The Obserber.

Observer, Volume 2, Issue 41, 25 June 1881, Page 448

The Obserber.

Saturday, Juxe 25xir, ISSI

After a .storm comes a calm, and after a big number like we were enabled to give last week there conies a somewhat less interesting one. The fact is, the amount of small talk about varies considerably both in quality and quantity. One issue there seems to be any amount, the next it is perhaps difficult to collect half-a-dozen decent paragraphs. The illustrations ought, however, to make lip for things to-day, as they arc unusually good.

Aii elopement in high life which would have caused an cclaircisscmcnl altogether unparalleled had it eventuated, was by the merest accident discovered and stopped on Friday morning last. The details are as follows : — For some weeks past, Mr X., a young man about town, whose exact business it wouldn't do to indicate, has been making violent love to Miss Z., the daughter of one of " our most respected citizens." lJoth move in the " lmpper suckles" of society, and both are A r ery popular and very well liked. Unfortunately, the gentleman has not sufficiently good prospects to justify him marrying, and this being so, " society" has, from the first, looked upon his attentions to Miss Z. as a mere flirtation. "Mere flirtation", however, it was not. Never were a pair of lovers more in earnest, and finding opposition to the match was likely to spring up on all sides, they resolved to take the law into their own hands and elope. The programme was rather neatly arranged. On Tuesday afternoon, the lovers met in the Domain, and X., having extorted from his inamorata the necessary pledge, agreed to procure the requisite license for Friday, so as to enable them to go South by the Arawata. The pair then parted. At nine thirty on Friday morning, the bridegroom expectant was waiting anxiously at the church for his beloved, who, however, never turned up. The parson remained for half -an hour, and then said he "had a funeral" and must go. K. still waited on, but about eleven, dead tired out and very cross, went down to business. There he found a brief note from Miss Z., merely saying she had "changed her mind" — nothing more.

It appears that -\riien the young lady went home on Tuesday afternoon, she fully intended to cany out the elopement, and even went so far as to commence a portmanteau,

preparatory tosmugglingit away to some place in town. Unfortunately, f or X. , his beloved has a sister, and this young person coming in upon her suddenly and finding her packing, when, as she well knew, they were going away nowhere, began to • 'smell a rat. " She said nothing, lioavever, but confided her ideas to a trustworthy servant. The two then resolved to "take the bull by the horns" and tax Miss Z. with preparing to bolt from home. This was done, and after some angry Avords and many tears, she confessed. The three immediately made a compact that nothing should be said to Papa, o^ condition that the project Avas given up. 3\ : ' ;s Z. then wrote the note to K. at her sister's dictation, and the servant took it to his office. Sine illce lacrymce.

But, it will be said, how came you to know all this. Very simply, dear boys. The servant at Z.s is an extremely worthy person, but a chatterer. She went out to tea last Sunday evening, and the secret being too heavy a burden for her to retain, out came the story. An occasional contributor to the Observer happens to employ one of the men who were present, and he, as in duty bound, passed the story on to us. That it is pretty true we know, but who the chief actors were, and. are, we don't. The correspondent won't divulge their names, and Aye certainly have no particular wish to press him to.

Mr. Penman's strictures in Saturday's Star headed "A Dastardly Canard," though not perhaps quite fair to us as regards some points, were, we had better confess at once, on the whole, deserved. ' The blunder was unfortunately just one of those things over which an editor can do literally nothing, save cry out nostra culpa and take the consequences. Personally, we were as entirely and completely deceived as anyone. The contributor who brought the paragraph in was no casual correspondent or novice at newspaper work, but a reponsible person whose reliabilitj' and bona fides there was no sort of justification for doubting. Then the enquiries it was felt necessary to set on foot before publishing such a painful story, apparently confirmed matters. (1) We learned that there certainly was a young man called Bailey ; (2) that he had been suffering from fever ; (3) that he had been committed to the Whau on the day named ; (4) that he had only remained there a few weeks ; (5) that at present he was walking about quite well, and (6) that a young lady residing in the same house had died from fever. You see all these things, which are true enough, seemed to back up our • contributor's paragraph, and under the circumstances, we didn't feel justified in withholding it. The real facts of the case are as follows : — About three months ago, the young man in question, William Oliverßailey, who had been residing with some relatives named Coster, fell ill with typhoid fever. Instead of sending him to the hospital as many persons would have done, these kind people kept him at their house and nursed him most assiduously night and day through a ten week's illness. At- one time, the patient was so bad that his life was despaired of, and Mrs Coster only saved the flickering vital spark by most extraordinary and patient care. At length came a turn for the better and Bailey began to recover rapidly. His relatives were just congratulating themselves on having tided over the trouble, when suddenly and without any warning, lie showed himself the victim of most unpleasant delusions. First, he declared the food was poisoned, and that his friends were all in a conspiracy to get rid of him. .Then he would only eat what was sent from the Doctor's table and gave terrible trouble. Finally, other and aggravated symptoms of mania followed, so that at length Dr Stockwell insisted on the poor fellow being sent to the Whau. There he remained five weeks, at the end of which time he had sufficiently recovered to justify Dr Young in consigning him j to Mr Penman's care. !

