Can Imagination Kill ?

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 183, 18 December 1886, Page 13

Can Imagination Kill ?

Ix discussing the death of a young woman at Hackney, England, under circumstances is which a certain insect powder largelyfigured, the London " Lancet " says :— " As the powder appearß by Dr. Tidy's experiment to be perfectly harmle-s, the suggestion is not unnaturally made that the deceased, who was poeeibly of a hysterical, highly-imaginative turn of mind, took the powder in the full belief thftt by ite tneana her death might be accomplished. The writer of the article in our contemporary, we think, wrongly brings forward two remarkable instance* of whit may be re garded as practical jokes wif-h toelanchoK terminations. In the ea?e of the eon Wei delivered up to the scientist, for the purpose of a psychological expetimanfc (the man was strapped to a table and blindfoldod, ostensibly (o be bled to denth ; a siphon containing water wap placed near his head, and the fink? was allowed 1o trickle audibly into a vepsol below ib, at, t])e Paine time that .a trifling scratch with a neodlo was 'inflicted on the culprit's neck ; it is said that death occurred in six minute*) fear must have played no inconsiderable ohara in the fatal result, and we do not know whether all the vital organs wore in a sound condition, though they were presumably 30. The old, story of tho ca?e of a college' porter is also one in point. The shidents entrapped him into a, roora at night, a mock inquiry wes held, and the punishment of death by 'decapitation was decroed for h.13 want of consideration to tho students. It is smaU wonder^ that, under the dominion of fear, and beliet in the eavnestneea of his tormentors, the sign of an axe and block, with subsequent blindfolding and necessary genuflextion, a smart rap with a wet towel on the back of his neck should have been followed by tho picking up of a corpse."

At the theatre.-— She— Oh, dear ! I wish the curtain would ring up. He —Why t Are you so interested in the play ? She — Oh, no ; but then the orchestra would Btop playing. A New I'ork physician says "It is dan! geroua to go into the water after a hea*ty meal." And we presume if he did go ia after one he wouldn't find it,

A REPORTER'S LAST DESPATCH

"Faithful Unto Doatli."

The following story of an American roporter'a last despatch is taken from the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It says:- "It U not many years ago that Tony E ,tho •attache of a Central lowa papov uov. defunct, rodo out from a Southern lowa city one fine morning perched daringly on the brake of a flat car that was attached to a * wild freight ' and loaded with iron rails. He had been in newspaper work for about -six years, and was thorouhly capable. To make the story short, forty miles out from its starting point tho ' wild freight,' •with a leap of madness and a terrible crash went through a bridge, down sixty feet, and Tony sitting on the brake beam. It wag over in aa instant. When the oonduotoi of the train (the only one uninjured) crawled oat of the wreck his oyes fell first on Tony, lying across the side of a dismantled box -ear — on his chest a heavy rail, his legs <yruahed— and dying. Beyond him lay a dead brakesman ; the engineer was buried under his machine, and by a large boulder -was the fireman with a broken back. Tony *was conßciouß, and when the conductor Teached him he asked for paper and pencil. They were found in hia pockets. Unable •to write himself, he dictated this, angrily ordering the men who had come up to lot him alone : — ' C — E — , Managing Editor "Star,"— lowa:— Train through bridge at — . Was on board and am hurt. Will send full particulars at once. — T.B. ' A farmer waa aecured, who carried it to the nearest station. Then this boy, true to Mb duty and not flinching before death, suffering frightful agony, and while willing hands sought in vain to release him from his position, dictated a ' special ' 1,500 words to his paper, What he authored no one can ever know, It was with difficulty that he could breathe, and every gasp cost him a wrench of agony; But he held death back down to the laßt few lines. *The killed wore ,' and so od, ending with the name of 'Tiny B , reporter.' As ho ended that his eyea filled with tears, cind he looked up wistfully to the conductor, who had written the telegram for him, and who himself could not keep his tears back. * Tell my mother,' said Tony, ' that I did my duty ; and boys, rush that over the wires for me.' It's a ' scoop ;' 3t went over the wires all right, and it was a * aeoop ■' but before it wa9 printed Tony ■was dead."

