STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 287, 2 December 1911, Page 17

STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

■ . PRIMA DONNA'S SECRETS I "The world is not so sii.ali, alter all, j when one can marry aim get uiv.iucl I without attracting aticii..-..!, .-m..iii ij I observed Miss uiive Kreius>i.»*», ihe- vi..-.a | tic soprano of the Metropoiituu v, a I House, .Sew York, recently. Miss Fremstad's satisfactiou was ciu«s ;;> he fact that after the •San Francisco cii ta.i>.ake she secretly married Mr. Suipueii, a I reputed millionaire, in Salt Lake City and ! kept the secret inviolate for three moutita. In July jt she divorced her husband aud only disclosed the fact of tin divorce yesterday. The case appears to &aye been heard behind closed doors at New York, and resulted in a verdict ordering the respondent husband to pay the plaintiff alimony at the rate of £10 monthly. Miss Fremstad described her husband's • occupation as a "gold-mine proprietor." He was formerly an officer in the United States Navy, and married the singer two days after his first wife divorced him. MUNICIPALISED MATRIMONY. A matrimonial bureau described as a "clearing house for lonely sonls" is the latest municipal institution In the United States. Its founder, Mr. Banna, Mayor of Dcs Moines, lowa, announces that all clients of the novel instttntlon, which, he declare*, "meets a long-felt want of modern civilisation," will be married tree. The affairs of the "clearing house" are In tha bands of the mayor's secretary, Mr. Edward Lytton, who has been, appointed by the city to be general maaager of the bureau. According to notices published la the newspapers, women desiring to find husbands are requested to send to Mr. Lytton their names and addresses and other particulars, together with their photographs. With the material thus furnished Mr. Lytton will compile an official "waiting list" divided into three classes: (a) Women between 18 and 25 years of age; (b) women between 25 and 35; to women of 35 and upwards. Men applying to the "dealing Souse" far wives are required to state the class within which their own age falls. In making recommendations to suitors Mr. Lytton will (have the assistance of an advisory matrimonial board consisting of the mayor of the city, the clerk, and the municipal officer of health. DIVORCE INSURANCE. "Divorce Insurance Is the nov«l solution of the problem of marital unha-ppinesa suggested by Mnie. Knriu Michaelis, the Danish authoress of "The Dangerous Age." In t the New York "Evening World" the novelist argues that the time has arrived when all parents should insure their daughters against a divorce, the policy to mature after a certain number of years. Her scheme provides for the compulsory assumption by the husband of dfvorce insurance responsibilities. She would regulate the annuity In accordance with the hus- . band's income, and says that no premiums would be paid after the couple had reached an age -when divorce is out of the Question. If the "calamity"' should still happen the wife would be entitled to draw an annuity by virtue of the amount paid up on the policy. The authoress admits Unit the schema may be faulty in detail, hut is confident that its principle will eventually be adopted. "I am aware," she says, "that many will call my Idea silly and lmprac- . ticable, and that old-fashioned people may take great offence, but some day when I ■am lying under a beautiful weeping birch, with little birds on Its branches,' I expect that divorce-insured women will come on my birthday and decorate my grave with flowers of thankfulness." "WHOLESALE MURDERS. An extraordinary series of crimes hue been brought to llhgt by the discovery on »uutiay, October loch, at Bltewoni, Kansas, of an entire family of five persona lying murdered lv their heme When the police were summoned they found pinned on the breast of each victim. a paper upon which were ■written the word*: "ICtinem-ber Colorado Spring." Then it was remembered that only a few Sundays ago a series of murders, also resulting in the wiping out of a family, had occurred at Colorado Springs. Now, as the result of information rappiled from various sources, tie police of the two towns have discovered that a terriWa series of murders, resulting m. -the deaths of fourteen persons, has been enacted, at midnight on the Sundays of September 17, October 1, and October 15, at Colorado Springs and Ellsworth, which, though situated In adjoining States, are a considerable distance apart. The authorities declare that the unfortunate victims were murdered by the same man or gang of men for some set purpose, which cannot at present be ascertained. The whole affair, in face, has so far entirely baffled the police, who have tried all tho ordinary methods for detection of crime, including the use of bloodhounds, without any success. THE ASTOR MILLIONS. Thirty million pounds, according t» figures gleaned from New York tax-books, represents the total value of land and buildings in Manhattan Island owned by the Astor family. The assessed valuation of the Astor property In New York, which approximately is 60 per cent of Its omnrketoWe value, amounts, says a New York cor- ! respondent, to £21,591,860. Of this lm--1 mense total the share of 'Jlr. William Wal- : dorf Astor, who Tires in England, repreI son's an assessed value of £10,058,000. ! Colonel John Jacob lAsror, a cousin, pays rases on £R.-H>.6W. while the estate of his father, the tare Mr. William Astor, is assessed at C1.203.D00. According to a I'.'t prepared under the supervision of the Tax commissioner. Mr. I.wwson R. Purely, the Astor e-tvte »m- ---, brakes TOO parcels o" land in nil parts of ' Manhattan Island. In Firth Avenue e.r.-.l Rrondivny tlie most valuable pirns belong to the Asters. Tie Waldorf A'rtoria '.tot •' nlore Is ns-srs-'er'l at ir.-iiro than £2 <l.<fi '■ Hi. Of this the shnre of Mr. Wn-ldovi.' * °-.-. ■ Jun.. Is co:n.p'-ted at £1,070,000. H> •> poorer districts of New York th:- toof entire streets pay weekly rr'.lr. ;• ■ the Aster estate coffers, which «re enriched by the rents of dozens or th" pretentions apartment houses In th' :> • side. The sum of £4,00f) 000 left sixty-":' years ago by the founder of the Astor fortunes, has thus increased more th.-m sevenfold in -the Manhattan realty holdings alone. The tax-book shows Instances of plots of land purchased by the first 7ohn Jacob Astor for £1000 wtnett have grown , with the marvellous growth of New York | to the assessed value of £1,400,000 In 1011.