NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 171, 18 January 1912, Page 7

NEWS BY MAIL.

). IRELAND FULL OF MINERALS. d New York, November 17. Mr. Richard Croker, who arrived here g to-day on his way to the South, where it lie will spend the winter, stated that he J. will most likely interest himself in the 0 development of Irish mines. it "Ireland is full of minerals," said Mr. 4 Croker. "Lead, coal, iron and many other minerals are found there. The only trouble is that at present there is 11 no money to develop them. e "While I am over here I shall most l ' probably get into touch with gentlemen n interested in the matter, and then we 11 may try to help things along." h r ACQUITTAL OF TWO WOMEN WHO y KILLED THEIR HUSBANDS, e i ... ' j 1 New, York, November 29. Two women who murdered their huSbands have been . acquitted within 24 r hours. l " A jury at Denver, Colorado, returned J a verdict of "Not guilty" to-day in the ™ case of Mrs. Gertrude Patterson, who s killed her husband because he was unfaithful to her. ® Neither woman attempted to disprove the charge; both relied on the "unwrite ten law." e ' BATTLE WITH ELEVEN BEARS. ' Madrid, November 27. Eleven bears which invaded the Pyre- ® nean valley, in the Upper Lerida pro- | vince, terrified the inhabitants, and killed a large number of cattle. '' Twenty Catalonian huntsmen went out ' yesterday to track down the beaTs. Af- '' ter a desperate fight they succeeded in . killing three of -the animals. The rest escaped to the mountains. 'j VICAR'S FATAL ACT OF BRAVERY. f DARING ATTEMPT TO STOP RUN- \ AWAY HORSES. . l _ London, November 25. j The Rev. W. R. Daine, vicar of St. Stythians, Parranwell, Cornwall, was , killed near Redruth yesterday morning while making- a 'brave attempt to stop , runaway omnibus horses. t _ A; party of country folk were driving , into Redruth in the omnibus when the , horses 'bolted down a steep hill. The \ driver was pitched into the road, and [ Mr. Daine, who was seated on the box, j seized the reins and tried to steer the horses down a hill, but he was thrown off and had his skull fractured. , The horses crashed into a hedge at the , bottom of the hill, but the occupants of j the omnibus, among whom was Mrs. . Daine, escaped unhurt, and the driver . was little the worse for his fall. " The Rev. William Ralph Daine was a . curate at St. Nicholas Church, Tooting, Graveney, from 1895 to 1896,. and during . that time -made himself very popular in . the South London : parish. . DRAMATIC RECOVERY OF A MASTER- ,» PIECE. Rome, November 24. ~ Fra Angelico's priceless masterpiece, "Madonna della Stella," which was stolen from the San Marco Museum at Florence on Sunday, was recovered in a dramatic fashion at Florence at 1 o'clock this morning. The police.on guard at the Fortress da Basso noticed two suspicious-looking men,■ one of whom was carrying a bundle. : The men fled when they were being witched, and the police fired at them. The men got away, but' the bundle was dropped. It was conveyed to the office of the chief constable, and found to contain a picture, which was later identified as the missing masterpiece by the director of tile l Sail Marco Museum. ; It had hfeen carefully packed, apparently for shipment abroad. ! The-police declare that the picture was stolen at- the instigation of a French antiquary, and that- two officials at the museum had a hand in the robbery, Sensational revelations kre expected. HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT. STRONGHOLD STORMED BY A BRITISH FORCE. Egar River Camp, Nov. 24. The Abor expedition have stormed a stockade which was scented by Major Richardson's war dogs. Gurkha scouts reported that the stockade was unoccupied, but suddenly a shot raftg out, and Lai Bahadur, a survivor, of Mr. Williamson's party, was wounded jfl the shoulder. Simultaneously an enormous rock chute was discharged; the boulders thundering down the gorge and just missing Major-General Bower find other officers. Captain Cecher, of the 2nd Gurkha Rifles, was injured by a heavy stone which struck his helmet. Reinforcements sent up the hill found Major-General Bower with a party of Gurkhas only thirty yards from the stockade, and a seven-pounder and two mortar guns were ordered to this point. The Abors began to use rifles, and Lieutenant Kennedy called for a party to storm the stockade. After a stiffish ' climb, during which four stone chutes i were hurled down tke slope, the storm- ■! mg party outflanked the enemy. i Lieut; Buckland was the first to enter 1 the stockade, being followed by Lieut. 1 Kennedy and seven Gurkhas. A number t of fleeing Abors were encountered, two of i them wearing khaki coats, which probably belonged to the murdered members ' of Mr. Williamson's party. ( 1 Three of the enemy were killed, one i of them being shot .by Lieut. Kennedy as he was engaged in a hand-to-hand t struggle with a Gurkha. The fight last- I ed altogether am hour. ] CONFESSION JUST BEFORE HIS a EXECUTION. I "A WFULFACT." t ew York, November 24. c Henry Clay Beattie, junior, the twen- e ty-six-year-old son of a Virginian million- v aire, was electrocuted at Richmond l this p morning for the murder of his wife in a d motor car. Before he died he made the s following confession, which was publish- e by the prison clergyman»with the con- d sent of his family:— "I, Henry Clay Beattie junior, desirous ft of standing right with God and man, do e tins 23rd of November confess my guilt of the crime charged against me. Much published concerning the details was not T tiue, -but the awful fact , without the A narrowing details, remains. For this action I am truly sorry, and believing in the peace of God and that soon I shall \ pass into his presence, this statement is T made." ' j" Beattie spent his last hours in prayer „ with the prison clergyman and his aged = father. The latter, who is a Presbyterian deacon, administered Holy Communion on Thursday, Mrs Beattie, who was only 20 years old was shot dead while driving in a motor car late at night with her husband, to whom she had only been married twelve months. ' Brattie declared in court that the shot

was fired by a bearded man they met on the road, but his cousin, Paul Beattie, told the jury that the dead ma» mad* » | confession to him, in which he said: — "I wish to God I had not done it, Paul, though I know she never loved me. She married me for my money." BARON GUSTAVE DE ROTHSCHILD DIES. Paris, November 28. Baron Gustave de Rothschild, the eldest surviving son of the late Baron James de Rothschild and the principal | partner in the Paris branch of the firm, died this morning in his house in Paris, at the age of 93. He leaves one son—Baron Robert, who is in a Paris firm—and a daughter, who is the wife of Baron Lambert de Rothschild, in Brussels. In spite of his great age, Baron Gustave never missed a race meeting in which one of his horses ran, and he went at least once a week, with his brother Baron Alphonse, to see their horses train at Chantilly. This year his stable 1 had several important successes. The win of Alcantara 11, was the last triumph of the wellknown colors—blue, with yellow cap. 1 Baron Gustave de Rothschild "was the' leading member of the Jewish commun-l itj in France. The -original Maver Amschel Rothschild, of Frankfort-0!i-Main, who laid the foundations of the! immense wealth of the. family, was his' grandfather. j

The late Baron was enormously rich, and his benefactions to the poor of Paris were on a very large scale. The Paris house of which lie was a member represents a a capital propably of between three and four hundred million pounds.