CLIMBER OF WALLS

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1928, Page 15

CLIMBER OF WALLS

BERLIN YOUTH’S MANIA. London, March 27. The exploits of a youth whose mania takes the form of climbing sheer walls, has astounded the city, says the Berlin correspondent of the Times. He escaladed a house-front in a busy city square and entered the window of a fourth-storey flat, assuring the lady occupant that she was perfectly safe. She fled, and he locked the door. Then he washed, donned an overcoat and gloves, ate half a cake of soap, and threw a picture at the gaping crowd below. The fire brigade and a flying squad of police were speedily on the scene, the policemen ambushing the roof in the event of the adventurer going up, and the firemen spreading a tarpaulin in the event of his going down. The youth resumed his climb and led the police a chase- across the roofs until ho was cornered in a loft. He was taken to a police station, where he staggered the staff by swarming up a bare wall to the ceiling. When he was placed in a cell the youth climbed the smooth wall for 12ft to the window sill, where he sat reciting nnrsery rhymes to passers-by outside. He was taken back to the mental hospital from which he had escaped, when he knocked out his attendant, swarmed up a lofty wall, and escaped. He was recaptured next morning. His Identity papers gave his name as Prince Joachim of Prussia, but actually his name is Richter.