AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 270, 12 November 1909, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN ITEMS.

WIDOW AND /

Mrs. Mary Ann Howitt, a' widow t», siding at 542, Station-street, Nortk Carlton, Melbourne; had a sensationi! encounter with a burglar. After .a*.' curely locking up the house, she retired to rest, at a comparatively early hen? and at 10.20 p.m. she suddenly awok* to the fact that there was a man ii the room. The intruder, who wore ». mask, had lit the gas, and "when V found that Mrs. Howitt was awake h» immediately placed his hand over \a ' mouth, at the same time saving "pit murder you if you call out!"" Un'fieteik red by his threat, Mrs. Howitt managed to call out, and made sufficient noi,, to alarm the next door neighbours whs had not retired for the night. On hear*, ing other people moving about, the on* glar made a rush for the back door aaJ escaped. SENSATIONAL CAPTURE, There was an exciting scene at Hind, marsh at midnight on Wednesday (savi an Adelaide telegram). Constabl* ! Moulden and Nicholls while on dnf» saw a man walk away from the front door of Maurice Rowe's furniture shewn towards a plantation abutting on Parkroad. They followed the man, aa J Moulden called out, "I am a police con-, stable, and want to speak to you." jy, I caused the stranger to increase his pace. Constable Nicholls ran to intercept him. and the man turned and fled. Coal stable Moulden hailed him again, hm got no response. As he came within nine feet of the man, the latter paused momentarily, drew a revolver, and fired point-blank at the policeman's head, ! The bullet whizzed past the eonstableV right cheek, and the stranger ran away.. Both constables pursued, and . were i subjected to a running fire of revolver' 1 bullets. They returned, the fire with■out effect. Shots were exchanged wits' frequency, and ,ten bullets were aimed ' at the fugitive.

Ammunition ran out, and the polW caught up to the fugitive. As they aai proached, he struck out viciously at Nicholls with his revolver. After a struggle, the police captured him, and charged him with attempted murder. When cautioned, the man replied. ' "You are lucky that I did not settlel the pair of you." The man gave ths name of Bruce Root. When searched he was found to be in possession of a number of skeleton keys, two woollen socks (presumably used "to guard against the possibility of leaving finger prints)' and one unspent revolver cartridge. He was wearing a pair of large felt dip. pers. He subsequently admitted that he was Bruce Usher.

At about 5 o'clock this morning three constables paid a visit to Frost-street, : Brompton Park, and entered the house of a woman whom accused described u| his mother. They went into a room a§9 parently occupied by a woman, andi found a five-chambered, revolver, fully.; loaded, lying on the dressing-table. Thft room contained several large trvrnki,: containing new drapery, wearing apparel, and other articles. The woman said she purchased but did not know from whom. Sh»; was taken into custody and charged with unlawful possession.! She <raTtij the name of Eva Usher, and herself as a widow. r» a free tsoxTSTßrsr.: ' fi Australians are wont to boast that this is a free country (saya the Sydney " Daily ' Telegraph - / of November 4. At" Clifton yesterv day 200 men chased two brother-workers.:: The two men, Williams and Phillips, hap-i;; pened to be casually strolling towards" the railway station with two police ; ofß-,? cers. The strikers at once had their sus-i pieions aroused. A rumour had beencirculated'that Williams and Phillips in* tended to return to work at the miM this week. -Here, they imagined, ;WM" r the project in course of execution. Two hundred men rushed after the two. But,' fortunately the police were at hand, and protected the two men, who were, how«: ever, subjected to hoots and insulting epithets. The women, especially,, were: loud in their imprecations. But, that was not all. The president of the local miners' lodge inquired angrily of. tha senior-sergeant of police:—"How is it. that you allow those two men to walk about the township? They should hs, kept inside their houses." And this il' in a free country! DISCOVERY OF A METEOBITE, The attention of Mr. H. Goodwin, ofHermitage Plains, was recently attracted by a large mass of unusual appearance; On examination in the chemical laboratory of the geological survey of JJevf South Wales of a small piece sent by Mr, Goodwin, the presence of an alloy of Iron and nickel was detected, which indicated a meteoric origin for the stone; Mr.: Goodwin has presented what remained ot the mass •to the survey. The surface of the specimen, where unbroken, shows the black skin and " thumb," like the Mount Browne meteorite seen to fall m 1902. The meteorite is now on vie* in. the Mining and Geological Museum, George-street North, near Dawes PoinV where it has been removed from thr Domain. AUSTRALIA'S FIRST BAHOO*° ' RACE. ~ .... i For the first time in Sydney, a doubt* balloon ascent took place last week at the "Building Australia" Prince Alfred Park, when Professor W. J. Holloway and Captain Penfold participated in a balloon race. The professor steered the great "Building Australia" balloon —the largest in the Commonwealth—and as its great bttlkt of 80ft. in height, rose in the air, it looked every, inch a huge aerial yacht. ft, ascended to a height of about 3,oooft* when it began to descend, and it was finally steered to a vacant patch |at ground, where the plucky aeronaut, cut- S ting away from the balloon, made * pleasing and easy descent. Captain Penfoid followed soon afterwards, and rose to a height of SOU 1,500 ft. He was unfortunate In knocking against some live electric wires, ana marrowiy escaped considerable injury. In fact, the wires knocked him off M 5 trapeze, and but for being hooked 't* the parachute rope, he would have met with a catastrophe. He, hbweVer,! pluckily righted himself, and a few m?; ments later landed in Surry Hills-Hi! 'balloon, being set free, rose to a considerable height, and finally landed at Bondi. .