News From All Quarters

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 156, 1 July 1916, Page 15

News From All Quarters

MEAN TRICft ON A SOLDIER. At Liverpool the other day David Laird Aitken was sentenced to sii months' hard labour for theft from a wounded Canadian soldier by means- of a confidence trick. It was stated that Aitken left with his victim a. wallet purporting to contain a £sl> j note, but it was really a card with the ■woede, "God -be with you till we meet again." The prisoner had io his poesee•sion what purported to be a £50 note tusaded Bank of Engraving. ATTEMPTED fITUEOER. At Lancaster, George Gameson, a horse.man belonging to Birmingham, was rejaanded on a charge of attempting to mur<ler -Elisabeth Cooper, Lancaster. Prisoner forced himself into the house where Cooper .was-lndslng and attacked her with a poker •and razor. Mrs Knowlee, wifla whom Cooper lived, flung heraelf over Cooper as -sire lay in bed, herself receiving wounds, and wrested tb.e< poker and razor from prisoner. PROSPEROUS EGYPT. *■ ;E £7pt is very prosperous, owing to an improvement in tie cotten trade, the presence of a large body of British troops, and to the undertaking of new military works, states the report of the financial adviser. Lord Edward Cecil. For the first time in recent history "Egjjrt has found herself I able'not only to meet her foreign charges In full, Tiut also to repay, or at least to lend toocb to Burope, a -portion of the capital whldb. she lus'torrowed'-so lavishly .in the past." ••- BLtTEJACKET PHILOSOPHER. Giving an accotuxl of tlie entertainments recently given to British bluejackets at Moscow, the "Russkoye Slovo" relates that cne of the party, in returning thanks after a theatrical performance, made the followtms impromptu speech:—"You—artists, painters, mustdane, writers, poets and journalists—create so that the creations of yocr rendering are everlasting and cannot die, *nd we sailors bear death and destroy the enemy so~izixt you have the means of creating." A BIG AMERICAN PHOJECT. According to plans published in New. York, the Inter-Ocean Submarine Engineering Company will shortly commence the work of salving cargoes of 'bullion and other valuables from vessels sunk as the result of the European war. Among the numerous vessels to receive the attentions of this enterprising concern will be the Lusitania, and altogether it is estimated that a total of £60.000,000 worth of goods can be recovered from vessels which are not more than 400 feet below the surface. The president of the corporation is Rear-Ad-miral Chester, U.S.N, (retired), and many prominent American bankers are providing the financial backing. NO KID GLOVE CAMPAIGN. "Smash everything, including the fixtures, in all co-called drug stores w&lca are really saloons," are the orders of ■Mayor Hiram C. Gill to the Seattle police. "I am willing to take my chance with any jury if these fellows g u into court ami claim damages," said the ilayor. "No £*nsible man believes that a drug store that carries 2000 dollars worth of llqnor stock is conducting a legitimate business. My directions to the police are to make It plain to the bootleggers that this is not a kid glove campaign. Chief Beckingham, acted with my approval when he cleaned up the Stewart Street pharmacy Tuesday night. The bootlegging business is getting less easy, and it will -be more and more difficult from now on." £42 UNDER DUSTBIN. When arrested on a charge of stealing £150 from the Devonshire Arms, Moreton Street. Pimlico, -George Brooker, thirtyflve, a barman, made the following remarkable confession: "Yon have got mc, but you won't get the money back. You will find some of the money under the dustbin In the yard. You can't get it all. I will not teH you wher the other Is, because I wonld rather get ten years &an shop the others. The woman at Ac house does not knqw anything about it. I had to sfcare tuß nsoupy with, dj* pnJs, tut <I shall not te!l you who they are." A police-sergeant went to the address given *>y WlHtans— a house in. Dorset Road, Clapham, wnere he was arrested—and at the spot indicated he fiinml under the soil abont £42 tied up in a linen *undle. The Westminster magistrate sent Brooker for trial. • *; A HUNGARIAN , BLUEBEARD. Anotiher Bluebeard affair lias