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The Brussels Post, 1961-04-06, Page 4Horse's A Hen That's Not $o . .„. Hot It was so hot in flail the other- day that one of Its six petapit» ing inhabitants )treasured the temperature.. It was Kt: degree... Fahrenheit, Whieh is vntY 110. Indeed • deli ie. a tiny village ih torn* 1.1,$.n., The •VillaPta *ea dune IrPg.t1Pat 11.PAtw4vg-st 40 • rarely .does the temperature Peed 90 degrees, • Yet . there's an arid, sunken plain called Death Valley in California which has a reente temperature of 134 degrees and.. is sometimes oiled the world'a hottest spot. Death Valley is 160:miles long and. twelve .rnilea wide and hsi surrounding` hills which art called the Funeral Monntains. Even at midnight in summon the mercury often hovers round 120 clegeees and, .se hot does the earth 'become that a rock or a piece of iron scorches the naked hand. White • men cannot' live long In such • a climate, At 'another spot, the Musena dam Peninsula at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, a tempera- ture of 152 degrees Fahrenheit has been recorded, • The , red-coloured recite are often glowing hot and even natives have been known to die of the intense heat. .4 cable sta- tion ,established there .had -to be abandoned because some of the f ersonnel died, others went mad rom the heat and the rest fled. A Londoner who went to the hottest town in Australia, Mar. ble Bar, claimed that one sum- tner there,were 113 consecutive' days of over 100. degrees and 'of 'these ninety consecutive day* were over 103 'degreeS. The maximum was .120.5. degrees. "My hottest day in Marble Bar was 115 -degrees at 2 p,m,," he repotted. "At 6 p.m, it was 110 degrees and at 8 pm, it was 100 degrees, Even at night there are no cooling . breezes and the townsfoll sit out of doors in deck chairs, wet. and clammy after an. enervating day. Beds are .carried. out under the stars and getting to sleep is almost an. impossibility," • Obey the traffic signs ,-- they are placed there for.. Y 0 U SAFETY, ' 'oops1 .2 forgot to tell you; I past came in to rest -my toot siesh kern Tana a 4944.7 alknItant illotine oPeretor euie tttetit into Individual siees. Even at this *tag*, however, k watchful eyes seen the noted cerefully for anY defect.. The poor oneS are destroyed — their serial number duly recorded and& correctly numbered replacement notes inserted in the packet*, With the job done, the printing plates are destroyed too, But the master plate is kept under log* and tree for tuture reprint ca.. dere, Mama Liked Shellac And A Good Brush AQUATIC AVIOMOSII.1 - Al! but submerged, this ante welts for flood waters: to subside he - Houston, Tex. Mote then 17 inches Of min fell on thi city in lust two „day'. support the "Accident" decnin. tion, Learning from 1,0011, pf the Oversight, Amend went Secretly to the flat tWo days later to pomplete the job, leaving his footprint on the blood-stained carpet. Leon's letter to the corner, re- produced in the Press put the polite on the trail, A merchant who had done business with the. Peltzer identified the hand- writing as Leon's, True, Leon had no motive for killing Bez-nays, but Armand had — for his pus. snit of jitlie was well known. The police •caught up with Leon when he took fright and boarded. the express to Austria. Once the brothers were confront- ed everything duly fell into place, including Leon's telegrams in cypher, found at Armand's home, telling him hew the plan was progressing. At the trial both were found guilty and, as there Was no death penalty in. Belgium, were sen- tenced to penal servitude for life. 'Perhaps it was retribution that gave* Armand only' two more years of, life before he died in prison, and made Leon plunge fully dressed into the sea ,near Ostend some ten, years atter his release in •1912 after he had serv- ed thirty years. a sympathetic admirer, not lover, but was indiscreet enough to start neighbours talking and. provoke anonymous poison-let- tees, which Bernays read, then destroyel. When, however, Armand lur- ed her on a secret joy-trip to Spa while Bernays was absent, the nurse told her master of the jaunt, and Bernays, in a jealous rage, accused. Julie of infidelity. "You should be asharned 'of uttering such wicked lies," she retortel. Summoning the nurse, she slapped her face and sacked her. Bernays then went to Arm- and's.apartment in the rue Jac- obs and accused him of treach- ery. Scorning his anger, Armand told him. " You are a monster, no make such charges— unworthy to- have such an angel for a wife} I shall come round this eve- ning as usual, and expect to be treated as a ',friend," Thinking he had misjudged them both, Bernays relented. But when he caught them smil- ing . at each other across the table that .evening it was more than he could bear. He told Ar- mend to get out of his.house and slammed the door on him — for good„ Fearful of losing Julie, Arm- and sent for lais brother Leon, who had settled in. New' York. Leon .boolsed passage under a false name, they