It will be seen from this that though the first mentioned facts appeared to corroborate the yarn related last week, it was really without foundation. We can, as we said before, only admit the error and express our Borrow to the relatives of Mr Bailey and also to the doctors for the blunder. Truth to tell, it never crossed our mind to think how the matter affected either one or the other. No mention was made of any Relatives in the paragraph, and till Friday afternoon wfe didn't know Bailey had any. So too with the doctors. Had we understood Dr Haines was the medical man consulted as to the committal, we should have seen Mm arid so got to the root of the matter at once. But, of course, it ia easy enough to see what one might or ought to hftve done when it is too late*

Another adventurer lias come, "ileeced" a number of us, and gone. He managed extremely well up to the last, and was throughout so excessively agreeable that it was difficult even when the bubble burst to be very angry with him. Of course, our particular friends and contemporaries will take advantage of this fasco to give currency to a number of lies. They wouldn't be the true gentlemen and excellent Christians they are, if they didn't However, as the real facts of the case arc (alas !) better known to us than to anybody, we shall perhaps be credited when we say that the plain, unvarnished tale is as fol-lows:—-Mr E. (the name is immaterial) came down from San Francisco by the February mail steamer. He had apparently plenty of cash and spent it freely, was a great favourite with all the passengers, lent cash to several people, and played cards a good deal. It subsequently transpired, that he won considerable sums through this last-named practice, but nobody noticed it at the time, and not a breath of suspicion was ever breathed against the man's name. Mr B. gave himself out as belonging to a well-known firm in 'Frisco, adding that they had plantations at the Sandwich Islands. This statement was (apparently) corroborated at Honolulu by planters and others coming aboard and asking for him. On arrival at Auckland, B. put up at the Star Hotel, where he stayed for about a fortnight. During this time he made many casual acquaintances, purchased a watch and other trinkets from various tradesmen and paid for them, and finally went off to Sydney by the steamer, duly settling his bill, not "forgetting to tip the servants liberally.

An interval of some months followed, and then Mr B. again turned up in Auckland. This time he came from the South by the Te Anau, s.s., having the state cabin aboard, sitting on the right hand of Captain Carey, and being made a great lot of by everybody. Throughout the passage B.s name was in everyone's mouth. He spent his money freely, "shouted" champagne for all who would "join" him, and when the "Pinafore" children came aboard got up a concert, which gave great pleasure to the passengers. Captain Carey introduced him to Mr and Mrs Pollard, and they of course, presuming him to be an intimate friend of the skipper, allowed the man to make much of the children. IWhen the Te Anau arrived in Auckland a lunch was given to Captain Carey by B. and the other passengers at the Star Hotel, and the captain introduced his friend to several "most respected " citizens. The fellow also scraped acquaintance with the traveller of a well-known Melbourne house, and this gentleman, believing in him thoroughly, took him out wherever he went. In this way B. soon got to know a great many people, and as he always represented to one that he had broxight letters of introduction to the other, it is scarcely surprising that some of us should have been taken in. Finally B. persuaded Mr C. to put him up at the Auckland Chtb, but even this wasn't done without precautions. The proposer took B. down to the American Consul's, and the two had a talk, after which the Consul said B. seemed to know everyone worth knowing in 'Frisco, and that he thought it would be quite safe to put him up. Once put up at the Club, of course everything was plain sailing. He was first asked out to one house, then to another, made a great lot of wherever he went — in fact, almost feted.

