STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 31, 5 February 1910, Page 15

STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

BUND MAN WHO SHOOTS. ▲ newspaper In Indiana, with seemingly the best authority, publishes an Interesting ! article concerning a blind German Inmate of a poorhouse, who goes hunting with a revolver, and seldom falls to return without game. The game Is always rabbits, and the way the blind hunter shoots them is interesting. He has a dog which he has trained to tree all the rabbits he scares up, and, when the rabbit has taken refuge, the hnnter finds his way to the spot by the barking. He carries with him a forked stick, and, if the rabbit has taken refuge in a hollow tree, he soon locates his game with it. Then lie uses his revolver with good effect, very seldom needing more than one shot. LIVED ON CHARITY, BT7T WAS A MONEY LiENDKR. Probate proceedings in Judge Graham's court, 'Frisco, in connection with, the estate of Susanna Moore, revealed the fact that Mrs Moore, Instead of being a pauper, as had been supposed, left £13,400. The old lady died on December 7, 1908, after having received financial assistance on many occasions from the relief funds and various religious societies. The Public Administrator, when he came to investigate, discovered that the estate consisted of £SOOO In cash, a note for £1200 given in return for a loan by the Twenty-ninth-street Methodist Church, another note for £1800, and city realty sufficient to bring the total up to £IS,-JOa During her lifetime the supposed pauper appeared to have no relatives, but the discovery of money has, as usual, been accompanied by the discovery of kin. Evidence was adduced showing that Mrs Moore lived not only among poor surroundings, but in actual squalor. ECHO OF THE SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE. A curious echo </f the Sun Francisco earthquake, three and a-half years ago, is noted by Chicago papers, in the restoration of the mind of Mr William Meyers, a Chicago architect, who was injured in the earthquake. Mr Meyers, who was well known, married n Chicago lady in April, 1906, and went to San Frandsfo for his honeymoon. He and his bride were In a hotel when the earthq-.iaic occurred, and, in the collapse of the building, Mr Meyers wns Injured and separated from his -wife. When he recovered from his injuries his mind was a blank, and he could not recognise his wife or hla friends when restored to them. Mrs Meyers returned to her parents, and her husband was taken care of by his friends. Recently he escaped from their guardianship, and wandered across country. During his wanderings he saw a railway accident, in which a man was crushed to death under a freight train, and the shock was so great that his mental faculties were suddenly restored. He took up the thread of his life where he had dropped it, and immediately asked those about him where his wife was. Though the intervening time <was completely blotted out between the accident and the present day, he was able to tell who he was and where he originally lived In Chicago. The result was that he returned to his wife, and the strangely Interrupted honeymoon has beeu resumed. Doctors state that he will probably be able to continue his profession as though nothing had happened. TERRIBLE SHAKE ADVENTURE. Lieutenant James H. Stewart, junior, while out swimming off Pollnao Point, near Manila, encountered a large shark. He tried to frighten It away, but the shark, after a momentary disappearance, rose right under him, and seized him by the calf of the leg, and carried the victim below. The report adds i—"With the water strangling him he struggled for life against the big brute, striking it In the head with hie other foot and with his flsts. In this way he finally, with a supreme effort, tore himself loose, leaving the muscles of his leg in the maw or the shark. Striking out with all his might he swam to the surface, and headed for the shore. The shark, satisfied with its ' pound of flesh,' did not follow him. On reaching shore he was In an exhausted condition. He tore up some oX hie clothes and bound np his injured leg as best he could to stay the flow of blood, and then made for town to seek such surgical assistance as might be at hand. All that could be done was done for him, and he was brought to the Civil Hospital at Manila, where, when the last mall left, he was reported to be lying In a. dangerous condition." COST OF A "PANCIFTJIi MOOD." After a mirth-provoking lawsuit lasting several days. Dr. Anlbel Zelaya, nephew of the Nicaraguan President who has just resigned the reins of power, was on December 19 ordered to pay £400 to Miss Juliette Hero, a Greek girl, who sued him for breach of promise. The beautiful plaintiff demanded £25,000.

Dr. Zeloya gave evidence in his own behalf, explaining to an incredulous jury that his ardent letters to Miss Hero were "merely the reflection of one of the,fanolfill moods which attack young men of Latin race In the springtime of life. The letterr were symbolical. "Did yon," asked cousel for the defence, "expect Miss Hero to lore you?" "Yes." "Ami do you call being tn love 'a fanciful mood'?" "Yes," was the reply. 'HXXLD BRICK" FRAUD. In the person of Charles Adams, au elderly, grey-haired / man, the police believe they have arrested the leader of a notorious gang of mining swindle operators who have fleeced their victims—mostly English people—of £50,000. The scheme of the gang, according to the police allegation, was to scan the death announcements in the .English newspapers. When a prominent man died they would write to him a letter, which naturally fell Into the hands of his heirs. The writer would pretend to be an old friend of the deceased, bound to him by ties of gratitude. He would announce that he was now ricn, and inrlte him to share his good fortune by investing hi a mine. The object was, 01 course, to get the executors to provide money. Several of these letters, addressed to dead men in England, have fallen into the han-ds of the police, who state that one woman, the widow of a wealthy Londoner, was fleeced of £10.000. "Gold brick" letters, nearly all of them couched in identical terms, have reached England in hundreds, and the ecand-al a little while ago attained such proportions that Scotland Yard issued a warning to the public explaining how the fraud is worked The police warning stated that if the storj of the swindlers was believed it led eometimes to "the despatch of a messenger to America to receive the bullion found. When this stage is reached a demand for money is on some pretext or other sprung upon the victim, who in the end is generally fleeced to a very considerable amount by the production of what appear to be bars, or bricks, of solid gold."

A widow In England was recently offered a half share in a gold mine of fabulous wealth, but she was required to pay £7000 in cash. Questions raised by her bankers when the money was being withdrawn proved her safeguard. Another widow, wno was about to advance £4000 "to develop the mine," was *l*o Mv*d by the common-

sense of her bankers. . In another case a man left tor America carrriag with him a large sum. to pay for a share in a mine, bat soon after his departure further inquiries were made and a cablegram saved hla money.