The poorer folk of Birmingham were greatly agitated on Wednesday
by an astrological prediction that great troubles of various kinds would happen on that day. They interpreted some obscure words to mean that the world would be destroyed, and showed such alarm as to attract even official atten- tion. The police reported "a general state of fear" which sent old women to their Bibles, and the younger women to bed, the latter refuge being sought under an impression that if an earth- quake was coming, bed was the safest place. The most charac- teristic course was, however, pursued by three women, whc, being persuaded that the end of the world was at hand, went to ask protection from a policeman, and that failing, clubbed their pennies to buy a Bible. One popular notion, which filtered down to the children, was that two stars were about to come in collision, and that the world would be set on fire, the deduction drawn being the profoundly childlike one that nobody should venture into the streets. The Birmingham Post treats the alarm as evidence of "superstition ;" but is it quite right ? The poor people expected an unusual but not a supernatural occurrence.
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