HOME AND FOREIGN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1746, 23 August 1905, Page 12

HOME AND FOREIGN

AMERICAN SENSATIONS. -A1 Philadelphia telegram states that sensational disclosures have been made regarding the deceased banker Benjamin (Gaskill. Hie was a much respected citizen, but it now appears that he was a life-long forger of share certificates, and out of his forgeries he is said to have made 1,000,000 dollars. The disclosures have caused the “failure of a local bank. * .A great sensation was caused in San Francisco on Wednesday morning by the action of a homicidal maniac, who stood at the open window of a hotel and shot ; at the passers-by with a revolver. He Wounded nine persons severely, and on ftris room being forcibly entered he shot himself dead. PATHETIC TRAGEDY. .A! pitiful story was told at Sheffield Police Court on Monday, when Miss Madeline Aspinall, a young lady of good family and well connected in the city, was charged with attempted suicide, While her mother, an old lady of 76, has died from laudanum poisoning. Mrs Aspinall lived with a married daughter in a fashionable suburb of Sheffield. Unfortunately her mental condition had given cause for much anxiety during the past two years. With advancing age her intellect became enfeebled, and this ended in violent insanity. She was taken ill about two years ago, and during the whole time has been most devotedly attended by her unmarried daughter Madeline, who, like two of .her sisters, is a trained nurse. Mrs AspinaliPs condition grew so serious, however, that her removal to the asylum was considered imperative, and on Thursday . (June 22) she was medically certified as insane. In the ordinary v. way she would! have been taken to the asylum on Saturday. On that morning, however, when Mis Turnbull, her married daughter, went into the bedroom where her mother and sister slept, she found them both apparently unconscious, and examination showed that they were suffering from the effects of laudanum poisoning. Medical men were called in, and the doctors soon found that the old lady f s condition was much more serious of the two. Madeline had taken so large a quantity of the poison that it had nullified its own action by making her violently sick. * Mi's Aspinall, however, remained in a comatose condition, and died on Monday morning. Madeline had nursed her mother throughout her long illness with much solicitude, and it is believed the fact that they were to be >• separated preyed on her mind, and led her to take poison. On her recovery she was taken into custody on the charge of attempted suicide. At the Police Court she appeared in a state of great agitation, and apparently lost control over her'feelings. Superintendent Moody stated that on Saturday she was discovered suffering from laudanum poisoning, and it was found she had also administered a large quantity of poison to her mother, who had since died. - The Public Prosecutor, has been communicated with. Miss Aspinall hysterically protested against a remand, but the case was adjourned. INDIAN FINANCE. In the House of Commons recently Mr Brodrick made his annual statement on the Indian finances. His story, he said, was one of progress. The figures far exceeded the estimates, the surplus being £3,485,500, notwithstanding a number of drawbacks with which India had been'beset. The total trade last year was £174,748,000, as against £164,972,000 for 1903-4. Of this total, £77,100,000 consisted of trade with the United Kingdom, showing a great increase on the previous returns. The exports from India to the United Kingdom had grown to £40,000,000, which was equal to the whole of the exports to this country from Australia, Canada, and Cape Colony combined. RIOTING RUSSIA. The Moscow journal “Velchernaia Pachta” reports that terrible events took place on the 16th ult. in the manufacturing town of Ivanovo-Voznesensk, where serious strike disturbances prevail. A vast crowd of working men were bolding a meeting in the Falka suburb, when a detachment of Cossacks arrived on the scene, and, without calling on the men to disperse, charged the strikers and scattered them, striking the men with their nagaikas. Many strikers were taken off to the local police station, while others, including many women, fled towards the forest, where the Cossacks organised a regular battue, seeking out the fugitives, and ruthlessly killing even solitary and unarmed persons. The pursuit was carried as far as the railway embankment. Great indignation prevailed among the populace, and resulted in the burning on the same day of the Gandourine Spinning Mills in the Yamy suburb. A crowd of working men, including many who had previously been wounded by

