NEWS BY MAIL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1716, 18 January 1905, Page 2

NEWS BY MAIL.

SAN FRANCISCO, December 23. A despatch from Chicago on December 15th says: —Air S. H. Harris, president of the Chicago House-wrecking Company, drew a cheque for .500,000 dollars to-day in favour of tbe Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company, and thereby became owner of the famous “Ivory City” (Exposition at St. Louis), with buildings and contents.— One thousand labourers will be at work most of next year tearing down, raking apart and shipping stuff'to buyers. There will be three-' hundred master - mechanics to do the fine labour and one hundred furniture-handlers to-trans-fer innumerable pieces of magnificent household equipment, not,-to speak of four hundred and fifty mounted police to stand guard clay and night. Air. Harris was optimistic of turning largo sums, to his company’s' account. Among items in the., purchase of. the Fair are one hundred million feet of lumber, two hundred thousand square feet cf window-sasb, a million and a half square ! feet of skylights,' five thousand flags, 650,000 dollars’ worth of copper wire, two complete hospitals, a fire department, street railway plant, including tracks, cars, and power-house, ten steam rollers, 25,000 dollars’ worth of surveyors’ instruments, and several complete steel buildings). COINAGE. A despatch from Washington on December 2nd says:—The annual report of the.! director of the .Mint shows that the output of the coinage of the mints of San Francisc'o, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, which were in operation throughout the fiscal year, was the largest on record. It is.estimated, that the gold stock of the world in use as money on December 31st, 1003. was approximately 5,600,000,000 dollars, of which about one-half is visible in banks and public treasuries. The estimate of the stock of the llnitecl States at that' time is 1.300,000,000 dollars, of which 859,000,000 dollars was in the Treasury and National Banks'. The total domestic' coinage of the mints, at Philadel- ' nllia,--San Francisco, and New Orleans amounted in value to 228,202,151 dollars. A STEAMER BURNED. A despatch from New York, dated December 17th, says:—By the burning' of the' steamer Glen Island in .Long-Is-land'Sound to-day-nine lives were test, and property roughly estimated at a . quarter cf a million of dollars was destroyed. That more lives were not sacrificed wais due to- the courage of the officers and crew, and the excellent discipline maintained. A horrible death for ail seemed almost a certainty. When the . steamer was abandoned she was fiveSAve.pt from stem to stern, yet the only persons lost were tJ.ir.se whose esqapo was entirely cut off by fire before! the alarm reached them. The Glen Island left tho clock at New lork m the evening for New haven. At midnight ' there came a rush- of stiffing smoko from the hold, and every electric | light was extinguished. The captain ! sounded an' alarm for fire drill, and the j men came tumbling out of their bunks. The steering gear, was blocked. The j pilots assisted in saving life, which was -j accomplished by means of boats. One I woman on the way to a boat rushed j back'into a blazing cabin, presumably 1 for valuables, and wen lost. Tugs soon came to the rescue, picking up the persons in the boots, being Humble to rescue nine persons known to be aboard the burning vessel. It is believed that the lire originated in the dynamo near the centre of the vessel. THE CHADW fOiv CASE. The Case of Airs Cihattvick is attracting i minion so interest, m America, w In* re it "is considered to eclipse the famous j Humbert swindle. Forged nolus bear- : ing Air Carnegie’s signature, put afloat j by file aceiiisod woman, aituiunted to j nearly .1M,000,000 sterling, 'the woman j has now been iden I ilied a-s Eli/abet h Big ley, who was horn at \1 oodsl ock, ' Ontario, sm-cl wjvs I tied a t Weeds! ock ( when only t avimi t v-t-n'o yc.'U's eld on a I charge oi lorgory, hut- was acquitted on j ill tv ground of insanity. She- \\ as limn. | as in I he presell! case, accused of .hypno- j listing her victims. ,She is forty-live or i more-years old, but has pretensions to beauty. I Airs Chadwick is now under arrest j awaiting hoe trial, wlide some, oi her j victims arc in a- sorry plight. PTMNCEAS LOUISE. j DRESDEN, December 22. | The former Grown Princess Lotus' arrived here unexpogbediy t-o-day, neeoniI>a i.i ted by a lawyer. She proceeded to T.-e-vhc-nberg Paiace, and asked to he p.M-uiii Uhl to her child. Permission u-.rs pip-i ein])to-ri 1 v relustxl, and the Prin-e-ex-ed her intention of leaving <> • t i his afernoou. King Freder-

iclc Augustus, who is on a shooting excursion, was informed of the arrival of his former wife. The Princess voluntarily left the city this afternoon for Leipsie. ■An immense cheering crowd escorted her to the railroad station. The Princess—who.had written to the King that unless he granted her oft-repeated request to see her children she would attempt to see thorn without his per-mission—-arrived here unexpectedly from Vienna last night with a woman companion. She went to the Hotel Bellevue, where she was immediately recognised. The police were informed, and then the Aiinistry sent a telegram to the King at Pillnitz, who directed that she should on no account he admitted to the palace, but that she should not be arrested unless she became violent. The Princess went alone to one of the entrances of the palace, on Theatre square, at 9 o'clock in the morning, dressed in mourning. A lieutenant of police saluted the Princess, and told her quietly that it would be impossible for her to enter the palace. The former Crown Princess stood on t-lie steps trembling, and a few guards' and policemen who surrounded < her thought she was about to fall. The Princess recovered li.erself -somewhat, and said three or four times: “Please let me see my children.-” The lieutenant replied that his orders were peremptory, and offered to walk with her to the Hotel Bellevue. She said that would not be necessary, but he walked by her side across Theatre square. The Princess sent a letter to, the Court Alarshal, asking if she could visit her children, and after receiving an answer in the negative, she left Dresden on the next train. Public sympathy runs in favour of the request of the Princess to see her children once a year, as the German law provides in the case of mothers divorced for most flagrant offences.