PLOT TO BURN VIEKSA.

Anarchist Conspiracy.

A vast Anarchist plot, almost unpro cedented in revolutionary annale, hag just been frustrated by the vigilance of the Vienna police. The facts revealed in the official report testify that part of the city has narrowly escaptd destruction. It is uncertain whether the whole of the diabolical conspiracy has been di*clcscd, but the particulars that have been allowed to see the light prove that the skill and dia cretion of the police have saved^Vienna from A terrible catastrophe, exceeding everything of the kind hitherto attempted in' view of terrorising civilized society. Since the 'trial of Stellmacher and Kammerer little had been heard of the Anarchists. Many of them had left Vienna for the United States, but a certain number had latterly returned, and according to the official account, it i 3 they who organised the'plot recently de-

tected. So far as tho authorities have thought proper to make known the designs of the conspirators, it wad intended simultaneously to set fire to the western quarter of Vienna, where tho working c!a a ee3 reside. They had divided themselves into four groups. One of thsin was to begin operations in the suburb of Penzing, in the neighbourhood of tho Imperial residence of Schoenbrunn ; another v. as entrusted -filth the district of Roszau, and had actually placed incendiary apparatu3 in a large timber-yard, where they were fortunately discovered in time ; a third group was already at work at Meidling and Hettendorf In a timber store, but there, too, the incendiary stuff was removed before it had taken effect; and the fourth group was engaged in carrying out its sinister purpose in the suburb of Favoriten, when appears to have been given that caused the conspirators to decamp. The incendiary material used consists principally of an ingeniously contrived c-quara Ijottle containing about two litres or inflammable liquid connected through a gia=s tube with a fuse which burna several minutes before setting fire. to the liquid itself. Tho latter on igniting produces a large flame that keeps alight some Irtti9 time. If properly manipulated this contrivance, which has been the object of numerous experiments, cannot possibly fail. The conspirators were initiated in the preparation of the neceeaary ingredients at a small wineshop in Penzing, where a private room wa- set apart for them. About twenty of them used to meet there on the plea of studying chemistry, but the police ascertained that the real object was to learn how to make explosive I*.1 *. The authorities obtained timely infornrm'ion of ■what was on foot, but were bent on securing full evidence and a complete list or tftotc Implicated. They therefore allowed things to go on until tho conspirator?, bavinc: terminated their preparations/the plot tva? on the very eve of execution. Sc^arteen

atrests havo been effected.

The investigations and domiciliary ■searches made have led to aoroa start.i".cj diecoverio3. Two hand-sheila filled v»kh dyDamit© were found at ttie lodging" cf a weaver's apprentice. They were the ai.:e of a large orange, and were provided with aixteen nipples, any one of which, on leceiving the slightest shock, would cau?e ihe shell to explode. They were concealed in the wall, and it required the utmost caution to remove them without accident. A quantity of tooee dynamite and chloroform was found in the same room. Four incendiary bottles, such as described above, were seized in the apartment of a mechanic. In another instance the police laid hands on a number of forged "permits" authorising the bearer to proceed with a domiciliary search. The signature of the Prefect of Police and the atamp of the Prefecture wore imitated to perfection. These papers were used for extorting money. Thus last August a party of Anarchists, disguised as police officials called on a lady residing at Schocnbrunn, and, exhibiting one of these " permits," ■searched the apartmnet on the pretext of looking for forged bank notes. The lady handed them 470 florins, but hec-daughter, suspecting something wrong, gavothe alarm, •whereupon the intruders hastily withdrew. TThe money was to have been employed for * dynamite laboratory ; but this was net the only illicit means resorted to by the conspirators for raising funds. Four of the men in custody had made complete preparations for fabricating false coin. They intended to Issue Austrian silver florins. 2,500 grammes of silver had been sold to a local bank Iff order to raise money for the purchase of some material that was still -"^ranting before the coining could begin.

