GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18565, 24 November 1923, Page 3 (Supplement)

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

SUICIDE WHILE AT PRAYER, . ■' ■: -Mrs. Hyphemia Emma Donoghue, aged sixty-eight, a widow, of Pitcairn Road, ' ' Tooting Junction, committed suicide while kneeling in an attitude of prayer if by her bedside. » . A silk handkerchief which she had jjf fastened round her neck was attached to the bedrail, and she was found dead, j' A verdict of suicide while of unsound Blind was recorded at an inquest. V,; : . I • SALMON AS TRAVELLERS. Experiments, with the marking of salmon carried out under the direction ■ of the Fisheries Board for Scotland, have yielded some notable results. From the Kyle of Tongue (Sutherland) salmon have moved to places as far apart as Loch Broom and Cromarty, Lochinvar and the River Spey. One salmon made a journey of 250 miles in seven days. The record, however, is held by a salmon which travelled from the River Spey to the Eden, near Carlisle, a distance of fully 630 miles. GAME- WAGON HEARSE, The Marquis of Ripon, who died while ihooting, was buried at Studley Church in the presence of a largo gathering of his tenants. The coffin was drawn on a game wagon, and game-keepers acted as bearers. Among the wreaths was a cross from Queen Alexandra, inscribed. " With deep and heartfelt sorrow for dear Lord de Grey, any dear and faithful friend for so many years, whom I shall never cease to regret and mourn, like his dear parents and his beloved wife, who left him so lonely." The King and the Prince of Wales were represented at a short and simple memorial service at the Chapel Royal, St. James' Palace. HEROIC GIRL DIVER. Miss Zoe Brigden, professional high diver of the West Pier, Brighton, England. since 1914, dived from the pier late one night recently to the rescue of a man in the water. He was a heavily built man, and Miss Brigden, a slightly built girl, hampered by her clothes, had great difficulty in supporting him. Her strength was almost exhausted, when the cried, "If you don't come to my help he must go down." An known man jumped into tho water to her assistance, and a boat put oat to the rescue. When, however, the man Miss Brigden held was pulled into the boat he was found to be dead. There was a Webley Scotc revolver in his pocket and a bottle containing white powder. WATERSPOUT VICTIM. A waterspout was encountered by the finer Pittsburg in the North Atlantic off Halifax, (Novia Scotia), and Mr. Robert Woodroffe, the third mate, who was on the bridge, received fatal injuries. It was stated at an inquest at Liverpool that when the waterspout struck the ship, the bridge was damaged and Mr. Woodroffe, whose head was injured, became unconscious. He developed pneumonia and pleurisy when he returned home and a cerebral abscess formed. He underwent an operation and died on September 18. A doctor stated that a post-mortem examination •< revealed septic meningitis caused by the cerebal abscess. A verdict in accordance with this evidence was recorded. ' '■) RESCUED HIS WIFE UNKNOWN. A, man, , drenched and breathless rushed on board the last steamer from Cowes for Southampton as the gangway was being pulled on board one night- a few week ago, and explained that he had been delayed by jumping in the water to rescue a woman. His name was Knocker, and lie was one of the firemen in the steamer.

Inquires were made and it was found that a woman had wandered down a slipway by the side of the pier in the darkness and had slipped into the water. She explained that a man jumped in and rescued her and hurried away. The police, continuing their investigation, found, to their great astonishment, that the woman Knocker had rescued was his wife. He had not recognised her in the dark, and she had not recognised him.

