"BOY" BERTHA.

A PERPLEXING PUZZLE. kn Ex-New Zealand Girl m Male Attire. Tortuous Tale of Tantalising Trouble. Her Fads, Her Follies, and Her Freaks. The Sapphic Singularities of "Bert Rotciv.' 1 • (From Sydney " Truth," December 23.)

On Thursday morning the precincts ;cf the Sydney W.P. Court were Ithronged with an interested crowd of grinning policemen and civilians, whose 'attention was, fixed on the apparently young fellow that was whispered around as being a woman m male attire. Engaged m a conversation with, a constable* m the lob-by, was an individual whose ap.pearance denoted femininity, despite the cut of the trousers and hat, and a closer inspection revealed the woman's neck and hair, the female bust, and, last but. not • least, the broad hips, while the voice "betrayed at :once the woman.

-When the charge, was calle<l, -and the, womaffi stood with her companion before the Magistrate, his Worship glanced uneasily at, the before him and, then at the accused, aad seemed puzzled, until Constable Best whispered, "This side person ■ . jfS' A' WOMAI^.". Bert 1 ftotciv, ; and her' companion, John Harris, were charged with having- no lawful visible -means of support. As the charge was read by the clerk, Harris hid his face m hishands and grinned as though it was the finest joke ever cracked, but "Bert" merely tried to look as pleasant as if she were rehearsing for a farce corned •■

His Worship : Both remanded till to morrow.

Bert : I'd sooner have my case dealt with right away. HisT Worship (disgustedly) : G-et a proper costume first. - ' Constable Best explained that she was arrested about an hour previously, and had : money ■on her; Bail m £20 was allowed, and the defendants filed out to the cells jauntily swinging their hats. > ; On Friday morning the accused were discharged, but though' Harris made himself scarce immediately he regained his liberty, the

WOMAN SEEMED TO eVJOY ' tbe game too much to say good-bye at once. She hung around, the court entrance chatting and laughing' ,to everyone, and paying little -heed to the shocked women's cold stare as they passed. .' .-.■;: ;„ ,

One well-known sketch artist igot away up near the office for safety, where he gazed meditatively, and: not till the lady had bid ta^ta- to I the quizzing group of. lounger's - did; he leave his bodyguard of constables to once more tread the pave; But the masicfuerader took no notice, continued to pufi at a cigarette! Cocking her billycock at an angle, \ and taking a hitch at her trousers "Bert" stroiled down "jauntily towafds the Quay, leaving an eminent lawyer to gaze pondervngly at her retreating , form, and was soon lost to view, if not to memory. - '•Bert Rotoiv" strolled into "Truth" office on Friday afternoon. She was still m ( . . HER BLUE SERGE MALE ATTIRE, : ■..:■ md wore a black Dr. Jim hat. She tiiakes a jaunty stage "boy,", of full womanish figure. She' asked to see the sub-editor, and talked of bringing 1 libel actions against the evening papers for^. inaccurate accounts concerning her. The sub. promptly passed her over to the reli-glious reporter, who secured the attendance of : an^ other .member of the staff to. act as chaper one, while the' 'boxing editor and horse doctor were placed on pidcKuet duty m case of emergency.

Then "Bert" tilted back her chair and explained that she.. was a native of Hokitika, N.Z., having been born there $3 years ago, and was brought; up m Christchurch. Her family, she> said, was German Jewish. "I had a, row with my people and came • over before I was IS." She is a. dark roimg woman with the quick eye that denotes a • VERY ACTIVE BRAIN, ' and her conversation shows her to be undoubtedly an abnormal, woman. She said that she had assumed male attire for 'the first time on Friday, 71<h ult.. m order- to chase her 10-ver, who had deserted her.. , In reply to the query, "Wh?at was this man?" she bluntly replied, "He was & bludger. I got the money to keep the house going by immorality. She went on to say that she had jewellery and dresses to the value of same hundreds of pounds. Her male companion disappeared about three weeks ago.

"Did he earn anything during the time you were tosjeth<er ?"