BRIG4NDS IN CHINA

Forty-seven Shopmen Beheaded.

The "Courier del Extreme Orient " gives the following account of an act of brigar duq;e counnittod in the town of Hu-Chang, in the province of Kiang Si : 3?ivo mon weaving the uniform of the Chinese Army, probably discharged soldiers, cama to one of the principal pawnshops of Hu Chnng, situated in one of the suburbs. They offered their uniforms in pledge, but the clerk refused to accept them, saying they were the property of the State. While the diecuesion was going on five other soldiers entered, and then came twonty-soven more, whoroupon the whole band closed tho doors and barricaded them, producing their avins atad threatening to fchoot tho men in the shop if they offered any resistance. They gagged the shopmen and proceeded to pillage the establishment. Several paseere by, hearing a great noiso within, gave the alarm, and two or three companies of soldiers were despatched from tho nearcet station. The mandarin in command of the troops, not knowing tho strength of the brigands within, hesitated to attack the house, but merely surrounded it ; seeing which the leader of the brigands orderod his men to cut off the heads of the" shopmen and throw them out of the window one by one among the crowd collected in the street. JNot until one of the servants of the house, who had been to market, returned and counted the heads, numbering 47 in all, which had been thrown into the street, did the commander of the troops determine to attack the house, and when he did ao the brigands allowed themselves to be captured without offering the least resistance.

The Irish Dynauiitards in Paris.

Mr Malcolm Laing MrAsox, who s&ya he has associated for some titno with all the chief men of the dynamite party in Paris, givea some interesting details in the " Gentleman's Magazine." He saya Paris is, and has been fox nearly three years the headquarter.? of the Irish dynamiters in Europe. Those who belong to the conspiracy and are resident in that city are about 20 or 24 in number. In England we have an idea that those who plot and work

