JUMPED INTO WATER

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 196, 21 August 1933, Page 5

JUMPED INTO WATER

DEPORTEE'S ESCAPE. SYDNEY HARBOUR INCIDENT. BOYS "ORDERED" TO HELP. In jumping from the steamer Marama into Sydney Harbour on Tuesday morning last Stephen Sterio, the young gipsy showman who was deported from New Zealand, took his life in his hands, for he was unable" to swim. Further details of Sterio's escape were brought to Auckland by the Monowai, which arrived this morning. Sterio, it seems, was eagerly watching for a chance to escape, and when the .Marama passed near to a dinghy con-

taining two boys he jumped overboard. The boys, William Lindsay and Stanley Moore, saw Sterio floundering in the water and immediately went to his rescue. The boys got the young gipsy into the boat without any great trouble, but were amazed when he ordered—not asked—them to row him at once to the nearest wharf. "We did not think of refusing," said one of the boys in telling his story. After putting Sterio ashore the boys put all their energy into their oars and rowed to the police 'boatshed, where they reported what had happened. Up till the time the Monowai sailed for Auckland the gipsy was still at large. Described as an Australian gipsy of Greek descent, Sterio was sentenced in Auckland in February last t6 six months' hard labour on four counts of duping bank tellers and stealing various sums of money totalling £67 7/6. Remarkable evidence was revealed during the trial, suggesting that Sterio had subjected several bank tellers to a strong hypnotic influence.