ENGLISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 9369, 20 May 1889, Page 6

ENGLISH AND FOREIGN NEWS.

SUICIDE AT SEA.

Ox the arrival of the P. and O. Company's s.s. Rome at Plymouth on the 7th of April I from Australia, it was reported that the wife j of Mr. Stanley G. Hill, of Queensland, who I was on his way to England with his family, ', committed suicide by throwing himself over- ! board during the night after the ship left ; Colombo. Mrs. Hill had been in ill-health I for some time. I SIR GEORGE GREY. ! Much interest (says the Home News) is : taken in the announcement that Sir George Grey is coming over to England before long. Like most statesmen of force of character and strongly-marked opinions, it has been the lot of Sir George Grey to meet with considerable opposition and censure, often not too courteously expressed, in the course of his long public career as a colonial administrator an 1 politician. Mr. Froude went to the opposite extreme of panegyric in his chapter in *' Oceana" about Sir George Grey, though perhaps the latter really has claims to the title of the " Grand Old Man" of New Zealand, which some enthusiastic partisans have conferred upon him. It would serve no i good purpose to inquire too curiously here ; whether Sir George Grey was entirely right ! in each and all of his acts in connection with j the Maori wars, or whether his policy on the j land question was in every respect sound ; ■ on these points, of course, there is much i divergence of opinion among the various ! sections of New Zealand politicians. Still j ther is no denying that the man of seventyI six who has been Governor of South Aus- . tralia and of Cape Colony, Premier of New j Zealand, a staunch friend of the Maori race, j and an orator of great eloquence, forms one 1 of the most notable figures in the gallery | of contemporary colonial statesmen ; while there is romance enough in the picture which • has been drawn by more than one. hand of the veteran homint d'affaires living on quietly ant! cheerfully in his solitary island home. j Perhaps Sir George Grey may rind some things to startle him when he comes to observe with his own eyes the ever-changing kaleidoscope of English political life, but dwellers iii the old country will certainly give a respectful greeting to the aged and distinguished representative of the colonies. MR. BRIGHTS FORTUNE. The personalty of the late Mr. Bright is— the London correspondent of the Birmingham Gazette hears, from one who was present at the funeral—likely to be not far short of three-quarters of a million. The explanation of this large amount maybe found in the fact that for very many years the firm has been extremely prosperous, and that none of its members have been great, spenders. John Bright himself had no expensive tastes, and lived in London the life of an ordinary clubman, with £l>X) or £700 a year certain. It is stated that the disposition of Mr. Height's wealth has been made on a generous plan, so that not only the nearest of kin will substantially benefit. THE SULTAN' COURT-MARTIAL. The court-martial for the trial of Captain Rice, on a charge of stranding Her Majesty's ship Sultan, in the Comino channel, on March 6. was concluded on Monday on board the Victory, in Portsmouth harbour, under the presidency of Admiral Sir .J. E. Commerell. After a deliberation of nearly two hours and a-half the Court was opened, and the Deputy Judge Advocate read an extract from the Return of Naval Courts-martial for 1 SB.'i. It showed that on February 17, ISS2, Captain Rice was charged with hiving negligently,or by default stranded Her Majesty's ship Iris, under his command, on tiie Avola shore, off Cape Augusta, Island of Sicily. The charge was proved, and the prisoner was adjudged to be reprimanded, and he was admonished to lie more careful in future. The navigating lieutenant of the Iris was tried at the same time, and was reprimanded and dismissed his ship. LIFE IN AMERICA. A prize fight at Seattle, America, between two well-known pugilists, Scott and Britton, has had a sensational and disastrous termination. Britton claimed the tight on a foul, but the referee disallowed the claim. This incensed Brit-ton's supporters and backers, who broke into the ring, and began a desperate contest with the friends ot Scott. 