Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 272, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1917 — HAPPENINGS in the BIG CITIES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAPPENINGS in the BIG CITIES

Helpmeet Complains of Hammock-Hugging Husband DETROIT.— Albert Hodges’ hobby was a hammock. He loved to swirfg to and fro for hours at a time, and loudly protested If anything occurred to interrupt his pleasure, according to his wife, Mary. She says he would climb Into a hammock at any time or place

providing the hammock was strong enough to hold him —he weighed “something” over 200! • In the early days of the married life of Albert and Mary Hodges the former - swung in his hammock as long and as often ad he desired. There was little said about the matter, for Mrs. Hodges was working for her husband. Besides the housework, she says she did a great many things for him. Albert was told that man must

expect life on earth to be one round of pleasure. Mrs. Hodges was offered a position as manager of a West Side hotel. She accepted the position and the first person she engaged was her husband, making him janitor of the institution. , ~ About the first thing that he did after taking over the duties of his new job was to sling dp his hammock on one of the front porches of the hotel and climb into it. Mrs. Hodges found him and the hammock, and immediately ordered the husband to the rear. “I didn’t care so much about the hammock being slung up in the rear or the place, but I didn’t want it in the front,” testified Mrs. Hodges in her suit for divorce. . “What happened after you ordered the hammock removed? asked Judge Tucker. *' f. ■ j) » - b “I removed it,” she said. “But he was so angry that he struck me.” Mrs. Hodges testified that her husband never contributed anything to her “Didn’t he give you any money for clothes at all? asked the court. “No, how could he when he was in the hammock all the time? she asked. Jealous Rage Responsible for Double Murder LOS ANGELES. —Jealousy, whipped to white heat by an overheard telephone conversation, led to the killing of Mrs. J. D. Dole by her husband, an insurance official, who, after slaying his wife, cut bis own throat and died

clasping her body to his breast. Nothing is known of the tragedy itself, except the mute proof that was left to show that Dole had attacked his wife, that she had defended herself unsuccessfully, and that after he had accomplished her death he slew himself. No. person was present. Charles Dole, a son, seventeen, and Gladys, a daughter, fourteen, were at Sunday school. Neighbors heard no sounds of

struggle. Canary birds, caged outside. the window, sang cheerily throughout the morning. Yet the fight must have been terrific. Dole’s skull was fractured from the blow of a small brass mallet and he was gashed about the head by a kitchen knife with which Mrs. Dole defended herself. The woman was also cut in several places on her arms where she tried to ward off blows Dole aimed at her with a razor. As he was dying, Dole wrote a note in blood. It consists of only ft few words, but explains, the police say, the motive which led to the murder and suicide. Dole gave the name of a man, who relatives say, had aroused his jealousy. The note reads: “M is the man.” — 7 - - - There is also an address given In the note as that of the alleged homewreckers Charles Dole, the son, said that this man had been attentive to Mrs Dole for a considerable period and tfiht on one occasion he (the boy) thought of* slaying the accused man with S hatchet because of his advances to his mother. £ ■ Offer Fine Estates for Convalescent Hospitals NEW YORK. —Rich Americans are following the example of wealthy men of England and France by offering their estates to .the government as convalescent hospitals for wounded soldiers. The army medical department has already approved Ferncfiffe, at Rhine

cliff, N. Y., home of Vincent Astor and has under consideration offers 01 other estates near this city. When fully equipped for their new purposes the country estates will receive wounded American soldiers from a great receiving hospital which the government is to buHd somewhere on Staten island. • At the convalescent hospitals the wounded men will have the entire use of the vast estates. Stables, gymnasiums and other outbuild-

Ings, it is understood, are included in the offers which the owners of palatial homes have made to the government. It is expected that the government, in a short time, will announce the acceptance of the Vincent Astor estate at Rhinecliff. Another home which has received the favorable attention of the medical department of the army is Drumthwackett, the M« Taylor Payne home near Princeton, N. J. It is also known that James Speyer is considering turning over Waldheim, his estate at Scarborough, to the government for the period of the war. Ferncliff, the Vincent Astor home, Is one of the most desirable sites in the country. The estate overlooks the Hudson and is valued at $8,000,000. Vincent Astor, who is now in foreign service as an ensign in the Naval Reserve, inherited the estate from his father, Cok John Jacob Astor. At the beginning of the war Vincent Astor gave his yacht Mona to the government. He is now serving aboard that vessel. z Determined to “Do His Bit” in Liberty’s Cause SAN FRANCISCO.—John Stranlx, longshoreman, residing with his wife and baby here at 1124 Gough street, was made jubilant by notification that hie persistent endeavor to become a soldier had been successful. When Stranlx

applied for enlistment at the British recruiting headquarters a physician subjected him to physical examination and said he was visually defective and unfit to serve in the army. Disappointed, but not discouraged, he haunted the headquarters Until at last another doctor “looked him over” and opined he might be eligible for some branch of the service In which perfection of vision is not an absolute necessity.

This difference of scientific opin- n lon interested Capt. F. L. Goord, who sent a report of it to Maj. G. B. Hall, chief of the’ Canadian army medical corps at Victoria, B. C„ and the major responded that he would not object to Stranlx being enlisted in the forestry branch of the service. Hehee the jubilation of Stranlx. He is a native of Lurgen, Ireland, served seven years in the British navy, had one of his eyes permanently injured while at work in the famous shipyard of Harland & Wolff, at Belfast, and catoe to California five years ago. sfnrA thpn he has been employed along shore. “Mv wife and I talked over the idea of my enlistment,*’ he told Captain Goord she agreed with me that it is every white man’s duty te do his bit in this war.”