QUEER ECCENTRICITIES OF FATE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5760, 2 January 1897, Page 1

QUEER ECCENTRICITIES OF FATE.

(Tit Bits.) In Dublin some years ago there lived a very eccentric man, whose only dread in life was that of being drowned. Nothing in this world would induce him to go to sea. He had friends and relatives over in England, but they were utterly lost to him. He had never in his life been in a boat or vessel of any kind. One stormy day, however, while crossing the O'Connell Bridge over the Liffey, on his way to business in Sackville Street, a terrific gust of wind overturned the omnibus in which he was being conveyed and precipitated him into fche river below. So, you see, he was surely born to be drowned. Strange the fate that seems to pursue those at sea. Recall for a moment the wreck of the Drummond Castle. Within 200 miles of Old England, and immediately after the crew and all the passengers had thanked the captain for a most successful voyage from the Cape, the ill-fated vessel struck a rock, and nearly all | perished. Somewhat similarly, the writer remembers the case of a Norwegian barque which left Liverpool for San Francisco some time in the seventies. This vessel left England at the time of the equinoctial gales, and experienced terrific storms in the Atlantic, round Cape Horn, and in the Pacific. Ifc was said that no vessel had ever encountered such heavy seas for so long a time.' At San Francisco, just previous to discharging her cargo, the barque anchored close outside fche harbour, where •the water was as smooth as a sheet of glass. But in the middle of the night a coaster struck her amidships, and she sank almost j immediately. The captain with the first mate and four of the crew were drowned.

The. other day, an eccentric old lady could not be induced to take train from a certain station in Yorkshire to Eccles, near Manchester. She said she had recently heard a lot about railway racing, and was going to run no risk. So tho old lady decided to do the journey (about fifteen miles) on foot. Following the main road, she was compelled, at about threo miles from tho starting-point, to pass over the railway line by a level-crossing. Being, it is supposed, a little deaf, she was unable to heai aajrfpproaching train, which ran over her killed her on the spot. Though not quite so extraordinary as the foregoing, there aro hundreds of striking incidents of this kind every year. But the most reinarkablo case in this article is perhaps tho following; some of our readers will no doubt remember it : — A butler it was alleged, murdered his mistress at Newton Abbott, South Devon. The man was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. In duo time the rope was placed round his neck, and, everything ready, the executioner pulled the bolt, his victim disappearing into tiio pit below. The rope, however, snapped under the weight of the condemned mau, and he lay at the bottom little the worse for his fall. A. new rope was procured and the same proceedings gone through. It seems incredible, but it is a fact that the rope broke a second time. Tho unfortunate man was by this time very, much injured. The prison officials decided to let the matter stand over for a time, remarking that "Providence was against them." Meanwhile the condemned man, still declaring his innocence, was removed to the prison hospital. What is still more remarkable is the fact that, a few days after tho abortive execution, a man confessed to having committed the crime for which the butler was found guilty, and in due time the confessed murderer was tried and sentenced to death. On his recovery the unfortunate butler was released.