e worst kind, who had
long kept clear of the punishments he had deserved, in this instance he
suffered for another. There was a disreputable gang with one of whom,
Kate Pedley, Matsell had formed an intimate connection, who had a grudge
against Twyford on account of his interfering and preventing several
robberies they had planned, and it is said that it was his paramour, Kit
Pedley, who really shot Twyford, having dressed herself in Matsell's
clothes while he was in a state of drunkenness. However, he was
convicted and brought here (Aug. 23), from Warwick, sitting on his
coffin in an open cart, to be executed at the bottom of Great Charles
Street. The scaffold was a rough platform about ten feet high, the
gallows rising from the centre thereof, Matsell having to stand upon
some steps while the rope was adjusted round his neck. During this
operation he managed to kick his shoes off among the crowd, having sworn
that he would never die with his shoes on, as he had been many a time
told would be his fate. The first execution at Winson Green Gaol was
that of Henry Kimberley (March 17, 1885) for the murder of Mrs. Palmer.

~Exhibitions.~--It has long been matter of wonder to intelligent
foreigners that the "Toyshop of the World" ("Workshop of the World"
would be nearer the mark) has never organised a permanent exhibition of
its myriad manufactures. There is not a city, or town, and hardly a
country in the universe that could better build, fit up, or furnish such
a place than Birmingham; and unless it is from the short-sighted policy
of keeping samples and patterns from the view of rivals in trade--a
fallacious idea in these days of commercial travellers and town
agencies--it must be acknowledged our merchants and manufacturers are
not keeping up with the times in this respect. Why should Birmingham be
without its Crystal Palace of Industry when there is hardly an article
used by man or woman (save food and dress materials) but what is made in
her workshops? We have the men, we have the iron, and we have the money,
too! And it is to be hoped that ere many years are over, some of our
great guns will see their way to construct a local Exhibition that shall
attract people from the very ends of the earth to this "Mecca" of ours.
As it is, from the grand old days of Boulton and his wonderful Soho,
down to to-day, there has been hardly a Prince or potentate, white,
black, copper, or coffee coloured, who has visited England, but tha