HOUSE OF MYSTERY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1082, 1 April 1913, Page 4

HOUSE OF MYSTERY.

♦ STRANGE CHARGES AGAINST INMATES.

Oue of those mysteries that is likely to entail a good deal of investigation was mentioned at the Marylebone Police Court the other day. It concerned an establishment in Seymour Place, Bryanston Square, London. Remarkable charges were brought against two former inmates of the house, which is next door to the Police Court, and has been the headquarters and offices of a mixed colony known as ” The New Order,” who advocate “ social revolution by free groups.”

Mrs Helen Mereditu MacDonald, stated in court to be a sister of Sir Robert Moram, and described as “ an author and dramatist,” of Conewood, Farnham Common, Bucks, who is known as a.Socialist and ” simple lifer,” and is one of the chief organisers of h The New Order,” was the prosecutrix in one case. This was a charge against Satu Majumdar, agpd eighteen, a student and the son of % wealthy Indian merchant, ot stealing eight large silver spoons and a halfsovereign from the bouse in (Seymour Place. Mrs MacDonald stated that she had beeu the tenant < f the two upper floors in Seymour Place, where she carried on the £)uestall Press, a publishing centre for tracts and other litera-.

ture. Majuradar had been lodging there since September or October last with his guardian, Mr Bose, and he assisted in the work of the press.

“A VERY MYSTERIOUS HOUSE.”

Detective Hadlow, who proved the arrest was asked by Mr Plowden, the magistrate, if he had made enquiries about the house in Seymour Place. “ It seems to me to be a peculiar place,” said the magistrate. “ I bad a man charged from there this morning with attempted burglarly, and now I have this lad charged with stealing. What is the character of the place ?’ ’ — “ That we cannot fathom.” replied the detective. “Itis a very mysterious house, and there are others in Loudon.” Do I understand that Mrs MacDonald takes care of Indians at this house ? Yes. What are her relations with them ? —I cannot say. They have meetings there on different subjects. Mrs MacDonald was recalled by Mr Plowden and questioned about the establishment. She had four Indians living there, she said, but now bad an English lady—a professor at the Clapham Pupil Teachers’ Centre and two English gentlemen staying there. The pan charged with attempted burglary had been handed over to her care, as he had committed a similar act next door to her house at Conewood. “As to the other residents, she added, “ they cook for each other, and do their own housework. One lives on fruits, nuts, and salads, and another usually has fish and chips.” Satu Maiumdar was remanded on bail.

THE VANISHING STRANGER. The other case was that in which Mowbray Percy, aged thirty-six, an artist, was charged with attempting to break into a house in Seymour place, the residence af Victor Hoogstoel, a hairdresser, with intent to commit felony. Mr Hoogstoel explainer that a fortnight ago he was awakened about two in the morning by two of bis tenants screaming out, “There’s a stranger in the house.” He got up, and went in search of the stranger, but he bad vanished. On the following Friday the same thing occurred, and again the man escaped. Mr Hoogstoel then determined to keep watch for the stranger’s return, and had done so every night of the week, with his brother and his wife. Early that morning he took up a position iu a dark room in the office ol a solicitor iu Seymour place, from which he could see all that took place at his front door. About four o’clock Percy appeared on the scene, and went up to the front door, and apparently tried to open the lock with a key. “He told me be had been there on two or three occasions before,” said a policeman. “ What were you doing there ? ” the magistrate asked Percy. “ I refuse to state that,” was the reply. “ That is not the conduct of a burglar,” commented Mr Plowden, “ but if he won’t give any explanation he must be remanded.” Mrs Helen MacDonald, the occupier of the “mystery house,” who appeared as prosecutrix iu the case mentioned above, was at Bow Street charged with using insulting language and causing a disturbance. ' She is a grey-haired lady of intellectual appearance. From the evideuce it appeared th£t she refused to pay a cabdriver a Siam pf 4s ed, §nd told him to go to Scotland Yard, Mr Asquith, and Mr Plowdeu for the money. It was stated that, when arrested, Isrs struck a gentleman seviera) times yyith a walking-stick, which she used because of hpr lfttpqoes§. According to an officer, she was so violent that she bad to be strapped on to the ambulance. The prisoner then made several statements about an elusive slipper and “trying to catch Asquith in a trap.” Her husband, William Albert MacDonald, who gave addresses