MRS. BAMBERGER FREE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2297, 2 July 1921, Page 1

MRS. BAMBERGER FREE.

LIFE IN PRISON.

NOT FORCED TO WORK.

Almost unnoticed, a dramatic lit* tie episode was enacted at the entrance to Holloway Prison recently, says a London paper. The gates quietly swung back, and through the portals that led to freedom stepped Mrs Thelma Bamberger. In appearance she was paler and slightly thinner than when she entered the prison seven months ago, after being sentenced to nine mouths’ imprisonment for perjury in the Divorce Court. ' The period-of her sentence had been reduced by two months for good conduct, but there was delay in the release for some time because she was found in possession of cigarettes. At 6.30 a.m. on the day she left the gaol, her sister, Mrs Webb, arrived at the prison, but not until an hour and a-half later were the gates open for *Mrs Bamberger to pass to freedom. Mr H. Olley, her solicitor, was among those wailing to meet her. Rushing forward, Mrs Webb fervently embraced the exprisoner, and gave her a bouquet of crimson flowers. “I am very glad that i! is all over,” remarked Mrs Bamberger. A motor car was in readiness, and the party immediately drove off to a restaurant, where an elaborate breakfast was provided. In an interview, Mrs. Bamberger confessed to*a “mad craving for excitement.” She declared that it was the happiest day in her life. Describing the programme carried.out after the breakfast, she declared: “We danced till luncheon time, went to the Hippodrome in the afternoon, to a restaurant for tea, then for a drive in the country, and then home. Prison has been nothing but a fairly strict boarding school to me, because everyone in authority was so kind,” she went on —“everyone, except the particularly ugly ones, who were jealous, I suppose. Did I do any world Well, I was given third division, which means that I was untasked. I was not compelled to do any work, you know. I never scrubbed the cell floor, or even dusted it, as most of the others do. Occasionally 1 went into the needlework room and did a bit of sewing, but the officials in charge were very nice in letting me do just what I liked in the way of work. I couldn’t sew a stitch until I went into Holloway,” Mrs Bamberger confessed with a laugh. “In fact, the first; time I attempted to make a dress I stitched the sleeve to the nock. Oh. at first it was terrible. Putting on the prison dress was such a shod; to me that my feelings were absolutely numbed. Even now I have only the vaguest recollection of how I got it on. I have had heaps of letters of sympathy, including offers 'of financial help, and suggestions that I should return to the stage or work for the screen. At present, however, my plans do not extend to anything beyond taking the greatest possible advantage of my freedom.”