NEWS BY MAIL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 8, 3 February 1909, Page 4

NEWS BY MAIL

THE JIAINS CASE. UNWRITTEN LAW ML'RDER AND ITS SEyUEL. NOVELIST'S COMPLICITY IN A SENSATIONAL CRIME. New York, December 14. The selection of a jury for the trial of Air Thornton J . liaius, the novelist and magazine writer, for complicity ill tile murder of Mr William Ainiis by Cajiin. . Peter 0. Ilains last August began to-day at Flushing, Long Island. This case is without precedent in the criminal annals of the State of New York, and is exciting widespread attention throughout the country not 011'y because of its curious legal prospect, but also owing to tlie sensational nature of the tragedy.

The murder of Mr Annis was the se.(juel to a scandal involving tlie reputation o£ Captain llaiiu wife. While Captain Ilains, who is an artillery officer, was stationeil at Fort Hamilton, New York, early last year, it is alleged that be became extremely violent and tried to kill Mrs Iliiin, who, he said, had made a confession with regard her relations with Mr Ami is.

An official investigation followed this incident, and the War Department expelled Mrs Ilains from the fort, and ti'iuisfervcd hi'i" husband to I'ort Wadesworth.

On August 15 last Captain Ilains and his brother arrived at the Bayside Yacht Club, on l.ong Island, ami waited on the verandah of the club bouse for ilr Anni*. who was sailing in a cat boat.

Mrs Annis tried to warn her husband by niegapholii' not to lainl, but he disregarded tlie warning, and brought the boat alongside the Uniting stage. As he ascended the steps Captain Hains went quickly towards him and shot him in the abdomen. As Mr Annis fell, Captain ilains caught him, and held him with one arm while he 'fired five more shots into his body. Mr Thornton Ilains meanwhile nourished his own revolver and shouted: "This is my brother's business. The man who interferes dies." Mrs Ilains afterwards declared that her confession of intimacy with Mr Annis was untrue, and it was extracted only alter the brothers starved her for two da y> ami employed cruel methods of compulsion. It is not anticipate!) that there will be many sensational revelations at this trial, but when Captain Ilains is placed 011 trial it is believed that many unpleasant details of the so-called "seamy side" of life in the American army will be brought out.

Mr Thornton llains ? defence will In: that li'u did not know his brother intended to murder Mr Annis until after the lirst shot had been fired. Jle, then drew his own revolver because \i-> thought the crowd would lynch his brother.

A secondary line of defence will be that inasmuch as Captain Ilains was insane at- the time of the murder, Mr Thornton i.-amiot be charged with instigation because an insane man is not responsible for his acts. The prosecution lias ('employed l)i\ Austin Mint, a noted alienist, to attend the trials of the brothers and combat the insanity plea.

(Cabled news informed us the oilier day that a verdict of Not Cuilly was returned in the case of Thornton ilains).

a tali; of wealth. LOKD BUTE'S £1,000,1)00 DEAL. London, December 18. The term* on which the Marquis of Bute, lias so 111 his large interest in the CardiiV Railway Company, which owns the Bute Docks, to the Tail' Yale Bailway Company, were issued yesterday. The total amount to be paid by the TaJI Vale Company is .C4,44.Vj00, and of this the Marquis receives X 1,000,000, divided ay follows £<400,000 Tall' Vale Four per Cent. Preference .shares. X 1,000,000 Tail' Yale ordinary shares, i'ooo,ooo in cash. In addition there will be secured to the Marquis by Act oi Parliament yet to bo passed A half penny a ton royalty on all shipments and unsliipments passing through tho docks. TV,i per cent on all wharfage, loading, or embarking dues in respect of all goods. One-half of any rent that may be received by the company in respect of lands, warehouses anu buildings, comprised in the transfer. The total capitalisation of the CardiD' Uailway company was .C(i,77OJMB, so that from the point of view of the Tail' Yale Bailwav Company the deal is a good one. All lliose who have had any interest in the Cardill" Company other than lite Marquis of Bute have received equivalent holding in the TalV Yah* Company, and the apparent toss in capital i* borne entirely by the Marquis it must lie noted, however, that there U a substantial reduction in the nominal capital value of the Marquis share, but hi* im-ome will not suffer. The bulk of his holding In the Cardill' Company was in ordinary shares, the return on which for eighteen years past has only been \\ per cent. The. TalV Yale ordinary shares for which he has exchanged have, on the other hand, for many years paid 4. per cent. The royalties and rents in which the "Marquis retains his interest will produce. aeeordhig t<> last year's figure*, k CU(i,O7O, so thai the total annual income he may expect under the new arrangement may be set out as follows : Bents and royalties ±\3G,OG7 Interest on preference shares 10,000 interest on ordinary shares 40,000 Interest on £OOO,OOO cash (1 per cent.) 20,000

