FATHER'S QUEST FOR HIS BABY SON

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 7

FATHER'S QUEST FOR HIS BABY SON

None To Meet Her

Question of Choice

Shipping Watched

Served A Writ

Didn't Mean That

• ■ - ♦ Lured Away by Mother Who Eloped With Lover Little Boy's Terrifying Ordeal Ends In A Happy Reunion -(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative) "Oh, grannie, grannie, don't leave me, please don't leave me —don't let them take me away," is the pathetic, oftrepeated cry of little "Mickie" Luff, a three-years-old boy, who already has drunk deeply from the bitterness which lies m the cup of harsh experience. . Taken away from his home m Wellington, practically abandoned by his mother on board the "Ulimaroa" while she allegedly kept illicit trysts with the husband of anothe r woman; hustled off the boat when the man was arrested for desertion; hiding", always hiding from something or some body, his small mind could not grasp from what or whom. Hustled from New South Wales because daddy secure d what the big people called a writ of habeas corpus, then hiding again m Melbourne where mummy never came to see him, Mickie is home, now, but he is afraid to leave his grannie, and he looks fearfully from his hiding-place when a caller knocks at the door.

The sewing machine had been removed. Gone, too, were his wife's personal effects and intimate clothing, and when he was able sufficiently to form a conclusion as to the meaning of it all, he came to the decision that the departure of his son, the absence of the sewing machine, and the apparently innocent attentions of Berry were by no means. a question of accident.

He immediately wired his sister-in-law at Ormondville as to whether she had any knowledge of his wife's whereabouts, only to receive the disquieting reply that Mrs. Luff had left Hawkes Bay the day before. In the meantime, he remembered that Berry had motored Mrs. Luff from Ormondville when she came to Wellington, to collect her son. Hence, Luff considered, it was likely enough that Berry would know where she was. Catching the first bus from the Hutt, Luff went straight to Berry's house, asking Mrs. Berry whether she knew where her husband was, and receiving the reply that Berry had left that afternoon for the Wairarapa district, where he was to do some canvassing for the Wellington music house he represented, thence. to do some shooting with a man named Walters, who lived at Gladstone.

When Luff heard this he suggested that it would be wise for Mrs. Berry to wire Walters to find out if Berry had arrived, and when Luff told her sufficient of what he had discovered that afternoon as to satisfy her on the score of urgency, she complied. In less than ninety minutes, came

Nervous Maimer

the reply from Walters that he had neither seen nor heard of Berry for some time!

Subsequent inquiries at the local office of the Huddart Parker line elicited the fact that Berry, nervous of • manner, had booked two berths for Sydney under the name of "Mr. and Mrs. Woods," a corruption of "Wood," Mrs. Luff's maiden name.

In the meantime, Mrs. Berry, stranded with five children, their ages ranging between 16 years and eighteen months, was obliged to lodge a complaint with the police, with the result that when Berry stepped . ashore at Sydney, he was arrested on the charge of wife desertion.

Within seven days frc-m the sailing of the Ulimaron, from Auckland, Luff, who is cashier at the Wellington office of the .Colonial Carrying -Company, had secured extended leave from his principals, cabled the Salvation Army authorities m Sydney to extend their efforts m persuading his wife to forsake the course she had taken, and he did everything- within his power to effect a reconciliation' between himself and his wife.

Various officers of the Salvation Army tried their utmost to persuade Mrs. Luff against., the new line of life she was pursuing:, but without avail, and when her husband sailed from Wellington on September 14 he did so with the full determination to regain possession of young Mickie at all costs. While he was crossing the Tasman, his mind wracked with the

agony of wondering what had become of his little boy, the Sydney cable was transmitting the pleas sent out by Berry's relatives for Mrs. Berry to waive the warrant issued m Wellington.

Three clays after . Luff arrived m Sydney on September 18, Mrs. Berry, with a cabled remittance m her pocket, had booked the passages for herself and her children and she also sailed for Sydney. Meanwhile, Berry had secured his release, and by the time. Luff reached the capital of New South- Wales, Berry, Mrs. Luff and young Mickie had disappeared.

During her trip across the Tasman, Mrs. Berry was under the impression that her husband would be at the wharf to meet her, but to her mortification when the ship tied up at the Sydney wharf, there was no one there to meet her.

Eventually, she was able to get into touch with her father, who sheltered the somewhat bewildered little family m his home at Hurlstone Park. But what of the little boy Luff?

The Salvation Army officers tried their utmost to locate him, while his father exerted every available influence to ascertain the whereabouts of his son, but the little chap had completely disappeared, the sole indication as to his possible hiding-place being that his mother's correspondence was addressed care of Berry's father, living

THE S.M. inflicted the penalty, and defendant, who was , slightly deaf, called the court orderly over to the dock to him. "How much?" he asked. Orderly (loudly): Four pounds altogether. Defendant: What's the default? "Ten days!" "I'll pay the four pounds, then."

at Croydon. Beyond that — nothing. Luff then instructed his solicitors m Sydney to apply to the Su'Vreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus, but although this was promptly effected, they were unable to serve it upon Mrs. Luff, since she had left the house at Croydon, and, to all intents, was gone from the city. The question of further investiga-

tion was then left m the hands of the Criminal Investigation Branch, who discovered that the

r v n aw ays left Sydney for Melbourne on Sunday, September 23. . By this time Luff felt it was imperative that he should go back to New Zealand, m fairness to his employers and also because his protracted stay m" Sydney was proving very costly.

