It might be supposed to be a chapter from an American novel.
A reputed first cousin of Prince von Bulow, ex-Chancellor of the German Empire, has drowned himself rather than face a trial for a breach of the law prohibiting a white person's marriage with anyone possessing a trace of negro blood.
He married in 1902 the daughter of an American judge bearing an old and honoured name, and settled at New Orleans.
Mrs von Bulow, a beautiful and cultivated woman, confessed to him before her marriage the secret of the negro strain in her.
Bulow, however, declared (says the Daily Mail) that Germans were not so proud as Southerners, that he loved her for herself alone, and that no one need know of her secret.
Their apprehension that their children might show a reversion to the negro type vanished with the birth of a boy and a girl typically Teutonic, with blue eyes and flaxen hair.
Mrs von Bulow's secret is alleged to have been discovered and exploited by some of her husband's business competitors.
She was at once ostracised in society, her children were jeered at in the streets, and her husband was arrested for his offence under the miscegenation law.
A few days later his body was found in the Mississippi.
The widow is awaiting trial for her violation of the law.
• A Press association telegram from Auckland states that the Herald's Taupo correspondent telegraphed as follows last night: - "During the past week Ngaruhoe has been getting more active than usual, and this morning at 10.45 there was a magnificent outburst from the crater, which sent up columns of smoke and ash to a height of about 6000ft.
"The ash was carried by the light south wind across Tongariro, and at noon obscured it from view.
"The ash is now drifting across the sky in a northerly direction like a black pall.
"The Ohinepango and Waihoponu Rivers are now a black swirl of water."
• On a small island known as Codfish Island, W. N. W. of Stewart Island, there is (says our Bluff correspondent) a herd of wild cattle whose existence has been known for a quarter of a century.
They come out into the open but rarely, and are seldom sighted by passing craft.
The curious part of the matter is that, although a mixed lot, they seem to remain stationary, as regards numbers.
They were recently seen by a holiday excursion party.
Comparing notes, it was found that the number tallied with those set down many years ago. - ODT, 27.1.1910.
