STRANGE MASQUERADE

WOMAN AS MAN

ESCAPE FROM DIFFICULTY P.A. AUCKLAND, This Day A strange story of a woman masquer a ding^f or ten years as a man, living, playing, working, and marrying a young 'girl, has been revealed as tin result of an interview by two reporters with the woman concerned. Tall robust, and sturdily built, with a moj of unruly black hair and a virile mien the woman, 30 years of age, looked talked, and comported herself as a man, and it was difficult to believe she was not one. When told that the facts of her recent history were well authenticated and known to the interviewers, her reserve quickly dissolved, and she frankly admitted that she had changed her sex. The woman and her "wife' are both employed in the same city factory and are regarded as man and wife. The extraordinary facts of the case first emerged when the RegistrarGeneral in Wellington discovered thai the name on a marriage certificate issued in the registrar's office in July last was the same as that of a person who was rejected from military service in 1940, when the medical examination revealed that "he" was a wellnourished woman of about 27. "MARRIAGES ADMITTED. Police inquiries were begun and on Monday last detectives interviewed the parties. The masquerader (to be referred to as "Mr. X") admitted . her identity and true sex and having gone through a form of marriage with a single girl of eighteen at the regis- . trar's office...The girl signed the application for the marriage certificate and Mr. X described himself as a labourer. The only witnesses of the marriage were the mothers of the parties, and only one of them was aware of the husband's actual sex. Reporters called last evening at the old-fashioned apartment-house in the city where the couple live. The door was opened by a young woman, and when the 1 visitors asked . for Mr. X a broadt shouldered, husky-looking person, 3 wearing an open shirt and grey slacks, ! came forward. When the reporters i explained the reason for the visit he a invited them into a back bedroom "_ without the slightest hesitation. It was a typical bachelor's room. s RELUCTANCE OVERCOME. • ~ Mr. X, without a trace of nervous- • ness, stood through the long interview 1 with his brawny arms, one of them ; tatooed, folded. At first he was reluctant to talk, not, he said, so much J because of fear of■ personal conset quences as because he had no wish i to involve his wife and relatives in 5 anything which might be misunder- ; stood by the public. After some time he admitted that detectives had been ' questioning him and that he had been s told of the possibility of court proi ceedings. ! "You fellows are just after a story. [ I know it will be a good scoop for I you. You want to tell the world. But, ; after all, I've my job to consider. I've , worked hard enough to keep it and , want to stay in the job. Why should • I tell you jokers all you want to know? ', As soon as this comes out I suppose - I'll have to leave the town." J When assured that the interviewers | had no intention of disclosing his identity or intentionally betraying any [ facts which would help to identify him, ' the husband spoke more freely. ■ SIMPLEST WAY OUT. It was, he said, during the middle thirties that he realised his life as a ' girl was beset with difficulties. He had a natural inclination to masculine pursuits and that coupled with his appearance had reacted detrimentally. "I lost two jobs because I was perfectly natural. That is because I am more i like a man than a woman. I felt my position keenly, and at length realised that the simplest way out was to become a man. Other girls at these jobs accused me of being a boy masquerading as a girl. I was really driven from these jobs. I couldn't obtain a bite to eat the way I was, that's why I decided to become a man." Asked if he was shunned by other girls, he said he wasn't, but things were difficult. "Haven't I been justified in deciding that the only way to hold a job was by being a man? I've held the job I'm in over two years and mixed freely with hundreds of men, and nobody regards me as anything but a man. I am erfdowed with a masculine physique which has helped me put. Now if this comes out, I suppose it means the end of everything." SECRET COMES OUT. Not long after the war started, he went on, he was called in a ballot and resolved to play his part as a man and fight for his country. "Why not?" he said. "I was as strong and able to fight as any man." He was disappointed when he was turned. down. Before the routine medical examination, his mother, realising that he might somehow be passed for service, disclosed his real sex, as a result of which he underwent an examination by Army doctors, who confirmed the mother's story. "I was keenly disappointed that I didn't get away. I even asked one of the doctors whether I could serve as an ambulance driver, but I was given no chance." Replying to questions concerning his early life he said he was born in North Auckland. MANLY PASTIMES. Since his adoption of the life of a male he became proficient in several manly sports, including . swimming, rowing, tennis, and boxing. He won a three-mile swimming certificate in recent years and attempted to join a rowing club. "Those are my pals," he , said, pointing to a photograph of a; group of boxers. "I can hold my own lin a rough and tumble. I was able to stand up for myself, in any rows." He and his young wife were very happy together. They often went to dances and movies, and worked together m the same firm. He agreed that their ; relationship was unusual, although to him it seemed perfectly natural. Why could not they be left that way? He was not concerned with other peoples feelings. It was no business of theirs. He admitted that the idea of marriage was not his. They had met at work and a strong attachment sprang up between them. Asked where they went for a honeymoon he said there was no honeymoon. They went to his mother's home for dinner and returned to work, next morning. As far as he was aware the relationship was !not illegal.

AUCKLAND, This Day.