KISSED TO DEATH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 193, 18 September 1909, Page 3

KISSED TO DEATH.

THE FEMININE KISS NOT ONLY .THRILLS BUT SOMETIMES KILLS. Musicnl "lions'' and actors have nl- , ways been more or less a target for the feminine kiss, and it seems that now even aeroplauists are not allowed to escape, for Mr. Latham on his return to , the French coast after his recent flight was literally smothered by them. The power of the f.'mlnine kiss is adI mil ted, and has been the world over, I from all time, but there are some illus- | trations of its potency which are very interesting, showing as they do the power tu kill as well as to fascinate and thrill. On lire occasion of the arrival of the Australian soldiers at Melbourne from the seat of war, a bevy of fair Australians kissed one of them, a particularly handsome member of the regiment, until he fainted. KISSED BY FIVE HUNDRED. • The soldiers were welcomed by a ! gathering whose enthusiasm the police were quite powcr.less to control, and the ladies, in many instances, tore the men from the ranks and many of them were overcome; one of the sturdiest and liiindsonicst actually fainted under th" kisses conferred by over five hundred maidens. Butty, the wonderful and handsome boy actor, when at the zenith of his juvenile fame, was on one occasion walking with some ladies, when nnother batch of lady admirers bore down upon him, and, pulling him away from his companions, commenced to lavish on him endearments and kisses. The o'thcrs promptly rushed to their idol's rescue, who between the contending parties—each determined to possess the boy actor—was thrown to the ground, with the seething mass of admirers upon him. The poor boy was so much hurt that he was unable to appear for several weeks. Insignificant was this mischance to •the fate that befel M. de Langy, a courtier of the time of Louis XV., whose supreme conceit so irritated certain ladies of the court that they resolved to inflict upon him a novel punishment. Feigning one day to be overcome bv the beauty of his face and person, they fell upon him, hugging and kissing the wretched dandy till he cried for mercy. SENTENCED TO BE CARESSED TO DEATH. Deaf to his, entreaties, the ladies continued theft merciless caresses until the object of thei r mock love—who, indeed, was but a sorry weakling—in endeavoring to break away from their clutches, broke a blood vessel and died a few days later. In the autumn of 1908 a doctor was called in to see a young man who was supposed to be suffering from an attack of pleurisy, but on a careful examination the doctor declared that the youuer man had a severe fracture in one of hi* ribs. It afterwards transpired that he had received a t the arms of several young ladies an embrace on the occasion of his parting. Amuralh IV., the Turkish Sultan, suspecting one of his ministers of deai-ns upon the sanctity of his harem, order'd the culprit to be kissed to death. The victim was securely tied to the ground and then suffocated by the caresses and kisses'of the inmates of the harem, who were stimulated to their task by unrelenting whips.