NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1921, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

" EX-R.F.C. OFFICER’S SUICIDE. iiia NEW YORK, Dec. 22. ,s Lieut Pat O’Brien, a native of Cali--10 fornia, who served in the Royal Flying ie Corps during the war, committed sui- ! L (ide at Los Angeles yesterday, leaving '- a letter which referred to the “awful »' woman who ruined my life and home.” I- Ilis wife, from whom he was esI s Lranged, is lying seriously ill in the -• 'iime city, i- Lieut O’Brien made a spectacular v escape from Germany by burrowing under electric wire frontier defences 4 when he was a prisoner of war. He st v.as a noted fighting airman. I BIG BERLIN EIRE. BERLIN, Dec. 22. A serious lire broke out this evening i in the police headquarters at the Alext under Plate., which is not far from the F ex-Kaiser’s palace. The outbreak, f which is thought to have been caused i by the explosion of a gas stove, com- ' pietely destroyed Hie building. No lives are thought to have been lost. The police headquarters is.one of tlie largest public official buildings in Berlin, containing several hundred offices. The local Citizens’ Defence Force records were kept there, and the building was full of archives. In the strenuous weeks early last year the building was the scene of many attacks and was bombarded bv artillery. It was garrisoned by a force under Herr Eiehhorn, tlie Socialist police president. BOY OF 10 DIES OF DRINK. j BRUSSELS, Dec. 22 Four children, aged respectively 7, 9, 10, and 13, were found lying drunk on the Charleroi-Fontaine-l’Eveque I road yesterday. The boy of 10 died while being taken home on a stretcher. ll The others explained that the eldest ca had stolen a bottle of brandy from a wine merchant’s motor car and they had shared the contents.