General Chat

CAPE TOWN FORGERIES Princess Radziwill Committed For Trial The case of Princess Radziwill, who is charged with forging a promissory note for £2000 in the name of the late Mr. Cecil Rhodes, was resumed at the Cape Town Police Court on the 27th ult. Evidence was given to the effect that the accused received two telegrams sent from Cape Town to Kenilworth last August purporting to be from Mr. Hawkesley, and that she subsequently persuaded a junior clerk at the Kenilworth office to insert London as the office of origin instead of Cape Town, which she had previously erased. She rewarded the lad with 10s., and then showed the messages to a firm of attorneys as cablegrams from Mr. Rhodes's solicitor for the purpose of inducing Mr. Louw to discount a bill for £2000 after Mr. Rhodes had publicly repudiated by a cabled advertisement the signatures of any bills. The Manager of the Bank of Africa deposed that the Princess unsuccessfully approached him to discount a bill for £3000 purporting to be signed by Mr. Rhodes. Two witnesses stated that the accused desired them to discount a similar note for £6000. The accused was committed for trial on 17 counts for forgery, fraud, and contravention of the Telegraph Act. She was admitted to bail in two sums of £2500 each. ********************************** At the Circuit Court at Port Elizabeth, Edmund Cecil Craven, alias Walter Horne, was charged with fraud. The charge contained six counts, the crime in each instance being issuing worthless cheques. The prisoner pleaded guilty, and handed in a long written statement. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. ************************************ The Guild of Loyal Women are decorating the graves at Elandslaagte, Intombi, and elsewhere. A visit to the Ladysmith cemetery on Ladysmith Day disclosed the fact that the graves had not yet been attended to. It was a densely hot day, and the cemetery was deserted. A prostrate stone bore the inscription: "Archibald, Earl of Ava." The grave was bare and flowerless, while next to it on a nameless mound a bush of yellow and white flowers flamed brilliantly. Opposite, a simple wood cross bore the inscription: "G. W. Steevens, special war correspondent to the Daily Mail, died January 15, 1900." The mound is overgrown with grass, but there is not so much as a single bloom. Here and there are solitary graves decorated with immortelles and regimental monuments, generally decked with wreaths. On the grave of one private is a cross worked in Mauser cartridge cases. The grave of Lieut. Hardy, A.D.C. to Sir Garnet Wolseley, who was killed at Landman's Drift in 1879, is beautifully shroud! >ed in evergreens. Compliments of E:S: