NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 144, 19 June 1926, Page 23

NEWS FROM ALL QUARTERS.

MISSED HIS GRIP. James Rennie, Glasgow, fell while endeavouring to board a motor bus in George Street, at High Street, Glusgow, and was almost instantly tilled. He tried to step on the footboard of the vehicle while it was in motion, it is stated, and missed his grip on the handrail. On falling to the ground, the rear wheel of the bus passed over him. He was taken to the infirmary, where he was found to be dead. * SNAKE HUNTS HORSEMAN. A youth on horseback rounding up cattle on the veldt near Potchefstrooni, South Africa, was confronted by a huge yellow snake, which reared up hissing in front of the horse. He spurred his horse away, but the snake, moving with great rapidity, with the front portion of its body erect, closely followed for some flistance, until it was finally shaken off. This story is well vouched for. It interests naturalists and hunters, whose stories 6f people being chased by snakes are sometimes discredited. "STEPPED ON IT." Two youths, George Hendry and James Falconer, who pleaded guilty to breaking into a motor garage in Leith and stealing a motor car, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court and were each fined three guineas. The Fiscal stated that the car, valued at £320, was missed from the garage on Monday morning, the Edinburgh spring holiday. About four o'clock in the afternoon a policeman at Glasgow saw the car with the accused in it. He asked the driver for his license, but the youth accelerated and the car dashed off. The car was found at 9.30 a.m. abandoned in Alexandra Parade with a damaged tyre. DRUNK AT RUS WHEEL. William Beckensall, aged 20, driver of a Tilling bus, was fined 40/, at Croydon for being drunk, and £5 for dangerous driving, with 5/ costs. When working a full bus from Relgate to London, it was stated, he made a long stop outside a publichouse, where his mother and sweetheart alighted. After this the passengers became alarmed at the way the bus was being driven. After it had grazed a telephone post, slightly injuring an outside passenger's hand, it was stopped, and about 4.0 passengers got out and refused to go further. When the police came Beckensall was arrested. WOMAN SCATTERS MAN'S ASHES IN SEA. A bunch of flowers dropped in the sea by a young woman off Colwyn Bay marked the conclusion of tbe obsequies of the late Mr. Arthur Henry Mlddleton, formerly Inspector General of Finance for the Egyptian Government, who died last November. By his instructions the ashes of Incremated body contained in a casket were conveyed seawards in a motor boat at Colwyn Bay during the week-end, and were spread broadcast by the young woman. The sea had a peculiar fascination for Mr. Mlddleton, who spent hours watching the ebb and flow of the tide. CARICATURES AS CLUES. In the search for heirs to a North Country woman recluse's £70,000 .fortune, it has been stated that some caricatures of relatives found among her belongings may prove useful as clues. .-/; It Is possible to recall at least one case In whic*. a caricature actually led to'the arrest ot":« murderer. During the police hunt for Percy Lefroy, who robbed and murdered a Mr. Gold on the Brighton railway in the '80's, an acquaintance of his, an amatenr caricaturist, came. forward with an exaggerated sketch of the wanted man, which was reproduced in the "Hue and Cry." The likeness was recognised by the landlady at the Stepney lodgings' where Lefroy was hiding. Lefroy was duly hanged. GLASGOW BOYS POISONED. As a result of an escapade In a shop In Surrey Street, Glasgow, South Side, four boys were admitted to the infirmary .suffering from the effects of poisoning. The names of the boys are: James O'Connor (13), John McEwan (12), Robert Pollok (7), and Edward Addomivitch 0). It appears that the boys entered a shop, and while In the premises one of them noticed a bottle containing a red liquid on a shelf. Thinking that the liquid wa*s wine, each Of the boys drank a quantity of it. Shortly after the boy O'Connor became unwell, and his illness Increased until he was writhing In agony on the floor of the shop. The other three boys managed to go home. The police were informed of the occurrence and the boys were immediately taken to the infirmary. It was ascertained later that the bottle had contained a mixture of methylated spirits, shellac, turpentine, and colouring matter. SCRATCHED BY LION. The town of Barnet (Hertfordshire) has a notoriety as a home of wild beasts. A case was -heard in which John Cole, who had been employed by Mr. G. B. Chapman, who keeps a Barnet depot for animals, claimed for injuries received while feeding lions. "It is rather disquieting," said counsel, "that within a few yards of this Court there are lions, a dromedary, elephants, monkeys, pythons, cobras, and various other wild creatures." "Does the respondent keep a menagerie for his own amusement, or for instruction, or are the public admitted?" asked Judge Crawford "I understand it is a sort of sale room," said counsel, "and you get the extraordinary position of people coming in with a bag, buying a few snakes, and taking them away. People buy lions and tigers at this place as they would purchase articles from an ordinary shop." His Honour gave judgment for Cole at the rate of 25/ weekly from September 23 last.

