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| July-August 1904 General News |
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| July-August 1904 General News |
| Return to main Chronicle page See Crossword Puzzle details at bottom of this page — here. |
| All items for this
edition of General News are taken from The Age, July-August, 1904. A red hatch (#) at the top of an item means that the item contains an answer to a crossword puzzle clue. Clicking on the items in the list below will "jump" you to the relevant news reports further down this page. * England cricket team to tour Australian in 1905 * Police intelligence * New plan to build tunnel under English Channel * American Independence Day * The servant girl and her naughty mistress * More adventures of Reverend Mr. Dowie * "World's greatest living pianist" visits Australia * Girl's body dumped in water tank * Nikola Tesla's plan to radio-electrify New York * Telegraph cable to link Dutch East Indies with China and USA * Husband killer released from jail * Hindu violence in Melbourne * Overworked waiters * Outlaws run out of town * "Sport" in Spanish bullring * English slums and poor health * German novel about military life results in court-martial * Message in bottle from aeronaut who disappeared in 1897 * Teacher charged with "revolting" offences against boys * White girl lynches black man in Mississippi * "Ballarat musical burglar" arrested in London * Plan to build Mont Blanc railway * Percy Grainger triumphs on England concert tour * Swimming the English Channel * Family of 11 found living in squalor * Burglar pursued in wild chase through city streets * Jeffries retains boxing heavyweight championship # ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN CRICKET. A MARYLEBONE INVITATION. LONDON, 30th June. The advisory committee of the Marylebone Cricket Club, which sent out to Australia last year the team under P.F. Warner, has recommended that the club invite an Australian cricket team to visit England in 1905. The committee proposes that five test matches should be played, the first four of which should be limited to three days’ duration, while the fifth, if a tie has been made by England and Australia, should be played out without time limit. [Mr. B.J. Wardill, secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, stated last night that he had not been informed of the proposal referred to above, but he expects to receive details by the mail. He regards the proposal to play out the final match should the two teams be level after the fourth game as a very welcome improvement upon the present system of playing test matches.] (Age, July 1, 1904) The following headline is a general one, under which a number of items followed. We present two of those items. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. A BOY AND A CHINAMAN. John O’Brien, aged 14, was charged at North Melbourne court yesterday with assaulting Oh Chung, tea dealer. Curiosity was exited regarding the nature of the assault, when it was seen the defendant was a diminutive lad, whilst complainant was a stalwart Chinese. Through the agency of an interpreter, the latter stated that on the 25th ult. he saw defendant in the act of undoing a chain on the wheel of his cart, which he had left standing in Haines Street, and chased him. Whilst they were running defendant fell, and complainant turned a somersault over him. After a further chase complainant caught defendant, who escaped by suddenly wriggling himself out of his shirt. Defendant then threw a stone, which struck complainant on the nose. A shirt and hat were produced, and were acknowledged to be defendant’s property. A fine of 7/6 was imposed, with 28/6 costs; in default of distress, three days’ imprisonment. THE MIND READER MYSTIFIED. "There’s a mystery about the case," commented the chairman at South Melbourne on Tuesday in dismissing a charge of the larceny of a gold chain and silver watch preferred against a young man named Edward Phillips. The circumstances were peculiar. On Saturday night, 18th inst., Mr. William Turner and his wife were proceeding home along Clarendon Street, when they were accosted by accused, who is a cripple, and gains his living as an itinerant street musician. Accused was accompanied by his wife and child, and a boy carrying his accordion. Mr. Turner said, that under the impression that Phillips, who had asked for assistance, was an injured footballer, he remained for some minutes "sympathising" with him. Mrs. Turner, meantime, made inquiries about Mrs. Phillips’s baby. Shortly after the parties separated to go home, Mrs. Turner drew her husband’s attention to the fact that his watch and chain were missing. The following morning complainant took out a warrant for accused’s arrest. The warrant was executed by Constable Hall, who brought accused before Turner, but the latter, although a "mind reading" entertainer, was unable to divine what had become of his watch and chain, and was likewise unable to identify accused as the man who had accosted him in Clarendon Street. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Turner was at the court able to identify Phillips, although both thought he was like the man they had seen, and the bench, as stated, at once dismissed the case. (Age, July 1, 1904) # THE CHANNEL TUNNEL. ESTIMATED COST, £10,000,000. (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, 3rd June. The new enthusiasm for the Channel tunnel is at present all on the French side. The making up of the British mind, always a leisurely process in such cases, is proceeding. Would brotherly love bear the strain of a scheme which would abolish the Channel, and make London a suburb of Paris, or Paris a suburb of London — according to the respective views of the two countries? Frenchmen say there would be no such rivalry, no difficulty whatever, in fact. Englishmen are not sure; they have a vague uneasiness. The travelling section of them detest the Channel, but they are inclined to see it in a new light when a tunnel or a bridge is mentioned. Moreover, the scheme is an old one, and suffers from a history of repeated failure. It was first proposed in 1802, revived in 1833 and 1867, and got so far in 1874 as to secure the sanction of the British Parliament and the Chamber of Deputies. A commencement was made shortly afterwards by two companies, operating on a concerted plan from opposite sides of the Channel, but both were short-lived. A return to the undertaking is now being advocated, mainly by the Paris Chamber of Commerce, which considers that it would be "greatly to the economic interest of both countries," and that by "drawing still closer the ties of friendship between the two peoples, it would become a work fruitful in good results for the peace and well being of the world." With this view the French Chamber of Commerce in London fully agrees. M. Peltereau, a member of the Paris chamber, estimates that the tunnel would cost £10 million, or about one-fourth of the amount which would have to be expended if a bridge were constructed. A bridge would be scientifically practicable, but he notes the objections raised in the past by partisans of the alternative scheme, such as the force of some of the Channel currents and the creation of a probably dangerous obstacle to navigation. He estimates, for 1913, the total receipts from goods at between £680,000 and £720,000, and thinks that 40 or 50 trains daily would be required to deal with passenger and goods traffic at that date. With this number of trains the expense of traction within the tunnel itself would be about £112,000, and the other costs of general exploitation would bring the annual expense up to £224,000. He estimates the net annual return at £280,000. The utility of the tunnel, from the point of view of the economic relations of England and France, M. Peltereau discusses on the basis of the principle that business transactions between the two countries are mutually complementary, as distinguished from the relations between England and two other economically rival powers — Germany and the United States. This, he thinks, gives a certain "friendly stability" to the reciprocal dealings of England and France, a situation which would be largely enhanced, so he assumes, by the construction of the Channel railway. He even appears to believe that the balance of advantage with lie with England, which would become more than ever a sort of great commission agent for the Continent for a large variety of goods. When M. Thome de Gamond was promoting the tunnel scheme, about 60 years ago, Queen Victoria is said to have told Prince Albert, "You may say to the French engineer that if he succeeds in doing that, I will bless him in my own name and in that of all the ladies of England." But that was long before turbine steamers were thought of, and when a journey across the Channel was a painful and sometimes dangerous business. M. Peltereau and others seem to overlook the fact that it would be extremely difficult to ventilate the submarine tunnel. (Age, July 4, 1904) # AMERICA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY. Yesterday was the 128th anniversary of the declaration of American independence, and the fact was recognised by the flying of the Stars and Stripes over many of the buildings of the city. Owing to the absence of the United States consul-general, Mr. John P. Bray, there was no official reception in Melbourne, and American citizens resident amongst us took no special steps to celebrate the "Glorious Fourth." In the evening a concert was given in the Pianola Hall in recognition of the fact that the great republic had passed another milestone in its national life, and the music was mainly of a patriotic character. Mill Lilian Reid and Mr. Leslie Banfield were the vocalists. Miss Reid gave artistic renderings of O. That We Two Were Maying, ‘Twas April and The Silver Ring, and a popular interpretation of My Old Kentucky Home. Mr. Banfield sang There’s a Land and The Star-Spangled Banner, being enthusiastically recalled for the lastnamed. A programme of instrumental music was beautifully rendered by the pianola, the vocalion organ and the aeloian. (Age, July 5, 1904) A REMARKABLE STORY. BALLARAT HOTEL SENSATION. BALLARAT, Tuesday. A sensational occurrence is reported to have taken place today at a well-known Sturt Street hotel. It is alleged that a servant girl had occasion to enter the sleeping apartment of her mistress, whom, she says, she found in company with two men. The trio were greatly annoyed at the sudden intrusion of the maid, who stated that one of the men presented a revolver at her; while the landlady, she alleges, hurled an empty ale bottle at her, but the missile went wide of its mark. A messenger was despatched for the police, and a sergeant and three men promptly arrived on the scene. On proceeding to the bedroom, which is in the upper storey of the hotel, the police found the door locked. It was opened, however, in response to loud knocking, and on entering the police found the woman and two men in the apartment. The sergeant acquainted them with the story of the servant girl, and the man who was said to have presented the revolver at her denied that he had done so. He admitted, however, pointing the handle of a brush at the girl, in order to frighten her. The police searched the bedroom for the supposed revolver, but did not succeed in finding it. The girl still declares positively that a revolver was pointed at her by the man in question, and in a written statement she emphasises her story in other respects. A singular feature regarding the remarkable affair is the fact that the girl, after seeking the protection of the police, decided eventually to remain in the hotel during the night, notwithstanding, according to her story, that she was aware she had incurred the ire of her mistress and the two men. She also alleges that one of