CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXX, Issue 10108, 5 August 1893, Page 5

CURRENT TOPICS.

One of those escapes which border on the miraculous occurred at Sydney on Friday morning, July 21, when .Constable Bell escaped death through the bullet of a pistol fired at him point blank being arrested by his baton. He was on duty at Marrickvillo at about 2 a.rn., when he accosted two suspicious characters who were lurking about. As their replies were unsatisfactory. Bell, to gain time, engaged them in conversation, and having remarked how late it was, the men asked him tha time. Bell made as if to pull his watch out, and took the opportunity to adjust hia baton, which, fortunately, he placed horizontally across his left breast. Almost simultaneously one of the men drew a revolver and fired point blank at him. The bullet did not touch the constable’s body, being intercepted by the baton, and imbedded itself in the wood of that weapon. This saved his life, as the point at which the bullet struck it was just over the region of his heart. The men decamped and Bell pursued them without success. Later on a man who gave his name as William Desmond Barber was arrested at Newtown bridge on suspicion of being one of the two men.

A private letter received by a gentleman in Oamatu. from, a friend in London gives a doleful account of the weather and crop prospects in the Old Country. The following is an extract from the letter : —“ Here (June 15) the heat is drying everything up, and if it gets progressively warmer in July and August, I do not know what I shall do. It has been the most extraordinary season, so far, in the memory of the proverbial ‘ oldest inhabitant/ backed up by meteorological statistics. The last really wet day we have had was on March 2 or 3, since when we have had one moderately wet afternoon, and two or three thunderstorms. Everything is burned up, the park is quite brown, and the farmers are having a very bad time, especially in the South of England, where there are practically no turnips or hay. The wheat and oats are ripening fast at an average length of about a foot. Pasture is so scarce that farmers have been compelled to turn their stock into their hay meadows, and in some instances into their oats and wheat. The North of England and Scotland, however, are very well off, having had a moderate supply of rain.”

A sensational incident happened at Fitzgerald Bros.’ Circus, Sydney, on July 21, During the lion act W. E. Humphreys, the tamer, was in the cage making two lionesses perform. It wan noticed that the lion was in an extremely bad temper, and suddenly, to the horror of the spectators, he bounded behind Humphreys and caught his right arm in hie mouth. Humphreys wrenched himself round, fortunately releasing himself. As he did so it was seen that the sleeve of hio tunic and shirt had been ripped away, leaving only shreds of the shirt on his arm. He had also been clawed by the lion, and the whole of the skirt of his tunic had been torn away. For the moment it was not known whether he had been hurt, but as ho stood confronting the enraged animal blood was seen to discolour the remnants of his shirt sleeve. The spectators rose iu intense excitement, fearful that a terrible accident would happen, but Humpreys continued his performance as if nothing had occurred, and calmness was quickly restored. Mr Fitzgerald also went into the ring, and asked the people to remain in their seats. The Premier and the Minister of Mines happened to bo present at the time. After the act was over a medical examination of Humphreys’ arm showed that it had been severely wounded in three places to a depth of 2Jin, the bone being exposed in each case. The three lions are over thirteen months old, and had been in training for only three weeks.