HOME AND FOREIGN

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 5288, 28 May 1904, Page 9

HOME AND FOREIGN

A LONG-LOST NECKLACE. The Marie Antoinette necklace, belonging to Princess Alice de Bourbon, which recently disappeared has been found in a Paris pawnshop, and a Belgian engineer. Despar, who had obtained possession of it on alleged false pretences, has been arrested. The necklace has an intrinsic value of J&400, and the engineer had received an advance of J 21300 on it, and in a few days had spent half of that sum in London. THE BOGUS WAKE IN DUBLIN. An amusing case was heard in the Dublin Police Court, when a middle-aged woman, named Mary O’Neill, of 35 Look Street, was charged with having obtained the sum of £8 by means of false pretences from the British Legal Life Assurance ftnd Loau Company. Mr James Brady, for the company, said % woman named Bridget Connell was insured in the company on May 6, 18D5, for £B, payable at death. On March 16th O’Neill put Mrs Connel in bed and placed lighted candles at her head and teet, preliminary to '‘waking’" her. She told the “corpse" that if anybody cam© into the room while she was absent she was not to say a word, to keep her eyes shut. (Laughter.) Thou O’Neill proceeded to Dr Newell and made a declaration that Mrs Connell, his patient. was dead. She obtained a death certificate, and armed with this document she called on tho manager of the insurance company and received £B, the amount of the policy. The “corpse'" eventually revived, and she went to the insurance company’s office, where she said to the manager, “I am Bridget Connell. I am not dead at all. Why did you pay the amount of my policy?” (Laughter.) Bridget Connell said she paid the premiums on tho policy. Mr Brady—Do you remember being laid out ? Witness—Yes. I had been in bed ill for a good many months past. « And candles were Jit?—l remember one candle being lit by Mary O’Neill, who is my niece. She told mo she was “{Timlin"’ in every bone in her body. She expected the bailiffs, and went out leaving me in bed. And did you pretend to bo dead ? (Laughter.)—No. I did not. What happened ?—She told me not to be frightened, that she was going out to get money, and that I was not' to be annoyed. (daughter.) And if anybody came in you were to keep your eyes shut?—Yes. (Laughter.) Did thev put a shroud around you?— No. You did all you were asked to do?— Yes; but nobody came in. In the evening I was told by a little girl that Mary O’Neill whs in a cab driving about High Street in company with some other people. (Laughter.) Having a high time of it?—Yes, with a ‘soldier £ud a coal-porter. (Laughter.) And then you revived?—Yes. (Laughter.) You didn’t get any of the money?—No; not a penny. There was a real live wake and a real live corpse and there was plenty of porter?—Yes; they got in porter, and they got in another candle and put it in a bottle. They were all dancing and “lepping” about the boards. (Laughter.) Did you get any of the porter?—Yes, I got a sup. (Laughter.) The Accused—When we went to wash and lay her out she came to life and we all rushed out, (Loud laughter.) Mr Brady—Tim Finigan’a wake was not in it with* this one. (Laughter.) A remand was granted. “BUFFALO BILL’S" DIVORCE. Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) has given evidence at Denver, Colorado, respecting hie application for divorce, the “Telegraph” reports. '‘Mrs Cody tried to poison me three years ago,” he testified. “She frequently threatened me, and it ; s no fault of hers that she did not succeed. “We were visiting during the holidays in 1900, and the day after Christmas I was taken HI. I supposed that the turkey and plum-pudding did not agree with me. Anyhow, I was sick. “She said she could fix - me up. She pretended to give me medicine, but it was poison, and it almost finished me. I was unconscious for sometime. I think it must have been an overdose; it made me vomit, and I suppose this saved my life. “She drove my friends away. I could not subject guests at my house to insults at the hands of my wife. I have not been home for two years on this account. ' “ When my friends were no longer welcome in the handsome residence I had built and elaborately furnished, it was no longer my home.” Mrs Cody’s counsel inquired as to the character of the guests to whom she objected, to show that thq men he brought home behaved, riotously. murder as a business. It may look like a startling statement, but even tho terrible crime of murder is occasionally committed in our midst as a business, with business ability and business calculation. It is planned for profit. and every precaution is taken to pre* vent it resulting in loss—to the murderer. There are some forms of crime which, carried on as a business, always involve the risk of bloodshed. They may be accomplished without a sacrifice of life, but it sometimes happens that a human life stands in the way of a successful issue. The class of criminal I have in my mind is always prepared for the