3; DRUNK OF TOBACCO. An eighteen year-old girl who, by way of a joke, sniffed the dusty tobacco from V:. the bottom o'f her. fiance's pouch, was ; rapidly reduced to a state of complete f. . intoxication. { Dr. R. L. E. Downer, who was called in, writes in the British Medical Journal :— "I found the patient lying on a couch, | talking incoherently and giggling in a fatuous manner. She could not move her lower limbs . ..." If:' Dr. Downer at once suspected the pre* j j;V- sence «>f cannabis indica, a druc. which is chewed, smoked and taken with atI!-' coholic drinks in the East. The reI mains of the tobacco, a popular brand i of the cheaper type, were analysed and j. found to contain a small percentage of I 1 it. [ The girl, after the administration of | an emetic and strong coffee, slowly came j Xouud. [ / 18-MONTHS' MAN HUNT. >' A sensational jewel robbery by masked (men at a Now York millionaire's house I; eighteen months ago had a remarkable J sequel at the quiet little town of Gournav, In not far from Paris, when, after a fierce I struggle, a man named Henri Boilat, alias [ Gabrielle Maurey, was arrested. The man was wounded before he would give in. ( Five masked burglars broke into the % house of Mr. Albert R. _ Shattuck in New York last April, locked : Mr. and Mrs. Shattuck and eight servants in the wine vault, and decamped with £20,000 worth of jewellery. It was one of the boldest S- robberies in the history of New York . crime. Henri Boilat, the man arrested, was formerly the butler at the Shattuck home. Mr. Shattuck always suspected Boilat, and he left New York for Europe in July, vowing he would find him. The French police made an unsuccessful attempt to arrest Boilat at Nogent-sur-Marne on October 20 last. LUNATICS' CHARTER. Tf nil escaped lunatic evades _ capture in England for fourteen djiys, it- is necessary that he shall be re-certified before he can be taken back to the asylum. Inspector Johnston, of Colney Hatch Mental Hospital, made this statement in Highgate Police Court when Nathan Morris Amigraso, forty-four years old, a labourer, was accused ol stealing clothing fy and jewellery from the nurses' quarters in the asylum. Armgrass, according to the .witnesses, absconded from the asylum last Novem- ; ber. A few weeks ago an attendant of the aslvum saw him in a tramcar at New South gate, and talked to him. The tame night the theft was committed at .the aslyum and one of the articles ££;• stolen was a master key which fitted all the doors in one ward. Later Armgrass " ; i> called atfifhe asylum and handed in the fe- key, stating that- he bought it from a if; man in a public house. The Magistrate: When the attendant %i' saw him in the tramcar why did he not take hint, back to the asylum ? $p£_ Inspector Johnston explained the law disregarding this, and said that Armgrass IkM, Was then a free man. .§&* Armgrass was remanded in order that s'% * medical report might be made. is- - Ir, •

HIDDEN WEALTH. Following the death of Mr. Clement John Coffin, an ironmonger, of Ellesmere, Shropshire, an inventory was made of the contents of his shop. "Those engaged on the work discovered £1000 in gold, hidden in mailbags and £3000 in banknotes and Treasury notes in tea caddies. Mr. Coffin's only companion for many years, Mr. Ernest Griffiths, is. the sole inheritor. He had no idea of his good fortune. . MR. PETT RIDGE INJURED. Mr. Pett Ridge, the novelist, was injured in an extraordinary accident at Hither Green Station (Southern Railway) recently, says a London paper. A porter slipped on the platform, • and, in endeavouring to save himself, thrust him arm through the window of a firstclass compartment in which Mr. . Pett Ridge was seated. Mr. Pett Ridge re-" ceived injuries to the head from the shattered glass, and was taken to Guy's Hospital. TRIBUTE TO A VILLAGE. "It makes - one proud to he an Englishman when a whole village toiled all through the night in pouring rain, trying to save a man's life. ' I pay my tribute of admiration." Mr. Bradwell, the Notts coroner, said this in returning a verdict of accidental death in the case of John Pugh, who was buried alive in a well at Blidworth. Once Jfugh was almost' liberated, but another fall overwhelmed him. His body was tightly wedged beneath tons .of earth. LAWYER STRUCK BLIND. During a criminal , trial in Vienna the Public Prosecutor, Dr. Wunderer, was addressing the court when he suddenly stopped, and, after shaking his head several times, exclaimed to the judge: "I cannot see; I have gone blind!" He was rushed to the Vienna University Hospital, where famous ' professors who examined him declared that there was little hope of restoring his . sight. Dr. Wunderer. who is fifty, arid" one of the cleverest lawyers in Austria, * is. known as the " terror c? criminals." HIGH-DIVE ACCIDENT. Mr. Frederick Bush, swimming instructor at Fulham Baths, dived from the top diving board and struck the bottom of the bath with his head, and was knocked unconscious. His mother dived after him and brought him insensible to the side of the bath. There was a wound in his head five inches long, and a shoulder was dislocated. Mr. Bush has been instructor at the baths for seventeen years. He was practising high dives in preparation for coming galas. MAN WHO WENT YELLOW. Some of the most eminent experts in the world have failed to recall a case similar to that of Ernest Wright, aged 27, who was employed at Fry's Metal Foundry, Holland Street, Blackfriars, and whose death was a result of the great thunderstorm on July 9. Wright turned yellow, copper, and black • before he died. Arsenuretted hydrogen gas was proved at the inquest to have caused the man's death. * The firm's manager, Mr. Alfred Munday. said rain water got on some sacks, and this gave rise to fumes from residue metal. The coroner recorded a verdict accordingly-

SAILOR'S JUMP FROM TRAIN. ' In order to avoid missing a football match. Jack Coolly, a sailor, jumped from an\jexpress train at Exeter recently.\JThen he found that the express was passing through St. David's Station, Exeter, without stopping, Coolly opened the door,' got on the footboard, closed the door again, and jumped just as the train reached the end of the platform. He fell in alighting, and officials ran up expecting to find severe injuries. The sailor picked himself up and exclaimed, " How's that for bravado?" »

He had escaped injury by jumping off right foot : fin.t. If he had stepped off with his left foot he "would have been thrown under the train.

