HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1511, 14 February 1901, Page 14

HOME AND FOREIGN NEWS

(BY LATEST MAILS.)

M&TRI-MO’NIAL; (IMPLICATIONS.

Charles Evelyn, Tin ling, a tall, profes-sional-looking man. with mo stache, pincenez, and a manner, found himself in the ihvoro© Court on December 14, as ' the respondent 113 a ter*. WM Si Srtist-a and he represented “SKf were a month Uhe woman’s furniture was sold for *£5D, „cd a reversion she. owned , was of for £loo', the money being -reoeivec. oy Tinling. The pair went to- Amenea/arwi o-n returning went to live at xwest.-n . Tib ling was brutal to ner, and turnea ts. and her three children put of the house. ■ When next heard of he passed as a Mi Taylor, and had married a woman Bloomsbury, telling her ne was a wiaower and had been so for - elevem yean?. This was on - Monday, petitioner No. 2 ard hsT premier was for an, annulment of this ■ < Tinling how limci© a somewhat, dinary statement in a somewhat extraordinary war. He oaid he was nrst inariied in Illinois in 1876, and soon alter had : - leave his- wifp; tc? go ~-tp. Variparaieo ; while there he had a letter frtfm tis mo-ther-in-law eaying his - wife; had • died. This letter, together with all hie papers, he had' lost when shipwrecked near Jamaica in 1880. , , • From 1877 until a few years ago he believed his first wife to be dead, but when in. 1897 ho went to. America he happened tc# see his wife's name in a directory, and inquiries showed him she had not reaLy dbedn dead until after his Brighton marriconsidered, therefore; that that Brighton marriage was . void, leaving him a widower, and hence his' Blocmsoury wedding - . . , , , . Sir Francis'Jeane seemed somewhat incredulous about this story, and immediately granted against the. adventurousstricken Tinling both the divorce and the nullity decree ©eked for by the two pe-i----ti oners. C :■■■■; 'A: WONDER THAT HE: LIVED. • PARTS, December 14. The strange case of a soldier in one of the Paris hospitals, has completely upset the professional theory that when the temperature, of the human body reaches 43deg. Cent, the patient has only a lew hours to live. . , When the soldier was examined tire aay afterrfiis admission the house-surgeon was greatly surprised to find him alive with a temperature of M-deg. Next day it • had gone so high that a special tkormcBieter had to be procured in order to register the incredible figure of 53deg. this extraordinary temperature remained fixed, srtrangor still, tli© puls© norinai. „,, . . The explanation of this) strange case is said to be that the soldier long ego was wounded by ft shot Ib. lihe xnotitli, ajid it is supposed! that the ball lodged in the thermic centre of the brain, thus causing the unexampled heat of the body. • ■ *“ ► - - ' - - 1 1 -VOauDHTEBR SCANDAL :. - SEQUEL/ —— The baiting of an officer at the Warwickshire Volunteer Artillery camp at Sandgate, says the London “Dispatch** of December 16th, has its sequel in announcement in the “Gasette**: Is' Warwickshire. The undeimentio-ncd officers are removed from the Volunteer Force, her Majesty • haying no further occasion for their services ; Lieut.-Coionei S. Owen, Lieutenant < P. W. Kerby, and Surgeon-Lieutenant S. VP; :Johnsonv MIB. • A The greatest sympathy is felt tor Oouonei Owen, who, has been a great enthusiast in the. Volunteer movement. Tfeecre aye rumours that seve-ral officers ■i hud many ; of the rank and file will resign as a protest against the. War Office action. An informal' consultation took place at i Birmingham on December 17th, of the dismissed Volunteer artillery officers and -! their’friends. " - - - A good deal of indignation is 'expressed by sympathetic officers, and the suggest :: tdon that they should resign in a body was : seriously considered;. ' - -i : The seniors have thrown the whole Weight of their influence against this proposal. pointing out if such step were taken the War Office would decline to receive the resignations, dismiss the malcontents, Olid disband the brigade. '! Vft will be recalled in connection with

' the scandal that Scoond-Lieutenant Steeds ■ :,v jwas tKecbmplMnaht, and his general ‘ground of grievance was that from the .' time the chaplain left the camp at Park- - -gate; on August 11th. ho was bullied and : insulted:, and ’ made the subject of horse:t play every- night by the officers, and snubV ’ bed by the oolcmei aiid other senior oiuoers when he appealed to them.. . -The first Nmunt in. his indictment was that ho was pressed into the - medical service by Sur-geon-Lieutenant Johnson to assist in a mode Operation: H© accuses Colonel Owen • ; of calling’hiih'.Sf coward when he made the ofijeetibm --Another bount in the dndictment was that on the night of Monday August. .13, his tent was pulled down, and that Lieutenant Keyby, occupying the , next tent, when appealed- to. threw a basin of wafer ovear him. On the following Lieutenants Kerby,. Johnson, ana Adi© douched him: with water when, in •feed, and on- the 10th’ a party of officers opened the flaps of his tent and threw water on lvim. Fireworks were exploded under the flaps o fhis tent, and blown eggs filled with jam and the tops closed with sticking plaster were placed between the blankets, so that they smashed when he lay down to rest, When he went out for

