CURIOSITIES FROM THE WORLD’S NEWS

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 2 March 1935, Page 9

CURIOSITIES FROM THE WORLD’S NEWS

BEAT 10,000 MEN

Len Harvey, the boxer, has pust done what 10,000 men have tried, and failed, to do in the last 35 years. He has smashed the world’s grip record that has been held for all that time by Mr Thomas Inch, of weightlifting fame. Harvey, in the presence of Thomas Inch and two officials from the Amateur Weight-Lifting Association, at East Ham Baths, London, took hold of the grip machine, which has a weight pressure of 520 lb., and with a powerful right-hand grip succeeded in his attempt. :

Mr Inch, in presenting Harvey with a cup, took from his pocket a medal which he won for his record 35 years ago and handed it to Harvey, saying that he had done what more than 10,0C0 men in all parts of the world had failed to do.

CHILD’S PRANK KILLS TWO A small child’s prank has caused the deaths ofi two persons, and serious injury to two others at 'Cairo.'

A bus driver left his bus in one of the main streets, halfway down a hill, and, while he was gone, the child climbed into the front of the vehicle and released the brake.

The ’bus zig-zagged down the street, and, after knocking down four people, two of whom were fatally injured, crashed into a wall.

MIRACLE—THEN FATE!

A man whose sight was restored a few weeks ago after he had been blind for 25 years has just died. He was Mr William Islay Blair, of Longcroft, Te Horo, New Zealand, whose death occurred at his sister’s house in London on the day he was to have sailed for New Zealand. Mr Blair came from New Zealand this year to be operated on by Dr. Tudor Thomas, the eye surgeon of the Central Ophthalmic Hospital.

PLAGUED BY SPARROWS. iSchacksstedt, near Bernburg, Germany, is suffering from a plague of sparrows, and' every householder has been ordered to deliver ten sparrows’ heads or pay a fine of sixpence. £46,000 WAXWORKS BLAZE.

Damage estimated at £46,000 was caused at Elmsford, New York State, by a fire which began in a waxworks and for three hours threatened the town.

Blazing streams of wax flowed for a hundred yards from the centre of the fire into the heart of the business section of the town and it seemed certain that nothing could save the town.

One -a#temoon, however, the wind veered, causing the blazing timbers and showers of flaming wax to fall into waste land, and soon afterwards the fire was under control.

SANTA CLAUS TOWN. TTie thriving moorland health resort of Ilkley is to act as Santa Claus to the children of Shildon, County Durham, a little mining and railway town with half its population' out of work. Young men in Ilkley, members of the local Rover Scout organisations and Toe H, are now collecting toys, clothing, boots and food to distribute in Shildon on Christmas Eve.

Captain J. C. Scott, assistant district commissioner to the Rover Scouts, w r ho is organising this work, states in a letter, “In the comfort and beauty of Ilklcy it is difficult to visualise a town with approximately half its insured workers unemployed, over eighty per cent, of them for over one year.”

WOMAN’S FAMILY OF 600 Over 600 living descendants have been left by Engel Dine Janssen, a widow, who has died at Esens, East Frisia, -at the age of 91. The old lady had one husband and 14 children, 10 of whom married very young, having in their turn an average of 10 children apiece. These grandchildren married young in their turn, until at the end of her life Frau Janssen could point proudly to five generations of offspring. Her family, from children to great-great-grandchildren, was spread over the whole district and beyond it.

r ]PUNCH AND JUDY MAN Joseph Maggs, who has died at Bournemouth, England, was a Punch and Judy showman for more than 60 years. He was the last of a family who bad been Punch and Judy showmen for two centuries. To imitate Mr Punch’s voice must have been second nature to Joseph. When he was ten he was already working a Punch and Judy show. N

“STORY OF TWO BULLETS” A man named Leo Scliild recently went sorrowfully to the New York cemetery where his former wife lay buried. Standing by her grave 'he drew a revolver and fired a. shot into his eye. The shot failed to kill him. Regaining consciousness. Schild fired a second shot into his head. Still he did not die. Seriously wounded, he dragged himself to the garage of a neighbouring undertaker. There, in the undertaker’s car, he lay down to await death. He was found, however, and removed to hospital. where his second wife and their son remained hours at the bedside. On the other side of the bed stood a policeman, waiting to arrest him for violation of the anti-firearms law.

While Schild was waiting to undergo an operation for the removal of the two bullets his case reached court. It was held that, as the revolver was found on the grave a quarter of a mile from the spot where Schild was located, he could hardly be adjudged guilty of possessing firearms, and the case was dismissed.

