A FAIR STOWAWAY

Shannon News, 19 February 1926, Page 1

A FAIR STOWAWAY

ROUGH ORDINAL AT SEA BETRAYAL, BY SEASICKNESS More like a chapter from fiction than an incident in real/ life is the amazing story told by a girl stowaway who has just been landed at Liverpool after a voyage half-way round the globe. Dressed as a boy, the girl was smuggled on board a ship in Salford Docks by a man who had taken her to what he said was a register officer, and had gone through a form of marriage with her. She would probably" have reached America without being detected but for the fact that she became so ill with seasickness that her lover decided to inform the captain of her presence. She was taken to the ship's doctor for treatment, and then the secret of her sex was discovered. Tall and fair of exceedingly good address, she left "her home in. the Midlands in the early summer to take a seaside engagement as a waitress in a fashionable restaurant in Southport. Unhappily, her personal charms marked her out for the prey of a man who crossed her path at Southport. They met frequently, and in due course the girl confessed that the ambition of her life was to go to America and pay a visit to her aunt. This was the opportunity of which her companion took ' advantage.? "Marry me," he said. "You can then come with, me on my ship, and we will go an'd see your aunt together." Captivated by the idea the girl fell in with the proposal. . The man, who was a steward on board an American freight steamer, assured her he would have no difficlulty in smuggling her on board .hiding her away, and in between his duties on board ship ministering personally to her comfort and happiness. Arrangements were made | to meet in Manchester, the young steward promising to take her to a register office where they could be married before they boarded the ship. The girl duly arrived in. Manchester and her lover was waiting for her. She was taken to a place which she believed to be a register office, and there a ceremon. ywhich she regarded as a marriage service was gone through. Then, in the darkness of the night, the man escorted his bride to the Salford Dock, having previously, for the purpose of deceiving dockside watchers, provided her with a boy"s outfit. With her bobbed hair she was able to play the part with comfort and with little fear of detection. She passed up the gangway, and entered her hiding place, where she was prepared to spend her time in concealment until America was reached.

Next day the ship left, the presence of the girl not suspected by any of the crew of 42. It is conceivable that she would have reached America in due course had it not! been for the tempestuous weather that was encountered. The ship rolled and pitched in the hetavy seas, and a state of terror into which the poor girl was thrown was succeeded by a terrible bout of seasickness. Her husband, genuinely distressed at her plight, sensibly decided to acquaint the captain of her presence in order that she might receive medical care. When the captain was brought to the hiding-place and saw the wretched boy -girl huddled up and moaning piteously, his compassion was aroused. He decided that the "lad" should be given comfort instead of imprisonment Thus it came about, when the doctor was brought to "him," that the unhappy stowaway confessed her real sex. The ship happened to be making an indirect route to America, and, the first call being the West Indies, the girl was put ashore there and later sent home. Her supposed husband left the ship and has disappeared.