the men sought to assault her when she entered the bedroom. As matters stand at present the police can take no prompt action, but it is probable that further inquiries will result in a certain course of proceedings. (Age, July 6, 1904) Chronicle note: the "certain course " mentioned at the end of the report would probably have been a charge of running a brothel. The Reverend Dowie story, from previous editions on the Echo Education Chronicle site, continues. # GENERAL CABLE NEWS. LONDON, 6th July. "Elijah" Dowie, the Chicago faith healer, who recently returned to Zion City after a disastrous tour to Australia and Europe, now announces that he intends to "invade" England, which so summarily and emphatically "rejected" him. He proposes to charter a fleet of "Gospel ships," and, filling them with a "Restoration host" of his followers, cross the Atlantic to accomplish the religious conquest of England. Five thousand Zionites have volunteered to accompany their prophet on his campaign. (Age, July 7, 1904) # SMALLPOX AT ZION CITY. LONDON, 13th August. An epidemic of smallpox has occurred at Zion City, of which "Elijah" Dowie is the founder and prophet, and holding obstinately to his faith-healing doctrines Dowie refuses to admit any doctors into the city. (Age, August 15, 1904) The following is shortened. There were a number of reports on this subject. # M. PADEREWSKI. FIRST RECITAL. GREAT ARTISTIC TRIUMPH. Never probably since Melbourne became a city has such a scene been witnessed as was furnished at the Town Hall last night, when the renowned pianist made his first appearance in Australia. No need to ask the crowds which thronged the building, applauding till their hands were sore and shrieking till they were hoarse, what they thought of the newcomer, or whether in their opinion his talents had been overrated. From the very start he gripped his audience and had them, so to say, at his mercy. Little matters it that half of them could not tell you why this particular man was able to move them so much more than any other of the many fine pianists who have from time to time visited Melbourne; and it is, of course, open to such as choose to think so to assert that they applauded him so frantically because he is the great Paderewski, whom everyone has always applauded in similar fashion everywhere else; that, in point of fact, they were caught by the glamor of a great name. But those who so opine are quite wrong; if there be any glamor about the thing at all it is that, not of a great name, but of a great personality. It is the man’s matchless power of laying hold of his hearers, of "magnetising" them in a sense, that will explain why, not only the connoisseurs and the folks who, at any rate, "ought to know," but a considerable proportion of those who could at any time be depended on to guess wrong if asked the composer of any piece not set down on the programme, went nearly wild with excitement. Yet there is singularly little about the artist and his methods which will elucidate the phenomenon, apart from the musical effects he produces. With the single exception perhaps of Sir Charles Halle, no player in or near the front rank who has been here has had a much quieter or less excited style. He indulges in no contortions, no swayings of the body from end to end of the keyboard; nor is he prone to look round as though for approbation at the end of some almost wizard-like exhibition of dexterity, as who should say, "Isn’t it marvellous?" Sitting very low, he rarely raises his hands chin-high, save perhaps when quitting a note — never when about to strike. Such force as he uses comes from a "blow" of about three inches fall — often less, and never more. Whatever be the secret of his success with those less musically trained, it has nothing to do with antics and gyrations, for he indulges in none. Yet the "man in the street," as represented at last night’s concert, applauded him quite as vigorously as, let us say, the ci-devant Ormond Professor himself, who, in a worthy musical cause like this one, is nothing if not enthusiastic. Speaking of Mr. Marshall-Hall brings to mind a very true saying of his at the reception to M. Paderewski last Tuesday. He said in effect that to genuine music lovers such an event as this present visit from the world’s greatest living pianist is one which will go far to reconcile them to the feeling of aloofness from the great centres of art. We may go further, and add that it is memorable not only for itself, but for what it presages. Artists like Melba and Crossley, pre-eminent in their own lines, have, it is true, found time and opportunity to visit Australia while still in the zenith of their powers. But they of course had special reasons, and the great bulk of the world’s acknowledged musical chieftains have either ignored the Southern Hemisphere altogether, or have delayed coming until their once mighty power to sway the multitude was verging on its wane. With Paderewski this is not the case. He comes to us with all his unrivalled gifts at their utmost pitch of perfection; his name is still one to conjure by alike in Europe and America, in the wildest mining settlements of the west as in the crowded cities of the east. The fact that he can think it worth his while to voyage so far afield prompts the hope that others may follow in his footsteps; such an issue, of course, rests largely with ourselves, and how we show ourselves capable of appreciating such good fortune as now comes in our way. It is one of the penalties of greatness such as his that his votaries should be prone at times to carry their hero-worship beyond the bounds of sober reason and sound judgement. It remains to be proved whether in this respect we shall steer clear of some of the extravagances of adulation (or adoration) which in America in especial have become something of a by-word. Such ebullitions, transcending as they do all recognised bounds of sanity, have the disadvantage of