MAN AND HIS CLOTHES

An unemployed carter who came before a Public Assistance Committee in London was told by the woman chairman to put on his best suit or 1 e would never find a job. Next time the carter appeared before the meeting wearing his “Sunday best.”

This time there was a man jn the chair. “Good heavens,” he said. “How can you expect to got a job in your line dressed like that?” This story was told by Mr S. Berry to the Wood Green Employment Committee recently-

GIRL OF 18 LOSES £2500 NECKLACE

A necklace valued at £2500 has been lost “somewhere, in the Midlands” by Miss Angela Dudley Ward, the 18-year-okl daughter of Mrs. Dudley Ward. The necklace is believed to have been lost after November 17, either at Belvoir Castle, the home of the Duke of Rutland, or at Himley Hall, where the Duke and Duchess of Kent spent part of their honeymoon, or at Thorpe Satcliville.

“My daughter has lately been visiting friends,” Mrs. Dudley Ward explained. On November 17 Miss Dudlej 7 Ward’s engagement to Captain Robert Laycock, of the Royal Horse Guards, was announced.

UNWRITTEN LAW UPHELD Judson Doke, the husband accused in tlie California “poet murder” case of killing his wife’s lover, Lamar Hollingshead, and who pleaded the “unwritten law,” has been acquitted. . Doke has been tried twice. The first trial ended in November, when the jury ,after deliberating for twentynine hours, failed to agree on a verdiet- A second trial, which has now concluded, was ordered. No new evidence was brought.

Lamar Hollingshead ,a twenty-three-year-old student at. California University, was shot dead, allegedly by Doke after the latter had discovered a number of sensational and flowery loveletters which had passed between him and his wife, Helen Doke, aged twen-ty-seven. In these letters Hollingshead referred to Mrs. Doke as the “White Hibiscus.” Doke said the letters were like the Song of Solomon.

It wfis stated at the trial that before Hollingshead .was shot he was given the opportunity of writing a letter to Mrs. Doke saying that he had finished with her. He refused.

Mrs. Doke gave evidence during the trial and said that while she loved her husband her love for Hollingshead was “undying.”

HER 23rd CONVICTION Annie O’Donnell, aged sixty-nine, of no settled address, who was sentenced to a month’s imprisonment at Stockport, England, on a charge of being drunk and disorderly, had 231 previous convictions against her for drunkenness.

MOSCOW’S FIRST “TUBES” Moscow’s first underground train has had its first run, and the population is full of hope that soon the endless waits at tram stops will come to an end ,and the people will be able to get about town with no more difficulty than they do in other cities. The section of the line which is due to be opened this month is eight miles long, and 70,000 men and women are working at top speed' to complete it by that time. The rolling stock, Russian built, is copied from American models, the passenger carriages having two double doors on each side.

MURDER TO DODGE EXECUTION

Suggestions that he committed a murder in order cheat the guillotine were made against Hyacinth Danse, alias “The Magician of Boullay,” who was found guilty of killing a Jesuit priest at Liege. Danse was technically sentenced to death, but as such sentences are never carried out in Belgium it i s expected that he will be sent to “solitary confinement for life” in Louvain prison, but will be released after fifteen or twenty years. Danse walked into a magistrate’s office here on May 12 last year and coolly confessed to the murder of his mother and mistress in France, and of the priest a few days afterwards in Belgium. For the first two crimes he could have been extradited to France to risk the guillotine. Therefore, it is alleged, he deliberately murdered the priest in Belgium in order to get the protection of the Belgian law.

GOOD LUCK MADE HIM CROSS Hoping to further liis campaign against the alleged illegal operation of bookmaking establishments near Austin, Texas, Mr Henry Kyle, a member of the State Legislature, bought a ticket on a racehorse.

He intended to hold it up to the Texas _Legislature as proof that the bookmaking establishments were being run.

The liorse on -udilch lie bought the ticket won its race and paid a good price. But instead of enjoying Ills winnings, Mr Kyle is extremely worried. “I believe they let that horse win just to ‘frame me,’ ”• he complains. “How can I lead my law-enforcement resolution now?”

EXPENSES OF A CITY Cleaning and watering London’s streets and • wharves cost the corporation £152,668 last year. . The annual hoot allowance for the city police was £2839, and their plain clothes allowance £1455. The expense of traffic signals in the last year has been £2258. These facts are published in the annual accounts of the Corporation of London.

The report contains 320 pages of figures, and includes the following items of public expenditure: Lunch and reception of late King of Iraq, £2177; (menus £lO5, cigars £ll4,

loudspeaking apparatus £3). Banquet to delegates of the World Economic Conference, £2153 (food and drink over £1000). Upkeep of Tower Bridge,£30,043).