this secret warfare are mere vulgar loafors, most of whom make a living by their political scheming. Such is not the case. The Irish dynamiters in Paris are with very few exceptions, men of education, and they are all more or lees busy with their respective avocation 9or callings. Some of them are printer?, two or three are journalists who correspond for Ameiican papers, othera are mechanics or different traders, and a few have independent means of their own. But there ia not one of them who receives anything in the shape of ealary or pay of any kind from the dynamite funds. When any " work," as they call it, has to be done, the funds are forthcoming ; but only to such an extent aa will repay those concorned the expenee to which thoy are put. I have bean credibly iuformed that on tho occasion when the oxploeion at the Tower and at Westminister took place the outlay did not exceed £100. One of the most curious of the many extraordinary facts concerning the Irish dyna miters ia the manner in which they managed to taka explosive tnatoiial into England. But that they did co in spite of the most rigid rules concerning the examination of baggage ia cer 1 tain. The dynamite they use comes nearly always from America. It is landed at Havre — a fact which saya but little for the vigilance of the French Government towards England. From Havre it is taken to the ueigh bom-hood of Paris, where it is packed in different portable forms which makes its transport to England ©any enough. I have been shown a case of silk dresses — a plain largo deal box lined with tin, At first eight it would appear to anyone that this packing-case had nothing whatever peculiar about it. But a careful and very minute investigation would show that the lining was double, and tbat betwoen the two linings a very large amount of explosive matter might with safety bo stowed away. Hand-bags, hat-boxes trunks, portmanteaus, and other travelling gear, made with false bottoms, have been made and used for the same purposo ; and yet there has not been a eingle instance of dynamite being discovered in the baggage of any passenger from Franco to England. When the explosive material reaches London it is stowed away until required for use ; but where the place or places of stowage may be is one of those secrets which none save the initiated know. I have been fcold — and I don't think that my informant had any wish to exaggerate matters — that there wa3 in London not long ago enough dynamite to blow up more than half of the public buildings in tho Cit3' and West-end j | and yet we never hoar of discoveries of the i kind being made by the authorities. Those whohavenotrnixed with the Irish dynamiters are under tho impression that all who belong to the party know tho w.hon and the where of any future explosion. Thia is a mistake. The three dynamite chiefs, who live respectively in New York, London, and Paris, decide the place and time when action is to be taken ; and all details are left to the discretion of those employed in the work. Bat tho members of the conepiraey residing in Paris Invariably know, and made no pao ret of their knowledge, tbat an explosion would happen somowhere or other in «* day or two, and they were invariably ritjht WHh all details of any explosion they were fully acquainted very few houra aftor ihe everiC had taken place, and before pny account of the came had anpeared in the newspapeis. On such* occaE'ions their rejoicings at what had happened were so far from being concoaled thafc they made them as prominent as possible. One or two of the men concerned in tho affair found their way to Paris almost as soon as the news, and were feted accordingly by their fellow conspirators ; the latter invariably boasting that the English police had not laid hand? on any of them, and would never be able to do co. Every failure on the part of the authorities in London to find out the authors of one of these murderous outrages, and every attempt by the English detectives sent to Paris to get upon the right scent of the dynamiters in that city, was regarded by the conspirators as a victory of which they had good reason to be proud. The intense gratification they invariably expresaed after an explosion had taken place would hardly be believed save by those who heard them. Nothing have I heard, or read of, ever equalled the intense hatred which the dynamiters bear against England, and which they gave vent to on every possible occasion. To individual Englishmen theyare courteous and civil ; but towards the nation collectively, and more especially towards anyone connected with the Government, they show an implacable, revengeful, devilish abhorrence, such as has rarely been witnessed in the world. What makes thia all the more extraordinary is that on all other matters and on all .other subjects, the dynamiters are mostly sensible and well-informed, and can talk on general topics like ordinary men of the world. But as regards their own affaire,

they seem to have but one brief maxim, which is, that all England has auno, is doing, or ever will do regarding Ireland is dedicated by motives woree than fiendish, and that irom the Queen down to the humblest omployee in the service of fcho Crown, whether in their own land or in England, nothing but the moat infamous conduct hae ever been experienced or can over be expected.

Chase After a Would-Be Assassin.

The Rue Boissy d'Anglais, Paria, which is one of the most frequented streets leading to the Champi Elysees from the Rue dv Fau bourg St. Honore and the Boulevard Maleshorbes, was the other night the scene of an attempted assassination perpetrated under rather dramatic circumstances. At No. 14 of that street there is a tobacconist's shop, kept by a widow, Madame Koux, who was sitting at her counter alone at about eleven o'clock, when an individual whom she formerly knew by the name of Baron Didier, and who had always inspired her with fear, suddenly entered, and, stretching out his hand, said. " Why, tnadame, don't you remember me ?" Before Madame Roux, who is a woman of about 40, had time to rep y, the assassin slipped a long knife from up his sleeve and struck her peveral blows with it in the neck and chest. Madame Roux, though seriously wouded, screamed out lustily, '• Murder ! Murder !" and succeeded in reaching the door leading into the street. The porter ot a neighbouring house happened to be passing, and caught Madame Roux just as she left the shop and was falling exhausted on the pavement, At tho same moment the assailant also rushed out of the shop, he, too, crying " Murder ! Murder !" but he had been seen by M, Pages, a gentleman of independent meane, who ran after him crying " Thief !" The assassin was by this meant? captured, and taken to the policestation, where he declared he had been him* self attacked, and that the wounds on his hands and the blood en hig clothes came from his attempt to disarm his aggressor. This story was so contrary to all appearances and to the testimony of everyone that - the doci.or having declared the man's version impossible— he was taken under good escort to Madame Roux house where he was con- | fronted with his victim She recogniged him immediately, and, though very weak from the loss of blood, related what had happened. The man, whom she had known aa Baron Didier, and who is simply a gaolbird named Claude Demangeot, was forced to confess the truth, and has of course, been kept in custody. He had only the same morning been released from the Gaillon Prison, where he had undergone a term of 13 montha' impiieonment. The condition of the victim is very eeriou3. The wounds in the neck and chest are deep and long ; but the would-be assas&in struck his victim in the back as she was rushing out of her shop, and the wound then inflicted is far more serious than the others, for the assailant struck with euch mad rage that the Wade of bhe lonj? knife snapped, and was left sticking in the wound.

