A Sensational Mystery.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3710, 14 January 1891, Page 3

A Sensational Mystery.

A Parisian financier is supposed to Jiave been mide away with in Algeria. It is asserted that he has not been seen for a considerable time, and that no clue to his ■whereabouts Ii« been discovered as yet. The fjftnnier. according to report, left Paris some months ago, in order to spend a few days in a town in the department of the Deus-Sevres. There he made the acquaintance of the wife of a Protestant clergyman, and shortly afterwards returned temporarily to Paris, where lie informed his friends and relatives that he was about to undertake, a journey to foreign parts He then left Paris: again went back to the provincial town, and induced the pastor's wife to quit her husband and home. The clergyman was under the impression that his fkithless spouse had gone to visit her' aunt, but at last lie grew anxious and instituted inquiries, which proved' that she had ran away with the financial agent. In the meantime a young couple arrived at Algiers from France, hired a villa on the heights of*B local suburb. They went out but very little, and were hardly ever seen beyond thd precincts of their residence. AfteJ about a month of this sort ofl isolation, the man began to makJ numerous journeys to the town, an« fccame a frequenter of one of thtl Ifee-Stranger—who is supposed to hate been the missing fanancier—met an old friend, a colonist, to whom he narrated his story in a jnoment of confidence. Three days afterwards this person, or someone else, went to the lady of the villa, and told her that her husband, as the fin--%icier was called, had been arrestedj and put in a civil prison, "all having been discovered." For a sum of £lO however, the bearer of this intelligence offered to enable the prisoner to regain his freedom, tbe money being necessary in order to bribe one of tbe turnkeys of the gaol. The lady gave the sum asked for, and goon learned that her friend was at liberty but that he wanted £BO , jb order , to reach Spain. This

'and about a week pa?sed, when there came a letter to the villa signed by a strange person and informing the mistress of the house that her friend had b:ed prevented from getting to Spain, and was now awai'ing a further supply uf funds in a little village on the coast. This time the lady's suspicions were aroused, and *li_e communicated witti the officials of the Parquet, to whom she disclosed everything. She was then told thai her friend had never bean put in prison and that he was not even known in Algiers. In the meantime, the person who succeeded in obtaining the different sums of money has beeu arrested, but refuses to throw any light on the mysterious affair.

Extraordinary Scene in a Sy&agcfiuo.

An extraordinary scene was enacted on a recent Sunday afternoon in the schoolroom a*, the re»r of tlie East Melbourne Synagogue, amongst a numerous gathering of the Hebiew congregation. The members were called together by two circulars, one for the purpose of electing a president in the place of Sir Mendell Cohen, whose resignation was accepted at a previous meeting, and the other to .discuss the terms of a requisition calling upon the treasurer, Mr M. A. Rapkin, to rescind the resolution accepting Mr Cohen's resignation, and to substitute nnotin-r reques'insr the l itter to continue to act as president. Mr lUppiport complained that although there were 250 male ni. inbers in the congregation, Mr Cohen s resignation had to be received on the declaration of only kwonty-ono votes. It wa3 casting a stigma upon that gentleman to compel him to retire after being a member for over thirty years, and be suggested that the proper course for the Executive to pin sue was to resign in a body and seek election. Mr Woolf Davis having moved that Mr Cohen be asked to withdraw his resignation, it was supported by several and strongly opposed by others. During a heated debate, which took place amidst a cloud of smoke from cigars, cigarettes, and pipes., there was a cry of " vote, vote," and as the ayes were about to go to the right and the noes to the left the chairman jumped on a table, and called out that Mr Perlstein, the chief accuser of Mr Cohen, wished a reconciliation. The two were discovered shaking hands effusively, and as the chairman declared the motion carried, the members cheered vociferously, whilst others threw their hats into the air. Further cheers and lnit-throwing were indulged in when Mr Cohen announced that he withdrew his resignation, and would continue to act as president.