HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16366, 3 March 1921, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

POSED AS DETECTIVE. Tlie doings of a “swell mobsman * called Ryczek have recently excited interest in the Berlin poliefe courts. He was undergoing a sentence oi penal servitude in January, 1919, when during disturbances by Spartacists he obtained his release. He obtained a foreign passport under the name oi Dr von Hartuiig. and undertook extensive deals in cocaine, and was again arrested. He inveigled the two detectives who had charge of him to a neighbouring bar and managed to intoxicate them After they had fallen asleep lie divested one of them of his revolver and official paperß and escaped. Armed with the official papers’, he soon appeared in the new role of detective, and among other things confiscated money for his own uses, and even took part in a recent Berlin restaurant raid. An unlucky chance brought his career to an end, and he is now once more sentenced to four years’ penal servitude. AYIFE TAKES BLAME. Declaring that her love of finery and excitement was responsible for the tragedy, Mrs James Monroe, whose husband is awaiting trial at New York for the murder of the “ other man,” pleaded to bo allowed to stand her trial in his place and receive his punishment. “ 1 am to blame for the conditions which resulted in my husband taking the law into bis own hands to save tho honour of his home,” Mrs Monro© wrote to the District Attorney. “ 'lliis tragedy had its start when, like thousands of other foolish women. I imagined that I needed prettier clothe? than my husband could buy me anti more excitement than was to be found in keeping house and making a home. Then I met the other man. Now, when it is too late. I realise that it is my husband 1 really care for.” FORGIVENESS CAME LAST. Two girls. Margaret Williams, eigli- ! teen, and Elsie Beecroft, twenty-four, [ who had pleaded guilty at Caistor to unseemly conduct in the parish church |of North Kelsey, a Lincolnshire vil- ! lage, made a public apology' before ii he assembled church congregation. The unseemly conduct onsisted of hand- | ling and interfering with the ornai ment-9 of the church, some of the brass candlesticks having been found iu- | verted. When the girls were brought | before the Bench the magistrates ad- [ journed the case so that in the mean- ! time the girls would have the opportunity of making a public apology. On the following Sunday, at the end of the usual church service, the girl.',, at the invitation of the vicar. Rev J. L. N. Pheasant, went forward in front of the whole congregation, while the vicar recited the circumstances and then delivered an address deprecating the offence, ending by reading aloud a confession and apology they had made. | Tlie congregation were asked to kneel I while the* ;iirls made a confession of | their sin to God. When they had | finished, the vicar, speaking on behalf iof the congregation, tlie churchwardens, and himself, assured tlie pair j that they had full forgiveness. He ! then dismissed them, and the church- | warden led them on their way out of ! tho church. *** INFATUATED HEIRESS. { * My lore for this man is such that i I bought off twenty other women who i wanted to marry him,” was the pas- ; sionate declaration made in the Illinois | Supreme Court by Baroness Oecile de j Korwin, defending, an action brought | by the baron to recover possession cf the eight-year-old son of the marriage. I'lie baroness is the daughter of t 1 Chicago merchant Otto Young, and £6,000,000 heiress. The baron, si said, cost her more than £25,000 t induce his other worshippers, including two alleged wives, to abandon theii idol. fie was “ eternally in trouble with women in various countries.” Tho case was adjourned to afford the baron an opportunity to produce evidence* as to liis moral worth. ONE MAN'S MILLIONS. Miss Clara Smith, niece of Air Jake L. Hamon, the Oklahoma oil magnate, whom, it is alleged, she admits having murdered a month ago, is the principal beneficiary under Air Hamon’s will, according to the statement of his lawyers. The girl is under arrest in New York. In a diary and several interviews Aliss Smith painted a vivid picture of the “ horrors ” of her life with Air Hamon, with whom she had lived for many years. According to the solicitors of Air Hamon he has bequeathed her several million dollars and also insured his life iu her favour for £25,000. A “ MAGNETIC ” CHILD. Reports of a child with magnetic powers are causing great excitement m the village ot Dieterehcim, in Bavaria. The Augsburg “ Abend Zeitung ” says that the child, a girl of nine, has a. power of putting lifeless objects into motion v ittiout any intervention on her part. AY lien she enters a kitchen, for instance, the paper says, logs of wood for the kitchen fire more about and roll off after her. A large iron cooking pot jumped from the tire and flew against tho wall. Potatoes, boiling in the pot, jumped out on to the hob. Turnips weighing 2Lb or 31b lifted themselves when the child was present and flew right up to the ceiling, while a pair of wooden clogs became so agitated that they went straight, through the window. Aledical science, the “ Abend Zeitung” continues, in the persons of Dr Bobu, of Nurnberg, Dr Max Sohrench, and Dr Aiguer, lias examined th© child before five witnesses, and according to their statement the child possesses the power of a medium. The child and her mother were persecuted by the local peasantry, being charged with witchcraft. BRIDE IN BREECHES. “ Where arc you going to, my pretty maid?” “ I’m to be married, sir,” sho While on her early morning round a smart young milkmaid wearing a slouch hat, smock, breeches and gaiters, stopped her pony and cart outside Potters Bar Parish Church, Aliddjesex. left the pony in the charge of a blacksmith, and walked into church. Almost at the same moment a vounpr man drove up in a motor-car ana hurried into the church. Fifteen minutes later they came out together as man and wife. They parted at the door and the bride* continued on her round. She was Aliss Beryl Seppings, of Oakmere Farm. Potters Bnr. ana the bridegroom was Air Reginald James, of Barnet. Airs .Tames, whose home is at Rainham, Norfolk, likes her open-air life so much that she is staying at the farm for another month. RUAIOURS. The absence of newspapers for fouP days at Christmas time in London gave gossip its chance. There were all sorts of wonderful tales of terrible happenings in England and in Ireland, including assassinations of prominent men, fires, and revolution. Some of the rumours prevalent in the clubs and hotels were: Assassination of a Cabinet Minister. A terrible railway accident. An aeroplane accident in which fouT persons lost their lives East India Docks burned to tha ground. A big fire at York Railway Station At a Dover hotel it was stated with authority that a rich Indian merchant had presented 1 o the Crown a wonderfvl diamond greater than the famous Ivoh-i----lboor and worth £120.000