GOINO TO SEE THE POPE.

A Crank Who Climbed to a. Forbidden Place and Raised a Row Generally.

The police guarding the precincts of the Vatican (for the Pope's residence is protected outside by the King's carbineers and police, as well as in9ide by the Pontiffs own guards) had a fine fright a few nights ago. A civil guard named Sacchetti, who was on duty near the arch of the Sacriety in Piazza S. Pietro, thought he heard a dull knocking sound in the direction of the bell tower, and at once hastened to his barracks to give the alarm to the Marshal of the guard. A body of men wae quickly aroused and proceeded to verify Sacchetti's story, but to do this it was necessary to awaken the custodian of the bell tower While he guided the police to spot whence the noiae had proceeded, the Pontifical carbineers were awakened and warned to make a perquisition in the interior of the Vatican buildings while the city police performed the same duty on the outside. For a long time the search wag carried on in silence and without results, and Chief of the Police bes'an to think his man had been the subject of a delusion, when, having arrived at the balcony on the great front, and whence the benediction uped to be given, a shadowy form was described in the upper corridor. The police were quickly disposed in suuh a manner as absolutely to prevent the escape of this person, or phadow, and the Marshal advanced, requiring him to explain his presence there. The form gave it?elf a littla phake, as if waking from a dream, and replied, "I'm enjoying the fresh air." "In that case, you must come with

us. " Directly," replied thejmysterioua individual, whom they could as yet only Bee indistinctly "I am sorry I could not, see the Pope, but it does not matter I'll follow you." 11 Ah ! so you wanted to see the Pope ?" 41 1 should think so ; why else did I climb up here ?" " You climbed up?" repeated the guard

in aproniehment.

• ' Oh, yeg. I said to myself, f they won't lot me in at the door,' so I climbed up by the statute of Carlo Magno, broke the glasa of a, window, and holding firmly on by all tho projections, got in here." While this strange personage was talking a policeman had seen something shining iv a corner, which turned out to be a large

chisel. "Ah ? if you had not disturbed me it would have been finished by now," said the adventurous climber. " What?" "Why the hole."

And in a moment some of tho agents had actually found a hole in the wall leading from tho gallery in front of St. Poter'a into

the y atiean itsolf . "You don't seem to understand me," paid the importurablo prisoner. "I told you I came to see the Pope ; well, the Popo, ia a prisoner, lam free. The Pope will not break out to see me, so I break in to see him." " But what do you want to see him for ?" 1 ' Ah !" — with the greatest dignity —

" those are family affairs." You will have guessed ere now that the poor fellow (who turned out to be one Dominico Storti of Vicenza) was not in his right mind, and, indeed, anyone who knows the fa3cade of St. Peter's will have perceived at once that no man in his senses would have dreamed of confronting the terrible danger attending the attempt to climb up as he had done. So he was walked off to safe custody, and there was on end ot the great attempt to break into the Vatican.

Mamma — Henry, I've a Burprise for you, Papa— lndeed. Mamma— Yes ; baby has cut hte eye teeth. Papa— Graoiouß me 1 What a dreadful accident

THE GAUCONS DE CAFE.

