ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9152, 6 September 1888, Page 6

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN.

The Manapouri, which arrived from Sy<& ney yesterday afternoon brought a Suez mail, dated London, July 27, and from our English newspapers we extract the following items : — STARTLING RUMOURS FROM BERLIN. We (Pall Mall Gazette) have received the following from our correspondent at Berlin, dated July 10, which we publish with all j reserve, more as an illustration of the i temper that seems to prevail in Berlin than 1 from any belief that a story so monstrous j can possibly have even the slightest founj dation in fact: Very hateful rumours are | flying about Berlin, which I hesitate to | send without confirmation, but which I ! equally hesitate to withhold lest they prove ! to be true. It is well known that, as I ! saw with my own eyes, the moment S the Emperor's breath was out of his i body, there was a rush of soldiery to all the exits from the Castle of Friedrichskron. No one was allowed to leave, no one to enter, for hours after the . J death. What was the object of this i headlong and indecent blockade? It was more than hinted at the time that the ; intention was to secure any papers which the dead Emperor had left behind him, and, above all, the sheets of a diary which he kept, recording his opinions on matters of State. Not a scrap of paper on which the i deceased had written the commonest requests or remarks (he was for a long time reduced to this means of communication) was allowed to remain in the possession of its recipients. It is even said that the trunks of one doctor were seized at the i frontier and sent back to Berlin to be overhauled at the Chancellerie. It iB a spectacle » for the nations, that of Prince Bismarcii on his knees turning out the contents of Dr. ■ Hovell's trunks. But it would awaken very different feelings, if it were true, as is not unsparingly asserted in Berlin, that a ; ' high personage' who is near and dear to > England, and who was nearest and dearest to the dead, is weeping to-night at Friedrichskron in a palace which is in all but the name a prison. Of course everyone must ; hope that the story is an abominable fiction. But wherever I go I hear on all sides that the Empress Victoria is virtually under ■ arrest in her present residence. I fear there is little doubt that Her Majesty is receiving very scant consideration at the • hands of the men now in power. Mr. i Labouehere, writing in Truth about this rumour, says : — '"lam told on fair autho- ■ rity that the following are facta, but I can- ) not absolutely vouch for them ; they are, , however, openly stated in Berlin : The i Empress was supposed to have obtained « j certain documents. These she, it is sail, , | handed over to her mother when she came i ! to Berlin, and the Queen carried them off i j with her. When the Prince of Wales was - i over for the funeral of the late Emperor, he - tried to arrange matters, but failed, for he • : was not, empowered to return the docu- . ments. It is further said— but this seems 5 improbable — that certain securities are • missing, and that the will of the late Em- ; {>eror is to be contested. One thing is cer- , ! tain, there is a bitter feud between the = '■■ Empress and her son, and our Queen is in i a high state of indignation." ! A HORRIBLE SCENE AT AN 1 EXECUTION. After the execution, at Oxford, of Robert Upton for the murder of his wife, the in- | quest on the body was held before the i county coroner. The medical officer of the [. prison deposed that this was very different , ; to previous executions, the head of the cul- | prit being nearly torn off. That was owing I j to the length of the drop. In his opinion , j death was quite instantaneous. He had since examined the body, and seen a large j wound in the neck. The skin, windpipe, \ the gullet, and all the soft parts and side of • the neck were torn through, as well as the ' ■ spinal column severed. The jury expressed " a wish to hear the executioner's explanation. Berry was then called, but he said he was not compelled to give evidence. The coroner said he was compelled, if he sumr> j naoned him. Berry replied that there was j no Act of Parliament, but if the coroner | wished it he would gave evidence. The - j coroner said the jury wished his explana- ? : tion. Berry was then sworn, and gave evi- . ! dence. The rope, he said, had only been j used once before. He measured five feet ; out with a tape as the length of drop to be > J given, and he arranged the rope accordingly. r I He fixed it at thai amount because when • i people were getting into years he did not r I give them an extra lonjr drop. In this instance £ j he based his calculations on the case of Dr. . j Cross, whom he executed in Ireland, and who 3 ; was several years older than Upton, and a . ; lot heavier. * He had the same length of i I drop, and no skin was broken whatever, i j Dr. Cross had a different neck from Upton t altogether. He had a thick neck, and e j Upton had a very thin one. He accounted i ' for the laceration by the skin being with i ■ ered. He knew as soon as he got the noose round the man's neck that this would hapr ; pen, but it was too late to alter it. He b I would not alter it at such a time for the - ] best man living. He had seen two or three f ! cases of this kind in old age ; they could not r ! expect anything else; it could not be - I helped. Death was as quick as lightning, » I and he hoped if ever he died in this way - j that his death would be a? quick. He could 1 ! not understand why the jury had been so t : long over their inquiry ; he had executed - ' 123 persons, and in any other part of the t \ country it would have been over in half the -" j time. " The foreman of the jury said that 3 ; the explanation which had been given by 3 j the executioner was to his mind satLifac--3 j tory, and tne jury agreed that the occur- > j rence which had happened could not have s i been averted in the circumstances. ! I THE " WHITE PASHA'S" ADVANCE. r ! Since my telegram of the ISth inst. was s ! despatched, says the Suakim correspondent 3 i of tne Times, many pilgrims and refugees s ; have come in, and all are carefully ques- ? ! tioned. There can be no doubt of the s presence of a white man with an armed i force on the Bauhr-el-Ghazel. Some declare » that they have seen soldiers wearing tar- ,• i bushes and Europeans wearing hats at ; . B:\koondi Ibi and Boorba, but the stare--3 j merits to this effect arc incomplete and an- > * trustworthy. All the informants unite in - j asserting the existence of an armed force, . I and that the peoples of Darfoar and Bongo , j are in friendly communication with the r ' white man. The report of the defeat of ; ' Osman lanoo, an Emir of the Khalifa, by - ' Zaid, a slave of the Sultan Yusef of Darfoar, - ! in February List, is fully confirmed. The » ; Khalifa, who is said to have had a pro- • 1 phetic vision of the destruction of his ? | power and his own death, confines himself ; j to the house. Dissension* exist everywhere • I among his followers. ThefErnir Wad-el-Najem ' j has been poisoned, and other Emirs have : j been tortured and imprisoned Rabbah, , i a powerful independent chief, once a fol- . ' lower of Zebehr Pasha, has offered, to join r ; the forces with the white man and the ? I Darfour tribes to crush the MahdL It is , | difficult to sift the evidence, owing to the I ' stupidity of the Takruri informants, some t | of whom have been journeying on pilgrim- . i ages from regions in Western Africa for f ! years, their language being scarcely underr | stood here. But strong and varied testi- . I mony points to the existence of Emin f I Pasha or Mr. Stanley, or possibly both, on - j the confines of Darfour, ard it is clear that i he or they are marching towards Khartoum. j It is believed that if Zebehr Pasha, with a | small and well-equipped force accompanied I by several selected English officers, were to "" I march by the Nile in support of the white 1 ! man or men. the power of the Mahdi a ; would speedily be crushed. It, is stated t • that Osman Digna's power is fading, and ! that his followers are dispersing to the • i mountains. The slave and contraband 1 ! trades with Jeddah continues, though the - ! Egyptian steamers and the coastguard . I dhows are constantly cruising. ' I A CIRCUS GROOM FALLS HEIR TO £40,000. i I When Sanger's circus arrived at Kendal ' | the other morning, a letter was awaiting : one of the labourers, acting in the eapaeity 1 ' of a groom, to the effect that there had e \ been bequeathed to him by a deceased >" ; relative a fortune amounting to £40,000. • ' The young man could not at first realise ' j the truth of the pleasing announcement, as ; } the money was from a source he had little - \ expected, but it proved to be correct. It ; appears that the fortunate groom belongs • to a good family, and received a superior j ; education. Like many other young men , j fond cf horses, the fascination of a circus - I life attracted him, and he has been in the 1 j service of Mr. G. Sanger for some time. -' j A ROMANTIC ELOPEMENT. I Mis* Ida Lena Cooke, aged seventeen, b i daughter of a cir- ■ -* proprietor, and Mr.

