ADDITIONAL NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 661, 24 October 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

ADDITIONAL NEWS BY THE SAN FRANCISCO MAIL.

(UNITED press association.! Auckland, October 20.. Mr Michael Heymanson, well known in Dunedin, died in London on 3rd September. The European Mail says it is noteworthy that the Orient steamer Lusitania, from Sydney, on 19th July, and the New Zealand steamer Ruapehu, from Lyttelton, on 27th July, arrived in Plymouth Sound within an hour of each other on 9th September. The former came via Suez, the'latter via the Horn. The comparison is a startling one, the passage from Sydney ocsupyiog eight more days than from New Zealand, notwithstanding that the canal route was adopted in the former. Major Te Wheoro has been engaged in drawing up laws and regulations for the Good Templars’ lodges which Tawhiao proposes to establish in the native districts of New Zealand. The documents are being prepared in the Maori language. The Bishop of Nelson has appointed the Rev T. Russell, 8.A., late of St. James’, Leeds, to the incumbency of St. John s Church, Westport. „ , Isabella Stuart, Countess Delbame, who boasts to have the blood of the Pretender in her viene, and has for years disappeared from society, is Mother Abbess of a Polish convent at Carala, in Roumania. She is at present in England. The list of cricketers who will accompany Shaw to Australia has undergone a somewhat important alteration. The team as it stands at present is composed as follows :—Ulyett, Bates, Shaw, Seotton, Shrewsbury, Flowers, Barnes, Attewell, Guud, Maurice Reid, J. Lillywhite, and Pilling. Sir John Hall attended the meeting of the British Association in Canada. The English Admiralty have resolved to recommission H.M.S. Nelson for a further term of service on the Australian station. The present crew of the Nelson will be relieved by a new one of 500 blue jackets and royal marines, taken from the naval establishments of Chatham and Sheerness. The Nelson will pay off in January next, and will then hoist the pennant of Rear Admiral Tryon. The troopship Tamar will convey the new crew of the Nelson to Sydney. It is rumored that the change in rank of the command will be accompanied by an alteration in the headquarters of the station, a change in which New Zealand would not be uninterested. The wreck of the Lastingham has caused a prodigious amount ofjCargo to be crowded out of the Ruapehu from duplication orders for goods lost. For some time the Ruapehu has been refusing passengers as well as cargo. Mr R. D. D. McLean, only son of the late Sir Donald McLean, was married on September 4, by the Bishop of Killaloe, to the youngest daughter of Mr T. Butler Stoney, Portland Park, County Tipperary, Ireland. THE MIGNONETTE TRAGEDY. Three men and a lad named Richard Parker nineteen years old, were engaged to take out the yacht Mignonette to Sydney for Mr Henry J. Want. They left Southampton on

May 18 last, Dudley being in command, with Stephens as mate, Brooks as able-bodied seaman, and Parker as boy. All went well until July 3, when a severe storm arose, and a heavy sea swept away the bulwarks aft. Stephens cried out, “My God, her side is knocked in,” and such was really the case. They managed to get on board a small dingy before the yacht sank, taking with them some tins of what was thought to be preserved meat, but which proved to be turnips. No water was on board. They subsisted on the two tins of turnips and. the blood of turtle for nineteen days, the last seven of which they had nothing at all to eat. They began to discuss the casting of lots as to who should be killed for food for the others. This plan was suggested by the. captain, but Brooks would not agree to it, saying it would be better for them to die together. On the morning of the nineteenth day no sail appearing, and their starvation driving them frantic, the captain and mate suggested killing the boy Parker. Their reason for selecting him as the * victim was because he was suffering the most, having drunk salt water, the others, obtaining moisture by safer but more horrible means. It wos also reasoned that he. was only a lad with no responsibilities, while they were married men with wives and families depending on them. Brooks declined to be a party iE°the matter. Then was enacted one of the most fearful and heartrending tragedies ever committed. Each of the men made signs to do the sickening deed, but none at first had the heart to do it. The. -captain and mate ultimately decided jointly to kill him, it being, arranged that Dudley should strike the blow, while Stephens should hold the lad in case he moved. C&ptaio Dudley having offered up a prayer for forgiveness, went to the boy and said, “ Now,. Dick, your time is come,’'’ Parker faintly cried, “ What, me, sir,” Dudley replied “ Yes, my boy, and thereupon ran a small penknife into Parker s jugular vein. The lad offered no resistance, dying almost instantly. Their maddest craving was for something to drink, and they therefoie caught the gushing blood in tins, and divided it between them. Brooks, who during the stabbing of the boy had gone to the bow of the boat, and covered his face with bis hands so that he might not witness the deed, taking his share with the others. The three of them took off the poor boy’s clothes, and cut out hi* liver and his heart, which they devoured while they were yet warm. On the nineteenth day they succeeded in catching a few drops of rain water, which they eagerly drank. For the next four days they continued to live on Parker’s body. On the twenty-fourth day the joyous sight of a sail greeted Brooks’ eyes while they were eating their horrible food. They were seen and taken on board the vessel, which proved to be the German barque Montezuma., which took them on to Falmouth, arriving on September 6.