reacting in a measure on their object, who finds himself in some degree held up to the ridicule of sober, matter of fact folks by reason of his devotees having made themselves just a little ridiculous. Wiser counsels, it may be hoped, will prevail here; so that when M. Paderewski bids adieu to our shores he will take with him the recollection of our boundless appreciation of the artist, without any arriere pensee of our having carried our admirations too far, and in an undesirable direction. His reception last night, with all its warmth of enthusiasm, kept well within legitimate limits, and we may trust that the same will be true of the future… (Age, July 8, 1904) PADEREWSKI OUTRAGED. SYDNEY MUSICAL "SAVAGES." WALK OUT DURING PERFORMANCE. SYDNEY, Tuesday. Mr. Paderewski gave his second recital at the Sydney Town Hall yesterday evening in the presence of another large audience. Although the programme was greatly enjoyed, the artist himself at the close left the platform in a towering rage. During the performance some non-musical members of the audience drifted out of the hall as soon as their curiosity was satisfied. A stirring ovation at the end of the evening, though leading to the addition of two more pieces, found the artist playing to a rapidly diminishing audience. Mr. Paderewski played, as he stated later, with genuine pleasure to those whose appreciation had led them to remain; but he resented keenly and in the strongest terms the want of honor shown to a visiting artist by something like 500 people in hurrying away at such juncture. "They are nothing but savages," said the irate artist. "In Melbourne no one went out, and I played a longer programme. I have never had an audience behave like that — even in the Wild West." (Age, August 3, 1904) The following is shortened. # CHARGE OF MURDER. GIRL FOUND IN A TANK. AN OLD MAN ARRESTED. KERANG, Sunday. In the early hours of Saturday morning the police brought into Kerang the body of a girl named Eva Hayman, eleven years of age. Robert Colville, a man approaching 70 years, was arrested, and charged with wilful murder of the girl. It appears that on Friday evening at 6 o’clock Mrs. Hayman, the mother of the girl, drove into Kerang and informed the police that her daughter, Eva, had met her death by being drowned in an underground tank. Mrs. Hayman said that on Friday she had occasion to go into Kerang. She left her home at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and Eva was then washing up the dishes. Robert Colville, a married man, who had been living with her for over two years, since his separation from his wife, had been about the house all the morning… [Mrs. Hayman] started on her return journey from Kerang about 4 o’clock, and after stopping to have a cup of tea with a neighbor reached home at 5. When she arrived her son, Arthur, was there, and she did not particularly notice the absence of Eva, who might have gone for the cows. At this time the teacher of the State school came over to inquire as to the absence of the girl from school. Mrs. Hayman stated that the rain kept the girl away, and asked if the teacher had not met Eva driving the cows. She received a negative reply, and, becoming alarmed, she commenced a search for the girl. She noticed that the kettle was standing near the dome of an underground tank, and that the bucket and rope used for raising the water were missing… She looked down the tank and saw something she took to be froth on the surface of the water, and a wavering mass which looked like her daughter’s clothes. Just then Colville returned with the horses. She told she thought Eva had fallen into the tank. He replied, "Surely not, at any rate we will see." Colville took the reins off the plough horses and fastened a hook on to it. The first sweep across the tank was ineffectual, but the second brought the body of the girl to the surface of the water. At this point her efforts to recover the body ceased. Mrs. Hayman’s explanation is that she thought that when a body was found in such circumstances it must be left until the police had seen it. Senior Constable Hancock, after the departure of Mrs. Hayman, at once made arrangements to go with Dr. Seccombe and Mounted constable Docking to the scene of the fatality. On their arrival they found that the body was still in the tank. It was quickly recovered and taken into the mother’s residence. Dr. Seccombe made an external examination of the body, the result of which disclosed evidences pointing to recent violation. Senior Constable Hancock arrested Robert Colville on a charge of wilful murder. The relations between Colville and Mrs. Hayman have been the subject of police inquiry for some weeks. A sister three years older than Eva recently went to live with an elder married sister, to whom she made a complaint of a serious nature affecting Colville…. A surprising feature of the tragic incident is the apparent callous indifference exhibited by both accused and the girl’s mother, Louisa Hayman, after discovering the child’s body in the tank. After giving information to Senior Constable Hancock, the mother drove back to the house, and when the constable arrived she and Colville were seated before the kitchen fire. No further attempt had been made to recover the body, much less any attempt to restore animation. Colville assisted the police to bring the body to the surface, at the same time composedly smoking his pipe. When, a little later, having conveyed the girl’s body to Kerang, and obtained the necessary warrant on the strength of the indications of the child having been recently brutally violated, Senior Constable Hancock again visited the house. Colville was found in bed. Upon being informed of the serious nature of the charge against him, he sat up coolly, lit his pipe, and remarked, "I suppose I must go with you, sergeant." The mother, who was present, said, addressing Colville, "Did you kill my child?" to which accused responded, "No, woman." … Recently