NEWS BY MAIL

Hokitika Guardian, 30 June 1921, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL

CLIFF FACE RESCUES: LONDON, May 6. A. man who was hanging by his hiinds to tile ledge of a did' 300 feet up and his sister who was supporting him were rescued at Lynmouth, Devon, oil Fri<ly evening. Their plight was set'll b,v the lighthouse-keeper who summoned coast guards. One of the party climbed up and fastened a rope to the man and woman, who were then hauled to the top of the cliff. Describing their escape the woman said : AA’e thought the cliff path looked easy and would save us the journey hack over the rough beach. My brother readied the ledge of a rook, which gave way. He dung with both hands to an ivy root. I was beneath him and held my hands up to support his feet. AA’e shouted and I waved a handkerchief, but despaired of help. Both of us were afraid he would lose bis bold and fall and drag me down with him. lie said: “I shall only break my leg.’’ but f know better that lie would be dashed to pieces. “Mr brother frequently said: “I can only last ten minutes more,” and then help erne.”

DKATH REVEALS LIFE OF FRAUD. LONDON ,May 6. Further disclosures regarding what the Official Receiver, Mr D. S. Mnckay, described as "the history of a long career of crime.” were made at Scarborough yesterday afternoon at the (irst meeting of the creditors of the late Cass Hopper Wrightson, 46, house and estate agent, stock and share broker, and auctioneer, of Scarborough and York. Mr Wrightson died following terrible burns received while visiting a large unoccupied residence of which he ; was agent. ; The'statement of affairs shows assets I amounting to £3.899 and a deficiency of j €70,940. Addressing his creditors, Mr Mnckay ; said Mr Wright son’s whole careen from i almost tlu> very start fifteen years ago | appeared to have been one of fraud, I and the extraordinary part of it was ! that the frauds had been carried on ! through all those years without deteej tion, for some of them were of an ex- : trnordinnry stupid and silly nature. ‘ Mr Mnckay produced two mortgage i deeds, the signatures on which were | forgeries. A rubber stamp had also • been used to stamp the deeds as if they ! had been registered at Northallerton, I and the signature of the registrar was a forgery. Tn one'ease Mr Wrightson i was purported to giv 0 ft woman the | deeds of soi,ne property on which she | advanced £I,OOO for a. mortgage. -Since ! bis death the deoils were found to he

■; merely a hundl<> of blank papers, j Mr Mnckay also stated that he bad j come across some shocking eases of ! Wrightson’s dealings with money cn- | trusted to him by clients for investj merit. Some bad lost every penny they ( had put into liis hands. In one ease ; where £7,000 was entrusted to him to 1 invest he had put every penny into his ! own pocket. He had kept up the i frauds by regularly paying interest and . the dividends lie bad paid in cash. Mr Walter George Hall, of Hull, was j appointe trustee and a. committee of ini snoot,ion was also appointed. BURGLAR "MAGISTRATE.” PARTS, May 3./ i Joseph Carol, who was arrested by the French police yesterday in the PI non Pignlle, -Montmartre, is one of i the most notprious criminals of recent years. 1 Sent to prison on a dozen different sentences, mostly for burglary with viqJ

lcnce, lie escaped from the French penal settlement in Guiana in 1912 and has been at large ever since. Carol was a member of a gang' cf burglars known as the “Sacristans Baud.” Late one night he called at . the mansion of the Marquis ot PanissePa.ssis, in the Avenue Mareeau, and gained admittance by saying that lie | was a magistrate, with a warrant to search the house. He knew that the • marquis was absent. As soon as be and j his comrades, pretending to he policcI man, were in the place they hound and j gagged the porter and servants and made a clean sweep ol ihe vaulables. Carol has been living in Montmartre for many years and has latterly been a street, hawker. MONKEY MURDERER. • GIBRALTAR, May 6. , (»n 0 of tho most interesting sights to sec during a visit to Gibraltar is the famous colony of monkeys, which live in their native state of freedom. These “Barhary Apes” have so declined that it is believed only eight of them survive. A strange outbreak of crime i sresponsible for the reduction of the famous colony. The oldest male monkey on the Rock recently* developed a passion for murdering the females of his race, When the decrease in their numbers was traced to tho simian Lalidrtt he was captured and all bis teeth taken Out. It was hoped that this would make him harmless, but an irresistible craving for slaughter led him to use guile. Employing all the powers and attractions which old age and villainy still left him, he proceeded to lure the female monkeys to the highest point- of the Rock, where, suddenly seizing them, lie would hurl them over the cliff, at the foot of which the mangled bodies of the confiding creatures were afterwards found. With scores of crimes to bis charge the monkey murderer was at last caught again and exiled to the Zoo, but the monkey tribe of Gibraltar lias never recovered from the havoc he wrought, fiiid visitors seldom catch sight of them.