'Lite : tight was long and tierce, the combatants soon abandoning fists for firearms. One of II the abandoning for firearms. One rethe seconds was fatally wounded by a revolver shot, and several other persons were ! injured l>y bullets. The police being informed of what was going on hastened to the place, and made many arrests. A HORRIBLE CRIME. A truly horrible crime lias been perpetrated at Szi'.l, Hungary. A small winegrower found his stock diminishing, and hid himself in the cellar to discover the thieves. He saw six tramps enter the premises, and, after copious libations, they prepared to take a cask away with them. At this juncture lie came out of his hiding-place and attempted to remonstrate with them. They seized him, however, put him under the wine press, and crushed him to death. A man who happened to look in to see what was going on was forced by the six wretches to drink the victim's blood, which was presented to him as wine. Eventually he managed to slip out, and, bolting the cellar door, ran off for assistance to the neighbouring village. The authors of this heinous crime were captured in a state of helpless in- ; toxication. MURDER AND MUTILATION. A murder only equalled in ferocity by the Bradford tragedy was perpetrated on the moor in the outskirts of Hamburg on Sunday evening. April 7, the victim being a youth of 10 years. His head and limbs were torn from the trunk, which was disembowelled. The murderer, a man of 30, was surprised by several persons, but having a start, and wearing running shoes, he got away for the time. As an accurate description of his appearance has been circulated, and mounted hussars are scouring the neighbourhood, it is hardly likely that he can escape. It is strongly suspected that the monster is the man who recently outraged and dismembered a girl, aged eight, in the same locality. THE SAMOAN HURRICANE PREDICTED. It may be worth placing on record (says : the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Chronicle) that the 17th of March—the date of the disastrous hurricane at Samoa—was long ago predicted by Dr. Rudolph Fall), the eminent meteorologist, as a day on which great atmospheric disturbances might be expected. It is also worthy of note that on the lfith of March there were heavy snowfalls at Rome, Naples, and Vienna, such as have not been witnessed for ten years past. OUTRAGE IN A CHURCH. At the church of San Carlo, Rome, on Sunday morning, while a sermon was being preached by Padre Agostino, the famous Franciscan monk, a bomb was thrown from behind the High altar into the body of the church. It burst, causing an indescribable panic in the dense crowd which filled the building. The carabinieri were instantly on the spot and formed a circle round the altar. Several arrests were made. There was a general rush for the door, many falling down in their efforts to escape. The explosion made the whole church shake. For a few moments after the occurrence Padre Agostino left off preaching, but then finished his sermon with the greatest calmness. THE CZAR AND THE FORTUNETELLER. A strange story is going the round of the Continental papers to the effect that some '20 years ago the present Czar, at that time heirapparent to the Russian throne, was told by a gipsy women many wonderful things— amongst others, that he, should not outlive his 40th birthday. It is stated that all her other forecasts have been realised, one after another, greatly to the disquietude of Alexander Alexandravich, who is notoriously superstitious. The Czar entered upon his 45th year on the 10th ulfc., and has appeared to suffer from a more than usually severe depression of spirits since. MISS MARY ANDERSON. Mr. Charles J. Abud, who has arrived in London, denies the report that the illness from which Miss Mary Anderson has suffered is attributed to some disease of the mind ; but on the contrary, states that she was obliged to relinquish the remainder of her tour solely from the fact that her system had become weakened by playing so constantly in America, and the long railway journeys entailed in getting from city to city. Miss Mary Anderson has now entirely recovered, and is on her way to England to take a wellearned rest, prior to commencing her new contract with Mr. Abbey on December 9, when she will open i/i New York. THE KAISER AND THE SAMOAN DISASTER. The Emperor has addressed the following letter, dated the 2nd April, to Admiral Baron von der Goltz :—" A devastating hurricane has inflicted heavy losses on my ships at the Samoari Islands. The cruiser Adlcr and the gunboat Eber have foundered with portions of their crews; the corvette Olga is stranded, and has suffered severe damage. Along with my navy, I deeply lament the loss of many officers and men, inflicted on it by God's inscrutable decree. It affects me the more painfully as I know, from the events at Apia on the 18th of last December, that I have lost brave and fearless men, who devotedly risked their lives in fulfilment of their duty to the Emperor and the Empire. " Afflicting, however, as the consequences of the destroying hurricane have been, I expect

