HOME AND FOREIGN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1675, 6 April 1904, Page 18

HOME AND FOREIGN

A PASSION FOR A WIDOW.

In the little Cumberland village of Kirkbride, there resides a widow named Mrs Ellen Brown. Since the death of her husband she is stated 1 toi have been pressed by a ifian named Joseph Gillies, of Govanhill, Glasgow, te marry him. She has, however, refused him, and recently she received a letter, signed by Gillies, in which the following intimation was made to her:— “Jesus Christ died to save sinners, bub Joseph Gillies shall die tot expose a sinner, and that sinned is yourself, Ellen Brown. 55 Gillies has now been committed by the Wigton Magistrates for trial at the Quarter Sessions:' 1: After receiving the woman’s final refusal. the prisoner sent the remarkable letter complained of. in which he also /said: — “If I can’t get you, I .can at least £ua for you ; and the death of one will mean the death of two. You have broken my spirit; you have broken my health. All that you have left of a strong,, healthy, robust man is a poor, miserable and wrecked frame. Vengeance is mine, and I shall be back in Kirkbride much sooner than you expect. . . You have never realised how madly I was in love with yoru. There will be a scene the like of which was never seen before, and the gossips will have something to talk .about. Don't take this as a threat, because I am _determined to put it into execution, sooner or later*, even if I hang on the scaffold for it.” Tire prosecutrix a young woman, says she never promised to marry the prisoner ; and Gillies states that he had no intention of carrying out the threats. GIRL’S ELOPEMENT AND MARRIAGE. .I Miss Marie Ceeille Sullivan, who was a student at the Georgetown Visitation Convent, has just eluded her instructors, and eloped with John Thomas Varnell, to whom ’she was married at Rockville, Maryland. .While living in the “Windy City,” Varnell met Miss Sullivan, and fell desperately in love with her. Immediately after their courtship began. Miss Sullivan was sent to _ school in Washington. For a while this arrangemenh interfered with his wooing; hut', as usual, “love was resourceful,” and the young man decided to attend Georgetown College, thereby creating an opportunity to meet the object of life admiration. For more than two years (says the “Sun”) this clandestine love-making went on, regardless of the circumspect nuns, who finally became suspicious. Thinking Mr Varnell had despaired of winning liis quest, the vigil over Miss Sullivan was relaxed. Realising that her increased liberties meant that the suspicions of the nuns had been allayed. Miss Sullivan promptly informed Varnell, who was patiently awaiting developments in New York. By using all the eloquence known to a. man who is infatuated, Varnell finally persuaded Miss Sullivan to escape from the convent. Rev. W. F. Locke tied the knot tha t made the handsome con pie man and wife. As soon as the was over, the happy party returned to Washington, where they are spending their honeymoon. An appeal has been made fco the bride’s parent® for forgiveness both express themselves a!s being confident of receiving. DARING TRAIN ROBBERY IN BELGIUM. Six well-dressed men who had taken their seats in the 7.23 train for Paris 0® a recent Tuesday evening made their way. revolver in hand, into: the van containing registered letters. Having gagged the guard, they took all the letters aryl then jumped, from the moving train into the permanent way. The robbery wa\s committed between Subize and Braine le Comte. This morning a' man was found on. the line seriously injured. He refused to give any information. LYNCH LAW IN MISSISSIPPI. Two negroes, a man and bis wife, were burned at the stake at Doddsville. Mississippi, on a recent Sunday by a mob of Some one thousand persons for murdering Mi- James East lake, a prominent white planter, on Wednesday last week, when two other negroes were shot—one for defending Hr fettaka A Sheriff s posse, which was sent in pursuit of the murdereib, killed two innocent negroes, mistaking them for the criminals. ' A CURATE’S BIGAMY. In London recently Mrs Eliza Cooke Hills sought divorce by reason of the bigamy and desertion of her husband, Mi- Rowland Paul Hills, formerly a, clerk in holy orders. The suit was undefended. -Parties were married in 1885 at the Parish Church of Sheffield, at which time respondent was curate at the Parish Church of Bolsover. Derbyshire. Petitioner was then a. teacher in the church school. ■ At respondent’s reqn-st the marriage was kept secret the respondent -statins: that if it. were known it

