NEWS OF THE WORLD

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 53, 5 March 1935, Page 5

NEWS OF THE WORLD

INEXPLICABLE DEATH KEEPER GRIEVES OVER APE 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.”

AN AMAZING BRAIN WORKING GIRL SURPRISES SCIENTISTS • Amazing details were revealed lately of how a working girl with little or no memory, who appeared to be a person of extremely low intelligence, has been found to have a brain equal to or even better than that of the average university professor. About a year ago the girl, who from childhood had always been “backward,” was taken to the Institute of Medical Psychology in London suffering from acute "anxiety-hysteria.” Treatment at the clinic brought about a gradual improvement, and a few weeks was reported as “apparently cured.” Before her discharge the girl was subjected to the usual intelligence tests, and these showed her to be mentally far ahead of the ordinary working-class woman. More advanced tests proved her to have an intelligence beyond that required for an honours degree, and eventually, as a result of still further tests, she was found to have exceptional mental gifts.

* The girl, who is in poor circumstances, is now in the hands of the Institute’s welfare workers, who hope to provide her with a training worthy of her gifts. BLIND MAN WINS AT CARDS One of the best cardplayers at Blackpool, Lancashire, is a blind man. He is Norman Quale, and he uses a pack which is marked in braille at each corner. He .’reads” his cards from the back with his fingers. The only help he requires is for the other players to say which card they play. Mr Quayie, remembers what has been played just as a "sighted” cardplayei would do. As he moves from table to table at progressive or military whist, he takes his marked pack with him for the plavers at the next table to use. “I have been to three military whist drives recently,” Mr Quayie said lately, “and I was a prize-winner at two out of the three!” He chuckled triumphantly. . , , . , "I took away a nice plate of ham. and eggs at one, and a pretty table cover at the other.”

PUNCH AND JUDY MAN DIES Joseph Maggs, who has died at Bournemouth, was a Punch and Judy showman for more than 60 years. He was the last of a family who had been Punch and Judy showmen for two centuries. To imitate Mr Punch s voice must have been second nature to Joseph. When he was 10 he was already workings Punch and Judy show. STARVED HIMSELF TO DEATH NAVAL OFFICER WITH FALSE BELIEFS Evidence given at a recent Portsmouth inquest revealed that Reginald Stanmore, aged 44, a retired naval man, who collapsed on the floor of his home, starved himself to death the result of ■ rigid dieting. He died in a Southsea nursing home, and, according to his sister, he believed in dieting, ana catered for himself. He did not believe in meat foods. The proprietress of the nursing home said that when Stanmore was taken there he was in a semi-conscious conaition. \ , A doctor who examined the man told him he was suffering from starvation. Nourishing foods were prescribed, but Stanmore never became fully conscious. The doctor stated that he urged Stanmore to take more food, but he would not listen to reason. Once witness was paid his fee and shown out of the room. The cause of death was pneumonia and malnutrition. A verdict of “Misadventure” was recorded.

MALARIA IN CEYLON . URGENT CALLS FOR QUININE Urgent orders for quinine were latelysent from Ceylon to India and Java. The malaria epidemic, which became serious in December, was showing no signs of abating. In some villages 80 per cent, of the population were Out of a total population in Ceylon of about 5,000,000, it is estimated that more than 500,000 were attacked. The authorities, fearing a shortage of quinine if the epidemic continued on the same scale, had taken steps to ensure an adequate supply. Every available doctor in the island had been pressed into service to fight the disease. Relief measures, for which public funds are being collected, were to be started immediately. The death-rate was steadily increasing, especially among villagers lacking proper nourishment.

WOMAN SHOT DEAD IN INDIA WAS ONE OF SHOOTING PARTY Suddenly entering the line of fire,-the wife of an Irish International Rugby player was accidentally shot dead by her brother in an Indian jungle a few weeks ago. The tragedy occurred during a shooting party near Bareilly, in Kashipur, the victim being Mrs Withers, wife of Lieutenant H. C. C. Withers, of the Royal Engineers. Mrs Withers, who was 30 years of age, had only been in India a month. Mr and Mrs Withers were invited by Mr Barrack, resident railway engineer at Bareilly, to join a small hunting party expedition, and with them was Lieutenant Macleod, Mrs Withers’s brother, who is in one of the Sikh regiments. While the shoot was in progress Mrs Withers received a shot, in the chest and died almost immediately. Lieutenant Withers is the son of Lieu-tenant-Colonel Withers and Mrs Withers, of Dorchester. By a tragic coincidence Mrs Withers has shared the fate of her father, who was shot many years ago. “Mrs Withers was a member of a well-known Scottish family, the Macleods of Skye,” t •'eutenant-Colonel Withers related in n “ interview. “Her father, Duncan Maclead, owned coalmines in India, and he was shot dead by a native when his daughter was an infant. This is the tragedy of the Macleods. My son’s wife had been in India only a month. She sailed from England only last October.” ' , , Lieutenant Withers, who played Rugby for his country in 1931, is a member of the Blackheath Club and has played for the Army,