That numerous and laborious corporation, I thegarcous de cafe, is clamouring for its rights — or, I should say, is developing ifce wrongs— by means of out-of-door meetings, and threatens a strike if the bureaux de placement and the proprietors of the cafes do not correct certain flagrant abuses which weigh heavily on too overworked waiter. There are about 45,089 of these waiters in the Paris cafes a3 distinguished from the restaurants. In all the fashionable establishments they are not paid wages, but pay for the privilege of serving, as they reap handsome harvests from the pourboires given by the customers. They have a long series of complaints, chief of which is that they are obliged to depoeit a certain sum on entering the Cafes, and that that sum is spirited away co that they never see it moro. Also, that they are fined and imposed on at every tuvn, aa well as forced to give a certain percentage of their pourboires to the proprietors ot the cafes. Every little while the Frenchman endeavours to emancipate himself from the pourboiro, but when he has got his revolution well under way iie is frightened at himself and relapses into his old servility to the eervinp men He is still the prey of the ourreuee at the theatre, who takes his cane i and coat only to pile them in his lap between the fourth and fifth acts, when he wishes to reflect upon tho play which he has seen, and to make him tar more uncomfortable than he would have been without them. Wherever he goes and whatever he does he has to bestow three, four or five sous on some understrapper j and the amount of I money which changes hands in this way is incredible. If the 45,000 garcons break windows and manifest dissatisfaction in the streets their cause will be lost. But they appear too wise to do this, and are now banding together against their employers, who will probably have to yield

A Cheap Scat:

THey Thouglvfc He Was Jolting,

Probably the cheapest county seat ever secured by a candidate was West Aberdeensbire (Scotland). A noted breeder of polled cattle, the late Mr McCornbio, of Tillyfour, had an ambition to be in Parliament, and said co. People thought he really did not mean it ; and when at market, or social gathering, Mr MoCombie put the question, ac he did usually, ' Weel, supposing I was to come oot, wad ye support me ?" there was always the ready response, u Of course

we would,"

"Weel, then," eaid "Tillies" (as he was named after his farm), " pit yer name doon here," and he pulled from his pocket a p6nny passbook well adorned with autographs. It was only currying the joke u little farther ; and . Tiliyfour'r' paeabook was farther enriched with electors' signa ture 3. One fine morning Aberdeenshire woke up to find itself divided into two ridings ; and a day later M- McOombie issued his address to the electors of the Western Division. Following the address was a requisition moat rvumerocis'y atid infiuentially signed, the gleanings of many markets, cattle shows and fairs — in fact, the contents of the penny passbook. I well remember the morning the namee were published (observed a correspondent). One Liberal remonstrated with Tillyfour. "Man, we thocht ye was only joking." 41 Weel," replied •' Tillies," quletiy

" ye were maybe joking ; but aw wisna." He was elected — his bill was £70 -and a sensible, useful member he madu ; though the Saxon understood little of the Doric which he used on the rare occasions he addressed the House. It was Mr McUombie who had frequent visits from her Majesty to see his famous Tillyfour herd of black polled cattle, the *• old humlies," with their sousy Bides, broad backs level as a table, sweet heads, and placid eye*, aud wearing coata sleek as West of England broadcloth.

When the Queen came, Mr McCoinbie had his cattle ranged en a eloping ground, fringed by trees ; and right well they looked against the background of green. Ho made himself quite at home with the Sovereign of these realms, who seemed to enjoy his homely and unaffected ways. " Wad her Maijesty step in, and tak' a cup of tea ?" ' « Her Maijesty " did ; and ' ' Tillyfour " kept chatting away to her about his " bit beasties " Tillyfour called on an elector ; the stern old Radical turned upon him '* But, man, ye're a Tory. I might vote for ye if ye were a Liberal ; but I canna vote for a Tory." " Weel, weel," Mr McCombie made answer, " yell no find me stubborn on chat point either."

The ftlarquis of 4/lanricnrde.