"No tiling," answered the woman. "He advertised m the 'Sydney-Mosrn-iiie Herald' for ia hairdressers .'saloon, hv.i nothing came of it. We lived at the rate of £5 per week, and I eajrn«h! it all. After his disappearance, I went to Helensburgh." ■' ;

It is here that the reader is introduced to "Curly" Harris, the man who was jointly charged with her ' at the Water Police Court. She said lhat m female attire she wore a I'7--gumea dress. She picked Harris up' on the street, and took him as her companion to Helensburgh.j On arrival she saw the sergeant of police, whom she knew, and told him about a quantity of jewellery to -the value of about £200, which her companion she alleges, had taken away with him. The sergeant advised her to hw. him again, when he would probably recommend her to take out a Warrant. Then she went to a local hotel and had a drink. While there she knocked down Wo men who Awsuited her. - SHE LEARNT BOXTW* m New Zealand. After the exciting opiscde m the pub., she went* to a Hetensbursh hairdresser with whom the man is said fco have worked to xee if she- roil* ascertain .hir. v.-hore-afce-uls. Her finest proved. .lvuitless. They took the <?aiiy mo<riiinrr train to

| Sydney. " Curly" called at her house | the next day, and she despatched him to a Bathurst-street • dealer. The dealer came to the house, and she sold him about £100 worth of dresses—so she says— for £5. (Inquiry at the Bathurst-street dealer's shop verified her statement as to the amount paid to- her.) v; After that transaction she got rid of "Curly" Harris. THE DRESS TRANSFORMATION. Bertha (which is the woman's Christian name) said she could not disclose where she effected the change of attire, but she discoursed daintily about ar, "North . Shore : 3'.K fht EEe'gaveher" the clothes, and fixed, her. up for a manly masquerade. Previous to this she went. to a barber and got her flowing; hair— which she could sit upon— cropped close off to the head. This dress exchange was effected on Friday night, "7th ult. The next day (Saturday she saw "Curly" Harris at the G-.P.0. She. .then accosted him, and said she was the brother of the injured youn**- lady whom the chivalrous "Curly" had escorted to Helensburgh. She professed to identify him by the description furnished by' the sister. "Curly" is an obliging individual, and he believed, or professed to believe, the story. For the h»xt few days they stayed- at restaurants m George-street. They occupied separate beds m the same room. Bertha says that before undressing she used to turn out the light, so that "Curly" couldn't see her feminine undergarments. • All this time she was visiting barbers' shops on the lookout for her truant lover. She. and "Curly" generally got their meals at certain tearooms m Batli- : urst-street, where one of* the

GIRLS GOT SO "MASHED" on h'Jr as : to be positively embarrassing. One of her freaks before she was arrested was to pass the night with one of hear own sex at a New-

The shemale ex-New Zealander who, attired as a man, is camping on the trail of her recreant "lover." (Sketched from life by Sydney ■ * ' "Truth's" artist.)

town house. When asked why she, was not discovered by the other woman, Bertha .laughed and said the other woman was too drunk, and she herself got out m the morning before her prostitute bed-fellow woke up. This last escapade was on Wednesday evening last. When subsequently char ped with "insufficient lawful means of suppo-rt," she said she bad plenty of money. She was remanded to Darlinghurst, where her sex was definitely determined. The following day (Friday) the police couldn't go on with that charge, and she was discharged. She now announces her intention of going to Zeehan, Tasmania, m search -of her lover and. the je\n«llery. Notwithstanding her admitted naughtiness, Bertha's' demean-' or. and manner of speaking denotes more of an erratic waywardness than downright wickedness. : Altogether she is a pyschQlogical puzzle. (It is palpable, of course to the least discerning that Bertha Rotciv is Bertha Victor, "Rotciv" being "Victor" reversed. .Coming, as she says she does, from the West Coast, it is not at all improbable that some of our readers can identify the burlesque boy,-Ed. N.Z. "Truth.")

A northern district-, N.S.W., axeman received a record knock-out blow on the point recently. He felled a mighty gum tree which glanced from an adjoining tree m its topple, and a. swinging branch caught the \infortunate chopper beneath the chin, knocking him fully 10ft m the air. When picked up he war stone dead.

Haven't. ' heard yet of proceedings being taken against the "N;Z. Times" for (publishing that "suggestive", calendar. The picture entitled "Summer Night," showing four damsels m the almost altogether, had it been sold as a postcard by some struggling shopman would have caused his appearance at a court reception, sure.

Recently a monument was erected at Napier intended to immortalise the names of those who went to Safrica what time the war was on. "Critic" doesn't know it the sculptor was a humorist or not, but he does know that the lion's figure on the monument, instead of possessimr a lion's head, possesses that of a human foein~ f.nd of— out. of the world's poTHiJatif^—whom do you think ? Why, Ooja Paul Kruger.