RIVIERA

Taranaki Daily News, 4 June 1921, Page 5

RIVIERA

THEJX FROM TENNIS IT‘LA’yEßft’ 1 T‘LA’yERft’ RESULT OF GAMING LOSSES. SOCIETY WOMAN’S CONFESSION. London, April 7 Last month, Aire. Gordon Lowe, wife of the well-known English lawn tennis player, was charged with the theft of valuables from the Carlton Lawn Tennis Club pavilion at Cannes. Two days ago the Correctional Tribunal at Grasse found the charges proved, and sentenced Mrs. Lowe to one year’rt imprisonment and a fine of 500 francs (normally £2O, about £lO at the present rate of exchange). She was, however, given the benefit of the First Offenders Act with respect to the sentence of imprisonment —that is, the execution of this part of the sentence is suspended indefinitely. Mrs. Lowe, who had been in prison about three weeks awaiting trial, was accordingly released. It is remarked that Major Lowe, with no friends to support him, looked a pathetic figure hard to recognise, but there wa,s a smile on his face as he followed Mrs. Lowe out of Court.

There was no jury, but there wore three Judges. The Daily Mail correspondent eent the following account of what took place: —Seldom has there been a more tense hour in a Police Court than was experienced here this afternoon by the little group of Anglo-French peo pie who followed the hearing of the case. The hall in which it was heard is smaQ and severe, not unlike an (English county town court. A tall, good-looking biri haggard Englishman, dreased in a btus suit, slipped in and took a seat in a ccq> ner of one of the witness boxes. It wni Mr. Gordon Lowe. A gendarme broughj in a woman with a tear-etained face There was tense silence. With face, her bosom heaving with emotiolL she passed by her hue-band and looked round bewildered.

TRAP SET BY POLICE. The president, Mons. Peillbn, said: “"We will take the case of Margaret Fuller,” Mrs. Gordon Lowe’s maiden name. She stood up, and in a few sentences he read from the case which the examining magistrate had prepared. “Accused, you are charged,” said President Peillon, “with a series of thefts, and I see that you have admitted your guilt to the examining magistrate. That avoids lengthy evidence.” Detective-Sergeant Rodrigues said that since the beginning of the year there had been complaints of thefts at the Cannes Lawn Tennis Club. After the disappearance of a portfolio with 4600 francs in it he was called in. His inquiries gave results so astonishing that “we could hardly think it possible.” It was decided that if their suspicions were correct the party concerned xnust be taken red-hand-ed —“the paw in the trap” was how the sergeant put it in French. Two detectives were disguised as gardeners, and when certain people were known to be in the club 10 bank notes, the numbers of which had been carefully marked, were placed in a pocket book and put on a chair in a coat as though the coat hadX been left by a tennis player. “Mean-\ \yliile my companions were, diligently raking a garden path, and presently saw a lady going towards the chair. ’ .Tn a calm way she threw off her fur so that it covered the coat. A little later she stooped to pick up her fur, and left. At once the pseudo-gardeners went to the coat. The pocket book had gone.”

SIX THEFTS ADMITTED. The woman. Mrs. Ixiwe, was followed, and asked to come to the secretary’s office. There Sergeant Rodrigues asked her to show and account for the contents of her handbag. Mrs. Lowe broke down, and admitted that she had -stolen the pocket-book. She begged him to spare her the ignominy of proceedings, and offered to refund the money at once, and begged that her husband should not ba told. “Hater,” proceeded the sergeant, who was sympathetic in his evidence, “this malheureuse told me that gambling losses had led her to perpetrate the theft, and a desire not to admit to her husband the losses she had incurred.”

"Do you know anything about her?’* a k ?ked the president. “No,” said the sergeant, "except that she was stopping at the best hotel, and that she appeared to be a person of the best society, who had plenty of money to spend.” The sergeant said he had inquired into eightl thefts, and that Mrs. Lowe had accepted the responsibility for eiix. “What was the total of tlie sums missing?’’ asked the president. “About 12,000 franca (normally £4'80),” the sergeant replied. The president ordered Mrs. Lowe to the bar of the Court, and seldom has a more pitiable spectacle been seen as, ashamed and trembling, she answered his question in broken French. He asked: How do you * explain that you, a .society woman, moving in the best circles in Cannes, became a thief?

Mrs. Lowe, in a faltering voice: I had lost at the tables. I did not want my husband to know of my losses.

FULL RESTITUTION MADE. The Public Prosecutor said that in every case in which Mrs. Lowe had been suspected full restitution had been made of the sums, taken. The parties concerned had withdrawn their complaints, but this did not justify the Public Prosecutor in not -proceeding with the case. He gave a list of people who had suffered loss, including: Mr. Rudolph Levy, 1400 frans; Mr. Jacob, 4000 francs; and Lord Charles Hope, 800 francs. Another correspondent writes:—Mons, Blanchard made an impassioned speech for Mrs. Lowe, in which he dwelt on the mental agony of the .woman and her humiliation in going through the streets of Cannes and Grasse escorted by police, and her imprisonment while awaiting trial. He laid stress on thq status of her family, and the fact that her husband fought in France. “I can only ascribe the commission of this offence,” he said, “to a period of folly.” Mons. Blanchard also stated that during her imprisnment Mrs. Lowe wept all day, | and it was with great difficulty that the i persons robbed were traced. During this, speech Mrs. Lowe sobbed convulsively. The arrest and charge hats caused sensation in society circles, for as the daughter-in-law of Sir Francis Lowe, M.P., Mrs. Gordon Lowe occupied, a minent position in Cannes society and entertained on a lavish scale.