MANIAC VISITS SIR T. LIPTON

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 258, 10 March 1911, Page 2

MANIAC VISITS SIR T. LIPTON

AN ALARMING INTERVIEW. But for commendable presence of mind Sir Thomas Lipton might have fared very badly ln an adventure which befel him on January 21, at Osidge, his home at southgate. Shortly after 10 o'clock a telephone message was received at the house purporting to come from Scotland Yard informing Sir Thomas that inspector Wel<lon was on his way to interview him regarding an alleged forgery which it was suggested affected him. After the lapse of a few minutes a re-respectably-dressed man arrived, and said he was the person referred to in the. telephone message which had been sent to Sir Thomas shortly before. The caller was shown into the billiard room, and as soon as Sir Thomas appeared, asked him for moncv, sayin» he was extremely hard up and wanted nelp at once. The stranger then became threatening m bis manner. He ordered Sir Thomas to sit down, and placed his back against the door of the room. He then pulled a razor out of his pocket and commenced to edge round the table towards Sir Thomas. The latter, seeing that the man was either a lunatic or a blackmailer, started to humour him, and suggested that perhaps n cheque for £looo~"might meet his caller's immediate requirements. On this the man placed the razor on the billiard table, savin" he really did not intend to do Sir Thomas any harm. Further diplomatic talk by Sir Thomas induced the man to let him leave the room to answer a suppositious telephone message. The man made no attempt to detain him, and once outside, Sir Thomas telephoned to Soutli<»ate police station for assistance. He then pluckily returned to the billiard room and kept the man in conversation for some 10 minutes, until the police arrived. The man was then taken into custody without a struggle. At the police station his manner became even stranger than before, and the divisional surgeon was sent for. After a lengthy examination he certified the man as insane—temporarily, at, least—and ordered his removal 'to Edmonton Workhouse Infirmary. No charge will be brought against the man at present. Inquiry shows that the man telephoned to Sir Thomas from the, local call office, staling that he was telephoning from Scotland Yard to inform him of the so-called inspector's visit. He followed this message up personally within 10 minutes of the "call" having been received, and, as Sir Thomas had expected a visitor, the man had no difficulty in obtaining an interview.