A g»od deal will be heard of the tVarquiß of Clanricarde within the next few weeks, and some particulars may be interesting, writes the London correspondent of the " Sheffield Independent.." He is the second son of the late Marquis of Clanricarde. Lord Dunkellin, the eldest son, had a political notoriety of a few weeks in 18(56, for it was he who moved the amendment and proved fatal to the Russell-Gladstone Reform Bill and Ministry. Lord Dunkellin was a viveur of the freest type, aud was forty yoars of age when he died. There are many curious stories told of his life, which the pen of Zola could best do justice to, but porharja Che story ef his deat/bbed is sufficiently characteriflttci He aeked Mh doctor how long he had to live, was toid a couple of houre, and thereupon ho requested hia valet to wind up the musical box, and it was while listening to the strains of melody that he went to his reet, His brother, up to the time, was known as Lord Canning His mother waa a sistor of Lord Canning, and he took tho title when he inheiited the property. The old Marquia of Clanricarde was mixed up in all sorts of scandal, and he had to be dismissed even by the easy-going Lord Palmeraton from the PostmasterGeneralship in consequence. Lord Cauning sat for a while as member for the county Galway, and during this period there is a vaguo tradition of his having paid his estate a visit. I(j was the only occasion within living memory when ho was seen in this country, or on hie 01,000 broad acrea, from which ho draws, nevertheless, the handsome income of thirty thousand sterling a year. He is an ex- Attache* at Turin, he is still a bachelor, lives in the Albany, onco mado famous as the residence of Macauley — and, if I mistake not, of Byron — and is only known to his tenants by demands for rent and eviction notices. There are two email towns on his property — Loughreaand Poitumna. On these he has consistently refused to speed a penny, with the result that they are both in an advanced state of decay, while pauperism has increased in them to an alarming degree, and when win ter comes bands of men parade the street, besiege the doors of the Bishop and tho clergy, clamouring for bread and work, and even in the west of Ireland there are no towns so desolate or so hopeless. The National .League has shown very good judgment in its selection of a test case.

We presume Cain's father-in-law was an Nod fellow, as he got his wife from the land of Nod,

Horrible Scene at an Execution.

Fur/L particulars have now been received of the double execution of the most painful character which took place in tho little town of St. Donis dv Sig, in Algeria, and, of which a telegraphic summary has already been published in this country. In December ladt Bix natives broke into the house of M. Bellier, a French baker, at St. Denis dv Sig, and murdered him and hia servant A grown up son wa? frightfully mutilated, but escaped with his life. The leaders of the gang, Milul Ben Lenvm and El Hadji Buazza were tried in July, and subsequently sentenced to death. The scene at the execution is th»*s described : At 4 a.m. the Piocurator, followed by an interpreter and tha prison officials, entered the cella in which tha condemned Arabs were asleep. El Hadji Buazza was first awakened, and tho death warrant was read out to him. He listened with perfect calmness, and eaid, "Innocent though I am, I bear no malice against my judges or the French, They have been deceived by Milud, who has borne false witness against me! I desire to eeo my father and my mother and the Cadi. Give m- water for my ablutions, and leave me by myself to pray." Here the prisoner lit a cigarette and ate aome meat with apparent reliah, after which he conversed with the Cadi. ' Milud Ben Lemna winced under tha sentence, and exclaimed, "I and Buazza are both crutfty Let the Cadi come to me. I will go : on t fasting." At half past fivs tbV prisoners were pinioned, their hair and beards were cropped cloee, and their under garments cut away around tho neck. "During half an hour while these preparations lasted, they both sang verses of the Koran. When they were escorted to the scaffold betweeu two rows of mounted police, Milud's wife burst into loud sobs, and tore her hair. It was she who informed against her husband. It was broad daylight when Buzza was beheoded amid the, applause of a ferocioua rabble, which, according to French ©ustom, had been allowed to see the execution. Then it was Milud's turn, but the knife waa jammed into the wooden framework, and only mutilated the wretched man's head. Thereupon tho executioner took out a handsaw and began to operate upon his neck, but to no purpose. To finish the ghastly work a razor had to be procured, The bodies were taken to the diescating room of the hospital.

