A FEW AMERICAN SENSATIONS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1130, 24 January 1884, Page 3

A FEW AMERICAN SENSATIONS.

Published for the express purpose of making people satisfied with their New Zealand home. a maniac's terrible deed. Newcomerstown, Ohio, October 24th.— During last night, while the family lay asleep, a carpenter named Fritzer, twenty seven years old, living here, arose from his bed, in a fit of sudden insanity it is supposed, took a razor and cut from ear to ear the throat of his wife, two years bouncer than himself, cut the throat of a ten month's bable, lying by the mother's side, then next weut to a crib where his two daughters, two and four years old, were, and cut their throats. Afterwards he undertook to cut his own throat, but not succeeding, he used a heavily-loaded shotgun and fired the contents into his own face, blowing his head off. another mysterious murder. Chicago, October 28th.—The Tribune's Westport, Conn., special of the 27th sa y S : —Much excitement has been caused throughout the State by the discovery of the mutilated body of Mrs Julia Godfrey, near this place, under circumstances which may make the case almost as interesting, if not as famous, as the crimes which ended in the unavenged deaths of Mary Stannard, Jennie Cramer, and Rose Ambler. This time the victim is a young married woman of Saugatuck, pretty and accomplished and popular with a large circle of acquaintances. A party of gunners yesterday found her body half buried in the mud on the Saugatuck marshes, half a mile from the Westport station. The body was in a shocking condition, with blood smeared over the face and hands and not yet washed a*ay by the water. Oyer the right eye was a deep gash, and on the head, in two or three different places, were large bumps, resulting probably from heavy blows inflicted by some blunt weapon. Near the centre of the forehead was a deep indentation and the skull was fractured. It looked as though an axe had been used to commit the crime.

To-day the local officers have been busy investigating the woman's death, but they have found no clue to fix the crime, and in the absence of all ability to do this, they have decided in an off-hand manner that the woman " committed suicide." a dying confession. Flemingsburg. Ky., October 20th - i September 22, 1878, Ned Trumbo, an ! inoffensive colored man, was shot dead in j his owr. door in this city. The assassina- J tion created great excitement. Heavy rewards were offered and a number of arrests made, but no one was convicted. At tiie time of Trumbo's death, a woman of ill-repute, named Millie Walker, was staying at Trumbo's house. This girl was shot in Johnson county on Monday. Told by her physician that her wound was surely mortal, she made the following confession ; Mary Ganale, but I have called myself Millie Walker. I am now in my thiityeighth year, and have followed my present life since my fifteenth year, when I was seduced by George R.idcliffe, whom I killed as soon as I learned of I)is perfidy towards me, and buried his body in a sawdust pile on the Red River, in Menifee county. When his body way found, Frank Tompkins, who had left the country about the time of Radcliffe's disappearance, and had gone to Greenupsburg, Ky., was suspected, and an armed party went to capture him. He surrendered without resistance. The mob hanged him in front of the Frenchburg gaol. I went to FlemiDgsburg immediately following his lynching, and having nothing to ' live for, I resolved to make life as burdensome and as unpleasant as I could for the rest of mankind. Hopper and Emmons, the two men arrested for the Trumbo murder, both were steady companv of mine while I was staying at Trumbo's house, and both jealous of each other. Seeing Emmons pass one night, I went to the door to call him, but he either did not hear or did not want to hear me, and rode on. This made me mad, and having a pistol in my pocket I fired at old Ned. Why I did so 1 do not tnoiv. Suspicion was immediately directed to Hopper, who was thrown into gaol. This assisted me, but I would have been better pleased if they had hanged him. I could not appear against him, because I was afraid I might myself get caught. My life since then has been the usual one of abandoned women, uncil I met George Frankson here, to whom I rspresented myself as good and virtuous, and he seeing me in company with Doc Mart well, Monday night, shot me.' The woman died last night. A FREE FIGHT. Chicago, October 29th.—The Tribune's New York special says; Bayville, a little villnge on Long Island, was last night the scene of a serious riot, during which several persons were severely injured by being beaten and clubbed. The disturbance took place in a place where an oysler supper was in progress. The place was crowded with people, many of those present being women and children. There is but one means of exit. At about 730 o'clock the whole main body of the building was filled with people, upwards of 150 of whom were seated at a supper table. A disturbance suddenly arose between William Henry Smith and Captain John tlackett, brotherr-in-law and old residents of the village, Words were followed by blows, and the friends of each took pirt in the fight which lasted for nearly twenty minutes. A rush was made for the door, and in the frantic efforts of the women and children to reach the open air many were knocked dov/n and trampled upon. In the melee, the lamps with which the church was lighted, were knocked off their sockets and broken. In the darkness and excitement the fight was carried on with terrible effect. Tables were upser, and oysters, pans, crockery, audeatubles were strewn upon the floor. The combatants fought their way out of the room and into the street, where they were finally separated. The list of the injured numbers ten persons, one of them being the Rev William Tait, who, while taking the part of a peacemaker, whs kicked and beaten in a serious manner. It is claimed by the friends

of Captain Hackett, wliu a« heretofore been held in the highest respect by his neighbors, that he was first nssafled by Smith, and acted in selfdefence. A family feud is siid to have existed between the two men for several months. Warrants hive been issued for the arrest of all persons who fire known to have taken part in the fracas. Smith was so badly used up by Captain Hackett that he had to be carried to his home on a stretcher. Hackett is confined to his bed to-day, suffering from a terrible scalpwound inflicted by being struck over the head with the handle of a buck-saw. A COLORED MURDERESS HANGED. Chicago, October 20th—A Tribune, Calhoum, Oa., special of the 19th says: Margaret Harrison, the murderess of little Leila Lewis, aged about eighteen, as black as ebony, short plump and disfigured by the loss of an eve, was hanged in an open field, a half lrjile from gaol, in this city, at noon to-day, in the presence of 5030 spectators. She marched from her cell to the scaffold, guarded by sixty armed men, and was accompanied by a quartet of preachers, two of whom were white and two coloured. The trap was dropped at 12.37 p.m. and the fall, a distance of eight feet, broke her neck. Life was pronounced extinct in 14 minutes. After she mounted the scaffold, prayers were sdd at her request. A clergyman sang "In the Sweet By-and-Bey," the prisoner and sp'-ctators joining in the chorus. She appeared intensely nervous, but manifested no trepidation at her fate. In a lon<; hanrrangue she protested her own innocence and expressed the hope that she would meet all the spectators in hea ven. She proved her loyalty to her accomplice by asserting his innocence.