GAOL FOR KISSING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10689, 13 February 1926, Page 7

GAOL FOR KISSING.

i SEQUEL TO A FLIRTATION. I AN EXPERIENCE IN ITALY. " Don't kiss !'' might become the slogan for travellers in Italy, if the experiences of Dr. Erwin Felber, a leading Vienna musical critic, arc to bo taken as typical. Dr. Felber. whose adventures will probably form the subject of diplomatic intervention on the part of the Austrian Government, states: "On September 11 I accompanied a woman friend, a noted Berlin singer, in the steamer from Vienna to Fusta. We were the only passengers on the first-class deck, which was in total darkness.

"We flirted innocently, and as I kissed my friend the searchlight was turned full on us. The captain of the boat admonished us with much profane language from the bridge, and on landing in Venice I was handed over to the police. " Two carabinieri took hold of me, emptied my pockets, and threw me into a dark cell, where I spent a sleepless night, sharing my plank bed with a drunken man. On the following morning I was led handcuffed through the streets to the police court. On the way we met Professor Adolf Weissemann, the Berlin musical critic, who protested against my treatment and threatened to complain to Signor Mussolini.

" The only result was that I was. taken hack to the cell and left there for nearly 24 hours without food or even water. Then I was handcuffed again and dragged to the Giudocca prison, where my finger-prints were taken, and I was thrown into a room where were 15 or 20 dangerous criminals. "At "last my case was tried. 'I was handcuffed again, and on my protesting the handcuffs were screwed on so tightly that my skin was broken. In addition I was chained by the, leg to three criminals, and thus led before the court. " There was no lawyer to defend me. arid no interpreter, and the captain of the steamer was the only witness., The magistrate and the public prosecutorshook with laughter during the proceedings. " Judgment was delivered, and I was told "that I had been pardoned and that in an hour's time I would be a free man. Nevertheless, still chained, I was led hack to my cell, and was kept there for five more days. At the end of this period the intervention of the Austrian Legation and a Venice lawyer secured my liberty."