CJoinat Moltbc at Home.

A representative of the " Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung " has visited the residence of Count; Moltke during a portion of the year, Castle CrGipau, in Silesia. As Moltke hag no children, his nephew, William Yon Moltke, aide-de-camp, will be the heir to this cattle and estate The cautle is a square building of one story, with a steep roof and wide enf ranee steps The saloon od the ground floor ie simply furnished, and contains a nuniDer of portraits of Moltke, of which the most notable is one by Lembach* the celebrated Berlin painter. At the foofc of the staircase leading to the upper floor are a couple of cannons taken at Mount Talorien and given to Moliko by the Emperor. There are enormous bronze piece^. with ornaments in relief, avd three Bourbon lilies surrounding the barrel. In the centre of tho hall are three bronze equestrian statutes, one of the Emperor, one of Frederick, the Great and the third of MoKke himself. This was a present to the Count by some officers on his sixtieth anniversary of his entrance into the Prussian array. His private apartments are very simple, the Count's bed-room only containing a lo\r field-bed and a table On one of the will is the family tree of the Moltkea. In ft glass frame *ue tho different citizenships (freedom of ciHes) conferred on ' the Count. That of Berlin is a fine parchment designed by Adolph Meuzel ; that of Dre&den is in letter** of gold on a silver plate ; that of Esren is simply engraved oa a steel plate. Other cases contain precious or rare arrne brought by the field marshal from his journey in the Eaet, A long* chieeled lance came from the Mahdi ; a rich sheath incrusted with diamonds from' the Sultan. There ia a gold sword given by American Germans after the war of IS7O-7JL On mauy of these arms is inscribed the General's device— "Erst wagen, ilann wagen." There is a palette portrait of Victor Emmanuel, with a flattering dedication, and a small marble bust of Napoleon 111. given by that Emperor to the Count during the exhibition ol ISG7. In the court of the castle is a colossal bust of Emperor William, and the outer gate is guarded by two enormous statueß of gladiators.

Can Imagination Kill ?

In- discussing the death of a young woman at Hackney, England, under circumstances i» which a certain insect powder largely figured, the London " Lancet " says :— " As the powder appears by Dr. Tidy's experiment to be perfectly barmle»s, the suggestion is not unnaturally made that the deceased, who was pospibly of a hysterical., hi^My-iTH&ghmtiye turn of mind, 'took the powder in the full belief that by its means her death might be accomplished. The writer of the article in our contemporary, we think, wrongly brings forward two remarkable instances of whit may be re garded as practical jokes wif-h teelanchol\ terminations. In the ease of the convict delivered up to the scientist, fer the> purpose of a psycho] ogicivl expeunaent (the man was strapped to a table and blindfoldod, ostensibly to be bled to death ; a siphon containing water was placed near his head, and the fluic? was allowed to trickle audibly into a vessel below ib, at the same time that a trifling scratch with a needle wad 'inflicted on the culprit's neck ; it is said that death occurred in six minute e ) fear must have played no inconsiderable olxara it\ tK© fatal roault, and we do not know whether all the vital organs were in a sound condition, though they wero presumably 30. The olii story of the care of a college porter is also one in point. The students entrapped him into a roora at night, a mock inqtivy was held, and the punishment of death by 'docapitation was decreed for his want of consideration to tha students. It is small wonder^ that, under the dominion of fear, and belief in the eavnestneps of his tormentors, the sign of an axe and block, with subsequent blindfolding and necessary genuflextion, a smart rap with a wet towel on the back of his neck should have been followed by the picking up of a corpse."

At the theatre. — She— Oh, dear ! I wish the curtain would ring up. He— Why?" Are you so interested in the play? She — Oh, no ; but then the orchestra would stop

playing. A New Tiiovk physician says "It is dan^ geroua to go into the water after a heairty meal." And we presume if he did go in after one he wouldn't find it,