~Birmingham in 1812.~--The appearance of the town then would be strange indeed to those who know but the Birmingham of to-day. Many half-timbered houses remained in the Bull Ring and cows grazed near where the Town Hall now stands, there being a farmhouse at the back of the site of Christ Church, then being built. Recruiting parties paraded the streets with fife and drum almost daily, and when the London mail came in with news of some victory in Spain it was no uncommon thing for the workmen to take the horses out and drag the coach up the Bull Ring amid the cheers of the crowd. At night the streets were patrolled by watchmen, with rattles and lanterns, who called the hours and the weather. * * * * * ~AB House,~ so called from the initials inscribed thereon to show the division of the parishes of Aston and Birmingham near to Deritend Bridge. Early in 1883 part of the foundations were uncovered, showing that the old building was raised on wooden piles, when the neighbourhood was little better than a swamp. ~ABC Time Table~ was first issued in July, 1853. A rival, called the "XYZ Time Table," on a system that was to make all the puzzles of Bradshaw as plain as pikestaves, was brought out in August, 1877, but it required such extra wise heads to understand its simplicity that before one could be found the whole thing was lost, the old Alpha being preferred to the new Omega. ~Accidents and Accidental Deaths~ are of constant occurrence. Those here noted are but a few which, from their peculiar nature, have been placed on record for reference. A woman fell in Pudding Brook, June 3, 1794, and was drowned in the puddle. In 1789, a Mr. Wright, a patten-maker, of Digbeth, attempted to cross the old bridge over the Rea, fell in and was "smothered in the mud." The Bridge in Wheeley's Road was burst up by flood waters, November 26, 1853. Five men were killed by the fall of a scaffold in New Street Station, Oct. 11, 1862. A lady was accidently shot in Cheapside, Nov. 5, 1866. Pratt, a marker at Bournebrook Rifle Range, was shot April 12, 1873. The body of a man named Thomas Bishop who had fallen in a midden in Oxford Street, was found Oct. 3, 1873. Charles Henry Porter, surgeon, Aug. 10, 1876, died from an overdose of prussic acid taken as a remedy. Richard Riley was killed by the bursting of a sodawater bottle, June 19, 1877. Alfred Mills drowned in a vinegar vat at the Brewery in Glover Street, March 7, 1878. Two gentlemen (Messrs. W. Arnold and G. Barker), while on a visit of inspection at Sandwell Park Colliery, Nov. 6, 1878, were killed by falling from the cage. Two miners, father and son, were killed by a fall of coal in the following week. A water main, 30 inches diameter, burst in Wheeler Street, June 17, 1879.