WOMAN'S WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 162, 8 January 1914, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD.

SET HIS WIFE ON FIRE 15 YFAKS' PKXAL SEUVITUDK Foil J X HI'AI AX MINF.I!. For acting in a fiendish manner towards his wife, and causing terrible injuries which kilk'il her, William Anderson, 44, minor, was at Durham Assizes sentenced to penal servitude for 15 years. Accused was indicted for tlie wilful muriler of his wife, Hannah Anderson, at Kasinglon lane. .Mr. Lowcnthul (prosecuting) said prisonor and his wife had a Hat at Fember■ton Hank, Kasinglon lane. On the night of Saturday, August !), the woman was found lying at the hottom of some stone steps leading to prisoner's House. A neighbor asked prisoner if that were not his "missus," and he replied that it was, and used an offensive, expression in regard to her. Two women saw him stamp on her face. Thinking he was going to do the same tiling again, two men prevented him, and he ran upstairs. A woman ami a policeman carried deceased into the kitchen. Later, deceased was heard to call out,

"Stop it; stop it!" and moans were heard. A woman who passed the house about midnight saw a Hume in the room, and heard deceased say, "Oh, dear!" Water wasltso seen to trickle from the room to the ceiling of the room below. .Next morning, about 9.30, prisoner asked the downstairs tenant, Mrs. Morrell. to go up and .see his wife, adding, "She is fettled." .Mrs. Morrcll went ii]), and found prisoner's wife partly dressed on a bed. .Slit' was severe] v burnt, bleeding and bruised, and her faci? was swollen and discolored. Her cloth- • was -burnt ami smelt of jmrnliin, 'while in a cornel' of tlie loom more of her clothing was found .saturated with

pnralhn. flu I lie- window-ledge a lain]) was still burning. Prisoner wont to the -lionao of hi* daughter-in-law, anil said, "She has put an end to -herself this time. When 1 got up between 7 'and 8 this morning she had fallen into the fir? and put an end to herself. I picked licr up and rolled her on t'he mat, and there is nothing hut hones left." Prisoner was taken to the. poliee station, where he said, "When I eame into the 'house I found her lying at the bottom of the stairs, drunk. I picked the bairn up, and went to bed. I afterwards wakened and saw my wife limiting- the lire with the lamp." The lamp exploded, and she set herself on tire.'-' Counsel said that prisoner's statement regarding the lamp could not possibly be accepted, for the lamp was found" on the window-ledge on the Sunday without any broken glass, and still burning. On tlie Monday the injured woman was tiken to tlie Sunderland Infirmary, where she died on August 20 as the result of the burns. Evidence was given, and tlie depositions of deceased were put in, these stating that prisoner emptied the contents of a tin of parallin oil over her 'head. The oil ran down her throat. He then shoved her in the fire. The (lames were over Iter head, and her head and face were burnt. When he saw tlie (lames 'lie got a pail of water ami threw it over her. He said: "I will finish you to-night." iShe shouted and screamed for help, but lie had locked the door, and would not open it. Someone knocked, but could not get in. He told her to get to bed, and she lay down as best she could till 10 o'clock that morning. He went into another room.

' The linn. 11. 0'\ T eil (for the defence) said prisoner had behaved disgracefully to his wife, but that was not murder. There was evidence that be was drunk, and ample evidence that she had had some drink. The moment prisoner saw that her clothes liad caught fire he threw a pail of water over her. Was that the action of a murderer? It was a cruel, inhuman and unnatural thing to do. but it was not the action of a murderer. .There was no evidence that he had pushed ber on the fire, and counsel contended that deceased was entirely mistaken, because if ho bad meant fo'kill her be would never have tried to save her. Prisoner was found guilty of manslaughter, and Mr. Justice Scrntton said that in this case, in his view, the offence, of manslaughter tlill'ered 'very little from murder. " Prisoner must goto penal servitude for 13 years.

TANGOMANIA IN ENGLAND WX'IKTVS LATEST AFFLICTION. '•Tangomania" is rampant in England. Society is afflicted by a new SI. Vitus' dance, which has come to London from the Argentine ■by way of Paris. It has welcomed the tango with open arm*, and it has beeomethe fashionable craze for the moment. The most exclusive members of society have found the dance irresistible, and round the tango the whirl of the social world'now revolves. Tango, as every schoolboy ought to know,' is good Latin for "I touch." Ft is no exaggeration to say that English society is exhibiting a touching enthusiasm for this Argentine dance, which has already surpassed any previous craze, like ping-pong, roller skating, jig-saw puzzles, limericks and costume balls. There are tango teas and tango luncheons, tango suppers '-and. tango nights. Apparently we have not yet reached the limits in development of the tango craze. Like all crazes," that now enjoyed by the tango dance runs the danger of sulVering surfeit, and of sacrificing whatever merits it may possess through being overdone.

The tango, according to all the dancing teachers, is a beautiful dance. Properly interpreted, it is said to, approach the old minuet and the gavotte for grace and rhythmic movement. Furthermore, it is so much less fatiguing than the conventional dances that it is hailed as a dance for all ages. On these credentials the dance has created a ■•boom" that for the moment threatens to shorten its legitimate life. For the combination of tea, tango, and social intercourse (lie matinee at (he theatre seems an ideal medium. Why, one theatre alone took £IOO in half-crowns, through tlio Ik)\- office window, on a sunny afternoon a week or two ago, ■between $.30 and 4 o'clock. Managers ■faced with the ever-increasing expenses, have 1 sought for some medium bv which buildings costing as much as :CIO,OOO a year in rent) alone could be utilised for more than six or seven performances a week. Tango teas have solved the problem. Such matinees are really delightful, even to one not altraeUd by the dance itself. '

The majority of the theatres transform the stalls into u ]>ret'ty and neatly decorated cafe, where society congregates, and a most delightful" informal atmosphere prevails. .Skating rinks arc foeing converted into tango saloons. «rcat restaurants, like Princes', the Hotel Cecil, the Savoy and the Trocitdero. so familiar to Australian visitors, have turned out some of their tables to make way for tango dancers. The other evening, at (he Savoy, whilst having supper

Conducted by "Eileen."

with a party of Sydney friends, two couples danced around our table,' in and out of the other tables, and along the outer loaagv to the stairs leading to the dressing-room, thousands of fashionable pei.pie walcliiui) the dancer.-) with breathless interest. Professors of old-fashioned dances like the bunny hug and the turkey trot have caught the spirit of the times, and are now exponents of the tango pure and simple, (experts say this dance is a cur,e for the ■restlessness and nervous irritability of the modern age. Everybody wants to learn it; everybody wants to see it.

All Paris is tangoing, a .'Sydney friend writes nip from Paris. The cra/,c has taken possession of young and'old alike. Even the French Academy is in the very throes of. a tango philosophy. Whal can lie expected when M. ■lean liichepin, one of the most brilliant, intellects of the new France, lias delivered a lecture upon the origin of the tango from primitive ,mam, and when other historians I have 'discovered traces of it in the re-, 'liginus dances of the early Roman festivals, in the mystical dances of (lie an cient Egyptians, and in the revolving dance of the Sun-god 'himself? My correspondent tells me that tango you must if you move in the Parisian world of to-day. Tin,' skating rinks are given up to it. Fridays you tango at "Chez Rumplemayer"; other days arc set apart for the big hotels; in fact, an afternoon [tea party at one of the hotels frequented by Parisian moiidainos invariably ends with a tango. And what an opporlun- | ity it is to Show off ami .see the delightful frocks designed for these occasions: There is no doubt that the tango has introduced an air of gaiety and cheerfulness, previously sadly missing, in all teas and receptions. This autumn and winter there is now excuse now to appear bored—even if you are not—ami those modish people who have carefully cultivated the."bored" look have now to banish it for a 'brighter and healthier expression.—Lady correspondent of the Sydney Telegraph.

A FOUR-MINUTE WEDDING RACE AGAINST TIME BY A RECTOR. There were dramatic moments at the '/parish church of Great Healings, Suffolk, when a bride and bridegroom had a narrow escape of not being married before the clock struck three, after which hour iu the afternoon weddings cannot legally take place. Tho couple were Miss Baldry and Mr. Mann. The vicar, having occasion to leave the parish, arranged with the neighboring rector of •Playford to perform the ceremony at •2.30 p.m. But at 20 minutes to three the couple and their friends were still waiting anxiously for the rector's appearance. At the suggestion of the parish clerk the carriage which was in readiness to take the bride and bridc- ■ grooin to their new home was despatched post haste to Little Boilings, a mile ■away. In seven minutes the carriage was at the rectory there, and the rector, the Rev. W. B. Palmer, was found at home. The coachman explained matters, and a few minutes biter the carriage was travelling back to Great Healings with the rector at a speed which in crowded thoroughfares might have been described as furious driving. Arrived -at the. church, the rector was quickly robed, and went to the altar. "It is :i o'clock, sir," lamented the bridegroom. ''Then f cannot marry you," said the rector. "Yes, you can, sir,'' interposed the parish clerk. "ft wants four minutes to three. I put my watch right by station time this morning." "I can do it in four minutes," said the rector, and the essential part of the ceremony was performed within the legal time.

WOMEN AND CREMATION It has often been a mailer of surprise lo many people that the practice of cremation makes so slow a progress in Great Britain as compared with some other countries. An explanation of the. fact was put forward at tho annual meeting of the Manchester Crematorium Company by the chairman., Mr. Eckhard, who attributed the slowness of the .movement to the opposition of women. It is probable, nevertheless, that the number of women in its favor is gradually increasing, and every now and then people whose friends have regarded them as conventional in their outlook on life have caused astonishment by choosing cremation as a method of burial. Statistics, too, continue their upward movement, and in 1911 the number of cremations for the first time, exceeded a thousand.