INTERESTING ITEMS.

Waikato Independent, Volume III, Issue 183, 25 January 1906, Page 5

INTERESTING ITEMS.

THE CRUSADE AGAINST SUICIDE. The amazing number of suicides in America, especially among rich men and women, has so shocked America that, as already announced, an Anti-Suicide Commission has been appointed. Dr Cooley, of Cleveland, Ohio, one of the physicians of the Commission, has already saved several men and women from suicide, and made them pledge their word not to kill themselves until the Commission shall have had an opportunity to see how their lives can be rendered more tolerable and more cheeful. “If yon have no friends,” the Commission says, “we will try to find some for you ; if you are penniless, we will try to get you work, and we want you to forget yourself by living for the good friends we will provide you.” A BABY RAID. A dramatic story comes from Stuttgart, Germany. Accompanied by two gentlemen and a locksmith, the divorced wife of a wealthy citizen arrived at the latter’s house one evening in a motor car, forced open the door, and carried out the eightcen-months-child, of which the father had been granted the custody. The grandmother screamed frantically for help, and a workman came to the rescue and seized the child. The mother then placed a revolver to her temple and'passionately declared that she would shoot herself unless the child was given her. Thereupon the workman handed her the infant and the mother and party drove away in the motor car. % LIFT BOY AND MILLIONAIRES. A lift boy at the Waldorf hotel, New York, has just been married, and the wedding was in many ways a remarkable one. Ho numbers among his personal friends titled men and millionaires from all over the world, and they showered gifts upon him. Mr J. W. Gates gave 200 shares of Rock Island preferred stock, and Mr Charles W. Schwab presented the bridegroom with an order for 250 shares in any stock he cared to buy ; while among his other presents w'ere cheques, gold watches, and overcoats. Not the least important, says the New York World, was an order "for a motor car for two weeks, in which the happy pair might tour on their honeymoon. THE FATAL DOOR. An extraordinary story is reported from Karnaki, near Luxor, in Upper -Egypt. A native, who had suspected the existence of antiquities in the plot of land on which his house was built, began digging in the hope of discovering some treasure, and discovered an old door, which he opened and entered. As he did not come back, his wife followed him, but she too, failed to return. Their son and daughter thereupon followed their parents, but also did not come back. A native who afterwards followed them met with the same fate. The authorities were informed of the matter, and it was found that these five unfortunate people had been ashyxiated by a poisonous gas emanating from the pit or enclosure into which the old door led. DREAM THAT W r AS FULFILLED. A correspondent of the London “ Spectator ” relates a curious dream of a friend who had been suffering great anxiety owing to reduced circumstances. This friend dreamt that she was in a church, when all the worshippers began to go into the churchyard to look for a magic bird which was to bring the tinder great luck. Joining in the search the dreamer soon discovered a thrush, and directly she picked it up it dropped a sovereign into her hand. Next morning she told her sister of the dream, and when she went into the garden shortly after breakfast, she found a thrush which had just been killed by a cat. When the post arrived it brought a letter from her brother containig a cheque for <£l, and later in the day another cheque arrived from a friend. SPYING BY SPEAKING-TUBE. Remarkable statements have been made in the course of the trial at Vienna on several persons alleged to be implicated in the murder of Baroness Lucretia Biedermann, whose mutilated body was discovered in her villa at Baden, a suburb of Vienna, some days before. The Baroness appears to have been an excitable and suspicious woman. She lived in a state of continual war witlTi er servants, against whom she often instituted legal proceedings. Living in continual fear of robbery and assassination, she slept with a loaded revolver at her bedside, and had established, says the Neue Freie Presse, a regular system of espionage in the household. A sweep one day discovered a system of speaking tubes leading from the chimneys in the kitchen and servants’ rooms to the sitting-room. In this way the Bareness heard numerous references to herself that were anything but complimentary.

Mr H. Burling, who is 105 years of age, is now living at Haclfield. near Ofcaki.