GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

IRISH EASTER ORGY.

PAiwictTLAns reached Belfast in Apri ; of a wild Easter orgy in a mountainous par • of the country near Coal Island, Co. Tyrone . The chief part of the programme consists * *"of inter-county cock-fights. Forty-five cart -•loads of whisky and porter were taken i the spot, and before the fights were oye all was consumed. General rioting began a the finish, and continued for several hours Bludgeons were freely used with eeriou effects, and hundreds; of persons were in jured., Eye-witnesses describe the scene a - ■; awful. ■ • AN ELECTRIFIED HOUSE. • At Brigue, Switzerland, several families occupying a large house were awakened ii the night by the rocking of the building Thinking an earthquake was taking pis ie they rushed out into the street. One nln and his wife, however, were imprisoned/ii their room because, on attempting to turr the handle of the door, they were knocked down by electric shocks. It appears thai the waterpipes had somehow come into con tact with the aerial wires of an electric works in the vicinity,, and had " electrified' all the house, causing' it to rock. CHILD MARRIAGE IN NAPLES.' A remarkable marriage was celebrated ir Naples when a certain Cclestino Giordano, aged fifteen, was wedded to Giulia Nappi, a damsel of thirteen. The commissioner at the registry office was loth to perform the ceremony because the pair had not reached the age limit prescribed by the Civil Code, but while that functionary hesitated the voung couple sprang a surprise upon him by producing a Royal decree of dispensation which they had obtained direct from the aving. This being fount! genuine, the two children were joined in wedlock, surrounded by their parents and a big : gathering of sightseers. ..PANIC IN. PUBLIC BATHS. Extraordinary scenes were witnessed in New York recently, owing to a sudden outbreak of fire in a large bathing establishment beneath a Jewish synagogue in Can-non-street. A hundred men who were in , the midst of their ablutions, rushed into the street in a panic, without clothing, and with water dripping from, their bodies. Fortunately, it was a warm night. Garments of all sizes and descriptions were hastily flung down by the inmates of neighbouring houses to the shivering, terrorised, victims, who presented an indescribably comic spectacle. The bathing establishment was totally destroyed. " IT IS A MIRACLE." •After an extraordinary career of crime, the greater part of which has been spent in ' prison,-'an Italian convict, named Ventura, has been released from the Ancona Gaol, Milan, having been pardoned by the King. 1 Ventura', .who is 66 years of age, left immediately to join his family. He was sentenced to death by the Papal Government in Rome in 1865, : taken out for execution, and placed on the guillotine. While the knife was falling it caught and stopped midway. The people witnessing-the execution shouted "a miracle and demanded a pardon for" Ventura, which was granted, the,sentence being commuted to imprisonment for life. ' __ .'.,,.. . "QUEEN OF THE BRIGANDS. x A woman named Marguerite Boise, known as "Lucia, the Queen of the Brigands," has been the instigator of a number of crimes perpetrated by: a band, of robbers : in the"south and west of France, who have been arrested. This woman has had a remarkable career. Early in life she gained - a" reputation 5 recklessness and' cruelty. When only ten she rode a horse that no one else could approach, and went to sleep in the stable with her head on its hoofs. At •■■■■ the age of seventeen she met a man named Branchery, who had already been implicated in several crimes, and married him. Lucia r-— enticed him on to other crimes to satisfy her taste for luxuries. Under her guidance a band of brigands was formed, of which «he was the acknowledged queen. WOUNDED ON THE STAGE. * . • 'At Ashington Theatre, Northumberland, one night recently, an actor named Mr. George Alexander Marsh was accidentally wounded with a sword. Mr. Allan Wilkie's company were playing " Othello," and in ' the last scene-Mr. Wilkie, who appeared • in the title role, drew his sword upon lago, played by Mr. Marsh. Instead of thrust- - ing the blade between Mr. Marsh's arm and .-_. body, Mr. Wilkie accidentally wounded him ~ in tho Bide. , ; It being the end of the play, the audience was not aware that anything untoward had occurred, and the curtain was . rung down. Mr. Marsh was carried off the "$ stage, and, Dr. Bruce, who was summoned, found a jagged wound several inches long, .-which had to be stitched. The ivords of lago—-"I bleed, sir; but not killed"were peculiarly applicable to the incident. • RAID ON WEDDING FEAST. ; An* extraordinary outrage is reported from Swineford, in the wilds of Connaught. At a farmhouse in the district a wedding was to have been celebrated. Everything was in readiness the previous day even to the spreading of the wedding feast, butlate that night the house was surrounded by a large crowd of " straw boys," wearing masks, who clamoured for admittance, and demanded that the viands should be set before them. The frightened occupants refused, whereupon the men broke into the house, smashing down the door and breaking the windows. Despite the appeals of the prospective bride, all the furniture in the house was wrecked, and the„ wedding breakfast eaten, whilst the marauders com-, pleted their work of ruin by destroying all the farm implements. The wedding has had to be postponed. ' ; MOTOR-CAR IN A QUICKSAND. ' Two London motorists placed themselves in v an extraordinary; dilemma at Filey (Yorkshire) as the result of taking their car down to the seashore. Leaving the car on the sands, they walked to the water's edge and took some photographs. Returning two minutes later they found the car sinking in a quicksand. They were unable to move it. A horseman galloped for as- . sistance to the fish landing-stage, where there were carts. But the carters were busy unloading a catch of fish from the boats, • and the fishermen refused to . allow the carts to assist the motorists unless the latter consented to buy the fish. To this the two were obliged to agree, the turn • of the ' tide, being due in eight minutes. They purchased four cargoes of fish. Then horses and carts, two motor-cars, and a crowd of men got 'to work on the sinking vehicle, which they pulled out of the quicksand, after its wheels had disappeared from sight. A few minutes later the tide flowed over the spot. The fish was sold by auction. i PIRATES' MOTOR YACHT. The magnificent country mansion belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Siepel, who are well known not only in New York, but-in the American colonies in London and Paris, has been looted of treasures valued at £20,000 at least. The deed is attributed to Long Island Sound pirates, whose speciality it has been to approach country houses on the* Long Island shores by a motor yacht, and by the same means to remove the goods, assisted by men on land with a motor-car. The mansion was completely ransacked, and everything of value taken away. The best pictures were cut from the frames, cabinets were opened, and priceless bric-a-brac is missing, all the silverware left in the house was also taken. ' Bureaus and cupboards were forced, and .what clothes were not stolen were scattered about on the floors. Apparently the robbers knew the house was unoccupied, and very leisurely they went through its entire contents, "displaying generally much artistic knowledge. Last summer many houses were despoiled by the Sound pirates, a gajig which is apparently well organised, and working in a most methodical and -scientific fashion, generally co-operating with ' confederates pa shore.. ■ ~ " ,