SPIDER OF DEATH.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 279, 24 November 1928, Page 3 (Supplement)

SPIDER OF DEATH.

WAR PRISONER BRANDED. AMERICAN'S EXPERIENCES. Albert Nye Rough ton (70), an American, across whose forehead was tattooed a huge spider, was charged, at Bow Street (London) Police Court with failing to register himself as an alien. •An officer from the Aliens' Registration Office stated that Roughton called at Buckingham Palace and asked to see the Lord Privy Seal.

He was referred by the police on duty at the palace to the Aliens' Office at Bow Street, and it was then ascertained that he came to this country with the American Forces during the war, and had never registered. It was also stated that he had travelled round the world as a fortune-teller, and was in many respects a remarkable man.

The magistrate asked how Roughton had got the brand on his forehead, and the witness replied that the accused told him that he wa6 branded 'by foreigners in some outlying part of the world. His wife was a British subject and left him recently.

Roughton now said that his wife was quite justified in leaving him, as he was not able to take care of himself, and much less of her.

He was brought to Europe from Chicago during -the war, and wa6 discharged at Sutton, destitute and without a pension. He wished to return to America, but was' afraid that he would be sent back under the immigration laws, as he had served in the British Army. The magistrate fined him 40/, with the alternative of one month's imprisonment, and recommended him for deportation. Boughton, a white-haired old man, stated to Press representatives that he was engaged on secret service during the war. According to his story, he was captured by the Turks while, in hiding at Ctesiphon; hot irons were applied to 'his forehead, and for two hours one old Turk, was employed in tattooing the representation of a spider across his 'brow, extending from . temple to temple. This operation was performed > with cactus thorns, the medium used being the juice of the cactus plant and red clay* which caused excruciating pain. The brand was described by the Turks as The Spider of Death."-