emergency. He carries a death-dealing weapon, and uses it. It has been my privilege—l write the word from the journalistic point of view —to pass a considerable amount of time in criminal areas, mixing freely with the inhabitants, and on several occasions 1 have been, brought* into close contact with men who have coolly and deliberately murdered for the purpose of getting a little money. I have before me, as I write, two letters written from jail by a professional criminal who murdered a young married conple and their child in order to get a few pounds, cut them up, and buried them in a garden.. Being disappointed at the pecuniary result, he planned another murder, ana endeavoured to commit it a night or two afterwards, Everyone who saw this man when he was tried at the Old Bailey put him down*as a vulgar miscreant devoid of all human feeling. But the letters before me are well written, and there is not a trace of temper or insanity in them. — George R. Sims, in “London Opinion.” THE POPE IN PERIL. The Rome correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle,” says: —For two days past the Palaces and gardens of 'he Vatican have been closely guarded by a large force of Italian soldiery and police, specially drafted in for the purpose. 1 have tried to penetrate the mystery, and whilst £ . have not succeeded in obtaining more detailed information, I am assured to-night by a Vatican ecclesiastic of position that this untoward activity is due to the discovery of a plot against the Pope’s life. A “HEAD” SCARE IN CALCUTTA. Mr David McLaren Morrison sends to the “Englishman” a copy of a Bengal pamphlet which is being distributed throughout Calcutta, the translation of which is as follows; —“Strange rumour—--108 heads will be cut down if found after nine o’clock at night, r The devils will undertake to cut heads. Rumour of head-cutting is a very serious thing. In Howrah this rumour is prevalent. Nearly all the workmen of nulls and factories, with the exception of a few educated ones, give currency to the rumour that if anybody is found in the streets after nine o’clock at night he will be carried away and his head cut off. Some rumour 101 heads are required (others saj, 1001) for the construction, of a rail-

way bridge at Cliaudraari. near Howrah, The priest of the locality, while asleep one night, was told bv a goddess that unless 1001 heads are cut and placed underneath the bridge, it will not be successfully constructed. The goddess further directed him that ho should undertake the cutting of the heads privately. Hindoos being superstitious believed what the priest narrated, and did not obstruct tho performance of tho evil act by the priest. The rumour has gained such a currency in the rural quarters of tho Howrah ‘district, especially among tho women, that they carefully close all doors and windows of houses as if they are afraid of the Burgees (Maharntt* people) of the olden days, who used to come and destroy tho chastity of women.” Tho result of this attempt to work on - the superstitious of the lower classes of natives and to stir up in them a dread and hatred of Europeans is, says Mr Morrison, most unfortunate at the present time. Tho first result of the scare is tho migration of a large nun.dx?r of natives employed in mills on tho Howrah side of the ilngbli back to their villages, when they will spread the belief in the necessary sacrifice by the English of the stipulated number of native lives. Tho whole idea receives a certain confirmation in the native mind, as they know by legend that in ancient times tho river Ganges always had to be propitiated by human sacrifice when her banks were wedded by a bridge much in the same way ns the widow committed suttee ou the death of her husband. It is a matter for regret that tho educated Bengali does not take steps to convince his brother of the utter folly and groundlessness of tho panic of fear under which ho lies at present. It shows his education has failed in one great respect, viz., in creating the desire to remove groundless fear and cn- , lighten the ignorant. A FRENCH MURDER. For killing a girl becanse she would not marry, him a young man has just been condemned at the Tours Assizes to 20 years’ hard labour. One evening last November a farmer, driving his cart on a road near Amboiso, passed the couple, and heard tho girl say tp the man, who was standing with a bicycle by his side, “No, no, I tell you, it will always be no.” A few minutes later three shots wore heard, after which the man on his bicycle passed the farmer, riding at u furious rate. The dead body of tne girl, who had been shot three times in tho forehead; was afterwords picked up. The man, when arrested, said that the deceased had been his mistress, -but the inquiry showed this statement to bo untrue. She had been persecuted by his attentions, but had always refused them, and was, in fact, engaged to marry a soldier, .who was about to complete his term of service. The rejected lover hal often told the girl that if she wore