PROCEEDINGS SUSPENDED.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20106, 9 December 1930, Page 11

PROCEEDINGS SUSPENDED.

MR lev;ne explains. (UKITED PBESa ASSOCIATION —BY ELECTIIIC TELEGRAPH—COPYRIGHT.) VIENNA, December 7. The Public Prosecutor has suspended the proceedings against Mr Charles Levine (the millionaire flyer who was detained on a counterfeiting charge) owing to there being absence of proof. Mr Lcvinc told the "Daily Telegraph" the full story of the affair. He explained that he was planning a solo round-the-world flight from New York, hoping to do it in 15 days. He had ordered the machine's equipment in Great Britain and elsewhere in Europe, and conceived the idea of striking medallions to distribute to celebrate the flight. He went to Vienna and saw a sculptor named Mazura, explaining in bad German that l.e wanted his own bust on one side and an aeroplane encircling the globe 011 the other. He showed him French hall-, one-, and twofranc pieces as samples of the size. The sculptor the following day informed the police. "I was arrested, and treated the affair for three days as a mere jest, but the police declined to see the absurdity of anyone wanting to counterfeit twopenny pieces/' he said. Mr Levine s lawyers "are now proposing to sue for compensation.