CONTINENTAL ITEMS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 167, 13 July 1912, Page 17

CONTINENTAL ITEMS.

■ AN INGENIOUS BODGE--V man. we-'.i-dressed, apparently the worse for drink, rolled against a wineshop window iv the suburbs of Paris, and broke it- The wine merchant seize.! him and demanded payment. The man pleaded that he bad no money, and that lie sbonld not tie arrestee!. fur be was an honest man. ami would pay for the damage on the first opportunity. Someone in the crowd cried ont. noti'in:. that the wine merchant seemed good natnrett. "Search him before yon let him go." The shopkeeper did so, and found upon the window-breaker a note- tor a thousand francs. Then be said: •'Had you I been a poor man 1 would have allowed you to go. Inn as you have this money you must pay in. " Forthwith be handed to the man '.Gil francs, deducting 50 for the damage. The inebriate went on his way rejoicing. for later it tias found the note was a forgery. A MARRIAGE COMEDY. I Leoi ..dine Zaeb. a pretty young woman, lis bedi.-- tried for having deceived a parish i priest in order to get married. Being only j twenty-three, she was, according to AusI trian law. under age, and required th- con- ! sent of her father. He. however, refused ■ to give it unless she induced ber stepmother [to agree. This the girl considered beneath ' her dignity. She declares that a police i official, who was much amused at her I dilemma, told her that the permission of i any man who looked old enough to be her | father would suffice. Taking this advice ! seriously, the youna: woman secured the : services of an elderly man in return for a . pint of beer. After tbe wedding the impos- | lure was discovered, and the bride arrested. ' SCHOOLBOYS* SUICIDE. : Lately suicides among hoys and girls have been of almost daily occurrence In Russia. 1 Letters from Poltava describe the suicide of two pupils of the clerical school in that j town. They were aged respectively 11 and il4 years, and were intimate friends. Their | record was bad. They were oftem impertiI nent to the teachers, and went so far as to i place phis in their chairs. On being severely reprimanded, they apparently resolved to commit suicide. They tidied up their ■ few belongings, and at two o'clock one j morning quietly dressed themselves and left \ the school by the kitchen staircase, reachi ing the highway, and just opposite a monas- , tery laid themselves hand in hand on the rails as an express train was approaching. The driver saw something on the line, bnt i md not stop in time, and the two boys were cut completely in two. Neither of the faces was touched. In a pocket of one of the boys a letter was found saying: i "There is no hope of our reforming," and j giving the names of four persons whom 1 they charged with being responsible for their deaths. The elder lad had also writ- : ten to a girl at a local girls' school enjoin- ! ing her not to forget him. -'I loved you, ; and I love you." be added. i At Kieff a boy of sixteen committed suiI cide after being expelled for inducing bis school fellows to refuse to do home work. |He told his friends of his intention, and the same evening went into a park and shot himself -with a revolver which he obtained from his father's house. The next day bis comrade, received the teacher in doss with liisses antl cries of "Murderer." One of the toys delivered an oration at the suicide's j graveside-. j THE BEARDED _\ T ____C__. A queer story of how a disinherited niece compensate!! herself comes from Bonnes. France. The lady's -wealthy aunt, lime. Gosselin, took exemption to the masked balls her niece gave and to her «ojnaintanees in artistic circles, and decided that she would disinherit her. The niece vowed that she would obtain all the money her aunt intended to withhold from her. Disguising herself as a bearded man, she effected an entrance into her aunt's bouse during the absence of the servant. The old lady was about to retire to rest when the intruder _rtt___ked her. threw pepper in her eyes, and tried to stifle her with a pillow. Mmc. Gosselin offered a. stoat resistance, however. The niece then struck her on the head with a vase. and, producing a knife, stabbed her in the eye. Pushing her on a chair, she ti en. attempted' to bind and strangle her. The aunt now swooned away, arid the niece set to wort to p__age- the bouse. She seized all the sQ-per and money she could lay- her bunds en. As site was 3eavi_*r the old woman ---gained «___-_io____e__. and recognised her assailant In. spite of her disguise. The niece -had -been assisted in her exploit by iber daughter •________- and _ young man named Boquet. She and Baejuet left the town, but her __ng__er was arrested. The young man has since s_bc_ iiimself up. ORGIES CAUSE SCA__DA_L IN THE RUSSIAN __________ Drunken orgies _____ -<___n___a.i___. .a -m__n Cossack post at __bag__t__, __es_-__g to a report received at ___o_a__n. from ______! M_x_ino__. chief of the ______r-sn____ in the Amur territory. The past __t___a__ of -a. dozen men. under C_q_____- ___bro_t____, of. the Fourth Cossack _!________ He exercised no d_sc_j___ne over his men. who spent most of .their time in _rl_i_J_ec bouts, and two of the men actnalTy- -Bed. last January from __leo_Bß_ic paisotrtng. On Easter eve a t_r_reL. s_____ -__ found lying dead drunk in a ne_g_____tnjr-tillage street, with the thermometer <m*y a. few degrees over zero. There -was a fight In March _____<_} -«£ sergeant and one of his men named Volt, The latter had the drum of an ear _______ When he left hospital the soldiers were laying in their supply of vodka for the Easter holidays, and Captain r-atorohotoff presented tb"_a with over two •qtnrrts-o. the spiritOn Easter Sunday the -tenter sate-came to blows with Voik. who got the worst of the encounter. lie was bound hand and foot, and after being badly mishandled was thrert-gi under a bed. He managed to unloose his bonds, and. seizing _ rifle, shot his antagonist dead. The commander . f the district. Captain Oberi. who was stationed eighty or ninety miles away, was informed of the occurrence, hut ten days elapsed before he and the ■ ..lonel of the Four, t'ossa-ck Regiment came to Ahairaitu:. Hue of the men die,] on January "... The body was placed In tie- messTo.tn, siiua.-'sl between the dormitory ani th" kii'ite_. and a post-mortem e.aminailo:. was not maduntil five days later. Then ihe body was put in a coffin, which wa.. taken in the stab;«s. wber-' i; remained for on.- _ f.-ri <:'..-. eteneriii Martlnoff ha« reprimanded th" '■..lon-: -.f "lie Fourth <".issue!; Ke-gimcfl. h.is r-moved i ..plain eiberi from the- e-otn-mar.d of tl:r- .1 ---jr.:. and ha.-, ..-rue-red th? prosecution ■■'. e'apiaia DobrnhotoS.