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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1929-05-02, Page 7Freed After 11 Years in •Exile Innocent Convict Ordeal Ends of Retrial by Court $200 COMPENSATION Evidence in Murder Case Led to Fresh Investigation Pails. --A. dramatic scene occurred a+ Havre recently when a ferry er Mar- seilles hairdresser who had been wilt in: chains to Devil's Island (the no- torious French penal .settlement) in 1913 on a charge of having betrayed his country, stepped from the ship a free man, .comrletely rehabilitated by the highest courts of France after having been kept a prisoner for eleven years. The man, Henri Belton, now aged 2'1, was the victim of an incredible drama every bit as strange as that of Captain Dreyfus, one of the most rotorious instances of 'a miscarriage of justice ever known. NEW TRIAL. In the case oe Henri Belton the es- tablishinent of his innocence is due to a murder trial in Paris that had no connection with the hairdresser's alleged offence. It was evidence ob- tained at this murder trial that se- cured for Beton a new trial which ended in his acquittal. Bellon's case is one .of the most extraordinary in the history of mili- tary and civil jurisprudence. IIe had. • been invalided out of :he army in 1914 •seriously wounded, and . resumed his profession of hairdresser and wig- maker. He swent to Geneva to buy women's hair -nets. There: he met a naturalized American named Stanley Mitchell, a Pole by birth, who was working in Switzerland for the French counter -espionage service. Bellon helped Mitchell to write his reports in French. One day Mitchell was suddenly arrested by the Swiss police as a foreign spy and expelled. 14iitcheil reported to his chief that Bellon had denounced him. TREASON CHARGE. When Bellon returned to France he was arrested on the charge of treason, tried before a court-martial at Mar- seilles in the latter part of 1915, and. on .Mitchell's testimony, which was entirely hearsay, was sentenced a Devil's Island for 'life; . Bellon protested his innocence, and wrote hundreds of letters of appeals to the League for the Rights of Men in Paris but the War Minister refused to , authorize- a • new trial. Years•passed, and one night in the autumn of 1925 Bellon was reading a three months' old copy of 'the Paris "Matin" by candle light in his but in the penal settlement. As his eyes glanced down the columns of the newspaper a .cry escaped him. He was. reading about the trial of a Paris caretaker, • Lazare Tissier, for the murder of a bookmaker named Bellay in his cellar in the heart of Paris. The murderer afterwards took the body to the, Bois du Boulogne. PERFECT CASE. Man^Made Plant • May Prove Rich, Experiments 1:3eing Carried on in West of England are Promising BIG MEN BACK IT Would Upset Silk and the Newsprint Markets—>May " I3e Patented Lonclon.—If the hopes of its backers come true "brotex"—a man -invented plant like the seedless orange and the loganberry—may give an entirely new a.nd paying crop tb the British farmer, and revolutionize the artificial silk industry. Brotex is the result of long work on a 200 -acre farm in the west of Eng- land which, has .been carefully fenced off and which has tor a ,long time ex- cited the wonder and' curiosity of neighboring fa1'mers, It is a plant evolved by a very complicated series of graftings and blendings, possessing the rapid growing qualities of tropical vegetation and yet capable of being grown even in a Comparatively cold country like England. It grows from seed and natures rapidly, within 18 months attaining a height of from 8 to 10 feet and a stein circumference of from 8 to 10 inches, Its inventors claim. that the seed makes a rich oily cattle food. From the bark is obtained a fibre fit for all kinds of textile purposes similar to those of flax ancc jute. From the core of the plant is obtained a cellulose for paper making. • . It is claimed that an acre of these plants will yield 3,735 pounds of fibre ready for hackling in a textile mill; 12,020 pounds .of material ready to be made into paper pulp and 5,250 pounds of seed for cattle :teed. BIG MEN BACK IT. It Is Sports Like This That Will Take Our Half-breds A company has already been formed for its promotion in England, On its advisory council are such prominent igen as Sir Robert Horne, former chancellor of the exchequer, and the Earl of Selborne. The corporation now has two big questions before its patent lawyers: . First, whether it is possible to pa- tent the plant itself, so that all and sundry may not grow it. • Second, the question of patenting chemical processes and machinery specially designed to utilize brotex pro- ducts for textiles and paper malting. If the ,plaint itself can be protected by patent or license it can then be grown only with the permission of the company. If this cannot be done, the company still expects to make big revenue out of ,brotex by pushing the patents of the special 'chemical and mechanical processes involved in mak- ing making it useful in' industry. A subsi- diary compan,t may