A few days ago a practical joke of a most extraordinary and shocking character was played at Newcastle. It appears that a party of miners were assembled in a public-house, when one of the party, named Thomas Laverick, told another, named Brain, that he did not dare to pick off with a pin a piece of white paper on the end of a small metallic case he produced. Brain did not know the nature of the article handed to him; but he expressed his readiness to pick off the piece of white paper, and a pin having been procured, he proceeded to perform his task, in doing so he did not observe that the other men in the room, including Laverick, had quitted the apartment. Presently the pin penetrated the end of the case, which proved to be a dynamite cartridge, and an explosion at once followed. Brain states that he was rendered unconscious, and on regaining his senses he found himself lying on his back in the room, his arms stretched out on each side, and his left hand shattered, whilst his right hand was also injured. He scrambled to his feet, and the other men came in looking very much scared by the result of their joke. Brain was taken to Dr. Fothergill's, where it was found that his left hand had been blown to pieces. He was otherwise severely injured, and two months will probably elapse before he can leave his house again.
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