Total £112,970 The -Marquis' holding in the Carditl" Company, with Die rents and royalties, produced £.ll-1,!>70 in 1907, so that only a small vise in TitiV Vale dividends is needed to recoup him for the apparent loss lie has sustained by the deal. It i 3 interesting tu note that in the last returns in connection with the In-come-tax there were only twenty-one men iu the United Kingdom whose incomes were over £."30,000 a year. Tho present -Marquis of Unto is 27 years of age. lie succeeded his lather' to the title in HMK), and was married in i!JO"> to the daughter of Sir nenrv 15el-! lingham. ' ! 1 His income is by no means limited to I I the £IU,I>OO a year he has received from the Cardifl' docks, and it lias been ! estimated that quite another CKHWHIO may be added in regain to his other possessions. These include : Caruui Castle and several c'hil mines iu the county of Glamorganshire, including 21,000 acres of land. Mount Stewart Castle, which co>t between £(100,000 and £7U(l,(ltll) to build, near Rothesay, iu the .Me of liute. The (lid Place of Alochruin, and 20,001) acres iu Wigtownshire, Dumphries Castle, Did Cummock, and •ll.ooi) acres in Ayrshire. Si. ,lohu r s Ludgi' ; Regent's Park, in Loudon. A house in Ediuburgh which co 4 £ 1.1,000. When his father died in 1000, the total value of his property, was returned at £0,000,000. TRAGEDY JX THE SEYERX TI'X.XEL Ml'RDElt AXD SITCfDE IX AX EXPRESS THAI X. London, December IS. A dramatic murder and suicide took place late last night on the Southampton to CardiJV express. The bodies were identified by Mrs Clarke, of the Yews. Chepstow road, Cardiff, ns those of her daughter, .Miss Catherine Edith Gwendolen Clarke. Uvcniy-one years «»ld, and Mr Arthur P. Wintie. a gas engineer, of Mead -(reel, Temple-gate Bristol. The tragedy occurred just a* Mie DJiO p.m. express emerged from the Severn tunnel. As the train was leaving the tunnel the guard heard six revolver shots in quick succession. The train was stopped, and the guard ran along the footboard to tho carriage from which the report came. lie found a man nSt woman lying dead, on the floor of the compartment. Death was due to shot wounds, and the injuries seemed to show that the man had first shot his companion and then then turned the revolver on himself. The bodies wore Liken to Newport and removed to the mortuary. Mr Lewis, an uncle of the girl, said thai Wintie met his niece in Cardiff, and made love to her. They became engaged, but her family discovered that he was a married family with two children at Coventry, where a maintenance order was made against him last week, Latterly it appears that Miss Clarke has Veen corresponding with him secretly. which accounts for a letter from him addressed to a restaurant at Newport being found on Ivor body. Miss v.iarke left heme early yesterday morning to go to Bristol about a situation, and it is supposed that she .met AYintle there by appointment, and started back with hini to Newport. 1 When the "bodies were examined at

Newport it was found that Miss Clarke had tour wounds in the neck, and that Wintle had a wound extending from the nioutll to the back of the head. A sixchambered revolver with all Llie chambers discharged were found on the lloor of the railway carriage between the victims. AIRSHIP DESTROYER FOR GERMANY. ARMOURED CAR WITH A SHRAPNEL GUN. Berlin, December 11. The German War Office will soon possess ail airship destroyer capable of pursuing anil annihilating any modern air-ship-destroyer. Messrs IChrbardt have constructed an armoured airship destroyer, which is a motor car carrying a 2iu. ijuic-k-firiug gun, and propelled by a 00 h.p. benzine engine, capable of a speed of forty-live miles an hour. This destroyer will be able to chase airships of all existing types. The destroyer carries ammunition consisting of 100 slirapnu shells, 'each shell ' containing 017 grains of explosive, 128 lead bullets, and 27 pieces of lead. THE KING TO MR CARNEGIE. THANKS KIR GKNUROSITY TO LAND OP HIS BIRTH. Loudon, December IS. .Mr Andrew Carnegie, according to the New York correspondent of the Times, has received a generous recognition of bis public bcMci'aclions from the King ill the following letter : Windsor Castle. Nov. 21, I9OS. Hear Mr Carnegie,—l leave for some lime past been anxious to express to you ni.v sense of your generosity for the great public objects which you have presented to this country, the land of your birth. Scarcely b'ss admirable than the gifts themselves is the great care and tliougnt you have taken in guarding against their misuse. I am anxious to tell you how warmly T recognise your most generous benefactions anil the great services they are likely to confer upon the country. As a mark of recognition I hope you will accept the portrait of myself which I .1111 sending to you.—Believe me, dear Mr Carnegie, Sincerely Yours, Edward R and I.