POLITENESS THAT BROUGHT RUIN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIII, Issue 13714, 3 April 1905, Page 2

POLITENESS THAT BROUGHT RUIN.

(Pearson's Weekly.) A short while back a burglary took place at a house in Croydon, amongst the articles stolen being a nearly now hat. Two days later the mistress of the house in question was out shopping, when a man with whom she was slightly acquainted chanced to pass her on the opposite side of the street. Catching her eye, he raised his hat politely and bowed. "'Why, that's my husband's hat," exclaimed the indignant lady, and forthwith gave the weni-er into the custody of a passing constable. Her surmise proved to be correct,' and slip, is now known throughout the neighbourhood as " Mrs Sherlock Holmes." Nevertheless, it seems , pretty evident that it was the thief's politeness, rather than the sharpness of his captor, which formed the immediate cause of his discomfiture. HELPING AN' APPLE-WOMAN CAUSED DEATH. There is a widow living in' great poverty in London to-day, who might be far otherwise but for an ill-timed act of courtesy on the part of Inm who was ones her bread-winner. It was the afternoon of Tuesday, September 3, 1878. and the pier at Sheerness was crowded with boisterous excursionists. Through them threaded the man in question with his wife, very soon to be husbandless. An old apple-woman's stall was knocked down. The man stopped to render assistance, bidding his wife hurry on to the boat waiting to convey them to London. Ho would follow. He did follow. But, too late. The vessel had gone, bearing his wife with it. The next boat was the Princess Alice, which he caught, only to be drowned in .the Thames, off Woolwich, with some 700 other unfortunates. And all through staying to gather up a few apples for a poor fruit vendor. WHT THE TAT BRIDGE FELL. Sir Thomas Bouch, the eminent engineer, was one of the most courteous and considerate of men; and to these traits in his character was distinctly traceable the awful tragedy that terminated alike his professional career and his life. He had to grapple with vital problems connected with the stability of the- first Tay Bridge, and at the same time keep in order an army of subordinates, some of whom were efficient and honest, and some of whom wore not. The two duties clashed, and neither was performed properly. Moreover, it became known about the works that Sir Thomas was too good-natured to dismiss an incompetent man, while his native politeness shrank from administering reproof even. As a consequence the bridge was badly constructed, as well as badly designed, and in about a year and a half after being first opened for traffic it collapsed while a North British mail train was travelling over it. , Between eighty and ninety persons lost their lives, and with the passing of the first shock of horror came the apportionment of the blame. The unhappy engineer, had to bear the chief burden of this, and it proved too heavy for him. Within four months of the adverso verdict of the Board of Trade inquiry he was dead—of a broken heart. BURGLARS AIDED BY rOLITENESS. One would imagine that a shopwalker could hardly be too polite. But he can ; and there is one looking for a job at this present moment who. knows it to his cost. To this last place came a lady customer, young and pretty. She bought freely, too, of furs, velvets and other easily negotiable goods. Again and again she came, always with a bow and a smile to the obliging shopwalker. And he, on his part, hot content with merely showing her to the department she wished to patronise, piloted her all over the establishment. Nor were his suspicions awakened even when she showed an unfeminine curiosity regarding bolts and bars, and the various nays of ingress and egress to and from the premises. Only when, later on, a gang of burglars looted the place of some £12,000 worth of goods, did he realise how their feminine confederate had profited by his politeness. Similarly, the unlucky sufferer in a recent notorious jewel robbery in Clerkenwell owed his misfortune to a like trait in his character. The conspirators, who afterwards murderously assaulted and robbed him, sent a decov to pretend to purchase a gold watch and diamond pendant out of business hours. Natural courtesy, rather than mercantile zeal, compelled attention to the plausible ruffian, and wi'th disastrous results to the accommodating trader. The Russian peasant has a saying which invariably puzzles the foreigner: " Too polite, and die like Bekovitch." The proverb refers to one of the most tragic episodes in Muscovite history. In 1110 early spring of 1717 Prince Bekovitch Cheraski led an armed expedition, consisting of 4000 infantry and 2000 cavalry, into the then'almost unknown interior of South-Central Asia. His ostensible object was to open up commercial relations with the Khans of Khiva and of Bokhara. His real'one, to see if it were possible to invade India from the north. The Prince, with whom were many officers of the Imperial Bodyguard, a brilliant company, marched his men across the arid steppes with difficulty, and on August 15 halted some eighty miles from the city of Khiva. The Khivans, ignoring his professions of friendship, attacked in force; but were easily defeated by the better armed and better disciplined soldiers of the Czar. Their Khan, thereupon, resorted to diplomacy. He visited the Russian camp in "state. Explained that the attack delivered by his. people was all a mistake, and invited Prince Bekovitch and his principal officers to visit his capital as his guests. now a ritoviiEß originated. Two days later, at a grand entertainment, the Khan < toasted his " friends the Russians," and vowed eternal friendship. He also took the opportunity of requesting Prince Bekovitch to divide his army into small detachments for entertainment in the surrounding villages, regretting the inability of his capital to entertain so many guests. The Russian commander politely agreed to the politely preferred request, iae Russian force was broken up, and the Khan laughed sardonically. His turn had come, iiarly

next day he killed Bekovitch, and forwarded his head as a gift to the Khan of Bokhara. Then he annihilated the Russian army. Yet another notable instance of an excess of politeness in war, resulting in disaster, occurred at the battle of Fontenoy. Two bodies of troops, the ons French the other English, suddenly found themselves face to face, and within twenty paces of one another. Lord Charles Hay. who happened to be the senior officer on one side, at once stepped to the front, and saluting the French commander (Count d'Anteroche), exclaimed, " Gentlemen of the French Guard, fire first." To this courteous invitation the Count, not meaning to be outdone in politeness, replied, " Fire yourselves, gentlemen of England: we never fire first." "As you please," rejoined Lord Hay, and turning to.his men he gave the requisite word of command. An instant later the. Pvitish muskets were spouting death, and the French had to retire in confusion.