THE LATE TRAGEDY AT WELLINGTON. Miss Bligh's Storey.

Waikato Times, Volume XV, Issue 1273, 26 August 1880, Page 3

THE LATE TRAGEDY AT WELLINGTON. Miss Bligh's Storey.

Miss Bligh states that Henderson, on being released from custody, at once suggested to her the advisability of committing suicide. He said that it would be impossible for her again to return to Christchurch without being subject to slauder and disgrace. For himself, he preferred to sacrifice his life rather than bear the ignominy of a felon's doom. He embezzled money, which would surely result in his imprisonment were he to stand his trial. His life, Henderson added, had been ruined th ough the conduct of his first wife, who had proved unfaithful to him and had run away. This occured many years ago, and .since then he had neither seen or heard of her. He married a second time, but he had not experienced symptoms of love for his second wife, and this led to unhappiness. Ho wished to commence the world a-new, and for that purpose was seeking a new field in San Francisco, whither he was bound when arrested. In his presence Miss Bligh, the unfortunate victim of the Wretch's machination seems to have had no control over herself, and was totally unable to resist his wicked and insane proposal. He had premeditated the catastrophe, for before leaving Oh**istchurch he had armed himself with a six-b;irrelled revolver, with which it has transpired he intended to shoot Mi^s Bligh, and then blow his own brains out. Luckily this scheme was frustrated, through the acuteness of Chief Detective Brown in taking posses-ion of the instrument. It is also thought that the fatal strychnine was brought from Christchurch. It will be seen that the diabolical and awful act had been premeditated. Miss Bligh never lost her consciousness, and states that they had taken the poison only five minutes, when the detective arrived. A feeling of dimness seized her, but she recollected seeing- Mr B- own enter the chamber, and narrated all that subsequently transpired. She inquired whether Henderson was dead during last night, and upon Mr Brown replying that he had been taken to the Hospital in a dangerous state, and w-is not expected to recover, she said sho did not care to see him again, as sh.9 recognised her folly in being persuaded by him to have acted in the manner she did.

A curious old bye-law has been pub in force at Shrewsbury, Emma Fawcett, proprietor of a travelling circus, being fined ; £1 and lls 6d costs, for driving 10 vans I and 30 horses through the streets of toe town upon Sunday. The cheapness of English bookbin Hng is shown by the fact that a thousand volumes belonging to the Astor Library, New York, were sent over last year, and returned, handsomely bound, at a cost, iucludiug all charges, considerably less than would have been charged in New York. The Mussulmen in China have multiplied by millions, and are making many converts. Some day they may m<ike their way by force of arms, and it is prophesied that before so very long the peoples from Bagdad to Shanghai will be of one faith, and w*ll push their creed by conquest. The French Geographical _ Society, which fifteen years ago comprised only 303 members, has now ircreased to 1915, including 215 additions in 1879. Among its members are seven sovereign*. In Wurteuburg, where capital punishment has been in abeyiincj since 1866, a rann named Rapp has'been hauged for the murder of his former master and miv tres*. The Bo lie Standard tells of a man who located a ranch on a smooth field of snow in Mill Creek canyon, and found that when the show disappeared he hud fenced in a lake. The French Council of State has decided that Bishops aro to be styled in docreos Monsieur, instead of Monseigneur, the latter term being contrary to the law of 1802. A working mechanic of Montreal claims to have discovered a new motive power that will be aseft'ective as stpam, is applicable lo all kinds of locomotion, and will work at one-tenth the cost of fu( 1. j The Pope his i&sued an order decreeing the formation of a ecclesiastical commission to investigate the apparition at the Church of Knock and report upon the same. It is stated that the population of the Australian Northern Territory, white and yellow alike, id fa*t decreasing. Over 100 Chiue.se die there annually of fever. Ii has been decided that the institution of the Gaelic chair in Edinburgh University Should be delayed till next year, when it is hoped the funds for the eudownment of the professorship will have increased to an amount considerably over £13,000. The Lord Mayor has consented at the request of Admiral Ryder, to open a fund at the Mansion House for the relief of sufferers by the loss oi" the Atalanta. Lord Northb ook, the Fir.st Lord of the Admiralty, and Mr >Y. H. Smith, have each subscribed £100 towards the fund. A MOST curious incident occurred in Oxfordshire recently. An inquest was to be held at the Pigeon public -house, Banbury, on the body of a child which had been found drowned in the Oxford and Birmingham Canal. On the Coroner (Mr C. D. Falkner) and the Jury arriving, however, they were informed the body of the child, all but the head, had been devoured by a dog. The inquest was nevertheless proceeded with; and tho Jury having inspected the head, evidence was given to the effect that the previous morning a pott- mart an examination of the body was made, and as it w w somewhat offensive the body was plac A in a i-hed at the back of tho premises on acloth, covend over with an iron pig trough. The dog referred to which had pups, paid a visit to the shed, and taking- hold of the cloth pulled the body from underneath the trough and ran off with it to its kennel, where it | quietly devoured it. It was proved that the child had been still born , and an open rerdict was returned. Experiments with the telephone, by which the exaot direction of sound given by fog-horns or fogr-bells may be ascertained, proved that it was easy to ascertain whence the sound came from a distance of four to six miles. A Man named B. Jone?, a groom at the Royal Hotel, Cooma,. picked up a purse containing upwards of £1000 belonging to a hawker, and when he found the owner returned the money safe. The owner gave tfouea ft boty sovereign !

English Agricultueh. — In spite of the losses of farmers (says an English paper), it appeurs that the area of land under cultivation continues to increase. In Great Britain the area returned as under cultivation has increased by 121,000 aores since 1878, and by 264,000 acres since 1877 ; and the total increase in the 10 years, endiug with 1879, is no less than 1,637,000 acres, or about the same area as the whole of Devonshire. Of this increase rather more than two-thirds, or 1,134,080 acres was in England, 228,000 acres in Wales, and 275,000 acres in Scotland. A letter from Rome announces that an extensive coral bank has been lately discovered south from Sciarra, on the Neapolitan coast. Judging from the quantity and quality of the material already fished up, this new bank seems to be richer and more important than the one discovered about five years ago not far distant from the same spot. The Golos states that in a village in the Sklomin district, government of Grodno, a peasant was perpetually quarreling with his wife, because, as he declared, he " had ceased to love her." The village council took the matter into consideration, and adjudged the peasant to receive 20 blows with rods.