would affect his financial prospects. She wanted him to provide a home, hut he made various excuses. He wrote and told his wife that he was going to' give up his preferment, and that he intended to go to London. Eventually he disappeared, and in 1900 she heard that, at Nebraska. United 1 States, he had contracted' a bigamo'us marriage with Dolly Powell. He was prosecuted for bigamy, and was .sentenced' to four years’ penal servitude. Decree nisi, with costs, was granted. TURKEY AND BULGARIA. Reuter’s Constantinople correspondent telegraph's that the Turkish reply to the Austro-Russian Memorandum defining the duties and privileges of the civil assessors for the Roumelian vilayets under the reform scheme constitute® a refusal of the demands. The two Embassies, however, appear to be resolved to ignore the objections of the Porte and to proceed with the execution of the reform scheme as before. TurcoBu'lgarian relation's, are in. a critical state. In the Bulgarian Chamber recently the Prime Minister said that .numerous represent at ion’s had been made to Turkey as to the obstacles placed in the way of Bulgarian, commerce. The acts committed continually for several months past, he added, had compelled the Government to believe that the Porte was committing them intentionally in order to provoke a conflict with ANOTHER EXTENSION OF THE CAPE TO CAIRO LINE DECIDED UPON. That great dream of Cecil Rhodes’ — a railway all the way from the. Cape to Cairo—is likely to he fulfilled earlier than was at one time expected, although perhaps not on. the same grand scale as he had planned. The contract has just been let for an extension of the line to Broken Hill Mine, which is 350 miles beyond the Victoria Falls, and it is contemplated, we understand, to continue it as far as the southern end of Lake Tanganyika. Mr Rhodes's plans provided for the railway being carried right on to Khartoum, hut the idea at present seems to be to extend the line which terminates at Khartoum to the northern shore of Lake Tanganyika, and employ steamers on that great sheet of water to complete the connection, with, the ultimate intention of having a railway from end to end. The railway has readied 1 a point a few mile® to the south of the Victoria Fall's. The spanning of the great' gorge will he the most difficult part of the undertaking, and an engineering task of some magnitude, with which the- spanning of Niagara offers no comparison. The cliffs at the Victoria Falls rise to a height of 420 ft,; those at Niagara to only 140 ft. It fe proposed to carry the railway over the South African fall® by a single span of 500 ft which is the distance separating the sentinels of the gorge at- the narrowest point. The engineering task, however, will extend over a distance of about 850 ft.

The first step to foe taken in the construction of the bridge vriil be to- throw over stout cable conveyers to carry the tons of material across the gorge. Gangs will then work from both ends. Meantime the other sections of the line to Broken Hill Mine will foe proceeded with. HiA NOTORIOUS BRIGAND. There died on January 16, in. the Gaudine Valley, in Calabria, an old man of •upwards of seventy yearns of age, to whom a priest would not have hesitated to grant absolution.; ar*T yet that' man Avas neither more nor less than a* notorious ex-brigand, one of the cruellest who have desolated Calabria. His doings are worth recalling, for they are synthetic of an entirely trobuled period of Central Italy. His name Avas Antonio Roecella. After the surrender of Gaeta to Victor Emmanuel 11. and Garibaldi, the remnant of the army of the Neapolitan Bourbons split up into' terrorising bands of brigands, to whom adhered a number of worthless characters. The Campania, the Basilicata, and Calabria were the scene of their exploits, and it took years of unceasing pursuit by the Royal Carabineers before they succeeded in rooting out these nefarious brigands. Of all the bands the most dreaded: was the one jointly led by Giuseppe Carusoi and Ferdinand Crccio, two unworthy, emulators of Fra Diavolo, and who* had at one period upwards of a thusand 1 men under their coders. Their favourite lieutenant Avas the abovenanied' Antonio Roocella., born in the province of Avellino, and noted for his cruelty. Originally an artilleryman in the sendee of the Bourbons, when he returned to his native village after the war, he, found that his family was ruined and persecuted by certain enemies!, who to'ok advantage of the laxity of the neAV regime to persist in adhering to the unwritten law of vendetta. He found that his aged father had been Avrongly accused of crime, and thrown into prison, Avhere he died before he bad the opportunity of proving his innocence. That injustice drove him wild. He took to the Campagna, au)d swore to have revenge and show no movcv. His first act of cruelty after a.