shortly be formed in Canada. BIG FIELD. Interesting Angle On Public Health In discussing the of the need for full-time healt hsevvice in rural as well as urban areas there are some phases of the problem which one; 'v is likely to forget. One realizes, of course, that theoretically certain dis-• eases, for example, typhoid fever and diphtheria, are definitely preventable and that with proper attention to children many of the ailments of later life may be prevented. One often for- gets, however, the part that.the phy- sician must play in this and the train. ing he must have if he is to be corn pletely effective. Past generations of physicians have been trained in the school of curative medicine; and in spite of the knowl- edge which makes them effective in the curative sphere, too frequently, if not generally, their attitude has been • in accord with that of the general public. The public wait to consult a physician until incipient disease has ' become serious. And the doctor waits for the serious disease to come to his office, making little or no effort to revent it, The physician of the future will pay greater attention to prevention, and in prevention the health officer must be a specialist, trained by special de- partments to do special work; and, when the physician trained to do this special work graduates from his medi- cal school, there must be adequately paid and responsible positions ready for him. Otherwise he will .,lot desire tc take the special training which ii essential if he is to carry on in a car- ecr which will mean much to the com- munity in which he does his life work: Dr. J. G. Fitzgerald, Professor ol Hygiene and Preventive Medicine ir. the University of Toronto, pointed out in a recent interview the significance of this phase of the question. At present in spite of the work of great philanthropies, such as the Rockefellei Foundation, in founding specie'. schools for the teaching of hygiene and preventive medicine, the pros• pective health officer has little ahead of hien to encourage him to embark :a a public health career. Training he can get, if at the end of his medical course there is nothing but a position in Ceylon or China available for him, it is little wonder if he hesitates to depart from the conventional ways pursued by previous generations. It is not too much to say that if the county health unit scheme is success- ful the stimulus given to the teaching of preventive medicine will be imme- diate and the number of medical graduates prepared to pursue a public, health career will be increased. Within a reasonable time the effect on tha average health of our citizens will be far more striking than most of us • imagine. IT TOOK PLENTY OF PUSH TO WIN THIS RACE Pinehurst, N;C„ society got lots of amusement from tuis novel wheelbarrow race when couples raced on horse- back to one end of the field, the man pushing his partner back in a wheelbarrow. The United States offers a great market for our saddle horses. Find Bones of 10 -Ton Monster Largest Animal Known Dis- covered in Gobi Desert London.—Life in the Gobi desert, in Mongolia, millions of years -ago, and the discovery there of the banes of the largest animal known to science —a monster weighing ten tons were described to a repartee recently by Roy Chapman Andrews, the explorer. Mr. Andrews, who has just return- ed from his fourth expedition in the desert, said: ' Our greatest discoveries this year were fossils. The bones of this new mammal, which lived eight or nine million years ago, show that it was factor that in about to come into play, 25 ft long and 14 ft. high to the and it will have a vast and decisive shoulders. It was as big as +t freight iufluence on the future it the Social- ists are right, The . policecase against the care- taker was perfect except that they had not the slightest evidence to show hovi the body had been taken to the Bois. At a critical point in' the police investigation Stanley Mitchell, who had a long police record in France, .suddenly appeared and declared that he had seen the caretaker hauling the body in . a pushcart. Mitchell stated that he had been released from prison the previous day, had spent the night .in Montmartre, and then had gone to the Bois, where, waking up early in the morning, he. saw the caretaker passing with the body. When Mitchell told his story at the trial he was under a warrant of ex - .pulsion and made such an unfavor- able impression that ho was driven from the court by the judge. He was allowed to remain in France some Months, after that, and then finally expel'ed. IIn'consequenee of Mitchell's role in +;His use, Bello t wes granted a new trial by, the French civil court in 1920. The publie Prosecutor announced that there had been a judicial error, and asked for Bellonrs complete rehabilita- tion. This was granted, and he was given daniages amounting to £40. This sum. however, was not sufficient to pay the passage of both himself and his wife to France, so he returned home alone. evidence that they must have lived largely on birds and frogs. Mr. Andrews said they could