Provocation. In New Albany, Ind., Mrs. Goldie Sutton testified that her late husband had 1) thrown her over a cliff, breaking her collarbone, 2) trod on her neck, 3) doused her with kerosene and set her afire, 4) slashed at her throat with a razor, 5) menaced her with hot grease, 6) shoved her out a window, 7) singed her hair with a shotgun blast. The jury thereupon acquitted her of first-degree murder.

Erin Go Bragh! In Cape Town, South Africa, when postwar radio-telephone service to Eire was resumed, nostalgic Don O'Reilly, 51 years away from the Emerald Isle, put in a station-to-station call, instructed a dazed Dublin operator to "Give my love to the purple hills of Wicklow," contentedly hung up.

Payoff. In Winchester, Ky., Deputy Sheriff R. L. Cruse swung his sledge hammer at a slot machine seized in a raid, hit the jackpot for a lone nickel.

Sea Wolf. In Victoria, Australia, a 15-foot shark, spotted swimming up & down outside the women's baths, was finally caught by a knowing zoologist, who used as bait a piece of pork carved in the shape of a-woman's leg.

Double Cross. In Baltimore, George McCormick got 18 months in jail, $300 fine for forging an income-tax refund check with his signature: a scrawled "X."

Incompatible. In Reno, Nev., nine-year-old runaway Melvin Rogers Lewis Jr. arrived from Oakland, Calif., announced that he had come to get a divorce from his parents.

Horned Dilemma. Near Freeport, Ill., Carnation Imperial Inka Premier, a $5,000 prize bull, roared in anguish and gradually lost 400 pounds, while his owner pottered over him with two Army-type mine detectors, trying to find out which of the four stomachs (normal for bulls) contained a piece of metal the champ had swallowed.

Good Skate. In Banff, Alberta, Dr. Pat Costigan got an urgent call while playing hockey, bolted from the ice, delivered a baby girl, swooped back within the hour to help his team win, 6-to-4.

Rhyme & Reason. In Los Angeles, a divorce-court judge listened unimpressed to James Gordon's too-well-versed plea:

I tried discussion, frank and mild,

But when I did, she just went wild.

She kicked, she screamed, she clawed and swore

She'd have me banished from the door . . .

then granted the decree to wife Dolores, who had prosily charged James with infidelity.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.