Mystery Enshrouds Elsie Walker's Midnight Drive to Death.

NZ Truth, Issue 1194, 18 October 1928, Page 7

Mystery Enshrouds Elsie Walker's Midnight Drive to Death.

liiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiminiiiiiiiiimiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ABOUT, twelve months ago, little Elsie Walker, who was but sixteen ;at the time of her tragic death, went to live with her uncle and aunt, Frank Bayly and his wife, on their farm at Papamoa, a few miles north of Te Pukei ; Up to that time the girl had lived at Cape Runaway with her father, D'Renzy^Walker, who is Mrs, Bayly's brother. . • So fax as country life is concerned, Elsie's surroundings could not have been morejcongenial. , The .homestead is a particularly beautiful one, the home far above the average, and- I—from1 — from the "Truth" representative!s own acquaintance with the Baylya, when calling there last week— they- are pleasant, kindly people of cultivated ■■■' tastes. The hoiriestead reflected their' personality; m many ways. :. It .cannot be ; said . that the girl . was lonely; for^-her uncle lias' several sons, ranging:; from twenty- two to a little boy of perhaps three years. ..-■'• At the time of her mysterious journey, the eldest son was away from' home, but the three younger boys were v on the, farm. The first discovery that anything . might/be, wrong was made when young Trevor; Bayly returned home about one

City

o'clock 1 on" the morning- of Tuesday, October 2. HJs- attention was drawn to the fact that some of the gates leading to the small enclosure; where .they kept the Whippet car m a cartshed, were open. It was unusual, and, when. he reached his bedroomi he asked his young brother if anyone had been taken ill and there had been cause to go for the doctor. ? His vbrother replied m the negative, 'and 'heathen went to bed. . Early- m the : morning it was found that tlie -car had disappeared* and not long . afterwards 1 Elsie' •Walker was found to be missing. ;■ ■ : ' The sensation m the Bayly fainiiy may easily be. /imagined.' It, was soon discovered that the tracks of the car l»d towards Te-;:.Fuke, while . people n.-tmed Thomaspn,' ; who have a cottage ripnr the road .gate, said they had wondered when theyji heard the sound of a par' going past^'their house about twenty; minutes; 'itfjter midnight. ; . .-' What impulse: possessed . Elsie when she client from the silent house, into the equally silent .and moonlight night, the key of the Car m her hand? Stealthily she found her way to the cartshed, , and; as her only chance to pet awaj' frbny the homestead, unheard, , was to push the car but of the shedpast the back of the house, through two gateways (whfch she left open), over the turf beyond '-the'- house to the grass track towards the road, about four, 'or five hundred yards away — it has to be assumed that Uhis is what she did. ,: ■..• .'■■•■<:. ■'•''■ ... ; •..;'■:, ■ It has also to be assumed that she did it unaided, if the police theory is sound, but it was no mean accomplishment for a girl only five feet, two inches m height. Having . crossed, the bridge which passes over the TaurangaT-Te Puke railway line, which runs through, the 9 1 1 ii 1 1 1 1 1 )i iii 1 1 1 inn 1 1 uini ti it 1 1 1 1 1 tin 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 ii 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ut i [ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ■ j 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

ffioiigs Window.

PROCURABLE m Dunedin there ?\^^ :muat be: some;: sort; of an aritiAsiatio ; alp which imbues its patrons with an irresistible desire to : break Chinamen's shop-winr -dOWB.;-- '■ ': - : "'- '" ■■' ' - ■■■'- :■'•,•." ■■■ ■■■ Reoently a riotous young man was haled before the Dunedin. Polioe Court- for poking his fist through, a , colored laundryman's glass-.doorway m Rattray Street, and the; other .day .Ada Graham took up a similar role by re-open-ing .hostilities m Carroll Street. But when Ada decided that the window of Arthur Wong's cookshop, awaited her attentions, she wasn't -so foolish or impulsive as to. use-her dainty hand. Ladylike —she swung her handbag. : \yong.told : Magistrate Bartholomew, that Ada Was drunk when she persisted m entering his shop, and he had "assisted" *her out. After being ejected, the lady returned to ; the attack, by hammering? at,, the closed door,- and converting her handbag into a batter- i ing-.rarni' she got' to work on the. window.' . Then the police stepped m, and. subsequently the smashing of the : window. cost Graham 14/- for repairs' or three days' gaol. For being drunk she was fined £1 or another three of a kind m the care of the State; ; . : ■

iiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiui Baylys' land, and closed the gate, she would seem to have started up the engine and sped past the' Thomason's cottage, through the open gate to the road, turning, to the left- on her fatal journey. Thus the sixteen-year-old girl, with extraordinary audacity and nerve, set out"on a two-hundred-mile drive to the fascinating' lights of the great> city,, her only driving experience that of having backed the car from the shed and driven it m again — and the only evidence that she had even done this comes from the lips of a child of three years 'or so ! . Through Te Puke, where good folks slumbered m their warm beds, sped Elsie, unobserved, and so out into the lonely country, heading south-west. Through Paengaroa and its scattered dwellings, on' past rich pasture- lands, where sleek cattle browsed, and then westward into the mountainous, desolate country, where : the brackencovered .." ranges brood 'm the silver moonlight, separating east from west. It takes severe toll of the imaginative faculties to picture this child- of the back-country sitting tense m the driving- seat, gazing into the twisting, twining arterial road ahead of her, which, with its occasional dips, ever ascends like some white serpent across the sombre volcanic mountain ranges. Did her heart quake as. the small denizens of the night, frightened by the steady hum of the car, scurried across the smooth and desolate road; or, when she came to sharp turns and twists, where the land fell away with sheer drops on one side or the other of fifty to a hundred feet, and the tumultuous waves of broken land shut her out from all her kind? And all the while the. cold, white ■ moon shone over this daring girl, her unwitting aid to a lonely death m a quarry nearly a hundred and sixty miles away! • • .* •'■ ■ Truly, Elsie must have been possessed of ' some superhuman incentive, if this is what slie accomplished— alon& ' Six gallons of petrbl; were m" the gar,,, •it 'is said, when she set out. In. this respect, ,the question arises: How long did' it last? • For, on this point again,' the opinion of experienced motorists must be. given due weight— not .one "Truth's" repre-

v Police Reticence

sentative interrogated *on the subject but asserted that an inexperienced driver would probably not exceed 20 miles to the gallon. In . such hilly country, even fifteen to the gallon would not be out of the way. And Elsie "VValker cannot be proved to be a driver of any experience. Truly remarkable! A. . 'A A Dawn, then, may have found the girl, with her petrol nearly exhausted, somewhere m the vicinity of Tirau,' after having successfully negotiated the Mamaku, providing, that this was the route she took. .A • . It is probable that she; did, for she would be fully acquainted with the state of .the roads between Te.Puke and Rotorua.A- ;>' ... If she turned to the left after leaving the. Baylys' farm, as it is asserted, it is hardly likely that she would retrace her tracks back through Tauranga, over the- bad stretch:, between the latter town and- TeFuke.. ..-.'. ' But the police have not told .the-pub-lic whether they discovered- where' Elsie obtained her \reflll of petrol — -nor- have they broken their' official silence .to say whether any garage proprietor/, or bowser man remembers a young girl calling m for- a refill during the early hours Of that fatal Tuesday/ morning. '. Further, it. is not known whether any passing motorist saw ' a solitary ' girl changing her tyre beside the road between Te Puke and Papatoetoe. : Ev^en the number of the car (27847) has not been made public m order that someone who might otherwise escape the vigilance of the police inquiries, might: perchance come forward and definitely state that they saw a girl answering Elsie Walker's' description on the road that night or. day. • '■'■ • Even to-day, girls dressed as was Elsie are not seen on the main highways every day of the week. A When next the poor child was . seen, .she was lying face downwards m a quarry seven miles or so from where the car was found abandoned. She had then been dead several days. •■ ; A Beneath her head was an ominous pool - o'f '-. blob.d, and, it is reportedVso that it is general - knowledge^there were certain injuries to her head. ■; '/'■ The tragic . fcict remains that injuries to her head or not^ — and reticence is one of the strong. points ofitti'e police armor— the blood .was there. ;..'."..; And the number . of . occasions on which the dead hn.ve been known to bleed.are remarkably few: m fact, outside fable, practically ■ unknown. A

