SARK MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 308, 30 December 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

SARK MYSTERY.

IN LONELY CAVE. GUILTY ROMANCE SEQUEL. FOX-TROTTING TO DEATH. While the inquest verdict of death by drowning in the lonely cave mystery at Sark has decided the manner of the deaths of Leslie Bradley and Mrs. Beatrice Britter, of Gillingham, it does not solve the riddle of the circumstances in which this young couple came to lose their lives. After investigations and stories from the lips of relatives and friends, there has been pieced together this poignant drama of a young man in his first love with a beautiful woman. Mrs. Britter could not have realised when she met a good-looking young fellow, to whom she was immediately attracted, at a Rochester dance-hall, that she was fox-trotting to her death. Nor did thirty-year-old Leslie Bradley, when he fell head over heels in love with a woman seven years his senior, foresee the fate in store for him.

After that first casual meeting they saw each other often. Both were passionately keen on dancing, and the discovery that they were ideal partners for each other drew them together. They were seen at many dances in Gillingham and Rochester, and their friendship ripened into love. But above them always was the cloud of the woman's marriage tie, so there came a period of secret rendezvous and clandestine meetings. Then one day Bradley approached a friend in a state of great agitation, and poured out the whole story of the romance. His friend advised him to give Mrs. Britter up. Matters drifted on after that. Mrs. Britter's husband—a chief petty officer on H.M.s. Vindictive —came home, but they seemed unable to keep away from each other. They were evidently resolving on some plan—probably to run away together." Bradley's employer said: "Just before lie disappeared I did not know what was the matter with Bradley. He was trembling all over and in a state of great excitement. Then he sent me a letter from Waterloo, saying that he had been detained in London for a few days on personal business." Mrs. Britter had three children—the eldest a boy of Bixteen, the youngest a girl of ten.

FREE WINE TASTING. A genial invitation has been issued by the Italian State Railways to all passengers to sample the local Italian wine at the different restaurants and buffets of the railway stations, and give their verdict as to what they consider the best wines in Italy. Italy claims to produce as good wine as any country. Greater care in the treatment of wine than heretofore is now being taken. The taste of the travelling public is to be the last court of appeal, and the public is expected to take readily to its pleasing duty. HER FACE HER FORTUNE. This is the'sad etory of the lovely actress who became discontented with the beauty Nature gave her, took steps to improve it, and lived to regret her temerity. The actress is Mile. Tonia Navar, one of the stars of the Comedie Francaise, Paris. Her noee was the trouble—she thought it was too long. When her doctor said it could be made shorter she was delighted and agreed to an operation. The surgeon's delicate knife certainly made Mile. Navar's noee "both shorter and smaller—but, alas, the nose is now slightly curved. "It is all my fault," said the actress. "I inherited my mother's long nose, and I dreamt of a lovely little one. Now I regret having thought of correcting Nature, which, after all, has been very generous to me." ESCAPE FROM THE LEGION. A young Englishman who escaped from the French Foreign Legion in Morocco after years of hardship, is now safely, on the high seas on his way home. He ie Eric Birkihshaw, aged 24, of Cater Avenue, Tang Hall, on the outskirts of York. He enrolled in the "Legion of the Lost" at Dunkirk in. May, 1930. When his chance came last month to eecape from his base at Sidi Del Abbas, he hid himself under the seat of a bus. and so reached Oran. There he stowed away in a British steamer and landed at the Andalueian port of A'meria. Birkiusbaw walked thence to ■ Gibraltar, a distance of about 300 miles. Mrs. Birkinshaw, mother of the escaped man. told a reporter that her son had once before attempted to escape, but had failed, and was' imprisoned for 60 days. She had been without news of him for two months. MASS BEQI'EST LAW SUIT. Mr. Justice in the Chancery Division, held that a bequest of property to provide for a foundation Mass to be said once every month for 25 years for a Roman Catholic priest and his parents and relatives was a valid charitable bequest. By his will the late Rev. Francis Caus, priest of the parish of St. Peter's, Leicester, left four houses for the purpose. The bequest was contested by beneficiaries under the will, whose case was that, though a. general Mass might be charitable, a private Miss of this kind was not.

Mr. Justice Luxmoore said the gift enabled the performance of a ritual act which was recognised by a large proportion of the Christian people of the world to be the central net of their religion, and also it assisted in the endowment of priests whose duty it was to perform the ritual act. That duty assisted in the advancement of religion, and it was no objection in law that the religion to be advanced was a particular part of Christian belief, because, in the eyes of the law, all religions were equal.

A COLOUR MYSTERY. A young Austrian scientist, in hie Viennese laboratory, has been engrossed in a task as strange as that of any alchemist ot old. He is trying to create an artificial butterfly. Dropping chemicals on models of paper and gelatine, he watches them spread into niany-hued lines and rings, in the hope that he will be able to duplicate the pattern of real insects. His object is to know the answer to the riddle that hae baffled experimenters: "How does nature paint butterflies with designs of such exquisite intricacy, in tints that no chemist has been able to match V Mysterious invisible rays have been found .to stream from the wings of butterflies. The rays can fog a photographic plate kept in total darkness. Their origin remains hidden. 100,000 BUTTERFLIES. A collection of butterflies in the zoological gallery of the Natural History Museum adjoining the Jardin des Plantes is to be opened. The collection was formed by a Swiss named Hans Frunstorfer, perhaps the most enthusiastic butterfly hunter who ever lived. Hans Frunstorfer began collecting butterflies in Brazil at the age of 22. He spent three years in Java and two in the Malay archipelago. He travelled through South America, Japan, China. Indo-China, Siam and India, where, though a. victim to dysentery, he continued to add to his stock. Some 100,000 specimens, representing between 6000 and 7000 varieties, are contained in the collection. The present value of the collection is estimated at 900.000 francs (£7500 at par), and it is hoped to enable the museum to acquire it by public subscription.