A PLUCKY GIRL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 2577, 8 May 1923, Page 1

A PLUCKY GIRL.

CAPTURES MOTHER’S ASSAILANT. A SYDNEY EPISODE. Sydney, April 10. A young man refused to pay for Ids meal in the Strand Cafe, Oxford Street, on Saturday evening, and, upon being expostulated with, Lit the proprietress, stabbed a man will) a pocket knife, and smashed a plate-glass window and' some glass door panels. Miss Paulcne O’Berne, (lie eighteen-year-old daughter of the proprietress, however, closed with the man, and despite rough usage, threw him and held him until police assistance arrived. The trouble commenced shortly after 0 o’clock, when two men entered the restaurant and started an argument with two others who were seated at one of the, tables. However, the storm subsided. Apparently, the four men agreed (on one point, anyhow), and that was to leave the cafe without paying for their meal. The proprietress (Mrs Sarah O'Berne) at this juncture interposed her figure between the door and the would-be “scalers.” A lodger (William Cox) at this juncture came to her assistance and, so infuriated were, the men, that they rushed him and for ten minutes or so gave him a most unenviable time. Cox. however, battled and argued bravely until one of the quartette drew a pocket knife, and slashed his left ear. Tn the consternation produced by this act the men gained the footpath, still struggling and fighting with Cox and the proprietress. Tn the midst of the melee the crash of glass drew attention to the fact that a large plate-glass window and two smaller panes had been deliberately broken by the young toughs. One of them attacked Mrs O'Berne, who was still in the thick of the fray, and bit Tier severely on the hand.

This was too much for Miss O’Berne. She rushed at the assailant, a young man about her own age, and grabbed him. The man, using his strength, however, threw -her on the pavement. He was making off when the plucky girl jumped to her feet, and rushed him again, this time landing a well-placed punch with her fist on the angle of his jaw, and knocking him down. She then jumped on top of her assailant, and got a firm strangle-hold. Shortly afterwards the police nri ived. They found Miss O’Berne — a muscular, but exceedingly comely young woman —holding her prisoner on his feet firmly by the neck by the door of the cafe. Seen at lie) 1 home, Miss O’Berne treated the whole affair with the utmost cheerfulness. “Yon see,” she laughed, “when I wiis at school ill Newcastle, we girls used to get a hoy friend to lend us hexing gloves on the sly, and wc.'d put them on and have some rare goes. My brother and J now have bouts often. For a girl I’m pretty good with the gloves on.”