the Cossacks, prevented the firemen from playing on the fire. On all sides were heard imprecations against the manufacturers and the troops. An officer who arrived was received with a volley of stones. Soon after a party of Cossacks summoned by the police appeared, and a terrible fight ensued. The soldiers made brutal use of their nagaikas, while the workmen hurled paving stones and logs of wood. Many were seriously injured. The Cossacks forced their way into the houses in which some of the fugitives had hidden themselves, dragged them, out, andi struck them savagely in the face, causing permanent disfigurement. Twenty-eight persons were killed at Falka and in the forest, and hundreds were wounded. AMERICAN SHIP CANAL SCHEME. A committee of Congressmen, who have just concluded a tour of investigation, will shortly report on the advisability of adopting a suggestion to contribute 25,000,000 dollars on building a ©hip canal between Chicago and St Louis. A decision favourable to the scheme would give Chicago direct connection by water with the Panama Canal, Cuba, and the West Indies. Next to the Panama Canal itself the proposed waterway will be the most costly work of the kind in the Western Hemisphere. Chicago alone has already expended more than 50,000,000 dollars in making a canal that can be used by steamboats between the Great Lakes and Desplaines River. A WIFE’S DOOM. "An amazing story cf a woman who was imprisoned in her own house was told at South Shields, when Charles Holt, a second mate, and Eliza Lewthwaite were charged with assaulting the former’s wife. Mrs Holt, who looked weak and emaciated, said that five years ago her husband brought into the house the defendant Lewthwaite, and lived with her as man and wife. They continued so to live until a week ago, and during that time she had been subjected to all sorts of ill-treatment. About a month ago the defendant, accompanied by the woman Lewthwaite, came through to South Shields, and took an empty house. There Mrs. Holt was locked up in a room, and was never allowed to leave it. Whenever the defendants went out, if only for a minute, the door was looked against her. Her relatives were never able to see her, and she had always slept on the bare floor. The woman Lewthwaite had, she said, threatened to scald her, and had beaten her for attempting to escape. A week last Monday, however, Mrs Holt got away, and took refuge in an empty house until dark, when, a neighbour took her to the police station. A Dr Philips now said that her mental condition was very bad, and she was practically an imbecile. The woman was fined 10s, and a summons was issued against Holt for persistent cruelty. DOCTOR’S NOVEL BILL. “To sitting up all night; with kicks and blows —£3 35.” Tins novel item in a doctor’s bill, which was called in question at the Mansfield County Court, led to the medical man relating a sensational story of his struggle with a mad patient for the possession of a loaded revolver. The defendant in the action was a publican named Short, and he was sued by Dr Sarachand for £4O for medical attendance. The' doctor related that Short met with an accident which brought about concussion of the brain and temporary insanity. One night he was so violent that no one would stay in the house. As all the servants had fled, the doctor went to the sick man’s bedroom-, and looked himself in with Short. The latter assaulted him, and then suddenly produced a loaded six-chambered revolver. Seeing the weapon, the doctor immediately grappled with the patient, seized him by the throat, knocked him down on the bed, and wrenched the revolver from him. The defence was that the charges were excessive, but judgment was given for the amount claimed. MAULED BY Ai LIONESS. Frank Appleby, the bandsman who was mauled by a lioness at the Southend Kusnal some days ago, died on Monday (June 19) morning of blood poisoning. Appleby approached the cage, and whilst stroking the animal it caught hold of his arm and endeavoured to draw him through the bars. Charles Bring, the trainer, immediately entered the cage and successfully beat off the lioness, hut the man s arm was badly lacerated, and he was removed to the hospital, where he died. * SHOCKING CRIME IN NOVA SCOTIA. A telegram from Halifax, Nova Scotia, says a shocking crime has just been reported from Plympton, a village situated in the western part of Nova Seo-

tia. Two little children, aged six years and eighteen months, have been discovered in the woods cruelly bound and gagged. The elder child when found was dead, but the other is expected to recover. The stepmother of the children is suspected. A MUCH-TRIED LO VE. A romantic story of a marriage in prison between a convict Prince and a pretty actress comes from Angers. It tells of a love which has withstood the storms of adversity and of its comparatively happy culmination. The bridegroom was Leon Laforge de Vitanaval, a real Papal Prince, Knight of the drown of Italy, Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great, and member of the Royal Italian College of Heralds, and the bride, Mile Louise Faure, described as a lyric actress. Prince Leon has yet two years to serve for the illicit sale of decorations. The Prince wore an antiquated frock-coat, and his best man was the prison barber., Other attendants were warders. Mile Faure was betrothed to Prince Leon when he was at the height of his grandeur, and refused' to desert him in his misfortune. WRECK OF AN AFRICAN STEAMER Complete news has just been received by mail of the total loss of the steamer Benguel'a and her cargo on the 18th ult. The Elder-Dempster mail steamer Sekondi was steaming along the Kroo coast when a surf boat, with a flag of distress hoisted, was observed. The Sekondi picked up the boat when the captain was handed a letter from Captain Robinson, of the Benguela, saying that his steamer was wrecked at Nauna Kroo, and that his crew and passengers were then on the beach. On the Sekondi proceeding to the place the Benguela was found to have broken in two-, and only a portion of the vessel’s bow was above water. Captain Robinson reported that asi he was entering -Nanna Kroo on the 16th she struck an uncharted rock. The inrush of water was so great that he had scarcely time to run her to the beach before she sank. There were Liberian passengers and labourers on board, besides the crew of 30 hands. All were saved, together with the few mails she had on board. All the cargo was lost, and was washing out of the steamer. SPORTS OF LIGHTNING. A curious freak of lightning is reported from the French town of Montrouge. While a number of persons were assembled in the office of the Commissary of Police, a fearful thunderstorm burst over the place. There was a loud crash, followed by a vivid streak of lightning. This ran along the floor of the room, up the legs of a table, and set fire to the wood and to some papers lying on the top.- None of the many persons in the room suffered any inconvenience. During a terrific thunderstorm, which broke over Peckforton Castle, Cheshire, on Monday, Henry Cooper,, an employee of Lord Tollemaohe, while assisting in the removal of electric light plant, was struck by lightning. He sprang from the ground three times, and fell unconscious. Lord Tollemache removed him to his home in a motor car, and he remains in a serious condition . Two men, standing in the bar of the Red Lion Hotel, Warkgate, Wales, on Sunday, were struck by lightning, but were unhurt, though the building itself was badly damaged. Two cows were killed near Bunbury. AN OLD LADY KILLED. A motor car, containing Mr and Mrs Harvey du Cros, of Howberry Park, Wallingford, Berks, and driven by Carl Smits, chauffeur, of St. Leonards-on-Sea, was proceeding from London to Hastings on June 21, when between Sevenoaks and Tonbridge a woman crossed the road in front of the car, and was knocked down. The occupants of the car remained with the woman, and took steps to inform the police at Sevenoaks, who removed her on the ambulance to the Cottage Hospital, where she died after admission. Deceased was about) 70 years of age, and has been, identified as Emily Brace, belonging to- Loaidon. A WORKHOUSE SCANDAL. The Irish Local Government Board are investigating a series of shocking allegations made by a Portadown insurance agent named McMullen, regarding the management of the Lurgan Workhouse. In September last Mi* McMullen’s 17months old child developed smallpox, and as a precautionary measure the whole family were removed to the Infectious Disease® Hospital. It is alleged that the jolting of the rickety old, evilsmelling ambulance caused the skin on the child’s face to break and hang in ribbons, that on admission it was left lying on a deal table for two hours, and died in consequence; that the dormitory they occupied was in an abominably filthy state; that the blankets on their beds bad previously been used by smallpox patients, being marked with filth; that his three boys were put in one bed with only two pillows, and that owing to the damp clothing and general

