KIDNAPPED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 20 May 1933, Page 10

KIDNAPPED.

AUCKLANDER'S CHILD.

EXPERIENCE !N WARSAW.

A PLOT THAT WENT WRONG

In the front garden of a house in Forbes Street, overlooking the Manukau Harbour, a five-year-old girl was playing this morning with a stick and i piece of string which she was pleased to call a " lisli rod." Less than a year •igo the same child was in the hands jf kidnappers in Warsaw, the capital jf Poland, and her name was blazed jcross the front pages of half the newspapers of Europe. Little Patty —for that is the child's •lame —is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stewart E. McMillin, and is visiting Auckland with her mother, who, as Miss Gwendoline Hill, was a pupil at the Auckland Girls' Grammar School ten years ago. Her father is a senior officer n the United States Consular service, ind is at present stationed at Piedras Negras, in Mexico. The story of Pntty's kidnapping was void by Mrs. McMillin, who expects to stay in Auckland for the best part of :t year. "It happened last August, when •ny husband was Consul at Warsaw," she said. "With her younger brother, she was playing in a park under the t-are of a nursemaid. While the nurse was talking to a young man another ■nan spoke to Patty and persuaded her ■;o go with him to buy some chocolates :ind lemonade. Apparently she did not want to go, but the man managed to her away. Police and Radio. "I had been out for the afternoon, ■ind when I came home I received a '.elephone call from the nursemaid saying that Patty was missing," continued Mrs. McMillin. "I at once went io the park and when I was certain chat the child really was not there I went to the American Embassy, which was just across the street from the park. With the help of a friend, a Polish girl, we raised the alarm, and within half an hour the police were searching in all parts of the city, and a description of the child was being Hashed over the radio." The kidnapping, said Mrs. McMillin, was the first case of the kind reported :n Warsaw for many years, and the hue and cry was quickly taken up. Everyone was looking for the auburnhaired Patty—Poles as well as British jnd American residents. Two hours after tlio alarm had been given the McMillins received, a long-distance call from a Berlin newspaper, asking for an interview with the mother of the missing child.. "By half-past ten I was in a terrible state," said Mrs. McMillin. "Searchers were out everywhere, but there was no news of Patty. Then, when I was almost out of my wits, came a message -.hat my daughter was safe. I was told '.ater that she was found in a restaurant in the slum area of the city. She was taken there by the man who offered her chocolate in the park. Apparently the man arranged to meet someone else to take the child away, but no one turned up, and when the Hour became late the man, who had no money, made the excuse that his pocket-book was in another suit .and asked permission to leave the child in the restaurant while ho went to get •*t. While the man was away a waitress spoke to Patty and learnt her name and address. Being somewhat suspicious a waiter from the eating house went to our apartment. As there was no one at home he left a note saying that Patty could be found in the restaurant and this note put the police in the right trail.

Arrest of Servants. Except that she was tired and pale, little Patty was none the worse for her kidnapping. A number of arrests followed the finding of the child, the persons rounded up by the police including Mrs. McMillin's cook, the housemaid, the nurse, and a girl who had previously been employed to look after the consul's children. The man who took the child to the restaurant was also arrested, but denied that he had had any intention of kidnapping her. His story was that he found the girl wandering in the park and took her to buy some chocolate, as she paid she was hungry. "We understand the case is still before the Court," said Mrs. McMillin. "There is an idea on the Continent that all Americans are fabulously wealthy," she added with a laugh.

From Bolivia to Belgrade. It was on New Year's Day, 1923, that Mrs. McMillin, then Miss Hill, left Auckland. She was married in Bolivia in 1925 and in the following year went to Belgrade. After four and a half years there she went with her husband to Warsaw. When her stay in New Zealand is. over she will rejoin Mr. McMillin in Mexico. When Mrs. McMillin first went to Belgrade living conditions there were bad, houses being hopelessly out of date, and there was hardly a decent hotel in the city. "While she was there, however, the city was entirely Westernised. Auckland, says Mrs. McMillin, is as beautiful as any modern city she has. seen with the exception of Washington. "Budapest, of course, is a city apart. With its old, old castles, higli stone wall and winding roads it is like a glimpse of fairyland."