And now for the explanation of our connection with him. A number of visitors at the Star Hotel were standing in fhe bar-parlour, one evening after the Theatre, discussing the performance. It was, if we remember rightly,

the first night of the Children's "Pinafore," and the party were canvassing the merits of the youngsters. R , who seemed to be intimate with everyone except the writer, joined in the conversation, telling us, amongst other tilings, some of the fun there had been on board 'the 1 c Anau s. s. Subsequently, when we went into the dining-room to get a little supper, he came and had some too, still talking about the ' ' Pinafore " children. Finally, just as we were going to bed, the fellowsaid, "Would you like to know some of the little fellows?" "Very much," was the reply, and he forthwith promised to introduce us on the following evening. Well, the promise was carried out? and we found the children so clever and amusing that we asked permission for some of them to come to dinner at the Star Hotel on Sundday afternoon. Sunday, as we pointed out last week, is the only day on which these children can have an outing without fear of its doing them harm. Moreover they are nearly all either Jews or Roman Catholics, and consequently look upon Sunday afternoon as the proper lime for a little enjoyment. When So-and-So heard of this, he came and said, "I am going to give the children a run in the country on Sunday week. Will you go halves in. my picnic, and I'll go halves in your dinner?" "Certainly," we replied, and so the matter was arranged.' Well, from thistime, the fellow accompanied us in the evening whenever we went to see the children. No suspicion of his hona fides crossed oiir mind as during the day we saw him chatting with any number of "most respected citizens," in fact many of them seemed not to know how to make enough of him. The first whisper of anything wrong came on Saturday last, when it transpired quite accidentally that he had been trying to borrow small sums of money in the hotel, and had not settled his account for three weeks. That evening, not liking this and other rumours of a still more damaging character, we tackled him on the subject, but he said, "Oh ! I have any amount of money, and shall settle everything on Monday before I leave for Frisco." Well, we knew he would receive a judgment summons on Monday if a settlement at the hotel were not forthcoming, and Avaited rather anxiously for the result. However, at one o'clock, our friend entered the house with £30, and paid at once two-thirds of his bill and a jeweller's account we had been speaking to him about. This was a regular " staggerer," and made us fell awfully foolish. 13. upbraided us for believing ill the tales of men whom he had thought fit to snub, and promised to settle with the writer for his share of the various joint entertainments, on the morrow. That (Monday) evening, more rumours, this time very clear and conclusive, came to our ears. However we thought, "Well, if he goes to 'Frisco to-morrow, there is no need to say anything about the talk. He has paid his way here, and what bis past happens to be is nobody's business. If, however, on the other hand, he does not go, then there must be an understanding at once."

Tuesday morning came, and with it Mr B. (who had been out to a farewell party given in his honour on the preceding evening), looking very seedy. He said lie had changed his mind about visiting 'Frisco again, and should stay here another month. This, of course, decided us to let out on him, and we began forthwith. There were, we said, numbers of disagreeable rumours afloat. Probably they were all false. If so, he could easily disprove them and show us who lie was ; but if 'they happened to be true, he had, for his own sake, better make a clean breast of it. "Well, at first the rascal denied everything strenuously, but at length, seeing we were quite determined either to make him prove his credentials or else expose him, he gave way and confessed. The story is too long and too painful to tell here. Suffice it to say Mr B. acknowledged himself a fraud "travelling on the best," cardsharping when feasible, letting everyone in, and playing the knave in numberless ways. He admitted having borrowed the £30 with which he paid his hotel bill the previous day, and also informed us he owqd money to several others. "Well," we said, "what have you got ?" " Some jewellery," he replied, "and a 500 dollar draft on Omaha, Nebraska, which I swear will be honoured." To make a long story short, we went round to all the gentlemen whom we knew he had letin socially and as regards money matters, and asked what should be done. They all said, "Get what you can out of him for us, and send him away ; we'll pay our share of the damage." Luckily a steamer was sailing at 3, so we bought B. a ticket, got the draft and jewellery from him, gave him (as lie was penniless) £10 to help him along, and sent the fellow off. His jewellery was mostly "Brummagem," and what we have will yield' very little, so' it is to be hoped the draft will turn up A 1.

People reading the above may think we were ail very foolish and easily taken in, but, ■truth to tell, 13. managed matters remarkably well. Though hardly a gentleman, as regards manners, he was not more offensive, in his way, than many monied Americans or Australian Colonists, and could be very pleasant when he liked. His stories were never improbable, and he seemed to have mixed in good society in 'Frisco— at any rate so the people who know California said, and even now maintain. Personally our acquaintanceship arose through the "Pinafore " children. They were friendly alike to us both, and we usually visited the theatre together. If anyone is to blame in the affair, it is Captain Carey who introduced the man to the Pollards and the before-mentioned traveller for the Melbourne house, who vouched for him to several respectable merchants. The fact is people require to be very careful of flashy travellers. They may be all right, but far, far oftener they are all wrong.