been die covered in Hungary. According to messages from Zartrtt, the bodies of seven women were discovered recently In the , cellar of -a. shop kept ty a -toman, named t in. the little town of Cziakota. ( The bodies were in seven lead barrels. Tie pollee visiting the shop had one of the -mysterious barrels opened, and it was cfoaod to contain the decomposed .body of a • -woman. The other barrels were opened, 1 and bodies- of six more victims were dis- ; covered. An invesagatien by the police ■ showed a»t Belakies -was first married .wMla in service. -His wife disappeared : seven years ago. Belakiss had in the town .the-reputation of a Don Ju*n. He promised • to marry -no less t&an 74 different women. '••> He killed his victims in. order to- rob them ;{ of money and' jewels. The murderer wae -•.- -mobilised in tlie Hungarian army at the .», Deginntog of the war, a»d he is said to f. .tave-been, kiUed-or-taken prisoner. i ROMANCE Or A NECBXACE. A remarkable story comes from Paris. '■ Last Christmas a man and his wife were ! sight-seeing In the Chinese quarter of San ' Francisco, and the lady bought from the ■ window of an antique shop a necklace ot • amber beads. The dealer charged thirtytwo shillings, explaining that the price > was-a trifle high beeaoee the beads were ! strong on a gold wire. Recently, when ' the lady was in New York, the gold string , broke, and the necklace was taken to a ■ jeweller's to be repaired. She had hardly ; reached her hotel before she was asked t over th£ 'phone to return, and: the Jewellei , offered her £ltt;000 for the necklace. She I was staggered, and took time to poll her- ! self together. Other dealers were then i interviewed, various prices '■ were quoted, ; and it was at £16,000 that the necklace 1 passed iato the hands of the most enteri prising of the dealers. It then came out i that these beads were engraved on the , inside with the inscription "Napoleon to Josepaine," and they are declared to be the identical necklace stolen from the Louvre years ago, in respect of whichrthere i is a huge standing reward for their 3 recovery, reads Uk.e &

KUSSIAN NOBLEHAM SHOT. Couat Morajeska, a Russian uobljiiia::, was beaten into insensibility, shot and left for 'dead at his minins property :it Phoenix, Arizona. He was- found by tue Countess, joint owner oC tile claims in the Tartolita Mountains, seventy miles distant, who motored to the scene after having received word that the Count was in troulile. The injured man had lain in a cabin four days without food or waiter. "WOT FIT FOH A DOG." It entirely foiled his comprehension how such hovels—sot flt for a dog or a donkeycame to be let. In this way Dr. Waldo. the Southwark Coroner, concluded his remarks at a recent inquest which concerned the death of a boy who lived in one room, which was also occupied by his mother and three-children, in the frequently wark. At the request of the Jury, the Coroner consented to scad" copies of a rider condemning the Tabard Street district to Connty Council, and the Borough Conncil of Southward Dr. Waldo said he presumed the war would be given as an excuse—an insufficient one—for the state of affairs to which" they had listened from tie witness-box. AT.JiF.GED MUBDBR OF MOTHER At Bow Street, London, Denis yon Hanerwaert, also known as Denis Gordon Ross, aged 17, a Belgian waiter, was charged with the murder of his mother, Enama Goniba Hoes, a Belgian -woman, who was married to an Englishman. The woman's body was found in the area of a ] private hotel in Upper Bedford Place, Russell Square. There was a severe wound in the chest. Later prisoner, ■whose hand was badly cut, was arrested, and taken to Vine Street Police Station, where he said: "Stie inn.de Die very untappv I iß3.dc np my mind to kill her, and bought the knife lin Praed: Steeet last April." A lengthy statement signed by prisoner was, produced, but the contents were not revealed, ' and accused was remanded for t nrther investigations. • ( A MYSTERY SOLVED. A soldier in the trenches has helped the Highgate magistrate to solve a mystery. A few weeks ago a windV>w-deaner named ; Charles Arnold was charged with not obey- | ing a notice to join the Army. Arnold i said that years ago he joined the Army, and after a few months' :;ervice was dis- : charged