Murders and Executions.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3179, 13 April 1889, Page 2

Murders and Executions.

i A certain section of tho British ! community seems to go clean crazy • over murders and executions, How [ else can be explained the experience ' of an elderly gentleman who relates i in the Times a singular adventure ? i He was in the North country, and a i mining district, possibly that of i Normanton, though lie does not givfc the name, when he was pounced upon from behind by a party of seven stout collier lads headed by a biggish fellow of about 28. They peremptorily demanded his name, and when lie clcolined to comply with their request they at once pronounced him to bo the notorious individual" Jack the Hipper." The collier party wero bravely led by the stalwart young fellow, and declaring lie was a policeman he proposed to march off the elderly gentleman to tho nearest police station—a distance of two miles or so. ' And' added lie' if you don't come quietly at once I will draw my revolver and blow your brains out.' Luckily an honest working man appeared on the scene, and the assailants were driven off. But they renewed their assault, and it was not till the elderly gentleman and his rescuer got in sight of some pitmen's cottages that they wero really safe. To have one's, steps dogged in this style, to he the subject of the pranks of big foolish fellows like those who made this attack, is too much of a good tlnng It is probable that there is no S'ich man, and never was, as "Jack the Hipper," who may have been the ' invention of some enterprising journalist, but the idea has beoti , I taken up with alacrity, and these i larks by lovers of nocturnal oi'gios ] had bettor bo looked after or the; consequents may be serious, i

Singular Breach of Promise Suit. Tlib Irish Times London corresponded says wo are promised a breaoh of promise case with some elements of freshness in it. The principals live in the cider shire, where the defendant owns a property. He .is a young. ■■ gentleman, of good family. ' In:1883, . ; he became attached to'the plaintiff—one of the many daughters of a church dignitary. He tnade his offer, -and was accepted, The wedding day was appointed, but before the date was reached, the bridegroom-elect got a bad spil I from the saddle in a hunting- - field. He was laid .iip a long time, - and when iio was able to go about* i again tho doctors ordered him a long*', sen voyage, fle was away nearly two years, spending a good deal ot the time in the colonies. Some .tirap before his return, an extraordinary change appeared in tho character of bis letters to the girl lie hud left behind him They were written in such rambling and extravagant terms as to suggest decided weakness of mind. Six or eight of the letters were of this sort, and their rehearsal in court is expected to be very diverting indeed... The defendant returned to Devonshire and home about eighteen months ago. He presented himself in a tattered dress, wliioli he said he had 'worn in the bush, Ho persisted in wearing this garb, and showed a distressing obange for tlie worse. Heiuvited his lady-

love, her family, and other of, his acquaintances to a garden party in last May, He received them in a suit of chain mail, and the guests found themselves in tho company of a policeman from tho village, a postman, the estate laborers and thoir families, and others. Music was au|i|ilied by an orgun-grinder, hired for the occasion. The amusement was a series of wheelbarrow races, with the ladies of lower degree seated in the vehicles, and before the .respectabilities retired, their host, lifting liis vizor, announced his intention to keep house in this good fashion of bringing tho poor and : their betters together in social union, His conduct became so glaring that the young lady's parents having obtained medical opinion to the effect that 'be ancient hurt must have permanently affected the young gentleman's head, wrote withdrawing their consent to the marriage in tho interest of their daughter's happiness. The letter was acknowledged in curt, but, perfectly collected terms; the vagaries and absurdities ot the defendant ceased forthwith; he resumed his natural habits and tittorance; and when last October, a lady whom ho married in Australia arrived on tho scene, nobody could doubt the perfect sanity with which he introduced her as his wife. Tho claim for damages is based on the plea that defendant obtained his release from the engagement by false pretonces. Bellite Experiments.

A series of experiments were carried out recently at Chadwell Heath, Essex, with the now explosive bellito. This explosivo is the invention of Mr Carl Lamm, of Sweden, in which country it is woll in use both for mining and military purposes. Bellite is composed of di-uitro-bonzola and nitrate of ammonia blended together in certain proportions and under special conditions. The experiments, which were conducted by C. Napier Hawke, F,1,0,,.and Mr Perry F, Nursey, C.8., were commenced by exploding lilb of bellite uuder water, a fine column of spray being projected to a great height. Half a cartridge of bellito was then placed on a coal fire, and was simply roasted away. The corresponding half was then exploded by means of a capped fuso on a pieco of 8-Bth inch boiler plate with good eOect. An iron weight of 1201b was then dropped from a height of 18ft on to some naked cartridges, which were crushed but not exploded. The crushed cartridges were afterward exploded on a piece of double-headed rail, out of whioh was cut a short length. In a hole in the earth lib of bellite cartridge was mixed with lid of blasting gunpowder and the powder was fired, tho explosion throwing tho bellito cartridges out of the pit iii a broken and partially roasted condition. A cartridge of bellite was fired from a riflo against an iron plate, the bellite being merely smashed against the plate. Some comparative experiments made with equal quantities of dynamite and bellite showed that bellito was slightly stronger than dynamite, and that it had moro of a rending than of a smashing action, As a test of its propelling power, a 321b ball was projected from a mortar to a distance ot 120 ft by a |oz of rifle powder, but with {m of bellito it covered 285 ft in its flight, Tho final experiment cousisted in demolishing a railway. To this end a 60fo length of line was laid with a double-headod rail carried in iron chairs on timber cross sleepers. A miuo containing 81b of bellite, placed m the earth at a depth of sft below tho railway, was exploded, demolishing the railway and forming a crater 12ft in diameter by some Oft or 7ft deep. Portions of the lino and sleepers were projected many feet away, and the scene was ono of perfect wreckage. The experiments fully demonstrated the safety, power, and special notion of bellite.—'Times'