another daughter of Mrs. Hayman’s was an inmate of the hospital at Swan Hill suffering from typhoid fever. Later she complained to a married sister, Mrs. Theobald, wife of a farmer, resident near Swan Hill, with whom she was staying, that during the past 18 months Colville had several times attempted to criminally assault her… Some two years ago a charge of perjury was preferred against Colville in connection with alleged unlawful assault, in which two sons of Mrs. Hayman, Arthur and William, were principals, but the case was dismissed… (Age, July 11, 1904) In an Age report of the inquest on August 10th, 1904, Colville was committed for trial and Mrs. Hayman charged as an accessory. In view of the fact that radio-controlled internet access is now with us, as well as mobile phone technology, the following item indicates the far-sighted genius in thinking — if not in the success of being able to put his huge ideas into action — of Nicola Tesla a century ago. # # ABOLISHING ELECTRIC WIRES. MR. TESLA’S WONDERS. An enormous mushroom-shaped tower has just been completed at Wardenclyffe, Long Island, by Mr. Nikola Tesla, the distinguished electric inventor. From this tower Mr. Tesla is now preparing to put into operation the most daring and amazing scheme ever conceived in the development of wireless telegraphy. For over four years Mr. Tesla has been hard at work almost day and night experimenting and endeavoring to make his marvellous theory practicable. From time to time during that period he has intimated vaguely the immensity of his plan, and the equally tremendous results that would follow its introduction, and now, at last, he has announced his preparedness to put his theories to their first practical test. For a large part of the work already done Mr. Tesla is indebted to the generosity of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan, who is extremely interested in the scheme. Briefly explained, Mr. Tesla’s scheme is: — a ceaseless day and night service of millions and millions of volts of electricity from the Canadian Niagara Power Company’s electric power plants at Niagara Falls to the Wardenclyffe tower, the electric power being forwarded from there by Tesla’s wireless system to New York City for the purpose of illuminating the entire metropolis, running elevated and underground trains and tramway cars, operating lifts, motor cars, trucks and ferry boats, furnishing heat, and even winding up clocks and making them keep perfect time by a system of half-hourly regulation. The erection of Tesla towers, similar to the one now at Wardenclyffe, at convenient places everywhere, for the purposes of distributing wireless telegraphy to be used for illumination, power and heat. Only such towers as are erected within a given distance from Niagara Falls will be supplied with the power plants there with electricity, says the "New York American." All the other towers will derive their own power from generating plant erected alongside or between the main uprights, and each will distribute about 10,000 horse-power of wireless electricity under a tension of 100,000,000 volts. Mr. Tesla declares that he is able to produce and handle that much with perfect safety from one tower. The Wardenclyffe tower is 185 feet high. The tower, which is to act as a giant receiver, has eight sides, with a staircase and lift for reaching the cupola platform. It is there that the wireless vibrations are received and shot out again in the voltage desired to given points scattered over a very wide radius. Among his other schemes Mr. Tesla proposes a perfect system of world-wide wireless telegraphy through which widely separated friends will be able to converse instantaneously and without the slightest danger that their wireless conversations will be overheard by a third person. Little instruments about the size and shape of a watch will be carried in the vest pocket, and will record market quotations, races and important news features. Another little watchlike instrument is one with a dial face by means of which the wearer can transmit and receive wireless messages to and from friends many miles away. Watches of both sender and receiver will be keyed to a certain pitch to prevent their communications from going astray or falling into the watches of disinterested persons. (Age, July 16, 1904) # A NEW EASTERN CABLE. LONDON, 20th july. A German-Dutch company has been formed for the purpose of laying a submarine cable between the Dutch East Indian island of Celebes, the Pelew Islands to northward purchased by Germany from Spain, and Shanghai, on the Yang-tse estuary, in China. The cable will connect with the American Pacific cable from San Francisco to Manila, at Guam, the largest of the Marianne Islands. (Age, July 21, 1904) MRS. MAYBRICK RELEASED. LONDON, 21st July. Pursuant to the promise given by the Home Secretary, Mrs. Maybrick, convicted of poisoning her husband in 1889, was yesterday set at liberty. [Mrs. Maybrick, who was sentenced to death in the first instance, has received her liberty on special conditions. She undertakes not to attempt notoriety, publish a book on herself or exhibit herself on the stage. This condition, however, can only be enforced while she remains in England, and she will probably go to the United States, of which she is a native.] (Age, July 22, 1904) # MRS. MAYBRICK’S RELEASE. LONDON, 15th August. Mrs. Florence Maybrick, convicted of poisoning her husband some years ago, and released from prison last month under special conditions by the Home Secretary, has sailed from England for the United States, her native country. [Mrs. Maybrick undertook, as a condition of her release, not to exploit her case or her experience, either on the stage or in a book, in the United Kingdom. As she has gone to America, however, the exploitation is to be expected forthwith.] (Age, August 17, 1904) Chronicle note: today it is believed that Mrs. Maybrick's husband, James Maybrick, may have been "Jack the Ripper", the notorious mass-murderer in 1880's London. HINDU TROUBLES. The tribal troubles amongst the Hindu population of Little Lonsdale Street, a phase of which was the conviction yesterday at the Criminal Court of Dewa Singh, for unlawfully wounding Asa Ram, furnished another incident yesterday evening, when Poguana, a Hindu hawker, was locked up on a charge of indecent behavior in a public place. Lonsdale Street, near Exhibition Street, yesterday evening was full of excited Hindus, who were violently objurgating one of their own race, who was being detained awaiting the arrival of the police. He was then given in charge. According to the story spluttered out in shattered English by half a dozen Hindus simultaneously, Poguana, a friend of Asa Ram, had, upon learning of Dewa Singh’s conviction, presented himself before the shop of a friend of Dewa Singh’s, and exulted sarcastically over the latter’s downfall. This was borne patiently, but when Poguana went to the length of insulting the shopkeeper’s wife, in what the witness termed "Hindu fashion," the man was rushed, and came pretty near, seemingly, to being lynched, when the police took charge of him. Underlying the whole affair is, it is said, an attempt made by a combine of Sikhs to divert the trade from a promising Hindu merchant who now does the bulk of the business with the hawkers. (Age, July 22, 1904) THE OVERWORKED WAITER. TO THE EDITOR OF THE AGE. SIR, Permit me to introduce a case of sweating at a well-known hotel in the city of Melbourne. I am employed as waiter. I receive the sum of 25/- per week; commence duties at 7.30 a.m., run breakfast, lunch and dinner. By the time dinner is over it is 8 p.m. At 8.30 p.m. I have to run another dinner, and finish at 2 o’clock next morning, and start work again at 7.30 same day. For my services at the dinner I receive the handsome sum of 4/-, which is part of my share, collected in the cloak room. I receive not even "thank you" from my employer. A leading caterer in Melbourne has to pay his men 15/- and 12/6. Surely it is time the public knew the state of affairs which exist at present in Melbourne hotels. Yours, &c., SORE-FOOTED WAITER. 19th July. (Age, July 22, 1904) # LIFE IN DAKOTAH. A LAWLESS GANG TURNED OUT. LONDON, 25th july. The respectable residents of Bonesteel, a town in the State of South Dakotah, after having been terrorised for some time by the gamblers and roughs who have made the place their headquarters, have effectively taken the law into their own hands. A law and order citizens’ committee was quietly formed, and when its organisation was complete a pitched battle was fought with the "toughs," who numbered considerably over 100. Sixteen men were seriously wounded in the fight, but the committee conquered and captured 100 of the worst criminals in the place. Instead of following western precedents and stringing their captives up, the Bonesteel regulators deported them out of the State into Nebraska, turning them loose (disarmed) on the open prairie, with a warning that any one of them who showed his face in Bonesteel again would be summarily lynched. (Age, July 27, 1904) # "SPORT" IN SPAIN. LONDON, 25th July. An unusual excitement was provided on Sunday for the patrons of the bull fighting arena at San Sebastian, a Spanish town famous for its displays of the national "sport." The programme included a combat between a bull and a tiger, but the latter escaped from his cage and caused a panic among the spectators. The gendarmes in attendance to preserve order, with much less discretion than zeal, fired volleys from their rifles at the tiger, killing it, but wounding eleven of the audience. (Age, July 27, 1904) Chronicle note: a report the following day stated that 50 spectators had been wounded by the gendarmes, including a lady who "has succumbed to her injuries." # # BRITISH PHYSIQUE. INQUIRY COMMITTEE’S REPORT. CAUSES OF SLUM DEGENERACY. LONDON, 29th July. The committee which was appointed in September last to make a preliminary inquiry into the alleged physical deterioration of the English people — consideration of the question having been raised by attention being drawn to the large number of applicants for enlistment in the army who had to be rejected on account of defective physique — has presented its report. The committee states that there is no evidence of any widespread and progressive deterioration of the English people, but considerable classes are declared to be physically degenerate, these being chiefly the inhabitants of the slums in the large cities. The committee attributes this degeneracy to overcrowding, drunkenness, vice, improper feeding, excessive tea drinking, and cigarette smoking by children. [In the "Contemporary Review" last year Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice stated that out of every five men who wished to join the army only two proved finally fit for service. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, in drawing attention to the causes which during the last 50 years have been at work to diminish the health of the laboring classes, referred to the immigration of the country population into the towns, with its consequent overcrowding; female labor in factories and shops, with the resulting neglect of young children; the ignorance of mothers, improper feeding of infants, the food of the people and the gathering of children in large numbers for long hours into crowded schools.] (Age, August 1, 1904) # # GERMAN MILITARY NOVEL. REAL LIFE DEMONSTRATIONS. LONDON, 31st July. The novel In Our Little Garrison, descriptive of military life in a German frontier town, for publishing which Lieutenant Bilse was in November last sentenced at Metz to six months’ military imprisonment and dismissed from the army, has once more been brought prominently before the German public. Lieutenant Withe, identified at the Bilse court-martial as the chief villain of the novel, has now been tried