TRAPPED.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2413, 30 January 1909, Page 10 (Supplement)

TRAPPED.

LATEST NOVELTIES iN MiSHAI o. It lias often been said that truth is stranger that fiction, anti mis .is ceilaiiiiy true of the ndieulousjy improvable predicaments m wlncn people sometimes unci themselves landed. Some tune ago a restless youngster attending the service at a Cardigan eliapel provided the congregation v,,.tn a rare sensation. He occupied a pew close to the pulpit, and alter wriggling about in his seat, pushed ins neau between two pilfers ol the pulpit banister. diicn he was startled'to find that ho could not withdraw it; and he fixed his head in such a 'way that tho service had to be stopped lor mcasu-es to be taken ior its release. Tins was effected only with the greatest difficulty, to tin? tune of rue wrctchey youngster’s- loud screams. Anothcl- curious midiap -befell Mr. Charles Wanes, a Batley rag merchant, at the beginning oi hint year. He was in the act oi catching heal of the chain of a crane at ins warehouse, when the hook at the end oi it became fixed between a siguct-nug lie was wearing and his finger. At the same moment the chain began to. ascend. - with the result.-that the unfortunate rag merchant was hoisted by his finger to the top storey of-his'warehouse. Then tli'eTing broke, and the finger was torn oil, rue owner being precipitated to the. basement, manv i'eet below. His fall was, happily, broken by some bales oi rags, which .happened to be tying about, and tbo rag merchant was able to walk to a neighboring surgery for treatment. A nasty trick was that which another ring played a certain lawyer in Vienna. When posting a. letter one. day in the capital named, lie inserted his hand too far in the opening, and found he could not withdraw it. His ring caught in the box and held him

tight. life predicament attracted attention ; but his liberation was not achieved until workmen had actually taken the letter box to pieces. A strange story wajj told at Penkridgo Police Court on one occasion on the hearing of a charge of drunkenness. In his evidence, the constable said that while on duty the previous Sunday morning, a strange sound caught life ear. lie eventually found it proceeded from the churchyard close by. On getting over the wall to investigate, he discovered a man half-way through the side of one of the old-fashioned squarevaults. The victim had trapped himself as neatly as could be, for lie could neither get into the vault nor out. It was only after ten minutes’ bard struggle that the captive, who was drunk, could be released. Then-there was the case of a gentleman, who found himself a self-made, though, unwilling, prisoner in a hansom cab. As he was being driven homo, lie put life middle finger through the small brass hoop connected with the window-drop, and found, to his alarm, lie could not Avith draw it.

On the attention of the driver, being called' to tlie awkward predicament, he drove his fare straight, to St. Thomas’ Hospital. The victim could not, of course, leave the cab, which hail him in its grip, so to speak, so two members of the medical staff came out and released him.

For an improbable occurrence the predicament- which befell a Crowe engine-driver, of the name of Ollier, would be very hard to beat. In the. course of his duties some time, be had to take part in tbe repairing of a locomotive.

To do this he had to squeeze hinwelf into tlie water-tank, tlie inlet of which was exceedingly small. He, however, managed to get inside without much difficulty, but was horrified at finding that he could not possibly get out again. His fellow-workmen did/their best to got him out, but all in vain, and finally the‘helpless prisoner became utterly exhausted, -aml lay in Em tank unconscious. . Before he could be rescued from bis prison-house the engine bad to be taken to pieces, and a number of mechanics were immediately summoned for the purpose,

The silence of tlicso wlio have loved us .isssometimes eloaiient as a tombstone of, that which is buried beneath it.—Alary Choimondeley.

No preacher is listened to but Time, which gives us tlie same ' train and turn of thought that elder people have -tried in vain to put into our heads before.—Swil't.

DESPERATE r IGHT IN A PRISON

BATTLE FOR LIFE

A midnight fight of the most desperate character, the combatants being a prisoner and -a warder, took pi ice in the Mo-a-bit Gaol, Berlin, on ,i Monday not ilong since. A young man of 20, named Rubin, in custody for embezzlement, was much incensed by liis treatment at the hands of. the overseer warder, and contrived, while in the 'workshop in which ilie is engaged, to secrete a knife among liis clothes. With this ho managed to loosen tho iron bar across the observation window in the inner door of liis coll, making , tlie a immature large enough for huh to squeeze his body through. Late one Monday evening lie climbed through the transom and waited, knife in hand, for the arrival of the overseer, named Bastard, who made the round of the cells at uiidni-ght. Tlie moment Bastard opened tho outer door leading to the court Rubin flung himself upon him, and, before he could do anything in self-de-fence, had stubbed him several times in'the head, the ‘blade in one case penetrating the skull and opposing the brain. The overseer, however, had now drawn his revolver and fired three shots in rapid succession. Two of these struck Rubin, one in the hand and the other in tlie abdomen, and lie fell to the ground. The wounded warder, feeling his strength ebbing, then tottered to the neighboring telephone, but as he grasped the call-bundle he was overcome by unconsciousness and collapsed, life colleagues in the adjoining corridors had, however, hoard tho -isotv •and ran to -see tlie cause. They could not, however, at once get to the assistance of their comrade, as the keys to the doors between the courts arc at night taken to the central office of the guff. At last, after-some delay, one of them, named Genske, succeeded in scaling the wall,, lolt high', and appeared upon the scene of the struggle. Rubin had by this time picked himself up from the ground, and, in spite of his serious injuries, dashed at his ifresli adversary, brandishing liis knife. Genslce. however, cut him down with a- well-aimed blow from his sabre.

It is very doubtful whether either Bustard, who is a married man with four children, or Rubin will recover from their wounds.