STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 305, 21 December 1912, Page 17

STORIES FROM AMERICAN PAPERS.

15,000 WOMEN WITH TORCHES. There was an imposing torchlight parade f women suffragists In New York on nnday nl£ht, November 10, to celebrate heir election victories. Fnlly 35,000 romai, with a sprinkling of male sympahteers, paraded Fifth Avenue, and balf a. lUlion spectators cheered them in the most riendly manner. The parade wound up rith an open-air meeting in Union Square, rhere several speakers pleaded for voting quality in all the States of the Union. POACHING NAMES. Scottish. Americans in Boston have tarted a new crnsade with the object of rousing New Bnglanders with English and Scotch names to the dreadful fact that lewcomers from Hungary and Poland—, •olloquially known as Hun-ke and Polacks — ire poaching their names. The movement lad its origin In an application to the :onrt by a Pole that he should hereafter >c known as Patrick Grant. He intended o carry on the retail liquor trade. A aveat was successfully lodged agatnet the scheme. SUICIDE FROM SEA SICKNESS. Suffering from sea sickness, Mr Alien 3ernerp. a first-class passenger, aged thirtylive, on board the New York, which arrived ;t New York on Thursday, November 7. ;oi\mitted snicide on the previous Sunday b> jumping into the sea (luring a storm. Mr (iornerp was leaning over a rail when the purser asked i£ he felt no better. "Wretched. , " the passenger replied with ii groan. A moment later he pulled a knife 3Ut of his rocket, slashed at his throat, and U'Diped oerboard. The liner w stcppcl, nnl her rr.ats lowered, hut n« trace of the n>au :oul(l be discovered. THE MURDER OF A BAITIMOBI HEIRESS. Tte police at Lima, Ohio, have arrested Beatrice Ryall, the woman lion tamer, and Charles Conway, the oue-legged high diver, suspected of being concerned In the ninrdei of Miss Sophie Singer, a roans B*!ti/uor« heiress, who recently eloped to Chicagc with a tram conductor. The pair at firsi protested their innocence, but on Frldaj iftcruoon, November 1. the woman confesses thnt Conway murdered Miss Singer, anc advanced the strange iiotive that he c°if mitted the crime in orS-v get money foi an operation on his •jmpufiled leg. Mis; Singer, who was f o have been marrie* to her lover in a day or two, was founc in her room in a Chicago boarding-house having been gagged, bound, and robbed o cash and jewellery to the value of £200 Ryoll and Conway, with whom she wai acquainted, had disappeared, and it wa: known that as the latter was sufferinj from blood poisoning it could not be ion; before he sought medical advice. It wa while visiting a Lima doctor that he wa. arrested. "THE RIGHT TO DIE." Mrs Harris, of New York, who jumpei into prominence a few weeks ago by declai ing that incurables have a perfect right t die. and who petitioned the New Yor] Legislature to sanction euthanasia in he special case, comes back into the limeligh to-day by declaring she is much better, thank you, and now demands the right to live. For years Mrs Harris has been a helpless and apparently hopeless paralytic, and she begged for release from her suffering by death. Newspapers correspondence ensued in New York, many writers supporting the patient's plea for legalised euthanasia in certain cases, and just as many opposing the same as un-Christian and dangerous to the community. One important argument advanced was that the medical diagnosis was often mistaken, and many "hopeless cases" recovered; and even if they do not recover, the victims, like threatened institutions, live a very long time. This argument applies to Mrs Harris, who no longer begs for death, and admits that, though bed-ridden for years, she can now sit up, that her hands, formerly cramped, have now unclose-1, and her mind formerly numbed, is now nearly restored to its full vigour. According to expert opinion there Is no reason why Mrs Harris, in another sis weeks, should not be able to walk, and in a few weeks more she is expected to get quite well. There has been no special treatment, apparently, beyond massaging and general nursing, supplemented by a persistent endeavour to heal the patient's mind of any morbid trend. The doctors and masseuses claim that they have been assisted by Nature's tendency to heal. They deserve tbanks, but the friends of the patient believe that the strongest influence I towards recovery is mental, and ha? been I the revision by Mrs Harris herself of her* gloomy ideas regarding life and death. They say that the spirit of cheerfulness which ensued helped immeasurably Nature's persistent tendency to heal maladies waicli are sometimes described as hopeless. Its cure, they say, is due rather to vis medicatrix naturae than to drugs and lotions. SUGGESTIVE DANCES. In Philadelphia, the Quaker city, and in New York, -where Croesus predominates, a fresh campaign Is being waged against eccentric dances in ball rooms. The "turkey trot" and "bnnny hug," and such like terpsichorean peculiarities were banished a long time ago, but in their train came other caperings of a suggestive sort, which society matrons consider equally pernicious. It is proposed, therefore, that society, as represented by some of the most prominent hostesses, should unite to institute a rigid censorship over dances for debutantes and the younger set generally, and for this lofty pnrpose New York and Philadelphia, which have little in common, except that the municipal government of each great city is equally "boss-ridden," and equally exploited for selfish purposes, have joined hands. The society shepherdesses of Philadelphia started a crusade, and New York quickly followed suit. In due course the return movements may extend to Chicago, which, despite various waves of moral uplifting, remains almost as unregenerate as when the late Mr Stead wrote, "If Christ came to Chicago." Many of the best known ladies Iα Philadelphia and New York met to discuss objectionable dances and suggest remedial measures. They agreed that the undulating affectionnteness of the new dances is not the only think that is going to be tabooed. For example, there will be no more sitting on stairs in shaded nooks. If lights are mysteriously turned out for minutes, as has happened too frequently in the past, the caose will be investigated. Young folks in New York have had a custom which is also going to be abolished. Frequently the debutantes and "second-year girls" were herded into the middle of the ballroom. Then, while the orchestra did its best, the young men, in a mad scramble, grabbed girls, gyrated around the room, put the first girls and grabbed other girls. This pastime will not be considered good form during the coming season. It Is hinted that the supply of champagne will be rather limited for young folks.