LONDON GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1208, 26 April 1895, Page 9

LONDON GOSSIP.

From. Our Special Correspondent, , London, March X. THE INFLUENZA. The influenza, which wrought such havoc at this time of the year in 1892-93, has increased alarmingly during the last week* and at the time of writing there are literally thousands down with it. The Prince of Wales, who seemed to be sickening for a bout, fled south to the Biviera last Saturday to avoid it, and the same day boti the Prime Minister and Mr Bjalfour were attacked. Other notables suffering seriously are Earl Cadogan, Sir Arthur Hill, Captain i Naylor Leyland, Lady Hamilton, and numerous MfJP.'s and other public men. To name them all would fill a column. The complaint does not appear to be as severe in character as the epidemic of 1892, but its after effects are too often lamentable. The slightest carelessness ' or indiscretion whilst recovering provokes pneumonia or bronchitis, and the patient's last state is worse than his or her 1 first. The death-roll in the Times contains announcement after announcement of the fatalities caused by these terrors " supervening on influenza." Even when one avoids such evils one has, however, the deadly depression which accompanies the influenza to battle with. Dagonet jokes rather dismally on this subject in the current Jteferee. He says : I fancy the depression of spirits accompanying the influenza outbreak is general, because I have seen so much of it everywhere. One day this week I asked a, policeman a question, and he burst into tears. "Excuse me, sir," he said, "Iknow it's very foolish, but I clo it now whenever anybody speaks to me. I think it's something in the air." A little later on. I got up outside an omnibus, and when I rebuked ths conductor for not stopping when I told him, to, he fell upon my breast and sobbed hysterically. It seems absurd, - but the explanation is simple. There is a general depression of spirits, due to climatic causes, and everybody weeps upon the smallest provocation. In a ■ highly nervous, overwrought condition men weep as readily , as women, and very often with much lesß cause, it is the conventional thing to look upon crying as feminine and childish, but some of our best and bravest men have been easily affected to tears, and I have seen a pugilist after a fiercely-con-tested fight ,go up into a quiet corner and cry his eyes out because he hadn't won. No one would be surprised to see the strongest men redieyed' at a stranger's graveside. Everybody would, understand that the gloom and sorrow of the surroundings had depressed the spirits of the onlookers and brought their nerves into that condition which finds relief in tears. The " nerves" of the populace are just now brought into that state by the " conditions " which have led to an outbreak, of influenza, and that is why there is a general disposition to display upon the slightest provocation what the police-court reporters describe as " visible emotion-";; My own domestic interior was a perfect abode of t«ars ■ before, the occupants one by one surrendered to the inaidious malady and took to tteir beds., My housemaid ruined the velvet' collar of a new overcoat beyond redemption by weeping over it while she feeblv waggle • the clothes-brush to and fro behind, my back. The day that the kitchen fire was-lighted for'the first time I went down stairs in or.ier to share the danger, and found my cook sobbing violently into a check * duster. , .

When, later in the day, business took me to a Wesfcehd theatre, where a new piece is iu process of rehearsal* the stage-manager came to me and drew me on one side, and said, " Don't say anything to anybody to-day; I can't make out what's come to them all. Directly I speak they all begin to cry." •« I feel rather like that myself," I said, " so IU keep away altogether.' I went out on to the Embankment, and Ico'ted at the ice and the sea-gulls. Leaning over the parapet was one of our most popular low comedians. We exchanged ' salutations, and drifted into conversation. " How's the new piece shaping ? w I said. " Oh, capitally," he replied; " but I've chucked rehearsals for to-day. I can't think what's the- matter, with me. I—l—dash it all!—I—Ir-—" I looked up. His eye« were tilling with tears. My own emotional chords were touched at once, and I bit my lips. "This won't do, old fellow 1" I exclaimed; " everybody is staring at us." At that moment an empty four-wheeler passed. I hailed ;it. We got into it together, and told the cabman to drive to Westminster Abbey. Then -we pulled up the windows and had our cry ont. And when it was over wa both looked at eack other for a moment, and then we laughed heartily. The explanation of our tears was simple. We were sickening for the influenza. The next day we both had it. *

