NEWS BY THE MAIL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9161, 17 September 1888, Page 6

NEWS BY THE MAIL.

DEATH OF MR. F. HOLL.

Mr. FttANK Holl, the Academician, died on July 31, after a short illness. He had only just completed his forty-third year, and is thus cut off in the prime of life. He is best Known to this generation by his portrait-painting, but his most enduring title to remembrance, if not to fame, may yet bo found in those works of pictorial sentiment, with which be began his career. He often drew his subjects from the Bible, or, at any rate, he was fond of giving them biblical titles. In most of them he illustrated the drama of home life and the domestic affections. The two circumstances together were enough to secure him indulgent attention on the part of the English public. Mr. Hall leaves an aged mother, a widow, and four daughters.

SHOCKING AGRARIAN MURDERS. A Traleo correspondent telegraphs that John Forham was shot dead at Mount Cole, near Listowel, on July 28, whilst returning from Tralee, where ho had hired three labourers. They were with him in a car when two disguised men suddenly jumped over a fence and shot him dead. Forham, who was 60 years old, had been boycotted for taking a farm from which a tenant had been evicted. Lately the police protection afforded him had been limited to a night patrol. He lived at Tullamore, between Ballylongford and Listowel. In nuking their escape the murderers were screened by a wood. The labourers communicated as soon as possible with the Listowel police, who hurried to the scene of the outrage. On the same evening two shots were tired at Thomas Murphy, at Farmer's Bridge, near Tralee, by a man wearing a red handkerchief over his face. Neither shot took effect. The cause of this outrage seems to be that Murphy's employer took a road contract contrary to the wishes of his neighbours. A labourer named James Ruare was working in a field at Glounamukle, county Cork, in company with his employer, David McAuliffe, a farmer, when a man, whose face was hidden by a white cloth, approached them with a doublebarrelled gun. He asked McAuliffe for his name, which he gave, and Ruare, on being asked the same question, gave a false name. The stranger then told Ruare to go on his knees, and, on the command being

obeved he deliberately shot him twice, and Embed Ruare died an hour afterwards, He had worked for an unpopular man named Twomey. «-»-«, GHASTLY GUN PRACTICE. Experiments have been conducted in FnSTS test the efficacy upon human bodies of the Lebel projectiles. In default of a war the virtues of the new arm have been tried on defunct civilians-unckimed bodies from the public mortuaries and hos-pitals-which were set up as far as possible In a life-like attitude and shot at. Doctors Chauvei and Nimier have, it appears, reported on the effect of the ghastly practice, and testify that the use of the " Lebel will relieve army surgeons of much of their duty on the field, a/the projectiles, even when fired from a distance of from 1980 to 200U yards, pass through.the body,phones and all. As the Lancet remarks, there can be no reason why such experiments on carcases of the lower animals should not suffice. THE WALTHAMSTOW MYSTERY. The chemist's assistant, William Barber, for whom the police had been searching, in order to clear up the mystery attending tue death of Mrs. French at Walthamstow, a suburb of London, was arrested at Brentford, on July 27, by Constable Buchanan, of the T Division of the Metropolitan Police. The officer's attention was called to him by a man named Hancock, the keeper of a coffee-house at 379, High-street, Brentford, where the prisoner had had breakfast that morning. Hancock's suspicions in regard to him had been aroused two or three days previously, when he lodged at the house for a night, and the impression he had formed was strengthened by the man's harassed appearance, and evident desire to escape notice as much as possible. When questioned by the constable Barber at once admitted that he was the person wanted, and was then taken to the police station. He made no attempt to resist, and his capture was very quietly effected. At the station he made a statement which was committed to writing. In this he denied having administered chloroform to the deceased, representing that while he was in the shop serving a customer she took a dose of the drug from a bottle, as she was suffering from toothache. "I do not think she meant to poison herself," he added. " She did not seem a woman who would do so. We were great friends, but there was nothing improper between us. I tried to restore her, but failed., and ran away in the excitement of the moment. I did not exactly know what I was doing." He also admitted that when he fled from the shop he took the money from the till, but alleged that it was stolen from him the same night by some woman while he was the worse for drink. He was subsequently brought before .the magistrate and remanded. A DROP FROM THE CLOUDS. One of the most daring, and at the same time one of the most graceful performances, at present to be seen in London, is Professor Baldwin's perfor raance, given at the Alexandra Palace leap from a balloon in mid-air. His first on July 28, was witnessed by over thirty thousand people, and it is not unlikely that three tiroes this number will witness his performance on Bank Holiday at the same place. When the time came for the proof of his first bold effort people held their breath from sheer dread of the possible result, or, as they feared, the certain result. But the balloon ascended, and the aeronaut cut himself adrift. When it had risen to a thousand feet he leapt one hundred feet first of all, and then, calmly unfolding his umbrella, , swiftly and steadily came down, holding on , to a ring which was fastened with ropes to i the light material of the umbrella, touching the ground as ooftly as if he had merely been I tripping on the floor of a ballroom. Horror , had filled the minds of thousands when he started, but so soon was confidence restored that ringing cheers rent the air, and when, '. after this marvellous feat, never before equalled, Professor Baldwin dashed up the slope and into the Palace, he was followed by the dense crowd in a perfect tumult of enthusiasm into the concert room, where M. Farini described the feat in a simple but graphic manner. He said the umbrella differed from all others in the fact that it had a hole at the top through which the current of air in the descent escaped, and thus the performer was enabled to balance it so perfectly, and it was expanded by the action of the wind the moment the aeronaut pulled the strings. The effect was perfectly marvellous, and especially so when it seemed that Professor Baldwin had really some control of the umbrella, for by a slight movement he was able to cross over some trees and descend with perfect ease in the adjoining field. He has already in America descended with complete safety more than 70 times.