It is most improbable that if mutilation by stray carnivora took place after death, the. corpse would:' bleed. How, then, is the blood accounted for? No money was found, no vanity-bag. Surely it is passing strange that Elsie, who had planned— and carried out ea successfully — her last and only adventure, should have- overlooked such female accessories? . • It is said, too, that when she left Papamoa she had several £1 notes m her possession. ' Is it not, to say the least of it. peculiar that nothing m the nature of travelling accessories was' found— and that the ' girl was penniless when discovered? Another phase of the mystery, m so far as the public utterances of the police are concerned, is the assumption that Elsie walked from Papatoetoe to the place where her body was found. v . ' Is there anything to ; . support the supposition ? Who saw the girl on her way from the car after it had' been abandoned at Papatoetoe? A stranger. in a fairly populous district rarely passes unnoticed; further, there is no conceivable. reason why the car should not have been driven past the quarry v by the / unknown person who accompanied the girl, and. af^er leaving her there, have travelled on to the place where it was found, for it is significant that it was eventually, discovered m a side-street with empty tank, facing away from Auckland. ..'.'■>. 1f ..- Elsie had been boUnd for ■.'■• Auckland on the morning of October 2, why should she have turned the car m an opposite direction to her destination? There is still another feature, of in-terest—-that the police declare there was a mark on the girl's sand-shoe of

her left foot, apparently made by the accelerator. But, on being tested, it was found that the spot was not on the toe where it might, have been expected; also, that if it had been possible for the girl to have used her left foot, there would not have been room for the rest of her foot between the place which that mark indicated and the front of the car. She wore number five shoes. Moreover, Elsie would need to have! been something of a juggler with her feet to have used her left foot on an accelerator placed on the right-hand side. : --■-' To revert again to ' the mysterious pool of blood beneath her head, Elsie's features had been destroyed on one side by the ravages of wild animals. . . Nothing is more probable than that they, would have commenced their : horrible work on .that part of he r face which had been damaged be fo r c death 'and from which a certain amount of blood . might have oozed. • That 'being so, it is not unreasonable to assume that had Elsie's face been struck before death, all traces of the' wound would have . been destroyed by the subsequent ravages of the animals. Tt remains to be seen whether the post-mortem shows any damage to the bones of the face or head. Whatever the post-mortem may disclose, it. has yet to be shown to the satisfaction of the public that the girl's movements have been traced from the time it is alleged she left her

ancle's farm to the finding of her body. So far, the .peculiar secrecy of the police investigators — who appear to hold a firm belief m the statements they have given to the press — has not revealed whether ~ one single trace of Elsie was picked up during the whole af her fatal, motor ride. And until that is done, "Truth" prefers to accept the very definite assurance of experienced motorists that what she is supposed to have accomplished was a physical impossibility. In the course of conversation with Frank Bayly and his wife at their home m the Bay of .Plenty, Elsie's aunt did not for one moment suggest that the girl was either given to moods or melancholy; she was m no way sub -normal or peculiar. . Certainly, she was a quiet child and had often expressed a keen desire to go # to Auckland, said Mrs. Bayly; m fact, to use her aunt's own words: "Elsie was dying to go to Auckland." On the evening the girl left Papamoa, another neice of Mrs. Bayly's had been paying a call. This girl had just return.cd from a trip to the Queen" City and was entertaining those who were home with an account of her doings. ; Mrs. Bayly told "Truth's" representative that Elsie had listened speilbouhd to everything her cousin had to say; •';.. - ■ When her aunt made yisits-to Te

