Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 2578, 12 August 1903, Page 21

BUDA-PESTH, August 4. Count Hedervary (the Premier) assured the Commission of Inquiry that he was absolutely ignorant of any knowledge of any bribery until Count Szapary confessed. BELGRADE, August 6. Kino- Alexander and Queen Draga left 700,090 francs (£28,000). The Government pay all debts, amounting to £16,000, and hand the balance to the heirs. " CONSTANTINOPLE, August 7. In consequence of the serious representations of the British Ambassador at Constantinople regarding the position of affairs in Armenia, the Porte holds the Valis personally responsible for Kurdish excesses. The Vali of Erzeroum informed the Russian Embassy that 600 armed Huitchakists from Russian territory compelled the Armenian villagers in- the Sasum district to take refuge in (the mountains. WASHINGTON, August 4. .Pre&ident Roosevelt, when out driving, ■was grossly insulted by a cyclist. The President, white with anger, jumped from his carriage and doubled his fists, with the intention of thrashing the offender, but, reconsidering his position, ordered some of the Secret Service men to arrest the cyclist, who, on learning President Roosevelt's identity, desired to apologise, but was not allowed to do so. Five hundred armed police are pursuing the Folsom convicts, who have killed two other members of the military, making six in all. "Calamity Jane," General Custer's famous American woman scout, the original of Bret Harte's " Cherokee Sal " in "The Luck of Roaring Camp," is .dead. August 7. The American Legation at Peking asserts that Shenchien, the reformer, was beaten by rods for four, hours and then strangled . NEW YORK, August 3. Persistent experiments with X rays have injured Mr Edison's sight. His eyes are out of focus. An assistant's arm also became paralysed from the same cause, and had to be amputated. August 4. The American Beef Trust has raised the price of meat throughout the United States one cent (£d) per pound. The Philadelphia Ledger announces the acceptance "of Mr C. O. Schwab's resignation of the presidency of the great Steel Trust, owing to broken health and shattered fortune. Mr Correy, assistant president, succeeds him. August 5. Mr Schwab's resignation of the presidency of the Steel Trust originated in Mr Pierpont Morgan's displeasure at his gambling at Monte Carlo last year. Mr Schwab declares that he is still the largest shareholder in the Steel Trust. August 6.

The pier at Shrewsbury Inlet, New Jersey, collapsed, and precipitated Wringe and Bevis, captains of the yacht Shamrock 111, and others into the water. A high sea was running at the time. Wringe was held up by two companions, being unable to swim. Bevis swam ashore with a third. All were saved.

One thousand persons participated in the lynching of a white farmer at Asotin, in the State of Washington (West Coast), for assaulting and murdering a white girl. His body was left hanging to an electric light pole in the public street. August 7. A collision occurred on the Grand Trunk' railway at Durand (Wisconsin). Wallace Brothers' circus was on the train, which was wrecked. Nineteen persons were killed and thirty injured.

August 8.

The American press considers the [British Government has much the best of the Atlantic shipping agreement. August 10.

During a baseball match at Philadelphia au elevated Blank-walk, crowded

with spectators, collapsed. Four wero killed and 150 injured, 12 fatally. SAN FRANCISCO, August 6. News has been received that rich gold has been struck on the Pelly River, Klondyke. OTTAWA, August 4. Sir W. Laurier's speech in reference to the Transcontinental railway provoked , no hostile comments in the United States. August 7. A congress of the Imperial Chambers of Commerce will be held in Montreal on the 17th August. Five hundred delegates will attend, representing 170 associations, including 76 in the United. Kingdom, 61 in British North, America, and the remainder in India, China, South Africa, East Africa, West Indies, Egypt, and Australasia. CAPETOWN, August 5. Mr Baderwalt, formerly a member of the Cape Legislative Assembly, has been committed for trial, charged with treason at Colesberg. August 7. Professor Parkin, who was entrusted wifli the task of preparing a scheme for awarding the Rhodes scholarships, interviewed fa'ere, stated that as the result of consultations he had had in Canada, the United States, and South Africa he had formed a strong opinion that Rhodes scholars ought not to go to Oxford too early, but as mature graduates, able to add the Oxford culture to the training they received in their own countries. BOMBAY, August 3. The Indian Government is discussing a bill authorising the retention of countervailing duties on sugar until March 31 next, and reserving discretion to maintain or reimpose differential duties against countries restoring the bounties. PEKING, August 5. The floods in Chifu did much damage. Many houses were swept away, as well as bridges. Seven hundred persons were drowned, and 2000 are starving. August 6. There are 2000 Chinese students in various educational institutions in Tokio, Japan. The Dowager, fearing they would imbibe revolutionary ideas, sent a Chinese superintendent of education to control them. August 8. Five members of the Reform party, including a brother of the Viceroy of Wuchang, v have been arrested at Peking. August 10. A great explosion of gunpowder at Kiansui, North China, was heard 70 miles away. No one was killed. SEOUL, August 7. Korea has granted Russia a 99 years' lease of 200 acres of land in Yongampho.