon after he came to Paris a Russian prince gave him the money to set up an orchestra of his own, and it was while he was leading this band in the Boulevard Restaurant that the Princess took notice of him. No secret was made about the matter, and when Rigo's wife began to object to his not coming home at reasonable hours he said : " You must go back to Hungary with your father, your mother, and your brother. Go and live at Parkest with my parents. I will pay the voyage, and will send you I.OOOfr a month. Then when I have saved a fortune through the generous gifts of the Princess I will rejoin you, and we will live quietly on our income." Mdme Rigo agreed and departed, but returned later on to Paris, as no l,ooofr a month were forthcoming. She brought with her the mother of her faithless husband. The latter consented to receive his mother, and even introduced her to the Princess, who invited her to lunch ; but with his wife he would have nothing to do, and she finally left Paris broken-hearted. Meantime, the Tsigane used to perform every night at the restaurant in his blue uniform. The Princess was always among the audience, passing the evening and half the night listening to her charmer's music and driving off with him at the end of the concert. Finally, the scandal became so outrageous that the proprietor of the restaurant told Rigo he mu3t either giye up his mistress or resign. He resigned, and on her side the Princess abandoned her husband. This took place at the beginning of the summer. One day a packet addressed to the Princess came to the hotel. She refused to take it, saying : " I am no longer a princess. My name is Madame Rigo." THE MODERN' SAMSON. That marvellous example of physical culture, Eugene Sandow, when interviewed recently, laid it clown as his firm opinion that wrestling was the"best of all games for promoting healthy and general muscular development. Next to wrestling, the strong man awards the place to football. But he himself never indulges in either pastime nowadays, and takes, indeed, no exercise beyond his regular performances and his walks abroad. Yet Sandow continues to increase in strength, and is far stronger in certain respects. to-day than he was when he left England in 1893. Then, for example, he had some difficulty in tearing two packs of cards placed together in halves, but to-day he can perform the feat with throe complete sets —156 cards. And he believes he will soon be able to tackle four sets of ordinary club eards. Sandow'B personal habits do not give the anti-smokers,

teetotallers, and diet faddists any opportunity for dissertations on the virtues of their creeds. He eats and drinks wiUfcTifi' pleases, and bimoM wheheviefc a, pipVolr cigar stilts hU mool. Tea aiid .coffee; hb&. eWr, M never toshes; jM He wonld fiot hurr-V ovefc & meal to toMtoil a train. He is a BmWve'atlov *M a Very slow one—a habit ingrained by his father when Eugene watua little boy. Sandow believes in the cold tijfy but only for peraons physically fit. she latest measurements of this wonderful specimen of muscular humanity are as follow : Height, sft 9in; chest, 48in normal, 52in expanded; biceps, 19Jin,j deltoid, 23in | forearm, lOfin ) thigh; Jj?in) calf, IBin j weight, list) waiat; SPin. , Saridow ,is .vergingion thirty years of age, but considers that he is capable of improving his physique and strength up to his thirty-fifth year.

MR 11. CRACItANTHORFE. f . -. ■ The mystery of the disappearance of Mr Hubert; Crackanthorpe some weeks ago has been solved by the discovery of a terribly decomposed body in the Seine, which the Creech police allege to be his. Mr Crackanthorpe, you will remember, was the author of ' Wreckage' and other fugitive sketches of a decadent character, and the son of Mr Crackanthorpe, Q.C. His parents were not greatly concerned by his p-otracted absence, believing he wa.i purposely keeping out of sight. This belief was strengthened by reports stating that he had been seen at Rouen, Havre, and Rheims, aud finally in London some days ago. On Christmas Eve, however, the police were informed that a body, decomposed beyond recoguitioo, had been recovered from the Seine. It was brought to the morgue, and to-day the police identified it by the elothes, linen marks, and other articles upon it as that of Mr Hubert Crackanthorpe. The body is, therefore, not exposed at the morgue. The police officials who have the case in hand state that from the appearance of the corpse it must have baen in the water for fully six weeks. They decline td accept the theory of murder, stating that there is ho evidence of violence or and are disposed to believe that Mr Crackanthorpe either met with his death accidentally or that he may possibly have taken his own life.