the town; and in one instance, where a young man had been caught filching from the Mint, the culprit was taken to Soho works, and in the factory yard, there stripped and flogged by "Black Jack," of the Dungeon, as a warning to his fellow-workmen. Tin's style of punishment would hardly do now, but if some few of the present race of "roughs" could be treated to a dose of "the cat" now and then, it might add considerably to the peace and comfort of the borough. Flogging by proxy was not unknown in some of the old "scholastic establishments, but whipping a scarecrow seems to have been the amusement on February 26th, 1842, when Sir Robert Peel, at that day a sad delinquent politically, was publicly flogged in effigy.
Floods.—The milldams at Sutton burst their banks, July 24, 1668, and many houses were swept away.—On the 24th November, 1703, a three days' storm arose which extended over the whole kingdom; many parts of the Midlands being flooded and immense damage caused, farmers' live stock especially suffering. 15,000 sheep were drowned in one part of Gloucestershire; several men and hundreds of sheep near to Worcester; the losses in Leicestershire and Staffordshire being also enormous. Though there is no local record respecting it here, there can be little doubt that the inhabitants had their share of the miseries.—July 2, 1759, a man and several horses were drowned in a flood near Meriden.—Heavy rains caused great floods here in January, 1764.—On April 13, 1792, a waterspout, at the Lickey Hills, turned the Rea into a torrent.—The lower parts of the town were flooded through the heavy rain of June 26, 1830.—There were floods in Deritend and Bordesley. Nov. 11, 1852.— June 23, 1861, parts of Aston. Digbeth, and the Parade were swamped.—Feb. 8, 1865. Hockley was flooded through the bursting of the Canal banks; and a similar accident to the Worcester Canal. May 25, 1872, laid the roads and gardens about Wheeley's Road under water.—There were very heavy rains in July and October, 1875, causing much damage in the lower parts of the town.—Aug. 2 and 3, 1879, many parts of the outskirts were flooded, in comparatively the shortest time in memory.
Flour Mills.—The Union Mill Co. (now known as the Old Union, &c.) was formed early in 1796, with a capital of £7,000 in £1 shares, each shareholder being required to take a given amount of bread per week. Though at starting it was announced that the undertaking was not intended for profit, such were the advantages derived from the operations of the Company that the shareholders, it is said, in addition to a dividend of 10 per cent., received in the course of a couple of years a benefit equal to 600 per cent, in the shape of reduced prices. Large dividends have at times been received, but a slightly different tale is now told.— The New Union Mill was started in 1810; the Snow Hill Mill about. 1781; the Britannia Mills in 1862.
Fly Vans.—"Fly Boats" to the various places connected with Birmingham by the canals were not sufficient for our townspeople seventy years ago, and an opposition to the coaches started in 1821, in the shape of Fly Vans or light Post Waggons, was hailed with glee. These Fly Vans left the Crescent Wharf (where Showell and Sons' Stores are now) three evenings a week, and reached Sheffield the following day. This was the first introduction of a regular "parcels' post," though the authorities would not allow of anything like a letter being sent with a parcel, if they knew it.
Foolish Wager.—On July 8, 1758, for a wager, a man named Morson got over the battlements of the tower at St. Martin's, and safely let himself down to the ground (a distance of 73 feet) without rope or ladder, his strength of muscle enabling him to reach from