MAN ATTACKED BY FIVE WEASELS. A farm labourer named Thompson was attacked by weasels in the Ribble Valley and severely injured. He accidentally trod ou a weasel, and its* cries brought four others, who fiercely attacked him, biting his ankles and legs. Thompson could only shake them oft by running across a 1 stream. SCOTLAND YARD FINGER PRINTS. Over 400,000 different finger prints, from, which about 15,000 people a year, are identified, are In the possession of Scotland Yard. Giving evidence at the Old Bailey, ■Detective-Inspector Itapley, of the Finger Print Department, stated, that he had never known of any two finger prints agreeing with each other. PASTOR TO THE RESCUE. Hearing screams, the Rev. J, Gard, pastor of Sipson Baptist Church, Middle, sex, ran to the riverside at West Drayton and found that a perambulator containing a child had fallen into the water and was rapidly sinking. Mr. Gard jumped from the bridge, got the child, which was tied In, out of the perambulator, and brought It to the bank. Ho then walked two and a-half miles home in wet clothes. TRAGIC "BANKS OF LOCH LOMOND." After a happy afternoon with his sweetheart on Loch Lomond recently, David McGibbon, foreman bricklayer, turned ill on the way home. The couple entered Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow, and McGlbbon fell dead at the girl's feet. She screamed for help, and . the body was removed to the infirmary Here the doctor was unable to certify the cause of death, and a post-mortem examination was held. CLINGING TO LEDGE FORTY FEET FROM BEACH. Trying to retrieve a ball whicli had lodged on the cliff edge, a visitor to Broadstairs, slipped and fell over. The cliffs at the spot are about 60 feet high, but, fortunately, tbe man was able to cling to some projections and remained suspended 40ft above the cliff base. His wife ran for help and two local boatmen brothers, A. and J". Hiller, rescued hira from his precarious position. A large __ ber of people watched the incident. CHILDREN THROWN FROM BEDROOM WINDOW. Awakened by smoke in her bedroom, Mrs. Wilkinson, of Cheshire, ran into the room occupied by her children, who she found in a state of panic. Neighbours who had heard her cries for help, held a blanket under the window, and the children were thrown out by their mother, all being safely caught. Mrs. Wilkinson also -jumped from the window on to the blanket. The fire was confined .to the kitchen, and was put out by neighbours. roadside Operation. A youth of 17, K. S. Evans, of Homs-by, who had been lying unconscious in Bedford County Hospital, suffering from a fractured skull for several weeks subsequently died. He and a friend, riding a motor cycle, crashed into a taxicab, and it was at first thought they were dead. • Dr. Keogh, house suigeon at the hospital, restored respiration in both cases, and performed a remarkable operation on Evans at the roadside, which enabled tie youth to be carried to the hospital for further treatment. The other youth recovered. "WOMAN VANISHES AFTER RIVER RESCUE. A policeman on patrol duty near the River Lea at Tottenhem, Middlesex, heard groans and plunged into the water to the rescue of a man and a woman. He brought both ashore. The man was unconscious, but the woman appeared to be no worse for her immersion and offered to go for an ambulance. She did not return, and since then has not been traced. The man was taken to hospital and later identified as Mr. Bernard Cosgrove, an Independent- bus proprietor, of Tottenham. RUNAWAY HORSE KILLS CHILD Seonnald Mackintosh, the little daughter ' ol the Rev. and Mrs. Macintosh, of the East United Church, Brechin, was seated on the carrier of a bicycle ridden by her mother in Brechin, when they were knocked down by : a runaway horse in a large milk cart. Ths child died without regaining consciousness. The horse dashed through the main streets of the town, and eventually jumped over a six-foot hedge, dragging the lorry with it. Horse and lorry fell into a nursery, and, although the drop was 30 feet, the horse was uninjured. The driver managed to jump clear as the horse took the hedge. BRIDE HANGS HERSELF IN FUTURE HOME. A few days before the date arranged for her marriage, Miss Doris Scbofleld (23), or Leeds, was found hanging in tho cellar of a house which she and her fiance intended to occupy after the wedding. The rope, attached to a nail, was cut through, and Miss Sehofield was taken to hospital in a serious condition. She had gone to the house to make arrangements for cleaning, and was followed Dy her mother and sister. The sister ran out screaming, bnt Mrs. Sehofield held up her daughter until a workman rushed in and cut the rope. Miss Schofield's fiance, Mr. Ben Hadfield, a joiner, was suffering from appendicitis. COSTLY ADMIRALTY BUNGLING Errors of judgment resulted in the loss from H.M. ships during 1924-5 of torpedoes and gyroscopes to the value of over £35,000. This is revealed in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on the store accounts of the Navy for the year. Courts of inquiry discovered the cause of the losses, which are entered in the "abandoned list,'* and are not charged against "balances Irrecoverable." A more remarkable story is that of a firm that purchased T.N.T. from the Disposal Commission in May, 1023, ou terms which included free storage in the Commission's magazines until December 31, 1926, and sold part of it back to the Navy in August, 1024, at profits of from 50 to GO per cent. COLLAPSE OF A FAMOUS ■ STEEPLE. The steeple of the famous fifteenth century church of Lv Dalbacl* (Notre Panic la Blanche) at Toulouse crashed to the ground recently, destroying two houses anil causing the death of an elderly mat. and his wife, named Denax. living in one of them, besides injuries to others. La Dalbade steeple was -i -.rjunre one. nearly 300 feet high : the church hns lon.!» been one of the architectural features uf the city. For some time past there have been warnings as to the stability of the spire. The great bell has not been rung this century for fear of damage to the fabric.