FALL THROUGH A WINDOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 124, 25 May 1920, Page 7

FALL THROUGH A WINDOW.

uxbeubvutg railwatmen. (Received , 2 p.m.) PARIS, May 24. President Deechanel has returned to the Elyeoe. He is not seriously hurt, though 'he had a very narrow .escape. A number .of comic incidents were connected with the accident. He went to his sleeping car, telling hie valet not t.o c*U him until the morning. (Feeling the carriage stuffy, he attempted to open, the window and fell out. Fortunately the train had ! slackened speed going round a curve. i The President fell on a sandy patch, and was temporarily stunned. When he tecovered he "walked barefooted and clad in his pyjamas, with bis face bleeding, until he met a platelayer, who received the President's story with the frankest scepticism. This seemed justified' when the stationmaster's telegram sent to the President's train inquiring if any accident bad taken place was answered by an emphatic "no." Ko one thought it worth while to look into the sleeping compartment. Five minutes later the valet found the ibed empty, to the consternation of alt on the train.

Meanwhile the railway officials were worrying the sub-prefect of Montargis regarding the unknown individual, ecantfly clad, suffering*from the hallucination that he was the President of the Republic. The sub-prefect accordingly motored to the platelayer's cottage, where he found that the injured man was really the head of the French Republic. Hβ was quickly carried to the prefecture at Montargia, where his wounds were dressed and an anti-tetanus injection made. It ie expected that M. Deechanel wiH completely recover in ten days.—-(A. and N.Z. Cable.)