The truth of this matter has now heen told, and the yarn can he confirmed by half-a-dozen respectable people if necessary. Since writing the above we have heard that Messrs Wickham and Biame intend to make capital out of the affair, and that the former was offered two pounds (the party who made this gentlemanlike proposition might just as well have let it be a fiver) to work the business up into "a good big sensation." Well, so far as we personally are concerned, the happy pair may say what they like. Mud thrown by such hands, and in such a manner, doesn't stick very' fast, and if they can raise a little money by lying about the Observer, by all means let them. We don't fear that, neither do we anticipate their saying much about the merchants and others victimized. Many of the latter are good advertisers, and neither Wickham nor Brame care to quarrel with the little bread-and-butter left them. What we are, however, a little afraid of is that, as the Pollard Troupe are going away and no more advertising is to be got out of thorn, the two papers will attempt to libel and asperse the children. If they do, all we can say is we shall have much pleasure in finding Mr Pollard the money and a lawyer to make them pay for it. Lying about us is one thing, but traducing innocent children is quite another.

A capital story was told the other day about Charlie McMurdo. It is said that some years ago when he was living i n strict simplicity and.m garcon in a small house on the Otametea, Governor Bowen visited the Kaipara, and Charlie made up his mind to ask him to dinner. Well, there was no meat in the house at the time, and no suitable table requisites, such as cutlery, glass, silver, linen, &c, &c. Moreover, time would not allow of his sending down to any friends for the things. This would probably have daunted a less energetic person, but Mac disposed of all obstacles in a twinkling. To begin with, he secured the loan of a sheep from his neighbour, Mr Gittoes, and then he sent the Governor and his suite out for a walk with a friend. Whilst they were away, Mac slipped on board the Vice-Regal steamer, and induced the steward to lend him literally everything necessary, not forgetting two or three bottles of the best wine for His Excellency's special delectation. "Well, the dinner passed off most successfully. The Governor thanked Mr McMurdo in an empresse manner for his hospitality, and Charlie responded in eminently- suitable terms. Finally, all the silver, linen, and glass were smuggled back on board the steamer, and the steward began to make out his Mil. In due course, it was presented cand tendered to Mac, who gazed upon it Avith intense surprise depicted on every feature. " Why, my dear fellow," he said, reproachfully, "you surely forget I borrowed these things on His Excellency's behalf, and for His Excellency's dinner, not for mine." The steward collapsed.

There appears to lie every probability of a revival of the small-pox scare which was so strong here about nine or ten years ago. There was at that time several cases of small-pox at the hospital, and the authorities were so frightened of it spreading that policemen were stationed at the gates in order to prevent anyone from passing through the grounds. Concerning the fear of the disease which existed at the time, a good story is told by IvEr Bryce, the present head nurse at the hospital. At the time the small-pox patients were under treatment, Mr Bryce read of carbolic soap, which was then advertised as a novelty. He determined to obtain some, and, with that object in view, he came into town and paid a visit to the fancy goods establishment then carried on by Mr Harris. The shopman said he had no carbolic soap, but excellent Windsor, and the hospital official, considering it hardly worth while to continue his search further, ordered a small box of that class of soap. While it was being wrapped tip the shopman expressed his disbelief in the efficacy of such "new f angled " ideas as carbolic soap, and said that people were too frightened of small-pox by half. "You would not think so if you were iii my place," replied Mr Bryce. "And pray where might that be ?" asked the fancy goods man. "Oh, up at the hospital," was the astounding rejoinder. A sudden pallor overspread the face of the young man who had thought people were too much afraid of small-pox, and he implored his customer to leave the premises. He would not accept any money on . account of the purchase, nor would he allow Mr Bryce to return the box of soap which he held in his arms. The hospital nurse consequently left the premises with his cheap stock of best Windsor thoroughly satisfied with himself, the shopman, and the small-pox. Probably he would like to be similarly successful in all his purchases.

—A correspondent writes, ' ' After reading the article re love-letters in the week before last's Observer, it occurred to me to send a copy verbatim et literatim, of a love-letter picked up some time ago :— 'My Dear Miss - it is with pain i write to you in aught that could seem like a strain of reproach, hut i confess that your conduct last night displeased me. Believe me, iamin no way given to -idle

jealousy, still less am i selfish or unmanly enough to wish to deprive any girl on Avhom i have so firmly fixed my affections of any pleasure obtained in good society, but my peace of mine would be lost for ever did i believe I have lost one atom of your affection pray write and "tell me that you still preserve your un divided affection for me your devoted but grieved lover. Deor Armor, iam shame to speak to you but never mine you Will send me a ansor as quick as you can please to_ direct to missus 1— for me will you go for a trip to the north shore on sunday rite and let me know l have nothing mor to say i still remain your a affection lover and friend William — . ' To spare William's blushes, I omit his surname. Before he writes another love-letter he had better go to Wayte's and buy a copy of 'The Lover's Correspondent;" also a dictionary."