STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 299, 16 December 1911, Page 17

STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

THE " CHUCKER-OUT.'' An amusing, if embarrassing, incident occurred the other day in the New York Assembly, toe Lower Hou.se of the Stau Legislature. A certain Assembly-inau ha« persisted in speaking altar he hud beec declared ont of order, so the Speaker culled upon the Secgeant-atnAnns to compel the offending member to resume his seal. Normally this is done by toe official placing a hand on the member's shoulder. The Sergeant happened to be absent, and hii place was being filled by an assistant, a Tammany He crept down the aisle, made a eying leaf, threw one arm around the Assemblyman's neck, and bore him heavily to his seat There, was, of course, an immediate uproar, which ended in an explanation and apology. A PRAIRIE TRAGEDY. With the body of ler dead husband by her side, and five helpless children cllugins to her cot of blankets, Mrs George McDermitt was facing death when a party of teamsters on their way to Sklddoo (U.S.A.) stumbled into the camp, which had been visited by one of the most pitiful tragedies in the history of the bleak Mojave desert. The McUermltt family was travelling overland to California from Utah.' Seven weeks out from Mill Valley, their borne town, the first symptoms of poisoning, believed to have been caused by the -water of a treacherous spring, developed In a cow among the live stock. It died. The horses were stricken the next day. Then McDerinltt fell ill and six days later died. His wife searched the desert for mflea for water in an effort to save his life. ' She then became ill, and, according to Peter Blackburn, who met the rescue party, the sick woman has little iliriws of living.

BRIGA2TDB STOF TBAXBL Two masked desperadoes ilopyfl tia Oklahoma-Memphis express on tba Bock Island railway, on the Arkansas bank, at the Mississippi, on Tuesday, October SL They selected a spot Just opposite Vetophis, in a densely-populated district, and la broad daylight got clear away wtta ores £IO,OOO. The train wes approaching the Mississippi River when the two men were observed on the track signalling vigorously. The driver, never ttilnt-in g Q f bandits so near Memphis in broad daylight, stopped unhesitatingly, and the men boarded the cars. Too late, he saw that they were masked, and that they carried reTolvers. The men in the coolest mjtin-y drew him and the guard into one of the passenger coaches, and while one of them "covered" the passengers with his revolvers, the other proceeded to the mall ear. The Express Company's officials were driven at the revolver point to join the other prisoners, and the bandit calmly inserted a dynamite charge and blew open the bnlHon safe. The passengers were terrified by a threat to dynamite the passenger car if they made the slightest show of resistance, <?o the bandits were able to rifle the safe undisturbed.

The noise of the explosion attracted people from Memphis and the surrounding [ country, hut so quickly and coolly did the I bandits work that they got clear away ; with their booty. EUTOMBES METER'S DIAKT. The body of Jack Miller, who died in tat shaft of his mining claim, near Bridgeport. California, was recovered on November 2, and also a pencil-written sheet containing- his diary written day by day wb.Uo he was pinned down by a rock. Miller stood upright with his head thrown back; the shaft is slightly inclined, and he must have seen the sun which stood on the meridian as he wrote. The dally record is mm follows: — October 6.—lt's all up. Tea my wife ■ died game to the last. It is terrible to die like a rat in a trap, but we must all die some day, and I never wanted to die In bed. October 7.—1 am hungry, cold, and la great pain. Why doesn't help come? I wonder what they think has become of met This torture can't last ms<m longer. October B.—Sunday.—Still alive, but, oh I so cold and weary. God help me! I forgive mother; I forgive my enemies. The world seems so petty now. Death, where la thy sting? October 9.—lt Is- noon. IfJky do tley fosw get me? I am weaker ana weaker, and can only just scrawl. I would aire m* mining claim for a drink of water. I am getting numbed all over. October 10, Tuesday night.—Tie end la near. I don't suffer so much-; my mind seems easy. Death seema friendly, and I have no terrors. Our treat Creator Hat done all things well; I shall know the secret very eoon. October 11 consists of a rather illegible scribble, which seems to read, "My last night on earth; now comes peace." The date of October 32 Is plain on the diary, bat the record la undecipherable. The man's death was due chiefly to starvation. It was not until the body was recovered that the wife knew her husband was lost. Miller came to California a year ago from Virginia, and the assay certificate on which his diary was written showed that he had found gold at last.

DRAWUTGBOOM MUHDZ2K. At Opelausas, Louisiana, on October 28, the prosecution concluded Its case against Mrs Zoe Rnpge Mcßea, the wife of a wealthy railway official, who pleaded the "unwritten law" in answer to a charge of murdering Mr Allan Garland, a scion of one of the' oldest families tn the State. Supported by the enthusiastic approval of the leading women of Louisiana, Mrs Mcßea, a handsome woman of thirty-five and the mother of three children, preserves in conrt an attitude of perfect calmness. According to the testimony offered by the prosecution, she did not lose her self-pos-session for a moment after the tragedy. With the pistol still smoking she left Mr Garland dead in her drawingroora, and drove first to a neighbour and afterwards to the grandmother of the victom, to whom she announced that she had been obliged in. defence of her owu honour to shoot her young friend. Mrs Garland, an aged woman, whose favourite grandson was the dead man. Informed the Jury that when sne beard the dreadful message she exclaimed, "I must go to my poor boy Immediately. Maybe he is not dead." "Oh, I assure yon that Allan is dead," Mrs McRea replied. "I shot him three times, Mra Garland." The grandmother testifled that fifteen minutes before the shots were flred Mr Garland was called on the telephone by Mr Mcßea, who said, "Mrs Mcßea wants * reel of cotton. lam going to take one to her." The contention of the prosecution ia that Mr Mcßea deliberately lured the t»X to hl» home In order t» kill hta.