only judge by the implements they found that human life existed there because no sign of caves was found. The New Factor London Daily Mail (Ind. Cons.): We doubt whether it is generally real- ized that when the Flappers come on the register nearly halt the electors in this country will be between the ages of 21 and 35, or just of that age which is most likely to be attracted by the new prolitical evangel. "Youth Everf quart of milk that has been has always been with Labour.... sold in Toronto for the past ten years Labour may well look to doubling its at least has contained the necessary last general election vote," the Com- proportions of butter fat and of total mittee of industrial Women's Organa- solids to constitute a whole milk as zatiotis has reported. Tuis is the new obtained from the cow. In addition to this, 99% per cent. of the milk sup- ply is scientifically pasteurized and then put into sterilized bottles which are capped, all by machinery, so that the human hand cannot come .in con- tact with the milk from its pasteuriza- tion until it reaches the consumer. ?a, of 1 per cent. that is not scien- tifically pasteurized is certified. Second—A11 waiters and waitresses in restaurants in Toronto, and those engaged in the kitchen preparing food, are required to furnish to the Department of Public Health a certifi- cate from a legally qualified medical practitioner, that they are not suffer- ing from any communicable disease, and also to certify that they have not been suffering from any communicable disease in their homes or in the hones in which they oard or lodge. Third—Toronto's perishable foods are carefully safeguarded at every point by a rigid system of inspection, from the producer to the consumer. Fourth—All foods that are not pro- tected by a peel, or that are not going to be submitted to a temperature suf- ficient to destroy all disease -producing germs before being eaten, are re- quired to be efficiently protected from dust, dirt, human and animal contami- nation. Toronto's Food Well Guarded Care Taken by Health Depart- ment Should Interest Outside Places OF VALUE TO HEALTH First—Toronto's mills supply, from the standpoint of quality and safety, is second to no other on the continent. car. TOO BIG TO PACK. • We have the bones of about eight or ten of these inonsters and one skeleton is so huge that it was found impossible to pack it, but we hope to recover it next year. This animal will not be named until it reaches the Am- erican Museum "of Natural History. We also found a giant mastodon -a prehistoric elephant ---with a jaw eight feet long shaped like a coal scoop. The front of its face is unlike anything we have seen before. It lived about 6,- 000,000 years ago. Among other finis were four Tita- nethere skeletons—animals that are something like the rhinoceros. These have only been found before in Am- erica, and this proves the migration. that must have taken place in early tines from Asia to America. Another strange find was the skele- ton of an animal—a new type—with a skull shaped like a stock saddle, the tummel, or its nose, pointing straight up in the air sand its mouth under- neath. What it had in front of its face no one knows. We have always thought that traces cf human life would be found in Cen- tral Asia, but so far we have not found anything very definite on the human side. We came across remarkable speci- mens of stone age culture, and there were traces that poops lived there at least 20 or 25 thousands years ago. We found that they lived there in mil- lions, and on the plateau there was If the plant does all its owners claim for it, there is a big field ler development. In many textile pro- ducts now manufactured fax and jute now form an important part. So far the experiments with brotex cellulose have shown it capable only of being made into a fine quality of paper. So far no work has been done showing whether it is useful and economical in the making of newsprint paper. The promoters do not claim it can be trade into newsprint. They con- tent themselves by saying they are hopeful that further expeeiments may show possibilities in that direction. Growing Minds . We are endowed with minds which never, strictly speaking, grow tip at all. They retain . a certain blessed tluality of youth, the more active they "'aro, they retain it all - toe better. 1 ehoutd be very sorry for any man or woman who thinks that their educa- tion is achieved, is a thing finished and done with. At seventy and a rood deal more, I am learning things nitic r perhaps l ought to have learn- ed at seventeen. 'But i am exceeding- ly t.hankfrtl tita.t I slid not learn them at seventeen,beattse' it has left me a chance of learning thein all through lite, and in the evening of life Wed- ally,—Sir Alfred. Ewing Rum -Running a National Toront.o Star spearing in a that Ottawa with �' 71e the Unite blow to rum -running lug, if true. 