his man a number of egg shells filled with jam were thrown at- him. -On subsequent dates similar pranks were played. On the 22nd there was a variation, in that a. sheep was tied to his bedstead. On another night a. donkey was fastened to the tentpole. For eleven nights he scarcely slept, and suffered acute rheumatism, finally having to leave the camp. An inquiry was directed, and on October 9th Colonel Cox as president and Colonel Hart and Major Barnsley sat at Thorp street, Birmingham, to take evidence, and thereafter submit it to the officer commanding the North-Western District.

A 14-YEAR-OLD MURDERER

NEW YORK, December 14.

One of the most remarkable sentences on record was imposed by Judge Fursraan, of the New York Criminal Court yesterday, upon Alexander Stewart, a boy of fourteen, whom he sentenced to twenty years* imprisonment with hard labour at the Sing-Sing Prison. The prisoner, an apparently bright little fellow dressed in knickerbockers, sat laughing and munching sweets while receiving his sentence. His parents, who are evidently very respectable people, stood by weeping bitterly, and even the aged judge was moved to tears. Stewart was convicted for the murder of a, young playmate under ,' peculiarly atrocious circumstances. He borrowed a knife, which he whetted to a keen edge, and then invited the other boy to play at being shaved. He then cub his throat, and danced on the dead body of his victim. Before passing the sentence Jiidp r ~ I’ursman appointed a committee of alienists to examine the youthful murderer. They reported him. sane, but utterly deficient in moral sense. His parents Say liis viciousness began some nine. year 3 ago, when he was struck on the head with a brick, which injured his brain. Previous to the murder the boy had bseri sent to two reformatories), but he had corrupted the other inmates, committed thefts and other crimes, and constantly escaped. "

PATHETIC CASE OF BREACH OF PROMISE.

"1 hear you again want me to stay proceedings. You surely cannot expect me to trust you now, I did have perfect faith and trust in you for years, but yGU broke faith with me. You promised me for years and years you would marry me as soon as your wife was dead. . . . You have utterly spoilt my life/’ J£ special jury in the Queen*s Bench. Division yesterday, says a London paper of December 15, awarded £4OOO damages for breach of promise of marriage to Miss Annie Catherine King, who recently wrote the above letter to Mr Thomas Pringle, coal merchant, carrying on business at. North End-road, Fulham. Mr Pringle, was a married man when, in 1889, he made the acquaintance of Miss King. He is now for the second time a married man, and yesterday Miss King convinced, a jury that in marrying, not her, but some other lady, lie broke a promise frequently made during his first wife*® life and renewed after her death.

Miss King was nineteen years -old when she went as companion to the first Mrs Pringle. That lady had given way to intemperance. Mr Pringle paid attention to the younger woman, who was pretty, and a few months after she entered his house he promised to marry her as soon as Mrs Pringle ( Tiad drunk herself' to death.” So Miss King told the. jury yesterday. After £, time Miss King left the house and lived at Fulham. She and Mr Pringle passed as Mr and Mrs Graham. There were two children. Mrs Pringle was drinking, Miss King said, two bottles of brandy a day, and the husband- wrote many letters to Miss King, ; beginning, "My own love,’* and signed, “Your loving husband, Tom.** Miss Kipg told the jury that she believed these things,, that she had believed them from the .start, and that they had guided her conduct all through. Last Christmas Day the first .Mi-© Pringle died. Mr Pringle was dining with Miss'King and her children when he received the news,,..' He said nothing, • A few -days later, coming. from his? wife's grave, dress-ed in mourning, he called on Miss King. He. told her the mourning was on account of. the national grief over the South African way.

“That was a lie.?** Mr Pringle was asked yesterday when it came to his crossexamination. ;;

“Yes/* he replied,

After that Mr Pringle saw Miss King less frequently. She taxed him with having married some one else. while they were stopping at Brighton ,he had suggested marrying her at a registrar’s, although Mrs Pringle was still alive. But he thought of the bigamist’s risk, and returned to London. Last May -Miss King took a friend- (a lady) with her to Mr Pringle's office. In the friend’s bearing Mr Pringle, pressed for an answer, renewed his promise to marry, but in spite of that he married some one else.

