•
THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH. - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1937.
GAOL BALLADS OF "OFFICER IN TOWER"
Story of His Tragedy Told in Verse
"I Am Not Kicking"
EX-FIRE CHIEF IS RELEASED
(By a Correspondent)
London, Feb. 15.
BRYNOR ERIC MILES,
ex-chief officer of the London Salvage Corps, freed from Maidstone Jail yesterday after completing nearly three years of his four-year penal servitude sentence, said to me: "Don't make a martyr of me. I'm not kicking."
onc
Miles left jail with hope to be allowed to earn a living for his wife and children.
His wife, loyal Scots- woman with a merry laugh, was at the prison gates to meet him.
Together they travelled to London. Together they left in the evening for the South Ceast where Mrs. Miles has kept a home going through three years of walling.
"Now for the
future." sald
Mr. Miles to me. "The past is finished. My wife told me to take my punishment with ጀነት chiln up. I've tried to do so.
"I don't know what I'm going tol do. I'm an engineer of soris.
have got to do something to startį life again."
Deprived of Rank
Ex-Captain Brynmor Miles-be was deprived of his rank-masks his feelings. Not once in a long talk did he betray a deep emotion,
He is much slimmer than in February 1931, when sentenced at the Old Bailey for conspiring with Leopold Harris, and accepting bribes Jils moustache neatly clipped. He
from him. Hils hair in stili black.:
a
suffering
Ja a young man still (he is forty- one). but there is something! in his dark eyes-pain, not easily to be forgotten.
"Don't think prison is an easy place," he said, "To a man with a sensitive nature, with fecilugs, It is loathsome. The punishment to a man's feelings is the worst hell
The prison system-it could be riddled with criticism. You've just got to take it.
"I was lucky I made up my mind never to complain. I never did while I was there.
“Pant of-my, sentence-I. worked at į carpentry. I loved it. Then I was one of three librarians. That was
100.
Houch, i served out books to Leopold Harris and his brother David," ILeopold Harris Was brought from prison to give evidence against Miles).
"For nine months they kept mei at Wormwood Scrubs. Leopold Bar-: ris was at Maidstone. 1 Juppose
they were afraid of our meeting
Then they moved me to Maid- stone. I don't know if he knew I was coming. We passed each other in the exercise yard.
"I looked at him-we passed on. All the time we have been in the same prison we have never said a word to each other, though We have times.
passed cach other many
"And I dispensed his books for him. True, he made his requests to another librarian, but I handed them out.
of the
"Leopold Harris is part past, too, which is over.
Perfect Prisoner
"1 had my friends-Clarence Hatry, the perfect prisoner, quiet and charming; another man-I won't give you his name-whose marvel Jous sense of humour saved from desperation. We laughed at all sorts of things together when we might have ended otherwise.
me
"The food? Unbelievably bad. I have lived for three years, on por- ridge and bread. Couldn't face any- thing else. It's a fine way to slim.
"The warders? They are called oficers' now, please. Decent fellow mostly, but a few of them illiterate, brutal, stupid men.
"One idiotic practice--an hour to an hour and a half in 'D' hall, the height of privilege,
each night. There you are forced, whether you Jike It or not, la associate with men who may be the worst possible in- fluence on you. Imagine the effect of that on a comparatively Innocent young man.
Was
So
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Polish uprising against Russia in January, 1863, the chief of the Pollsh army, General Smigly-Rydz, received veterans of the war. The picture shows General Smigly-Rydz (at left) shaking hands with one of the veterans,
=
THE DEVIL WILL BE
A SISSY
IN THESE SPRING
4
CLOTHES
Boston, Febr. 10:
It's going to be a colour-
Strange Picture of Mystery Marie Louise
FOR
FOR FOUR YEARS NORMAN BAILLIE-STEWART "THE OFFICER IN THE TOWER”-HAS BEEN IN A CELL AT MAIDSTONE PRISON.
The young ex-Lieutenant, à sensitive, intelligent type, felt his imprisonment far more than most of his fellow-prisoners.
1
His apathy deepened to despair until at a prison concert one day, he heard a singer Miss Marjorie Stretton.
Miss Stretton sang the famous waltz number. "My Hero," from "The Chocolate Soldier." Baillie-Stewart heard it and was lifted momentarily from his despair.
