GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10419, 17 April 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

AN' BLKPHAXT EXECUTED FOB SHOW. Gipsy, an elephant owned by a Clhcjm menagerie proprietor, was put to death i week or two ago by electricity. Th« animal, which was of vicious temper, had killed several men and injured others. Itg proprietor therefore determined to get rid of it, and make money at the same time, . The animal was placed on an insulated, platform fastened to two electric machines.The wires ran to metal plates fastened oa the elephant's leg, head, and the back path of the neck. An electric current was then turned on, and the poor animal was put to death in the presence of a crowd of morbid sightseers, who had paid large entrance.feej for the privilege of witnessing the execa< tioa. AS ECCENTRIC EKGLISUWOMAS. The Neue Freie Presse learns from Berlin that a Miss Uiffard, an elderly lady, has been found burnt to death in her bed, with a burnt-out lamp in a basin near her. She lived quite alone, admitted no one, kept her blinds down all day, and read by lamplight. Half a herring and a loaf of bread were all the eatables in her lodging, and the body showed the lady to have been half starved. Among her eSects papers were found worth £4250, off which the coupons had not been taken for years. This unfortunate lady was the daughter of the dramatic poet and critic Dr. Julius Leopold Klein, whose dramas are not much knowu, but whose " History of the Drama" is a standard work. Klein was a Hungarian by birth, and before settling in Berlin spent manj years in Italy, Greece, and England, whence he brought home a daughter. He received regular remittances from England for the maintenance of this child, but ha saved everything for her benefit, so thai when he died in 1876 she was comparatively rich. But besides her father's money she inherited his eccentric disposition, which has now cost her her life. FAILURE TO STAND BV AFTER COLLISION. The Board of Trade have issued a cautioe to masters and officers of ships drawing attention to the case decided recently at the Police Court, Bristol, where Lhe m&sfcei of a steamer was convicted of having failed to stand by and offer assistance to a troe with which bis steamer had been in collision, and for such offence was sentenced to pay a fine of £25, including costs. The Board point out that failure without reasonable cause to stand by and give nume after collision, or to render such assistance ta the colliding vessel as may be practicable or necessary, is a misdemeanour undei section 4'22 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894, and punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding £100, or by imprisonment foe any period not exceeding dx months.

A JEW FLO3GED TO DEATH. The Senate at St. Petersburg has just given its decision in the suit brought by the Jewish community of MohilefF against) the Privy Councillor M. Detnbovetsky, ex(iovernor of tho town, who ie accused of having exceeded his administrative powers by ordering that a Jew named I'evzner. who had quarrelled with a priest of the Orthodox Church, whom ho was alleged to have insulted, should receive 50 strokes of the birch rod. The local commissary ol police, it waa further added by the plain. tiffs, had taken it upon himself W inflict double this number ot strokes, with the result that Pevznor, n short time afterwards, died trom the effects of the punishment. The Senate, sitting as a Court of Appeal, has decided that the case must be re-heard. Consequently the suit, which has already been protracted over many months, will be tried afresh by the Court before which it originally came. LOVB TRAGEDY IN F4RISA dramatic aSair has occurred in the Rue de l'Exposition, Paris. A quarrel broke out between a young couple named Emile Pie , ami Angelina Goussard, who had cohabited for about three years. The girl declared she would leave Vl&. and began to pack up her things. Pie , looked calmly on for a time, and then suddenly drew a revolver and fired three shot's at the gir!. She fell forward seriously wounded, but the man picked her up, carried her into the bedfooiu, and there stabbed her repeatedly with a carving-knife. Then, overcome with remorse, he did his best to stop the flow of blood from the woman, and this completed he went into the next room, placed the knife againet the wall, and transfixed himself through the heart. He died almost immediately. The girl is not expected to recover. THREK CLAIMANTS TO A THBONE. The Parisians are deriving great amusement from the lawsuit in which the Duo d'Orleane, the Due d'Anjou, and Don Carlos are fighting with regard to their coats of arms. Each of these gentlemen claims to be the veritable King of France, and to have in consequence the right to use the fleur de lys shield without label. First of all the Due d'Anjou, son of the Duke of Seville, claims the title of the king of France, and contests the right of the Due d'Orleans, .1 younger branch of the family, - to use the fleur de lys full and without label, which is the coat-ot'-arms of the head of the family, Then Din Carlos comes in with tho claim that he is the King of France in reality, and he alone has the right to use the coat-of-arms without label. Can anything be more absurd than for the law courts of the Kepublic to decide who is really the King of France ? REFDSING A HtJSBAXD AND A FORTUNE. There are very few female fortune-tellers in Paris or elsewhere who would refuso a legacy of nearly £6000. This, however, has been done by a prophetess called Madame Eva, who lives at Marseilles. Some time since she received the visit of an elderly gentleman, who wanted her to give him an idea of the length of time he had to live, She predicted favourably, and he then continued to consult the oraclee on all sorts ol matters. Finally he proposed marriage, falling on his knees before Madame Eva, who told him not to be foolish, and to re' member that he had nephews to provide for. In spite of the predicted longevity, however, the elderly admirer of the fortuneteller died recently, but before breathing his last he drew up a will, in which he left all his monoy—amounting to nearly £6000 —to the fascinating Madame Eva, The latter, however, said that sho was determined to refuse the money, m she had refused the man, so the nephews of her deceased admirer are now in possession of their uncle's savings. THE BEST TOBACCO IS Till! WORLD. Cuba has the honour of having given tobacco to the world, and what is more remarkable, of having retained tho reputation which it acquired of being tho blest island in which it waa grown in perfection. The aborigines called tho roll of " herbs 11 tobaco, which name has since come to be applied to the plant itself, though still used in Cuba to designate the completed cigar. In tho eighteenth century the now cele* brated region of the Vuelta Abajo was found to produce the best leaf, and from that period dates the prosperity of Cuba. ' No other region holds in combination snch elements of successful cultivation as that comparatively restricted district known as the Vuelta Abajo. The entire section covers but u small portion of the province, beins, perhaps, one hundred miles in length and twenty five in breadth. Scarcely any of the vegae, or tobacco farms occupy, mora than thirty-three acres, and as their local appellation indicates, are mostly in low and damp localities, or along the margins oi rivers. Here the tobacco-plant flourishei luxuriantly. The tobacco-plant grows to a height of from six to eight feet, being carefully divested of all superfluous leaves, thai the resultant product may be finer and stronger. With the experience derived from ancestral tradition, the planter watches the plants throughout the eeason, carefully prunes and buds, wars against the numerous insect foes, and guides his pet production to development. It is said that he can produce tobacco of whatever strength or quality he desires; and it ii this constant care, combined with the soil and climate of the Abajo, that sustains t-hi world-wide reputation which the product ol that section has acquired. "Tobacco ol the best quality," says a Cuban expert, "such as ie produced in the choicest vegai of the Vuelta Abajo, is known by its even tint of rich dark-brown and freedom from stains, burning freely when made into cigars, with a white or brown ash, which will remain sometimes on the cigar until »- is half smoked without falling off."