Notes

Unmarried and rich, one Joseph Ange Durighello presented to the Louvre his valuable collection of Phoenician vases. Married and poor, M. Durighello asked for the return of the vases. The Louvre authorities were sympathique but thought the Courts ought to decide on the legality of his request. The Court was of the opinion that Joseph had "only loaned them." They are to be returned.

Aboard the schoolship Patrie, boys were being taught to load a 16-centimetre gun. An explosion occurred, 13 were injured, four seriously. What was said to be the lost message from the crew of the ill-fated Dixmude (TIME, Jan. 7, AERONAUTICS), was found in a bottle on the Corsican coast: "Gasoline given out. Adieu and Vive la France!"

On the day when all France fetes the memory of Ste. Jeanne d'Arc, an old woman of Saint Brieuc in Brittany cried : "I want to die like Jeanne d'Arc. France is ruined. I will save her!" She went to the carpenter, begged him to build her a pyre, but he refused. She went home, constructed her a pyre, drenched herself in paraffin, lay down, lit a match, was burned to death.

Jean Hateau, citizen of Metz, is reputed to be Victor Hugo's Jean Valjean come to life. Having escaped from Cayenne, French penal settlement in Guiana, in 1904, returned to France under an assumed name, made a modest fortune, become well-known and respected in Metz, he was found out and sent to prison. Fifty prominent people of Metz petitioned the Minister of Justice in Paris for Jean Hateau's release, stating that they wanted him back as a free man.

Professor Richet, French scientist, had been experimenting in the effects of "big bangs" on animals. Two weeks ago he exploded ten tons of melinite close to 20 dogs, and a few hens. The dogs survived but the fate of the hens was undisclosed. The French public, aided by shocked Britons, became horrified and indignant protests sounded on all sides. Nevertheless, undaunted, the Professor turned up during the past week with 20 more canine spectators for another "big bang." There was a telegram for him: President Poincare had courteously asked him to refrain from using dogs in deference to the popular outcry which his experiments were raising. As the Premier is an ardent devotee of cats, it was suggested that Mme. Poincare may have had something to do with the Premier's action, because she has a strong affection for dogs.

A ghastly ghoul prowled around a cemetery not far from Paris. Into family chapels went he, robbery of the dead intent upon. In the coffin of a six-months old baby he found nothing.

Six more coffins yielded not a sou. The eighth disclosed the body of a recently deceased War veteran; he mutilated a cold clammy hand in trying to snatch the rings from its fingers.

At London, was sold a famed letter from the quill of Napoleon, addressed to Admiral Lord Keith on July 31, 1815 : "I am in no way a prisoner of war; I am the guest of England. I prefer to die rather than to go to St. Helena or be imprisoned in a fortress. I wish to live in the English country, under British law and protected by it."

"No!" said Jean Longuet, grandson of Karl Marx--"father of modern socialism"--to the Moscow Government when it requested permission to transfer his grandfather's body from Highgate Cemetery, London, to the Red capital. In his refusal he stated that the Bolshevik interpretation of Karl Marx's doctrines was entirely wrong and he did not think that his grandfather would have liked his memory associated with it. Allegedly this is a great disappointment to the Bolshecrats, who had intended to spend $500,000 for the erection of a Marx Monument in Red Square, Moscow. On dit in Paris that Manuel, onetime King of Portugal, and the rotund ex-Shah of Persia went to Zelli's famed Montmartre cabaret, drank champagne, talked to the pretty girls. Butted in a sheik-like youth, asked permission to sit down. The monarchs assented graciously, the three talked much and at the time of parting said Manuel: "I am the King of Portugal." "I," said the Shah, "am the Shah of Persia." "Good night, gentlemen," answered the unruffled Frenchman, "The Grand Mogul bids you adieu."