NEWS BY MAIL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 197, 17 February 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS BY MAIL.

WHITE BOY AS SUN GOD. FED ON GRAPES AND BEER BY HIS 'WORSHIPPERS. New York, December 22. William Lindsay, the twelve-year-old son of a millionaire contractor, who died recently, leaving the boy £200,000, has been rescued from a sept of sun worshippers in Chicago, who were bringing up the boy as the sun's earthly god. The little victim was discovered in a greatly emaciated condition, having been fed on grapes and beer for some time in order to increase his divinity. His mt» ther is the high priestess of the sect, Which is called Mazaznam, and meets in a palatial newly-occupied building in Chicago. The boys' uncle, believing he was being starved to death by fanatics, started an investigation, which caused the police to remove the' lad from the temple. The case will come before the court on January 4. Detectives had the greatest difficulty in gaining admittance, to the temple, where they found twenty weirdly-dressed women worshipping the boy, who was attired in a gorgeous robe and girdle, amid decorations of Oriental luxury. The worshippers, led by Mrs. Lindsay and Mazdaznam high priest, who calls himself the Rev. Zar Odush Banish, and is the only man in the temple, shrieked and pointed to the mystic words, "Ashem Vobu" and "Yatha Ahu Vairyo," on the walls. They attempted to prevent the police from removing the boy, and the lajtter were compelled to use force/ Sensational revelations concerning the sept are expected at the court hearing. SLUMMING AMONG THE IDLE RICH. MONKEY DINNERS TO BE INVESTIGATED. New York, December. 29. A Scientific investigation of the "idle rieh" suggested last night by Dr. Henry Walcott Farnam, Professor of Economic at Yale University, in an address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Washington. He declared that the monkey dinner, dog funerals, all night snake, dances, and other favorite amusements of American society are symptoms of. serious social decay. "It is a matter of common observation," he said/"ttat wealthy families,in our country often contain parasitic members who derive large incomes fromi society without rendering any economic or public service in return. These facts, should be examined historically and statistically to enable us to judge the effects of prosperity on the human mind. "These parasitic members of the socalled leisured classes should be peculiarly useful specimens for economic study in our country, because they are not under the social pressure of the feudal system, inherited in Europe's older countries from the time when wealth meant land ownership, which in turn involved public duties. ' Many of this class walk our streets, eloquent but unconscious arguments for Socialism, and terrible examples for the moralist, but compara- ; tively neglected by the economist, the sociologist and the statistician. "If cows had power to choose a life of celibacy we would find many a pedigreed Guernsey chewing the cud of idleness and yielding no milk, just as we often find the soms of distinguished parents display real ability when put to academic tests, yet doing nothing to make their lives useful or distinguished for lack of proper incentive. "We should gather budgets of club men, and statistics of voluntary idleness, and study social conditions in the homes of the wealthy."

REVENGED ON A COUNTESS. BRIGAND'S MURDEROUS ATTACK IN N A WOOD. Rome, December 28. A desperate revenge has been taken by brigands on the Countess Cahen, whose husband, a wealthy landowner, was captured and held for ransom last year, and who afterwards denouneed his captors to the police. The Countess was walking yesterday in the Allerone woods surrounding her husband's estate at Orvieto, when she was confronted by a man dressed as a shepherd, armed with a revolver. He knocked her down, dragged her through hedges and thick undergrowth, and brutally maltreated her, finally rendering her senseless. When she did not return her household became alarmed, and a search was organised. The Countess was found late at night, still unconscious and terrily injured. Several of her ribs were broken, apparently by large stones which the ruffian had thrown at her after she fainted. It is believed that the man is one of the band who. last year captured Count Cahen and held him until he paid £2400 ransom. The police are searching the woods for the ruffian, but the thick nature of the undergrowth renders the search very difficult. MME. MAETERLINCK'S MASCOT. New York, December 28. Mme. Maeterlinck, who arrived yesterday on the White Star liner Olympic, to appear in her husband's drama, 'Pelleas et Melisande," at Boston on January 10, has set a new fashion. When the reporters met her at the landing-stage she wore a large threecarat diamondf between her eyebrows. Viewed from a short distance, it seemed to be plastered to her forehead, but close examination revealed that it was held in place by an almost invisible gold chain.