from mv navy that it will not be disturbed in its confidence, in its prosperous development, bv such disasters. May the example of those who died doing their duty to Emperor and Fatherland till the last moment inspire emulation in my navy for all time to come, and enable it to go on fulfilling its multifarious tasks for the benefit and increased renown of the Fatherland, in the spirit of devotion and fidelity which' so highly distinguishes .it. You are to make this letter known to my naV> ' SHOCKING TRAGEDY. A shocking tragedy, involving the death of two persons, occurred at Mansfield Road, Gospel Oak, on Monday. AprilS. It appears that a young couple lived in apartments there in the "name of Mr. and Mrs. vans at No. 123, Mansfield Road, a house iu the occupation of Mr. W. F. Kluht. The couple were both of very respectable appearance, but do not appear "to have lived happily, as quarrels are said to have taken place on several occasions. On Monday morning they were out together, and they'returued about one in the afternoon, when an altercation took place. The other people in the house plainly heard the dispute in the front parlour, and then the sound of a shot and a heavy fall. Mr. Kluht, the landlord, made his way to the room, and there a shocking spectacle met, his view. The man was found lying on the floor with a pistol shot wound in the right temple, and a five-chambered revolver clenched in his right hand. The woman was in a sitting posture close by, with a wound in the left side of the head. Both were bleeding profusely, anil the room was in groat disorder, and streaming with blood. Dr. Pepler, of Mansfield Road, was called, and attended to the wounds of the injured couple, but the man soon expired. By the doctor's orders, the woman was taken in a cab to the North-West London Hospital in the Kentish-town-road, where she died about twenty minutes after admission. The police took possession of the revolver found in the man s grasp,' and diseoverd that two chambers of it had been discharged. The murdered woman was subsequently recognised as Miss Emma Mane Greeue, aged 24. She was a burlesque actress of some repute in the provinces. She will be best remembered by London playgoers as having appeared in the role of Trcssilian, in " kenflworth," in the Avenue. She has also played at the Opera Comique, and toured in a lead ing part with Mr. C. Daly's comedy company. She possessed a tine soprano voice, and sang equally well in French and English, owing to which fact she obtained an engagement at the Brussels Exhibition in 1837. Miss Marie de Braham, as she was styled professionally, was a handsome girl, rather under the medium height, with a good figure, with black hair and eyes, and possessed of many accomplishments. The man. who had given his name as Evans, was identified as a Mr. Hunt, who had been a captain in the Household cavalry, and was the son of a former officer in the Hussars. His card bore the name and address, "Mr. W. Gouldsmith Hunt, 70, Charlwood-st., Warwick-square." He was over six feet in height, with a rather handsome face. Though he. was but twencyeight years of age. he looked older. Well born and well bred though he was, it is stated that he had explored the steep gradient of vice until he hail reached the level of the men who. at the other end of the town, are called " bullies. - ' He had run through his money and was living on his wits, and frequently, it is stated, Ins wits took him to Marie de Braham when he wanted money. Marie had plenty of sources of income. A LITTLE GIRL KILLED BY HER BROTHER. On Monday last, April S, two children, Joseph Taynton, aged 15, and his sister, Jessie Maria Taynton, aged 10, were left together in their home, at South Terrace, Vicarage Road, Watford, their father and mother having both gone into the town. Mrs. Taynton returned at half-past ten. and to her surprise found the house door fastened. She asked a neighbour—a Mr. Williams—if he could help her to get in. and he went to the back of the house, and entering through a window, opened the door. In passing through the house lie found the little girl Jessie lying on the floor of the living room almost dead, her head having lx.-en smashed with a heavy instrument. There was much blood upon the floor, and a part of the brain was scattered about. A doctor was immediately fetched, as well as Superintendent Hummerstone, of the police. The child died directly after she was found. A hammer was lying on the floor close to the Ixidv, and was covered with blood and hair. The boy was nowhere to be found, but about an hour later Superintendent Hummerstone met him in Vicarage - road, sauntering towards homo, apparently quite unconcerned. The officer apprehended him, and found his clothes and right hand stained with blood. FLOGGING A WOMAN. From the Transvaal Advertiser we learn (says the London News) that woman-flogging in the Transvaal is still allowed by law. Jt appears that recently a woman "was sentenced to be flogged. She was tied to a post, and on her bare back the executioner inflicted fifteen strokes with the "cat." At the tenth lash the woman fainted. A little water thrown in her face revived her, and the remaining five lashes were triven her, after which she again fainted. This punishment was inflicted because the woman used obscene language in the public streets. If such sentences were to be imposed in London for similar offences, the supply of executioners and gaolers to carry out the sentences would have to be largely increased.