■1 Puke or elsewhere, she often took the girl with her.Elsie watched every manipulation of the ' machinery of the car, but had never been given an opportunity ie learn driving. . So fan as her aunt knew, -she did not understand anything about handling a car. It was\only when the constable from Te Puke called at the Bay'lys* home, when he and Mrs. Bayly were talking about Elsie's inability to drive, thai any suggestion was made that she might be able to control a car. Mrs. Bayly said that she remarked to the constable: "But she can't drive." Her little son, who was m : the room, spoke up and said : "Her can drive." Then he, added: "Her backed the car out of the shed, walked all around it and drove it m again." Naturally, "Truth's" investigators asked Mrs. Bayly how her neice could have learned to drive. She informed them that the girl might have taken the car out of the shed, driving it around a little while the others were out on the farm and there was no one there to observe her, Allowing that such a thing were possible, it can be observed with confidence that the girl from Cape Runaway would not be able to do this very frequently without attention being drawn to ' the. fact m . some way or other. The consequent exhaustion of the petrol supply must have told a taU - which would have led to questions. But it has to be stressed that the only evidence of lter driving ability— 'unsupported and meagre- — comes from the lips of the youngest member ol the' family, who, until then, had never mentioned the fact. And. might not his conception of driving be somewhai limited?

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinimimimniumiiiuiiiiiii .Still, allowing that. the girl had driven the caj a few yards around the small enclosure m which is the cartshed it-would need a person of somewhat easy credibility to accept this as evidence that she could undertake such an exhausting and intricate journey as she is alleged to have undertaken/ A journey which would compel her to face grades and sharp turns such as even an experienced driver takes with caution and respect. . 2 Apart f roni the divide between Te . Puke and Rotorua . and the Mamaku, , there is the Razorback; the deviation * was not open— a teaser which might 3 test' out the best of motoring travellers; So that,' with the route which Elsie is t 'presumed to ' h&v'e taken still m mind, 1 having travelled that way to Te Puke during last, week, "Truth's", represen-. 1 tativ.es ■"-assert that unless she had • taken • niahy lessons . m; , secret, and » shown great aptitude, or >had learned at" t some former time .(whifchV he? o\yn 5 father discredits) , she. did not drive herself to Auckland. : J: ■■•■•;, ■';■ . . . , ; "'•; ' : x 1 If it can be pvbved conclusively that ' she did. hQW>y6r>v^thiS;;::girl not' yet , seventeen was 6ne^tJt:d'f:a thousand. But, at the inquest, are the police going to produce direct evidence of her being seen oriithe roadalone? ; j : Are they, going to bring anything more convincing than just. ■ their opinion .to -satisfy those Who • are prepared to.co'nt^piJ that u Els|e , ' was not alone on her' fatal visit 1 to the city which she Was "dying I to see"? •;:■"■ .• \'i : -,}<\ Z.\' -■-}.-■-"- I It would seem as though the an- . nouncemeht' that Elsie, had a certain 3 sum of money on her when she left - Papamoa. is either' to be : refuted or - overlooked, for, haying' started but on r her journey ' at' iroughly .half-past j twelve a.m., the car ; "w,as found abanl- doned at 2 p.m. that; afternoon. That is to say, thirteen and. '"a- half B hours later the "Whippet was found 3 ownerless, the tank empty, abandoned: m a .side street, facing the opposite c way to. that -^hich.. would ,be : expected _ if the driver were bound 'for' Auckland; ■X And the girl is found without any f money whatsoever. r ' It can, be accepted that the car was g there for some hours before it was t realized that it was either stolen or one which had been deserted. ' ' \,-l,- ... "T.'\ ' — ; ~\

