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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 969, 16 March 1871, Page 2

From the Sydney Empire, of the 23rd February, we learn that Professor Parker, the champion swordsman, well known in every part of the Australian Colonies, was killed by a fall from his hoive on the 15th February, at Walhalla, Victoria. The following evidence was taken at the inquest:—Mary Ann Parker, sworn : About noon on the 15lh instant, she was within 300 yards of the Junction Hotel, coming from Walhalla. The deceased, her husband, was riling one horse, and leading another, which carried a pack. The pack-horse reared, causing the horse ridden by the deceased to shy and buck, and the deceased fell off. He fell on to his side, and never spoke. Witness at once got oh 0 her horse to assist deceased. She tried to raise him, when blood flowed from his ears, eyes, and mouth. The

.deceased was 42 years of age, and was perfectly sober at the time of the accident. There was a small stump close to the head of the deceased, and ifc was thought his head had struck it.—Dr. Archibald McDonald, of Walhalla, deposed that he had made a post mortem examination of the deceased, and found fracture of the cervical vertebrae, extensive fracture of the upper part of the occipital bone, allowing the fingers to pass into the substance of the brain, and a fracture of the frontal bone, about two inches above the left eye. The first two fractures would cause instant death. That on the frontal bone would also cause death, but not so suddenly. A fall from a horse, such as described by the wife of the deceased, would produce such fractures and wounds. —The jury returned a verdict that the deceased, George Parker, was accidentally killed through a fall from his horse, causing fracture of the neck and skull. Captain Worsp of the s.s. Phoebe, was recently presented at Dunedin with an address and a purse of sovereigns by the passengers of the ill-fated s.s. Airedale, in recognition of the promptitude with which he went with his vessel to their relief.

A breach of promise case was heard &i Manchester, on the sth December, in which the plaintiff was a barmaid named Marsh, and the defendant a magistrate named Ken worthy. In one of nis letters the defendant said :—" My dear Kelly,— Here I sit, my head in .one hand and pen in the other, a pain in my head tit to crack it, suppose it to be made of steel. Oho, rum and honey, rum and honey, what hast thou done for James 1 (Laughter ) I arrived at Ashton all right, but of course little would have more, and the result, as a matter of course, was that James got drunk. (Laughter.) If James had been taken before James Kenworthy, J.P., he would have been fined 5s and costs, or 14 days, for being drunk and incapable. However, I did not get that mark of distinction. T got home all right in a cab, but no more coldcuring with rum and honey. (Renewed laughter.) I cannot get down to see you this evening, so 1 thought I would just let you know I was alive yet. I cannot remember how I left the Thatch ; d last night. I had not the slightest idea of when I left, so if I either said or did anything, pray excuse me, Nelly. Oho, Nell, I would do anything tor you, my excuse me if T made a fault last night, but it was all through rum and honey if I did." In another letter, addressed irom Scotland, the defendant said : —"I was much pleased you had been at home and spent the afternoon with your mother. Dear Nelly, there is no one like a mother when they take to a child. They do adore them—(laughter)—but still I do think a husband can love as dearly —at least, I love you as dearly as man could do, and would make any sacrifice to secure your love." The plaintiff was examined, and stated that the defendant had told her that his share in the mill at Ashton was worth ,£20,000 \ that he had a villa in Scotland; and that he could lay his hands upon £7OOO at any time. He also told her that his friends were opposed to the marriage, but that he had determined to marry her at all risks. He visited her un'il the day previous to his marriage with a governess from Scotland, and she did not know of the marriage until she saw it in an Ashton paper. It was admitted for the defendant that he had behaved in«a most cruel and foolish way, and he was called into the witness-box to give evidence as to his position in life, which he stated to be much less favorable than had been represented on the part of the plaintiff. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff—damages, ,£1,200. Aeronauts, who now form an important section of the travelling public, will be glad to learn, the Pall Mall Gazette thinks, from so high an au thorily as Mr Glaisher, that it is a popular fallacy to suppose that the temperature of the air always decreases by a unifoini law with increase of elevation. "Were it so, the balon monte would become an imposihility during the present season, for a half-starved Parisian would be of all persons the most incapable of withstanding the rigour of an A rctic climate. Mr Glaisher'* experiments, however, have brought to Jight the unexpected results that the

mean monthly temperature of the air at fifty feet high i<, during'the evening and night hours, invariably higher than at a distance of four feet from the ground, and in winter the same rule holds good both by day and night. In fact, the general conclusions at which he has arrived are, that at sunset the temperature of the air is sensibly the same up to 2,000 feet, but that at night, and during the winter season, it increases from the earth upwards. It would therefore seem that the \oyager who penetrates beyonds the clouds will not only be rewarded by finding a serener atmosphere, but also a temperature milder than that to which the combatants on whom he looks down are exposed.