as not likely to become an efficient soldier. The police said that when Arnold J was arrested letters were found in his possession which showed he had serveff- in j France with the Bedfordshire Regiment. [ Arnold said the letters were addressed to him from the Wood Green Recruiting ; Office. He had never been in the Beds. Itegiment. The magistrate observed that Charles Arnold to the house where the prisoner was living. A letter was now received from a soldier in France, signing himself as Private Claries Arnold. The writer said he had seen a report of the case, and he wrote to say that he was the only Arnold serving in the Beds. Regiment. The soldier said he was a Wood Green man, and the letters found- on the prisoner were probably his. The military autholi- ; ties now said that it was true that the prisoner had been discharged from the Middlesex Regiment, as he stated. Prisoner ; was discharged. NITROGEN : DEVIL OB GOO. Persons -who talk of tie Importance of .1 chemistry in this war are usually ialkins know it—and that thing is nitrogen. The , chief chemistry of the war Is practically centred in nitrogen, says the "Lancet." Recognising this fact, It is strange to think that we lire by breathing an atmosphere containing SO per cent of this element, which in certain combinations Iβ dealing out death on an appalling eSoIe on all the fields of action. Tihere- are practically no useful explosives In J which the action of nitrogen is not conjcenned. Wlthont its aid the great ships lat sea could not be sunk, or innocent victims on land killed, or property destroyed by the aeroplane and dirigible; while it serves to mow down whole columns of men jin the field, for rifles, howitzers, macbineguns. and grenades are all depeaient upon, and made terribly deadly tiy, tlie offices of nitrogen. We every day pass on to onr lungs something like 450 gallons of nitrogen ■per 24 hours, which, would be ertoogS. to make SO pounds of iri-nrtro-toluol, or 41) ■ pounds of gtmcotton. Tims tie remarkable ' think about nitrogen, a-bove ail other elements, is its power to destroy life or sustain it, according to the associates witU, which it is in company. With, certain accomplices it forms death-dealing explosives, -with, others it becomes c. nutritive • material. It is the essentially romantic element, devil or god, aocoxdinffteHs asso* : ciations. AN INGENIOUS THEFT- OF V JEWEXXEB.X. < ; A reward of £500 is offered t»~eonnec--tion -wia a daring robbery ef jewellery , which took place at New Street Station, . Birmingham, recently. Tie drama lances t point to a very eidlfid gang havtoy been at : work. A traveller In the employ of a L (Birmingham firm of ma3mf&ctnrin" ■ jewellers arrived at New Street Station L from Bath -with three leather cases, containing a large selection, of jewellery. i These- -were placed in the cloak room on ' -Xo. 4 platform. Shortly afterwards two '■ jnen left two large wooden boxes at the ' same cloak room, and they were placed by the attendant in close proximity to the jewellery •eases. Towards ™Mn)gii» the cloak room, as usual, was locked up, tone some time before daylight the two men • called for the boxes, eaying they wished to ! .leave by an early London train. The cloalc 1 room was accordingly unlocked, and the I two boxes removed. One appeared to be ' heavy and the other almost empty. No suspicion, however, was aronsed until later, [ when the traveller called lor Ills case*. It was then found that one case wae miss- . ing, and ttie others had been tampered I with. "Ehe stolen case contained gold , rings, brooches, necklets, etc., some or I them eet with diamonds, the total value : being estimated at from £6000 to £SOOO. > at is conjectured that concealed in one of • the two wooden boxes was a man. wi-.0. i when the cloak room tad been locked up , for the night, left his hiding place and ( turned his attention to the jewellery cases. ■ He Is supposed to lave conveyed one of : the cases and its contents 'bodily Into the ; box, and to foave fastened himself inside ) aga'rn, and -waited until his confederates > came and carried him away. In epife of ! exhaustive inquiries by the railway police > and city detectire department, who have ■ been working in. conjunction with Scotland. ; Yard, ttereclscaot,. clue t> tbe