NEWS BY MAIL.

Hokitika Guardian, 14 February 1927, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL.

BRUNETTE BANDIT

NEW YORK. Dec. TO

A unique robbery under arms was perpclrated yesterday at Buda, a small • own near Austin, Texas, by a bobbedliaired girl whoso polite manners and relined dress completely disarmed suspicion.

The sir' a slender brunette of about 20. walked into a bank and explained to the manager that she was a®newspaper correspondent engaged in writing a series of articles about Bade. The manager obligingly Furnished her with a table, chair and typewriter. After writing for about half an hour she astounded him by producing a revolver from her coat pocket and by ordering him .sweetly to “Stand wlero you are.” She levelled the pistol a* a bookkeeper and commanded him to “Move closer.” She then directed both men into a vault, where she forced the manager to open the safe. “Dig that money out,” was her next command. The manager handed her two packages each containing £2oo in American currency. The girl then slammed the vs. v.lt door and locked it. leaving the two hank officials inside, and then entered her motor-car and drove away. Several hours later at Austin the police arrested Rebecca Bradley, a young typist in the office of Mr Ban Mooney, the Attorney-General and Governor-elect of the State of Texas, who succeeds Mrs “Ma” Ferguson in , the gubernatorial chair. When charged with bank robbery the girl merely smil- ! ed and said nothing. I JEWEL BOBBERY. ! PARTS, Dec. IC. |

Miss Witton, an American woman who arrived at the Gare de Lyon last night from Geneva, reported to the police an exciting__adventiire with a chauffeur and another man whom she engaged to drive her from the rdniton to her hotel. When the car reached the hanks of | the Seine on the Quai des Ttiileries the chauffeur stopped and the other man, who had been seated by his side, opened tlio door and told the woman she had reached her destination. Miss j Witton declined to get out of the car, fearing a trap, and insisted on the chauffeur taking her to the door of her hotel, which he did. I M iss Wilton’s baggage was being unloaded by the hotel employees, and aii her belongings had been apparently safely handed over, when the chauffeur and his companion jumped into Lhe car and drove off at full speed. A few minutes later Miss Witton found that her jewel case containing £4OO worth of jewellery had disappeared. The police to-day arrested the chauffeur and his accomplice and found the whole of the missing jewellery in their possession.OLYMPIA CIRCUS. LONDON. December 22. The fascination of a circus is as strong as ever. The great audience that saw the initial performance of the i International Circus at Olympia. Kensington. W.. yesterday afternoon was! lost between astonishment and laughter to the eiid of the programme. It- is Captain Bertram -Mills’s 7th Christmas season at Olympia, and it was inaugurated by the Lord flavor of London, Sir W. Rowland Blades, whose appearance in the royal box with the Lady Mayoress was the signal for a procession, headed by a band.

Graceful horses, delightful little Slietlami ponies, the Mjdgelville stage coach with its load ol dapper dwarfs, clever dugs, the hahy elephant in his private chariot, a troupe of midgets on loot, the “bucking” motor-car, and a crowd of clowns and grotesques lull of prankish merriment passed amid cheers and laughter and the happy shouts of hundreds of children. Their efforts justified Lord Lonsdale s statement at the opening luncheon that “this year’s circus is by far the biggest show oi its kind ill the world, Krnest Schumann's eight horses—glorious black horses with green amt golden trappings and white plumes—danced riderless singly and in couples in perfect time with the band, and then performed a musical maze. One cantered into the ring with a whip in his mouth and drovV another out. Katie. Sadwinn, the wonder-woman of strength, drove into the ring in a Roman chariot, escorted by gladiators, and performed some extraordinary feats, one- of which was to support a foot-bride pit her body, over which men and horses walked. The hahy elephant, wearing a huge pink bow. rode a bicycle, to the great delight of tile children. Lord Lonsdale was kept busy walking to and from the ringside with bouquets for the women pel-formers, ol whom there are about 30. KOHLERS’ TUNNEL. WARSAW. December 22. Investigation into the robbery of c 100,000 from the Discount Hank licre by thieves who entered the building by means of a tunnel which they had constructed under the roadway have disclosed that the tunnel was 63 yards long and was built on the most modern system applied in mines. 1: was supplied with an electric light and telephone service connected with l lie cellars of a toy shop opposite the hank, in which tile thieves had established their headquarters. A large sum of money was spent on the const r-.icti.in of the underground corridor. The robbers were not entirely successfi I in their raid as they apparently forgot that tie u.-.e of chemicals nec-es-sarv to open the safes would produce asphyxiating gases. They were comjk Hell bv the poisonous fumes to withdraw before they could open the principal safe in the bank, whose contents were of great value. No arrest lias so far been made. The police bol have that the robbery was carried out by an international gang and that they have escaped into Germany. FLAGUE OF STARLINGS. LONDON, December 22. Starlings, whose large winter (locks are common about the countryside, have invaded Lord Clinton’s North

Devon estate, near .Merton, in such huge numbers Him they have become a serious plague. .Many valuable young Inrcli trees have been damaged by the weight of the bil-ds roosting on them • night after night. The trees are described as being “bent as though by a blizzard.” In several recent winters the starlings have taken up their quarters in the neighbourhood, and all efforts to drive them farther afield have proved vain. There are countless thousands of them, and when they take to the air together the mass ot birds is like a large black cloud. Their numbers are greater than ever this winter, and a report oil the plague and the damage caused by it is to be sent to the Forestry Commission. ’VARSITY RAG. LONDON, December 15. Cambridge University undergraduates hist night celebrated their team’s victory over Oxford University in the annual Rugby iuotball match. The Cambridge team had dinner at the Piccadilly Hotel and were greeted with cheers when they arrived. The hand struck up “ For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow ” in honour of C. F. Barlow. tile captain, and the guests, many of whom were Rugby players, rose and drank his health. About 400 undergraduates from both Oxford and Cambridge invaded the Hippodrome Theatre where “ Sunny ” was being performed. A wild “ rag ” was th.e order of the evening, but, save for slight damage in the bar, behaviour was not too bad.

Throughout the performance the actors were inaudible, but everyone—including Hr Jack Buchanan and Miss Finnic Hale, the leading man and leading lady respectively—took the “rag” i;i the best spirit.

Cat-calls, cheers, and snatches of college songs were kept up throughout the performance, and the actors, Heiresses, and members of the chorus were subjected to a continual rain ol .stream.ers thrown from the stalls, baltonv. am! boxes.

Leap-frog over the liar counter was the programme of some of the celebrating undergraduates. Glasses were smashed and bottles knocked over, but after a time the revellers took to community singing. Several of the most popular hits of “ Sunny ” were drowned bv the lusty voices of the under-

graduates shouting songs familiar to the ’Varsities.

At the conclusion of the performance about 21) young men scrambled from their boxes on the prompt side and clambering over two rows of stalls leant on to the stage. Seventeen of them linked arms with members of the chorus and the principal actors and actresses and joined ill the final ensemble.