BEQUEATHING HIS PROPERTY TO THE DEVIL.

The following singular case is troubling the heads of the Finnish lawyers at preen —A man died a week or two ago in Pielisjarvi, in the interior of the country, who was said to have led a bad and ungodly life. He had always been known to be well off, but nobody knew how he had gained his possessions. There were many strange stories afloat, but one which was more credited than all the rest was to the effect that Huolaiinen, as was his name, had, in his early days, been on an intimate footing with "Wihtahausu" (the "evil one"), with whom he had had several transactions of a commercial character. Whew Huolarinen's will was opened it was found that he had bequeathed all his landed pro f)erty and possessions to the devil. The Family naturally protest against the will, and the question now arises how this ticklish matter is to be settled. Everybody seems anxious not to offend any of the parties concerned. There can be no doubt that the devil is thus a landowner, by legal right, in Finland. ELOPEMENT OF A STAGE-STRUCK DAMSEL.

There is a good deal of gossip afloat in fashionable circles in London concerning the elopement of the daughter of a wealthy city merchanb with a man considerably her inferior in station. The young lady, a bright, prepossessing girl of nineteen, recently developed a sudden and passionate affection for the drama, and was to be seen at a certain London theatre three or four nights every week. Moreover she was observed to spend far more time than appeared necessary in the corridors of the house, and, being seen on one or two occasions by friends talking very familiarly with one of the ticketcollectors, her father was spoken to on the subject, and advised to keep his eyes open. The young lady was forbidden to go to the theatre again, and the fond parents imagined that they had effectually extinguished any amorous passion that might have been fired in their daughter's breast. To their consternation, however, the young lady disappeared from home the other evening, and inquiries showed that the theatre employe hud disappeared too. The pair were traced, some say, to Scotland, and others to the Continent, and the indignant father, accompanied by a private inquiry agent, is now on their track. The lady is understood to have had a considerable sum of money in her possession. A DESTITUTE VISCOUNT. A correspondent writes to a contemporary :In Crowndale Road, the other afternoon, my attention was drawn to A rather smart young fellow, dressed after a somewhat shabby-genteel fashion, and energetically grinding sounds out of a large street organ. Upon a large card fixed on the front of the instrument there appeared printed in very conspicuous characters the following notice: "Utterly destitute! I am Viscount Hinton, the eldest son of Earl Poulett.—Vide Burke's Peerage.' " Viscount Hinton has played clown at the Surrey theatre.

A CHAMPION DIVER DROWNED. Larry Donovan, who made himself notorious in America by his extraordinary feats of diving from great heights, was drowned in the Thames about four o'clock on the morning of August 7, he having essayed the task of jumping from the foot bridge beside the railway bridge at Charing Cross into the Thames, and swimming to the city side of the river without assistance. From what can be ascertained he only took off his coat before making the fatal jump into the river, which was very low at the time. He was, however, seen to rise to the surface, but after swimming a short distance he again sank. Nothing further was seen of him. Donovan was about 26 years of age, and came to England about 14 months »go. ... THE EMPEROR FREDERICK'S WILL. According to Truth, the Emperor Frederick left a sum of about £150.000. which is

invested in English securities, to the Empress for life, and then to hi* younger children as she may appoint, and the trustees are the Queen, the King of the Belgians, and the Duke of Saxe-Cobur»-Gotha. He bequeathed other moneys m Germany, that were at his own disposal, in the same way, and there is a special direction in his -will that the Prussian Govern* ment is not to have any control over any I part of this property. '

