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Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 109, 21 January 1880, Page 2

Thb Fate or Greatness. — The Geelong Times exclaims : — How aro th,e m.ighty fallen ! A greyhound, with a pedigree dating back to Master McGteath, wa* sold hy order of the assignee, m an insolvent estato last week. Tho auctioneer diluted for a considerable time on the merits of the animal, concluding his peroration with — " Will anybody star}- the bidding at £20 ? " There was no response for some timo, when at length a bold speculator,? butcher's boy ahouted out, " I'll give you a ' bob ' for him master ! " and no advance being made over this ljbeml offer of a " bob," the animal was knocked down. A rival butcher's boy who was envious of the purchaser, here remarked, * ' I suppose your master will lower tho price of sausages now j why he'il weigh 20)h,." A Fbabfdl Death. — Some two months ago (writes " Atticus," all readers of tb». European Butumariea were liorrified at the j (rightful story of a Pole who set fire to his i spine and slowly burnud himself to death. The story, of coursp, vyaa tha concoction of the same ingenious Frenchman of the Figaro who invonted tho murder m the balloon wh^ch so interested everybody. But it is strange, that fiet ion is often exceeded by a reality. A Itussmn political prisoner named Serge Somoff, an ex-sl udent of the Odessa University, was so brutally treated m his prison that lie determined to destroy himself. His cell was never cleaned, and he complained that he suffered (rom fainting Jfita and suffocation caused by mophitic air. What followed upon his complaint is recorded by the English Consul: — "The governor of the gaol, irritated by his daily roit erased imp.ortuuit io.s, caused corporeal punishment to bo inflicted upoa b'omoff with terrible severity, and ordered that his hands should ho tiad behind his back with a stoul; ropo., m which condition he wad left alone m his cull, stretched out upon thw fl'ping bourns tha,^ constituted his only sleeping-place. Thus i^baudoned to bis misserable lot, bound, smarting from a severe Uosgiug, uud uLterly desperate,' he : 3tri\a;gled into a sitting position on his plank, contrived to seize with his teeth the petroleum lamp standing on a bracket above his head, bit through tue glass well containing the petroleum,- v^hicji caught lire from the still burning flamei of tho lamp, and allowed tho lightud liquid to s.tivaiu down over his body, getting hid puiisou rags ou firi). Then l^o luy down again and suffered tho agony of . burning without utiumi^ aery or a .g.-onn. Presently the 'stench of his" scorching flosh made its way through tha ere v lees of his cell door into tho corridors where a sentry was statibne'd" i * I^Q 'gave tlif. alarm ; and the turnkey., upon opening the door; 'beheld tho unfortunate prisoner enwrapped m a fiery shroud of lambent flamp, Q'iokoring dimly amidst the clouds of thick and acrid smoke with which the dungeon was filled. Somoff uttered no sound, even vd\un la-lp approached him, but regarded hid tornieqtors wi».h a steady and _coldly resentful g.izc. Tho surfnee of liis body was already carbouised ; but lie lived fo.r three hours and a-haif after the il.tinej consuming him had been cxf.inguislied, and auswered all thequestiom put to him with immpvable calm aud cmp.»sure." SurelF " Damiens and his bed of steel " i^igli't fitly parallel this martyrdom." It seems llial the story oozed out m that strange manner m whi'-Ji Russia.'i news gets disseminated m that land of weird sJwr.e.tß ( aiid au official inquiny confirmed tho report, and yet thoro aro people who think that Lhe Niliilists have no cause for their complaints and rebellion.