STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 76, 28 March 1908, Page 15

STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

BILL TO "TEST" COHPSES- ; "Two people in every thousand are bm> i ied alive." This startling estimate, fnr- - ; nished to the Legislature of Mitssachusettts, ! inspired a liili wxuch tluit body discussed . j tecenuy, providing thai local boards of \ neaicrx shall in fucure apply ten tests to i tne Dalies oi ail persons ieported to be . dectiised tor the purpose of ascertaining |it death has actually lai-eii place. One of mc suppo.-cers or tne Bill, Dr. jDixweii, of Harvard University, who stated ! that he narrowly escaped being buried I alive in tile seventies, said, tiiat in the hnr:ry and bustle of modern lixe the heart and i Urain are pressed Into abnormal activity, jwica the result emit new diseases tending io produce cataleptic conditions- are constantly confronting physicians. , Hoetors. However, generally deprecate I public discussion ox the subject, declaring mat it wiil only produce morbid rejections, and that the Massachusetts Bill is an aspersion on doctors ana undertakers. THE VINDICATION" OF CAECSO. ' Mrs Hannah Stanhope, who caused the ; arrest of Signer Enrico Caruso, of the Metjrc.poiitaa '.jpera House, on a charge of an- ' noying her in the i>ew YorK monkey-house lust year, was recently fined one cont. ror icruxicacioa and disorder.y conduct, and ncr half-sister. Mrs Alary Graliaiu. rath whom she lives, was lined the same amount on the same charge. When Mrs Stanhope eorapiaiued to FoUreniaxi iinue that Signor caruso had annoyed her in the tuonixey housr. sht gave the tiaiuc of inauuan Vjruham. '3he nerer jppeared in court agumst the leuor, 'out ou Uie testimony 01 iiiae. Signer Caruso was fined i~ ' Policeman John Koonny found Sirs Stanhope and iirs (iruhuni engaged in a battie, •in which hair-pulling and vituperation predominated. Eoocey tried to ~ec the women to go home, but lie suid -Mrs Stanhope ber gan to aouse him. and he axrected her. Then Mrs Graham attaexted him, and Kooney j icckc-d her up zo. !

iiazistrate U'axsi asked Mrs Stanhope lr 'siie was the woman who made a complaint against Signer Caruso. 'Caruso," she replied, "got my name into the papers, Cut i never appeared in court against him." j When caruso was inlormed that I his old enemy had been lined he seemed 'try ja'ujjant, and said, "Now my vindi- ' cation is complete before the world, i aai ;'a happier man to-day than I have been for j a long rime. I REIGN OF CRIME IN. CHICAGO. Owing to the immense amount cf crime ■ m Chicago, the- chief of tie police, Mr .Snippy, has decided to make use of the different bands of ""vigiiauts" wnich have i been organised for the protection of citizens, aud probably some 5»X> will ne sworn |in to assist the police in clearing the streets jof tlue-res and highway robbers who at : present, owing to the- insufficient numbers ,of tne police, are reaping daily and nightly j Harvest. I The "Black Hand," composed chiefly of {iow class Italians, has been very much in | evidence ever since Christmas, and many ; burglaries and murders have been traced | directly to fie operations of this gang. j Highway robberies are frequent, 300 ocj earring one week in February, when re- | spectable citizens, especially iv the less J frequented districts, were held up and I robbed while on their way home. | Tfie police declare that within three weeks j six xaurdere were committed, the perpetrators of which cannot be arrested, bat who ! undoubtedly belong to the "Black Hand." ' Not all the crimes, however, can be at- , tribcted to these people, as thousands of : unemployed have flocked from the sur- j ' rounding country, and Chicago, at present ] j has a most desperate situation to face. I One curious feature of the present condiI tions is the immense increase in the instal-1 j laiion of telephones* especially in tie suj barbs, so that nsignoours can quiciriy comj mucii, ate witi eacn other for calls for mu- | tual protection. i The Anarchists also are getting out of , hand, and at a meeting the other night i tiey defied the Government to interfere with i their meetings. and breatbed defiance j against the Chicago police. The Anarciists jare working up the unemployed, and are j making use of every symptom of disaffec- | tien to cause strbxes and attacks on the 1 polk c. They warn tie police tiat tiey will kill them if they take action against MISER'S BIG FORTUNE. i Benjamin Hadley. wbo boasted that ie had never spent more than 4/ for car fare daring the 90 years of his life, died recently at his home at Somerville. a suburb of j Boston, leaving an estate valued at £.300,000. j Hadley- never attended a theatre, circus, ■or any amusement. He never ate a meal I •in a hotel or a restaurant. He had not been jin a barber's shop in the last 70 years,! I and for 60 years had let his whiskers grow 1 to save tie time it would have taken to I j shave iirnself. He never bought a drlns j jof liquor, although he would take one if 'somebody gave it to him and he had a cold. | Twenty years ago he cut off the luxury or j ; smoking, and thus saved 10 cents a wees:. | iHe never married, and only wore a collar! and necktie on special occasions. Neither,' 1 had he voted in 40 years, nor ever had his I life insured. j So far as is known, the story of Hadley's i life is one of humble beginnings, concenI tration on the one aim of making moaey ■ and the suppression of every motive of im-, j pulse that would lessen the accumulation. | ! Born in a hut in East Somerville, Had- j j ,ey began work on a farm at the age of 12. j Cor 12 cents a day. It is said that none of the cents ever got away. Next he -worked) for the Boston and Lowell Railroad, driv- j ; lag an ox team for eight dollars a month j and board. It is related tiat the board consisted of salt codfish and water. But that > was rich enough for young Hadley. ana jby sleepiDg in a barn and otherwise exet--] ' eising his New England thrift, he manI aged not to allow any of his increased j wages to escape. - j I When his father died. Benjamin had j i saved enough to buy out the shares of : his two brothers and one sister in the old 1 ! mac"U estate of £1200. He held on to the I land in Somerville until he was able to j j sell it at a large profit. With part of the j j money he got for it he bought 5 acres of j clay laud, and began the manufacture orj j bricks. Then he branched into other lines j of business, in all of which he prospered, j MARVELLOUS PEOPLE. South Americans who live in New York I , delight in showing off tie great city to their countrymen fresh from the tropics, and in playing practical jokes on these innocents, | according to the "New York Times." [ j Once a young Spanish-American arrived' I here who was morbidiy afraid of being j ; mistaken for a foreigner. He wished to jbe just like a New Yorker in all ie did. i I For advice on how to act, he sought a j countryman of his. a wag. who had been I I a resident of New York for years. I "You will have a hard time," said the. | wag. "but it can be done. Buy a hat just like the ones worn here and an overcoat;! then muffle yourself well aud venture | forth. Walk the way the Americans do—j in a iurry. Perhaps you will succeed In ] deceiving the N/ew Yorkers. But they are I very sharp, my friend. It is almost impossible to fool them. And, by the way, as i soon as they detect a- foreigner they call out 'shine.**" ' "I'll fool them," said the newcomer confidently,, - - * - ' ■--• ' i

