News of the Day.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1563, 31 March 1874, Page 168

News of the Day.

A Woman's Heroism. An American paper reports: —Lottie Dougherty resided in'this city, and was educated at the Central School. She was one of Prof. Culver's most promising pupils, and distinguished herself greatly in all her studies. La3t summer, having studied telegraphing, she accepted a situation at Radnor, a station on the Penn. Centra! It .It:, and Warded at the Eagle Station,amil • or moiv distant One evening in August last, she was on her way to her station, when suddenly a terrible thunderstorm came up. The office at the Eagle was struck by lightning, the ' magnet burned out of the instrument, and great consternation prevailed. Lottie supplied a magnet, although it was not her office. Going to the door,' she noticed a large tree uprooted and blown across the track. She realized at once the dangerous situation. The Western Express was due in a few minutes, and the local trains followed it close. Though all present opposed her resolution, the cool, determined girl seized the red signal lamp, ran through the .fearful storm up the track, and swung her light, until she heard the engineer whistle down brakes, and the train was saved. The speed was checked so that the train was not thrown from the -irack, though it struck the tree with force sufficient to hurl a heavy limb against Lottie's shoulder, hurling her down the embankment into a ditch, and inflicting several injuries which ultimately resulted in her death. Of course the passengers on the train were loud in their expression of gratitude to her, and a handsome sum of money was tendered, but she refused it, and returning to her office, remained on duty all night. She said she had done her duty, and wanted no recompense of a pecuniary character. Eleven weeks ago, Lottie came home to die. Ever since that fearful night she had felt the effect of the blow upon her shoulder. Consumption claimed her as its victim. Slowly but surely she faded away, enduring her sufferings in a patient and uncomplaining manner. She had all the attention that loving hearts could give, but she could not be restored to health. On Wednesday she died Equine Dentistry. There is something very affecting in the idea that Mr Joe Thompson has given the teeth of Don Juan as " valued mementoes to a few personal friends," says a Melbourne writer. But the osseous remains of the lamented deceased are to bo sent to England for the purpose of comparing his skeleton with that of the racer Eclipse, and the difficulty arises about the valued mementoes, which the few personal friends of the owner have by this got converted into pins, scarf rings, and other articles of jewellery. It would not do to send the frame of our great race winner home without teeth ; and so the assistance of an eminent dentist had to be called in, and an entirely new set of false ones manufactured. This is establishing another link between man and the brute creation. An Eel Story. The monstrous sized eels that are to be found in the rivers here (writes a Christchnrch correspondent) are proverbial. But on the Heathoote is a malthouse, and, I presume there they fatten to perfection At all events a woman living near the locality in question, and having a number of ducks, was surprised the other day to notice one of them kicking up some extraordinary capers, with its legs in the air and its head under water, As it was near the side the woman reached the legs of the duck and began pulling them, thinking that the head was entangled in weeds. But she tugged and tugged, and all to no purpose, until the neck suddenly gave way, the head being down the gullet of a huge eel which she just caught sight of, and which she stated to have been as thick as a man's thigh. Imagine the situation. Anti-Licensing Agitation in Wellington. The Daily Tribune, March 20, says : There is goiug to be a [fierce battle between the Permissive Bill advocates and the publicans. " Under which King, Bezonian ?" The publicans are too powerful for their opponents, but they must not suppose that might is always right. And what benefit does the Post suppose is to be gained by once and again talking of Mr Fox's bungled Act? Bungled it no doubt was, but the fact is all in favor of Post's clients; and how and why it was bungled ? Mr Fox did not bungle it. If he had got his will, it would have been a verv perfect piece of legislative restriction, but the bill was Bungled by those who did not like it, although they could not openly oppose it, and so in committee they inserted words here and cut out sentences thereuntil it became law in its present indefinite and emasculated form. Mr Fox accepted it as an acknowledgement of what he was contending for rather than a grant of the thing itself, and the bungle is so far the triumph of his opponents. They ought to bo content, but judging from the late developments, they hardly seem to be so. " Our army," Uncle Toby said, " swore terribly in Flanders," but they could hardly compete with some letter writers, whose invectives against Good Templars we have chanced to come across invectives in which one fierce adjective jostles another, until the perilous stuff gets crushed into rather a meaningless mass of words. More temperate language iwould indicate a stronger cause. The Tichborne Verdict. Some of our readers may not be aware of the full effect of the verdict of the jury in the Tichborne case. The accused was found guilty on all three counts, and the following summary of the indictment from the Times, of April 24th, 1873, will show that it was framed in so complete a manner that this verdict decides every point raised in this intricate case : —" The indictment not merely charges that the defendant is not Sir Roger Tichborne, but alleges that he is Arthur Orton, and traces ■hie life aud history for many years, from

his youth to the time in question. It describes the defendant as 'Thomas Castro, otherwise Arthur Orton, otherwise called Sir Roger Tichborne,' and it alleges, first, that he is, not Sir Roger Charles Tichborne, the eldest son of the late Sir James Tichborne, nor a son of Sir c ■ ■ . James, and then it goes on to negative all the principal events and incidents of Tichborne's life which the defendant had sworn to, and, in particular, that he did not sail in the Bella from Rio, and was not wrecked and saved. The indictment then proceeds to allege that the defendant is, in truth, Arthur Orton, the son of George Orton, of Wapping, and went by the name of Orton, and left England in a vessel called the Ocean, in April, 1848. and arrived at Valparaiso in November, 1848, and at various times between 1848 and 1851 was at Mellipilla in Chili, and in 1851 came thence to England in a ship called the Jessie Miller, and kept company with one Mary Anne Loader in 1847 and 1851; and that in 1852 he went out to Hobart Town in a vessel called the Middleton, of which one Story was captain, and on various occasions saw Elizabeth Jury, Mary Anne Tredget, and Margaret Anne Jury (Arthur Orton's sisters). Thus the indictment, it will be seen, opens up the Orton case, and the case for the Crown is not merely that the defendant is not Roger Tichborne, but that he is Arthur Orton." Animal Locomotion. Dr. J. B. Pettigrew's new work, entitled "Animal Locomotion," is just published as the seventh volume of "The International Series." Some interest will probably attend the publication of this work, as it containsthe results of Dr. Pettigrew's observations, dissections, and experiments, with steam and other models, in connection with " Flight," during the past ten years ; tending to prove the • favorite theory of the author, viz., that the wing is a screw, structurally and functionally, and that it describes a figure of 8 track in space, the figure being opened out and converted into a looped and waved track in progressive flight. Similar statements are made regarding the movements of the extremities in walking, and the tails and fins of fishes in swimming. The Good Templars. The " Illustrated Temperance Advocate" states :—" We have been informed that the Rev. B. J. Westbrook, of Invercargill, has received a commission from the Right Worthy Grand Templar, appointing him District Deputy for New Zealand South, and that Bro. Westbrook is likely to be appointed Instituting and and Installing Officer of the Grand Lodge Charter, materials for the institution of which may be expected by the next Californian mail. This honor is well conferred on the Rev. B. J. Westbrook, in consideration of his having been the means of introducing the Order of Good Templars to this colony."