GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13781, 20 June 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS.

TOO PAT FOR PRISON CELL. Dan Wadswohth, of Hartford, Connecti- :■■-:.:■ cut, has served a 60 days' sentence in gaol without seeing the inside of a cell or donning prison dress. No cell was large enough to contain his 4261b, and it was decided not to go to the expense of having » suit made for him. • DUCK'S STRANGE PRISON. In the village of Faulkland, Somerset, a duck was found behind the grating of the drain, which carries the overflow from a horse pond, and nil efforts to make it take the return journey failed. It was fed every day, and finally liberated by the drain being opened. FALSE TEETH AS GUARANTEE. At a restaurant in the Rue Montmartre, Paris, a provincial visitor named Dervai discovered that his pocket-book had disappeared, and that he was unable to pay his bill for his dinner. In order to avoid a scandal the visitor was obliged to leave his gold-mounted artificial teeth as a guarantee that he would return and pay for his meal. BURGLARS STEAL A HINT. Some time ago burglars broke into the house of a man named Denkash, at Btmst, Hungary, and a local newspaper, in reporing the incident, mentioned ■that a number of, valuables had been overlooked. Nest day these disappeared. The editor has now challenged Denkash to fight a duel for saying that his paper has its largest circulation among thieves and robbers. • GIRL "YEOMANRY." The third annual display of the Islington Drill Brigade, composed of girls of ages between six and eighteen, took place at the Crystal Palace, several hundred girls taking part in a remarkable exhibition of physical drill. The feature was the riding drill competition by the Yeomanry section, in which about 16 girls participated, and I manoeuvred on horseback with considerable , skill and grace. 1 ■''OTTER'S FIGHT AGAINST ODDS. Two young men, who were accompanied by a dog have been attacked by an otter near Hempnall (Norfolk). The men retreated, but tho dog held on, and was dragged by the otter into a pond. The men rescued the dog, but the. otter followed, and a long fight ensued in the middle of a field. By this time the men had armed themselves with sticks, with which they killed the otter. The dog was badly injured. TORMENTED BULL SCORES. A fine bull, who had been infuriated in the arena at Granada, turned on his tormentors, tossed a toreador in the air time,after time, seriously injured a banderillero, and then charged a matador, who retired hurt. Stones, bottles, and cushions • were flung at the animal by the excited audience, and finally the people themselves swarmed into the arena. The infuriated bull charged them, and many were thrown down and trampled on or gored. When the theatre had been cleared a fire broke out and destroyed the upper galleries. , " A TWENTY-FIRST CHILD., " Among a number of school attendance Cases at North London Police Court was one against an elderly man for not sending , .his daughter to school regularly. Defendant said the girl was not always, well, and he intended to act justly, by her. She ' was his 21st child. Mr. Fordham: Your t 21st child! Defendant: Yes; there is my ~ wife to whom I have been married 40 years (pointing to the public portion of the Court) — leaat, she was there a moment ago. Mr. Fordham: She has left to hide her .blushes. (Laughter.) The summons was withdrawn.

TRAGEDY OVIER AUNT'S WILL. Disappointed over the will of an aunt, from whom ho expected to inherit a large sum, a retired lieutenant named "Chavenon, of Montaubah, near Rennes,, made up his mind that M. Escolan, the lawyer, was .responsible. Entering his office, the lieu- ", tenant shook hands cordially, and then , asked to see some documents. As the lawyer turned Chavenon fired twice into his back, killing his instantly. A large '". . crowd ' attempted to lynch the murderer, : and severely injured him. The lieutenant, . who is declared to be a confirmed opiumsmoker and morphine maniac, was removed \y • to tne prison hospital. "[. A - BALLOON MYSTERY. - ■ According to a telegram from Uelzen, " Germany, in a sparsely-inhabited heath, ;.:; the people of that town were witnesses ot . an appalling spectacle of a most extraordin- ' \ ary kind, During the course of a thunder- ,; , - storm, a large balloon was noticed travel's '-' ling in 2, north-eastern direction at some V ' distance from Uelzen. Suddenly the en- '■• / velope was seen to collapse, a great flame l flared up for an instant, and the wreckage rj of the balloon fell rapidly-towards the ,7 earth. ' The distance was so great that it / was impossime to tell whether the car had any occupants, bub it appears that it was . •truck by lightning. MUNICIPAL GOLF LINKS, r ~<».. ■ ■~. The first local authority in England to " ■ start municipal golf links was Bournemouth Tine charge there is one shilling a round. Last year the receipts were £2798. ' Nottingham has also some fine municipal links *T"" "J which are paying well. Sheffield has just • ■fu *-, -been considering a scheme for its own links, :;; and the Brighton Corporation has the for- - * vaatoum of golf courses on its list of muni- > - cipal undertakings. At Edinburgh a charge s ' of twopence only is made, although the two links are among the finest in the country. - In Scotland, indeed, the provision and man- . ' agement of golf links. is a very ordinary and ' important point of municipal economy, and .■', some of the burghs have made the facilities for the game so cheap that it has now become the most popular pastime. Dornoch, one of the royal burghs of Scotland, with a population of only 624 people, owns the expensive links surrounding the town. "TRAITRESS" HOOTED. %, La Belle Lison," who is said to have * been the temptress of the naval Lieutenant ■;■ Ullmo, who was recently sentenced to imprisonment for life for treason, appeared on the stage of a Paris music-hall on a recent Monday night. Four hundred,-stu-dents, as soon as the curtain was raised, , created a disturoance, shouting, "A t>as Lison!" "A bas la traitresse!" The director of the hall, becoming alarmed, telephoned to the ■prefecture, of police. Fifty :j> -. . policemen put in an appearance,' and they attempted to eject the demonstrators. A free fight ensued, but tho building was eventually cleared. ' Ten of the students were arrested. These were, however, released latex in the evening. It was found impossible to continue the performance. As for Lison, she escaped by a back door, jumped into an automobile, and was driven off. CHINESE IN HORSEBOX. .. % In spite of the restrictions against Asiatic immigrants on the Pacific Coast operating successfully, there are frequent arrivals in : the United States of America by way of the Canadian and Mexican frontiers, notwithstanding the vigilance of the guards. The devices adopted to gain admission without attracting attention are frequently success- . ful, but an ingenious plan recently tried failed, and the agent who tried to aid the lour Chinese concerned is now in charge of the Michigan police. He hired a horsebox on the Canadian side and loaded it with a decrepit steed, which was to act as a "blind" for four Chinese to be concealed with it. All went well till the frontier was reached, and the agent told the immigration authorities he was in charge of a racehorse. The horse meanwhile was ' taken ill and died, and the noise in the car drew the attention of the railway officials, with the result that an investiga'.lion. led to the discovery, of the Chinese,.