Met in Pails and together plotted an 'ingeni- ous murder which would leave Julie free to marry Armand, In return for the service ren- dered him over the fraud charge, Leon would lestroy all evidence of his own identity and bugd up a new, fictitious one as an. Eng- lishman, Henry Vaughan,. for he spoke fluent English, • While Armand returned to Antwerp, Leon went to a' fancy dresS costumer, bought a dark wig and 'beard, dyed his eye- brciws, darkened his skin, don- ned dark glasses and English- style clothes. As "Murray & Company's agent" he then toured Amster- dam, Humburg and Bremen, Staying at the best hotels, call- ing on dealing firms about his shipping scheme, deliberately leaving ,a "Henry Vaughan" trail which could be traced. Then he rented a fiat in Brus- sels, furnishing one room as an office with thick 'carpet and heavy curtains. Whezi Bernays arrived by ar- rangernent, Leon showed him in- to the office„then aimed a re- volver at the back of his neck and shot, hinvdead. Then he • went into the hedrodm, burnt the wig and beard, removed all other details of his disguise, left the flat, and vanished. One 'thing he forgot ' ping the body in the e , prop- chair. to Sugar Ray Watches Carmen And Gene Somewhere in the back of the xes'taurant a red-haired female drummer pounded out loud jazz. Along the walls, translucent photographs of Callen fighters shimmered as they shielded pas- tel lights. In the front of the New York cafe called Sugar Ray's, the former middleweight champion of. the world, Ray Ro- binson, leaned both elbows back against the bar and, relaxed and regal, nodded his head in time with the weird rhythms. The king was in his court one night last month and his world re• volved' about him. The music stopped, and a bar- tender turned on a television set. "Gene Fullmer versus Carmen. Basilica" an announcer said, from Salt Lake City, "for the middleweight title that had been in the hands of Stigar Ray Ro- bins o n." Robinson, watching, rubbed his hands, Then the fight began. Robin- son stood and Watched without apparent emotion 'as Fullmer and Basilic) — two men whom Robinson. himself had beaten— moved cautiously in the early rounds. Robinson gave three of the first five rounds to Fullmer; he called two even. "Fullmer's S t r o n g, man," someone said. Robinson nodded. "The strong- est, old buddy," he said. "He's tough to fight. You can't figure what he'll do. Whatever comes to his mind, he does." The ex-champion scored the sixth end seventh 'rounds for -Basilio, but • from then on, the fight was all Fullmer's. With six seconds left in the twelfth round, referee Pete Giacoma suddenly stopped the fight and awarded Fullmer the victdry, A bloody. Basilio charged the referee, de- manding futilely that the fight continue, "Never saw that • happen be fore in O. championship fight," Robinson said, casually. "He stopped it awful quick." Then, watching the Videotape re-run of the final round, Robinson grew animated. "Watch for the right tinder the heart,','' he said, slipping into a boxing stance, "Watch it. 'Here it conies. Here it 'comes." The punch came, a right that dug into Basilio's ribs. "That did it,"' Robinson said, Gene Fullmet.was still middle- weight champion, and. the TV` image disappeared. "I'm the best man," Robinson insisted.. going to prove it I'm willing to fight Fullmer next week." Ray Robinson smiled, confident, con- tent, Behind him, the jazz &Mined out again, He pivoted— the 40-year-old et - champion 'whose skills have faded — and turfed toward a Pretty girl, As he walked, he bounced and the sleeves. of his grey shirt flapped jatihtily.• PIPE "DREAM` mon:fOUte* pine .hoere114 on .tette for thieety boys •irt Richmond, Surrey,. SnOiond. 'the pipe it Used to ill sockets for 'horse., .. When Antwerp lawyer Guil- laume Bernays caught an early train to Brussels to meet Henry Vaughan, who had written him from 159, Rue de la Lol, about a £500,000 scheme for a new Amsterdam - Sydney shipping line, he 'expected to be back in Antwerp that same day. But when several days elapsed and he failed to return borne to his wife Julie, she consulted: the A close friend of the family— Armand Peltzer, an Antwerp engineer — had been seen daily in Julie's company, but he could have had nothing to elo with Bernay's disappearance and was merely consoling the wife at a worrying time. Bernays, frequently at odds with his attractive, titian-haired wife, was not above finding con- solatioe outside his home — or even in it, maybe, with their young • son's Swiss nurse, Am- elia nester, He might be dal- lying with sane charmer, the police considered, and would re- turn when the romance began to, bore him. A week later, hoevever,.en as- tonishing letter reached them. Dated. January 16th, 1882, it was from 'Henry Vaughan -in Bale, Switzerlind,' and was addressed to "the Coroner of Brussels," though there was no coroner in Belgian law,', ' ClIsAressed," it began, "to leaide from this morning's newspaper that Guillaume Ber- nays is still missing. I assume from this 'that my prev4chis let- ter failed to reach yon,- and that the terrible accident that oc- curred at. my flat, 159,. Rue de la Lei, on the 7th remains un.