HOME AND FOREIGN.

North Otago Times, 6 August 1903, Page 4

HOME AND FOREIGN.

"KNIGHTS OF HIE MOON."

A gang of juvenile imitators of lie . "Apaches" has boon discovered and laid ■ by the heels in Paris. Tim gang lwm- • -bered fifteen boys, and.. were under' the leadership of a lad aged tin,- and called ■ themselves the' "Knights of the Moon.'' . They were all armed with .daggers and revolvers,, and thpy did not hosiiAto to ■' uso ' thorn.. For weeks past rfiey have terrorised the Plaisanco pu'ter of ' Paris, . numerous-. liighway lobberies, even, upon, adults, and frequently with violence, and thai are suspected, of, being responsible for at. least one murder. The youthful des- ; peradocs employed girls of the same ages as thomselvtij to decoy the intended victims into quiet spots,. where, the rolv • beries could be perpetrated, All the iiftoen boys wore sentenced to long terms in reformatories. BLOODHOUND AS ACCUSER, •While Mi's Willard Catt and her two sisters -weto. playing the piano aiid singing hi their home in Pike County, Indiana, tlio. other diW; a bvtflefc crashed through the window, and Mrs Catt sank to the floor in a dving condition, the bullet having entered her bruin, The Mirderer escaped in tho darkness, but lioxt day search parties, were organised, and a United States marshal njfflied Sumpter tool; a bloodhound along with him. Suspicion rested on Willard Catt, the woman's divorced husband, but Mr Catt, his' father, and other relatives joined in the search, When tho bloodhound was talvcii to tho scene of the prime he started on a trail lending to the C'utts' home,'and when this was reached tho animal turned and led the searchers until'they overtook the party ' headed by Mr Catt. The bloodhound stopped and was about"to leap <-n Mr Catt when Mr Sumpter held him back, The two parties started to continue tho search, but the bloodhound refused to go further. It circled around Mr Catt, and again tried to. jump at him. Mr Catt was ultimately arrested, and charged with tho murder. He refused to make any .statement,

A PROLONGED gp-ENADH At Bi'.llysculty, four miles from Antrim, four men wero recently wounded by a farmer named William tlmise. Clarke was married ten days k-lore, and his neighbours on the night of his wkldiug serenaded him, They continued the rejoicings every night altenvards, however, and at length Mr Clarke, irritated by the beating of tin eans and the blowing ef horns, fired at the .serouadors with his shot-gun. One of tho men' is seriously wounded.

SENSATIONAL COLLISION BETWEEN STEAMERS,

Lying at her pier her starboard side for 100 ft crushed and torn, and the' woodwork pounded into< & splintered and inoxtrieablo mass of wreckage, her hull .'.penetrated by a great gosh, and the sxcol plates twisted and bent like pasteboard, tho steamer Plymouth, of tho Fall River lino, to-night furnishes silent but convincing evidence of the midnight collision with the freighter City of Taunton, of the same line, that cost six lives, and placed 5152 more in jeopardy telegraphed the New London (Connecticut) correspondent of - the ''New York 'Tribune 1 ' 011 Mareli 20. From the submerged forward holdj in which broken beams and twisted steel girders are tangled, the bodies of three , coloured pantrymen, who were caught in the wreck and drowned, have bam removed., and another is believed to he still concealed beyond the rca:h of I lie diver who has vainly sought to Jocato .tho body. . Tho body of a passenger, .believed to be that of G. 11, Marsten, of Pat-erson, !s T J., tho only passenger killed, lies at a local untiertaker'S establishment. There is yet no explanation of the accident, which occurred in a dense fog.near the eastern entrance of tho Sound, in tho narrow passage between Fisher's Island aiid Little Gull Island. At 12.10 a.ni.-'-tho time of the collision—the flood tide was rushing through tho entrance at a four-knot-pace, and tho City of Taunton, borne 011 tho crest of the flow, was passing in on tho way to Mow York, while the Plymouth had clears;] (full about 10 minutes before bound east. ' s Tho foghorns sounding beyond the white wall of mist wero heard by both ships four minutes before the impact-, and the Taunton had slowed to a snail's pace. Suddenly the men in the pilothouses of the two steamships' sow the flash of lights, there was a r/jar of warning whistles, and 20 seconds after tho mutual discovery the Taunton, low and heavy with an unusually large largo, rammed the Plymouth, striking licr at a slight angle, and penetrating jato her steej hull for about 10ft. , Apparently the Plymouth's moineiiturn still carried her forward, for as the Taunton rebounded froin the blow her battered bow raked the starboard side of the Plymouth fore and aft for 100 ft, bringing down the woodwork, staterooms, and bunks in a tangled mass. Straight through tho outer row of staterooms, and as far as the main ;saloon, the woodwork was Tipped and torn away, opeuing a big rift, revealing . tho forward gangway and caioo 1 !), As the Taunton hacked out the water liislied into tho. shattered hull beneath, the wateriine, Riling tho compartments, Caught in tbisection were four coloured men asleep. In, a moment, before they bad a .chance to escape, a great rush of Water .rolled into the ment and drowned them.

| Above l/jQ.hold in which .the negroes wen- sleeping was a second cabin, crowd,ed to overflowing. Seventy-five United States marines, lately returned from tho Philippines, and 50 Italians wero. in . tho blinks': sleeping, As tho first grind of tho crash came John M'Car.tliy, tlio' forward deck watchman,. realising. the impending danger, rushed to awaken the inmates of.'tho cabin, IJe had scarcely ' given' a warning shout, when the great bow of the '.launton,- raking the. sido of the Plymomh, sent a beam Iciliish'ing::{down..' completely \ se.vering ( his head. lira moment passengers wero struggling to from tho broken:mass, ..