W. P. Dodge, of New York, aged nineteen, who eloped together at the beginning of last week, but were captured at Carlisle, succeeded at last in escaping from their guardians. They hare been married before the Sheriff of Edinburgh. About ten o'clock a party in cabe drove up to the Sheriff Court. They proved to be the youthful bride and bridegroom, and several friends as witnesses. Sheriff Hamilton, who appeared in about half-ao-nour, performed the necessary ceremony, and the couple and their friends drove off again. The bride was neatly dressed in a slatecoloured costume. According to the New York Herald, Mr. Dodge is travelling with a tutor. He is the son of the Rev. David Stuart Dodge, New York. The family is "richer than old Croesus." THE CHARGES AGAINST MR. CRAWFORD. The Calcutta correspondent of the Times telegraphs as follows respecting the arrest of Mr. Crawford, of Bombay. Although the name is not mentioned, it is clear that Mr. Crawford is referred to :—" Public opinion in Bombay is greatly excited by the recent arrest of a covenanted civilian holding a high official position. His name has been identified with progress in Bombay for some thirty years, and his career had been one of almost unprecedented success and public distinction. Criminal charges of a very serious nature are- preferred, and will form the subject-matter of immediate investigation before a magistrate at Poonah. I have, however, just received a telegram from Bombay stating that the charges are believed to be exaggerated, and that the evidence is insufficient to support them. The arrest was due to the attempted flight of the civilian referred to while suffering from cerebral excitement. In the meantime sixteen subordinate native officials have been suspended, and eighty more are inculpated. The accused has Deen liberated on bail of 70,000r5., pending the magisterial inquiry, which is fixed for August 1. He is very popular, and possesses innumerable personal and official friends, both European and native, and sanguine expectations are entertained that he will stand exonerated from all charges of a criminal character, and that certain indiscretions may be accounted for by physical reasons. Great sympathy is felt for his family." THE LATEST DODGE OF THE LADY THIEF. " The other day," writes a Liverpool correspondent, "a well-mannered and exquisitely dressed female moved about in the church among the lady guest* at a society wedding, telling each confidentially that she was the representative of a society journal, when all the while she was intent on thieving. 'Of course,' add the papers, ' every facility was given her ; she examined as many dresses as she cared to.' For was not the dress going to be described in a '. society journal—material, colour, style, everything which could excite the admira--1 tion and envy of those who care to read 1 about such things ? ' You shall receive a 1 proof,' said the ' well-mannered and exquisitely dressed female' to her dupes ; and how pleasant to be able to correct anv 1 mistakes before the journal was printed and found its way into society ! But the I actual ' proofs' that a thief's hand had been in their pockets was far more difficult 1 to ' correct' than the literary ' proofs ' of some eminent writer, when they found their purses were gone." STRANGE RECOVERY OF EYESIGHT, A Wolverhampton correspondent state; } that during a heavy thunderstorm a colliei > named Bates, who had lost his sight * through an accident, was being led home, . j when a fla°h of lightning was reflected or r i the spectacles he was wearing to conceal i | his disfigurement. After the peal of than j ! der which followed he complained of pair ;J in his head. The next moment, to his sur ' I prise, he found that he had regained posses f I sion of his eyesight. The occurrence ha* -. | caused considerable excitement in the lo i ; cality. DISASTROUS FLOODS IN I YORKSHIRE. 