- disceyered," It then. gave "the facts."-While discussing the shipping scheme with M. Bernay.s, Vaughan was toying with a revolver hed taken from the table; and when Berney's back was turned it sud- denly went off, killing him. Paralyzed • with shock. h e thought of going to the police but realized his difficult posi- tion. He hadn't a friend in Brus- sels, his wife and child were both ill, so he decided: to flee with them to Switzerland and since then had been half-crazy With despair. The police went at once to the flat and found Berney's body in a room used as an office, in a sitting posture in a chair. It had been placed there, the surgeons decided, ,two or three days' after death, He had been shot through the back of the neck and spine. In a pool of blood near the chair Was a footprint. But of Vaughan there was no trace. After week* of searching, the police admitted that they were completely baffled. He St r y Vaughan had vanished. Not surprisingly . . since he had never really existed! Yor a clue to the incredible enigma We must go back 'to 1873 when Armand Peltzet wound up a thriving huffiness in :Buenos Aires to return to Antwe'r'p and finance the defence of his tWo errant brothers, teOn and James, Who had been charged with fraud, Belgian Sews of German origin., the Peltzers were a fata- lly who stuck together in trouble, The lawyer Annelid en- gaged to save them front ptiaor Was . Geillaume Betheye, After the trial.Armand' anti terheys be Cd.hie frieridS. And after Armand Met ter- tiaya to decided that &Wren) would suit him very Well: Re built up a successful engineer- ing business and became *regu- lar visitor' at the Bernays' Bearded: and nearing tarty, he Was soOd-infatuated With Julie,. She fell for Arinand's easy Mann hers And flattering ebniplirnerite. tvidelitit ithe *anted_ haft ARTIST'S ttjNttritiON oxporimentat site hit eertk it* WhiCit such tendittont che etre expeCtecl to be en the moon. Would bik tinitilalari, A linnid nitropeti refriercifien SySfein and Spin+ Mill (Omni Would be Uteith other iedefatigable enthusiasm was for shellac, Give her a good brush, a saucer of turpentine to clean it in, and there was always a song in the air and a thin coat of shellac on someone's new straw hat, it he didn't watch out. For Mama was a homemaker supreme — and ahellac was her favourite means of making sure that the family stuck together . „ . No under- ground cavern could possibly match the soaring stalactite and. stalagmite forms Mama created out of jewel boxes, lamp shades„ old pieces of velvet, picture frames, and even the icebox. She lo.ved to put one of the family pictures, - sin a "new" frame. Ours was a family which delighted in seeing itself in all stages of chronology,. and our walls were as full of pictures of ourselves as a press agent's of- fice, Papa, the head of the group, was Seen the most, but there were enough of the rest of us to eliminate the need for any mir- rors. So it was Papa who' was changed into a new frame the eftenest. A "new" -frame usu- ally came from Mama's. -latest bazaar, and the cheaper it was — say, about sixty-nine cents — the more enthusiastic was Ma- ma about making it worthy of Papa's image. This was both an interior and exterior project. Quite often her frame would be abOut three feet long and two feet high. Now, there were no prints available of Papa reclin- ing on a lounge (most of his pictures were verticals showing him in a Masonic chair, wearing •top. hat and. another apron he had just'acquired) and this tax- ed Mama's decorative resources somewhat, But she was equal to .Papa found, himself.. on a background he later recognized as the 'silk lining, „fildhecl 'from his., evening clothes, shellacked and trimmed tie fit the frame, This usually struck lefarea as too mundane, particularly- with all the square footage at her dis- posal. Therefore she might take some contrasting wallpaper sam- ples, arrange them in a collage, and shellac therri.' These were then stripped and used as the inner framework of her unique matting for Papa's picture. Thus, for years; particularly when. we were very young, we, always thought of Papa as be- ing inseparable .from his top hat, a background of sleazy- looking silk with a diagonal weave, and a foreground com- bining the best features of a- colourful barnyard. scene, a view of a Roman 'villa, in the Swiss Alps, and a .pattern of garden flowers with, a 'cat in it, It was quite an .,experience, to find Papa peering out of all this foliage and wildlife, but it was even More educational to see his ex- pression as he looked into it, regarding himself with. marked. distaste. — From '`It Was Fun While It Lasted," by Frederic A, Birmihgham, Q. When mailing birthday greeting cards to : my weniert friends, whom my husband knows only slightly, should I Sign both our names, or Just mine alone? A. You need not include