NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 315, 31 May 1911, Page 3

NEWS BY MAIL.

DIVORCED PERSONS AT COURT. THE KING REVIVES QUEEN ! VICTORIA'S RULE. London, April 10. It is understood that the rule prescribed by Queen Victoria as to the non-atteudanee of divorced persons at Court has been revived in tlie present reign. Some relaxation of the rule was granted by King Edward, but it is believed that, although one or two hardships may be inflicted, the more comprehensive measure is more workable and satisfactory. A CONVERTED GRAFTER. ABE RUEF. SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER. New York, April 0. Abraham Ruef, the notorious political grafter in San Francisco, who is now serving a term of fourteen years' penal servitude for bribery, has started a Bible school among his fellow-prisoners. Ruef found two prisoners reading sensational novels, He talked to them about the Bible, and they told other prisoners, with the result that Ruef soon had a class of twenty pupils. The ex-boss has agreed to deliver a' series of sermons in the prison chapel.' Ruef is an excellent talker, and his| influence is expected to surpass that of. the prison chaplain. I This is the first time that a political' grafter has exhibited remorse and religious tendencies after imprisonment. WOMAN CARPENTER. WORKS AS JOURNEYMAN FOR HER HUSBAND. Paris, April 8. An amusing discovery has been made at Montlueon, where new barracks are being built. The military authorities have found to their astonishment that one of the carpenters is a young woman, aged twenty-nine.

Her name is Juliette Fleurier. Her husband is a master carpenter, and she has acted as his journeyman for the last four years.

She is regarded as an expert by her comrades, and works in a very becoming suit of dark blue corduroy with pewter buttons. She wears a kind of trouscrskirt, or rather zouave trousers, with enormous pockets, in which she carries her foot-rule, her compasses, and her spirit-level.

Just before her sex was discovered by the authorities, Mme. Fleurier had finished her day's work on a small scaffolding sixty feet above the ground. She earns four shillings a day, except when she does piecework, when she makes double that amount. MURDERER BESIEGED. KILLED AFTER A DESPERATE BATTLE WITH POLICE. Berlin. April 10. The murderer Kowall, who escaped from Laurahuette. in the. Silesian mining district, on Saturday, after killing a gendarme who was enveavoring to capture him, was himself killed yesterday after sensational circumstances,

Kowall took refuge in his uncle's house at Rossberg. near Beuthen. Tlie uncle iirformed the police, and early yesterday morning six policemen surrounded the house.

One of them entered the place, and was immediately attacked by an accomplice of the desperado, while Kowall himself fired repeatedly at the police from a window. After wounding several of his antagonists. Kowall fell dead with ten bullets in his body. His accomplice, who was captured, died later from his wounds.

One of the policemen who took part in tlie siege is in a serious condition. AERIAL TORPEDO. REMARKABLE WEAPON PATENTED New York, April 7. Messrs. Krupp, the great German firm, have filed the details of their new aerial torpedo with the Federal Patent office, in order to secure the American rights of this invention. According to the plans which accompany the company's statement, the torpedo is fitted with a fuse so sensitive that it explodes on coming in contact with the delicate surface of a gas-bag. There is a base plug containing fulminate of mercury, which, when ignited, explodes the torpedo. This is done by a needle, driven by a. spring, which is controlled by two levers. These levers, normally, are held firm by a movable wooden shaft. When the head of the torpedo strikes an airship, the levers are released, and swing outward under centrifugal force, permitting the needle, to be driven into the fulminate.

The inventors have succeeded in preventing the torpedo from exploding through resistance to the air.

MILLIONAIRE'S SON AS A VAGRANT.

IMPRISONED OWING TO A CURIOUS MISTAKE.

Brussels, April 11. The son of an American millionaire lias just been released from the St. Gilles Prison here after serving twenty days of a sentence of two years' imprisonment for vagrancy. The victim of this remarkable mistake on the part of the Belgian authorities is Mr. Ralph Brandrcth, whose father is senior partner in a New York firm which manufactures Allcock's plasters. He was set free to-day, and the local newspapers describe the police as being "greatly annoyed" over the incident. Mr, Brandreth's troubles were due to temporary lack of money and the absence sf papers of identification which every person must possess in Belgium in order to avoid the possibility of arrest as a suspicious person or a vagrant. lie was stopping at a Brussels hotel with a friend. When he informed the liotelkceper that he had no money lctt aud asked permission to remain in the hotel until he received remittances from New York, the hotel proprietor concluded (hat Mr. Brandrcth was an impostor and complained to the police. Mr. Brandrcth was interrogated by the police, and as he had no 'passport or other pipers lie was arrested on charges of theft and vagrancv. After a few days'" detention he was given a hurried hearing, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Meanwhile the Belgian authorities tried to verify Mr. Brandreth's statements regarding his identity and his position in America as a man of means. It was not until to-day, however, that the police received from New York which satisfied them that they had made a mistake. Mr. Brandrcth endured his imprisonment with remarkable fortitude and cheerfulness. He was extremely angry when informed that ho had been condemned as a vagrant, but afterwards the humor of the situation appealed to him. He was very well treated in prison, and on the assurance of M. Keveriard, his lawyer, that, his release would not be long delayed, he regarded the matter largely as a joke.

[ "The New York authorities could have s:ivcd Mr. Brandreth from nearly three weeks' imprisonment," said M. Revclard to-night, ''had they responded promptly to the inquiries of the Belgian police." Mr. Brandreth has telegraphed to his wife that he is returning to New York in a few days. THE BOGUS MARQUIS. REISS GIVES HIMSELF UP FOR A CIGARETTE. Paris, April 7. Reiss, the man who calls himself the Marquis de Roquefeuil, and who is accused of fraud and bigamy, gave himself up to the Paris police this evening. M. Lescouve, the Public Prosecutor, was about to leave his office for the day when his clerk announced that a shabbily-dressed man insisted on seeing him. "He says he is the Marquis de Roquefeuil," said the clerk, "and here is his card." The clerk held out a dirty slip of pasteboard on which was printed the title, "The Marquis de Roquefeuil." M. Lescouve had the man brought in, and he at once saw that there was no mistake. After a brief examination magistrate the bogus marquis was sent to the cells. Reiss has been in Paris fir tnree days, having fled from Brussels O'l Id-ring that the French detectives had discovered his whereabouts. He ?aid t.'-at he 'gave himself up because of the cold, and because he had no Mon?y t ■ buy tobacco. He knew that the Gov.-.rnt.ien't supplies cigarettes to prisoners awaiting trial.