As soon as he had satisfied him self that the process of the law had been set m motion, Luff returned, distracted yet hopeful, to this country. B y October 30, the detectives had searched every possib 1 c cranny of Melbourne and its j environs, ultimately tracing Berry . and i Mrs. Luff to an address at Fitzroy, but of the little boy there was no sign, although it was

proved mat iviicivie had lived with his mother for a week. Detective B. Kelleher, who arrested

Berry when h e stepped ashore at Sydney, was transferred to Melbourne shortly after Luff returned home, and it is not unlikely that KelleherV knowledge of Berry and his characteristics, particularly m regard to Berry's musicianly accomplishments as , a

cornettist and the fact that he had for some years been a travelling salesman for Turner's music store m Wellington, New Zealand, supplied the investigating officers with a strong lead of deduction. While they were prosecuting theii inquiries m Melbourne, it appears, someone m Wellington was watching closely the movements of George Luff, because when his Melbourne legal advisers suggested he should make a second trip over, they urged him to keep his departure from New Zealand as secret as possible. "... we do not want to frighten Mrs. Luff away, and possibly, secrete the child out of our reach," they wrote. "She seems to have plenty of correspondents and. in- ■ formers m New Zealand ..." For two months detectives on the staff of the Melbourne C.1.8. trailed Mrs. Luff, but so far as they were able to ascertain, not once within that period did she visit the boy, nor had she met him anywhere. According to what Luff told "Truth," the detective located Berry m the orchestral well of Pullers' Bijou Theatre m Melbourne, where he was playing the cornet m the evening sessions. During the day he was, employed as a canvasser for a music house, an occupation similar to the one he followed m New Zealand. When Luff heard that his wife and Berry had definitely been traced to an address at Fitzroy, he once again made application to his firm for further leave of absence, and although he al-

ready had been away three weeks m an endeavor to regain possession of little Mickie, they willingly agreed.

This time he to.ok his mother with him, since there was still some possibility that the pair m Melbourne might evade the of, the detectives, and so delay considerably the boy's recovery, meaning, maybe, ultimate loss of employment for Luff.

Investigations made by private detectives m Wellington, on behalf of Luff, invoked the suspicion that Berry might endeavor to elude pursuit by hustling Mrs. Luff and Mickie out of Melbourne, and, at the last moment, board an oceangoing steamer at a port m one of the sister States, en route for South Africa.

No sooner did the Melbourne C.1.8. learn of this suggested intention of Berry's than they communicated with every branch of the service connected with the observation of shipping, while instructions were issued that no man answering to Berry's description should be granted a passport. A copy of Mickie's photograph was dispatched to police headquarters m each State, and although the cordon was tightened around the movements of Mrs. Luff and Berry, every precaution was taken to ensure that Mickie was not spirited away from the city by a third person. Within two hour? from the time when George Luff and his mother left the train at Melbourne on December 12, a writ of habeas corpus was issued by the Chief Justice, Sir William

I . , — I Irvine, m the Melbourne Supreme Court. At five o'clock a clerk of the Supreme Court called at the house where Mrs. Luff was staying. On his arrival, there he was told that Mrs. Luff had gone to St. Vincent's Hospital to undergo a very slight operation. Two hours later the writ was served, and Mrs. Luff was'caMed upon to pro-, duce the child. According to Luff, his wife swore that Mickie was m Sydney, not Melbourne, but the Melbourne detectives had definite information to the contrary, and no notice was taken of her declarations. By December 19, the Court appeared to be satisfied that Mrs. Luff did not intend to comply with the terms of .the writ served upon her a few days previously, for his honor issued an order for 'a writ of attachment, whereby Mrs. Luff was asked to show cause why a warrant for her arrest should not be taken out. When her counsel made an undertaking that she would not leave St. Vincent Hospital before Boxing Day, the judge ordered that the warrant should lie m the Registrar's office till then, and on Sunday, December 23, Berry, his father, and their legal representative are said to have interviewed the senior partner m the legal firm of Pavey, Wilson and Cohen (Luff's solicitors),- pleading with him not to issue the warrant for the arrest of Mrs. Luff. For private reasons,' Luff was obliged tmmimmmmminuiimttiiiiimiiiitiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiifiiiimmiiiiiiiitiimiiimiiiii

OOTEL licensee, after having ** given an explanation of an alleged liquor offence: I assure your worship " I would, not come here and tell a lie without a solicitor. The S.M.: What! Do you have to have a solicitor to tell a lie? H.L. (somewhat embarrassed): Oh, I assure you I did not mean it m that way. ,