LATE CABLES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 237, 25 February 1913, Page 6

LATE CABLES.

(Erom tlie Australian Press). BULL-EIGHTIXG. ': ic opening bull-light of the season in -\l -ii'iil was nnirked by a sensational euC'..tintt']-. The iirst bull turned into the arena caught the matador, who was gored and so grievously wounded that a priest was obliged to administer Extreme Unction in the ring. OLDEST WOMAN' IN ENGLAND DEAD Granny Chaplin, the oldest woman in England, died in one of the Birmingham workhouses. She had reached the great age of 111 years. SENSATIONAL SUICIDE. A sensational suicide occurred at Monte Carlo, when Count Guenther ended his life by shooting himself. He was a member of a family that is celebrated in the military annals of Prussia. Dis- . missed from the army as a result of his extravagant habits, he made a profession of marrying rich women, whose dowries he would obtain and then squander. The count was divorced no fewer than six times within 15 years. A GANG OF SWINDLERS. « A gang that had been working the Spanish prisoner swindle, and whose operations were of a most widespread character, has been arrested in Madrid. The house in which these professional swindlers lived had some remarkable features. The place, which was specially built for them, was provided with false doors and secret rooms, which were intended to baffle the police in the event 'of a raid. Upon making a search of the premises the police discovered hundreds of letters, which were all replies to circulars that the gang was in the habit of despatching broadcast daily. There was ample evidence that the business had yielded handsome revenues.

MARRIAGE FESTIVITY TURNED INTO A WAKE. A marriage was being celebrated in a bouse at Tralee, Ireland, when the guests were shocked by the news that a baby had died in an adjoining room. The traces of festivity were quickly removed, and the party resolved itself into a wake. The extraordinary sequence of events did not end here, for while the wake was in progress and the dolorous moaning of the 'women was filling the house, a relative of the bride gave birth to a child.

TREATY OF GHENT CENTENARY. Although the occasion is yet nearly two years off, preparations for celebrating the centenary of the Treaty of Gnent, which will mark the close of a hundred years of peace between England and America, are already afoot. December 24, 1914, will mark the hundredth anniversary of the ratification of the treaty.

AN EXTRAORDINARY TRAGEDY. An extraordinary tragedy is reported from Evansville, Indiana, where three negroes employed at a wood-working establishment were shot dead by their employer's son. Allen Von Behren. The murderer afterwards drove to the police station and surrendered himself. Questioned as to what had made him do such a desperate act, he said. "I had to kill them, because they swore they would get me." Allen, who is only 22 years of age. and whose father is a millionaire, was a patient in a sanatorium two years ago. One form of the mania from which he is suffering is his aversion to negroes. Upon his trial, therefore, the defence will endeavor to show that the prisoner is insane. It was feared that the shooting of the. blacks would lead to a serious,, outbreak in the negro quarter of the town, which is consequently now surrounded by a heavily-armed guard, ready to quell the first hostile move against the white population.

REAR-ADMIRAL PEARY ILL. Roar-admiral Peary, who four years ago discovered the North Pole, has undergone an operation at • Washington. The complaint from which he is suffering has, however, not been made known. IS A WHIST DRIVE LAWFUL? In a test case decided at the Old Bailey it was laid down that a whist -drive is a lawful game when the partners play together throughout the evening- •■ THE GERMAN HOAX. As an outcome of the great hoax perpetrated the other day by the. retired paymaster who turned out the garrison at Stratshurg, the Kaiser has directed that oltioial telegrams 7nust in future be written in cypher. MARRIED ON HIS DEATH-RED. A young Highlander was recently admitted to Aberdeen Hospital, and it was found thiit he was suffering from cancer in an advanced state. An operation was performed. Death was only a matter of a few days, and his sweetheart hurried to the bedside, and there the pair were married. The young husband died within a week. RAfSfNC MONEY BY TURKEY. Turkey is negotiating with a foreign syndicate to sell the Champ de Mars, a large, open space in Constantinople. A group of wealthy Jewish people have offered Turkey an immediate advance to be allowed to take up Ottoman lands in Syria and Palestine for purposes of colonisation.

TRACKED BY BLOODHOUNDS. A Hampshire laborer, who was charged with igniting stacks of hay, was traced by bloodhounds. But there was little, other evidence, against him, and he was acquitted.

RAROES COLLIDE WITH BRIDGE. A remarkable accident occurred in Paris. Two barges that were proceeding along the Seine collided with one of. the bridges spanning the river, with the result that a. portion of the structure collapsed. The barges were carried out by the current, and escaped damage, but the repairs to the bridge will cost about £24.000, PERSECUTION OV .TEWS. A gang of roughs at a. town in Poland started systematically maltreating the Jewish residents, wounding them with knives mid beating them unmercifully. The police did not show any marked disposition to put a stop to the barbarous work, and when finally they did appear the gang made off. taking with (hem <i large quantity of stolen property