AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

Mataura Ensign, 16 January 1914, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN NEWS.

WHILE THE BRIDE SMILED. j THE INTERRUPTED WEDDING- j A prospective wedding was interrupt*, Saturday night (January 3) by, Deta atives Bannon and Mercer, as one of toe contracting parties was John, ClarKe, who escaped from the custody of the police a fortnight ago. Clarke and a young woman had been arrested on a charge of stealing two bales of wool, and while the City Court was sitting Clarke walked out of the prisoners' cell, acro.s, tile court arid out ol the opposite door. The woman was remanded and released on bail. Information was received that the couple were to be married, <ind the detectives secreted themselves .is the clergyman's house. Clarke must have been suspicious, because, on arriving at the place of the ceremony, he waitedoutside while another man entered. The latter was pounced upon by the detectives, but they realised' their mistake immediately, and, running outside, found ClarKe in a new suit of clothes and a Panama hat, ready for the wedding. His prospective partner in life was by his side. . ■ They seized him, but Clarke, who is an athletic young man, hurled the detectives against a wall and 1 then fell with them to the gutter. He fought like a Dervish, while the bride-elect smiled her approval, and finally he es■caped, leaving his coat and hat in their j hands. They ran after himi a few hundred yards, but all to no avail. I STABBED BY A WOMAN. > BOOKMAKER WOUNDED. ' About 7.30 p.m. on January 3 William Masterton, a bookmaker, was : standing at a street corner in Fitzroy. l A woman approached him from behindi and stabbed him in the back with what appeared l l° be a butcher's knife. The woman- then ran to a. Btreet grating and dropped the knife into a drain. There was a number of people about, and in the general confusion the woman disappeared. 'Masterton, after being stabbed, started to run, but he was overtaken and induced to go to tie St. Vincent's Hospital, where the doctors dressed a wound several inches long across the right shoulder-blade. Although suffering from loss of blood he was able to go to the watchhouse and' make a report of the occurrence. | Masterton stated that he knew his assailant. He was reluctant to procoed any further with the case, but tie police intend to apply for a warrant for the arrest) of the woman. i JIU-JITSU. j WORLD'S CHAMPIONSHIP. j Mr W. A. Hill, the European' jiu-jitsu champion, who for the past few months has been in Melbourne, returned to Sydney on January 5 and announced it as his intention to claim the jiu-jitsu championship of the world. I n conversation with a representative of "llio Daily! Telegraph,' Mr Hill explained that his claim was made onj the \ ground that Uyenishi, the champion of Mho world, had retired without nominating .a successor, and 1 as he held the E\iropenn championship he thought he «ils entitled to lay claim to the higher To satisfy everybody, he would '■Sit the matter stand in abeyance for a fortnight in order that anyone who considered ho had a better right to the title covild make his claim, and he wfculd be quite! prepared to meet him and! de- _ theS destination of the title by a match, jlf nobody came along within that tinye he would claim the full title, j He intended returning to Melbourne shortly, '-but would wait until his claim j had beenp made known in all direction®. 1 Apart frjom the title, he was prepared to meet ] any wrestler of any style, or anjf boxpr, to prove the superiority of jiu-jitsu; aSgain«t all other forms of self-1 defence: WATCHINC THE BAND. ! A CHILD RUN OVER. The Svdney coroner held an inquest last weelc-into the death of Alex. lan. Osborne, 3J years, who was run over and killed by a cab at Manly on January

fallen Osborne, mother of deceased, stated that she was on » holiday at Manly at the time of the accident. She and her ston were standing on the footpath, watching a band marching down) the Corso. Her son slipped away from her and ran across the road to where the band was. He was watching the band and walking backwards, when two horses attached to a four-wheeled cab approached him. People shouted, but it was too late. The horses knocked the boy down, and the front wheel passed over his head, causing a fracture of the skull. Percy Walter Catt, the driver of the cah, stated that he saw the hoy a few vards ahead. He swerved the horses, but immediately felt a bump, and found that he had run over the boy. The coroner recorded a. finding of accidental death.

