GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2292, 21 June 1921, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

A missel thrush which constructcd its nest lust year of artificial flowers obtained from wreaths in the cemetery at Ashford (Kent), has returned to the cemetery. It is building- its nest in the same tree, and has again used some artificial flowers for the purpose. Very few people know that an ostrich roars, said Mr F. Balfour Browne, in the first of a series of lectures on “Animals at the Zoo,” at the London Zoological Society. The roar of an ostrich and of a lion were so alike that Dr. Livingstone could never distinguish the difference, s-avo by the fact that the bird roared by day, and the lion by night. A girl named Emily Elizabeth Hayes was granted £8 compensation against her employers at Maryle# hone County Court recently for the loss of a patch of hair. It was stated that the hair was torn from her head while she was receiving instruction in how to use a drilijng machine in a woodwork factory. Her hair caught in the spindle of the machine.

An X-ray photograph of Mr James B. *Broad, jn hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, showed that

the cause of bis illness was a tooth which had odged in a lung. Mr Broad, according to the doctors, had four teeth extracted several weeks previously, taking gas for the operation. Tho doctors believe that one of the extracted teeth accidentally slipped down the windpipe. Leopold Wolfling, formerly the Archduke Leopold Ferdinand of, Austria, is about to appear as a music-hall artist, and will make a tour of the principal music-halls of Europe. His first appearance will be in a comic sketch at a popular cabaret in Berlin. The ex-Arch-duke, who in his time was an admiral in the Austro-Hungarian navy, will wear an admiral’s uniform on the stage.

A woman of 85, who lived at Marseilles in a miserable attic, and was begging in the. streets, died recently. The police found hidden in her clothing- £4,800 of scrip. She was a refugee from Northern France, and came to Marseilles at the beginning of the war. She always wore the same costume, and kept her valuables in a- big pocket. She left a will bequeathingjier fortune to the Home for Blind People in Paris.

A cabman witness so struck a London Court by his wit and wisdom that Mr Justice Avery asked him how long ho had been a-cab-man. “Fifty years.” “But you were not always a cabman ! ’ persisted the judge. “No,” replied the witness, “I started life as a medical student at St. Bart’s, but the life was too quiet for me. I wanted ter see the world, and I became u cabman.” “For 35 years I drove a hansom,/and for 15 years I’ve meen a taxi driver.” This remarkable cabman has a daughter who bus taken a. medical degree, and a son a lieutenant-colonel.

Three music-hall performers, .Jesse Jacobson, B. Hedges, and 1\ T. Hedges, finished their golfing walking tour from Birmingham to Hull recently. Their time for the 152 miles was 0 days Tit hours. The winner was Jesse Jacobson, whose total of strokes was (57 fewer than either of the others. On the way they played through five snowstorms, and at some points in the Midlands they had big audiences of miners. They started from the first tee at Castle Bromwich, and it was stipulated that none of them should shave or change their clothes or hoots before reaching Hull. Mr J. S. Vanvoorhis, a wealthy New York motor car supply agent, who is suing for a separation, alleges that his wife attempted to persecute him by inciting spirits to dog him. He says that he and his wife had frequent quarrels, and that on these occasions she used to call on her dead mother and other rein - tiwes to come to her aid, thus making his life with her a burden. Part of his case is a letter from his wife, in which she says: —“Mother, Alice, and Alma will follow you everywhere, night and day, and point fingers tif accusation. Don’t try to get away. They will cease only when I request them to do so. Other faces will fill every spot you have compelled me to vacate."