CLOTHES AND THE MAN 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 he would never find a job. Next time the carter appeared before the meeting wearing his “Sunday best.” This time there was a man in the chair. “Good heavens!” he said. “How can you expect to get a job in your line dressed like that?” This story was told by Mr S. Berry to the Wood Green Employment Committee recently, HISTORY OF BIG ESTATE The County Antrim estate, from which Mr Winston Churchill has given 14 cottages to the tenants free of all rent, came to him in rather a roundabout way. His paternal grandmother was daughter of the third Marquis of Londonderry. This Duchess of Marlborough’s brother, the fifth Marquis of Londonderry, married a notable heiress, Miss Cornelia Edwardes, who left various possessions in Wales and Northern Ireland to her younger son, Lord Herbert Vane-Tempest. “GATE-CRASHERS” FINED HECTIC INCIDENTS AT A PARTY As the sequed to a London “gatecrashing” incident, Harry Emden, aged 23, china buyer, Israel Cohen, aged 24, salesman, and Ben. Baker, aged 28, hairdresser, all of Bow, were each fined 1/- and ordered to pay £2 compensation.

The three men were accused of committing damage at a flat in Long Acre, occupied by Mr John Ellery Wright, a young waiter. Mr Wright stated that he entertained some friends at a party, and just before midnight Baker and Emden arrived and said they had been invited by a woman. There were then 10 people in the fiat, and before admitting them he suggested they should go out and get two girls “to make the party even.” They went away and returned at 12.30 a.m., with Cohen and others whom he had not invited. He refused to admit them, and was then set upon. One of the visitors to the party staled that while he was trying to close the door some bottles were thrown. A wooden panel and four panes of glass were broken.

Baker stated he was invited by Mr Wright and a young woman, and he was also informed he might bring a friend. When he turned up Wright fold him that not many people had arrived and asked him to go out and bring some friends. “It is no use trying to understand the social attitude of different circles which one moves in,” remarked the magistrate, “and I don’t pretend to understand the customs which have been described. The gate-crashing on this occasion was of too violent a nature to be acceptable in the police courts. However indignant defendants may have felt at not being admitted, they had no right to do this damage.”

FREE RAILWAY RIDES IN INDIA So many of the Indian population contrive to travel on the railways without a ticket that serious losses are occurring 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 were detected last year. There has been much anxiety in India to reduce the cost of railway travel. COULD NOT KILL HIMSELF

FIRED TWO BULLETS INTO HEAD A man named Leo Schild 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 young 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.

EOGUS HEIRESS IN TEARS BREAKS DOWN BEFORE MAGISTRATE Remarkable exploits of a woman who had posed as heiress to a large fortune came to light lately at Southport, where she was prosecuted for obtaining food and lodgings by false pretences. Before the magistrates appeared Annie E. Allen, aged 54, described as a spinster, and while details of her career were being given, sobbed bitterly. Superintendent Clarke stated that accused called on Mrs Ethel Foulds, of Southport, and told her she had money coming to her. She said she had an appointment with Mr R. W. Brighouse, solicitor and deputy coroner for West Lancashire about the money.

One day she went out, as she sa'id, to see Mr Brighouse, but on returning she made out that the matter had not been settled.

Later she told Mrs Foulds, “Everything is now settled. Instead of getting £15,000 through Mr Brighouse I am getting £16,600. I am getting the shares of my brother and sister.” Allen added that an uncle had died and left her the money. SuDerintendent Clarke said that the statement that Allen had any transactions with Mr Brighouse was all lies. Referring to the woman’s past history he said that in 1921 Allen was sentenced at Liverpool to six months in the second division for obtaining £lO by false pretences. Later she induced a matron of a home of help to believe a story that she had been left £7OOO by two godmothers,' and was heiress to a fortune of £400,000. By this means she obtained from the matron clothing and other articles. At Liverpool City Sessions in 1930 she was sentenced to 18 months in the second division. After having a situation at Bootle, Allen went to Southport. She went to a boarding-house keeper and represented that she was heiress to a large fortune and that her affairs were in the hands of a Sheffield firm. She showed the woman a large envelope which she said contained valuable deeds. By this means she obtained various sums of money and was also kept for 12 months. The boarding-house keeper died, and her relatives found that the firm in Sheffield did not exist, and they turned Allen out as an impostor, but did not take proceedings. , Passing sentence of three months imprisonment, the presiding magistrate remarked that landladies must be protected.