He set ont from his hotel' in faultless ] metropolitan set-up, hurrying along as if every street had been familiar to him since iis infancy. But as soon as io reached the corner an urchin looked up at him and cried:—----'"Shine-" •"Carrumbal" he muttered. "Aren't these -\ew iorsers clever." He waited along, showing iis face as titue as potsibie, nurrymg as v lus liie uepoxided on it, ofiuie:'" snouted another boy on the next corner. ""MarvellousL'' remarked the South American. And well night burying his features In tie lurned-up couar oi his coat ne \eniurtd ai.u Aiauiisun ao.nare""Slune:" eaued out three boys simultaneously. ""* sv**e up," he signed; "what eitx-aordiii-ary peopie. * nc returned to his hotel to tell the story lo nies ii-ieuus, wuo nau gathered taere in isuwrjiciousiy lariife nuiuoexo. STOCK 2SCHASGE Sii ICiCE. EICH A.N'S KOAD TO RUIN. A fashionably dressed Englishman, iir Ldward C. lirookt,, wno lor naoutlis has speculated on a larye scaie on the a mc-rican slock niarsietb, on i-ebruary xoui swatlov/eo. a uose ox cyaiude oi poiassium and fed ueaa ca uae aaicexoonx ox m« l'liwuce bfaCiiati^e. ine tragic scene was witnessed by a score of brokers, wno, seeing tne man toppie over, rusned to uxs assistance, ouiy to and torn dead. One Xiaua c-iaxc-hed tne oott:e of poison and the otucr a oaary, in ivnicn a rew moments previously Mr crooks, in a arm, howiiig nunc, hau niaue a nual entry deciariug tune ne miv been osvinuled. xn a postaci.px ne requeaxed tne autnonues io coniLnunicace his ueatu to Ixu, reiauveo, -n iae ueau man -.vent to America several years ago with a small roruuie, which be xnvesieu xn a .arm m cue west. \\ itn tius he was so successrul that he moved to Chicago, and to aambie on the Stock Lichanije. His speculauons were unusually fortunate, and he migrated to New lork. He soon became well known la YVaiistxeet as a rnunier. In tie diary, whicn Is a most remarkable I human uocument. he recorded every uetail ox nxs fiiiancial trausacuous ox ate iiist two years, luterlardiug accounts of these with iixnxiy stories aid witticisms curreac in \v ail-street.

He got caught to the extern: of £SOOO in the iiai-eit panic last year, out consoled himself witi wise saws and "plunged ' again and again, until he was redcced to his last pennj-. Of a lortune oi i;23,0u0, oaiy threepence and a numbe.- of debts remained. Tien, in a tit of despair, ne wrote tie following; entry:—

"All my money is finally gone. I cannot raise even £.10 on mining shares. There is awful depression in all lines of business, and no hope remains for mc."

in the Li±sz few iir rEoolxs vainly tried to obtain a position as porter at several brokers' offices, studied ways and means of living cheaply iv New York, and jotted down in his ciiaxy adutesses of various poor lodging houses, with particulars of the prices charged for bed and breakfast. But he always dressed in fashionable style, and only decided to commit suicide, as one of the iast entries explains, after convincing himself of the hopelessness cf even trying to obtain menial employment.