scrimmage with a detachment of soldiers tv as to cut off the nose of an officer of Ber.sagliciri, whom he had taken, prisoner, and send him back to his regiment. That method of being avenged created naturally a groat sensation of horror in the locality. Ho was immediately nicknamed “Mozzanasi” —nose gutter. And, no doubt with a view of being -worthy of that nickname, of which, it is said, lie was proud, ho made a speciality of cutting ioff the nose of every soldier ivlm had the misfortune to faill into liis hands. Tradition affirms that the number of noses to his discredit during liis nefarious career amounted to twenty-five. But, however romantic and exciting a briganfl’s life may appear, there comes a time when it must end. During a scrimmage with the soldiers, “Mozzanasi” was wounded and made prisoner. Having recovered 1 from his wounds, lie was tried by court martial, and sentenced to be shot in the back. On the eve of the day appointed for liis execution. Antoom Roccella, showed himself a craven as well as a, ruffian. He asked to he allowed to speak to* General Fontana_ in command 1 o-f the district, and offered, in return for liis sentence being commuted, to disclose the hading place of Giuseppe Caruso and his band. By his indications Caruso and his baud were taken, Caruso, and others being tried, convicted,-and executed. “Mozzanasi,’’ was sent to the galleys, where he remained for several years, and, having ultimately o-btainqd his liberty, lie retired to liis native village to follow the plough, and to rank as a kir/I of popular hero full of years, if not of honours. SCHOOL FIRE AT TORONTO. A fire broke outd in one of the city schools of Toronto while the children, ranging in age from 10 to IG, were at their lessonfe; With great promptness the alarm signals were rung, and the scholars marched out quietly to piano music. Many of them thought the incident was simply an ordinary fire drill until they were safe in the streets. This ib but one of several school fires that have occurred in Toronto recently, and the occurrences have given, rise to a suspicion that incendiaries are at work. GIGANTIC COAL MINING PROJECT. A despatch from Halifax. Nova Scotia, states that a gigantic coal mining project has been launched there. A syndicate of American and Canadian capitalists has been organised for -the purpose of working submarine deposits cf coal at Port-Morion, Cape Breton. The area to be acquired comprises 27 square miles, anfl is estimated to contain 249,000,000 tons of coal, being the largest submarine deposits known in the world. Exports have reported that the coal can be worked for an indefinite period under the ocean without serious difficulty. It is proposed that the operations shall follow the well-known plans of British submarine colleriete. SHOCKING TRAGEDY AT SEA. The crew of a schooner engaged in tlie Newfoundland ood fishing have sworn an affidavit before the Public Prosecutor at St. Malo' stating that one of the crew, who is reported to have died of dysentery during the voyage, was in reality done to death by the skipper and the mate. The victim was a man of independent means, and signed on as a member cf the crew in order to study the: customs of the fishermen, and expose the brutality which was currently reported to go*on in the fishing fleet. Upon learning of his intentions the skipper and mate treated him in the cruellest fashion, and lashed him naked every night on deck when the temperature was. below zero. Then another of the brew died from the illtreatment he had received, when his ears were torn off hy the skipper. The body was pickled in a cafek of salt, and: revolting orgies were held over- the corpse. The man of independent means referred to above declared he would report the crime upon reaching port, whereupon the skipper threw him overboard. He was rescued by the crew, but a few flays later he was found dead, with a, ghastly wound in his head. The skipper is said to have had the body hoisted to* the masthead for 24 hours as a warning to any of the other bands who might be tempted to turn informer. ALLEGED ABDUCTION. Abraham Kauffman (40), a salesman in Oovent Garden Market, was recently brought before Mi* Marsliam, at Bow street', London, on a charge of abducting Ellen Brickley. aged 17. The deposition of the girl wais to the effect that she lived with her mother and brother at Holland Dwellings, Newtos street, and had known prisoner since 1901. ' On the 2nd of last month she went with him to an hotel in Leicester Square, and from there to the Fusion Muisic Hall. It was late when’ they left there, and she told him she was afraid to go home. He engaged a room at the hotel in Leicester Square, and they stayed there together' for two nights.. On the second morning he asked her to go home, hut she dad not like to 1 poi so. Hse took her to a furnished robin m Lam-

