MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 61, 8 January 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS

Eftry schoolboy is familiar wtthth* story of William Tell, who shot the apple from off bis son's head at the command of a tyrant ; but we see by our foreign files thai a similar feat has been voluntarilj performed by a reckless Father at Speyer, a town situated upon the Rhine, in Bavaria. It seems that a wearer, who is known as the best shot in the district, wbe^re rifle practice is very popular and markmanship very highly esteemed, bethought himself of a crowning proof of his unerring aim. He thereupon led his son, a lad of eleven years, to a certain spot, and paced off seventy yards. Upon the boy's head, thus posted, he, placed an apple, and, >etiring with his rifle to the distance of two hundred and ten feet, he called upon his friends who had assembled to witness the dangerous and heartless act to observe that he should cut the apple in two without harminir his child. He deliberately raised bis weapon, fired, cut the apple in the middle bating the child neither scathed nor frightened, to confident was the latter in his father's skill. The. heartless him was about t<* repeat the experiment, when the police, secretly informed, it was said, by the boy's mother, came upon the, ground, and interfered to prevent the continuance of such a dangerous experiment, and arrested the father, imprisoning him for • number ©fdays inpunis^me^fiwhiifoolh^rainess. —Exchange, The Norfolk Reformer vouebet for the following funny incident as baring occurred in a court at Simcoe recently. :•— " Mistakes will happen is the best regulated families j , H and the, adage might certainly be rery appropriately applied to court rooms; at all events a ludicrous mistake, occurred in the Simcoe. court room the other day. A certain lady, eridently unsophisticated in legal court etiquette — although she was evidently well versed in other kinds of courting— wms called for a witness ; she tfmidlj stepped into the bos and the oath was solemnly read orer to her, when she wms apparently in a quandary what to do next. The judge, seejug the woman hesitate, said; " Kiss; the book." The lady biushed> and, to the astonishment (we might add; satisfaction of the venerable crier of the, court, reached do^a ani gare him a genuine kiss. The, court smiled out loud, and even the stern features of the judge, were seen to relat. Again the woman was told to kiss the book, and; again ibe magnetic influence of the crier's ambrosial features drew her attention, and he received a seeo.nd "smack." The court by tjrß time was convulsed injtnghtar. the judge gave evident signs of uoeaaineas, and the constables cried " Sileoce " and "Order," to divert attention from themselves. A very careful explanation, was then given the woman, that it w.a» the Bible and not the venerable erieroftbe court that she wa» expected to kiss ; the duty was performed, and the court resumed the inquiry into dry facts and) Stern realities. A diseorery which brings recollections of the Wainwright aurder ease has been made at Borne. A box forwarded to the, ;ailw,ay station there lay for sues a length. of time without being claimed that the. officials of the company began to suspect that something was wrong, and proceeded to open it. (they found that it contained the remains of a young woman] but the body had been embalmed in such a manner that although death had taken place long before, there were, no signs of decomposition. At first the police, experienced the greatest difficulty in obtainin? any clue to the sender, but a diligent inquiry led to the discovery that the corpse had been preferred and patfrtdbr. a master baker, occupying a good >osi» tion in Naples, fffco hsd maintained the girl as his misj^ess. Traces of poison hare been found • jr, the body of the deceased, w>o was # kngfii in, jTaplet as GuisejSpina Gazzar, «n A little doubt is entertained that she met her death at the hands of the baker. Great sensation has been created at Kaplee by the ditclosure of these facts, and the trial is looked forward to with a^iiety.