by court-martial on charges of perjury and of maltreating private soldiers in the fashion described in Bilse’s book. The trial was of especial interest because most of the witnesses were the originals of the characters in Lieutenant Bilse’s novel, and he himself gave evidence. The result was that Lieutenant Withe was convicted of maltreating soldiers in 17 cases, and was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and to dismissal from the army. The evidence was taken in camera, and publication is suppressed. [Lieutenant Bilse’s novel, which caused an immense sensation in Germany, and which has been translated into English and published with court-martial appendices, was ordered by the German War Office to be utterly suppressed. It has little literary merit, no claims to originality, and is obviously a bald transcript of the actual immoralities and tyrannies of which his fellow officers in a frontier garrison were guilty. He was convicted of "libelling" them; but it was the truth that constituted the libel. He was convicted because his resignation as an officer had not been accepted when his novel was published — a distinct breach of the military regulations.] (Age, August 2, 1904) # # THE POLAR AERONAUT. LETTER FROM ANDRE. LONDON, 2nd August. A bottle containing a letter written by the lost aeronautic Arctic explorer, Dr. S.A. Andre, has been picked up on the coast of Spitzbergen, whence in July, 1897, he started in a balloon, accompanied by MM. Strindberg and Fraenkel, to try to reach the North Pole. [Several expeditions have searched for traces of Andre and his companions, and a circumstantial account was several years ago given to a missionary by Esquimaux of the killing of the explorers by natives in the extreme north of British America. The story, however, was never substantiated, and the fate of Andre and his companions still remains a mystery. The bottle picked up off Spitzbergen may have been thrown off the balloon soon after it started, with a good south wind behind, on its polar voyage. In 1900 a buoy was picked up on the Norway coast with a message from Andre, but it was dated from the starting day.] (Age, August 4, 1904) # SHOCKING CHARGE AGAINST A TEACHER. BENALLA, Wednesday. As a result of information received today by Superintendent Oliver from a resident of Swanpool, Constables O’Neill and Sullivan went out and arrested Percy Hocking, the teacher of the Swanpool State school, on a criminal charge in relation to a number of the boys attending the school. The details of the alleged offence are of a revolting nature, and at least three charges will be brought against accused. The ages of the boys range from 10 to 14 years. Rumors have been current in Swanpool lately regarding accused’s practices, and some of the parents had cautioned their children. Hocking, who is 25 years of age and unmarried, has been stationed at Swanpool for only a few months. He admits the truth of the charge, and ascribes his conduct to madness, declaring that his mind is affected as the result of a fall two years ago. (Age, August 4, 1904) LYNCHING A NEGRO. GIRL AS EXECUTIONER. A negro named Jackson was lynched at Europa, Mississippi, by a mob of angry whites. The negro had committed a criminal assault on Miss Wilson, a 16-year-old girl, and a belle of the town, whom he had waylaid along a lonely road. Jackson was caught on Sunday by the police, and lodged in Europa gaol. The news that the man was arrested did not become generally known until next morning, but as soon as it was ascertained that he was in gaol the town went wild. All business was suspended, and the whites, led by the relatives of the outraged girl, marched on the prison. The gaolkeepers made but a perfunctory resistance against the mob, who entered the gaol after a brief parley and removed Jackson from his cell. The negro was marched to the village green, his conduct on the way changing from stolid indifference to abject pleadings for mercy. At the green a rope was thrown over the limb of a tree, and after the negro had been bound Miss Wilson herself placed the noose round his neck. The man was then lifted onto a horse and the rope made fast to the tree. Miss Wilson, taking the horse by the bridle, led the animal from beneath the tree, leaving the negro suspended in the air. The mob stood by, watching with unmoved countenances the contortions of the negro as he swung back and forth until he died. (Age, August 6, 1904) # # THE NELSON RELICS. BALLARAT, Friday. It transpired on Friday that the man William Alfred Carter, who was arrested in London on the 4th ult. in connection with the theft of the Nelson relics, as reported in the cable messages of "The Age," is identical with the "Ballarat musical burglar" who early in 1902 stole a number of band and other instruments from a Sturt Street music warehouse. For this and other crimes he was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. While Carter was in Ballarat a red seal, bearing the monogram H.N. (Horatio Nelson) was offered by a local jeweller to a leading official at the school of mines for £5. The jeweller stated that the seal was really a relic of the belongings of Lord Nelson, and that he had obtained it from a "gentleman" recently arrived from England. The vendor, it now appears, was the "musical burglar," who at the time was following the occupation of a shoe maker in one of the back streets of the city. The seal is supposed to be still in Ballarat. (Age, August 13, 1904) # A MONT BLANC RAILWAY. LONDON, 16th August. The scheme for the construction of a railway line from St. Gervais, in the Haut Savoie department of France, to the summit of the Aiguille Gouter, on Mont Blanc, has been officially sanctioned. (Age, August 17, 1904) # AN AUSTRALIAN PIANIST. LONDON, 18th August. Mr. Percy Grainger, the accomplished Australian pianist, who accompanied Miss Ada Crossley on her recent colonial tour, scored a brilliant success at a Tschaikowsky concert given