STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 37, 12 February 1910, Page 17

STRANGE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN PAPERS.

DIED IN TjAKB 08 , TAB. Entrapped In a lake of flowing tor, four men were held fact at the McCllntock and Irvine Company's roofing plant, on December 11th, a* Pittsburg, and were compelled to watch the gradually approaching flames. Three of them were burned to death, but the fourth managed to extricate himself and escape the horrible fate of his companions although be was eerionsly burned. It la said the men were not employed at the works, but, since winter set In, had been In the habit of sleeping there at night. In some manner the valve of a tar vat opened, and before the sleeping men knew their danger they were engulfed. Unable to freo themselves, although they struggled with all their might, they saw the tar flow to a boiler, where it was speedily ignited. Then, as the flre crawled toward them, they frantically cried for help. The night watchman was attracted by the cries, but was powerless to aid them. MINISTER'S CTTRIOUS GROUNDS OP DIVORCE). The Rev. Clarence B. Miller, pastor of th* Central Christian Church, Marlon, Pennsylvania, har brought action for divorce from his young wife, who was formerly Miss Margaret Ingels. Hβ alleges gross neglect and extreme cruelty. In his bill the minister says he was married at Lexington on October 2, 1008, and that bis wife has frequently made fun of his sermons, often asking him why he did not practise that which he preached. Mr Miller endeavoured to enppress the fact that he had filed the divorce suit. He explained that he etlll loved his wife, and wished to protect her from "undue notoriety." FIVE GO THROUGH ICE. The opening of the skating season claimed five victims near Kent, Ohio, and nearly obliterated a family. Frank Cormany, a farmer, and bis three daughters, Helen, Flora, and Mabel Cormany, nine, seven, and four years old, and Russell Cormany, eighteen years old, his brother, were the victims. The Cormany girls had been warned against venturing on the ice alone, and, there being no school session, they persuaded their father and nncle to accompany them to a nearby creek. The men were to skate and the children to slide. When they failed to appear for dinner Mrs Cormany, taking her three-year-old son Charles, the only surviving child, went to the homes of neighbours and organised a searching party. Search revealed at first only a big hole In the Ice. Later the five bodies were recovered. RUNNING DOWN A HUSBAND. When. Mrs B. Coleman, young and pretty, became suspicious of her husband she hired a saddle horse, stuck a revolver in her belt, and started to look for him. She met him in the Main-street, Okmulgee, Oklahoma, "Joy riding" with another When Coleman refused to get out of the automobile his wife opened flre, one bullet striking him In the spine. Another man and Troman were in the machine, and these, reinforced by tlie police, returned Mrs Coleman's flre. More than twenty shots were flred. In the excitement the chauffeur tried to escape In the automobile, but ran it upon the curb and it overturned. In the meantime Mrs Coleman had dismounted, and, when the machine overturned, it struck her and brofce two of her ribs. This enabled the police to capture her, and she Iβ now In the gaol hospital. Her husband Is not expected to live. £4000 DEPENDENT ON A DOG. Four thousand pounds hangs on the existence for four months longer of the Skye terrier dog, Proto, who Is very ill and was hurried to New York, from Montana, that a famous veterinary surgeon might use all hie skill to keep the little animal alive until his fifteenth birthday—next April. If Proto lives until he Is fifteen years old .Miss Caroline McLennan, of Chicago, will receive £4000 under the will of her Jate stepfather, Domlnlck Hughes, while if tbe dog dies tho money will revert to the Hughes estate. Mr. Hughes took offence at the care and attratlon lavished on Proto by Miss McLennan, and with a warped cynicism drew up his will with the express idea of making his stepdaughter lavish more care than ever on her pet. Mr. Hushes died six years ago. MRS. W. ASTOR'S IMITATION JEWELS. The simple public, accustomed to admire from afar the " gleaming of priceless Jewels In the Horseshoe Crescent of the Metropolitan Opera House," has received a Shock from the revelations made by the Revenue oaiclals regarding the Jewellery of the late Mrs. William Astor. It appears that tbe famous Cve-strand pearl necklace, which was the most treasured possession, of the most famous leader of American society, contains no fewer than ninety Imitation pearls, an? that its total value Is only £10,200. Apart from this the report of the appraisers shows that Mrs. Astor, whose husband left a fortune of some £12,000,000, lived her latter days In a condition of somewhat faded splendour. According to testimony filed at the Surrogate's Court, the furniture o£ the Fifth-avenue mansion, where Mrs. Astor held her receptions, was iv a most delapida,ted condition. The tapestries and carpets were even in holes. The Insignificant sum of £15 was fixed by the appraiser as the value of the piano.

Mrs. Astor's collection of jewels, which Is bequeathed to her daughters, Mrs. Charlotte Astor Hal?, of London, and Mrs. Orme Wilson, is valued at the sum of £4G,293. The jewels Include, besides the famous necklace, pearl earrings worth £5000; a broocih with two pear-shaped pearls, £2600; a diamond tiara, £MO0; a sapphire and diamond necklace, £3400; a bow knot brooch, £1000. CRIPPLE TEI/DS OP A TBiAC-IC ROMANCE. With the recital of a romance that brought tears to the eyes of spectators and attorneys alike, the case of crippled 17-year-old Angela Schlavone, au Italian j.lrl, accused of stealing from her father's bank, was resumed in the Criminal Court of Chicago on December 2S. The girl took the stand following her statement that she had stolen 97,820 dollars from the bank during th« last two yemra. Eight of the gill's relatives are accused or Inspiring the thefts by promising to get Angela a husband when she had secured enough money to buy him. Under a merciless cross-examination by the counsel for her relatives, during which the witness repeatedly broke down, the girl testifled that her uncle, Francesco Schlavone, and his wife first suggested the thefts. She said: " They told mc I was a cripple and would never be like other girls. * Nobody loves a cripple, . Uncle Francesco said. I wanted to marry, and he told mc the only way to get a husband was to buy one. I had no money, I told him, and uncle said I could take it from my father."

The girl showed a memorandum book containing a record of the date of each theft and the amount she took.

The wholesale robbery was discovered by means of marked bills that were traced to Miss Schiayone.