WIDOW’S HOARD

Hokitika Guardian, 4 March 1932, Page 7

WIDOW’S HOARD

£3ooo* TIED TO WAIST. PITCHFORK NEAR BED. LONDON, March 3. A police constable, called by a neighbour, forced an entry into a house at Enfield Wash, Middlesex, recently, and discovered Mrs Emily Parfitt, aged 78, a widow, who lived there alone, unconscious at the bottom, of the stairs.

She was taken to the hospital, where, in a small black leather bag under her skirt and attached to a girdle around her waist, was found £3OOO in notes and securities. Sovereigns and half-sovereigns were found in a room at the house, and banknotes by the fireplace jn another room. It is believed tjiat Mrs Parfitt, who bad a curtain and a stair rod in her hand, was trying to fix a rod on the landing when she had a seizure, Mrs Davies, a neighbour, said: “.Mrs Parfitt always, wore a black dress, beneath which was strapped to her waist a strong leather hag. In this she carried cheques, silver and gold. Near her lied she kept a pitchfork, and I believe she never moved from room to room without it.

“Once a week she would walk to the cemetery, carrying a bunch of (lowers to place upon her husband’s grave. He died more than 25 years ago. Apart from her few shopping expeditions this was all we ever saw of her.”

A search of Mrs Parlitt’s rooms revealed that for many years she had kept her money in small hags and envelopes.