They wonder now where you might
In his cell that night he wrote on 1Oh, Amazon and deaths' head vamp. a scrap of paper a poem of gratitude Men shiver at your tiny stamp
ile called this poem And rush to check their fles. Miss Stretton. "The Voice." It appears below.
Thereafter he found consolation
expressing his feeling in verse. "Many of
of these pocms," said Baillie-Stewart, "were written when I was mentally in a condition of utter mural bankruptcy.
in
"Were not for this outlet In poetry I feel that I should have lost my reason, and sanity," So the collection of tiny paper scraps grew until the ex-officer had In vivid poetlenl record of prison life. He gave them the title "The Crab Apple Tree."
His Trial
in England, France, or Germany,
And marvel nt your wiles.
•
4
IDEALS
(What can replace that which is Ideals born of boyhood dreams
gone forever?)
Of boyish visions, plons and
schcines
Seem to haunt inc, taunt me.
spuru
This shell of nine, this empty
1 watch them
urn.
For one by
one
crash
**
During his visit in Italy the German famous island of Capri. Premler, General Goering, visited the Picture shows the Premier with Crown- prince Umberto of Italy making an
excursion on the island.
BLUEBIRD MAY TOUR EMPIRE
FAMOUS RACE CAR
"RETIRED"
London, Feb. 10. What is the use of a car
Most of the verses deal with the pathos and irony which patchwork | And shiver Inte dust and nsh. prison life. But Baillie-Stewart did Aeld came into their place not shrink from writing of his own And mouldered surely every trace capable of 300 miles an hour to Itrial and sentence."
or might-have been, und good
Intent
In eight moving lines he crystal-
disgraced before his regiment.
ful spring-in men's clothing.ished the feelings of an officer who is And every natural trend or
Many intriguing shades fascinating
a man who has travelled faster bent on land than any other living For seeking truth and pure desire person? This is the problem of and His mind went back over the Only to serve and brave the fee. Sir Malcolm Campbell, whose and details of his trial-and the poem Tis farewell
to dreams of record-breaking Bluebird "Marie Louise"
the was
result. new Muric Louise was a beautiful German Who graduate from
just returned to England from leisured inned during the trial, girl-the "mystery woman"-men- schools:
the Toronto Exhibition.
names, along with patterns and designs, have been introduced for spring and summer wear, the New England Retail Clothiers' and Furnishers' Association
says.
Such colours as "burma," "dawn" gray, "blueberry" blue, and dubon- nel will make their appearance in summer quits and slacks. "Guards- man's blue," putty, steel, rust, corn- flower blue,
"Gloucester" eggsbell, "sky cloud,"
green. "meadow tones," "cavalry arms" and bottle green will be new colours for shirts, Neckties will be available in all kinds of dazzling colours.
To be sartorially elegant the man of 1837 should wear a
sull coal, with
|
These poems, most of them written in the prison printing shop and his cell, give an unforgettable picture of man who escaped from prison-in
poetry.
THE
Tools
גמון
Gone are those frothy fights of
thought Which Masuchism only brought. Down through the abyss
mind, Envenomed thoughts like
ling wind Scream In their tortured
course, VOICE
With gratitude to Miss Marjorte Strett on her singing "My Hero," front "The Chocolate Soldier," in the chapel at Maldatone Prizon. Softly a volce played over me, lap-
ping, caressing In dreams, Bitterness passed for a moment as Washed o'er the wounds of a ilfetime the melody's purging streams...
'sunging an aching thirst.
of "dawn gray" or burmagine I had heard a million volees, but to
black tuxedo trousers. A maroon bow tle with cuff links to match worn with a soft front, pleated white.
be must shirl. A red
carnation worn in the buttonhole of the enat.
Bright blue "blueberry"
and du- bonnet colours are new in summer slacks, now called "sandbags."