3 Bridges completely washed away, catth - killed, houses flooded, with the farnituK ! ' floating in the —such is the accoun - of one of the most destructive floods evei i ; known in Yorkshire. Last night (July 26 - j the water swept down Swaledale and Ark * * ingworthdale in torrents. Hundreds o; i ; acres of meadow land are under water. : ; Large herds of cattle and flocks of sheet ; ; had narrow escapes, after being surrounded . : with water, but only a few head of stock i ! have perished. In the wild mountainou: i | district* of Arkingworthdale, where gardet ? | walls and produce were washed down tin . | valley, thousand* of pounds' worth of dam 3 j age has teen dons. In Swaledale all thi i ■ meadows on the low-lying ground have beei f flooded and rendered worthless. FATAL THUNDERSTORMS. j Thunderstorms yesterday (July 26) wen . very destructive in various part* of tht country, and several deaths arose from th< . lightning. At Urmaton, near Manchester " the storm was particularly severe. A man * supposed to be an insurance agent fron * Eccies, was iD Lostock Road at the time > and stayed to take shelter from the heavi . downpour of rain under a large poplar tree i Whilst there a vivid flash of lightning ' struck him. He was instantaneously killed '. j A great thunderstorm, accompanied witJ j | many vivid flashes of lightning, broke ove: j Nottingham and district. Tae lightning , j killed a man as he was driving a horse anc ! cart belonging to Mr. Marriott, of Sandi * ! acre. A little girl named Bond, at Hetton ' i le-Hole, had a narrow escape. She wa . ! sitting in an outhouse, knitting, when i ; flash of lightning twisted the needles int< i the most peculiar shape*, but the girl her * self was uninjured. A CALCULATING PORTER, ; A marvellous men calculator has beer | discovered in the person of a railway pone: * j at Stxathpener, on the Highland Railway I A correspondent supplies the following ■, fact* :—" While waiting at the railwn: i station for the arrival of the Dingvraii train r I noticed about » dozen gentlemen standing | round a railway porter, watching with keei ' eyes the mental workings of a mind ah sorbed in the following arithmetical trenta : calculation. A gentleman had preparer and read out this question :—' Say that ii a line of a daily newspaper there were 4: 1 letters, in each column 190 lines, in eacl ' page 7 columns, and S pages in each paper ' how many letters for a year, taking 31! ; lawful days V In the course of a few—no * more than from two to three minutes—thj ' answer was given out— 139,873,440. This J I was told, has been since tested. I asked On ' figures to be divided by 25, and in a few " seconds he called off the figures as 5,394,93; . 15-25ths. He corrected me in taking dowr a one figure, and the extraordinary way a " | which his mind acts in his calculations J | seems unknown to himself ; his Lips may bt ' i seen moving when his mind is absorbed ir 1 j calculation, and before he is done his fore i head and neck become wet with perspira 1 I tion. 'When delivering his answer ht ' speaks oat tie figures as if he was reading * I from off a. board. A question such as th« j j above fatigues him, and. he refuse? to entei ; t into another for an interval. He hansel " j calls it ' practice,' He had been threaten ec i with the loss of eyesight, and he has prac '_ j tised in this way for the past fourteen j years. Such a marvellous performance \ appears to me to be something more that 1 j mere practicesomething that Bespeaks ar ' | inward vision of a most peculiar kind, and | which is worthy of being publicly mad* 1 | known." , | THE SUICIDE OF DR. RIDLEY. : | A sensational incident in the inquiry int£ 1 i the death of Mr. Mandeville was providec | j in the suicide of Dr. Ridley, of Tuil&more * | Gaol, who cut his throat at the Roya! j Hotel He was found it eight o'clock* iv. ■ j the morning, in his room, quite dead. He '■ j appeared to have committed the act while ] out of bed, and shaving, as there were | splashes of blood on the mirror and the washi j stand. He evidently got into bed after- . ward?, and there died. The affair has j caused agreat sensation in the neigh hour - ; j hood. The Dublin Express has no doubt , that Dr. Ridley fell a victim to the hostility ] excited against him by the Nationalists, jin consequence of the faithful perform--5 ance of his duties in the orison treat- ] mens of Mr. O'Brien an 1* Mr. Man- ; deville. He was boycotted in the dis- | trict where he had once teen popnW, and f his fine practice unfairly la*. en fro n him. j Disappointment and irritation u*.ing aggraI vated by reckless charges in connection I with the Mandeville case, his mind gave J way. 6 ! " ■•