PIRATICAL ATTACK ON STEAMER. A daring case of piracy is reported by the officers of the steamer St. Albans, which arrived- in Sydney last week from the East. The steamer Kwart Chau Wan,, belonging to the Shung Hing Steamship Company, and flying the Portuguese flag, was attacked by armed robbers at night. The master of the vessel. Captain J. F. X. Jesus, was shot dead in his cabin. The pirates made their presence known when the vessel was just off St. John's Island 1 on her from Kwan Chart Wan to Macao. A number of the pirates rushed to the captain's cabin while he was asleep, and their abrupt entry awakened hitn._ The attackers 'held revolvers in their hands, and the captain immediately realised what was on foot. He appears to have made a motion as if to secure his revolver, when one of the robbers shot him twice, with fatal results. They also shot the Chinese compradore in the leg, the quartermaster, and also a Chinese, but tappily they were not seriously injured.

The remainder of the crew were powerless, ami the pirates took charge of the steamer, and left- her only after they had appropriated everything Worth taking which could be conveniently carried away. When they left the ship was steered by the crew to Macao. POPULAR CLERCYMAN DROWNED.! A drowning fatality occurred at Deiii-j liquin (N.S.W.) a fortnight ago. Rev. P. A. Wenhorn, of St. Paul's Church, had been an inmate of the hospital for, a few days, suffering from pneumonia. About 10.30, during the temporary abqenci of the nurse frfem the private ward, Mr Wonborn, when apparently delirious, broke through a wire window and escaped from the ward. His tracks were followed from the hospital in the direction of the river. A handkerchief bearing Mr Wenborn's initials was found at tho edge of the water, also footprints in the mud. On Saturday mJorning some boys who were diving located the body within a few yards of the place where the handkerchief was found. Deceased was a very popular clergyman, and the tragic circumstances of his death caused a profound sensation. FORCOT HIS NAME. Lionel Jeffrey, a young teacher in the Premantle School, who was to have been married on New Year's Day, disappeared one night- last week, bis luggaee, etc., being left at his lodgings. The; detectives searched in, vain, but om Saturday morning Jeffrey walked into the ! polii-e office, to which a man had 1 direct-' i ed him in- order to ascertain his own ! name and' address. i ! He was in a dazed condition, and did not recognise his own name; but he did j recognise his photograph. He was taken to the hospital for treatment. j SUFFOCATED IN WIRE FENCE. James Batchelor, an old man, one of the oldest residents of Avoca (Vic.), ! took a short cut on his way home on January 9, which necessitated getting through, a wire fence. Evidently one leg became entangled, and' in his efforts to extricate himself the other leg waa also caught in such, a manner as to render his escape impossible. He was dead when found next day, and at the magisterial inquiry a verdict of death by suffoaction was returned. The previous week a similar case occurred near Kilmore. i SWIM THROUGH PERTH.

The third annual swim through Perth from Applecross, a distance of nearly five miles, was accomplished by a large number of competitors, in fine weather, on Saturday afternoon, January 3. Three girls competed, two finishing, while the third gave up through cramp a mile from home. The winner, Alice Harbum (13), had' 55min. start, and won by half' a mile, hen- swimming time being "2hrs. 27min. W. Reid, of Coolgardie, 12min. start, took second prize and a special prize for fastest time—2hrs. 3min. Miss Enid Ewart, 34min. start, was third, hei* time being 2hrs. 27min. JUMP'CD 880 FEET.

George Lewis., 29 years of age, an. Englishman, committed suicide at the Richmond main colliery on January 6 by jumping down the shaft, a distance of 880 feet.

•He had been acting strangely, and for safety his mates tied' him up and watched him. But they untied himi again on his recovering. Then he eluded them; and went to the shaft, ostensibly for his pipe. A mate ma!de an ineffeotural jri ab at him as he disappeared from the top. At the inquest ai finding of suicide while temporarily insane was recorded.