unwashed condition of the hospital hill wife had ever since been seriously ill. THE PRIEST AND THE TIGER. r The Rev Father Froger, Principal cf St. Joseph’s College. Bangalore, write® to the local papers describing an experience when cycling from Wellington to Octacamuud by the Kotagiri road —this being the road, it is understood, which comes into Octacamund from the Snowdon direction. According to the “Englishman’s” summary, the Rev Father, was riding quietly along when he saw; what looked like a big tiger sitting on a rock on the bare hillside above him. As be watched, the fact that it was a tiger became apparent, and, to Father Frogers’ horror, it suddenly bounded straight down the hillside and made for him. Fortunately, there was a. slight incline in his favour in the road, and he cycled for his life until the upward grade became too steep, and be had to get off. Apparently, the beast did not pursue after he had lost sight of the cyclist, but the unprovoked attack is in itself an unusual occurrence, especially with .Nilgiri tigers. - There seems little doubt that tigers are unusually numerous this year, and in the vicinity of Kotagiri bears and panthers are also said to be in unaccustomed numbers. A MURDERER’S SECRET. Two or three days ago there died in the nonastery of Tibueani an aged monk called Vasile Popovich. When the body was being prepared for burial it waa found that, the supposed monk was a woman. The “monk” had been 30 years in the monastery, and all this time had presetved the secret. Inquiries instituted by the authorities have confirmed the idea that she was the mission murdtess who 30 years ago, in Moldavia, murdered her husband and three sons. She entered the monastery as a man the very morning of the murder, which took place only a few hours’ journey off. A MYSTERIOUS CRIME. The Central News says that on Sunday night (June 18) the dead! body of an Albanian was discovered in a field at St Michaels, Tenderden, Kent, under circumstances which point to a terrible crime having been committed. It appears that two Albanian pedlars were seen in Tenderden on Saturday selling mats, and in the evening they went on to St Michaels, a village situated about a mile away. They eold out their mats, and then entered a publichouse, which they afterwards left in each other’s company. On Sunday night a working man was taking a -short cut across a field opposite St Michaels vicarage, where the grass stands high ready for cutting, when he was horrified to see the dead body of a man lying among the grass, with the throat cut and several knife wounds in the trunk. He immediately communicated with the polioe, and the body was removed to the village, where it was identified as that of Had jon Idders, an Albanian, of between 35 and 40 years of age. Four of his compatriots are in custody in connection with the affair. AMERICAN EXPRESS WRECKED. The Central Railways, Limited, express has been wrecked at Pains ville, Ohio, through running past the signals at a speed of 60 miles an hour. This train at some parts of the journey attains a speed of 75 miles an hour, and this was her fourth journey since the running time between New York and Chicago was reduced to* 18 hours. It seems that she struck an open switch at Montor, Ohio, and the tender was thrown completely over the locomotive, and the heavy sleeping-car buried in the wrecked station. The train was set on fire from the engine and partly consumed, many of the victims being incinerated. In all IS were killed, and 20 injured. The accident is attributed by the railway officials to malieiooa mischief.