.Impossible as it may soeui c>hen ouo viows. the hopolossly. battered woodwork, ail'this place, -not-, a-'siii-glo .1 person: was •injured. The- passengers in the staterooms above the 'steerage';,cabin' did not faro so. well. The bowsprit of tho Taunton tore aside the wooden partitions land sent beds and bunks.crashing down: into tho cabin jHero the only' casualty among, tlie; 'passengers 00onrred. A man',-'believed -to be. G,. H. Marsten,. of. Patersou, N.J., was fairly orushed in the broken beams., Three 'jther passengers,-occupying staterooms m this side, were also injured. Room 207, the one furthest aft of the-star-

} for Children's Hacking Cough »4 ight take Woods' Great Peppsmint <cjnro^OLa MMS Ssßli ,

'Tiricfal chamlMr," Tho occupants of' this. room, together with a woman occupynig the adjoining berth were imprisoned. So groat was the'force of ■the blow ■ dealt by tho Taunton that the woman in the next stateroom was hurled into tho bridal chamber, and tho three were, rescued by two porters armed with axes.

After the collision tho Plymouth settled as tho 'water .■ poured. into her shattered side, but tho watertight-coin-parlmoni-s. held, the vessel and tho admirable coolness of virp's offio% Njether with th- j u ble compijfi'n'. In (in and- worn •• .Cirke, averted <-Uci* hoiivr.-. Lifi -/jm'trvprswere {KVibut'jd, and "ft of t!( More apput thorn on, kit- -,oon ■bceaa- apparent ihat- thero wan 110 danger cf sinking, and the two rc-ssels oic.'viy and ifil.h liiliiculty steamed into .New-liOirioii .Harbour. The Norwich I.ino steamer Mai no passed the Plymouth crawling into'New-. ■L'bndoii'.'Harbaur.j an.c! informed the authoritioi'.' at New London of the accent

AS ORIGINALITY PLAYED. An iiiteiuitin;; peifon-iance of Rumco and Juliet was recently gi'veii in New York under the direction of Ivlr Frank Lea Short. The interior of the. theatre was made to suggest that of the Stfan Theatre in Shiikfcstwaro'.s time, aiid the impersonation went so far as to include the representation of typical, -members oJ the audience. In the. background Was a bjtrn-lika two-storey structure Tho higher story consisted of a .prinutivo balcony, used by the musicians and sometimes bv Juliet, lieueatji, oil a. level with the' Stage itself, wero two doors that opened iiiwarii to allow of the exits and. entrance of the players. Agrees baize curtain Workedi>u old fashioned riies divided'the back of the stage from the front- thereof, Thero were stalls for (h? Jariies of high degree, arranged semi-ci.rc;!i.u!y uround tho sides of the stage; stools upon the stage itself for the gentlemen of high degree, end the first ro.v "in. front'' was ■surrendered to the pieman* of the iiiiiuic atidieiioe, Among' the latter was an intoxicated person, who tried to secure a place among the gentles oil the stage, but was ijyiomiiiiousiy hustled back to Ids proper place- in the ]>it, A couple of flower girls, daintily attired, cried their wares. Thou a trumpeter appeared upon the balcony to blow the blast which announced that tho play was ready to begin. Everybody lapsed in quiescence, save for staccato exclamations from tho, intoxicated' person, while 9, miijie mr.de his appearance on the stage and recited tho explanatory prologue. When he had disappeared an aged gentleman, with a Ifeoinit) limp, hobbled out to hang up two signs at- opposite sides of the curtain, announcing that the scone to be imagined by tho spectators was "Verona" and "A feet." At one point in. tho performance tho intoxicated plobian, who had been repeatedly offering too vociferous applause or blame, grew so obstreperous that lie Was bodily carried out of tho theatre.

RE-MARRIED AFTER DIVORCE. - <» At Newcastlo Assises racsntly Mr Justice Ridley and a jury heard a claim by Annie Harness against Aildrew Foster,; a jeweller and watchmaker, of Morpeth, for damages for breach of promiso of marriage. Tile caso was a reinarkabl? one. It appeared fet in August, 1905, the girl, who was 10 yogi's of age, entered the defendant's service as shop assistant. Divorce proceedings had ' then been instituted by -his wifo, and a- detreo nisi was pronounced in the following December, $ After the decree was made absolute the defendant, mado overtures, of marriage to the girl; who complained, sue had now lost All' olianco of the marriage, because-the defendant, M re-married liii fir§fc wito' who had divorced him. Defendant on oath denied, the promise; but the jury awarded th<j plaintiff £2OO damages, and judgment was entered accordingly, A second action by the plaintiff's father, David Harknes3, claiming £IOO damages for tho se> duction of his daughter, was settled.