BACK TO PRISON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

BACK TO PRISON.

DARTMOOR RIOT HERO. PARDONED—BUT HAD NO WORK. January, 1932.—Granted the King's Pardon and released from Dartmoor prison as a reward for his gallantry in defending a warder during the famous mutiny. March 19, 1933.—Walked from the dock at Brighton Police Court, his shoulders bowed ' and tears streaming down his cheeks, to serve a two months' sentence for theft..

This, briefly, is the story of George Edward Norman Graham, aged 3G. When he went to the rescue of the Dartmoor warder, his fellow convicts turned on him so fiercely that one of his arms and a leg were broken, and his skull was fractured.

Then came the King's Pardon and he left the prison a free man, eager to make a new start in life. One year aud 10 days of his sentence had been remitted. But, as his counsel (Mr. F. Veale) explained to the Court, his record was a bad one, and "even for a man with the King's Pardon in his pocket it is hard to get a living."

Occasional 'work sometimes came hie way, but for the most part he had been kept by a woman friend. Finally, conditions became too hard for him and he stole a gramophone and a dozen records, and now, dejected and broken, the prison gates have closed behind him once more.

He is the fourth convict hero of the Dartmoor mutiny released for gallantry to find his way back to prison.

Lack of solid meals —indeed any kind of meals —worried a Polish school teacher, Sylvester Krzeminski. He was tired of poverty. As a last gamble he invested in a State lottery. Before the draw took place he was taken ill. An operation was performed successfully, but Sylvester thought life too wearisome and fretful a thing to fight for. 11c iust faded away and died. The next, day a letter arrived at his home. Jn it was the news that the poor school teacher •had won nearly £2500 in the lottery. His last gamble had come off —too late.

HOPES FROM HOPS. The petty officers in the Navy's shore depots in England waut to run their own beer bars, so that the profits caii be used to supplement mess funds and provide table luxuries. Sir Bertram Falle, M.P. for Portsmouth, has taken their case up with the Admiralty, and the First Lord has called for a report from the Comman-ders-in-Chief on the matter. He is asking how the present system works, and whether they think the new proposal w»uld be an improvement. The beer bars are now run by the Navy, Army, and Air l'orce Institutes. Sir Bertram Falle points out that the system proposed is permitted in sergeants' messes in the Royal Marines.

GRUESOME VILLAGE CEREMONY.

The "Nemzeti Ujsag" (Budapest) reports a strange ceremony which was performed in the village of Nagylucka, in Ruthenia. At the death of an old woman who was believed to be a witch the villagers became panic stricken, as it was 1 1 umoured that after becoming invisible I Iter evil powers would be greatlv increased. I lo prevent the witch from doing further j mischief after her death a - guard was i formed to surround the house iu which [ tile corpse lay. Four farmers then entered the house, and a horseshoe was nailed to the corpse s left foot to ensure her step being heard if she returned as a ghost. A cross was painted on her naked body, 8 i i_ r tilled with .poppy-seed, which would leave a track when she laid a curse. The final act was to beat the coi pse with a shovel, and place garlic in its ears, and the broomsticks were burned IT jL . th . e , courtyard. An inquiry on the ■ affair is being held by the gendarmerie.

200'S MOST LOVING COUPLE. If Duninow flitches were awarded to inmates of the London Zoo, Joey and J-vosie, the porcupines, would be easy winners. Joey is small and grey, with the most engaging whiskers. Rosie is large and black, with a handsome full skirt of black and white quills, as sharp as needles, and as dangerous. Joey's quills are thinned by age. Sumatra is their home, but lor ten years they have lived happily together at the Zoo—the model couple ot the gardens. They never quarrel, are never ill, and the smallest chikl can go into their cage and stroke Joey s prickly-looking back without fear, their children number 30, of whom half a dozen still live at home. The rest are scattered, some at Whipsnade, some further afield. But the children 6re no trouble to Joe and Rosie, for they are all as good-tempered and well-behaved as their parents, and no disturbance of the pence ever takes place in the porcupine tamily. Jj Joey hears his name called he soon hastens out of his house to see who wants him, and Rosie soon follows. If the pair have a besetting sin at all it is an unbridled passion for food.

HEDGEHOG AS A BANQUET. On the edge of woods nearly a mile from tile village of Swepstone, in Leicestershire, a man lias lived for 30 years alone in a tiny hut only 4ft high, made by himself. And lie lives mainly on hedgehogs! The I only sounds he hears for weeks at a time are the murmur of a stream which runs near his shack and the song of birds. His hut is made of thick turf, with tins and rags for the roof. Au old milk churn out ill half forms the quaint chimney stack. Teddy Johnson is the man's name, and he speaks with a Cockney accent. "T am 6(i. and I am as happy as a sandboy." he said in an interview. "I want to end j my life here." Teddy ekes out a living in I all sorts of ways—odd jobs for farmers one j day; selling watercress another. Hut,' above all, he is an expert on hedgehogs,' and no man in England knows more about' them. They form his chief diet, and he: cooks them on his wood fire. He extracts j oil from the hedgehog, refines it in a way! known only to himself, and sells the oil to chemists for ear treatment. Teddy has i never been to a ciuema, he has never • heard the wireless, and lie has never, travelled in a motor car. All who know him speak kindly of the hermit. "As : simple as a <-hild, as honest as the day," ] i was ne tribute. ' '