STUDENTS' RAG.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 102, 1 May 1936, Page 7

STUDENTS' RAG.

Kidnapping of Scantily-Clad Stage Actress. EDINBURGH INCIDENT. (Received 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, April 30. The Edinburgh correspondent of the Sun-Herald news service says a big party of "ragging" students celebrating Viscount Allenby's installation as rector of Edinburgh University stormed the stage door of the Empire Theatre, bound the doorkeeper and the stage hands, and kidnapped Miss Renee Houston, a popular variety star, while slie was changing her costume between the acts of a play. Scantily clothed as she was, the actress was bundled from her dressing room into a motor car. Her kidnappers' plans, however, were ups'ct by a woman who was passing at the time, and the car was stopped soon after it had started. Miss Houston was allowed to return along the street wrapped in a rug and in a hysterical condition. Question in Commons. Several students were later charged by the' police in conncetion with the "ra n '." It was not decided whether Court proceedings will be taken. Mr. J. McGovern, M.P. (Ind. Lab., Shettleston, Glasgow) will ask in the House of Commons on May 5 "If the Lord' Advocate will ensure that the law bo set in motion against the persons responsible for the outrage."

Shortly after the kidnapping two youths told the manager of the theatre that the actress would not be returned unless he gave £25 toward the charity for which they were collecting.

The husband of the actress, Mr. Patrick Aliernc, describes the affair as an astounding case of hooliganism. He alleges that his wife was dragged through the window of the motor car, and was black and blue all over. Her terror was increased by claustrophobia (a morbid fear of being shut up in a confined space alone), from which she suffers. Mr. Ah erne states that 15 students confessed to the kidnapping. His wife is such a sport that she wants the matter dropped, but the police insist upon taking independent action. The iiniversitv authorities intend to take disciplinary action against all the students concerned.