MURDERED -BIT HIS OWN FATHER. The foundations for as gruesome a tale <of horaw as ever emanated from the gifted pens of the late E. A. Poe, or the present Ambrose Bierce, are to be found an a ghastly drama of real lite enacted at Wilna, in Hungary, a few days ago. A man who as a lad had emigrated lo the United States many, years &gd, and there amassed .considerable fortune, returned a •fortnight back. His appearance was so much changed that his old neighbours, with one exception, failed to recognise their youthful acquaintance. The exception was an old friend of the family, who was leaving Wilna on a short absence by a departing train jus4 as the old man alighted. Finding,himself unrecognised, the young man spent a few days loitering about his old haunts, and picking up information of his father and sister-, the j latter a very pretty girl whom the brother had left as a mere child. One evening he went, to his father's holise during the latter's absence. His sister was greatly attracted by the strange guest, who iiad so many interesting experiences to relate, and they supped together. The brother, feigning fatigue, begged to be allowed to remain over night as he had something of importance to say to the girl's father in the morning. On her father's late return the girl informed him of their Unexpected guest, and dilated, unfortunately, on the stranger's wealth. The old man's cupidity was aroused, and during the night he stole into his guest's bedroom and murdered him in his sleep with an axe. During [ *he next day the old neighbour, now returned,, who had recognised the young imanCt the railway station came with a number of friends to hear news of their emigrant relatives-in the States. "Where is your son ?'' he enquired of the murderer. " Whose son ?" asked the poor wretch with blanching cheeks and trembling limbs. " Your own boy," said, the neighbour,, "who returned some days ago and has made a fortune. Did he not sleep her© last night ?" > Suddenly the whole horrible truth flashed upon the :; unhappy father, and with a scream of agony he rushed off to the scullery where his son's body was hidden. They found him there presently kneeling by a horribly: mutilated corpse, arid counting the bag of gold for which he had committed the crime. The miserable • murderer is now in prison, but stark, staring, mad. His youDg daughter's hair has turned white as driven snow.

rf THE LATEST EXAMPLE OF THE GENUS JUGGINS. ' In the course of .the last few years the public has had an opportunity of investigating the peculiarities of various varieties of the genus " juggins " and spendthrift. The series commenced with Mr Benzon, the Jubilee or Gambling "Juggins." Then came Mr Abington Baird and the late Lord Ailesbury. More recently the ruinous ,' extravaganaes of Lord Francis .Hope on behalf of the lady now his wife edified society, and finally we have gaped at the eccentricities of Mr Joseph Charles Tasker. This gentleman, who appears to be a lineal descendant of Tittlebat ■ Tit'tmouse, inherited souie few years back a fortune of L 700,000, Apparently he had none of the ordinary weaknesses which beset poor humanity if I except an • inexpensively gratified * liking for the vintages of Hennessey and Martell. The peculiar fad which he developed en becoming a millionaire was a penchant for precious stones., Whether he would Have cared for them but for the representations of his- friend Mr Rogers seems however extremely doubtful. Mr Rogers was a canvasser in.the employ of Streeter and Company, and it appears to have occurred to him that Mr Tasker would be ah admirable person to relieve the firm of sundry superfluous and expensive stones. How well he managed the job may be gathered from the fact that in a few weeks Mr Tasker .bought from him L 87,000, worth of goods. Later, however, when Mr Tasker was taking less Hennessey, disputes arose as to the value of the goods, and he finally sued Streeters (as Rogers' principals) for L 17,300, money received by them for a consideration which had failed. . Mr Finlay, Q.C., in the course of an. interesting statement oh the part of the plaintiff, said his client was introduced to Mr Rogers, who acted as a canvasser to the defendants.' He was induced to spend something like ;one-third of his entire income in the purchase of the most costly articles, and a most remarkable feature of the entire proceedings,was that the whole of the costly articles were purchased within the course of some two or three weeks. In all articles were purchased within the short period of a few weeks' amounting to L 87,000, which bore unquestionable testimony to the activity of Mr Rogers as a canvasser for Messrs Streeter J Certain of Ihese articles were actually paid for; arid, they remained in , the possession of Messrs Streeter and Company, with, he should add, the exception of some articles that they had parted with, by selling to other people, and the Hope diamond, which they never got. With respect to certain articles which this improvident young man had purchased through being pestered and followed about by Mr Rogers, he should, of course, be bound by his bargain, and abide by the consequences of his own folly. In respect to' some articles, the plaintiff was satisfied that Messrs Streeter

I and Company should kee£ t'h'ena\ $Sb prcb'e of the articlesJleing giVeh %p to him. The plaintiff, Jos%n Tasker, was here- '. upon Mid detailed the trans- '■ actions wltfa Mr Rogers. He produced j the pedigree of the Agra diamond. It ' described how the diamond came into the possession of the Emperor Baber, the illustrious descendant of Tiniour of Wes-