"knockabout"
me this was the first Reventing in beauty. In sadness, those
things that are good on the earth-I To live to the play of the senses in u
Peter Pan joy of rebirth.
has
"I don't know what to do with it," Sir Malcolm said. "The trouble is of my that promised Lady Campbell '1 wouldn't race any more it I once got shrli- above 300 miles an hour. That car was built to do 325 miles an hour, spiral modifications, after, my experience of and I am convinced that with slight
And as they fall they gather force
the record run at the salt bed trock In America, that it would do that. To rise again in mad ascent
"But here To that one aim on which is bent and the car to break it, and I am
I
am, with the record My utmost sum of vital strength out of the game for good. The car And which i
shali
obtain-at
I couldn't even length,
is no good to me. drive it on a modern conerele arterial | road without getting 'run in' for half a dozen offences against noise, ex- cessive smoke, or driving to the... -- public danger. It will not do less than about sevenly miles an hour in top gear.
•
MARIE LOUISE
I
In a sports shirt he can wear a Girl of composite form I vow, "Jungle"
shirt or shirt. There is "the Bolere," having You have made on ordinary bow
To a world ugog for news. a Russian effect, and is worn with stacks. It comes in shades of deep The M.I.S. have tried and failed, lavender, bolile green and navy blue Staunch to dramatic methods nailed
And Edgar Wallace views. and is made of broadcloth, silk and
Clothed satin.
with maps and secret plans, Underwear and nightclothes will You scorn to ride in civil vans, be made from featherweight ma- Preferring a light tank. terial and will bear the names of You wear a bayonet in your hat "clouds with a silver lining" and And keep a Bren gun at your flat "seaweed."
And own the whole Reichbank,
Bath-Tub Murderer Curses His "Imitator"
New York, Feb. 15.
AS John Florenza prepared to die in Sing Sing Jail to-day for the "bath-tub" murder of Nancy Evans Titterton last April he cursed whoever, was the murderer of Mary Case.
Major Green, a negro, is accused of killing Mary Case, wife of an hotel executive, in her bath a week ago.
Florenza
moaned;
once
thought something would save me, but that Case murder has turned
everybody against mo aguin, IL shot my chances to hell. Florenza will die in the
electric
chair at midnight (1 p.m. Hongkong tline).
Mrs. Titterton was the wife of Yorkshire writer Lewis Titterton, who is an offcial of U.S.A.''s National
"Again, I was lucky. allowed to stay in my cell, from 5.30 till 10 p.m. every night Broadcasting Corporation. I was in isolation.
"It was reading, reading all the time. I read anything, everything allowed in the prison. But they will not let you write one line-surely a ridiculous restriction.
No Smoking
"It is possible to earn fourpence a week by hard work and spend it on tobacco. I was a great pipe smoker. I thought fourpence a week 'wouldn't help, so I didn't smoke
at all in prison.
"My wife brought me my pouch to-day-un old friend. But I'm go ing easy, or I shall make myself ill. l's easy to drift-back-Into the
board for real cutlery and a while tablecloth with only just a gosp.
That's the way of life, I suppose. I'm not squirming about anything." I drove Mr. and Mrs. Miles, happy as excited children trying not to show it, in a taxicab to the railway Station,
"Must buy a toothbrush," said Mr.{ Miles. "I left mine behind."
a
"There," Bald his wife, "and wo ́could have sold it an,a souvenir," I left them together In train compartment, still bravely uncon- cerned, even altling In opposite seats, -But as the train which took-them
old way of living. London doesn't home drew out of the station Mrs. seem so strange. At lunch to-day I Miles had jumped over to her hus- exchanged the thi mug and wooden, band's alde.
Α'
FROG
FANCIERS ARRESTED
New Orleans, Feb. 15. LBERT Broel and his fellowy, Frog Fancier, Sylvester Schuti, have been arrested here.
They were adverlising that their frogs would lay 25,000 ca year, that in 13 years a brace of their frogs would show a profit of
£72,084,000,000.
DEGRADATION
"For He breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds
without cuuse."
-Job IX, 17.
||
saw a face at a window through bars and a thick glass pane: The face
and
and
was wan
sickly grimaced as one inane.
"I wouldn't like anyone to race it. Only four people have sat in the driving seat of it since we started to build the original Bluebird in 1924--- the present King, Edsel Ford, myself and my chief mechanic. It is an
A five-days' beard and a shock of historic car and a real monument to
hair made apparition crazed;
peered and peered at the form so strange und drew my breath amazed.
There in the clouded misty. glass
was a face I knew too well: The face was mine that glared at me from in the punishment cell.
Strangest
in Boy Britain
| CAN'T READ, WRITE OR TALK-IN SCHOOL
TO
British engineering. I would like to see it finish up in a museum, after a tour of the Empire."
