Honolulu advices contain a copy of a letter sent by U. S. Minister Willis to the Hawaiian government, demand that reparation be made James Durel, an alleged American citizen, of Negro and Indian blood, who was arrested last January and charged with treason. In refutation of the demand the Hawaiian government will prove that Durel aided the queen; that he furthered the conspiracy to reseat the queen, and that his demand of $25,000 is exhorbitant. Hawaii is viewing this action of Minister Willis with serious apprehension. They fear that it indicates active hostility toward them on the part of the American administration, and that it is designed to encourage and lead the way to a series of similar demands from Great Britain, and perhaps other powers, which would be ruinous to Hawaii to comply with.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

A horrible story has just been brought to light at Owasso in which a woman named Nellie Hayes is charged with cremating her new born babe, Mrs. Abram Truax at whose house the woman was stopping, being the informer. She says that the Hayes woman was taken sick at her house last May, when birth was given to a child which she deliberately threw into the cook stove and watched it burn. She gives as her reason for not divulging it sooner that her husband, who was father to the babe, threatened her life if she did so. An investigation is being made. The Hayes woman is now serving a term in the Detroit house of correction. She denies the crime.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

Over 25 head of cattle were killed by lightning in a most remarkable way in Finnis county, Kan. A herd of 800 were being moved to another pasture and for a part of the distance were driven through a narrow lane hedged in by a wire fence. While in this narrow passage a thunderstorm overtook them and a bolt of lightning descended and struck a fence post, felling the wire for 200 yards. Every head of cattle that was crowded against the wire was killed.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

The Free Press, in speaking of this magnificent display, said, “The stage set was the most elaborate affair of the times ever seen here. The large choruses were well trained; the principals were as effective as possible, the speciality performers were above the average, and altogether the performance was the most extensive entertainment imaginable, both in the diversity of its features and in the dimension of the stage. It is impossible to enumerate all its features. The sight was of a dazzling nature, when the entertainment was at its height. It is needless to mention the various set features but they were marvels of delight to the 6,000 or so people assembled and the “oh’s” and “ah’s” became a general murmur of admiration and pleasure. Certainly the effect was startling in the extreme, and nothing stronger or more sensational could have been devised.” The Tribune, in speaking of the performance, said, “Lalla Rookh is as brilliant as a butterfly’s wings. Fully 10,000 people visited the spectacle last night. To attempt to describe the brilliant setting would be about as profitable as to endeavor to catalogue the colors of a butterfly’s wings or to write and essay on a half dozen rainbows. The fact is, “Lalla Rookh is one those spectacles not to be adequately described at any treat length unless one desires to become ridiculous.” The News characterized it as a “splendid show, witnessed by many thousand people,” and estimated the attendance at 10,000, with as many more on the outside of the enclosure. It said in a sub-headline that the special features formed “a good vaudeville show.” In closing a description of the show the New said, “The show was over at 10:50 o’clock and everybody went home voting it a great success.” Performances are to be given every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday night until August 10, with a grand gala night.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

A tornado swept over Steele county, Minn., doing immense damage. It centered at Belle Plain. Hail stones from 4 to 6 inches in diameter fell, breaking all glass fronts in the business places, all the windows in dwellings and churches. Smaller buildings were unroofed and overturned. Horses standing on the streets were knocked senseless. The corn crop in that region is totally destroyed.

[tags]Ann Arbor Register, August, 1895[/tags]

A new phase of criminal hypnotism has come to the surface in a most sensational manner, and in a way to startle society in general. A Brockport (N. Y.) State Normal School girl is reported to have suddenly cried out in agony in church, that a certain young man had hypnotized her. The fact that the young woman who thus gave rise to a strange sensation and scandal is also reported to be a cousin of Miss Frances E. Willard¹ will also direct added public attention to her eccentric deed. Her remarkable accusation against a youth of good repute may be set down as a freak of simple hysteria, especially, as the young man enjoys the reputation of having dabbled in this modern black art of hypnotism. A knowledge of this amateur propensity of his may have easily wrought upon the perfervid imagination of an excitable miss.

Nevertheless, the serious question remains as to what this queer outburst may lead. The public imagination has itself been decidedly agitated recently by the many romantic and weird tales of hypnotic mystery and crime. There can be no doubt in the mind of the more than casual observer that the theory of crime through the agency of hypnotic suggestion is gaining ground in public sentiment, if not in the courts. Clark Bell’s paper on “Hypnotism and the Law,” read before a recent session of the Medico-Legal Society of America, reveals the fact that this belief of criminal hypnotism is entertained by a number of eminent physicians. It is but a step from the accusation after a crime to this Brockport phase of accusation before a crime. Is it possible that the close of the nineteenth century is to witness a hypnotism superstition It is the fashion to sneer at the old Puritans for their witchcraft delusion; but what record as regards superstitious beliefs is this generation to leave for the scrutiny of posterity?–Philadelphia Record.

1. I’m not sure what this has to with anything — perhaps the association with “an army of 250,000″?[back]

A curious incident occurred at Ascot. While a large number of pleasant luncheon parties were enjoying the delights of an open-air repast in the gardens behind the grand stand a great swam of bees settled down on the guests around a table in a corner, says London Telegraph. They buzzed and buzzed everywhere. Ladies had bees in their bonnets and gentlemen found their hats turned into striking likenesses of “Catch-’em-alive-oh’s.” Some of the swarm settled on the cold salmon, and other members of it tumbled into the champagne cup. In fact, the bees created the greatest consternation among the ladies and gentlemen in that portion of the grounds. They were gradually drawn off the luncheon party by a gentlemen, to whom occurred the happy idea of treating them to a little music on a metal tray under a tree. After the tapping or tinkling on the article had continued for two or three moments the queen bee settled on the branches above to listen to it, and was at once followed by all the swarm. It was an extraordinary sight to see hundreds of the insects hanging like great black and gold clusters on the tree while the tinklink continued. It ceased with the luncheon, and the bees did no more harm. In the earlier part of the performance a lady was pretty severely stung.

The revival at Venice of the mosaic art, chiefly for internal and external artistic decorations of private and public buildings, goes on uninterruptedly and working in mosaic is now (our consul says) carried on in that city on a large scale and with great success, says the London Daily News. A mosaic is a work framed by the use of “tesserae” or small cubes of enamel, marble or other material and of a gold-and-silver leaf between two films of the purest glass of various colors, which are skillfully mixed on cement so as to produce the effect of a picture. The composition of human figures in different attitudes, animals, draperies or other objects requiring a careful delineation are intrusted to the best workmen and the execution of the background to the less trained workmen. The splendid mosaics which are made at Venice continue to be in great demand in the artistic markets of the world for the skillful manner in which the tesserae are arranged, for their extreme beauty and delicacy of color, the rich harmony of effect and from their being nearly indestructible. The manner in which mosaics are now made for decorative purposes is quite different from the elaborate system used by the ancients, which consisted in fixing the tesserae one by one on the cement previously applied on the wall. The modern method of the Venetian school consists in executing the mosaic in the workshop by having the tesserae fixed with common paste on the section of the cartoon assigned to each workman. When all the parts of the mosaic are complete they are put together on the floor or on a special wooden frame. The mosaic, which is then a perfect representation of the original cartoon, is again divided into section on the reverse side, marked with a progressive number and carefully packed to be sent off to the place for which it is intended. The surface of the wall where the mosaic is to be fixed is then covered with cement, into which the sections of the mosaic are uniformly pressed according to their numbers and the key-plan supplied to the fixers. When the cement has hardened the paper on which the tesserae have been pasted is gently taken off and the faithful copy of the original cartoon is again exhibited on the right side.