NO NEWS FOR 71 YEARS

CHERBOURG, September 6 (From our private correspondent). The civil court of Cherbourg has just declared the absence of a Cherbourg resident, Mr. de Valensard, who has not given any news for 71 years.

To tell the truth, the judges did not take much of a risk in noting the death of our compatriot, because he, born in 1814, would currently be 110 years old if he had not suddenly disappeared in New York in 1853.

Mr. de Valensard, who was a captain on the ship Alexandre, must have been killed in America at that time, but since his death was not notified, his natural heirs and their heirs were never able to take possession of his property.

It was to allow the heirs, who live in Sottevast and Mortain, to act as possessors of his property that the absence procedure was continued and that the court decided to proclaim that Captain de Valensard had some chance of having passed away today.