Free Churches At Coronation
-But Not At Service
The Free Churches will not take. part in the actual Coronation Ser- vice, it has been announced, but six representatives will be given places In the great procession' and in the Sanotuary, where the Coronation takes place.
The representatives will be:- The Moderator of the Federal Council, the Rev. M. E. Aubrey; the president of the National Free Church Counell, the Rev. James Col- No matter how hard he tries, a 10-villo; the president of the Methodist
year-old boy here is unable to Conference, the Rev.
Ensor talk, read or write the moment le Walters; the president of the Baptist gets in school.
Union, Mr. H. L. Taylor; the Modera- Doctors
are puzzled us to the tor of the Presbyterian Church of cause, and Worthing Town Council England, the Right Rev. James has made a special grant of £150, Burns; and the chairman of the which will be spent on trying to cur Wales, Rev. E. J. Price.
Congregational Union of England and the
boy, whose name is being kept
cuse is described as almost unheard of, and some doctors say it Is quite new, The boy is normally strong and healthy and can talk, read, and write well.
The cause of his complaint is belloved shock, which doctors think he may have received when he was very young.
A doctor sold to-day: often finds people whose system is so upset that forced into slommering, absoluto muleness Is quite new."
-EX-KAISER IN THE SHADOWS
Amsterdam, Feb. 15.
A great change has come over the fortunes of the ex-Kaiser.. No longer
is Doorn a minkature Potsdam, with "One German visitors paying homage to nervous Wilhelm.
they but
are
No longer le the 78-year-old ex- this Kaiser the proud, energetic
exile. something He is now an old man whose depres-
slon causes anxiety to his friends.
He is depressed because the situa tion In Germany seems to hold out no hope of his return and because of the abdication of Edward VIII. to whom he is reported to have written advising him to remain on the Throne.
U.S. NOSES MUST SHINE
Washington, Jan. 30. Stenographers in the general accounting office may powder their noses at the end of the day's work, but not on government's time. --- Acting.comptroller general R.-N. Elliott warned employees- they must end their practice of quitting 16 minutes early to "repair the washroom.”—United Prcès.
He is hurt because Queen Wilhel minn did not Invite him to the Dutch royal wedding-although he sent a present to Princess Jullana,
He is suffering from kidney trouble. His wife, returned from Germany, does not leave his bedside.
A medicine made
especially for YOUR BABY
During the first few years of life your baby may be troubled with many minor ailments. Colic, diarrhea, sour stomach, indigestion and constipation are some of these. Castòria. helps to correct these conditions by eliminating the causes and regulating the stomach and bowels. Castoria is the only medicine you should use for your baby because it is espe cially made for infants and children. Mild and effective, Castoria is also pleasant to take and is entirely harmless. Keep your child healthy and happy, with Castoria.
CASTORIA
The medicine made especially for children
TOOTH DECAY GUM INFECTION
.A 2 way Toothpaste can't fight both
Don't expect a half-way toothpaste to do a two-way job. Only FORHAN'S will keep teeth brilliantly white and at the same time guard your gums against infection. An ordinary toothpaste can't do that. You must have Forhan's dosible protection. Every tube of Forhan's contains a special Ingredient, Dr. Forhan's famous Astringent, which combate gum troubles, helps you to resist serious gum infections. You want con- plere mouth health. 30, start wing Forhan's today!
Sales Agents:
MULLER," MACLEAN & CO., INC.
Forhan's
FOR
THE GUMS
"BRUSH FOURTH
Forhan's
DOES
ROTH
JOBS
Cleans Teeth Saves Gums
The Original Toothpaste for both TEETH AND GUMS Formula of Dr. R. J. Forhan
THE
HONGKONG
PENINSULA HOTEL;
HONGKONG HOTEL; REPULSE BAY HOTEL;
SHANGHAI
ASTOR HOUSE; PALACE HOTELS;
HOTELS
LIMITED.
In association with the Grand Hotel des Wagons Lits, Peking
RUNNYMEDE HOTEL, LIMITED, PENANG.
The most fashionable
and
leading Hotel.
Finest position with magnificent
Sea-front.
Private Cars.
Same management--Crag Hôtel, Penang Hills 2,400 ft.