The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-12-01
London Pictures
by Richard Willis
Interesting Resume of the Important
s- Events of the Week. r

Interesting Resume of the Important
@ Events of the Week.
PRINCESS ALIX IN DISGUISE.
Incidents Of the Czarina's Sojourn at an
English Watering Place-Stands as
Godnothcr for Twins-Results of
Incessant Rains-political Talk.
Special Correspondence of The Tribune.
London, Nov 1S.-The future wife of
the czar, Princess AliX, was staying for
some time quite shortly at Harrogate,
small watering place on our coast,
and, of course, she was much watched.
She went under an assumed name to
avoid publicity, but the truth soon
leaked out and the poor girl was fol-
lowed about and stared at by rude
| nonentities in the most disgusting man.
ner She appeared most simple and
| natural young lady and stopped at
quiet house. A funny thing about her
visit was that all she stipulated was
| that there should be no children in the
house, and, strange to relate, on the
| very day that the princess entered her
| apartments the landlady presented her
| delighted CD hubby with twins! The
| poor man was in a dreadful way and
] felt in duty bound to acquaint the lady
with the news. Instead of flying off the
princess stayed on and personally stood
as godmother to the children, who were
named Nicholas and Alix. This is a
rare stroke of good luck for the land
lord and his prolific lady, as the place
has already been extensively patron
lied.
The final trial of the murderer Read
has been the sensation of the week.
| Diligent London letter" readers (and
who is notO will remember that Read
shot young girl after getting her into
trouble and left her body lying face
| downward in pool Of water and then
| decamped. 1t was shown that, though
a married man with a family, he pos
sessed several lady loves in different
| parts of the land. Read has maintained
a composed demeanour throughout the
trial and is a smart looking young fell
low. But his smartness is of no avail,
as he is to hang by the neck until he
is dead. An amount of disgusting and
| cruel evidence was elected during the
case, and a strange feature of the trial
was the evident affection for the pris-
oner by family and dupes alike A
| veritable coward, too, who not only
murdered the poor foolish girl, but dis
| graced his family, robbed his employers
| and was the means of separating hus
band and wife. The judge summed up
dead against the prisoner and the jury
took but little time to come to their
unanimous verdict Of guilty. The pris-
Oner protested his innocence, but would
not say where he was at the time of the
murder and he left the court doomed
man.
In our last letter we alluded to the
translation of Horace by Grand Old
Man Gladstone; this week it is the turn
of the leader of the opposition. Mr.
Balfour has written and published a
truly clever and profound book "A De-
| fence of Philosophic Doubt" We Eng
landers are, think justly proud of the
honorable rivalry that exists between
the two old parliamentary champions
in the field of letters. 1t is seldom that
politicians shine in the literary world,
1but these two great statesmen are
equally successful in the scientific and
literary studies. Mr.. Balfour's book
has made stir not one whit less than
the work of Gladstone did last week.
1 England has been visited by heavy
and incessant rains and the result Is
that many parts of our little island are
under water. The city of Bath is COM
pletely flooded Ghe name is unfortun-
ate0 and the only means of locOmotion
is by boats. The greatest misery pre-
walls there and the position of the poor
er portion of the inhabitants is serious.
In Surrey many cattle and sheep have
been drowned and the valleys are deep
with water and in many places the rail-
way traffic is stopped. Around the
coast the storms have done very con-
siderable damage and in many places
wrecks and daring rescues have been
numerous, The new promenade pier at
Dover has been partially destroyed and
the Calais-Dover boats have been much
delayed. The Thames has overnowed
its banks and whole fields and villages
are flooded, even in certain parts of
London houses have two feet of water
in their Easements, and unless the rains
soon cease the damage and distress will
be terrible.
One Is accustomed to reading strange
and sickly accidents and deaths from
electricity in the American papers but
it is very seldom that fatal accidents
occur from the same cause in this coun.
try. But strange scene was witnessed
in Cannon street in the heart of the city
one day recently. A horse drawing 9
carriage fell down suddenly and the
= coachman and friend jumped down tC
unharness the animal when they eX
perlenced series Of severe shocks ant
We're obliged to escape to the pavement
Several bystanders endeavored to help
but were all thrown to the ground ant
two were so seriously injured as t
necessitate their removal to a hospital
Within a few minutes Of the horses
death several explosions occurred ant
one of the box covers of the electri,
light mains was hurled in the air. Engi
! neersisoon arrived and found that thu
cause of the mischief was that leak
age in gas pipe had come in contac
with an electric spark Moral-Wea
2 rubbers!
: The "Masqueraders' has returned t.
London very much improved and is il
t its present state one Of the finest play!
we have seen for many long day. /
Is one of Henry Arthur Jones' and IL
its original form 1t lacked interest ow
: ing to the small herone's part anC
e was but duel between between tn,
n hero and villain. But now we have
: breathing, intense and interesting wo