WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 220, 23 January 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

(Conducted by "Eileen"). n i MOTOR CAR FUNERAL. A motor Ciir funeral has just taken ( place in the Potteries—the dirst of its < kind, in fact, in England. It was that of Mis* Lily 'fwigge, a maiden lady artist, who died while residing with relatives at Stoke. It was her particular wish, that motors only should be used in '. nonveying her body and her friends to t)he place of burial at Liverpool, and her desire 'was carried out in every detail. STARTLING DRESS. A startling dress was worn hy Mdlle. Pierat on a recent evening at the Comedie Francais, Paris. It is not easy to describe the gown, but it recalled memories of the Bacchantes of old, with the tiger skin slung on one side. On the rigiiMuind side there was a bodice to; all intents and purposes, but it was of I such fine texture of llesh-colored cuepe del chine that it was absolutely necessary to know it was there. On the other was] half of ithe bodice proper, which gave the actress the appearance of being only .half dressed. Fashions are said to bo born on the stage nowadays, but surely this one is too audacious to find many imitators.

HEAVY CUTOMS DUTIES Mrs. Huntingdon, the widow of one of the American railways icings, recently paid £ 1(0,000 as Customs dues on a quantity of personal apparel imported by her from Europe. This is said to be the largest sum every paid to the United States Customs authorities by any pri-1 vate person. > INDUSTRIAL WOMEN IN GERMANY. I According to official statistics just published in Germany, the number of women in the Fatherland who follow some profession to gain .their livelihood has very much increased since the beginning of this century, but there are indications that this state of affairs will continue. There is hardly one calling that does not count at least a few female competitors. Of the 33 millions of German women and girls—German has about one million more women than men>—BV2 millions are gaining their living by their own labor. While the number of male workers during the last ten years augmented by '3O per cent., female workers showed an increase of 59 per cent. Sixty-seven per cent. 61 all women workers showed an increase of 58 per cent. Sixty-seven per cent, of all women workers are employed in agricultural and 28 per cent, in industrial and 28 per cent, in industrial pursuits. Slower has been the development in the so-called liberal professions. There are 18,000 women painters and sculptors, '27,000 actresses and other employees of theatres, etc., and about 1000 women journalists.

GIRLS IN A FIRE PANIC DIVE TO DEATH IX GROUPS. I Newark, November 26. Twenty-four girls known to be dead —<burne<l, suffocated or crushed; eigur. dying at hospitals; at least fifteen missing, their bodies supposed to be lying entombed under tons of smoking debris, and thirty-eight seriously injured, is the toll of a fire in an antiquated four-storey brick factory at 216-228 High-street today. In the building were more than 200 girls. The police say eighty-five jumped! from the windows. The property loss is placed at 165,000 dols. While 'the fire raged, crowds knelt in the street to pray. The rush of the flames was so swift that the body of one girl was- found still seated on a charred stool beside a machine.

A gasoline explosion s'tarted the disaster. Inadequate five escapes, a narrow, winding, wooden stairway the only other exit, and panic, forced by a riot of smoke and flame through flooring and walls soaked in the oil drippings of fifty years—that sums up the story. The fastest and most efficient fire department in the world could not have] prevented the tragedy. There was good fighting; not all the brave men in the' land could have done more except in a slight degree. Men and women workejj and dared. They did save some at the risk of their lives. It was not five minutes after the fire was discovered at 9.23 a.m. before, from tlie fourth floor, girls, Who fought to reach the windows, were diving through the smoke clouds to the sidewalk on High-street, down on the engine-room ex> tension to the war, and on the Orangestreet side into the yard. They came, 1 not one at a 'time, but in groups. As many as six 'were seen to jump at one instant. The firemen with their nets did the best they could when they arrived, but to catch all was impossible. Fully eightyfive young women took the leap of fiftytwo feet to the ground in front and thirty feet in the rear. Not one escaped severe injury. Of the dead found afterwards in the ■ ruins, eight were burned almost beyond recognition, fourteen were killed by jumping, and the fifteen missing are supposed to be still in the ruins, making the death list thirty-seven. The building was erected before the days of modern fireproofing. The halls, beams, doors and floors were all of pine, and the halls were so narrow that hardly two persons could come abreast down the stairs. The building, erected as a factory when the Civil ■ War came on, was made a' manufactory plant for the troops. It ; I belonged to the Glass estate. The ground floor was used by a machinery concern and a manufacturer. Another box manufacturer occupied the second floor. The third floor ■was divided between the Aetna Electric Company and the Anchor Lamp Company. The fourth floor was occupied by a maim-! faeturer of women's muslin undcrgar- \ niont?, employing 100 girls. I The first flush of flame was discovered i by an engine company across the street. Four minutes later seVeral ladders had been raised to the windows, but the flames bursting from the third floor ren-j dcred them useless. The liev. E. F. Quirk, of St. Joseph's

Church, gave the last rites to seven of the victims. The priest worked nobly, helping the firemen to reach parts of the building where injured might be saved. The entire city department was soon at 'work, but could do nothing. Surgeons impressed private automobiles as ambulances.

The fourth floor fell through, part of the third gave way, as well as the second. The rescue of the bodies was halted by the danger of walls falling.

" DEAD " WOMAN MOVES IN HER COFFIN. DAUGHTER'S SUSPICIONS SAVE HER MOTHER.

Cleveland, November 24.

Shifting her position in the casket in which she had been borne to the vault as dead, to be brought back to health, was the experience of Mrs. Anna Hubbel, of Aurora. Ohio, according to her daugh-

ter, who lives in this city. Mrs. Etta Winfield, the daughter, says j her mother was taken ill three weeks ago and was thought to have died. She told the undertaker that members of her mother's family had been subject to j trances and that she had suspicions that her mother was not really dead. Mrs. Hubbel was accordingly laid away in the cemetery, the lid of the casket being left open. j

Late that night the sexton, who had heard of the daughter's suspicions, went to the vault and discovered that the body had moved. He summoned aid and had the woman taken to a physician, who pronounced her in a trance. After several hours she was again well.