your husband's name on your personal greeting cards, .).4oldtig..Monoy A Work. Qf Art 1. wo P1,4. renowned British. craftsmanship endures nowhere '1•110rer eneerbly than in inoi ee. elleikete( ee, beek note. ,printing. With .automation. •slowly banish- ••iing deft linger* trans. modern enettutecteringi there is still no -effective substitute for the „anci- ent •engraver's 41011 in producirg,. paper currency both 'attractive end yet so complex in design as to defeat the •forger, The world bee only about 100 %nester engraver s who can cut qngti quality • hank notes, Twenty of them work for a 147-year. o10 British firm which with its as- soeietee has captured over 50 er cent of the world 'market in his - highly specialized type of printing, It is the company rounded in 1813 by Thomas De La Rue, versatile 'producer of • !,(ine, embossed stationery end playing cards, With the appear- ence of postage stamps, this brilliant eraftenum secured an ekelusivee .30 year contract to print all of Britain's stamps. Printing high quality paper money began in 1800, exactly 100 years ago with 45 notes for aletteitius:•Their'eldeat continu- ous customer is the .government of Siam . (Thailand) who in 1901 asked the Bank Of England to print its money. The Bank, not allowed to do so, suggested La Rue. Today its presses turn out some £20,000 worth, of aura rency every week for 92 coun- tries — among them, Switzer- land, Jordan, Venezuela, Thai- lend, New Zealand, British East Africa, Ghana. - • - Clients . pay about . per thousand, for these distinctive- ea:Rorie which leave the com- pany's three printing plants in meta' lined, tamper-proof crates. highly -geared but unobtrusive security procedures, employing dozens of guards and the latest anti-bandit devices,' ensure that every crisp new bank note is safely delivered to the client'. government. The protection of other pee- pie's new m 0 nee begins even earlier, however, A special hard surface rag paper, 'protected by an unforgeable water mark, and De La Rue's own secretly mixed, i:tks are used to print the notes. Every last inch of the paper is used — or burned in a well- guarded incinerator, witnessed,' by representatives ,of the client if required. To give crooked:Imitators even. bigger headaches subtle pastel shades which defeat the Most ece curate colour 'photo-reproduction. are employed. A thin, plastic thread is "built" into the paper' as it's being made. This is not only a visible line to authenti- cate the note; it can be felt by. detecting Machines which banks employ to show up counterfeits.. The .experienced . engravers week leisurely but painstakingly In roomy quarters in which one feels an almost old world atmos- phere. Every line of the thou- sands which make up a. portrait masterpiece on a bank note must be created by them as a furrow • in steel, And each one must be right; one slip and- the• entire master plate is ruined. In addi- tion the note bears an involved filigree of fine lines as borders end decorations which are cut • M the plate by a stylus govett- ed by the myriad gears and cams of a costly geometric lathe, Hardly a human hand could re- produce the artistry of these machines. • • • , • When the plate is officially approved by all concerned it is mounted in. a movable table whete under great pressure roller of slightly softer steel is impressed with the design. The troller is then used to transfer' the design many' tithes, over on a sheet, which is then curved eo fit • the high 'precision cute rency presses. Sheets of .colour- ful bank notes come rolling off the presses to be' accurately ever-printed with serial Mine- When Death Wore Fancy Dress! i• a Prince Philip Quotes Poetry, Conferring an honorary de- gree on 'Prince Philip;. Reading University vice chancellor Sir John. Wolfenden quoted Dryden; "A. man so various, that he searn'd to roVnTot one, but all mankind's epitome," Wolfenden discreetly explained that he meant it as a tribute to the Prince's debonair versatility, but Philip, who had, been forearmed with a draft of the vice chan- cellor's address, impishly picked hint up on it by reciting the re- mainder of the satirical passage: "Stiff in opinion,-,always in the wrong,/ Was everything by sthrtS, and nothing long;/ But, in the course of one- revolving moon/ was ehymist (chemist), fiddler, etatesman, and buffoon." Q. Bow can I prevent the in- teriors of metal or brass planters from rusting through? A, By lining' the planters With aluminum foil, Q: How can Mit hard tips on rawhide shoelaces, belt teeing's; ete., for easier lacing? A, You Can accomplish this simply by holding the, sties of the lades In the flame of•it light- ed thatch. Slowly rotate' the dila of the late While doing this, arid take tare not to char the leather, Apply the heat 1ust tang dirangfi to harden the'tip StifticletitlY without 'Willing the loathers WAVY BLIMP OtiiN6Etlatt• ATEANtie The worich 6seicyttiq ktt, atiVV. efitot plulitod the Atlantic off 11.a Nei thinat tlurtti4 toe' todoft'yacht Ihtti Wt's f‘und toter*,