NEWS BY THE SUEZ MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8987, 27 February 1888, Page 6

NEWS BY THE SUEZ MAIL.

London, January 12. THE SUICIDE OF A CLERGYMAN.

Some further particulars have been received regarding the suicide of the Rev. John M. Lowther, the rector of Bolton Gate, near Wigton. The rev. gentleman had been summoned to appear before the magistrates to answer a charge of indebent assault preferred against him by Jane Stoddart, a servant, nineteen years of age, who had been in his service about three weeks. His solicitor, Mr. McKeever, of Wigton, had visited him on Monday, and satisfied himself that his client had a satisfactory answer to the charge, and at Mr. Lowther's request arranged to send a carriage out to Bolton in . the . morning to convey him to Wigton. A carriage and pair were sent in due course, and arrived at Bolton Rectory at half-past nine o'clock. Mr. Lowther's housekeeper, Mrs. Macan, was then at the door ready to accompany her master to Wigton, but Mr. Lowther himself was upstairs. He called for one of his servants, to whom ho delivered half-a-dozen letters for the post, and threw another over the bannister to Mrs. Macan, whom he asked to deliver it to Mr. McKeever, his solicitor. Shortly afterwards he descended, put on his overcoat; having in his hand the two sticks which he always carried owing to his lameness. Mrs. Macan was now seated in the carriage, which was drawn up at the door, and the driver was standing with the carriage-door open expecting Mr, Lowther to enter. He did not do so, however, but patting the driver on the back, he told him to mount the box as ho could manage. As soon as the driver had got on the box Mr. Lowther went round to the back of the carriage, and, standing with his back to the hind wheels and his face to the church, bade farewell to his favourite pony Bowden, an animal celebrated in the show ground, and then a shot was heard The driver on turning round saw that Mr. Lowther had shot himself in the mouth with a revolver. The bullet, it afterwards appeared, had passed through the roof of his mouth into his brain, and he fell dead upon the ground in a pool of blood. His body was carried into the house, and a messenger was despatched to Wigton with the letter to Mr. McKeever. That letter said : " Such a trouble I cannot face, and so I shall not appear to-day. Let my funeral be as quiet as possible. I urge that I may be buried at next space to Foster of Kilhow. S. R. Collins will show you where. Come immediately. — Truly yours, J. M. L." Mr. Lowther was sixtyfour years of age, and had been rector of Bolton since 1874. The living, which is worth £500 a year, is in the patronage of Lord Lonsdale.

A TERRIBLE TALE OF THE SEA. Two Swedish sailors have been landed at Plymouth, the sole survivors of the American ship Alfred Watts, of New York, which was wrecked with the loss of twenty-six lives off the Bahamas. The survivors passed a dreadful time. The ship broke up, and they remained on a part of the wreck, from the main portion of which nearly all the other hands were washed away. There was then only one chance for those on the raft, and that was to get back to the wreck. This some of them did, but the owner's son, in his delirium, walked into the water. Another was drowned who jumped into the water with the intention of swimming. A Russian who leaped into the sea in despair, was seized by a shark, and a fourth was too exhausted to prevent himself from being washed away. The two Swedes finally reached the waterlogged Alfred Watts. There they sank down, exhausted and unconscious. On recovering, they found plenty of food and water, and thus managed to live on the floating wreck until the Lizzie Perry took them off. The Lizzie Perry was herself subsequently wrecked during a great gale at Barbadoes, but all hands, including the rescued Swedes, were saved by taking to the boats. They were, however, stripped of everything by the natives on shore. LORD LEVESON'S MISFORTUNE.

The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian writes:—"l am glad to hear that Lord and Lady Granville are more comfortable about their son, Lord Leveson. He was, as already reported, conjuring with a half-crown, and the coin slipped down his throat and stuck there. Medical aid was at hand, but it was found impossible to get the coin back, and finally it was forced down into the stomach. No bad consequences have at present been felt, but of course the presence of a foreign substance in the body must give rise to some anxiety, and Sir Andrew Clark, who was consulted directly after the accident, has arranged with the local surgeon for an excisive operation the moment that symptoms of fever or other constitutional disturbance appear. Lord Leveson is a bright and active youth of 18, and has just left Eton after a promising career."

PANIC IN A THEATRE.

A terrible disaster occurred at Lavis, in the Southern Tyrol, yesterday evening. While the priest was preaching a member of the* congregation was seized with an epileptic fit, and in the confusion which followed some one raised an alarm of fire. The congregation became panic-stricken, and made a sudden rush for the doors. Eight persons were crushed to death, and many more were injured.

awful Murder at Greenwich. - Shortly before midday on Wednesday a shocking murder was committed at East Greenwich. A young married woman, aged 23, named Louisa Ostler, wife of a chemist's assistant, of 55, Trafalgar Road, who has been suffering from religious mania for some time past, seized a table knife during the temporary absence of her sister, and decapitated her young son, aged two years and five months, who was seated eating a piece of bread and butter. The sister was only absent from the room seven minutes. Inspector Lander and Drs. Hartt and McGavin were sent for. The head was found completely severed from the body. When charged the mother did not seem to realise what she had done, and simply said God told her she must do this thing. She was removed to the infirmary. She has another child, a girl, living, and is near giving birth to a third. buried in the snow. The recent snowstorms in Austria and Hungary have caused the death of a great number of persons. Most of the victims are women. In the Croatian county of Fiume 14 women have already been dug out of the snow, but many more still lie buried under it.

EXTRAORDINARY SCARE. A Birmingham correspondent telegraphs : —" Many of the ill-educated people here were on Wednesday thrown into a state of absolute terror by a report which gained widespread credence that, in consequence of the conjunction of Mars and Uranus with Mercury in an evil aspect, there would be earthquakes and other dire calamities. Women kept their beds, and would not let their children attend school; many ignorant persons met to pray ; females of the class commonly seen in ginshops bought Bibles, and members of the Salvation Army held forth on the Divine wrath immediately impending. It is long since such a remarkable instance of the survival of superstition was witnessed." a TOWN IN darkness. At Nelson, on Monday morning, the town was in darkness from six to nearly nine o'clock. During the night the engine used for the purpose of pumping air into the meters at the gasworks had been allowed to run, and as the result, all the gas became exhausted, and nothing but air was in the meters. Owing to the want of gas, all the mills and workshops were stopped, and about 10,000 people were idle tor nearly three hours.