not his she would never belong to another. ALLEGED MURDER 3Y POISONING. A groat sensation has 1 been caused in Westmoreland by the arrest of Thomas Metcalfe (28), and Elizabeth Nicholson (41), unmarried, who are charged on suspicion with* murdering an old man named James Gilpin, and they were remanded pending an analysis of the stomach and intestines of the deceased. . The chief-constable informed tho magistrates that Nicholson, when quite a young woman, went to live as housekeeper with James Gilpin, .who was 40 years her senior. He was the owner of a small farmtofc Kentmere, several miles north of Kenoah Nicholson cohabited with him, and hpd several illegitimate children. Four years ago Gilpin .retired, and the parties I went to live at Kendal, and 10 weeks ago Metcalfe, who is a discharged soldier, (took up his residence with them. Nicholson purchased some arsenic, saying she (‘wanted it for killing rats. On the following morning the deceased, who had been ill, was found dead in bed. Nicholson says she mixed the arsenic with fat and placed some of it on a chair by Gilpin’s bed, intending to use it in his room; and he, thinking it was cheese, ate some while she was out of )the room. HOW COINS ARE COUNTERFEITED. At Westminster Police Court recently Ralph Appleton, formerly in business as dairyman at Cranmer Road, Brixton, and” Frederick Broker, otherwise Bassett, described as an engineer, were again charged with various felonies under the i Coinage Act. -The police produced in Court a large ’assortment of alleged coining appliances stated to have been seazed at a email shop in Tyer Street, Vauxiiall, where accused were arrested. . Mr Sims, for - the Treasury, said the prisoners undoubtedly carried on a mostextensive business at Tyer Street. The books and memoranda seized showed that, calculations aifd data were prepared lor “sweating” 500 sovereigns a day. It.would also be proved that prisoners manufactured silver coins by welding a Gorman silver face on copper discs. They were made of the right weight and ring and were mad© at a cost of about 3d a'piece. Altogether prisoners had carried on a most lucrative business, and, tho prosecution alleged, were contemplating more extended operations. Mr bims said rather more than a shilling was sweated off each sovereign. ■ - Evidence was given by ft member of a firm of manufacturing jewellers, who said Brooker, mentioning the name of a customer.as an introduction, submitted a lump of gold weighing 270 z., representing to have come from plater s t waste and old gold, and witness, believing Brooker to be a respectable dealer, purchased it for .£IOO. Altogether, witness a . firm paid prisoners over J&4O0 in gold. Prisoners were remanded, v BIG BLAZE IN NEW YORK. A disastrous fire broke out at noon o® Sunday in Broadway, New York, and the huge Slocks containing the offices of the Adams American and Morris : Express Companies were entirely gutted. There wore fully 150 persons in the building at the time, and so rapid was the spread of the flames that all means of egress by the stairs was cut on. Twenty persons were rescued by ropes before the arrival of the fire brigade, and all the others in the building were got out with the assistance of the fire ladTlie blocks comprised some of the most important in the financial quarters, and here were situated the chief offices of tho Pinkerton Detective Agency. Many of the Detective Agency's records have been destroyed. The conflagration attracted thousands k of spectators. Owing to the valuable nature of tho property in the neighbourhood,-all the city stations were called upon by a signal technically known as a “two nines. la a very short time 32 engines, 10 trucks, and two water-towers were on the scene. The crowd attracted to the spot numbered 50.000. • The American Express Company s portion of the block was undamaged, but the rest was gutted. The damage, however, is not expected to exceed -£50,000. It is pointed out that tho fire had really a beneficial effect. The burned buildr ing was very old, and the unencumbered site will now fetch more than if tlx® building was standing. “BCBUF GRAS IN PARTS,” The organising committee of the Gras” procession had spared no pains tu make Sunday’s festival a succe-s, and their efforts were well seconded by the weather, which was really springlike The procession formed soon after no«a In La Vißette market-place, and consisted of cars the lottery, gluttony, commerce. labour, industry, science, repopulation, a lion hunt, spnag, national airs and music, with ovei £<!>(> cavaliers and 1500 costumed men and wc. men, the centre figure being the marMScent fat ox ‘'Vercingetorix.” It marched in stately fashion through streets crowded with gay throngs. When the cavalcade dispersed it vas almost dark, and then a splendid torohlight procession took place, followed by <opon-air dancing. The shopkeepers took greater interest than usual in the traditional event, decorating the fronts of their places of' business with myriads of flags.