GIRL'S MASQUERADE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 177, 25 July 1908, Page 15

GIRL'S MASQUERADE.

aTKAXGE AD VBXTUKIas. A girl of fifteen, named Elizabeth Archer, was charged at Newcastle, England, on Monday, June S, with having defrauded the North-Eastern Hallway Company by travelling from Ripon to Newcastle without a ticket. When the case was called what appeared to be a smart youth stepped iuto the box, attired in a light suit, and with shortcropped hair, parted in boy's fashion. "This boy is really :i girl." said Supt. Koch to the Bench, by way of explanation. Defendant, it appeared, had run ■ away from her home at Walker, got a boy's suit of clothes In Newcastle, changed Into them on the beach at S-underlnnd, and gone to Harrogate, where she got an errand boy's place. After staying there several weeks she went to Newcastle without a ticket. The magistrates ordered a remand. Elizabeth Archer made an intelligentlooking boy. Attired in a light trouser suit, Bertie collar and tie. she looked so much better than the ordinary stage boy that everyone failed to discern that she was masquerading till she came before the keen eye of the tuatrou of Newcastle Prison. Her story is an interesting one. She tod the police that she was unhappy, and had determined to leave home. She laid her plans to Improve on the modern woman by . not only adopting men's ways, but men's attire. She Is stated to belong to Walker, two miles from Newcastle, and to be the daughter of working parents. She descended on Newcastle with a few shillings in her pocket some weeks ago. , She sought out a district near the river, where old clothes shops abound, and where the sailor dispenses with sartorial formal- , ities. takes a square look at a suit, and walks into it. Here, for three or four shillings, she purchased an outfit which she bore off with her In the direction of the seaside borough of Sunderland. She mnde her way to the beach, and, awaiting a convenient hour, quietly made her toilet, left her female garments on the shore to scarp the coastguard or the early riser, and, taking the road as a boy. set out like Dick Whittlngton for the fabled South an tramp. Elizabeth slept out. and got what little sustenance she could from people on the way, and eventually, in footsore condition, renched Harrogate, about sixty miles from Siniderland. It was in this fashionable quarter that she set out to obtain employment, and was eventually successful. She obtained a situatlou as wand boy In a store, and delivered parcels and carried out other duties for the sum of S/ a week. She continued in this position for some weeks, having obtainMei lOll v' nSS Uad snccsssfu "r concealed her For some reason or other she next made for Ripon. and here the home feeling seems lo have manifested itself, and Elizabeth determined to make for Newcastle by an easier route than she had left it. Accordingly, she boarded a train. When asked for her ticket en route, she replied that she had none and had no money, and was brouclit oa to Newcastle in cus^«lv,