A POLICE BLUNDER.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1686, 13 October 1887, Page 3

A POLICE BLUNDER.

As was ~brit^y announced, by c^ble lately, tbe Lde of Wight pollpe have been led into a graye blnnder. At the end of last week a French lady frcm Rouen landed at Cowes to makes a brief otay m the Island for her health, The polloa had been warned of her arrival by a telegram despatched from Paris by some nnknnwn person It was suggested that the lady was engaged m the dynamite conspiracy, and she was promptly put under arrest by the police. In her bag was found several oakes of olay, and for a time the police believed they had made an Important capture. The poor lady explained that she was something of an artist, and was m the habit of amusing herself by modelling In clay, and npon anexaminatlon by one of the Government Inspectors of explosives tho " dynamite" waa found to be clay and nothing more. Yet the pollpe persisted m their blunder, and the lady was not released from custody for four days. The Incidence has caused intense annoyance m Paris, and the gutter press of the French capital are almost suggesting hostilities, quite for getting how often English travellers m France have recently been seizad as spies. The British Government are not Insensible to the serious nature of the wrong dune to the poor lady, and already they are examining the facts of the case with the view cf seeing whether some pecuniary compensation ought not to be offered. It would be interesting to know who led the police into the trap.