AMAZING MASQUERADE.
MAN POSES AS A WOMAN FOR 15 YEARS.
ECCENTRICITY WHICH DECEIVED A CITY.
Few masquerades liave been so sue- ; oessful or so amazing as that which is j London, April 18. '] now the talk of Nottingham. For iif- ] teen yours a wiordly dressed 'woman" r lias Ih'l'll seen in the streets, and though 'J her general appearance was such as to ( demand attention, the citizens became fc accustomed to it, and no doubt was ever j entertained that she was other than she ( appeared to be. Then she fell into the < hands of the. police, and the startling i discovery was made that "she" was a i man. fie had gone under the name of t "Miss de Vieu,'.' and at his house in f Wollatou-placc. Woolpack-lano, that i name appeared on the door, with the ( letters, 'T'UUI.S." after it. Below were i the words:— i Astronomy Astrology. i Recorder Clairvoyance. ' The living-room of the house presented ; mi extraordinary contrast to the every- , day life whicli wont on outside. An J altar hail been fashioned on the lines of the Creek Church, a holy ikon was suspended over a colored picture of the ( Cross, while round about were numerous ( candles and oil lamps, one lamp bei/i.'J j kept constantly burning. In other , parts of the tiny room were book-, , papers, and bottles apparently having , some collection with the art of a healer, j whicli ''Miss de Vien" professed to be. , He also posed as a minister of (he , Christian Police Mission, and for this , purpose adoptetd the name of Hc! n :i . Phillips. It was in this character that , he called at the house of Sergt. Mead . and inadvertently brought about the • discovery of his sex. The sergeant ar- ■ rested him on a charge of fraudulently collecting alms, and when the supposed , woman first came before the magis- i trates, "she" was bedecked with medals, beads, rosaries, and crucifixes. ''Her" hair, which had long unknown the attention of scissors, was tightly knotted beneath a battered straw hat, and "her" face was of a deep bronze color. The skirt worn by defendant barely reached "her" knees, and "she" bad on men's boots. After "her", arrest, suspicion was aroused, and a doctor discovered the sex of defendant. When for the third time defendant was placed in the dock the Cuildhall was crowded, the interest being immense But there was now a striking transformation. HIS EXTRAORDINARY DISGUISE WAS GONE. The copper-colored dye had been washed from his sallow face, his hair, formerly jet black, now hung long and tousled and tinged with grey, his strings of beads, the, medals and crosses and rosaries which jingled about him as he paraded the city had been placed in the museum at Gagthorpo Prison. Now, for the first time in fifteen years, he wore trousers, and when he entered the. court he also had on a bowler hat several sizes too big, which accentuated his extraordinary appearance. Care evidently had been taken ot to shave him while on remand, and a week's growth of black beard was sufficient evidence if his ser. Prisoner now gave his name as Ellehan Eppheam. When first arrestctd, he said that he was twentytwo, but he looks at least double that age. The charge against him is of fraudulently collecting alms for a Liverpool home for children. "If lie lias another week's remand," Baid the chief constanble, when explaining the. charge to the magistrate, "he will look more like an ancient Briton than ever." Prisoner, who had entered the court grinning sheepishly, was serious enough when the chief-constable spoke of a further remand. His face assumed the fiirco, set expression, with whicli, when at large, he had awed even the small boys whose attentions his grotesque appearance would otherwise have attracted. The prison doctor, said the chief constable, considered that defendant had symptoms of insanity, and a further adjournment was desired, that a mental specialist might examine him. While on remand, the man had told a remarkable story of his life. At the age of four, he said, he was brought from Serbia by his father, who was a doctor, and who set up in practice at Lowestoft. On his father's death, prisoner was placed in a convent at Cambridge, and stayed there three or four years, whnx, lie "absconded. He went to London, assumed female attire, tramped the couutry for a time, and, fifteen years ago, reached Nottingham and settled down. Since then he has lived by clairvoyance, fortune-telling, and visiting old ladies, \. to whom he read Scripture, passing himself off as a minister of the Police Christian Mission. His attire and appearance was always of the most freakish description, and to that was due , his cscipe from suspicion or detection. A statement had been circulated that some years ago prisoner contracted a marriage with a negro, but the police , had been unable to discover any foun- , dation to the story. Prisoner again smiled genially around the court when remanded for another week, and was taken from the Guildhall by a rear exit to escape the attentions of the crowd gathered outside to get a view of him. He was transferred yesterday from prison to Bagthorpo Workhouse imbecile ward. If his symptoms of insanity are confirmed during the next fort- . night he will be sent to an asylum.
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Taranaki Daily News, 26 June 1915, Page 5
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890AMAZING MASQUERADE. Taranaki Daily News, 26 June 1915, Page 5
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