THE QUEEN IN TEARS. There is, says the World, a great deal of misrepresentation in all the accounts given of the reception of the German Envoy General von Winterfeldt, at Windsor Etiquette prescribes that on such occasions of mourning the notification of the death of one sovereign and the accession of the successor should bo made by the Envoy to. the Queen in plain clothes, not in uniform and that, beyond receiving the news i n per' son, the Queen takes no further part in the matter; and in consequence of the Court mourning he is not even invited to dine at the Castle. That being always the rule" it was adhered to on the present occasion' The German Envoy and his aide-de-camp were not informed of this rule until they arrived at Windsor, where they had to wait until a suit of plain clothes could be provided, in which Count von Winterfeldt was dressed and ushered into the presence of the Queen. Whether from nervousness or forgetfulness, he prefaced his announcement by the usual formula "I have the pleasure to announce to your Majesty the accession of His Imperial Majesty," &c, &c, on hearing which the Queen turned to the window, her eys filled with tears of sorrow and dismay at hearing such an apparently cruel and unfeeling mode of addressing her, and did not address any observations to him. The selection of Count von Winterfeldt to convey the official notification to the Queen was made by the Emperor William himself, as Count, von Winterfeldt was one of the greatest persona) friends of the Emperor Frederick, so that it is obvious that nothing was farther from his thoughts than to do anything which could increase the grief the Queen was suffering from the death of her son-in-law.

MAXWELL'S LAST LETTER. Maxwell's farewell letter to his mother and sister was as follows: "My darlin" mother and sister, —I cannot part from you without again bidding you farewell. 1 have tried again and again-to write to you, but; my heart was too full of love for you to permit me to express my thoughts, and even now I am only partially able to do so. It is I know, a severe blow both to you and to me, and the only consolation we can have is the fact that it is the will of the Almighty, and for His own wise purpose he sees it to be for the best. Father

Tihan will call and see you. He spent the greater part of the night with me, and gave me the greatest consolation. Now, my darling mother and sister, try to bear up as well as you can. Remember that the parting is only for a time, and that I am merely gone before and hope to meet you ail hereafter, where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. God bless and preserve you all is the final prayer of your loving son and brother. P.S.: Give my fondest love to father, George, Aunt Jane, and all my relations.H.M.B.", TERRIBLE FIRE IN NEW YORK-

TWENTY LIVES LOST. A serious and fatal fire occurred in New York on Friday afternoon, August 3, and the horror it has excited is increased by the fact that the building destroyed exactly resembles 1500 others in the city. The scene of the catastrophe, says a correspondent, was a six-storey building standing in the rear of the block between the People's Theatre and Simpson's pawnbroker's shop in the Bowery. Eight feet in front the burned premises stands the White House Saloon ; five feet behind them rises another Btructui e like the one burned. Access can only be gained to the street by a blind alley, perhaps two feet wide. The law now prevents the erection of such mantraps, but there are 1500 of the kind, the danger of which is only modified by the compulsory I erection of fire escapes, with which the burned building was supplied to an extent beyond the legal requirements. Nobody knows how the fire commenced, but within fifty seconds from the first alarm the tiremen were on the spot. Repeated alarms brought fifteen companies ot firemen within five minutes. By that time no sound of a human being came from the crackling debris, where 200 people were known to have been shortly before. They were tailors, mostly Poles, Jews, and foreigner?, working on the sweating system. The flames started on the lower flour, and swept) up the hoist, which is destroyed, as well as the adjoining stairway. Seeing their way of escape cut off, the peopk in the house became panic-stricken, and the scenes which ensued sickened even the hardened firemen, who, unable to use their apparatus, could only shout directions to the delirious men, women, and children who clustered at every window and overcrowded the fire escapes. The firemen called in vain ; probably many of the foreigners did not understand what was said to them, as their cries were noo understood by the people in the yard. Soma who reached the ground in safety madly returned to the burning premises to save their goods. These met the outcoming throng, and a dreadful struggle followed in the passage way, which became instantly and fatally blocked. As the flames drove the wretched people to the higher floors, some of them jumped from the top storeys when, but fur their thoughtlessness in then fright, they might have reached the ground safely from the lower floors. Othera leaped to the windows of the adjoining building, the iron shutters of which had been closed to protect it from the dames. A few who sought to escape over Simpson s roof found their way barred by a spiked railing, placed there to oppose the entrance of thieves. A few made their way over perilous ladders horizontally stretched from the theatre windows. Perhaps the saddest incident that was recorded was the death of a Mrs. Gruft with her children, Joseph and Celia, and a baby that was born to her during the fire. The poor woman's double agony is described as heartrending in the extreme. Her husband managed to save himself and one of his children. The extent of the calamity is not yet fully known, but twenty corpses have been found, and as many lie injured in the hospitals. Many more are supposed to be missing. The uncertainty on this point arises from the fact; that none but foreigners occupied the building, with whose language and customs the officials are not familiar.