beth Palace Road, and she stayed with, him there until Saturday last, when her brother came and took her away. Wm. Brickley, the girl’s brother, said in his information that he followed the prisoner to Lambeth Palace Road, and there found his sister. While he was there prisoner locked the dioor, took a revolver from his pocket, and said, “This will stop your business.” • A remand was ordered and hail refused. ANOTHER “MESSIAH.” Dr. Dowie, who poses as “Elijah II.,” has a double, in India. The Indian prophet's name in Mirza Gliulam Almiad, commonly called Mirza Sahib ; he is the head of the Ahmadieah sect of Mohammedans which lie founded, and lie lives at Quadian, in the Pun jamb. An Indian paper says of him that by his fine appearance. liis denunciations, his prophecies and liis gushing self-praise, he more than recalls Dr 1 Dowie. He claims to be the Messiah, to have inaugurated a new millennium, and that a universal struggle is now going on between the “good and bad attractions,” which are respectively himself and Ins opponents. He liberally abuses the more orthodox Mohammedans, who repay the compliment in kind. He prophesies, performs miracles, which ineude a “symbolical raising of the dead.” whatever that may be, and point® to 150 “supernatural signs” and 30.000 guaranteed “answers to prayer.’’ At one time he had a convenient habit of prophesying the death of his opponents, but as this contravened a section of the Indian Penal Code, lie was ecru polled to desist thereirom. His followers aye said to number about 10.000. He is 65 years of age, and comes of a family that has earned the fame that “religious enthusiasm, if not ambition, seems to run in it.’’ CRUEL DECEPTION CF A WIDOW. Pcric'dicaliv. a woman, well-known throughout Scotland as a ,shaw "heiress,” has succeeded in duping some innocent householder. The “heiress’" is a wellknown character to the police, who have connected her with a long series of frauds on unsuspecting landladies. Her most recent victim was a widow reriding at Slate-ford, ' Edinburgh, who* was deluded by a plausible story into believing that the “heiress” was a woman of considerable means. After residing with the widow for a few days she asked her bill, and on it being presented the “heiress” remarked that she had left her purse in the Post- Office, whore she had been earlier in the day. In a short tune site returned from cite Post Office saying that her purse could not be found. She then asked tlie landlady for 15s to enable her to get her boxes front ilia Waver ley Station, so that cite might he able to take ;up her duties at some big house as a domestic servant. She said that in return for the l : ss she would wire the widow £l. This money the landlady parted with, but not very long afterwards the ledger returned saving that the station authorities woulfl not part with the boxes unless payment of £2 was made. The landlady said she had -iio more money, whereupon her visitor became for the. first time very irritable. To a. suggestion, by the laudlady that she should pawn some article of her own, she replied thafe she had nothing to pawn, as everything of value was in her box. Under pressure the landlady subsequently handed over to the woman a gold watch and drain, and the latter left, promising to return both money and watch the aso&t- day. As no word came from her. the police were informed of the case. The- landlady was shown a photograph of a woman by the police. In this .she at ones recognised the features of her lodger. The police have the matter in hand and are searching for the fraudulent lodger. It was reported that the woman had been seen recently in Fife. A FATAL SLEEPING DRAUGHT. Four women patients at Milton Asylum, Portsmouth, have died from tha effects of a. sleeping One night the women were resttes®, and Miss Watson, one of the doctors, gave them a sleeping draught, compounded of chloral and bromide of potassium. 'Soon aKettwards the women were observed to be ill, and all have since died. It was stated that the draught was the usual one, and the cause of the fatal effects is a mystery. A WEALTHY ECCENTRIC. Mr It. S. Wilson, of Tuxfor-d Hall, Notts, who died the other day at tha age of 73, had in his grounds an infern® guarded by a colossal effigv of Satan bound in chains. The “hell,” as he called it, contained effigies typifying lawyers, priestcraft, “The t-obacco devil/’ “the woman with a proud look and a lying tongue,” and others who fell under Mr Wilson’s lash. The whole was intended as am allegory. Satan being represented as king of this world. Mr Wilson was wealthy as well aa eccentric, and be had a remarkable collection of curios and wax-work figures. T3tr grounds were strewn with astern admonitions, such as “Your time is short*' and Prepare fbr. Judgment.”