tern Tartary, and the founder of the Mogul Empire in India, from whom it passed to his son, Humaiun, then to Akbar Nadir Shah, and ultimately through the vicissitudes of its Various possessors it eventually arrived in Europe. It was said to surpass in brilliancy the famous Taverner or Hope blue diamond and to be the purest of all Indian stones. The pedigree concluded thus—" Its deli•eate h&es may be said to instil the •odorous purple of a new-born i-ose filled with the face of Leaven/' The Witness admitted that he agreed to purchase the Hope diamond for L 32,000, but only oil condition that the diamond was got oiit of Chancery—(laughter)—which Rogers said it was. The witneaS was next questioned in reference to a cheque foi L 51,625 which he (plaintiff) gave in favour of Messrs Streeter and Company on the sth of June. He at first stated that he thought the body of the cheque was filled in by his sister, but then corrected himself by saying that it was filled in by Mr j Rogers.—Mr Darling: How do you sug- j gest that the cheque came about ?-—Witness (indifferently) i Oh, it came about in the ordinary way. (Laughter.) I really would' not like to say that he suggested it or that I suggested it. I. think that the Hope diamond was included in that sum.—The examination was next directed towards showing that this checrae for nearly L 52,000 covered the diamond for L 32,000, LSOOG for the Bow brooch, and LIS,QGQ for taking up certain bills. In regard to the seven brilliants witness said he was in bed in June with a bad attack of gout. Rogers came to dine with him, and was accompanied by a man named Row and a man named Vickers, one of them being a Bond street picture-dealer. They went to a theatre and returned for supper. At about a quarter to two o'clock Rogers pulled a set of diamonds out of his trousers pocket—(laughter) —and said he had no business to show them to anybody as they were not properly on the market, but that he would let witness see them out of kindness—(laughter)—and then offered to sell them to him for the modest sum of L 30,000. Rogers added—" For God's sake don't let anybody know or I'll get my throat cut." (Laughter.) Witness declined to purchase them or to.do business at that time in the morning.—ln cross-examination by Sir E. Clarke, plaintiff created great amusement by the indifferent manner in which he referred to the most extravagant sums, and to his interpolations, sotto voce, of "It doesn't matter" and " Blowed if I know." He said that he gave L7OOO for his yacht in Bombay. After the luncheon interval, his lord, ship, at counsel's request, saw them in his private room, but on their return into court Mr Finlay announced that it was impossible to come to an arrangement. Miss Tasker, plaintiff's sister, described how Mr Rogers had tried to persuade her brother to buy certain articles. Charles Lawrence, plaintiff's servant, said that his master was suffering from the effects of drink at the time he signed certain bills in payment of goods bought from Mr Rogers. By Mr Finlay.—His master was not drunk, but was suffering from after effects of drink.

Sir Edward Clarke. —Suffering from yesterday's drink ? (Laughter.) Witness. —Yes.

John Jones, dealer in precious stones, who examined the Agra diamond sold by the defendants to the plaintiff for L 15,000, said that LBOOO was a fair price for it. The Bow brooch sold for LSOOO was in his opinion worth about L 2750. Mr Spinks, the well-known expert, valued the Bow brooch at L4OOO. The defence offered by Messrs Streeter was that there had been no undue magni fication of the. Agra diamond, that the pedigree of the jewel as given in Court was genuine and that they had taken no advantage of Tasker's vinous moments to sell him expensive goods and to sign cheques and bills for them. In proof they called Rogsrs their agent, Rowo their ex-secretary, sundry "experts" and Mr Edwin Streeter to give evidence. Mr Streeter was subjected to cross-examina-tion at the hands of Finlay, Q.C., and the pair caused much laughter in Court. The Agra diamond the defendant considered cheap at L 15,000 and said that its history was compiled by Colonel Birch, an Indian scholar, who extracted his inform - i ation from the India Office records. Birch's account spoke of the gem as being seen in the treasury of Aurungzebe in 1665, and to its subsequent possession by Emperor Baber, descendant ofTimour, the founder of the Mogul Empire. Finlay, Q.C., wanted to know whether Baber didn't die in 1530, while Aurungzebe was not born till 1618. But Mr Streeter excused himself answering this historical problem from memory. " You. are an author, you know," urged the lawyer. Mr Streeter's reply was a sweeping criticism of authors. " They've generally got no memory," said he. " Nor knowledge?" enquired the Q.C. "That's a very different matter," replied Mr Streeter emphatically. Witness was at sea regarding Aurungzebe, but imagined that he was an Indian Prince. "As I didn't live in 1665 I couldn't tell you, Mr

I fcinlay, but if you go down to the India Office youJll find it all in the books." Whereat the Court made merry. Likewise Mr Streeter was ignorant—shockingly ignorant —of the gentleman named Akbar, in whose head-dress the Agra diamond subsequently appeared. He didn't know when Akbar lived, or when he died, or what he was. He believed the stone was absolutely unique, and called upon a Mr Dodd to say that Li 5,000 Was a fair price for it-. Mr DodcU an expert of forty years' experience) said LiS,GQO Was a fair price—" for a collector.' 7 ' The i dianionA was, hot atVa'etive eino'ugh for the general buyer. Mr Darling, Q.C.', who fround Up for the plaintiff, said Mr \ Ta'sker had bought the Jewel for its pedigree not for its carats, arid he main, tained the pedigree had been shattered " like the Mahratta power by the Emperor Baber." The only bit of history about it was the reciitting : all the rest was poetry—(smiles all round) —some of it from the India Office got from those wellknown works of imagination—the Blue Books."

In the end the jury set aside the " Agra " contract, but gave Streeter the verdict on other issues.