BLIND MAN WINS AT CARDS

One of the best card players at Blackpool, Lancashire, is a blind man. He is Norman Quayle, and he uses a pack which is marked in braille at each corner. He “l’eads” his cards from the back with his fingers. The only help he requires is for th© other players to say which card they play. Mr. Quayle, remembers what has been played just as a “sighted” card player would do. As he moves from table to table ’at progressive or military whist, be takes his marked pack with him for the players at the next table to use.

“I have been to three military whist drives recently,” Mr. Quayle said lately. “and I was a prizewinner at two out of three!” He chuckled triumphantly. “I took away a nice plate of ham and eggs at one, and a pretty table cover at the other.”

GRIEF AT APE’S DEATH Grief and shock over the death of a giant ape at San Francisco’s municipal zoo are believed to have caused the death of the animal’s keeper and the illness of the zoo’s superintendent. The dead animal, Ginger, had the combined strength of several men, but was as gentle as a baby. He was valued at £IOOO. He died in agony after someone had handed him a morsel of food containing poison. The ape’s keeper, Jack Bamberger, died the next day, and soon afterwards, the superintendent, George Bistany, went to hospital suffering, it is believed, from “nerves. ”

REVEALED IN A DREAM A 70-yeui-old mail in London dreamed one night of a strange piano being played by an invalid girl. When he awoke at 6 a.m. every detail of the piano was clear in his head. He drew plans, and the result of the work will be an exhibit at this year’s British Industries Fair.

The keyboard of his completed model, extends over the pianist’s, bed, and is adjustable to any angle suitable to the position of an invalid. The pedal movement is regulated by the knee action of the invalid pianist.

FOR CHILDREN ONLY

It will tie interesting to see what success attends the experiment of organising an ocean cruise for “children only.” The idea is, of course, to let parents, get away on holiday on their own without the responsibility of looking after their young peaple. There will be hosts and hostesses, gamesmasters and games-mistresses, as well as doctors ;on board to see that the children are well looked after and have a thoroughly enjoyable time. The enterprise of the shipping line concerned is certainly deserving of success. Very few people nowadays can afford to give their boys the grand tour of the world that used to be regarded as a sort of crown to educational studies. But even a short trip to Madeira, embracing visits to Lisbon, and some of the Mediterranean ports tends, in some degree, to broaden a child’s mind.

BORDER LINE CASES Magistrates sitting in Lancashire pass, sentence on prisoners standing in Yorkshire. Todmorden, now included for administrative purposes in Yorkshire, is still geographically half in Lancashire and half in Yorkshire.

Here are some queer facts about this strange border town : The town hall, nearly fifty-nine-years-old, is half in Lancashire and half in Yorkshire.

The local police court, housed in the town hall, is' similarly situated. It is possible on Todmorden cricket field to hit the ball from one county to another. Some of the inhabitants don’t know whether they are Yorkshiremen or Lancasliiremen.

SLEEP WORTH £3OOO * A fourteen-year-old Lisbon bootblack has won. £3OOO through going to sleep. Once a week he sold sweepstake tickets and had to return all unsold tickets or pay for them himself. One day he sat down to rest, fell asleep and did not waken until long after the draw had taken place. He had still three-quarters, of a ticket left unsold. It had Avon a prize, of w.hich his share is £5003. BRIDEGROOM TO HANG A bride Avho was married to her lover the day after* he had strangled a girl to death ?'i a. rvood, sat sorroAVfully in her home on the day her bridegroom husband Avas sentenced to death.

“You have been found guilty of as cruel, treacherous and brutal a murder as I have ever come across,” said Mr Justice Goddard passing sentence. “The verdict is amply warranted! by the evidence and I fully agree Avitk it.”

Not a muscle quivered on the face of the condemned man, David Maskill Blake, of Lady Pit Lane, Leeds, as he listened! to these words. "Without a word he was led below.

So his bride Avas left alone to face the tragedy which had shattered her honeymoon. She had done her best to aid her husband, but her effort had failed.

FREE RAILWAY RIDES So many of the Indian population contrive to travel on the railways Avithout a ticket that serious, losses are occuring on almost every line. The number of fares collected by ticket inspectors is only a fraction of the actual losses, although nearly three million passengers Avere detected last year. There has been much anxiety in India to reduce the cost of railway travel.

HOUSE STOLEN BRICK BY BRICK When ?, Moravian manufacturer Avent to inspect the villa he was having built, not a trace of it Avas to be found While building operations were held up until the oAvner’s return, thieves had removed the building brick by brick, Avorking at night.