'from the rnment of seriously its with the scat ng along the relations bet United States Olsgrace („and.); The intimation atToronto morning paper has reached an agree- mentWashing ton that will en- able d States to deal a death running would be 'grati- fying, Unfortunately, it is far fr truth, and unless the Gov-, e the country takes more s responsibility for coping w idalous conditions exist- s border the neighborly r wyeen Canada and the U may become impaired. Ktiowirledge 'There is no difference between knowledge and' teni.perance; for he who knows what is good and embraces it, who knows +what is bad and avoids It, Is learned and temperatel but they who know very well what oght to be done, and yet do c(nite otliorwise, are lir ler'atit and Stuinid."-Soerate3; Civil .Service Salaries Saskatoon Star -Phoenix (Lib.) : The question of salaries in the 'service is an important one for the whole coun- try. Governments come and . go, but the greater part of the actual work of running the public services is dome by the permanent staffs. The effici- ency of this army of workers is a matter of moment to every citizen and probably counts for just as much is the life of the deviltry as'the party stripe of the Government in ofilee. To underpay employees is certainly. not the way to secure diligent unci, faithful work form them. lTe,—"\\'l'Y did you faint?" She—"I thought you were going to kiss me." IIe—"But, darling, I clidu't." She—`•That's why I faint^d." Few, if any; of • the rights of the people guarded by fundamental law are of greater importance to their hap- piness and safety than the right to be exempt from all unauthorized, arbi- trary or unreasonable inquiries in re- spect of their personal and private aftairs.—Mr. Justice Butler. Nurse: "Bobby, what would your father say if he saw you'd broken that branch off?" Bobby: "Iie'd say trees are not so well made now as they were before the war." The current Mexican war seems to be creating about as much impression on the hard-boiled world as the re- current comic opera affrays in China. A junior clerk was "on the carpet," and at the conclusion of his wigging, he was told to get rid of the supercili- ous air, Next morning, he appeared at the office with his hair cut. .ProvincialSurpluses Halifax Herald (Cons.) We hear a great Ileal about surpluses in the other provinces of tine Dominion, but it is seen that wi:,hot<t the proceeds of the sale et liquor, all the provinces have . i detibits, some of , them very heavy. This is a fact, to be remem- bered when provincial, finances are under discussion, teat weinann (to little boy)—"Can you tell nue if I cart get throlgh this gate to the park?"• • i4ttl 7 Tloy---"I guess so; aload of hay has just gone througli," Sport Again Becoming Popular in Motherland WINNSRt IN LAOIS CYCLE RACTw IN ENGLAND Miss p. Armetictlig, winner, and Miss Bennett, runnier -up, in the ladies' .race Which wa Marlborough A.C,'it feaster .Monday rare meet. at Herne 11111. a featttre A Blunder? Slowness of Britain's Latest Warships Causes Con- sternation - London.—Attention has been called in naval circles here to the relatively slow speed of some of the new ships which, it is alleged, will be far out- distanced by comparable foreig i ships. It is understood that the new flotilla leader Codrington and eight new de- stroyers of the "A" class ars designed for 35 knots. The Codrington will ha a ship of 1,520 tons, standard dis- placement, carrying five 4.7 -inch guns. She will thus be practically identical with the Scott class of ten years ago,' except for the fact that the designed speed will be 1.5 knots less. The destroyers will be two knots slower than similar boats constructed some years ago. Naval experts are alarmed at this retrogressive program, pointing out that the new French 'flotilla leader G'tepard has made 38.45 knots in full power trials. Italy's new scouts of the Condottieri class will steam at 37 knots. The new British ships will go to the Mediterranean when they are commissioned, and will face Italian cruisers which could outdistance then and blow them from the water. The naval corresondent of the Wes-,, tern Independent, a Plymouth paper, .says that attitude of the British naval designers in regard to the speed fae- tor is causing something like con- sternation, American Capital in Britain Glasgow herald (Coins.) : While America is blamed for attempting to obtain control of British concerns it would perhaps be well to examine the cause of the present situation before imputing or apportioning blain'+. II this be done it will probably be found that the riot of the trouble lies in the gambling Mania which has spread over the continents of Europe and America during the past year or so, and ha.s donne much to hold up trade development in this country.. , . Ar- bitrage dealing is an essential part ol. stock market business, but it will be very unfortunate if its unrestrained use should be instrumental ism antag- onizing the relationship of American capital and British trade. When bridge cvorl c is mentioned now you have to wait amd see if it's teeth, cards, or viaducts. --Dallas Journal, The 'Jones brothers—Wesley and Davy --are Making life for the ram f the rairiners just one thing atter another. 1 ..-«"Washington fort.