WANDERING "EMIR."

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 78, 2 April 1927, Page 23

WANDERING "EMIR."

PRINCE ON FIERY CHARGER. GALLANT ROGUE. Conspicuous for some weeks at Nice by the gorgeousness of his uniform and the number of his decorations, a man describing himself as the Emir Mohammed El Rashid, Prince of Kurdistan, was arrested by the police there. The so-called Emir appeared several times recently on the promenade on a fine charger, and this added to the admiring wonder of the crowd. When the police went to make inquiries they found none of the essential papers of identity, but in their place a remarkable diplomatic passport, giving the Prince certain powers on behalf of Kurdistan.

From further inquiries they are convinced that he is a man who has been deported from England and other countries. His claim to be a direct descendant of Haroun El Ras-Chid of the Arabian Nights is not credited.

Among his possessions were several insignia of the Legion of Honour, three Allied war badges, and other unknown decorations. He told the police that he had been robbed by the Bolsheviks of his passport. He is now under arrest for the illegal wearing of decorations. "Emir's" Expulsion. One Jay Bonson, a self-styled "Emir of Kurdistan," was deported from England in 1923, following a sentence of six months' imprisonment for obtaining credit by fraud at the Hyde Park Hotel. Three years earlier he had been a tailor ia Chicago, but .abandoned his trade, and as a son of the Emir Abdulla, and accompanied by a lady with a diamond in her nose, he was received at the White House by President Harding. After his arrest in England he was sent back to America, but America returned him without thanks. Again he crossed the Atlantic, but did not get past the Liverpool police, and a week later was sent back'to New York once more. His next crossing was to Cherbourg, where he succeeded in getting ashore. It is stated that he has also been expelled from Switzerland and imprisoned in France and Germany.