)0f Sterner Stof> f .'■•'' ''■■'. i .' ' .''■■, ■; ■■ »'" ; -* •• -' '•

. Suppose, tlfen, it was parked m Pa-: •• patoeloe for two hours or so before ;it attracted attention. ' That allows the girl ' eleven and :ahalf hours m \vhich to' make the journey, five of which, at least, were lighted by the moon. The deduction is. that ishe, travelled at a' 'little leas, than' eighteen miles an hour,; all the way,": making no allowance v for the tyre being changed ."and* the stop to replenish the petrol supply. This helps to bring hon^e . the- fact . that Elsie left the , car m daylight, probably a tired girl, . m spite, of her' country training.: ' . : And yet, though tired, she walks— v unobserved-^-severi miles to a quarry, two hundred yards off the road, to die; from natural causes! "•:. .; . ; .' ' Elsie may. have been "dying to go to Auckland." but, if -she, had been deter- : mined enough to 'undertake such an arduous trip— and" with money presurriabl'y-- still 'm- her jjocket— it . seems' , hardjy credible..; that;' ish/es slibul^' so soon/h ave thrown „m the sponge • or have'^felty.sp;-Boon'^emprse'-;at- ; her;ru.hT'' . away'^escaiiaLde.' ■'■' ■"-, i .' * ' ■'■'•'';•'-■,'■'/"■■.' ' For -her- own aunt, ■ w(th ; whom; she ' had lived for twelve months, stated definitely that , she. was not mentally . unstable, 11 only that ' she -was a "quiet girl and '- t her life at Papa'moa^was a happy, one.. • ■ , '. : . - ' Analysing, 60 far as it is possible, . the psychology of Elsie,, the asy sumption- that she walked seven 1 miles to lay herself down' to die, m :a' lonely, -qyarry-^-p.enniless and' -; without any of the baggage a girl \ might Be ' «x^efctea "to *tatfe- wfth her— does j riot hold water. Elsie J * went to.' Auckland to seef lif e, hot ; •• .. 'to die. ■■'-,; ■'•.' ' ■': '" . ' ■"■'. ,"•/.-? -? It is- not as thouglv the proximity of the city, would scare' her. She., had been, to Rotorua; the, outside world j was not entirely, foreign ' to her, arid 2 the determination she h^.d shown up to the: time of her arrival would hardl ly leave her when, her goal was m l sight.. ■' ■'•;•; '■■■ :.. ■•,■■■'... .'■;■■'■" ■ Ther e s is every reason to think that 3 she iWas : made of sterner stuff. ■ , If .••; she : ''lj4d been; found dead, and newly . deceased,, several' days later, there Thigh t . bevi- some ; grounds -for the belief ;that she. had . been .overcome j with' remorse. '■. .- -;/; ..; -„ '■: 3 But ''' she -must, haiye died : within -a few- hours,: dornparat.ively speaking, of i her .arirfval.' .The -state'.', of her- corpse proyes\that. ; v- ; „ -; '• ; >■ ■!, *•..■'•;- ; ;; :'.... - Most significant of all is the fact' that

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiniiijiiitiiiulnnnHntWntHntiiiimitm •' . ■ . . " '. 'i; : ' ■■?'•' ' :■' '■"■ beneath her head v^ag a- pool of blood. This requires some" explanation. How came it that a pool, of, blood larger than the palm of ' t a. man's 3iand, . stained the ground beneath herfmuti- ■' late'd f eatures.'When ; she is .alleged^ by -' no less an authority than the police, ;;. to have died of exhaHistion? ■ ." \\ How can. the slight color, of her cheek t..; be explained? ;. i inhere are cer^aifa; forms ■ , of death which leave traces i of -r color \i m the cheeks — gas poisoning, for in-, -..I stance, or poisons of a certain kind — j but again, assuming that Elsie did not ! die by either of these causes,, there ' v only j.*emains deduction that, in>j common 'with ■■many other - girls, she ; \ used . sonic 'artificial pigiherit for; her ' cheeks.: - .".•■ .' '. ■ •••■-•-' " '^- ■■ ' ■ This being- so, it can be easily con- , jectured that she touched them /up: at' . the end of her. journey, when,trayel haddimmed the artificial make-up^- \ A . If thafew^ere^becase, she' must>ljiave hadlier rhake-up -with hei', pfesumably m a >ariity-bag f ; but that bag has'r i^ot been; accounted ;f orjv -^ : ? '. ■$ ' VTruth" does not^ believe that •. any , detective lia_s been- s^nt to' JtnaKe investigations m the' district whence Elsie set out on her fat^l. drive,. s'o:|ar as could be gathered, up "to the end -;Of last week; apparently they have riot thought it worth while. : V