VIGIL OVER DEAD MISTRESS. Feeble barks from a dog attracted attention to a house in. Cnorlton-cum-Hardy. Manchester. When the police entered they found the owner, Mrs. Harriet Verrender, dead in bed. At an inquest a doctor said the woman had apparently died about two months before. The dog had tried to chew the cushions and fringes of the upholstery, and had gnawed at the table legs and. the legs of the chairs* It would probably havo to be destroyed. Returning an open verdict, the coroner said it wag extraordinary that a person could lie dead in a house for so many weeks without being discovered. FOXHOUNDS ATTACK A MAN. Foxhounds of -the • Badsworth pack seized Walter-Bell, a butcher, of Burn, by the arm as he strove to - hold them back from a trench in which two of the pack were worrying a dug-out fox at Gatesworth, near Selby.. Bell's arm was torn in ' two places. Another hound bit through' Bell's heavy riding breeches and mauled his thigh. Major Holliday, ' Master of the Hunt, whipped off the'dogs, and Bell was taken in a motor-car to Selby, where his wounds were dressed. ' " I have never known such an incident in my hunting career'." said Major Holliday. " " The hounds were intensely excited, and Bell was a stranger to them. FAT BRIDES PREPARED. Dr. Arthur Keith records in a review of a Central African work, the custom of certain pastoral tribes who take every nine-year-old girl and seclude and fatten herfor the value of a bride depends on the response her body makes to this treatment. Herein, says Dr. Keith, we get light on a matter which h<«.s puzzled students of early rftan. In many parts of Europe there have been discovered »ancient figures of very fat women, and most of these figures have been made by peoples living in Europe during the later phases of the ice period. We may legitimately infer that these ancient ancestors of ours, like some of the modern tribes of Central Africa had a weakness for fat brides. DOG'S 17 DAYS IN SHAFT. After living for 17 days at the bottom of an old shaft 190 feet deep at Portesham, Dorset, a wire-haired terrier has been rescued. The dog, which belongs to Mr. Garratt Jones, of Weymouth, had strayed from a picnic party at Hardy's monument, and a search lor the animal revealed this shaft, which is partly concealed by undergrowth. Mr. Hewitt, a naval engineer of Portland, examined the shaft with the aid of a small piece of searchlight apparatus, and could sea, the dog moving about at the bottom. » He and his wife lowered some condensed milk in an iron basin, and the searchlight showed the dog greedily devouring it. Under Mr. Hewitt s directions, an old tea chest was cunningly contrived to carry a trap dcor with a spring, and this was lowered. When it touched the bottom, the door opened and the dog jumped in. The door was then closed, and the animal, jn a very emaciated condition, was brought to the top.

> WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL ATHLETIC CONTEST AT PERSHING STADIUM, PARIS: MISS R. W. THOMPSON (ENGLAND) WINS THE 100 YARDS. i . —L.N.A.

LONDON SCHOOLBOYS LEARN SECRETS OF MAN'S MASTERY OF FLIGHT: A LECT -771ER EXPLAINING THE AEROPLANE ENGINE AT THE. SCIENCE MUSEUM, SOUTH KENSINGTON. 1 —Daily Mirror.

CLEVER LADY RIDSR TAKING THE WALL JUMP IN , ♦ THE OPEN COMPETITION HELD RECENTLY AT GAR--9 DIPP, SOUTH WALES.. : . . —Sport and i General.

COLONIAL PRIME MINISTERS INSPECT BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION BUILDINGS WHILE IN 'LONDON - FOR IMPERIAL V-■« CONFERENCE. ' '< Left to right: ..The Maharajah -of. Alwar,. General Smuts, • the Duke of Devonshire, Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey, Sir James Stephenson, and : Sir - *v > , • - ' Phillip Lloyd-Greame. ; ' 1 m*' . . —Central Press.

CLASSICAL DANCING TO THE MUSIC OF THE WAVES: RECENT EXHIBITION ON THE BEACH IAT EXMOUTH, ENGLAND. * ' , —Central News.

NOVEL AQUATIC EVENT AT OLAOTON EEOATTA ING- i LAND: A BATTLE BETWEEN '• SWEEPS AND , BAKERS, WITH SOOT AND FLO UR. AS, AMMUNITION.. • 1 '■■■!. —Daily; Mirror.

ENGLAND'S PRIME ' MINISTER CHAIRED -BY POLITICAL STUDENTS AFTER A RECENT ; SPEECH IN WHICH HE / DECLARED STRONGLY FOR WORLD PEACE. ■ : .y*/;-'.; ; *'■■■ —Daily Mirror.