FEIGNED BLINDNESS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1270, 11 July 1914, Page 4

FEIGNED BLINDNESS.

GIRL DRAWS COMPENSATION. “Hideous hypocrisy upon an organised scale, the result of wnich has been to extract large sums of money from the company which they ought never to have been called upon to pay,” was the comment of a judge at Birmingham recently on the conduct of a young woman who was said to have feigned blindness for seven years. An application was made by Messrs Guest, Keen, and Nettlefolds to terminate a compensation award under which they had paid Irene Louisa Powles 4s 6d a week for the past seven years.

She was formerly iu the company’s employ as a scissors setter, and she alleges that some filings flew into her right eye, as a result of which she had become blind. The hearing of the case occupied several days, and a number of eye specialists were called. Powles had since been in a nursing home under observation, and the doctor reported that the girl strenuously resisted all efforts to open he* eyes. She had been watched by nurses night and day, and her eyes were covered with metal shields to guard against the possibility of her tampering with her eyes. The result was that after a lew days all irritation of both eyelids disappeared. The lids and eyeballs were perfectly uormal. When the lids were forcibly opened the girl rolled her eyes upwards, so that it was necessary to draw the eyeball down with forceps. Witness came 10 the conclusion that the profession of blindness was a deliberate misrepresentation, and he firmly believed the girl possessed good normal vision in both eyes. His Honour said the application would be granted, and all compensation would be immediately stopped.