UNCONVENTIONAL, WHAT!

NZ Truth, Issue 1145, 10 November 1927, Page 7

UNCONVENTIONAL, WHAT!

Escaped Girls' Adventure With Cave-Boy Lovers

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.)

Hark to the lay of larrikin love; of caoe-man stuff and masculine enoy; of two pretty young girls who had crept from the industrial school under cover of night and their clandestine acquaintanceship with the two youths who had done battle to rein their smiles.

THE records of the Dunedin Magistrate's Court ( echo this story, but the magisterial authority has thrown his customary cloak of namesuppression about the case. A little while ago two not by any means unattractive young women, on the border-line of adolescence and womanhood, came smilingly before a D.unedin magistrate -on a charge of escaping from the Caversham Industrial School. • On appearances they were not taking the business very seriously and were duly sent away to the Borstal Institute for a little of the fine, healthy disci-, pline there. .\ ' ■ The story underlying the sojourn following their escape, only came out the other day when two young men, 19 and 17 years of age respectively, came before the magistrate on. a charge of harboring the girl escapees between October 8 ana October 22. \ They pleaded guilty. The narrator was Ohief Detective Cameron, who told the court that after making their way from Caversham, the girls m question wandered through the bush and arrived the following day at Sawyer's Bay. , They fell m with a number of yoflths about the village, being careful at that juncture not to tell them that they were escapees. The young men gave them food. -

However, being- attractive . young girls, and there being- a decided majority of youths, it came down to a question o.f quarrelling for the girls and the he-man stuff was carried out with vigorous intent

It was on October 3 that the two defendants came on the scone and —having a plentitude of muscular enthusiasm — soon proved the young village Lochinvars and took the • subjects of the fray to a crib at Mt. Cargill on their motor-cycles. It was quite probable that at first the youngr ■ fellows did. not know that their fair companions were escapees, but on the following Thursday they gleaned this intelligence. Up to that time the two accused had been led to believe that the girls had come up from their homes at Warrington. There the party remained until the following Sunday, when they moved on to Waitati. The' little romance was shattered by their arrest. It was alleged that at least one of the youths and one of the girls had acted improperly. Undoubtedly, the girls were incorrigible and had been sent away for reformative treatment. . . • It was really a rather rare case, said the detective, and quite probably up to a certain point the boys did not know the seriousness of the case. Magistrate Bundle : "What have you to say for yourself?" The elder accused:' "We did riot know that they had run away from an industrial school, sir, otherwise we .-wo.ul.dr have handed theni over." "And you?" said his worship to the other accused. ; "I say the same, sir." , The Magistrate : "Did it not seem strange to x you that two young girls

Runaway Flappers

like this should be wandering all over the place at random with no definitely fixed intentions or destination? Did it not strike you that you might N have been able to'assist them?" There was no reply. • ' : The chief detective reminded the court that the lads had actually broken into a whare at Mt. Cargill —or, at least, were certainly there without authority. Also at Waitati, they had no authority to use the whare. His Worship: "Is that a fact. You did not have leave to use either of these places?" '....' The accused: "No, sir." - The Magistrate (pondering): "Well, I do not like dealing with this matter without having a little more information about these* boys." Constable S. Faiil, or Port Chalmers, said he had only been m the district a few weeks, but the accused — with other boys — gave a good deal of trouble to the police. . The Magistrate: "It seems peculiar that if there were other boys concerned, they have not been apprehended.',' ,

The chief detective explained that as far as the other boys were concerned, there was no proof that they knew; the girls were escapees. • . The constable added that the two accused had proved the masters after " the clash of . .arms and had taken the g-irls away that

night,

They were

" members of. a gang of larrikins who annoyecl the police. . "The " boys of the village there had apparently been idling about when the young girls arrived," said the officer. "I suppose they said: 'May I come for a walk?' or something like that and the girls gave them encouragement." The Magistrate : "Ordinary larrikins? . . '. That's not a ; very good reputation, is it?" . . . Constable Paul said that one of the boys lived with his widowed mother and might have treated her a little more considerately than he did. The magistrate observed that from the report of the police it was evident that both the accused required some, sort of supervision. They would be admitted to twelve months' probation. This, of_ course, was 'conditional upon the fact that they behaved themselves. i "We would like our names suppressed, sir," said one of the youths. Magistrate: Why? — "We've got a job and we don't want anybody to know about it." *• The Magistrate: "In most offences there would be no real punishment if there was no publicity." The accused spokesman: "I have learned a lesson." , His Worship: "Very well, m view of the circumstances I'll give you this chance and treat you as juveniles. Your names will be suppressed; "But mind you, .it carries an obligation. Make no mistake, about the terms or the nature of your probation."