in the Queen’s Hall on Wednesday evening, being recalled no fewer than ten times. (Age, August 20, 1904) # SWIMMING THE CHANNEL. LONDON, 22nd August. Arthur Holbein, a well-known English athlete and long-distance swimmer, accompanied by a swimmer named Haggerty, started on Saturday evening to swim across the English Channel from Dover to France. After swimming for an hour and 34 minutes Haggerty was seized by cramp and was obliged to abandon the attempt. Holbein, who was swimming strongly, went on alone. (Age, August 23, 1904) The first part of the following item refers to the result of Holbein’s attempt — see above — to swim the English Channel. # GENERAL CABLE NEWS. LONDON, 22nd August. The fifth attempt of Montague Holbein, the well-known athlete, to swim across the English Channel from Dover to France, has failed. Holbein, after swimming for ten hours, was seized by sickness when halfway across the Channel, and was obliged to abandon the enterprise. Arthur Napper and James Lynch Langford, two young men who propose to sail to Australia in a 14-ton ketch, named the Brighton, manned by themselves, yesterday started on the voyage from Shoreham, in Kent. Their destination is Broome, on the north-west coast of Western Australia, and their course is via the Cape of Good Hope. (Age, August 24, 1904) # SHOCKING CASE OF SQUALOR. FAMILY OF ELEVEN HERDED IN TWO SMALL ROOMS. BALLARAT, Tuesday. A remarkable case of misery and squalor was today reported from Lexton by Mounted Constable Grey. The constable had occasion to visit a cottage in the Waubra Road occupied by John Retallack, his wife and nine children. The place consists only of two rooms, measuring 8 feet by 8 feet, a kitchen and a bedroom. In the latter apartment there are two beds, one of iron and the other constructed of deal boxes. Several of the children are deaf and dumb, and all being without bed covering, they lie at night huddled together like swine. The small iron bed is occupied by Mrs. Retallack, an infant of 12 months, and two daughters, viz., Mary, 18 years of age, deaf and dumb, and Beatrice, 3 years. The old wooden stretcher is occupied by three girls named Ethel, 9 years, deaf and dumb; Kathleen, 7 years, and Maggie, 5 years, deaf and dumb. There is no furniture of any kind in the wretched apartment, and the flooring boards are half an inch apart, allowing the cold wind to penetrate the place. Retallack and several of his children sleep on the floor on bags of grass. There are no sanitary arrangements, and the whole place is a menace to health. Constable Grey, in concluding his report, says that Retallack has money and could well afford to have his deaf and dumb children sent to the asylum, which he refuses to do. The Board of Public Health is to be communicated with. (Age, August 24, 1904) The following is shortened. # A CITY SENSATION. PURSUIT OF A BURGLAR. FUGITIVE FIRES SEVERAL SHOTS. RAILWAY PORTER WOUNDED. Flinders Street railway station was thrown into a state of tremendous excitement at a quarter past 9 o’clock last night, when a burly, wild-looking man, wearing an overcoat which streamed behind him and brandishing a revolver in his right hand, charged straight at the gates opening on to the platform at the foot of Elizabeth Street, and forcing the gatekeepers aside rushed through. The runaway was hard pressed by a number of athletic-looking young fellows, who were shouting loudly, "Stop him! He’s armed He’s a burglar!" As the fugitive rushed along the platform he was intercepted by Porter John Leonard, who heard the uproar without understanding its purport. The men closed. There was a brief struggle, a report, and Leonard was down on the ground with a bullet in his thigh, and as the armed man continued in his career westwards along the platform, he turned and fired three shots point blank at Mr. H.G. McLeod, a letter sorter in the Post Office, who was pressing him hard. He then made his escape. The sensational hunt began at the Gunya Tea Rooms, Collins Street, of which Miss Cope is proprietress. Mr. McLeod had gone in there for his tea and stayed chatting with Miss Cope till about 9 o’clock. At that time their attention was drawn to a sound of someone fumbling at the door… Asked what he wanted, he replied that he wanted to see one of the girls, but added, "It doesn’t matter. I’ll go away and see her some other time." Mr. McLeod said, "It does matter; you will have to explain why you were trying to open the door, or I’ll give you in charge." The man made no further reply, but walked rapidly away down Collins Street towards Elizabeth Street. Mr. McLeod following with the intention of giving him in charge… [With others joining in, a chase ensued towards the railway station — Chron. ed.] As he ran the fellow threw off his overcoat into a pit, and in it was found a jemmy and a bunch of skeleton keys. The detectives are making the customary inquiries. They believe that the burglar is identical with a man they have had under surveillance for some time. He is described as a smart, well-dressed, athletic young man of most determined appearance. (Age, August 27, 1904) # # PUGILISTIC CHAMPIONSHIP. EASY VICTORY FOR JEFFRIES. LONDON, 27th August. A fight for the heavyweight championship of the world took place yesterday at San Francisco. James J. Jeffries, holder of the championship, and the American pugilist Jack Munroe were the combatants. The fight was a fiasco, Jeffries winning in the second round. The crowd hooted Munroe when the verdict was given. [The fight was for a stake of £1000 aside. Munroe is a miner from Butte, Montana. He is a heavily built, powerful man, little, if anything, inferior in point of size and weight to Jeffries. His principal claim to championship class is a victory over "Sailor" Sharkey. This match was to have been fought a couple of months ago, but was postponed on account of an injury to Jeffries’s knee. (Age, August 29, 1904) |
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