STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 67, 19 March 1910, Page 17

STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

'I'll W. VH! I I .Tim 'I'H I h!HV A mysterious lady thief who has chosen the fashionable hotels as the field of her operations is causing intense chagrin to the police by the ingenuity with, which Ehe catches them iv their own traps. Though detectives are specially engaged to parade ffr° corridors and reception rooms to prevent the continuance of a baffling scries of thefts, their appearance has invariably been followed by the unircconntable disappearance of some vainable piece of taie-a-brac or costly Jewellery. The lady's latest feat is the seizure of a I<onlß XV, clock, which she carried away unobserved from the dining room of the Hotel Buckinsham. A few days ago a lady visitor at an hotel was seated at a writing table when a fash-ionably-dressed woman, heavily veiled, took possession of a chair opposite. A few moments later a pocket-book containing £20 was mission from the table, and the stranger was nowhere to be seen. Next day the ! hotel manager received a packet by post. It -was the empty pocket-book, accompanied by the following note: —■

"I love pretty clothes and jewellery. I stole this purse because I could not content myself with, comparing the condition between myself and the richly-gowned woman to whom It belonged. I must struggle, yet she has everything! I return the purse, however." A series of robberies from fashionable flats Is attributed to the same iroman. "WHAT DO WAITERS' TIPS AMOITNT TO. "What do a waiters' tips per week average in a big hotel? Tills was the question before a. jury In New York Supreme Court, when a -waiter's wife sued for a separation, and asked for liberal alimony, because, as she alleged, her husband earned £20 a week. Affidavits were produced showing that the man received £5 a month In wages, and evidence ■was given that the rest of his earnings consisted of tips. It appeared further that the same waiter once worked at a popular restaurant of on almost all-night variety, and In those days took £14 weekly. His wife claimed at least £5 weekly as alimony, and the husband offered 16/. He denied that he earned more than £5 weekly.

After full inquiry, a Press correspondent found confirmation in his own personal experience that Americans in New York give in. tips about 00 per cent of the bill, seldom less, seldom more. The idea, of getting a hundred dollars a tweek, chiefly by tips, is ridiculed on all aides, as the mere imagination of ihe waiter's wife. A canvass at the very hotel ■where the aforesaid waiter was employed showed that 12/ a day was considered a good average for "the best waiters. These are experienced men, speaking two or three languages, and receiving £5 a month in regular wages. One of the managers of the hotel declared that there was not a- waiter in New York earning £20 in tips, and if there was, he would apply for that post himself. I'WTT.T'.TO'y ATTKTrea iR3SBIIK3ED FTtOM PTJI#FIT OF MEW YOKE CfcLLUSCH. A score or more of New York millionaires, including Mr. 'Pierponrt Morgan, were roundly lectured 'by 'the Rev. Hugh Birkhead, rector of St. George's Episcopal Church, Mew York, on a irecent Sunday, for arriving tote for divine service. (Dae congregation of this church ranks as "the (richest in the metropolis. Mounting the pulpit, the irector scanned i£he array of wealthy worshippers with a disapproving eye. Then, leaning forward, he observed, severely: "When I entered this church one minute before 11 o'clock not ■half .the seats were filled. It ia irreverent of you not to be in time. You should re member that 11 o'clock on Sunday morning is an appointment with God. I hope in future you will bear this in mind." The rector followed this rebate T>y a scathing sermon on "exclusive Christianity."

"I have been , examining the pay rolls," he said, "of some of our great mills, and I find that the wages aTe too low. There should -be no poor, for there is enough Id this world lor everyone. My friends, when the eye of God is upon yon, you will be glad to "throw money away. It is not aright that some should 'have more than they want while otEers suffer. It must result harmfully for those wiho possess re.

**TTiis exclusive Christianity is a parody; and yet," the clergyman added with fervour, "you are saying to yourselves, ' I 'will not change it; I don't want no change it' Hew -would 'this pewed church appear In the sight of God? The day "will come when all must pass before the All-seeing Eye. Yon will sum np the opportunities which were yours before, and you will say, ' Now I know. , (Bat It "will be 'too late." MAP ON HEX'S EGG. Ezra Bart, who lives about a mile east of the Corners, has a hen which no amount of money will buy, the "New York World" says. It is a scrawny, ill-appearing fowl, with, bedraggled feathers and a semi-bold head, and, what Is more, it has laid only one egg in its entire two years' existence. Still, old Betsy, as the hen is called, has a niche in Ezra's heart and gets the very best grain the farm affords. The secret of all this Iβ that The one egg Betsy laid contained on its shell a raised waterline map of the spot where old Jeremiah Burt, Ezra's great grandfather, burled his gold at the time of the revolutionary war, and with the aid of this map Ezra recovered the treasure. Just how much this was no one has been able to find out, but it is known that the mortgage on the farm has been paid off and the Burt family is living in comfort.

The Burts gave up hunting for the secreted wealth 40 years ago, after they had searched and dug until they were tired out They knew that the paternal Burt sunk his gold somewhere in the earth and went off to war without telling his family' where he bad placed it, further than that it was on the farm.

Last summer a gipsy came along celling beads and laces, and offered to go into a trance and solve the treasure riddle, provided Ezra bought a dollar's worth of her waxes Buft toCS* up the offer, and In her trance the woman .said that some day an old scrawny ben would lay an ess on which, would be found a map. If this were followed the treasure would be found. Ezra thought he was "stangi" but he paid the dollar."

Nothing more happened until a month ago, when Betsy was fonnd in the wood box behind the kitchen stove. Horrified at tue idea of having a hen In her kitchen, Mrs. Burt shooed her out, and was surprised to find an egg nestling in the shavings. The ess had peculiar raised lines on the shell, and Ezra, was called. He remembered the prophecy of the gipsy, and carefully studied the shell. Sure enough, there was a map, with a little star at the base of an old maple tree tn the sugar orchard.

With a pick and shovel Burt set forth, and an hour later returned with a discoloured copper kettle, heavy with. gold. The family kept the secret until the mortgage was paid, when, it Became common property. All efforts to get Ezra to tell how much money; he found in the kettle have failed. <'■ ' ■