GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2149, 13 July 1920, Page 1

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

According to a German neAvspaper, some 20 convicts at Zeigonliain, near Marburg, fell upon their guards while going to a religious service, and, seizing a machine-gun, used it to effect their escape. After a hard light the troops succeeded in catching many of the men, after several had been shot and others Avounded.

A pet parrot on board the steamer Curacao, which arrived at San Francisco from South Pacific ports, repeated the remarks of a sailor, Avith the’ result that 374 bottles of liquor Avhich bad been secreted by members of; the ercAv Avere discovered and throAvn overboard before the ship reached the three-mile limit. The parrot died soon afterwards. William Perry, a life convict in Sing Sing Prison, U.S.A., recently released, celebrated his pardon by giving a dinner to 17 less-fortunate

“lifers.'’ The convicts dined in the warden’s home, outside the prison. The warden, his wife, and the prison chaplain were among the guests, amid decorations of flowers and flags. This is the only ease on record of a convict being a dinner host.

“He blindfolded himself and walked .over Beacby Head, falling to the rooks below, a dislaneo of 500 feet. ’ This sensational evidence was given at an inquest at East bourne on Leonard Meaehen, a draper, of Parley. He bad taken the train from Parley to Eastbourne, and after sending: a telegram to his brother-in-law, saying, “Go to my wife immediately,” he wont to the dill' head and hurled himself to death. The coastguards had to cut steps in the cliff before they could recover the body. A.verdict of “Suicide during temporary insanity” was returned.

The accidental growth of trees by the side of the village church at Koveant, Lorraine, which, silhouetted against the evening sky, form the figure of a Gothic Virgin, has meant both fame and fortune for the village. Crowds are flocking from considerable distances to see the phenomenon, some prompted by faith in the miraculous, and some merely out of curiosity. The number of would-be visitors has become so great that it has been necessary to organise a special motor ear service from Metz and Strasburg. Needless to say, as soon as the trees are again in leaf the figure will disappear.

A green parrot was a witness in a

case at a London police court, when a seaman Avas charged Avith stealing the bird from a man aboard the same ship. Prisoner said he had been under the impression that the bird was his, but, having ascertained that it talked, ho had changed Ids mind, as his bird was mute. When the parrot, in a cage, was taken into court, the magistrate said that if it used bad language it would have to be taken out, but the prosecutor addressing it as “Laura” it answered Avitli the same Avprd. Prisoner was discharged, and the magistrate observed that the parrot left the court without a stain on his character.