GENERAL ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2253, 6 May 1897, Page 44

GENERAL ITEMS.

Vitriol seems to maintain its position as the preferred weapon of the jealous lover among the lower classes on the Continent, and Belgium has its share of so-called vitriol crimei. A young woman names! Maria De Wolf, only 2% years of age, has bsen living for the past three or four years with * young man whom ifc was generally believed would marry her shortly. A few months ago, however, he tired of her. On the l»t > Maroh, while he and Maria's rival were leaving the factory where they were both employed, Maria meb them and pleaded with her rival to restore to her her lover and the father of her child. Her pleading, however, only led to » quarrel, during which she threw the contents of a bottle of vitriol at her lover, Jean Sfcreulens. Contrary to her intentions, t the liquid also fell on nine bystanders. All were more or less severely burned, but the lover, and the rival were the most seriously injured. Maria was arrested.

Mrs Csstle, of San Francisco, who was recently convicted of a series of thefts committed in London, is recovering from the effects of the two operations performed on her afc the Polytechnic Hospital,, Philadelphia, when she returned from England. The doctors engaged in the cage " say that Mrs Castle when arrested, and for a long time before, suffered from kleptomania. 'Her mental disorder was brought about by a loDgneglected diaease, which has now been skilfully treated, and the operation will help to cure the mental malady.

The Marquis of Bute adopted a singular method of commemorating his silver wedding. At a ineetiug of the Cardiff Town Council % lettpr was read" from his Lordship cffaiiug to hand over to that body £1000, the yearly proceeds of which he desires to be given to some girl or girls whole marriage may be impeded by want of money. Lord Bate attaches two conditions to his offer — namely, that tho mayor for the time beiug in giving the dowry shall remind the bride and bridegroom of the origin ot the fund, aud thab he shall read to them the first 11 verses of the second chapter of the Gospel of St. John, descriptive of the marriage fe-isb at Cana of Galilee, where water was miraculously turned into wine. The offer was accepted by the council and referred to the Finance Committee. The New York correspondent of the Argus writes : — " At last Arthur Dueßfcrow, the ' millionaire murderer,' has beeu hanged. This young man inherited a very large fortune from bia father, » resident of St. Louis, and he seb out to spond it in riotcus living. Returning one afternoon from the house of his mistress, he wa3 met at the door of his home by bis wife, an excellent rvnd charming woman, and his little child. He had promised to take his wife out to drive, but when she pleasantly inquired if he was ready to go, almost, without a word of warning he shot her to death in the hallway. Then, grasping his little son, and holding him out at arm's length, he sent a bullef; through his brain. A(l that money could do was done to save this wretch from the gallows. I Pc feigned insanity," and eminent attornejs I were employed ia his defence. OwiDg to conI fcinuaaces, mis-trials, appeals, and the like, | three years elapsed before he paid the penalty } for his crimp. ' I was insane,' he said, a few hours before he was hanged, • but ifc did me no goofl. I hs.ve nothing lefb but hope for forgiveness.' It is unfortunate that just punishment! should have been delayed so long by the use of wealth, in a case where the crime was so shocking and the prisoner's guilt bo apparent." The pitiable spectacle of a well-dressed •woman who had been all her life connected with the administration of charity asking for aid for herself was afforded to the Wellington Benevolent Trustees at the last meeting. Taa woman stated that she had jusli come through. "a perfect siege of suffering." Her history (says the Post) was a remarkablo one. She had money, and suuk ifc in a house at Mildura. which she had to leave, as "it was not worth twopence." She had been connected with, charity organisations for maay years, bub had never had to ask for charity before. j With many tears she told how ehe had been for years in charge of a Female Refuge in another New Zealand city, and a similar institution in Wellington. She came over here to see her married daughter, but found that her daughter "had been born without a heart," and the mother had acfcualftr to sue her for maintenance. Ao order was naado for the daughter, who is well off, to pay 7a 6d a week towards the support of her mother ; bub nothing was paid, aud the poor woman was reduced to poverty. Another daughter waa married to a "shambling, useless creature, and that kind of man did not much want his mother-in-law." He made things so unpleasant that she had to leave that daughter's roof. She was cow reduced to living in a boarding-house, in surroundings which she shrank from describing. She was eager to get some work. The trustees granted relief and instructed her to take steps to compel her daughter to support her.