Miss King's last letter began'as .quoted above. It continued:

“If you have 'married another woman, do you expect to have any happiness® with her? You drove your first wife to drink by your neglect,: and have spoilt my life and the children's; but you will be punished for it some da.y. It will corne home to- you some day;, perhaps not until you are on your death bed; and all I hope and trust is' that 'you will suffer all the rest of your life; as I Have suffered. "I shall hot stay proceedings: if I have to part with every-stick. I know I am in the right, and am quite prepared to fight" it out to the end. ... You have deiceived me shamefully, and*yet you seem to expect me to stay proceedings! and trust to you, Never again! I am not quite a fool as you seem to think. . . . All the misery* you haye caused me will come Back to you. I believe now that there is a God, and that He will punish you for your sins. . . " • "Any misfortune that- may happen to

you I shall rejoice at, Judas, rightly; named. No wonder it struck home when I called you that. 1 little knew how true it was. Judas, how many times have you betrayed me by a kiss since ChristmasH . . . It is a- great consolation to me to know that you will never get a woman to care for you. You are too old and re-pulsive-looking’. May you never have an-

other moment's happiness in your contemptible life. You are no man, but a thing—a monkey. . . . May the rest of your life be a hell on earth is the earnest wish of the woman whose life yc-u have spoilt.** Mr Pringle*s case v.v-s that he-^ never promised to marry Miss King at all, and that if he promised it was during his first wife’s life, which would render the promise void in law.

Mr Justice Wilis declined to stop the case, and the jury found that Mr Pringle promised both before and after his first wife* 9 death, to marry Miss King, and awarded £4OOO damages, for which judgment was given.

NURSES ACCUSED OF. MURDER

EXCITING TRIAL TO TAKE PLACE IN NEW YORK.

NEW YORK, December 18

Three male nurses named Davis, can and Marshall, who were employed in the insane department of Bellevue Hospital, were arrested to-day and charged with manslaughter. The men are accused of having caused the death of a patient named Louis Hilliard, .a Frenchman, who at the coroner’s inquest it was disclosed had been killed by strangulation and brutal violence. . The "Now York Herald** and ether reputable papers -'publish serious charges against the hospital management. It is a-sserted that inhuman cruelties and almost incredible tortures have iLeai inflicted on the helpless patients- committed to the insane and alcoholic wards of the hospital, and many unfortunates axe said to have been kicked, choked, and drugged to death with morphine and other narcotics by the brutal attendants, when the patients refused to take their medicine. An instrument of torture known as a /'persuader** is alleged to have been freely employed. It consisted of a coarse pillowcase rolled tight, and it was pulled round a patient*s neck and twisted until he succumbed from -suffocation.

The bodies of many of the victims who died in the hospital have shown plain marks of the cruel treatment.

Immunity from this inhumanity could only be secured by liberal bribery of the attendants.

Sensational revelations are expected when the trial of the accused nurses takes place, and several former patients have come forward with the announced intention of giving inerminating evidence against the three men and others equally guilty. Mrs Hilliard, the unfortunate Frenchman*© widow, visited the French Consul yesterday and demanded redress. The Consul assured her that if the Now York authorities did not bring the men responsible for her husband's death to justice he ■would immediately make representations to his Government, and. this threat apparently ha-d good effect, as the arrest of the three nurses promptly followed.

HONOUR AVENGED.

A TRAGEDY OF ILLICIT LOVE. LISBON, December 16.

Two remarkable events are engrossing the attention of Lisbon, and filling columns of the newspapers; one is the assassination of Mr Albert O'Neill, the eon of the rich and well-known banker here; the other the exposure of a iyg fraud. The assassination of Mr O'Neill a very tragic affair. His assassin was I)r Durate Pinto Coelho, a lieutenant in the Guards, and doctor to the Royal "Horse. He was married to a daughter of General Cueiraz, oommander ox the Municipal Guards, wiio is an intimate friend of the King. I>r Coelho was anonymously told that his young wife had secretly met young O'Neill, who was twenty-two years of age, and one of Ooelho's closest friends. He received this news on the day of a lawntennis match with the English officers, in which ho was. playing. It was noticed that he had to be called whenever it was his turn to play, and tliat he was watching the stand’ where his wife sat with a group 'of the jeunesse . doree, including O’Neill, around her. The doctor announced that he was that night going to Oporto, and pretended to do so.. But he went instead to a house where he was told the lovers met . His brother, Fernando Pinto Coelho. to whom he had shown the’ anonymous letter, not bolieyeing his story of .the journey to Oporto, went after him. He endeavoured to lead him away and to convince him that his wife was innocent, but Dr Pinto Coelho said that he knew she was there already, and he had heard her voice.

