STRANGE TALES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 65, 16 March 1907, Page 13

STRANGE TALES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

A RECORD. "HOUSE MOVING.'

The town of Evarts, South Dakota, l_ about to be moved bodily a distance of twelve miles, says Laffan's Agency. Evarts has a population of a thousand, and its buildings include three churches and two grain elevators, besides schools, banks, stores, and dwellings-houses- It is situated on the Missouri River, and has had a normal though, rapid growth to considerable prosperity. But it is far from any railway, and as the river is frozen over (or more than four months every year the little town's development has suffered accordingly. So the people of Evarts -began some months ago to buy lots at Mobridge, twelve miles up the river, where there is a station on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul railway. This buying created only a mild sensation in Mobridge, for it was done very quietly, and -was not accompanied by building operations. There was, therefore, no "boom," and Mobridge did not suspect what was doing until Evarts was ready to move. Every building in the latter town had been set on runners, and as soon as the ice in the Missouri is strong enough to stand the strain all will be hauled to Mobridge, and set down on the recently acquired sites. The .mly cloud on this remarkable exodus is of a character. Th(e inhabitants of Evarts, who far outnumber those of Mobridge, want to carry their name with, them, and the people of Mobridge object.

HUSBAND KILLS HIS WIFE'S MEDICAL MAN. A tragic sequel to the elopement of a tramcar conductor with an heiress has just occurred in America. John Bell wa-s a. conductor on a Brooklyn tramcar line, and among his regular passengers was a young girl, the daughter of very rich parents. A strong attachment sprang up between the two, and they finally eloped and were married. I'oung Mrs Bell's family declined to have anything to do with her or her husband, and .having only the latter's wages to live on the couple had to live in a very humble way in Flatbush. a Brooklyn suburb.

A few months ago Mrs Bell was taken ill, and Dr. Wilmer Townsend was called in. Despite all he could do, however, the young wife died. Ever since her death Bell has brooded over it, and refused to work. The result was it so affected his mind that he attributed her death to Dr. Townsend, aud evidently determined to shoot him. At any rate, a day or ttvo since the house of Dr. Townsend was entered by a masked man, who shot and morta'ly wounded the doctor as he lay in his bed. But the doctor had recognised bi s assailant in spite of his mask, and the police arrested John Bell, who will be medically examined before his case comes into Court.

PARTED HIS HAIR IN AN AWFUL MANNER.

That the way he wore his hair caused a sudden parting of their ways was revealed in the New York Courts on January 19, in the case of Bookman v. Bookman, a divorce action referred to Special Master Pierce Cook, of Jersey City. Meyer Bookman, of that city, is the plaintiff, and this is his brief but tragic plaint.

He had long admired his cousin Maria, who lived in Philadelphia. She came north for a visit. He wooed and won ber In a week. His family was pleased. K-e----ception and collation arranged at tbe Bookman homestead on York-street. Minister invited. But Meyer and Maria could not wait for the formal splicing. After lunch they ducked ont and were made one by a Justice of the Peace. They then came home to the "big feed." Meyer's folks Tell on his bride's neck and wept. They were all so happy. But Maria gave the festival party a sudden jolt. rvl ;ma_ie a mistake*'> _he remarked frigidly; "I don't love him. The way he wears his hair is something awful." Then the bride hurried out of the house and wended her way back to the Quaker City. And, according to the way one of the guests put it, "the wedding staff went on the ice." Meyer did not see Maria again, and after the prescribed interval had elapsed he brought suit for divorce.