STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 50, 27 February 1909, Page 15

STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

LADY '*LOVE PIRATE." Those persons who contrive to steal the affections of a married man or woman, to the loss of the other matrimonial partner, are now known in America as "love pirates." The term is officially recognised, and was applied on Tuesday, January 12th, In a case, whea the New I'ork Courts awarded £10,000 damages to Mrs A. R, Goslln against Miss A. Magher, a secretary and typewriter, whom she charged with being a "love pirate," and with having stolen Mr Gosllu's affections. Mr Goslin is a company under indictment by the New York grand jury for alleged questionable practices in Wall-street. He fled to Paris, nnd his ball was forfeited. Miss Magher afterwards joined Mm In France. At the beginning of her suit Mrs Goslin filed a lien against some Brooklyn property standing In Miss Magher's name, valued at £6000, and she expects to obtain at least this amount in cash. A BOGUS TRAGEDY. An extraordinary sensation was caused In Western America by the arrest at Columbus, Michigan, of Mrs J. H. Carmichael, the wife of a Methodist circuit preacher. Tbe arrest was made on suspicion that Mrs Carmichael had a hand In a murder committed two days before, but over the Identity of the murdered" man there is a remarkable mystery. The murder was apparently committed on the church premises, and then the body of the murdered man was dismembered and burned in two stoves. Fragments of the charred body were found, the victim. The entire State was discussing whether the body wae that of the Rev. J. H. Carmichael, the woman's husband, or Gideon Browning, of Adalr, Michigan, a carpenter, with whom Carmichael seems to have had some mysterious dealings during the last few months. The minister, according to Sheriff Wagensald. was in the habit of carrying extra suits of clothes with him when he went Crlving round his circuit, and one Wednesday just before the discovery he notified Browning that he wished to meet him at the railway station. Neither has been seen since. Some portion of the burned garments, almost charred beyond showing any pattern, are believed to have been part of the minister's outfit, but. In view of the Sheriff's statement and tlie absence of both men, many people believe that the victim was Browning, dressed in the minister's clothes for obvious reasons. Mrs Carmkhael has been released, the Michigan police having developed a theory that the murder was a "fake," designed for some undisclosed purpose by the two men. According to this theory a corpse was taken from the graveyard and burned, and animals' blood spilled on the floor Public opinion, however, Is against the police theory, local residents preferring to believe that the fragments of flesh found In the two stoves were the remnants of a body done to death in hot blood. THE STRBNTJOtrSNESS OF ROOSEVE-LT. Mr Roosevelt, on January 14th, spent seventeen hours In the saddle, and rode ninety-eight miles over slushy Vlrgininn roads for the patriotic purpose of confounding the critics who denounced as a hardship his recent order that military and naval officers should periodically prove their physical fitness by riding ninety miles in three days. "What a President who is not in training can do," exclaimed Mr Roosevelt when he dismounted, with a broad grin, from his steaming horse, "ought to be easy for men who aj-e supposed always to keep in fit bodily condition." The President started at half-past three In the morning, accompanied by his military aide-de-camp, Captain Archlbold Butt, Admiral Rlxey, Surgeon-General of the Navy, and a naval surgeon, Mr Grayson. Cavalrymen were awaiting the little cavalcade at various points with relays of horses. In the first and last stages of the journey, which led by Centervillp. Bullrun, and Gainesville to Buckland, N>w Baltimore, and finally to Warrenton. Mr Roosevelt rode his favourite horse Boswell. He led the party nearly all the way at a killing pace, stopping nowhere for longer than ten minutes except at Warrenton, where the 'business houses and schools were closed, and all the inhabitants assembled and demanded a speech. He did the honours of the occasion, shaking hands with everybody, and then nte a gigantic meal, and rode back to the White House through the driving sleet. He arrived home at half-past eight In the evening, covered with mud from head to foot, and with his coat and hat encased In Ice. "It was bully," the President shouted, as, apparently unfatlgued, he ran lightly to his room. Half an hour later hp reappeared in evening dress, and was the life and soul of the dinner party with which his strenuous day concluded. DOGS , EANdTJET ENDS IN FIGHT BETWEEN 200 "GUESTS." One of those extravagant "Chrietmas treats," in honour of household pets, which clergymen in New York and Cincinnati are fervidly denouncing, resulted at Pittsburg In a sanguinary conflict between 200 dogs and their owners. The party was for the benefit of "Our Tedd.v," nn English prize bulldog, who was seated on a plush throne before a Christmas tree in an hotel, where he received 200 other doge of high and low degree, some of which had arrived in motor cnr s and others afoot. The tree was resplendent with coloured balls, tinsel, and electric lights, and was laden with presents In the shape of brass-studded collars, leashes, combs, brushes, and dog biscuits. Scarcely had the show opened amid a babel of yelps and barks than an ill-man-nered guest, half bulldog and half Irish terrier, launched himself with a yell of rage at n dachshund, which wae sitting, with a bored expression, on a table. The dachshund was a dummy stuffed with straw, but served the purpose. "Our Teddy" sprang from his throne, and in an instant the canine guests were engaged in a furious fight. Their owners joined In the melee, endeavoured to separate the combatants, and then fell to fightiujj themselves. The fray assumed such proportions that in a few moments dogs and men were fighting over the entire first floor of the hotel. When the police reserves arrived a score of poodles and Skye terriers were stretched lifeless on the battlefield. "Our Teddy" fixed his teeth in the calf of a sturdy policeman, whose stick caught the champion a stunning blow. Other bulldogs were soon clinging to other police- ; The regular vlsltoro to the hotel Ded into the street, vheie, according to the New York Press, n riotous crowd of several thousands gathered to watch the destruction of the hotel furniture. After tho fray more than twenty dogowners and policemen vlelted the Pasteur