Such was the case. As soon as her husband had, as she supposed, started for Oporto, she telephoned to young O'Neill, and they joined each, other at. this place. Seeing that he could not dissuade his brother, Fernando hid in a doorway, and when shortly afterwards Albert O'Neill and a lady; emerged, he’rushed put, seized her violently by the arm, and ran down the street with her, so that the shot aimed at her at the same moment by her husband did not reach her. The unfortunate O’Neill, however, came face to face unsuspectingly with the deceived husband, who fired twice at him, Jailing Mm instantaneously. Great; sorrow and sympathy are felt here for the three families. Margarita Gueiroz Coelho is twenty-seven years of age, and • has five little children. Hie General, her father, is dangerously ill since he learnt what has occurred, and has said that if his daughter ever appear® in his presence he still possesses strength enough to shoot her. • 1 It is said that Dr Pinto Coellio will not be condemned, as Mr O’Neill, the father, will not prosecute.

The other affair is the dscoverey snee the death or Senhor Jacintho Miranda do Vasooncellcs, who- for thirty years was treasurer of the Oporto Custom House, 4 that £30,000 is missing from his accounts. He was always regarded as an late official, and the revelation that he/ had for years carried on >sysfag*atic frauds has caused an immgxrs© ©chsatiofu It is supposed that when the accounts were balanced he borrowed money for a few hours. He was a, famous rose-grower, and won many prizes at the Paiacio de Crystal'.

LADY

KATHARINE MANNERS FOUND DROWNED.

A LONG NIGHTS SEARCH WITH A SAD ENDING.

Lady Katharine Manners, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Rutland, after having been missing all Friday night, says a- London paper of December 55th, was found drowned in Knipton fish pond in the park of Belvcir Castle on Saturday morning. The circumstances of Lady Katharine Manners's death are particularly sad. Aa the eldest daughter of the duke by hia second marriage she should have become the chatelaine of Belvoir Castle after the death of her mother eighteen months ago. Unfortunately, her indifferent health did not permit of this, and the duties of hostess were performed by her younger sister, the Lady Victoria. : Lady Katharine had for years suffered from hysteria, .and since her mother*a death her health had caused the-’ duke much anxiety* On Friday morning she said to the maid who was dressing her, “Put me. on some warm clothes, as I am going foj a long walk. Lady Katharine was in the habit of taking long walks by herself, and her request in no way surprised the maid. Lunch time came and Lady Katharine had nob returned." This occasioned some comment, but nert alarm was raised because a number of guests, including Sir Hugh and Lady Chomeley .and Sir Coleridge Grove, were st&ynig At the castle. When tea-time came, however, and she had not returned, the household was considerably disturbed, and several of' the men servants went out to scour tho park in search of her. No trace of Lady Katharine could be found, and the only news that could be heard of her was that on,e of the watchmen upon the castle terrace had seen her at about one o*clock in the afternoon. There are always watchmen round the castle by night and day, and at night they call the hour and the state of the weather, as did the watchmen of 100- years ago. •

The duke now became anxious for Ms daughter's safety, and every available man in the place started with flic Marquis of Granby, the- dukete eldest ©on,- to look for the missing lady. The task i was a difficult one, for the park, which is thickly wooded in parte, cannot be less than five miles square. Through the long winter’s night the search was carried on. Call after call produced no answer, and. the anxiety of the searchers deepened. Morning came, and then it wa® that one of the policemen, who had been, summoned 1 to assist in the search found a parasol hidden in a bush near the bank© of the 1 Knipton pond. The worst was then feared. The water of the pond, though shallow, is too deep for wading, so it was decided 1 to drag it. This was done, and it Was not long before he body of the poor lady was discovered. The grief of the aged duke was terrible, for Lady Katharine was his favourite daughter, spd most dearly loved.’ Even when she joined the Roman Catholic Church, a year ago, no cloud had; arisen between-them, the duke is the staunchest of staunch Churchmen. From, the moment of Lady Katharine’s disappearance the duke’s distress was painful. Once before his daughter warndered ’away, and was only found in London after many days.

It is a sad ending to a, cad life. L'adv Katharine, who would have reached the age of thirty-five next birthday, suffered a great blow and lest, her happiness when quit©' a girL The Vale of Beivpir, is Bill of mourning. Hers was a gentle; and a » blameless life. On all her rambles she rarely spoke to any one,, but her .tell and _ stately figure and her almost queenly chirriage wer© well known throughout the country side, , A

;. : A ■ WOMAN'S . THRBIBLE. SECRET. ir OSTEND, December 17. . Some seven years ago three Belgian, workmen were tried and found guilty of having committed - a series ’ of - ©ri ra.es,. among them the murder of an-old lady at Hautmont. *. Although they pleaded innocence until the last, one of them was sentenced to imprisonment for life and the other two were guillotined. Now a woman named Soumagne has just denounced her husband, who she say® committed these crimes. She is said‘ to ,be quite sane, and the authorities are' investigating her chargee. Whefi Degroot, one of the men Who was executed, was being pinioned h©Vcaused some sensation by saying, "You cannot tie all of me. You will not have ray immortal soul, and you will be punished: for all the wrong you have done to me." How true this was remain® to be seen, and if is certain to cause much excitement. •