NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 343, 19 March 1910, Page 10

NEWS BY MAIL.

A VENDETTA--lIO\Y IT IS (ALLIED

CUT IX SPAIN

.Madrid, .lanunrv ■!:>. The pi-Lou at Iznalioz, in the province 01 (.i-.inada, was partiallv destroved by a dynamite bomb yestc.-'dav as an act of revenge against two prLo'ners bv tne family 0 f a, man they had killed. The prisoners were coniined to an outer cell, which was lighted bv a window overlooking the street. Details of the outrage have not been received Here, but the relatives of the murdered man are said to have bribed a, warder to show them the location of the cell in which the murderers were confined. They managed to throw the bomb through the window, and it exploded with terrific force against the wall. Both prisoners were injured, and one of them will die.

THIRTEEN CLUB-A GRUESOME Ri- v EL.

New York, January 16. Superstition was flouted and invited to do its worst by all manner oi taunts levelled against the fearsome number thirteen at a banquet given in New York last night by the members ot the Thirteen Club.

The club contains many more than thirteen members, but the diners sat at tables thirteen to each. Before each plate a red candle burned in a death's head holder, and the member whose candle went out first was supposed to receive it as a sign. As soon as the company was seated a new mirror was broken.

The ices were served in the form of a skull reposing in a coffin. The toastmaster used a forearm bone to rap for order. At intervals the diners counted up to thirteen as a chant, the numbsr thirteen .being hailed with cheers. At the close of the banquet the waiters filed info fhe room to the music of a runeral march, each waiter bearing aloft a chocolate cake with thirteen candles burning on it and a white skull and cross-bones in the centre.

Insulted fate had revenge 00 the diners at one of the tables. At the head of each table an open umbrella was placed to flaunt the rain superstition. A waiter bearing a well-filled soup tureen caught the tail of his ccat in one of the umbrellas, and there was a shower of hot soup over one of the jesters.

DEATH OP A WELSH MILLIONAIRE

-JOHN CORY.

Cardiff, January 28. Mr. John Cory, thel Welsh millionaire and father of Sir Clifford Cory, the Radical candidate for St. Ives, Cornwall, died yesterday morning at Duffryn, near Cardiff, while the electors in the division his son is contesting were going to the poll. Mr. Cory built up, from a small coasting business which he inherited from his father, enormous firm of steamship and colliery owners, finally becoming the largest coal exporter in the world. The collieries which he directed have now an output of more than 2,000,000 tons a year. He showed his wonderful foresight in the establishment oi depots for the supply of Cardiff coal in all parts of the world. The first of these depots was started hi the time of the opening of the Suez Canal, and the experiment was an immediate and continuous success.

The firm also became proprietors of several huge collieries, and in 18S3 Mr. Cory associated himself with other colliery proprietors in promoting the Barry Dock scheme. He was a large share holder and one of the original directors of the Barry Railway Company, He was a great philanthropist and temperance reformer, and presented a memorial hall to the Cardiff temperance societies, making also largo gifts to various charities and educational insti tutions. He especially favored the method of offering a large sum on the condition that another large sum was offered elsewhere, and greatly stimulat ed the generosity of other philanthropists by this means. It is estimated that he assisted nearly 2000 institutions annually. Mr. Cory declined more than one offer of a title, declaring that he had lived "plain John Cory " so he would die.

TRAGIC LOVE AFFAIR IN A SWISS PENSION. Geneva, January 22. Mile. Obrist, a j'Oung lady of twenty, the daughter of a wealthy Belgian, was shot and dangerously wounded last evening at a large girls' school at Arbon, on Lake Constance. The criminal was the fifteen-year-old son of the headmistress and proprietor oi the school, who had fallen desperately in love with his victim.

Last evening the hoy knocked at the room of Mile. Obrist, and said that his mother wished to see her at occe in the salon. She went downstairs, and on entering the salon was confronted by the youth, who said: "It is not mother, but I, who want to speak to you. Will you become my'wife?"

Mile. Obrist laughingly refused to give the promise and was moving away when the youth drew a revolver and shot her twice, afterwards blowing out his brains. One of the bullets struck Mile. Obrist in the head and the other lodged in her body. She is lying in a dangerous condition.

GREAT EARTHQUAKE AT SOME PLACE UNKNOWN.

London, January 24. A terrific earthquake has occurred -somewhere, but where is a mystery at present. It may have 'oeen in the bed of the ocean or in one of the vast des erts, but the records which it made on seismographic instruments in various countries are extremely violent. Professor Milne, the* Isle 01 Wight ex pert, says: "The shocks are yery much biggeT than those which destroyed Mes sina and San Francisco. The shock which was recorded at 8.52 a.m. on Sat urday continued for over three hours.

The following Reuter messages snow the violence of the shocks as recorded on seismographic instruments ir. various countries:—

Paris.—The seismo graph of the Meteorological Bureau of Paris on Saturday morning registered the most violent earthquake shock ever recorded by the bureau. It is believed to have occurred in the Caucasus or Armenia. Brussels.—The observatory here recorded a very violent earthquake shock of long duration at 8 o'clock on Saturday morning. It is estimated that the disturbance was over 1200 miles distant.

Seydisfjord (Iceland) —Three sfevere earthquake shocks were felt at S a.m. on Saturday. The sharpest shock lasted •forty seconds.