Fantastic Tlxporyc

• This, to say the least- of . itj se^ms to he an oversight.. Surely," tlie'-circum-stances which- surround, the s mysteri- . .. ous death- of" this' girt .are worthy -of isome very intehse'investi^ation?. / j\ < The pjMi'cj*;Vhyp.o3&esj[s''' that >> Elsie, - :drbye^t6|' : ;Au^fclknji' e .^^:='Hliere v died- 1^of"-_' exhaiistibn; \yitn^ that'^ell-tale pool of blood— to indicate " unexplained happening— b'erie'ath ' Kef I may be a. vfcry plausible and satisfactory explanation td^^th^m^^'^^^^J^^^^'^-v f >. But it Jsjiot to those who have ; .' gi>?en tFw nrfatter serious thought— ;- y and very many m th» i < Bay • of* Plenty, not to mention 2Auckland, who do not feel so complacently about the tragic affair. ;.- --f In fact, there are numbers of women- :' 'folk m ,Te Ruke who have expressed a : . fear tp/go ab'foad.at nightalone. " Such r fear can best be explained, by them- r selves. . :«.,.;'• ;'• .:'• .; V vWhen pisie Walker' cro^sjed;''t^e; JH- >? yide : from east to west, .in/TOeysi^eriiJ silence' of that fateful night, she crossed,, poor girl, the Greatest Divide of all, ; \al<ing. : the _ .jsecret of her tragic' and ,; r lonely deEttK'^ with her into the .Un- . known. Whether, she set , out. .on her last ' journey alone, or with ■some hupian^ devil : at tlve.i whe^al, , has,; yet : ;tov -.be;!;: revealed; also, 'whether— on ' her ' wild « drive .to ttie- enchanted feitjf was "dying -to .;.See",— she •; inclce;d : upfx some person who had potential evil mf| his heart, and who .later, ttaij' the;'brand% of Cain ■tupon^: himj "has 'yet :■ to 'De dis-r &: closed. '-;; ..j - -; s .^r ■-■ ■.«. '..ftfVu'^k-l " : : *v P ■^When'tlie 1 In^u'esfttffin^s* to- light— fr as it iV tp ■'■ be^ hJbped Jk .^ill .^p^^beypridlg all shadow" of. actual cause^ of tier deatn/fpe^ha^ps-'there may ibe;^r some- cqi^lUsiye;V'and^;^i%y4ncinier eyi-|%4 dence to' Ju^stantiate^jlie .police "theory^ a"s r propburiaed'to -da'te'; I^^ ' " A - : v^: ■ ;£

iiiliiifiiii[liiiiiniiij4itHluiiihniniuiuirmnij\iiiV^!mHlfi(uim ■ 1 • ■-..' .'.-.-. . ..■' I .■• I ■

WHEN ..next Sidney Wilson, Scott, '" ■-''.;■ a>i' r ; Onehuhga , grocer/ distributes literature amona his Com* ' :>nunißt;,MFriend4s m: fcujbMand, 'h* •will no^ :<loub'f that the jgbooks do not incite violence and lawlessness, for he J was v warned by %_ •■ Magistrate/ HiUTit .-. th;*t: the^e^uM: £■ vvill /deal out pynishment^vyith a ?;; " heavy band if he" is not mbrVcare* :-.%> . ful . regarding,, the s-type.,^of ( . books,:^ secretary of the Auckland branch::.of the ! Cdmfnuhist ; Party^ '.* SiySS^ " A particular paragraph which ;? t attracted the attention of the S.M.;^ ; was*o.ne referring to the British V^ Mac Donald Government, which?-read::-^lt demonstrated quite?;;, clearly the necessity. to< bceak up i rand destroy the" capitalist state- r •machinery ofr, bureaucracy^ courts H ':; of justice^ .■••military -' and i^ol icecap- ,; ' ■■ paratusi"--^- ■-.- :■■':■■-■'-'■ v ' • '• /v-v.*.- . .'■'■. '■ ''.- :: ', "I did hot need ioVreald further i than that," said the, magistrate, - and he fined. Scott $5 pn each of: "two charges .relating id the^sal^ : : and distribution i of- seditious litera- „' ture and^pnyicted'andjdischarged.;/ . him on a, third. '■;'''■' ■' .\ ; . : . 'As^a warning the S.M. remarked • that- Scott was not the usual typa ; ,of man who appeared ori-this kind. ; - of a charge; therefore the penalty £•: h^d .nb'l been heavy, but' he should :. : "be careful after this.; . :.:N. ; .S\'\':